Chapter 2
Chapter 2
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Porcelain Dolls and the Ghost God Domain
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On the old willow tree, the scholar ghost remained sullenly silent.
Zhu Youcai—that was his name.
He had hanged himself here, his tongue lolling out a full foot long, his face bloated purple like a pig's liver. No wonder he didn't look good.
"Little Eleven isn't honest at all, borrowing my name to call this woman ugly."
He grumbled inwardly. "But to be fair, though the woman isn't bad-looking, she's rotten at heart. I wonder if Little Ten can handle her?"
He was in soul form, so none of these people could see him or hear his voice.
Hanged here and turned into a ghost, yet he still couldn't leave this old tree. He had no way to warn Chen Shi's grandfather.
"The porcelain dolls Big Sister mentioned must be those tiny little things that only come out at dusk, crawling from the grass and chattering away."
Chen Shi rattled them off like treasures from home. "They talk so fast and dense you can't make out a word. If anyone gets close, they dive into the grass and you can't find them no matter what. Once the person's gone, out they come again. At dawn, they vanish. That's who Big Sister's looking for, right?"
He had indeed seen these porcelain dolls before and often hung out with the little guys, so he knew them well.
The Purple-Clothed Woman and the Embroidered Uniform Guards nodded eagerly at his words.
"Sir, this kid... this little brother describes them so clearly. Those things must be right nearby!"
The one called Fang He, in his flying fish uniform, laughed. "The rumors were spot on—there really is a great Tomb of the True King here! Those porcelain dolls are the burial goods from the tomb that came alive! If we can get our hands on the treasures..."
The Purple-Clothed Woman flew into a rage, her almond eyes bulging as she shot him a fierce glare.
Fang He shuddered inwardly and shut his mouth fast.
The Purple-Clothed Woman glanced at Chen Shi and saw the boy looked clueless. Clearly, a country kid like him had no idea what a great tomb was or what it meant to come alive. Only then did she relax.
"Little brother, could you take us to where those porcelain dolls disappear?"
The Purple-Clothed Woman's face softened.
Chen Shi looked troubled. "My grandpa's waiting for me at home for dinner..."
The Purple-Clothed Woman chuckled. "Sister has some treats here, made from spirit beasts and rare herbs. Better than anything at your house, right?"
She clapped her hands, and someone quickly offered up some dried meat strips.
Chen Shi took a bite of the dried meat. It was exquisitely delicious, so he agreed.
The group followed Chen Shi along. The Purple-Clothed Woman said, "Little brother, what’s your name?"
Chen Shi answered honestly. "I'm Cheng Shi. My teacher who taught me to read said it's the 'cheng' from sincere and the 'shi' from solid. Everyone in the village calls me Little Honest. I never lie!"
The crowd stifled laughs to themselves. "Who ever heard of the surname Cheng? That country schoolteacher's a real ignoramus."
Fang He's face grew serious. He sidled up to the Purple-Clothed Woman and whispered, "Sir, there's something off about this kid..."
The Purple-Clothed Woman's gaze had already fixed on Chen Shi's back. She narrowed her eyes and nodded lightly. "I've noticed too."
A strange look crossed her face as she murmured, "Who would've thought—at his young age, he's actually a cultivator."
Up ahead, Chen Shi munched on the dried meat. Ripples of faint energy stirred in the boy's body, true qi flowing—not weak at all.
A glow flickered behind Chen Shi's head, hazy and ethereal. A Divine Shrine made of light shimmered faintly!
The dried meat was made from all sorts of spirit beasts and rare herbs, packed with potent spiritual energy. As Chen Shi refined it, his cultivation involuntarily revealed itself.
"Qi Refining Stage, Divine Embryo Realm!"
The Purple-Clothed Woman whispered. "He's already formed a Divine Shrine—must've received a true god's favor and been granted a Divine Embryo! In the provincial capital, he'd qualify for the rural exams! A juren at just ten or so..."
She couldn't hide her shock.
Cultivators advanced through five major stages: Qi Refining, Spirit Transformation, God Refining, Void Return, and Dao Union.
