Chapter 6
Chapter 6
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Moon Sacrifice Day
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Early in the morning, Chen Shi woke up. Grandpa was cooking in the kitchen, his back to Chen Shi, though the blood-soaked sleeves were visible. No one knew what meat he was chopping on the cutting board.
Chen Shi glanced around.
*As long as it’s not human flesh, I can swallow anything.*
Noisy voices drifted in from outside. The villagers of Huangpo Village had arrived before the ancient tree to offer incense.
Chen Shi stepped out and saw people carrying incense and candles, trays of fruit, chickens, and ducks as they gathered beneath the village’s ancient tree.
The tree was weathered and ancient, its age unknown. Roots bulged from the earth like coiling dragons. Its branches twisted bizarrely, like giant serpents, with sparse leaves that weren’t particularly lush.
Yet the tree was festooned with red cords, each tied to a wooden plaque inscribed with the villagers’ wishes.
This ancient tree in Huangpo Village was of indeterminate age. It served as Godmother to most of the villagers. On the first day of every month, they came to worship and pray—a ritual known as the Moon Sacrifice.
The Moon Sacrifice lasted three days. The first was for honoring the Godmother; the second and third became a bustling market.
The tree was spiritual, and the one worshiped in Huangpo Village was especially potent. After nightfall, it drove away evils and sheltered the people. For that reason, the village houses were built with the tree at their center.
Offerings allowed one to make a wish to the tree—be it for marriage, children, wealth, finding lost items, or safety—and all were granted.
A young woman sat on the tree trunk. She appeared about sixteen, beautiful and poised, dressed in a light green skirt that shimmered like moonlight. Her upper body was clad in black robes embroidered with red coins, and a lotus flower gold hairpin adorned her head.
The girl was utterly silent, never making a sound.
No one in the village could see her, but Chen Shi spotted her every time he went out.
Wind or rain made no difference—she was always there on the tree.
Once, the girl on the tree had given Chen Shi a bright red fruit. Grandpa discovered it and made him throw it away, claiming it was poisoned.
*“She’s not your Godmother. She’s theirs. To her, you’re an outsider. Poison you, and the whole village becomes her godchildren.”*
That was what Grandpa had said.
“Little Ten, time to eat.”
Grandpa’s voice came from the courtyard.
Chen Shi answered and returned home to the dining table. The porridge contained rice and bits of meat, its surface an oily green with a strange odor.
There were also three side dishes: unfamiliar meat stir-fried with herbs, plus things like finger-thick worms. The smells weren’t inviting. Some of the worms were even raw, still wriggling.
Chen Shi asked cautiously,
“Grandpa, is this food or medicine?”
Grandpa didn’t turn his head.
“It’s both food and medicine. You’re sick. Eat it all.”
Chen Shi chose his words carefully.
“Grandpa, I’m already better.”
“No, you’re not.”
Grandpa’s back remained to him, his voice somewhat detached.
“Last night, you had another episode, didn’t you? You need to keep taking your medicine.”
Chen Shi’s heart skipped a beat.
*Grandpa clearly went out last night. How does he know I relapsed?*
He ignored the taste and shoveled the food into his mouth.
Though Grandpa faced away, an eye had appeared on his shoulder at some point. Nerve clusters extended like slender legs, peeking at him and overseeing his meal.
Chen Shi wolfed down the food. His stomach burned hot—hotter and hotter—like a blaze had ignited inside, scorching his heart.
It was always like this at meals, but this time the medicinal power seemed excessively strong. The blood in his heart felt like it was boiling!
He quietly circulated the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art, guiding the energy into his limbs and throughout his body. Only then did he feel some relief.
Chen Shi’s mind stirred.
*The Three Lights Righteous Qi Art draws in the three lights’ righteous qi to refine a holy embryo dharma body. I have no Divine Embryo and can’t condense mana, but what if I just refine my body into a holy embryo—without cultivating mana?*
With that thought, he skipped the true qi refinement sections of the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art, practicing only the body-refining methods. It flowed smoothly, and his physical improvement accelerated.
After the meal, Chen Shi helped Grandpa load the cart, securing daily necessities and dry rations with ropes.
The cart had wooden wheels, their hubs inscribed with numerous talismans—Galloping Horse Talismans to make it go faster.
