Chapter 4
Chapter 4
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Guardians of the True King's Tomb
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"Those folks from New Township come hunting for treasure? Fine, hunt all you want. But why do they always have to go and kill to silence the witnesses?"
Chen Shi, in his porcelain doll form, fled that Ghost God Domain and bounded through the mountains with nimble leaps.
The villagers of Huangpo Village had never cared about the Tomb of the True King, and neither did Chen Shi care for its treasures. If these people came seeking treasure without murderous intent, he would even gladly lead them straight to the real tomb.
Unfortunately, every group that came treasure-hunting turned murderous against him.
He darted through dense thickets of forest, swam across rivers, and arrived at another wondrous place.
Here lay bluestone-paved roads and steps, flanked by towering pines and cypresses with gnarled bark and sturdy branches. Before the trees stood massive stone statues of men and beasts, each two or three zhang tall.
This was the Tomb of the True King that the Purple-Clothed Woman and her group had desperately sought in vain.
The tomb lay just two or three li from the Kiln Works, but the mountain terrain was treacherous—impossible to find without a guide.
Chen Shi, however, knew the way like the back of his hand. This was Qianyang Mountain; he and Grandpa had ventured into it countless times. He might not know every blade of grass, but he had every tree's position memorized.
Chen Shi leaped down from a boulder, landing with a crisp clack as his foot met the rocky ground.
The boy startled and quickly lifted his foot for a close look. Seeing no broken toes or foot bones from the stone, he relaxed.
After all, he was porcelain now—fragile stuff. One misstep, and he'd shatter to pieces.
He proceeded along the tomb path. As he moved, the surrounding trees and stone statues began to tremble in unison!
The trees swayed, their branches writhing like massive serpents, thick and ferocious.
Stone dust rained from the statues' surfaces as if flesh were budding beneath. The majestic divine beasts seemed to stir to life, exuding savage auras from within!
Chen Shi pressed forward against mounting pressure. His tiny frame grew taller and larger, no longer porcelain but gradually reverting to flesh and blood.
The Tomb of the True King was enveloped in an even mightier Ghost God Domain!
This domain suppressed the Kiln Works' Ghost God Domain effect on Chen Shi, restoring him to his normal body!
Chen Shi continued onward. The heavens and earth warped around him, mountains rippling like waves. The colossal divine beasts wrenched their claws from the mountainside, unleashing heaven-shaking auras!
Chen Shi had fully recovered, purging the Kiln Works domain's side effects entirely. Yet he gritted his teeth and pushed ahead.
Ahead loomed a stone stele, its inscribed characters glowing with fiery golden light, barely discernible.
Chen Shi strained to make out the text while pulling out a piece of spirit jerky he'd taken from the Purple-Clothed Woman and Second Miss Zhao. He popped it into his mouth and chewed.
The spirit jerky slid down his throat, flooding his limbs with vast spiritual power. It stirred his true qi, forming a Divine Shrine at the back of his mind!
Chen Shi felt his body brim with immense power. He clenched his jaw and forged ahead against the intensifying pressure.
He had read most of the stele's text when a voice rang out, chuckling. "Little one, go any farther, and the Ghost God Domain will fully activate. Even your grandpa couldn't save you then. Don't be greedy. Head back."
The speaker wasn't human but the nearest tomb guardian: a manlike figure with straight sheep horns, a nose dominating half his face, a fake-looking smile, and eyes gleaming with menace that chilled the soul.
"I've some old ties with your grandpa. I don't want you dying here."
The sheep-horned tomb guardian smiled mildly, while the others roared thunderously. Their ferocious blood qi formed crimson clouds, reeking of blood, poised to pounce on Chen Shi at any moment!
"Besides, nightfall's coming."
The sheep-horned tomb guardian's face stayed kind as he advised, "Night's dangerous. You won't escape then."
Chen Shi bowed and chirped crisply, "Thank you, Uncle Sheep-Horn!"
The sheep-horned tomb guardian smiled and waved him off. "Off with you, quick!"
Chen Shi glanced back wistfully, eyeing the stele, then left in dejection.
He exited the Ghost God Domain, and the spirit jerky's effects faded, his mind's Divine Shrine dissipating.
Chen Shi sighed, his face dimming.
He didn't want to be a cripple.
He wanted to read books, cultivate, take the county and township exams, become a scholar or a juren—like other kids.
He wanted Grandpa to feel proud of him, not care for him forever!
"Nightfall's coming!"
Chen Shi rallied his spirits, tilting his head to the sky. His face changed; he quickened his pace.
Two great suns hung left and right in the midday sky, still blazing hot. Strangely, they were elongating like a pair of eyes slowly closing their lids.
With sharp enough eyes, one could see beyond the sky: a colossal face floating behind the suns, the blazing orbs its eyes.
Now those eyes slowly shut, endless fire surging from beneath the lids into the upper atmosphere, eighty li above ground, forming a sea of flames spanning tens of thousands of li—brilliant as sunset!
Behind that face loomed the vague silhouette of an immense figure, cross-legged in profound darkness.
This supreme being was the sole true god of West Ox New Continent!
The true god sat in the void, boundless and towering. When he opened his eyes, day broke, fire streaming to light the world.
When he closed them, night fell, and the vertical eye on his brow would slowly open, casting ghostly light to pierce the darkness.
As the world dimmed, bizarre things awakened under the moonlight, making the night perilous outside.
