Chapter 71
Chapter 71
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: [Number]
Chapter Title: Grandpa's Departure
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The wooden cart rumbled toward the countryside. Blackie Pot's lantern had long gone out. Chen Shi had fetched it and stuck it at the front of the cart. The grandfather and grandson sat atop the cart, their bodies swaying with the motion.
“Grandpa doesn’t have many friends. Around Qianyang Mountain, there are just these few.”
Grandpa said. “Near Yellow Stone Mountain, there are two more friends. One is a stele engraver named Du Yiran. He deals with evils there at Yellow Stone Mountain.
If you run into something you can’t handle or someone you can’t kill, you can go find him.
Finding him won’t be hard. His place is surrounded by tombstones everywhere. He specializes in carving tombstones for others.”
Chen Shi froze.
Grandpa’s third friend was an evil too.
Grandpa went on. “There’s also a friend, a beekeeper named A Zhuo. He lives around Great South Lake, tending bees there.”
Hope flickered in Chen Shi’s eyes. This beekeeper A Zhuo had to be a living person.
“He’s probably turned into an evil by now too!”
Grandpa sounded uncertain. “He raises evils. I haven’t seen him in years, so he’s likely been corrupted by them... Still, A Zhuo’s got a strong sense of loyalty. If you’re in a bind, just tell him you’re Chen Yindu’s grandson. He’ll help you even if it costs him his life.”
He paused. “Then there’s Young Master Xiao, Granny Sha, Jin Hongying, and Li Jindou. The four of them aren’t exactly Grandpa’s friends, but during this demonic upheaval, they all owe me a huge debt of gratitude. After I’m gone, if you’re in trouble, they won’t turn their backs on you.”
Chen Shi stared off into space, gazing at the black-clothed youth in the distant fields. He spoke suddenly. “Grandpa, if my illness can’t be cured, why not let me die? I’ll go to the underworld with you. I’ve got no other family here in the living world. Down there, I can look after you.”
Grandpa fell silent for a long stretch.
This grandson was too understanding—understanding to the point it broke his heart.
Chen Shi looked up. Grandpa was wiping away tears.
“Silly boy, you still have your mom and dad!”
Grandpa reached out with his rough, callused hand and ruffled his hair, smiling. “After I’m gone, Chen Tang will take care of you.”
“I don’t even know him!”
Chen Shi hung his head. “I’ve never met him.”
To Chen Shi, Chen Tang was nothing but a stranger.
Grandpa was his one and only family in this world.
Grandpa went quiet for a moment, his voice heavy. “Little Ten, don’t worry. Grandpa will fight with everything he’s got to keep you alive. No one in this world is taking my grandson—not even the King of Hell himself.”
A surge of murderous intent rose in his chest.
If it was the King of Hell, he’d carve his way into Hell Palace.
If it was an evil god, he’d slay the evil god.
Just then, the cyan oil-paper umbrella gave off a scorched smell, as though it could no longer contain his killing aura.
The black-clothed Xuanshan in the distance drew nearer. Only then did the cyan umbrella stop smoldering.
These past days, Xuanshan had been helping suppress his demonic nature.
They made it back to the village safely. Chen Shi and Li Tianqing, the two boys, hurried about boiling medicine for the four wounded.
So-called spirit pills came in four varieties.
The first was simmered from different herbs over a low flame until all the water boiled away. The leftover oily residue was rolled into pills—that made spirit pills.
The second was herbs ground to powder, mixed with refined honey, and shaped into pills.
The third used one’s own true fire to heat the furnace cauldron. Various medicinal stones—known as the five metals and eight minerals—were tossed in, aided by herbs, and refined into golden pills. These were outer pills.
The fourth used one’s own true fire as the flame, true water for tempering, the three dantians—upper, middle, and lower—as the furnace, and one’s qi, blood, and spirit as the ingredients to refine golden pills. These were inner pills.
Inner or outer, they were supreme medicines—essential for nurturing the origin infant.
But decoctions were the simplest to gather ingredients for and brew. They took effect fast and could be prepared quickly.
The four patients now hung on solely by these decoctions. Thanks to Grandpa’s masterful medicine, none had lost their lives.
