Chapter 184
Chapter 184
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 184
Chapter Title: Lotuses in the Underworld, Endless Fields of Leaves
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Chen Shi said gravely, "There's indeed no need for Red Mountain Hall to keep investigating."
Yu Tianceng caught the implication in his words and said earnestly,
"You don't need to investigate anymore either."
"Such young masters in great clans hold real power and are basically the next clan heads in line."
"In great clans, those serving in the court may seem to have high status, but they still can't compare to the clan head—they're just the clan's mouthpiece to the outside world."
"You can compare this man to Li Tianqing to see the gap in status."
"The Li family of Quanzhou is also one of the Thirteen Great Houses."
"Li Tianqing obtained the Purple Jade Divine Embryo and is a heaven-sent genius, yet his status in the Li family isn't that high. He gets fifty taels of monthly allowance."
"As for family standing, he has none at all. At best, he's just a key disciple being nurtured."
"But this Young Master Yudu wields real power, owns large-scale industries in other regions, keeps a group of people hunting treasures just for him, and can even mobilize Divine Transformation Realm cultivators for investigations!"
"Li Tianqing's status doesn't even come close—it's like night and day."
Chen Shi laughed. "I understand completely. Hall Master, rest easy."
Yu Tianceng still wasn't reassured. "Back in the day, I was like you—fresh out of the novice stage, full of passion, only to hit walls everywhere and come away bloodied."
"Later, when Her Ladyship was born and killed many people, no one dared to slay her. They all thought this Blood Toadstool was about to turn demonic."
"'If Her Ladyship turns demonic, she'll devour all of Gong Province—millions would die without burial.'"
"I was just a minor talisman master then, burning with righteous zeal, so I went to confront Her Ladyship, planning to fight her to the death."
"But when I met her, I found she simply couldn't control her power or emotions."
"I taught her how to control her power and emotions, brought her back to Gong Province, and founded Red Mountain Hall."
"But Gong Province isn't easy to survive in. Even with justice in your heart, the path is still full of bumps."
"For Red Mountain Hall to survive, we must rely on the government."
"So, I
contribute a lot of silver to Gong Province's high officials every year."
He paused, then said,
"Scholar, I can't change this world, so I attach myself to it and coexist with it—but at the same time, I hold firm to my own principles!"
He patted Chen Shi's shoulder. "Sometimes, you can't change the world. You need to attach yourself to it and coexist."
Chen Shi was moved. "Thank you for the guidance."
Yu Tianceng laughed. "The Loose Cultivator Gathering is nearly over. Any plans?"
Chen Shi said, "Once Tianqing finishes, we'll head back to Gong Province first, then to Xinduo. With this demonic upheaval in Gong Province, the Autumn Examinations are off the table. We'll just go home and wait for news."
Yu Tianceng nodded lightly.
"The Cold Migration Elders are also heading to Gong Province. I'll follow them in their cultivation and leave first."
"Even if you don't pass the xiucai this time, no big deal—there's always next time."
"Once I pass as xiucai, maybe we can take the juren exam together."
Chen Shi was helpless. What was supposed to be a straightforward juren exam had turned into such a mess, leaving no place for all his pent-up talent.
Otherwise, he'd have been Gong Province's top scholar this round, first on the list!
"Times not on my side."
He sighed inwardly.
These days, Li Tianqing had been immersed in the lectures and rarely showed up.
After the Loose Cultivator Gathering ended, some loose cultivators lingered on the mountain, still exchanging Daoist arts.
These were often Dao obsessives, delving deep into their studies. Li Tianqing naturally couldn't bear to miss out.
Chen Shi waited for him to return to Xinduo together, bored out of his mind. Suddenly, he remembered something and called Blackie Pot over. "Blackie Pot, does entering the underworld from different places mean the underworld's geography differs too?"
He'd entered the underworld multiple times, each to a different place.
The first time, when he'd died from illness, it was a misty realm full of demonic creatures shrouded in fog.
The second was in the De River, swallowed by a giant Kun fish, entering the River of Forgetfulness.
The third, dying in Gong Province, led to a swampy lotus field.
And when Blackie Pot entered from Red Mountain Hall's stove, it was different too.
Blackie Pot nodded solemnly.