People caught outdoors had to find safe shelter before dark, or risk their lives.
The sky grew ever more vividly red—a sign of the suns setting!
Tomb of the True King, Ghost God Domain.
The sheep-horned tomb guardian gazed at the reddening sky, eyes narrowed, lost in thought.
"Big Brother, why let that human boy go?" A massive tomb guardian rumbled angrily upon awakening.
Over two zhang tall, wreathed in flames, lionlike with a single horn and double wings—fierce beyond measure.
The other tomb guardians grumbled their discontent.
Once they'd vented, the sheep-horned one sneered. "You think I didn't want to crush him? The little pest runs here over and over, borrowing the True King's might to shield himself. In the old days, he'd be dead a thousand times over! But he's got a formidable grandpa."
He sighed, then continued, "His grandpa's no joke—you've all seen him. He forced his way in years ago; we trapped him nine days and nights, but he still snatched a funerary scripture and strolled out."
The other tomb guardians fell silent.
The sheep-horned one puzzled, "He took the Water-Fire Tempering Art, a method for corpse-dissolution immortality. Wonder what for."
Someone muttered, "But that guy's old now, probably dying, right?"
The sheep-horned one eyed Chen Shi's departure direction faintly. "Maybe dead already. Last time I glimpsed him from afar, he didn't look alive. Took the Water-Fire Tempering for corpse-dissolution immortality?"
One tomb guardian said, "That kid earlier didn't seem human either. No vital qi..."
Before it finished, a strange force surged, petrifying the tomb guardians against their will.
Meanwhile, Chen Shi burst from the woods, racing straight for Huangpo Village.
The twin suns in the sky sank into darkness as the god beyond closed his eyes, the flowing fire extinguishing.
Gradually, cold, silvery moonlight beamed from the true god's brow.
Moonlight like silver rained upon the earth.
Across West Ox New Continent, mysterious powers swiftly revived under the moon. Households barred doors and hung Peach Talismans.
Eerie cries echoed from the woods, like ghostly wails.
In the forest, a massive head—like a deflated balloon—slowly inflated and floated up. Half a mu in size, its features twisted, then sharpened in the moonlight as it turned toward Chen Shi.
The giant face grinned oddly and drifted toward the boy, bobbing.
Grandpa called these "Evils."
Evils weren't always giant heads but night-prowling monstrosities that vanished by dawn.
Encounter one, and you died.
Uncanny as hell.
At this life-or-death moment, Chen Shi swallowed his last piece of spirit jerky, channeling his art. Starlight dotted the sky, flowing to him and gathering into a tiny Divine Shrine behind his mind.
Divine power swirled in the shrine, boosting his speed—he drew nearer to Huangpo Village!
The art he channeled wasn't from the private school.
The school's method was the Heavenly Heart Righteous Qi Art. After his Divine Embryo was cut out, Chen Shi had tried it, but without the embryo, his true qi became rootless, dissipating uncontrollably.
This was the art from the Tomb of the True King's stele: Three Lights Righteous Qi!
The "three lights" meant sunlight, moonlight, and starlight.
Gather the three lights to cultivate your righteous qi, the stele proclaimed.
Sun and moon light were fiercest; starlight faintest.
Chen Shi could never draw sun or moon light, managing only starlight righteous qi.
His repeated trips to the tomb served two purposes: borrow its power to break the Kiln Works domain's hold, and claim the full Three Lights Righteous Qi Art!
He'd failed again, but he'd memorized most of it and could now channel it smoothly!
"The True King's art is incredible—far beyond the school's Heavenly Heart Righteous Qi Art!"
Chen Shi circulated starlight righteous qi, each step covering a zhang. Huangpo Village lay ahead.
The village held one or two hundred households, centered on an ancient colossal tree towering like a small mountain, lush and verdant.
Villagers built homes around the tree in five concentric rings.
Moonlight bathed the earth; the tree's leaves rustled, drinking it in. Branches danced like serpents—bewitchingly eerie.
A tall figure stood at the village entrance, face shrouded in shadow, seemingly awaiting Chen Shi's return.
"Grandpa!"
Chen Shi's heart leaped; he sped up. Reaching the tall elder, he felt the air chill abruptly, cold sweeping in.
Then the last spirit jerky's power ebbed; his mind's Divine Shrine wavered. Even channeling Three Lights Righteous Qi couldn't halt its collapse.
Finally, the shrine crumbled, true qi scattering to nothing.
Chen Shi felt his power drain away and grew despondent.
Even the True King's art couldn't let him cultivate normally.
"Time to head home and take your medicine." Grandpa eyed the drifting giant head and said.
"Got it."
Chen Shi looked up, trying to see Grandpa's face, but moonlight cast shadows over it, obscuring details.
He hadn't clearly seen Grandpa's face in days.
Oddly, up close, he caught a faint rotten stench—like meat, but not the usual spoiled sort.
He tried tracing the smell, but Grandpa's medicinal odor masked most of it.
The pair headed into Huangpo Village. Households along the way yanked playing children indoors and slammed doors upon spotting them.
Chen Shi eyed the homes: oil lamps flickered, owners' silhouettes on the windows, clearly peeking stealthily.
"Good folks don't live long—disaster's back." Someone whispered from the dark.
"They've noticed Grandpa's off too?"
Chen Shi heard the murmurs, heart uneasy. "They won't hurt Grandpa, will they?"