Chapter 109: Please Invite the Guest into the Urn 14 |
Yan Rong and the others rode along the Dejiang River, galloping downstream.
This trip to hunt the dragon was because their uncle Yan Jingsi’s raised jiao dragon was about to shed its skin. It had broken out of Xuanwu Pavilion’s dragon pond, ridden the river downstream, causing floods to drown some riverside villagers and harvesting their souls to refine its power.
Their uncle Yan Jingsi had moved to Lei County ten years ago and was very fond of this jiao. He had named it Shangshan, taken from the phrase “the highest goodness is like water,” hoping the jiao would understand his benevolent heart that loved the people like his own children.
Although the name Shangshan was well chosen, the jiao itself was mischievous. It had run as a river-crossing dragon in past years, which once made their uncle furious and he scolded Shangshan for a long time. Only after Yan Rong and the others pleaded and deliberately acted silly to make their uncle laugh did his anger turn to mirth, and he stopped punishing the jiao.
Because of that, Shangshan had grown very close to Yan Rong and the others. It often used the dragon’s internal core it had forged to help temper their bodies and souls, strengthen their physiques, hone their true energy, and teach them methods and rites.
They benefited greatly and their bond with Shangshan deepened.
Shangshan shed once a year as part of its Golden Core Nine Revolutions. This annual turning was the ninth year. After this ninth revolution, the Golden Core would mature, enabling the harvesting of great medicinal power, seeding the Golden Core, producing the yellow sprout, birthing the Nascent Soul, and finally transforming into a dragon.
“Uncle Shangshan’s Golden Core is undergoing the ninth revolution, so this river-crossing is extremely important. Our uncle has basically turned a blind eye, letting it escape the dragon pond on purpose, hoping it will complete the ninth revolution and transform into a dragon.”
Yan Rong said with worry, “In past years, after Shangshan roamed, it would always return after transforming, but this time it has not come back for a long time, which naturally makes people uneasy. If it runs off and never returns, wouldn’t that betray all the painstaking raising our uncle has done over the years?”
Yan Fang and Yan Shuo both nodded, sharing the sentiment.
They whipped their horses and passed village after village, all ruins left by the floods. They made no stops and continued downstream.
Suddenly Yan Fang said, “That Chen Shi we saw earlier, is it true he died once ten years ago and only resurrected two years ago? He was dead that long and still came back to life?”
Yan Qing and Yan Shuo had the same question and looked at Yan Rong.
Yan Rong was the most outstanding Yan disciple in Xuanwu Pavilion, respected by the clan’s scions. He was experienced and always had a plan.
“Of course Chen Shi died and resurrected.”
Yan Rong sat in the saddle and said, “Big figures in the Western Capital were terrified when they heard. Even the Yan family elder in the Cabinet repeatedly used Thousand-li Communication Talismans to contact our uncle, ordering him to watch Chen Yindu and Chen Shi closely and not slack off.”
He sighed, “Our uncle once had a bright future in the Yan family, but because of this grandfather-and-grandson pair, he was sent down to be the county magistrate in Lei County, and stuck there for ten years. His youth was wasted.”
“Yan Rong, how strong is Chen Shi? Is he really as sinister as people say?” Yan Fang asked. “When I fought him a moment ago, he hadn’t used his real power and still forced him to run with his tail between his legs. He didn’t seem like someone who could kill Master Zeng.”
Everyone nodded. Yan Qing said, “That kid was so arrogant, even threatening us with having killed Li Tianxiu’s cousin. I almost wanted to teach him a lesson on the spot.”
Yan Rong smiled, “You are all cultivators, broaden your minds a bit. Chen Shi himself isn’t the real worry. The frightening one is his grandfather Chen Yindu. Even the Western Capital fears him. If Chen Yindu died, Chen Shi would be nothing but an ant to be crushed underfoot by you or me. If Chen Yindu lives, then even if Chen Shi slapped me twice in the face, I wouldn’t retaliate.”
“Yan Rong, you truly have a magnanimous heart.”
Yan Shuo laughed, “If it were me, I’d probably kill him outright. At worst I’d commit suicide to atone—one life for one life!”
They joked as they rode into Qiaowan Town, where townsfolk carrying hoes and shovels were heading downstream. They followed and came upon the river bend at Dejiang’s curve. The bank was strewn with bloated, waterlogged corpses. Qiaowan Town’s residents were digging pits to bury the bodies before the moon rose.
Yan Rong and the others were shocked. “How did so many die?”
