Chapter 25
Chapter 25
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 25
Chapter Title: Chapter 25 Using the body as bait
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Chen Shi hesitated for a moment before telling her the truth.
“We've got this barren mountain that suddenly popped up near our village, with a temple on it. My cultivation speed was super fast inside that temple. But then a meteor smashed it to pieces, so I'm planning to find another one.”
“Cultivating in an ancient temple?”
Granny Sha looked astonished. She gave him a deep look and reminded him,
“Little Ten, you've already lost your Divine Embryo. Do you know what that means?”
Chen Shi smiled brightly.
“I know. Granny, I'm trying to find a place like that so I can cultivate even faster. Then I can take the county exam again, rebuild my Divine Embryo, and go on to take the provincial exam...”
Granny Sha cut him off.
“No Divine Embryo means you'll never cultivate true qi again. It means you're done for—turned into a cripple!”
The smile on Chen Shi's face stiffened a bit, and his words started to stutter.
“I-I pass the provincial exam, I can land a good government post. Then Grandpa won't have to keep working at his age. I...”
“You can never rebuild a Divine Embryo!”
Granny Sha's expression turned deadly serious as she interrupted him again.
“The Divine Embryo is a gift from the true gods beyond the heavens—it's not something you cultivate. The true gods bestow their blessing once per lifetime, and only once. No second chances! Little Ten, stop daydreaming!”
Chen Shi went pale, his body swaying unsteadily as if he could barely stand. He argued back,
“Granny, I know I can rebuild my Divine Shrine! Once I do, the true gods from beyond the heavens will see how hard and diligent I've been—they might bless me again...”
Granny Sha shook her head.
“Absolutely impossible. Give up on that delusion. Little Ten, it's not so bad living as an ordinary person this lifetime. Go home.”
Chen Shi was utterly dejected. He hung his head and walked out.
Granny Sha shook her head.
“Silly boy, still thinking he can regain his Divine Embryo...”
She sighed. The old Chen Shi had once stunned the world, but that Chen Shi had his Divine Embryo stolen by someone.
The Chen Shi now was nothing more than a cripple who couldn't cultivate.
After a while, Granny Sha stepped out of the courtyard and froze.
There sat Chen Shi on the stone steps outside her door—he hadn't gone home.
“Little Ten, why haven't you gone back?” Granny Sha asked.
“Granny, I want to grow up fast. I don't want Grandpa worrying about me.”
Chen Shi kept his head down, staring at the ground.
“I don't want him working all over the place at his age, don't want him turning out like this because of me. I just want to have some real ability, take good care of Grandpa. I don't want him so exhausted at his age—I want him to enjoy life...”
Granny Sha's heart softened at his words.
“You want to know about that place? Fine, but you have to help Granny with something first.”
Chen Shi perked up instantly. He quickly wiped away his tears and grinned.
“Granny, just say the word!”
Granny Sha smiled.
“Years ago, I lost something in the River of Forgetfulness. It's my most treasured possession—I've been restless ever since, always thinking about it. Help me fish it out of the River of Forgetfulness, and I'll tell you where that temple is.”
Chen Shi hesitated a bit.
Granny Sha sneered.
“Scared? If you're scared, then go home and live honestly as an ordinary person!”
Chen Shi gritted his teeth hard and looked up.
“I'll do it!”
He stuck out his neck, exposing its most vulnerable spot, and said,
“Granny, kill me if you have to. I'll go to the River of Forgetfulness and get your thing for you! Make it quick—I'm a little afraid of pain.”
Granny Sha was equal parts exasperated and amused, with a touch of感动 in her heart.
“I thought he was scared, but his hesitation was because he figured he had to die to get to the River of Forgetfulness. There's great terror between life and death, yet he's willing to face it for the chance to recultivate his Divine Embryo. His dao heart is as firm as they come—rare in this world. Who knows, he might actually achieve something in the future.”
With that in mind, Granny Sha smiled.
