Chapter 26
Chapter 26
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: The Fallen Guardian of the Copper Lamp
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Granny Sha's face flickered between shades of gloom and uncertainty. Even if Chen Shi hadn't been bitten to death by the great Kun, he would still be lost in the River of Forgetfulness, unable to return. She wouldn't be able to give an accounting to Chen Yindu either!
"Without the hemp rope, he can't come back from the River of Forgetfulness... This is all my fault for being greedy. I actually wanted to use this child to search for that treasure in the River of Forgetfulness, and in the end, I harmed him! If only I'd known—I should have just told him directly where that ancient temple was."
Regret gnawed at her heart, but what had happened was done. Self-recrimination wouldn't change a thing. Right now, the only thing to do was check whether Chen Shi was truly dead.
If he wasn't...
She could still make amends.
If he was...
"Then I'll have no choice but to atone to Old Chen Head with my life!"
Granny Sha bit the tip of her right index finger and used her own blood to draw a talisman in midair. What she drew was a soul-summoning talisman.
Strangely enough, her blood hovered in the air without a hint of falling, as if held fast by some peculiar force.
With flicks of her finger, she inscribed a talisman three feet long and just two inches wide.
At the top were the decrees of the Three Pure Ones; below them, the gang scripts for the three souls and seven po. The form was simple.
To draw a talisman out of thin air—this was an attainment that shocked the world, the dream of every talisman master. Yet Granny Sha looked every bit the ordinary old woman, with nothing extraordinary about her.
The soul-summoning power bursting from this talisman was overwhelmingly mighty. In an instant, it crossed the boundary between yin and yang, piercing straight to the underworld!
Granny Sha knew she had made a grave error, so this soul-summoning talisman was different from her usual ones. This time, she had used her own heart essence blood.
Heart essence blood was the purest yang and most rigid essence, exceedingly scarce—barely enough for a single talisman. But its power was no small matter.
If Chen Shi really was dead, even if he'd been hauled before Yama's hall, she could snatch his soul back from the King of Hell's grasp with this talisman alone!
Yet the talisman burned itself to cinders, and still, Granny Sha failed to summon Chen Shi's soul.
"Good... as long as he's not dead, that's good!"
Granny Sha breathed a sigh of relief. Then she stomped her foot.
Her little old lady's shadow suddenly sprouted wildly across the ground in all directions like tangled branches. From within the shadow emerged five green-faced, fanged ghost kings, who stood tall in the air with arms crossed, awaiting orders.
With a flicker of Granny Sha's intent, the five ghosts howled off into the distance.
Moments later, countless bricks came flying in. In short order, they erected an altar on the bank of the De River—thirty-six feet long and wide, twelve feet high.
The five ghost kings clutched massive banners and took positions at the altar's five corners, each presiding over one of the five elements.
Granny Sha produced the King Wen Drum.
This drum was like no other—like a drum but not quite, like a gong yet not—a bizarre instrument with hide stretched over only one side, the other open and empty. Ropes crisscrossed its interior, graspable by hand.
The rustling drumbeats Chen Shi had heard in the underworld before came from this very instrument.
Granny Sha shook the King Wen Drum. At once,阴 winds howled, and in a blink, the surface of the De River plunged into darkness like deepest night. Not even the sun's rays could pierce that blackness.
"In my lifetime, I've summoned who knows how many souls from the underworld. I've offended far too many infernal bailiffs and ghost kings. Making a move like this is bound to draw the eyes of old rivals looking for payback! But I can't worry about that now!"
Granny Sha let out a sharp shout. The drum resounded with a boom. In the darkness, a path of青 stone slabs rattled out from the altar, extending into the river.
This little old woman had forged a road linking the yin and yang realms with her own magical power, all to guide Chen Shi back from the River of Forgetfulness in the underworld!
"Little Ten!"
Her voice carried into the underworld.
"Follow the sound of my drum. I'll guide you back to the world of the living!"