Qi Refining itself divided into Qi Refining, Foundation Building, Divine Shrine, and Divine Embryo. Reaching Divine Embryo Realm was impressive—enough to take the rural exams, earn juren status, and gain an official rank.
These days, studying and cultivation went hand in hand.
Scholars were cultivators. They practiced truth cultivation, took exams for ranks, and entered government service.
For Chen Shi to reach Divine Embryo Realm at just ten or so was rare even across the realm!
If he took the exams and succeeded, it would shock the world!
The Purple-Clothed Woman and her group hailed from a great clan in the provincial capital of Xinxiang Province. To stumble upon such a genius in the countryside by chance left them stunned.
"No!"
The Purple-Clothed Woman watched as the Divine Shrine behind Chen Shi's head suddenly wavered like smoke in the wind, on the verge of scattering. She hurried to his side and peered at it.
Chen Shi's Divine Shrine was empty—no Divine Embryo inside!
Bewilderment crossed the Purple-Clothed Woman's face.
At that moment, the Divine Shrine behind Chen Shi's head faded, his true qi dissolving with it. He turned back into an ordinary boy.
The other Embroidered Uniform Guards saw it too and exchanged odd looks.
"With his mastery of the Divine Shrine, he should have a Divine Embryo! Why is it empty? And why did his cultivation just vanish?"
The Purple-Clothed Woman muttered. Chen Shi's Divine Shrine was rock-solid—even some Spirit Transformation experts couldn't match it. He had clearly entered Divine Embryo Realm long ago. Yet no Divine Embryo, and the shrine on the brink of collapse? Most peculiar.
Fang He caught on quick and whispered with a smile, "Sir, you come from a great clan and don't know the Jianghu's dangers. A cultivation genius popping up in the sticks isn't always a blessing—it's often a curse. Kids from powerful families with poor talent can't form a Divine Embryo or pass the exams for xiucai or juren status. So they get family experts to hunt down some background-less prodigy, rip out their Divine Embryo, and transplant it. This Little Honest must've been too talented. Some big shot found out, harvested his Divine Embryo, and gave it to their own kid."
The Purple-Clothed Woman stared in surprise at Chen Shi's back. "He survived having his Divine Embryo taken?"
Fang He scratched his head, puzzled. "Normally, you have to crack open the skull to take it. The victim always dies. But how's this kid still kicking after they dug his out?"
Every year, plenty died from having their Divine Embryos stolen. It was common in the Great Ming Dynasty. For Chen Shi to live after losing his? That was the real oddity.
Fang He strode up behind Chen Shi and probed the back of his head. Sure enough, he felt a long-healed scar.
The scar was three or four inches long, the bone beneath it bulging.
"Little Honest, hold still."
Fang He parted Chen Shi's hair. The scar was raw red, like a fat red centipede the thickness of a thumb sprawled across the back of his head.
Chen Shi kept munching his dried meat, unconcerned.
The Purple-Clothed Woman saw the scar too and gasped inwardly. Someone had cracked this boy's skull open!
"For him to survive that injury is a miracle!"
She let out a turbid breath.
Without a Divine Embryo, any true qi was rootless wood, sourceless water—destined to scatter. Chen Shi had lost his Divine Embryo and become a cripple. The dried meat's medicinal power had turned to true qi, briefly manifesting his Divine Shrine. But no Divine Embryo meant it was all illusion, like flowers in a mirror or moon on water.
Fang He lagged a few steps behind and lowered his voice. "Sir, last year in Water Ox County, Assistant Magistrate Li's son Li Xiaoding wowed the rural exams and took first place as jieyuan. But word is this Li lad's no scholar—mediocre cultivation, dumb as a post, no favor from a true god. Rumor has it he stole some poor kid's Divine Embryo..."
The Purple-Clothed Woman coughed pointedly. "Assistant Magistrate Li may be low-ranking, but the Li family is a major power. How their young master became a juren is none of our business. Poor kid, though."
Her gaze lingered on Chen Shi as she murmured instructions. "Give him a quick end later. No torture."
