Chapter 27
Chapter 27
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: Chapter 27 The gossip stirs up the storm, and the two worlds shuttle through the dragon gate
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"Already turned into white bones, yet still alive?"
Chen Shi's heart jolted. He pried open the skeletal fingers gripping the copper lamp with all his might and swam upward, lamp in hand.
The copper lamp hadn't seemed large in the tall skeleton's grasp, but in Chen Shi's hands, it was nearly as tall as he was—frighteningly huge and equally heavy.
He glanced back to see the tall skeleton fully awakened, seething with rage. Its leg bones—mere skeletons now—crouched on the riverbed before launching upward in pursuit!
A sharp crack echoed as one of its thigh bones snapped, sending its leap veering off course and crashing to the side.
Chen Shi felt both terror and amusement.
The tall skeleton's bones were covered in scars: cuts from blades, dents from blunt force, even burns from spells.
It couldn't exert force—doing so would shatter those damaged bones.
Not only that, Chen Shi noticed several missing ribs, nowhere to be seen.
Now with a broken leg, it swam like a three-legged toad, its posture absurdly comical.
Yet despite the laughter it inspired, its swimming speed far outpaced Chen Shi's!
He dared not slacken, pouring every ounce of strength into swimming toward the surface while thoughts raced through his mind.
'The reason this tall skeleton is still alive is the same as mine—we both crossed from the阳间 to the underworld, our flesh dissolving until only bones remained.
'This copper lamp probably isn't Granny Sha's treasure at all—it's his!
'Granny Sha was fixated on it, so it must be extraordinary. But how did she know it would end up in the River of Forgetfulness? Right—that man must have suffered fatal wounds and fallen into the river with the lamp!
'Granny Sha wasn't sure if he was dead, so she waited nine years. After all that time, his injuries surely flared up and killed him off in some unlucky way. That's why she sent me down to fetch the lamp.
'But she never imagined that entering the River of Forgetfulness stripped away his flesh, leaving only bones—and in doing so, erased his fatal wounds. He couldn't leave the river, though, so he sank into slumber at the bottom.'
Just as this dawned on him, wooden boats shuttled across the river surface like weaving threads, converging from all directions.
Aboard them stood immensely powerful figures—the tall skinny monsters!
Chen Shi's heart skipped. Surfacing now would mean getting caught by those tall skinny monsters and devoured on the spot!
He started to veer away, but the tall skeleton was already closing in from below.
Chen Shi clutched the copper lamp with both hands, kicking furiously with his legs to evade it, yet the tall skeleton drew nearer still!
Above, a cyan stone path stretched from the阳间 straight to the River of Forgetfulness. At its end, Granny Sha's diminutive form loomed majestically atop the altar.
The boats caught her eye, tightening her chest.
"Damn it. These old rivals arrived so quickly!"
She knew if these infernal messengers seized the passage, Chen Shi would never make it through—likely snatched and eaten before he even surfaced. Steel resolve hardened her heart; she stepped forward onto the cyan stone path.
"The Heavenly Emperor birthed me, the Imperial Heavens nurtured me. Sun and moon illuminate me, the Big Dipper aids me. Mountains and rivers guide me, the hundred spirits serve me. Yin and yang flow through me, the Wind Earl escorts me. The celestial kitchens provide for me, purple clouds canopy me, divine herbs heal me!"
Her ragged clothes billowed as grand voices echoed around her.
"Endless journeys: enter the sea and emerge through the heavenly gates, enter the river and exit through the earthly doors! With the Director of Destinies lifting me, what desire unmet, what point unstruck!"
Divine light enveloped her body, manifesting the Big Dipper orbiting her form, sun and moon dangling in splendor. Yin and yang intertwined, purple clouds forming a华盖, radiant light coalescing into divine herbs behind her. Runes wove together, shaping an Eight Trigrams Furnace around her.
This so-called Supreme Eight Trigrams Protective Incantation was merely a simplified version of her Supreme Eight Trigrams Body Protection Art!
Granny Sha charged toward the boats.
"Little Ten, follow my drumbeats back!"
Thunder roared. Intense lightning blazed down from the surface, illuminating the River of Forgetfulness depths crystal clear.
Chen Shi dodged the tall skeleton's pursuit with desperate effort. In a hurried glance upward, he saw what seemed an imperial goddess shrouded in brilliant golden light atop the river, her stature towering. With every gesture, she churned the waters, clashing against the inhuman boat monsters!
Drumbeats thrummed, accompanied by a rustling rhythm that grew ever denser!
The drums echoed from the阳间, guiding Chen Shi and urging his swift return.
"Buzz—"
A massive Eight Trigrams rune trembled—one long stroke, two short—slicing through the River of Forgetfulness, stirring massive currents that unbalanced Chen Shi and the tall skeleton.
The rune abruptly transformed into a mountain peak, surging skyward from the depths to crush down on a boat monster.
Granny Sha's voice rang out over the river: "Come on! Nine years ago, I stormed the underworld alone and stole that child's soul—I wasn't afraid of you then, and I'm not now!"
"Whoosh—"
Suddenly, the Thunder Trigram rune plunged into the water, emerging as a bolt of lightning. Thick bolts crashed across the surface, thunderflashes igniting clusters of thunderfire that rampaged over the waves!
The Fire Trigram became flames, the Wind Trigram howling black gales, the Earth Trigram heavy yellow soil, the Heaven Trigram azure skies—plunging the River of Forgetfulness into darkness and chaos!
The terrifying shockwaves swept the waters, further unsteadying Chen Shi and the tall skeleton.