Grandpa donned a conical hat that obscured his face. He took out cinnabar and carefully retraced the talismans on the wheels, making them sharper.
The cinnabar wasn’t mixed with water but ground with black dog blood, giving off a fishy stench. Chen Shi glanced at Blackie Pot. The black dog looked wilted—likely bled by Grandpa.
As Chen Shi helped redraw the talismans, he muttered to himself,
“Blood from the neck works best—purest yang energy, doesn’t fade when applied. Should slice it right there.”
He was still petty about the dog fetching firewood.
Blackie Pot shivered and shot him a resentful upward glance.
With preparations complete, the pair boarded the cart. The Galloping Horse Talismans on the four wheels gradually glowed. The wheels turned on their own, rumbling as they carried them out of the village.
Blackie Pot trotted along behind.
Grandpa held a bronze compass. Its needle twitched faintly. Whenever it shifted direction, so did the cart.
At the village edge, Chen Shi hopped down, grabbed incense, paper money, and raced up the slope to the old tree outside the village.
Grandpa neither stopped nor interfered.
Chen Shi burned paper and lit incense for the stone Godmother, offered fruit, and kowtowed a few times. He also lit incense for the scholar ghost hanging from the tree before dashing back to catch the cart.
Every first of the month, the pair made this trip.
Villages everywhere held Moon Sacrifices. Beyond worshiping the Godmother, it was a lively market for all sorts of goods.
Chen Shi sat on the cart and resumed cultivating the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art. Starlight sprinkled down, merging into his body.
Grandpa eyed him.
“You can take more medicine now.”
Chen Shi nearly choked on his breath. He quickly cleared his mind and focused on cultivation.
Strangely, after eating Grandpa’s “meal,” his cultivation of the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art sped up inexplicably. His body grew stronger, his limbs brimming with power!
*Even without spirit jerky, I could re-enter the Tomb of the True King and travel that distance!*
But it was still far from enough.
His goal was the complete Three Lights Righteous Qi Art!
The cart traveled over ten li to the neighboring Shanyang Village.
The village was built around an ancient pagoda—thirteen stories tall, seventy or eighty zhang high. Its bricks were crude and weathered, carved with patterns from some forgotten era.
Chen Shi looked up. On the pagoda’s second level sat a handsome young monk, receiving incense while slowly turning his head to watch their cart pass the tower.
This little monk was Shanyang Village’s Godmother.
A Godmother wasn’t always a tree. Anything with extraordinary power could accept worship, shelter an area, and be revered as such.
Shanyang Village’s true Godmother was the pagoda itself. The little monk was merely an image formed from the villagers’ worshipful energy.
*This monk’s no good either.*
The first time he’d come here, Chen Shi had rashly entered the tower and nearly been devoured as a sacrifice.
He still remembered the little monk shifting in an instant from benevolent features to a ferocious giant Buddha. The memory made him shudder.
The cart stopped. Chen Shi got off and helped Grandpa set up the stall, laying out all sorts of talismans.
The pair made their living selling them: Thousand-Li Sound Transmission Talismans to contact distant kin, Peach Talismans against evils, Galloping Horse Talismans for swift travel, Water Control Talismans for boats, Rain Master Talismans to summon rain.
Drawing talismans required forming a Divine Embryo and wielding divine power. But such people were typically juren scholars holding official posts in the cities—who would peddle talismans?
“Old Chen, out hawking talismans again?”
Someone who recognized them called out.
“Mm.”
“I heard you died! Folks from your village say you sleep in your own coffin at night!”
“Nothing like that. Don’t spread nonsense.”
Grandpa chatted idly with the regulars. Business was brisk, and they soon sold a good number.
Then two young girls came frolicking by, dressed in their finest—garments they rarely wore—exposing slender, chopstick-thin white legs and arms. Light makeup brightened their sunlit faces.
“Two Peach Blossom Talismans.”
The bolder girl handed over碎银子 with a giggle.
Her soft, smooth palm brushed Chen Shi’s. The youth’s heart fluttered.
Chen Shi hurriedly fetched the Peach Blossom Talismans and handed them over. The girls walked off laughing. The bolder one glanced back at Chen Shi twice, smiling each time.
Chen Shi’s heart pounded wildly. He palmed a Peach Blossom Talisman and slipped it quietly into his sleeve.