“How do we repay a life debt like this?” Jin Hongying murmured. “If only I didn’t have a conscience.”
The other three nodded deeply.
It was exactly because they did have consciences that they had to shoulder the responsibility.
No conscience meant no responsibility.
Chen Shi headed out to pay respects to his Godmother. He had just stepped through the door when he spotted the black-clothed Xuanshan standing beneath the tree out front.
Xuanshan was drawing closer and closer to Grandpa.
The black-clothed Xuanshan gave him a slight nod. Unease stirred in Chen Shi’s heart.
Grandpa came up behind him then. “Little Ten, I’ll come with you to see your Godmother.”
Chen Shi agreed.
The grandfather and grandson set off toward the edge of the village.
When they reached the yellow earth hill outside the village, the black-clothed Xuanshan appeared once more by the Jade Belt River not far off, still watching them.
Chen Shi came to the old willow tree and lit incense before the stone stele Godmother, murmuring. “Godmother, keep Grandpa healthy and safe. Shield him from all illness, grant him eternal life.”
Grandpa chuckled. “Silly child, no one lives forever without aging or dying.”
Once Chen Shi finished his bows, Grandpa stepped forward with his own incense stick and murmured silently. “Dao brother, I may not know your origins, but your depths are immeasurable. Please watch over Little Ten and let him grow up safe!”
He still remembered his first time at the yellow earth hill. He’d been only six or seven back then—a mere child.
The hill had looked almost exactly the same as it did now—no changes at all.
The moment he’d climbed it and touched the stele, the massive stone had risen upright. An ancient temple towered like the heavens, wreathed in incense smoke. He’d never forget that sight.
But afterward, he’d never witnessed such a marvel again.
Later, when calamity struck Chen Shi and he knew he couldn’t handle the cyan ghost hand, he’d hit on the idea of having Chen Shi take the stele as Godmother.
So much time had passed since. Chen Shi had paid respects countless times, but the stele never responded. It left him disappointed.
He’d tagged along this time to check for any reaction from the stele.
Yet after the incense burned out, still nothing.
“Was I mistaken back then?”
Disappointment weighed on Grandpa as he descended the yellow earth slope.
Over the next few days, Young Master Xiao and the others’ wounds slowly mended—though Li Jindou’s legs were gone for good.
The old man took it in stride, laughing. “Once I heal up a bit more, Tianqing can basket me up and carry me home.”
These days, the black-clothed Xuanshan showed up more and more often. It left Chen Shi frantic, itching to chase him off with a stick.
That night, after finishing his practice, Chen Shi climbed into bed and fell fast asleep. In the depths of slumber, Grandpa emerged from the darkness and shook him.
Chen Shi blinked awake groggily, confused. “Grandpa, what is it?”
Grandpa sat on the bed’s edge, smiling. “Little Ten, Grandpa’s leaving. Came to tell you goodbye.”
Chen Shi frowned. “Where are you going, Grandpa?”
“Grandpa can’t put it off anymore. I have to head to the underworld. I’ve lingered in the human world too long. If I don’t go now, I’ll turn into an evil. I won’t let myself harm you!”
Grandpa smiled. “Grandpa and grandson part ways today. Little Ten, look after yourself!”
He patted Chen Shi’s head and rose.
“Grandpa, please don’t go, okay?”
Panic gripped Chen Shi’s heart. He burst into tears and seized the old man’s hand.
“Grandpa, don’t go! Don’t leave me all alone—I’m scared!”
He tumbled from the bed, clinging desperately to the old man’s hand, sobbing. “Grandpa, don’t abandon me! I’m so scared. Wherever you go, take me too! You’re my only family!”
Somehow, the old man slipped free of his grasp and vanished into the dark. Light seemed to gleam on him.
Grandpa turned back with a smile and waved.
“Grandpa, don’t go!”
Chen Shi raced after him, crying his heart out. He ran blindly through the blackness, vision blurred by tears, body trembling.
“Grandpa, take me with you! Don’t leave me behind! Grandpa, don’t abandon me!”
He pursued Grandpa, but the old man receded farther into the shadows, shrinking to a distant point of light.