Chen Shi pondered. "So, the lotus field should be somewhere between Phoenix Ridge and Gong Province. But from the underworld's view, the territory is vast, stretching endlessly. Could the spaces of the yin and yang realms differ in size? Blackie Pot, can you open the underworld again?"
Woof!
Blackie Pot stood, bustling about. Chen Shi watched as the dog hauled stones to build a stone stove.
It dragged Chen Shi's rice pot from the cart and placed it on the stove.
The dog rummaged for an axe, ran off to chop wood.
Chen Shi watched it hustle. Blackie Pot prepared the firewood, grabbed some salt, sprayed flames from its mouth onto the stove base, igniting the wood.
"My dog can breathe fire?!"
Chen Shi was stunned, but then not surprised at all.
Blackie Pot could enter the underworld—breathing fire was nothing to fuss over.
Blackie Pot tossed a handful of salt into the flames below the stove. The fire immediately revealed a scene from the underworld.
Chen Shi leaned in. The underworld in the flames wasn't the swampy lotus field but the road to that mysterious Yuanchen Palace.
The dog had secretly read that book full of ghost stories from that Yuanchen Palace.
"Blackie Pot's stove art can only go to that specific place—not the lotus fields."
Chen Shi thought, then stirred. "Blackie Pot, why does your stove art only lead to this underworld palace?"
Blackie Pot scratched its head with a paw, indicating it didn't know.
It had grown to a certain age, and the hidden power in its bloodline awakened automatically. Ancestral memories in its blood revived, granting it innate wondrous abilities.
Of course, some abilities needed further learning to control.
When its bloodline awakened, a stove art appeared in its mind. Using it to enter the underworld showed this Yuanchen Palace.
Chen Shi pinched his chin, guessing. "Blackie Pot, I think your parents or grandpa were amazing. They planted memories in your bloodline so you could find this palace."
"Blackie Pot, you might not be a dog!"
His face serious, he cradled the dog's head, staring into its eyes solemnly. "You might be some other species!"
Blackie Pot swatted his hand away and barked twice at him.
Chen Shi laughed. "Don't deny it so quick—maybe you're really not a dog. Blackie Pot, do you have other arts to enter the underworld?"
Blackie Pot paused, turning into a gust of阴风 and vanishing.
Yin wind howled back, and the dog reappeared.
Chen Shi's eyes lit up, breath quickening. "Can you take me to the underworld?"
Blackie Pot gestured for him to ride its back. Chen Shi mounted, drawing stares from a few lingering loose cultivators. Someone snickered softly, "Raggedy pants."
Before the words finished,阴风 rose under Blackie Pot's paws, whistling into the underworld. Chen Shi felt his crotch empty and thudded to the ground.
Blackie Pot reappeared on阴风, mouth open, tongue lolling, looking at Chen Shi.
As if puzzled why he didn't come along.
"No good—your art can't bring people into the underworld."
Chen Shi racked his brains. Aside from Peace Gate's altar, only Granny Sha could enter the underworld.
Peace Gate was uprooted by him; the altar remained, but without exotic beast blood or their arts, it was hard to recreate.
Granny Sha had vanished with Little Dingxiang—likely returned to Gong Province ahead.
"And Granny Sha's arts usually send souls to the underworld."
"Sending the true body requires big fanfare, altars and such. Hold on!"
Chen Shi blanked out, then hit on the key. Just now, riding the dog, why didn't he enter? Because of his fleshly body?
If he rode as a soul, could he enter?
Chen Shi excitedly told the dog.
Blackie Pot tilted its head. "Woof?"
"Simple. I'll use Soul-Pulling Charm to draw my soul out."
Chen Shi immediately cast the Soul-Pulling Charm. The Honoring Soul Charm derived from the Soul-Pulling Talisman, used as a spell, became Soul-Pulling.
He sat cross-legged, hands forming the Outer Binding Mudra, interlaced with thumbs pressed, raised over his head, lightly tapping his crown a few times. As his arms rose slowly, he stood.
Chen Shi lowered his hands and looked down. Another him sat on the ground.
That was his fleshly body.
Now's Chen Shi was just his soul, pulled out by his own spell.
But on the mountaintop, with wind blowing—if ordinary soul pulled out, it'd fear wind and sun. Sun high and harsh, yet Chen Shi felt nothing.