Fleshless, they propelled through the river on bones alone—a cumbersome affair at best. The churning currents made it worse.
Fortunately, Chen Shi was a skeleton and needed no breath, or he'd have drowned long ago.
"Granny Sha is this strong?"
Chen Shi was utterly astonished. She seemed like a mere rural old woman, scraping by with soul-summoning tricks—yet her power was overwhelming!
A cyan stone path bridging the realms, marching right into the underworld's River of Forgetfulness to rescue him!
Was this something a country granny could pull off?
"Grandpa said that back then, after I was hurt, she raced everywhere, pulling every string to summon my soul."
Chen Shi suddenly wondered: if Granny Sha went all-out to summon a soul, what a spectacle that would be?
But he remembered nothing.
All memories before two years ago had dissolved into dreamlike bubbles—a total blank.
Chen Shi tried swimming toward the cyan stone path, only to be flipped by the torrents time and again.
The currents grew fiercer the closer to the surface, those boat monsters formidable in strength—and crucially, endless in number, with more streaming in!
More boats sped from afar, each bearing a tall skinny monster joining the fray to besiege Granny Sha!
Even the Supreme Eight Trigrams Body Protection Art strained under the onslaught; Granny Sha struggled mightily.
From below, Chen Shi watched cyan stones erupt from the path, exploding and shortening the interworld bridge!
The influx of tall skinny monsters was too much—Granny Sha wouldn't hold out long!
The drumbeats quickened, betraying her mounting urgency.
Chen Shi grew frantic. The tall skeleton tumbling with him in the rapids inched ever closer; soon it'd seize him.
Suddenly, amid the chaos, Chen Shi spotted a bone fish over thirty feet long—the giant Kun. His heart stirred; he stopped fighting the current and rode it toward the beast.
The giant Kun charged upstream. Though boned, its spines and fins retained piscine form, letting it outpace Chen Shi and the skeleton by far.
It barreled toward him. Chen Shi hugged the lamp with one arm, snagging a fin with the other. A massive pull jerked him; violent jolts followed as the Kun rocketed through the water at blinding speed!
Thrill and shock mingled in Chen Shi when the Kun slowed. Glancing back, he saw the tall skeleton clutching its tail, clambering upward hand over hand.
"Persistent ghost!"
Chen Shi gritted his teeth. He threaded his arms through the sheep horns, slinging the lamp onto his back, then clambered forward hand over hand himself.
The tall skeleton moved faster, and the Kun's body was only about thirty feet— it'd catch him soon.
Chen Shi pressed on, but the spine bones were too thick to grip well; he nearly slipped, forcing a scramble to the backbone. Limbs flailing, he clambered over belly ribs toward the gills.
From behind, the skeleton pursued, its hand—four times normal size—lunging for his legs.
Chen Shi yanked them up, dodging the grab, and finally reached the gills, diving inside.
The skeleton arrived too but was too bulky to enter, thrusting its long arms in to swipe wildly.
Chen Shi huddled in the mouth, evading the skeletal hand.
Its bone tips were razor-sharp; a touch would sever his bones easily!
Suddenly, Chen Shi's eyes fixed on the hook in the Kun's throat bone—the same one that had snagged it when he entered the river.
He yanked it free, lashed the chain to his slender right arm bone, and swung at the intruding hand.
Its bones bore deep wounds; shattering it would neutralize the threat.
But as his chain-wrapped fist grazed the arm bone, a shock rippled through him, nearly disassembling his skeleton in agony.
The hand sensed the contact and whipped toward him.
At that instant, the Kun accelerated wildly. A surge of eerie blue light—from nowhere—engulfed Chen Shi, the skeleton, and the Kun alike!
Simultaneously, Granny Sha's cyan stone path shattered with a boom. At its end, she let out a helpless sigh, her form yanked back to the阳间 by invisible force.
"Buzz!"
Beside the De River altar, space quaked violently. Granny Sha materialized abruptly, her aura plummeting.
The shockwave hurled the five ghost kings off balance, sliding them back as the altar groaned and collapsed!
Granny Sha stared straight ahead. On the river, black mists dispersed; the cyan stone path crumbled utterly, vanishing.
Her body trembled; old tears spilled.
She'd failed to save the child after all.
Just like back then.
At that moment, the river surface split. A massive fish radiating bluish-black light leaped out, jaws agape with fangs, spitting a dark clump skyward with a splat.
The clump unfurled midair—tiny Chen Shi, a sheep-horn copper lamp nearly his height strapped to his back. The lamp still glowed faintly.
Chen Shi stretched in flight toward shore, clutching a chain segment ending in a huge fishhook.
Likely the hook had caught in the Kun's throat, forcing it to regurgitate him.
And clinging to the Kun's gills was a horse-headed humanoid monster—gaunt and towering, five adults tall, bloodied and scarred, one leg missing.
This horse-headed beast was the tall skeleton that hunted Chen Shi: an infernal messenger from the underworld. Gravely wounded, it'd hidden beneath the River of Forgetfulness for survival. Now, robbed of the sheep-horn copper lamp, it followed the Kun to the阳间 heedless of its injuries.
Like Chen Shi and the Kun, it regained flesh upon crossing.
With flesh restored, so too its wounds healed.
But they were far graver than nine years prior!
The horse-headed monster wouldn't let the lamp be stolen. It leaped on one leg from behind, pouncing at Chen Shi.
Granny Sha gaped, clueless to the cause.
Boom! Chen Shi bent his knees, landing steadily.
Behind him, the Kun vaulted again, bloodied maw engulfing the airborne horse-headed monster before plunging back with a splash, waves soaring ten feet high.