Meanwhile, inside the great Kun's maw, Chen Shi clung desperately to the fishhook. The hook was sunk deep into the soft flesh beside the massive fish's throat bone.
That throat bone served as the creature's rear molars. As upper and lower ground together, it was like two ten-thousand-catty iron slabs colliding. Each crunch sent sparks flying and numbed Chen Shi's arms!
But he couldn't let go. He was deep inside the fish's mouth now, and its other rows of teeth were gnashing with clicks, trying to seize him and fling him out.
If he released his grip, he'd be diced into countless fragments in an instant!
Just moments ago, the instant the great Kun lunged, he'd kicked off fiercely in the water and leaped right into its mouth. That was how he'd escaped being snapped in half at the waist.
But his predicament now was dire. If the hook slipped free, he'd still be pulverized!
Suddenly, a flash of blue light swept past. In that instant, every scrap of flesh and blood vanished from the great Kun's body. Only its enormous fish skeleton remained, gliding through the water.
Chen Shi lifted his hand and saw that the flesh had vanished from his own arm too, leaving only bone.
He glanced down at himself. His body was the same—all flesh gone, reduced to a white skeleton!
"Have I entered the River of Forgetfulness?"
Chen Shi was stunned.
The fishhook had been lodged in the great Kun's flesh before. Now that the great Kun was nothing but bones, the hook had come loose. Chen Shi snatched it up, and his heart sank.
The hemp rope was severed.
"How am I supposed to get back... Granny Sha's methods are incredible. She'll find a way. For now, the priority is finding that copper lamp she dropped!"
Chen Shi unslung the iron chain from his body and fastened the heavy hook to it. He hooked it onto the great Kun's throat bone, rallied his spirits, and swam out through the gaps in its gill bones.
Without flesh, the great Kun could no longer hold him.
Even stranger, the great Kun showed no interest in Chen Shi now that he was bones too. It swam right past him without snapping him up.
"Since the great Kun can swim from the living world to the underworld, it must be able to swim back the other way too."
Chen Shi thought to himself,
"If Granny Sha can't find me, I'll latch onto this big fish and let it carry me back to the living world. I just don't know when it'll head that way."
The great Kun drifted aimlessly, showing no sign of hurrying back.
Chen Shi relaxed a bit and began searching the River of Forgetfulness.
Blue ghostly light flickered through the river. Wooden boats passed overhead on the surface, casting dappled shadows below.
The riverbed was lined with bizarre corals, jagged rocks, and massive shells of great thickness. Bone fish darted about—likely the great Kun in its juvenile form.
These kun were small, dwelling in the underworld's River of Forgetfulness rather than venturing to the living world. Probably because there were no predators down here.
Chen Shi scanned about for a good while. Aside from himself, there were no other skeletons. It seemed there were no humans in this river.
"These shells can cross between the worlds of yin and yang too?"
Chen Shi pried open a huge shell. There was no shell meat inside. Instead, a panicked little boy huddled within—around ten years old. He hurriedly signaled Chen Shi to be quiet, grabbed the shell, and clamped it shut again.
Chen Shi was astonished. He was in skeleton form, yet this boy had flesh and blood!
"But the River of Forgetfulness reverses things. The great Kun and I had flesh when we entered, and we turned to bone. This boy must be a skeleton outside—in here, he's flesh and blood."
Chen Shi had questions. He pried the shell open again. The boy lay curled between the two halves. Seeing Chen Shi, he panicked, pointed upward, and moved to close the shell.
Chen Shi smiled.
"What's up there?"
Suddenly, a sickly green glow shone down from above, sweeping across the riverbed. The boy, desperate, seized Chen Shi's arm and yanked him into the shell before slamming it shut.
The green light buzzed past the riverbed. It retracted to the surface. Peering through the shell's seam, Chen Shi saw the glow came from a wooden boat passing overhead.
A tall, gaunt figure stood upon the boat. The green light shot from its eyes!
Chen Shi's heart lurched. The figure must have sensed the movement below and peered down!
