Chapter 38
Chapter 38
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: [TBD]
Chapter Title: City of No Delusion
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Young Master Xiao's mention of Master Chen was none other than Chen Shi's grandfather.
Back then, outside Mirror Lake Manor, Chen Shi had heard him address his grandfather as Master Chen.
Chen Shi quickly bowed in thanks to Young Master Xiao, puzzled as he asked, "Grandpa knows about these things too?"
Young Master Xiao said indifferently, "His erudition may not match mine, but it's not far off, so naturally he knows."
Chen Shi felt perplexed in his heart. He'd always thought his grandfather was just an ordinary talisman master, but with Granny Sha and Young Master Xiao's appearances, he realized his grandfather wasn't so simple.
But if Grandpa knew these things, why hadn't he taught him?
"Why did you head out at night and end up in such a state?" Young Master Xiao asked.
Chen Shi recounted how the Zhao family had sent men to ambush him, how he'd killed them in return, and how he'd stormed into Huangyang Village to cut the grass at the root. He said sheepishly, "I'm pretty dumb. Sanwang died, so I figured I had to kill that guy to avenge him. I chased and chased, and now here I am, landing myself in danger."
"Zhao guest with flowing Hu tassels, Wu hook frosty and bright... Three cups and he spits out his pledge, the Five Sacred Mountains topple for him lightly. You have quite the侠 spirit."
Young Master Xiao showed a look of approval and said, "Your cultivation art transcends the mundane, far surpassing the Heavenly Heart Righteous Qi Art taught in private schools. The Heavenly Heart Righteous Qi Art is merely a shallow method passed to scholars—its greatest use is to nurture qi, build the foundation, refine the Divine Shrine, condense the Heavenly Heart, and receive the blessing of a true god from beyond the heavens to descend a Divine Embryo. But your art is different: it refines qi, body, and spirit, strengthening the self. Even I have rarely seen any that can compare. This art of yours... it comes from the Tomb of the True King, doesn't it?"
His gaze sharpened as it fell on Chen Shi's face, staring straight into Chen Shi's eyes, as if peering through them into his soul to discern truth from falsehood.
Chen Shi met it frankly. "This art is something I obtained in the Tomb of the True King, but Uncle Sheep Horn blocked me from going further and getting the full version. If Senior finds it good, I'll write it down and give you a copy."
Young Master Xiao was stunned. "Write a copy for me? What do you want in exchange from me?"
Chen Shi shook his head. "You're Grandpa's friend, and just now you gave me pointers without asking for anything in return. I don't have anything good to give you. If you like it, I'll give it to you. No exchange wanted."
Young Master Xiao stared into his eyes, as if trying to see if he was sincere or hypocritical.
After a moment, Young Master Xiao shook his head. "I don't want your art. It's good, but I've seen a few others of similar grade. Besides, with my current cultivation level, switching to learn someone else's art would be more loss than gain. However..."
He paused, then smiled. "You're an interesting one. Night roads are hard to make out, evils and spirits roam free—with your strength, you wouldn't last till the village. I have business tonight and can't take you back for now. Once I'm done, I'll have time. If you're willing to wait, I'll send you back. Are you willing?"
Chen Shi climbed into the carriage and laughed. "Willing."
He looked around. In the darkness, everywhere were greenish glowing spots and reddish lanterns—those were the eyes of evils and spirits, all waiting for him to be alone.
If he went back alone, even knowing the way, he probably wouldn't last long before being devoured by these evils and spirits!
He was curious in his heart. So late at night, dangers everywhere—why was Young Master Xiao heading out on business now?
The coachman cracked the long whip, coiled like a roll, snapping through the air with a crisp sound that echoed through the valley.
The four horses perked up and pulled the carriage. Clouds of qi burst from the wheels, lifting the carriage a few inches to avoid the rocks.
The four horses started off, wind at their hooves, treading on gusts of wind, exceedingly light and swift.
Chen Shi examined them. The horses' four legs bore no Galloping Horse Talismans, yet they trod on clear winds—most peculiar. They must not be purebred horses, but some exotic breed.
"Right, Galloping Horse Talismans imitate a horse's gallop, aided by the Six Ding Six Jia wind scripts and cloud scripts. These are horses with divine beast bloodlines, so of course they run fast," Chen Shi thought.