She turned toward Huangpo Village, her expression softening. "Wipe out the village too, bury it with the kid. No loose ends, or folks'll say the Zhao family does sloppy work—finding the Tomb of the True King and not telling them, stirring up trouble. Once we find the tomb, handle the cleanup. Make it clean."
Fang He bowed. "Yes, sir."
Chen Shi acted normal, but his ears twitched.
Deprived of his Divine Embryo, his hearing was still uncanny. Their quiet talk hadn't escaped him.
"These folks mean ill for me and the village. They're the culprits. Per the teacher's words, cut the grass at the root—no descendants left."
Chen Shi thought. "No way I can beat them. Teacher said not to speak of strange powers or gods when your strength's insufficient—you can't subdue ghosts and gods yet. So, borrow a knife to kill. Teacher's words are pure wisdom for the world!"
Admiration for his teacher welled up in him.
Chen Shi slowed his pace deliberately, signaling the group to keep up.
The Purple-Clothed Woman and the others followed him onward until, at the forest's edge ahead, more than a dozen little figures about a foot tall played by the stream.
These little people had full features, arms, and legs. Dressed in green, their skin was ghostly white—like living humans.
But when they touched, they clinked like porcelain, proving they weren't human.
The porcelain dolls frolicked by the mountain stream—splashing water, grabbing fish, having a grand time.
Their speech was bizarre, not human tongue—just呀呀咿咿, meaningless sounds. Yet the dolls understood each other perfectly, chatting away and bursting into哈哈 laughter now and then, full of joy.
The Purple-Clothed Woman and her group came up behind Chen Shi. At the sight, they buzzed with excitement and whispered, "These must be porcelain burial goods from the Tomb of the True King that came alive! Follow them, and we'll find the tomb!"
Chen Shi stepped forward and snapped a dry twig underfoot. One porcelain doll noticed, craning its neck to look around. Spotting Chen Shi, it shrieked—a piercing cry like an oriole's call.
The other porcelain dolls saw Chen Shi too and pulled bitter, vengeful faces. They rolled up their sleeves and charged at him fiercely—who knew what grudge they held.
Only then did the porcelain dolls notice the Purple-Clothed Woman and the strangers. They cried out in alarm and dove into the streamside grass.
Chittering curses came from the bushes—likely the dolls railing at Chen Shi for being too weak to fight them alone and calling in backup.
Fang He and the others rushed forward, parting the grass and following the trail at top speed. But the mountains were lush with green, towering trees, shadowy and vast—no sense of direction.
The porcelain dolls were swift, darting through woods and brush. Their pursuers struggled and soon lost the trail.
The Purple-Clothed Woman's eyes lit up. She whispered, "Follow Little Honest!"
Only then did the group notice Chen Shi bounding through the woods like he owned them, hot on the porcelain dolls' heels with ease.
Tracking the dolls was hard, but Chen Shi's larger figure was easy to tail. They all latched onto him instead, venturing deeper into the forest.
The trees grew denser, the ground lit only by scattered flecks of sunlight.
They chased who knew how far when Chen Shi vanished ahead without a trace.
The group caught up, only to see the surrounding trees shooting up taller and taller—like pillars holding the sky, thick and verdant!
Even the wild grass thickened to tree-trunks, stones swelled to hills, and the stream bloated into a mighty river, waves rolling grandly!
Amazed, someone shouted, "It's not the plants growing bigger—we've shrunk!"
The Purple-Clothed Woman and the others looked in horror at each other. In mere moments, their adult bodies had dwindled to under a foot tall!
The Purple-Clothed Woman examined her skin and trembled.
Gathering courage, she tapped her arm lightly. It rang with a crisp porcelain clink.
She nearly fainted.
She had turned into a porcelain doll!
She looked at the others—her Embroidered Uniform Guards had all become porcelain dolls too!
"Ghost God Domain! We've blundered into a Ghost God Domain! Right—Little Honest!"
The Purple-Clothed Woman clutched at the thought like a lifeline. "Little Honest's been here before. He must know what's going on... Wait!"
Her face paled. "If Little Honest's been here and knew you'd turn into a porcelain doll, why lead us in? Is Little Honest... really as honest as he seems?"