“Grandpa, don’t leave me! Take me too! Don’t leave me alone!”
He sobbed uncontrollably, helpless as a child.
“Little Ten! Little Ten, wake up!”
Granny Sha’s voice rang in his ears.
Chen Shi’s eyes snapped open. He lay in his bed—he hadn’t entered the darkness.
Granny Sha stood at the window, shaking his arm.
Chen Shi stared blankly. The quilt was ice-cold, soaked through with his tears.
Just a dream?
Relief washed over Chen Shi. Thank goodness it was only a dream.
He’d worried so much about Grandpa these days.
The black-clothed Xuanshan’s appearances always brought a sense of foreboding.
“Granny, what’s wrong?”
Chen Shi asked.
Granny Sha hesitated. “Little Ten, keep steady now. Your grandpa... he’s gone. Just passed moments ago. Child, don’t cry—it’ll be okay. Everything’s okay............ Child, come see your grandpa off. The underworld’s too dark. Hold this lamp. Light his path...... Child, light the way. Make his road smoother.”
Chen Shi held the Ram-Horn Heavenly Spirit Lamp aloft. Its ghostly glow pierced the yang realm and illuminated the underworld.
Granny Sha shook the King Wen Drum. It rustled with a steady thrum of beats.
A hoarse, ancient song rose from her lips, carrying to the underworld.
“Shine on, shine on, light the underworld bright. Oh aged soul departed, tread slow in the night. Kin hold lamps to guide your feet, mind the stumbles, mind the pain.”
Chen Shi banished the dark with his light. The glow scattered the mists, startling the demons lurking within.
The old man trudging through the fog seemed to glimpse the light. He turned, smiling back at him.
“Shine on, shine on, light the River of Forgetfulness. Oh aged soul take care, Mengpo’s soup on Naihe Bridge waits there. One sip forgets all bonds of blood and love so dear.”
Chen Shi cupped the light in his palm, watching the old man fade into the distance beneath its glow.
“Shine on, shine on, light the homesick terrace high. Oh aged soul look back, gaze home from that perch in the sky. Cherish kin, let not your children’s love pass by.”
“Slice the earth to judge in hell, slice through hell to claim true souls.”
“Gold buys a millennium’s life, fine threads redeem souls eternal.”
“One soul returns, two souls return.”
“Three souls, seven po—all return complete.”
“Yindu returns this very year. Return to incense, greet your kin so near.”
The Ram-Horn Heavenly Spirit Lamp shone onward, ever farther. The old man pressed deeper into the underworld’s depths.
“Slow down, slow down—Grandpa, go slower! The light can’t keep up!”
He held the lamp high, shining until the old man vanished from sight.
He didn’t notice the dawn, nor when Young Master Xiao and Granny Sha finished preparing the spirit hall.
Dazed and soulless, he clutched the Ram-Horn Heavenly Spirit Lamp without letting go.
They dressed him in coarse hemp mourning clothes and a white cap, stationing him by the coffin to keep vigil night after night.
Granny Sha and Li Tianqing coaxed him to eat, but he refused.
Blackie Pot curled up beside him. Only after a long while did he hug the dog and break into sobs.
“Let it out, let it out—that’s good!”
Granny Sha breathed a sigh of relief, smiling. “Crying means you’ll be all right.”
Chen Shi hugged the dog tight.
Blackie Pot, it’s just you and me from here on out. We’ll have to rely on each other.
Over those days, crowds came to pay their respects to Grandpa—folks from villages near and far, his friends, and strangers Chen Shi didn’t recognize.
That evening, Chen Shi rose unsteadily. Days without proper food or sleep had left him frail and tottering.
He shuffled into Grandpa’s room and rummaged in the drawer for the Thousand-Li Sound Transmission Talisman Grandpa had drawn.
The talisman ignited in midair, its flame eerie and profound.
Moments later, a middle-aged man’s voice emerged from the fire. “Dad, I told you—I’m not coming back this year. I’m swamped, really swamped...”
Chen Shi’s lips trembled. Steel himselfing up, he finally cut through the man’s grumbling. “You... you’re my dad, Chen Tang? I’m Chen Shi. Grandpa... he’s gone!”
End of chapter.