“Who says you have to die to reach the River of Forgetfulness? If you could only get there after dying, wouldn't that ruin my reputation? Relax—you don't have to die.”
Chen Shi was both shocked and delighted.
He'd just waged a huge internal battle and steeled himself to die for the River of Forgetfulness, only to learn he could enter alive!
Granny Sha went inside and fetched an iron chain weighing over thirty catties, which she fastened around Chen Shi.
Chen Shi's body had grown stronger lately, his strength increasing too, so it didn't feel heavy.
“Getting to the River of Forgetfulness isn't easy. This river is the waterway for souls from the underworld. After people die, ghostly emissaries come to the living world, drag away any ghosts clinging to it, and ferry them across the River of Forgetfulness into the underworld.”
Granny Sha then brought out a bundle of hemp rope, dozens of zhang long and incredibly tough. The other end was tied to a massive hook—huge, with a razor-sharp point like a fishhook, but weighing at least a dozen catties.
Chen Shi had fished before and seen hooks of all sizes, but never one this enormous. He wondered,
“A hook this big—what kind of fish is Granny trying to catch? And the bait for a hook like that must be massive too, right?”
Granny Sha slung the hook and rope over her back and headed out of the village. Chen Shi hurried after her.
Though this little old lady was advanced in years, her steps were light and spry—Chen Shi had to give it his all just to keep up.
They walked over ten li and arrived at the mouth where the Jade Belt River flowed into the De River. Here, the De River surged with mighty, turbulent waters. Following its course downstream, it was only two hundred li to the sea mouth.
“All flowing rivers in the world connect to the River of Forgetfulness, so you can enter it through any of them.”
Granny Sha picked a large tree by the riverbank and tied the rope to it.
“Letting ghosts into the River of Forgetfulness is simple, but getting a living person in takes a little trickery.”
She grabbed the hook, her cloudy old eyes glinting with cunning as she smiled.
“There's a kind of giant fish in this river that swims between the yin and yang realms—called kun. Kun love eating people. When a kun eats someone who's swallowed the hook, the pain makes it flee into the underworld, straight into the River of Forgetfulness.”
Chen Shi's heart skipped a beat.
“Granny, does this hook go in through my mouth and out my chin?”
He knew he was the bait.
Granny Sha shook her head.
Chen Shi paled.
“Out through my stomach?”
Granny Sha circled behind him and threaded the absurdly large hook through the gaps in the iron chain, chuckling,
“You think I'm threading you like an earthworm? If I did that, your grandpa would come after me with a vengeance!”
Chen Shi relaxed a little.
“Granny, what is it you lost in the River of Forgetfulness?”
Granny Sha's eyes flickered.
“A copper lamp, with a handle. The light isn't bright, but you'll spot it from afar.”
Chen Shi frowned.
“Granny, when did you lose it?”
“Nine years ago.”
“Nine years ago? Why haven't you gone looking for it before?”
Chen Shi grew more puzzled.
“Where did you lose it? If I go down from here, can I find that lamp?”
Granny Sha's gaze darted away as she snapped,
“Quit yapping! You going or not?”
“Going! Of course I'm going!”
Chen Shi paused, then added,
“Once that big fish swallows me, how do I get out of its mouth?”
“How should I know? I've never been eaten.”
Granny Sha grew even more evasive.
“You'll figure it out once you're down there. Don't worry—if you find the lamp, just yank hard on the hemp rope. I'll feel it from the shore and pull you back to the living world. You won't come to any harm!”
Chen Shi asked,
“One more question, Granny—have you ever tried this treasure-hunting method before?”
“Of course I have!”
Granny Sha beamed and urged him on.
“Hurry down and hurry back—don't worry your grandpa!”
Chen Shi eased cautiously into the water. It wasn't that he was timid; it just felt unreliable to use himself as bait to hook a giant fish that could enter the River of Forgetfulness in the underworld, then search the river for treasure.