That gaze was horrifying. Being caught in it spelled danger!
Chen Shi was about to thank the boy when the child inside the shell kicked him hard, shoving him out.
Chen Shi turned to thank him, but the boy had already sealed the shell tight, refusing to emerge.
"Hello. I'm Chen Shi. I'm not here to steal your house. I'm looking for a copper lamp—one that fell into the River of Forgetfulness nine years ago. Do you know where it is?"
An arm poked out from the shell, crooked and pointing off into the distance.
"Thanks."
Chen Shi followed the indicated direction. Along the way, shell after shell cracked open quietly. Inside hid children, boys and girls alike, peeking out curiously at him.
A few adults—men and women, even elders—were tucked away here and there, though far fewer in number.
Whenever a wooden boat passed overhead, though, they all slammed their shells shut in panic. They clearly feared the tall, gaunt figures on those boats.
"Buzz!"
Another beam of light lanced down—the gaze of a tall figure on a boat, piercing the River of Forgetfulness to the riverbed. It fell upon a boy who hadn't hidden fast enough.
The boy rose helplessly into the beam, floated to the surface, and was seized by the tall figure.
Chen Shi looked up. The figure gaped its mouth—nearly splitting its head down the middle, impossibly vast—and swallowed the boy whole in one gulp.
The tall figure worked its jaw, as if still hungry for more.
Chen Shi shivered. He found an empty shell, cupped it in both hands, and trudged along the bottom. When boats passed, he crouched low and sheltered beneath it.
"What are those things on the wooden boats? And what are these children hiding in the shells?"
He couldn't help but wonder.
Then he halted, gazing at the children in their shells. A realization struck him.
"I get it now! I know why they're hiding in the shells. They're the drowned children from the De River!"
The De River's tributary, the Jade Belt River, claimed a handful of children each year who went swimming. The De River itself must have taken even more.
These drowned souls had become ghosts, washing into the River of Forgetfulness. Terrified of the boat-dwellers, they hid inside the shells!
That explained why there were so few adults and elders—fewer grown folk drowned!
Chen Shi stared at the countless large and small shells littering the riverbed and murmured,
"So many of them..."
He steadied himself and pressed on, until at last he spotted a glimmer of lamplight.
The light wasn't bright, but strangely penetrating. Its glow was visible from afar.
Chen Shi advanced. The pressure around him mounted, squeezing his bones with creaks and groans. His leg bones sank into the mud.
The farther he went, the greater the pressure. Soon the muck reached his knees, and every step was a battle.
Chen Shi looked up and finally made out the light's source.
It was indeed a copper lamp. The lamp had a handle; below it squatted a plump sheep with stubby limbs. The handle curved like sheep horns, and astride the sheep's back sat a figurine. Flame licked from the top of the figurine's head—likely where the oil was housed.
The lamp's form was eerie, especially for burning steadily underwater and casting light. It bespoke something extraordinary.
But the copper lamp was clutched in a massive white bone hand.
The palm bore no trace of flesh and was four or five times the size of a normal person's, its finger joints long and slender.
Chen Shi traced the hand upward. There sat a colossal skeleton on the riverbed—even seated, it towered two or three times his height.
Stranger still, its skull bore no resemblance to a human's!
It was an enormous head, elongated like a bird's but lacking a beak. The mouth stretched long, lined with fangs.
The eye sockets gaped wide enough to swallow an adult's fist.
The nostrils yawned equally vast.
The sight put Chen Shi in mind of the tall, gaunt figure from the boat.
"This is one of those tall figures—fallen!"
The thought had just crossed his mind when Granny Sha's voice rang out:
"Little Ten! Follow the sound of my drum. I'll guide you back to the world of the living!"
Chen Shi's spirits soared.
"Granny's here to get me!"
Without hesitation, he reached out and grabbed for the copper lamp.
The instant his palm touched the sheep-horn handle, the tall skeleton shuddered—and shook free the dust caked upon it.