Silence reigned in the carriage, save for the rumbling wheels and clopping hooves.
After a moment, Young Master Xiao said, "Your art is good, your temperament is good, and most rare is your high aptitude and talent. Even with your Divine Embryo severed, you'll surely achieve great things in future."
"Really?" Chen Shi's eyes lit up.
Young Master Xiao said indifferently, "Why would I deceive you?"
Chen Shi was thrilled beyond measure. He needed encouragement so badly.
Since waking from his slumber, he'd groped along alone—how to cultivate, how to retain true qi, how to escape being a cripple, how to rebuild his Divine Shrine. But he had no friends. Blackie Pot couldn't talk, Grandpa didn't encourage, Godmother was a block of stone, and Scholar Zhu only spouted classical phrases.
He could only puzzle it out alone, try alone.
If trial and error failed, dying alone in the wilds, no one would know.
But Chen Shi was willing to take the risk!
He wanted to grow strong. He didn't want to be a cripple his whole life. He wanted to give Grandpa a stable, prosperous old age!
No one had acknowledged him before, but now with Young Master Xiao's approval, one can imagine his joy.
The carriage raced through the night along the silent post road, ancient trees lining both sides, bathed in moonlight with mottled shadows like monster claws.
Young Master Xiao gazed at the moonlight outside and said unhurriedly, "Once there was a man of middling talent. He didn't build his foundation until age twelve, and didn't complete it until fifteen. The so-called Hundred-Day Foundation Building for cultivators takes just a hundred days to advance realms, but he needed three or four years—showing his poor aptitude. Later, after much hardship, he passed the scholar exam, gained divine bestowal, and formed a Divine Embryo. But Divine Embryos are graded, and his was the lowest, called an Illusory Embryo, meaning a dreamlike illusion. For such a fool, do you think he could achieve greatness?"
Chen Shi shook his head.
A Divine Embryo represented a true god's recognition of a cultivator's talent. The lower the grade, the poorer the aptitude.
The lowest Illusory Embryo showed talent barely above a mortal's.
Young Master Xiao continued, "This man had a bull-headed temper, stubborn and persistent, believing he wouldn't waste his life. His classmates and colleagues had reached Soul Transformation, formed Golden Cores, even Nascent Souls, while he lingered in Divine Embryo Realm. Yet he didn't give up. He repeatedly tempered his Divine Embryo, reforged his foundations. Ten years later, he entered Soul Transformation and formed a Golden Core. By then, his old acquaintances were Refining God powerhouses, the gap widening. But in the next decade, this fool finally caught up. Another decade, and with accumulated depth bursting forth, he surged ahead, his near-invincible magic shaking the world and stunning all."
He paused, then went on. "His Illusory Embryo was near-nonexistent, yet through perseverance and tireless effort, he achieved greatness. He could do it—you might too."
Chen Shi's spirits soared, hope shining in his eyes as he looked admiringly at Young Master Xiao. "The man Senior speaks of—isn't he Senior himself?"
Young Master Xiao shook his head, proud of demeanor. "I cultivated from childhood, forming my Embryo at nine with one of the strongest kinds, renowned in youth—how could I be such a fool?"
Chen Shi was stunned, stammering, "Then this man is..."
"This fool is surnamed Chen, given name Yindu—your grandfather," Young Master Xiao said calmly.
Chen Shi was utterly shocked. Grandpa was really that impressive?
He hadn't interacted much with Young Master Xiao, but he could tell the man was arrogant and proud of substance. To earn his praise, one had to be extraordinarily outstanding.
For such a figure as Young Master Xiao to laud someone's magic as near-invincible meant it truly was!
But Grandpa looked like a decrepit old man on his last legs, his greatest skill drawing talismans to support the family.
How could he have near-invincible magic?
Just how many things was Grandpa hiding from him?
"No matter what in the past, Grandpa is old now."
Chen Shi dimmed, thinking silently, "He's aged. Even if mighty in youth, now he's just a flickering candle. Lately, he hasn't even been eating properly. He needs someone to care for him."
The carriage entered the foothills, the road ahead growing rugged, yet the four steeds trod it like flat ground.