The De River's current was ferocious, the water battering him like a dozen people shoving at once, making it hard to stand steady.
Chen Shi glanced at the river surface—vortices of all sizes swirled downstream, a clear sign the deeper water was even more violent!
“Wade out deeper!” Granny Sha called from the shore.
Chen Shi shouted back,
“Granny, if I can't find it, you still have to tell me where that temple is!”
Granny Sha promised repeatedly.
Chen Shi pressed into deeper water, the dozens of catties of iron chain and hook dragging on him. He worried he might not be able to swim back up. If he drowned in the river...
“Granny would summon my soul anyway—I wouldn't really die!”
Emboldened, Chen Shi waded deeper.
Seeing him enter the water lifted Granny Sha's heart into her throat too. She muttered inwardly,
“The ancient books describe this method—using a person to hook the kun that shuttles between yin and yang. But the books don't say how the person gets out of the fish's mouth.”
She grew uneasy. Using a human as bait to hook a kun that crossed realms was a first for her too.
She had no guarantee it would work.
Suddenly, Chen Shi's foot slipped, and he sank underwater—Granny Sha's heart clenched!
But the next instant, he surfaced again.
After this period of cultivation, his body was far stronger than before. In the past, dozens of catties weighing him down would have dragged him straight to the bottom, helpless. Now, he could even swim up to the surface with ease.
Granny Sha breathed a sigh of relief. Then a massive *plop* echoed from the river, sending up a spray two or three zhang high. In the waves, a gigantic tail flashed above the water—azure-black scales gleaming in the sunlight with a metallic sheen like forged iron!
That tail fin looked even bigger than the fishing boats on the river!
“So huge?” Granny Sha stared, dumbfounded.
Chen Shi heard the noise too and looked up frantically, but he only saw the white foam on the surface—no sign of whatever was thrashing around.
Panic rose in him. Then Granny Sha's voice carried from the shore:
“I see a big kun! Swim deeper and lure it to eat you!”
Chen Shi yelled,
“Granny, where's the kun? I can't see it!”
Granny Sha peered into the river. The turbulent surface erupted in waves, something enormous hurtling beneath. Vaguely, she spotted a head bigger than a house in the depths, jaws yawning open to reveal two rows of razor-sharp steel teeth, top and bottom.
Granny Sha's heart lurched again—this kun was way too big, beyond her expectations!
And with teeth like that, Chen Shi would be chewed to bits before it even swallowed him!
“The hemp rope in my hands probably can't withstand this beast. One tug from the big kun, and it'll snap! Even if it doesn't break the rope, those teeth could saw right through!”
With that thought, she gripped the rope with both hands and yanked it back and forth, hauling Chen Shi toward the shore from the water.
Chen Shi sensed the colossal thing rocketing toward him from below and panicked too. He swam furiously toward shore along the rope.
*Crack!*
A thunderous roar exploded from the river surface. Chen Shi whipped his head around, eyes widening in horror. A massive azure-black fish the size of a hill launched from the water, its shadow blotting out both suns as its abyss-like maw gaped wide, lunging to bite him!
*Boom!*
The giant kun slammed back into the river. Granny Sha felt the rope yank savagely, dragging her figure forward toward the water!
In the next moment, the massive tree the rope was tied to shook violently from the immense force, its trunk tilting toward the bank!
Granny Sha pulled with all her might, but before she could steady her footing—*snap!*—the rope broke and whipped out of the water, smacking the shore!
Granny Sha stood there stunned. In the river, the giant fish thrashed wildly. Then, abruptly, a flash of blue light erupted from below, and the fish vanished!
“It's over, it's over...”
Cold sweat poured down Granny Sha's forehead. Her body trembled as she shakily reeled in the remaining rope. The break was perfectly clean—severed by the big kun's teeth.
“Little Ten's probably been bitten to shreds by now. Even if I know how to summon souls, I can't bring him back to life... How am I supposed to explain this to old man Chen?”