Yan Qing went to inquire quietly and said, “These corpses drowned. I heard they were dragged under by a river-crossing dragon and hidden here. I immediately knew it was Uncle Shangshan doing it—he likes to hide things.”
Yan Shuo’s face darkened, “Yan Rong, with so many dead, if this blows up, won’t it implicate our uncle and damage our careers?”
Their hearts grew heavy. Over a thousand lives!
If malicious people took advantage and accused the Yan family, even Grand Secretary Yan might not be able to suppress it.
The Ming Dynasty still had laws!
Yan Rong steadied himself, “These weren’t drowned this year, but accumulated over several years and piled here. Uncle Shangshan isn’t that cruel. Don’t panic. Let’s find Shangshan first.”
They rode along the river and soon arrived where the dragon corpse had been discovered.
A huge crowd had gathered; people from nearby towns came to gawk, surrounding the dragon corpse so tightly there was no space to get close.
After squeezing through, they saw the dismembered jiao corpse and each of them went pale. When they noticed talisman script carved on the dragon’s horn, their faces turned ashen.
“It’s Uncle Shangshan!”
The few of them exchanged a look, stepped out of the crowd, and spoke quietly, “It wasn’t easy for uncle to raise this jiao, always feeding it good meat, refined pills, and herbs, better than what we eat. If our uncle found out Shangshan died here, he would be heartbroken!”
“How did Uncle Shangshan die?”
Yan Shuo asked, “A jiao’s power isn’t trivial; even a Nascent Soul couldn’t take it down. How could its head be cleaved and it die a violent death?”
Their expressions were grave. To sever a dragon’s head with a single sword—such power was terrifying!
They asked around and soon learned reports that left them even more peculiar-faced. They rode to the stone arch bridge in Qiaowan Town.
Yan Fang could not restrain himself. He leapt down and bit the hilt of the bronze sword, pulling the dragon-slaying sword free.
Most townspeople had gone downriver to bury the corpses, leaving the bridge and sword unattended.
They examined the bronze sword. Its shape was archaic, like designs from the Qin or Han eras—an uncommon style today.
The blade was open, and the blade had peculiar patterns of cinnabar and black dog blood that had seeped into the bronze.
Yan Fang flexed the blade. The metal felt soft. It was hard to imagine how this bronze sword could have slain a massive jiao like Shangshan.
“I heard from locals that a talisman master named Chen Shi forged the sword from common coins, hung it on the bridge, and used it to slay Uncle Shangshan!”
Yan Shuo swallowed and moistened his dry throat. “This Chen Shi—could he be the same one we saw earlier?”
Yan Rong frowned, “I’ve heard of the Dragon-Slaying Sword forging method. It uses common coins. Those coins pass through countless hands and soak up the sun-energy of the world, becoming naturally efficacious against evil. Gather them, forge them into a sword, and with the addition of secret Dao talismans, it can slay a jiao. In the Tang era, Daoists often hung Dragon-Slaying Swords at key river mouths under imperial or local military orders to keep dragon kings from wandering or doing evil. But from the Tang until now many years have passed; the method was lost!”
He paused, “It isn’t that Chen Shi is inherently powerful, it’s that the Dragon-Slaying Sword is powerful. Any talisman master who knows how can forge one. The forging technique was likely passed from Chen Yindu to Chen Shi, but unexpectedly it killed Uncle Shangshan.”
Yan Qing hurried, “Yan Rong, Chen Shi forged a Dragon-Slaying Sword and killed Shangshan—this grudge…”
Yan Rong hesitated, “This cannot end quietly. But first, let’s return to Lei County and tell our uncle, let him decide.”
They agreed and mounted, heading straight for Lei County.
Yan Qing added, “We met Chen Shi in the graveyard earlier. He looked like he was heading to Lei County; we might see him there.”
Following flood traces upstream, Chen Shi and Black Pot soon arrived at Lei County.
Lei County sat by the river, backed by a huge quarry. Beyond the quarry rose the Gangjin mountain range, many times larger than Qianyang Mountain, but with rounded, smallish peaks, not as densely packed as Qianyang. Lakes lay between the mountains, and Dejiang flowed through them, connecting one lake to another.
Gold mining was prosperous here. The quarry had been established after discovering gold. Along the lakes and riverbanks, miners with straw hats could often be seen.
On his way in, Chen Shi saw two miners fighting outside the city. One used the Ziwu Evil-Slaying Sword to slice off the other’s head and shove the plundered gold into his pocket.
“You didn’t see anything!” The miner glared at Chen Shi with murderous intent, but seeing Chen Shi was just a child, he adjusted his hat brim and fled.