“Take it out.”
Grandpa said without looking up.
“Take what out?”
“Peach Blossom Talisman.”
Chen Shi muttered in annoyance, reluctantly pulling it out.
“Grandpa, I’m not a kid anymore. I can use a Peach Blossom Talisman!”
Grandpa shook his head.
“You’re still a kid. I saw when you were in your medicinal bath. Two more years of growth.”
Chen Shi’s face burned red.
“And you’re still sick.”
Grandpa added.
Chen Shi settled down to cultivate the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art, eager to recover quickly. But one question lingered.
“Grandpa, what exactly is wrong with me?”
Grandpa didn’t reply.
By noon, they’d sold out. They packed the stall and rode the cart out of Shanyang Village.
The cart glided smoothly. Chen Shi snacked on dry rations. Grandpa ate nothing, instead lighting a few sticks of incense and inhaling the smoke as he held them.
Seeing this, Chen Shi fell silent for a long while before speaking.
“Grandpa, after you die, will you become the village Godmother? Then I could see you every day.”
Grandpa paused, perhaps moved, then shook his head.
“No. After death, the underworld’s power will likely drag me away—to the netherworld.”
Silence fell again.
“Grandpa, can you... not die?”
Chen Shi stared down at the road ahead, his vision blurring.
“I don’t want you to die, Grandpa.”
A long moment passed. Grandpa reached out a rough hand and patted his head.
“Silly boy. How can anyone avoid death?”
Grandpa chuckled.
For the first time in these past ten days, Chen Shi felt the warmth of a close elder.
The cart rumbled onward. Ahead loomed a massive tree—dead, its branches like a monster’s sharp claws thrust toward the sky.
Over a hundred homes ringed it in a circle, but the village stood empty.
Its Godmother was gone.
The day the great tree died, the village lost its protection. Outer evils invaded, and many perished.
As the cart passed, Chen Shi glimpsed shadows moving in the village—about a hundred people, smiling in festive garb, children at play.
They were celebrating the Moon Sacrifice too.
They had been dead for a long time.
“Why hasn’t the underworld’s power dragged them away?”
Chen Shi wondered aloud.
Even Grandpa had no answer.
The cart reached the next village: Fangdian Village. Here, the Jade Belt River looped like a knotted rope, and the village nestled in the bend amid lush fragrant grasses where orioles flitted—a picturesque scene.
Fangdian Village’s Godmother was an ancient tree, likely an elm, its trunk enormously thick and strung with red cords and wish plaques. Chen Shi peered up—no tree spirit formed from extraordinary power. He blinked in surprise.
Only when they reached the base did he see the small shrine beneath it. Incense smoke curled before the Divine Shrine. A girl about his age sat there in a pink dress with two long ponytails, munching offerings while reading the villagers’ wishes.
*So that’s where she was.*
They had just set up their talisman stall when a clamor arose. The bustling market emptied in an instant.
Women clutched children and hurried home. Men snatched up axes and cleavers, tucking them into belts. Diners scattered, leaving shopkeepers on the verge of tears.
“The Six Gates are here!”
Someone shouted.
The so-called Six Gates referred to the yamen. County yamens had main doors with six panels, so the runners were mockingly dubbed thus.
Chen Shi craned his neck. Dozens of bailiffs marched in, smashing and overturning stalls and shops along the way.
“By Great Ming law, tax defaulters get a hundred strokes! You’re all Great Ming subjects—don’t make things hard for us on duty!”
The lead bailiff scanned the crowd, flipped open a ledger, and bellowed,
“Liu Zexi! Liu Zexi! Field tax paid, but household and merchant taxes overdue! Come out!”
A man from Fangdian Village mustered his courage.
“Sir, Liu Zexi is dead.”
The bailiff chief dragged over a bench and sat boldly, surprised.
“Dead? When?”
“Last time you officials came for taxes and got nothing—the next day, he was gone.”
The man said carefully.
“Found hanging from the Godmother’s tree. Already stiff.”
The bailiff chief grunted, his gaze piercing as he eyed the ancient tree at the village center. He sneered.
“You’re saying he turned himself into a sacrifice for your village Godmother? Liu Zexi, you offered yourself to make a wish... so what wish did you make?”