After some unknowable time, it reached the foot of a mountain where, astonishingly, a city stood, lit bright in the night.
Chen Shi was dumbfounded. He was the local snake of Qianyang Mountain, running north and south with Grandpa—where hadn't he been?
When had a city appeared in these mountains?
The carriage entered this strange city. The walls were towering, surfaces impossibly smooth; the gate towers even higher, the gates bearing the words "No Delusion."
Seated in the carriage, Chen Shi looked to the sides and saw road-lining ghosts with green faces and fangs, hideous visages, wielding axes and forks.
His heart jolted. The city's denizens passing by were mostly gut-spilled, decapitated, or limbless—clearly dead.
Occasionally a whole one appeared, but dead or alive was unclear.
"Is this an underworld city?"
His heart crawled.
He looked about. The place brimmed with lanterns and wine, laughter and chatter unending—nothing like the underworlds he'd known.
Chen Shi had died once, visited the underworld: gloom everywhere, people shambling corpses in fog, prey for unknown things lurking within.
But here, it was a joyous city—no yang world's vexations, no underworld perils. The ghosts reveled happily.
"This place is called No Delusion. No Delusion means evil paths do not prevail, no daring to deceive or falsify. In this city, no one may lie."
Young Master Xiao said, "That's why I meet people here. The visitor is skilled at lying—not here, I wouldn't trust a word from her. Oh, right—in this place, you can't speak falsely, or your tongue gets pulled out."
Chen Shi blinked. Here, no lies allowed?
"Villagers call me Little Honest—I never lie. In this No Delusion City, I'd be right at home."
He didn't dare say it aloud, merely thinking it.
For as the thought formed, a strange force tugged at his tongue!
Luckily just a thought—if spoken, his tongue would've been gone.
"I absolutely didn't fall for that little miss!" someone by the road shouted.
Chen Shi looked: a quarreling couple. The husband had just spoken when his mouth gaped involuntarily, tongue popping out with a 'puh' and falling to the ground.
A dog darted out, snatching the wriggling tongue.
Chen Shi shivered, but saw the onlookers all grinning mouth-open.
He noticed many lacked tongues too.
"They lost theirs for lying."
Chen Shi shuddered. This city truly forbade lies!
"This city is made to trap honest folks like me!" he thought darkly.
The carriage reached a tavern and stopped. A waiter hurried out to park it in the back yard.
Young Master Xiao alighted, led by the waiter to a second-floor private room by the window.
Chen Shi observed closely. The waiter wasn't human—four arms, each holding a tray, serving diligently.
"Any good tea to soothe the mind and nurture the spirit? I'm hosting," Young Master Xiao asked.
"Replying to Lord Xiao, we just got some fresh Pu'er from Lingnan—robbed from a Lingnan merchant we killed. Superb flavor. Care to try?"
Young Master Xiao nodded lightly and waved.
The waiter bustled off to brew.
When the tea arrived, Young Master Xiao placed a ten-tael silver ingot on the table. Chen Shi eyed it familiarly.
"Picked it up on the road. Not sure who left it in the post road's middle," Young Master Xiao said.
Chen Shi felt wronged but said nothing.
The waiter pocketed the silver, serving even more diligently with platters of dried fruits and meats.
Young Master Xiao sipped tea, set down the cup, and murmured, "She's here."
Chen Shi looked down: a gaunt, towering ghost about eighteen feet tall, skeletal and hunched like starvation itself, carried a cyan lantern toward the teahouse.
Under the lantern walked a red-clad woman in a rain hat and veil, illuminated by its light.
The lantern hung high, hollow, casting a beam from its base to form a one-zhang-round light spot on the ground.
The red-clad, black-hatted woman walked primly within it.
Her figure was graceful and alluring, especially her slender waist, barely a handful.
Chen Shi couldn't help stealing extra glances.
The woman entered the teahouse. Footsteps thudded up the stairs, and she appeared—her veiled gaze swept lightly before heading their way.
Her waist soft and supple, hips full and round, tilting slightly as she sat gracefully, removing hat and veil to reveal a pretty face.
She glanced at Chen Shi and giggled, full of charm.
"Little brother, does sister look good? Want to sleep with sister?"