Chen Shi walked to the dead miner, looked him over, then swung a sword qi into the ground, scattering earth and stones to bury the corpse before continuing on.
Soon he and Black Pot entered Lei County town.
Lei County differed from Xinxiang County. Xinxiang had many mountain goods sellers from the countryside, men who traversed mountains to the county seat. Here, miners hurried about in a rough cloth short jacket, shining with oil and dust, probably unwashed for ages.
The miners’ skin was sun-darkened and glossy, reddish-black, covered with muscular bumps—very robust.
Chen Shi sat in a teahouse and asked the teahouse steward for news.
The steward smiled, “Many miners were scholars; some even passed the xiucai exam. But even if you pass xiucai, what good is it? If there’s no work, you still have to dig in the earth for a living. So they shed their scholar’s robes for short jackets and pan for gold.”
He poured tea and said, “Don’t be fooled by their rough looks, they can speak elegantly and write lengthy theses with ease.”
Chen Shi nodded and said, “Who in our county raises a dragon? I want to sell a spirit beast I caught in the mountains for money.”
“One household raises a jiao—the Yan county magistrate’s family.”
The steward said, “Their jiao is huge and eats a lot, often buying spirit beast meat at the market. You can even hear it roars at midnight, like a bull’s bellow magnified many times, shaking the chest!”
Chen Shi sipped bad tea, asked for fruit and dried meat. He gave the dried meat to Black Pot and ate the fruit himself.
After finishing, he learned the county magistrate’s name, cultivation level, residence, and family members.
Chen Shi paid and left.
The steward tidied the table and told the shopkeeper, “The Yan county magistrate has enemies. That young man who just left was probably here to seek revenge. He asked very carefully, even how many family members they have.”
“You told them?” the shopkeeper stamped his foot.
“I told him.”
The shopkeeper scolded, “You’ve done it again! That young man is out for revenge—he’s no match for the county magistrate. He’ll surely be fed to the magistrate’s jiao!”
He chased after the teahouse but saw Chen Shi and Black Pot already vanished into the crowd, and returned with a dark face, glaring at the steward.
The steward felt aggrieved and dared not retort.
Outside the county office, Chen Shi surveyed its layout and his gaze fell on the Myriad Soul Banner floating midair.
Lei County’s Myriad Soul Banner fluttered in the sky.
Xinxiang County’s banner contained no myriad souls, only more than eight thousand resentful souls not yet refined. But Lei County’s banner had already been refined and certainly held far more than ten thousand souls.
This treasure was enormously powerful. Chen Shi judged he could not hope to withstand its might.
He approached Xuanwu Pavilion. It was a garden with a tower built on an artificial rock, shaped like a rising turtle and serpent, hence the name Xuanwu Pavilion.
This was the Yan family’s training place in Lei County. Yan Jingsi, busy with official duties, would come here to teach the clan’s younger disciples.
Chen Shi watched for a while and noticed few Yan disciples coming and going—about five in total—but they were all strong; four had reached Golden Core.
“County magistrate Yan Jingsi is indeed a good instructor. The steward said when he arrived in Lei County he was already in the Nascent Soul stage and later had many out-of-body Nascent Soul manifestations, displaying sanctity and great radiance. This person is unbeatable.”
He thought for a moment and told Black Pot, “There are many experts in Xuanwu Pavilion and their defenses are tight. I can’t get in. I’ll only do what’s within my power. I lack the strength to deal with Yan Jingsi.”
Both Yan Jingsi and the Myriad Soul Banner were fearsome.
The gap was too big. Even if Chen Shi had reached second-grade Golden Core, a single touch from them could end his life.
He turned to leave when a loud laugh rang out, “Isn’t it true people meet everywhere in life! Brother Chen Shi, we meet again!”
Chen Shi looked over and saw Yan Rong, Yan Fang and the others dismounting and laughing as they approached him.
“Since Brother Chen came to Xuanwu Pavilion, how could we let him come and go disappointed?”
Yan Rong extended a hand in invitation, smiling, “Won’t Brother Chen grant us the courtesy of staying a little in Xuanwu Pavilion?”
Chen Shi was briefly stunned; this was his chance to enter the pavilion.
He nodded lightly, “I won’t trouble you.”
Yan Rong beamed and led the way, calling, “Someone inform the county magistrate that Chen Shi of Xinxiang County has arrived at Xuanwu Pavilion! Brother Chen must stay for our family feast. The county magistrate is my uncle and has been missing you.”
He gave Chen Shi a meaningful glance.
Chen Shi blinked, “Will Yan Jingsi come?”