He'd consumed over four hundred Soul-Returning Lotuses before; his soul was rock-solid, like a golden core.
Soul-Returning Lotuses grew in vast underworld fields but were rare treasures in the yang world. Few cultivators had even heard of them, let alone eaten any.
If lucky enough for one or half, they'd pair it with spirit herbs to maximize efficacy, loath to waste any.
Who ate them like Chen Shi, chowing down like peonies for oxen?
Chen Shi's soul sat on Blackie Pot's back. The dog activated its art again.阴风 swirled around them, black wind whipping fiercely, revealing black thread-like textures, whirling like fur.
Beyond the black wind: endless lotus fields!
Blackie Pot leaped, carrying him out of the howling阴风, landing on the boundless great swamp.
The dog burst from the阴风, body swelling massively, wreathed in flames with thick black smoke billowing above—like a mobile flame mountain.
The massive dog snorted smoke from nose and mouth, stepping on the swamp without sinking.
Chen Shi had been sitting on its back; the sudden enlargement nearly flung him off. He grabbed a dog hair arm-thick, pores venting smoke and flame, steadying himself.
Oddly, the flames weren't hot, the smoke not choking.
As a ghost soul now, he lacked fleshly senses.
"Blackie Pot, that giant ghost's ears are super sensitive. No noise, or it'll wake."
Chen Shi climbed from back to ear, whispering, "I'll pick lotuses. Don't move around."
He slid down midway, leaped lightly, floating onto the swamp.
The big dog sat butt-back on the swamp, watching tiny-ant master tiptoe carefully, lest alerting sky ghosts.
The sky over lotus fields cracked open a slit of eyelid, ten-plus zhang long, slowly widening further.
A soft snore rumbled from the air, like thunder.
The giant ghost feigning sleep.
It'd been alerted, woken, ready to squash the white lotus thief, but spotted the big black dog—heart shocked, eyes snapped shut.
Thumping heartbeats echoed from sky, fast as drums—ghost's tension.
"Why's it back?"
The ghost inwardly wailed. Last time this dog appeared, scared it half-dead, forced to flee skyward.
It'd heard of this dog.
Rumor: a flame-wreathed giant dog rampaging underworld lately, bulldozing stronger ghosts, unstoppable.
Even ghost gods ambushed to capture it, but it bit and wounded several, escaping.
Last time it charged, ghost thought doomed, but dog grabbed a soul and fled, sparing it.
Just a few peaceful days, now dog back with tiny soul!
Tormenting a ghost?
Long after, giant ghost peeked one eye, checking if man-dog gone. But saw dog still there, head tilted, staring up.
"Thump, thump, thump!"
Heart pounding wild, eyes shut tight. "I'm just a veggie gardener—why pick on a little ghost like me? Why stare?"
Chen Shi heard drum-like beats, startled, looked up. Sky dim, beats from above.
"Doing a nightmare, heart racing from fright."
Relieved, Chen Shi resumed picking lotuses, eating as he went. "Ghosts dream nightmares too?"
Ghosts were underworld creatures with flesh; probably did.
Fields vast, but Soul-Returning Lotuses sparse. Seeing ghost "sleeping," Chen Shi grew bolder, venturing farther.
Giant ghost knew trouble: let kid pick, superiors would punish.
But every peek: dog staring, "move and you're dead."
"Better fields than my life!" Ghost decided ignore, fake sleep on.
Careless sort, soon truly asleep.
Chen Shi ate till soul glowed white. Blackie Pot trotted over, urging return—body starves if soul out too long.
Chen Shi hopped on back. Blackie Pot tread black阴风, back to yang world.
Chen Shi reentered body. A day passed; starving, chest to back.
Blackie Pot tied apron, cooked. Chen Shi helped.
Fed full, Blackie Pot washed up, then dove underworld again for lotuses.
Thus six or seven days. Mountain cultivators dwindled. Chen Shi ate daily, countless lotuses down—soul from white glow to golden, shining like golden Buddha.
More lotuses: little effect. Soul at limit. Picked extras to sell for cash.
Giant ghost watched man-dog leave, waited tensely half-day, no return. Days more, still gone. Finally relaxed, then teary woe.
"Guarding the garden's too hard—life on line anytime!"
本章完。