Chapter 328: This is powerful 38 |
Chen Shi walked into the quarry. The wind howled, and everything outside was frozen, yet the foot of the mountain felt somewhat warm, with ice and snow melting.
Tombstones were piled everywhere here, none of them carved with names.
Du Yiran was packing his belongings, tossing his axe and chisels into his Realm of Emptiness.
He was dressed very thickly, wearing a sheepskin coat on the outside with the wool facing inward, and stuffed with a cotton-padded jacket, making him appear quite fat, though in reality, he had grown old and thin.
He wore a sheepskin hat, wrapped tightly around his head. His face, weathered by wind and sun, looked somewhat dark.
Chen Shi had grown into a half-grown youth, taller than him now. Du Yiran was very old, so old he had become shorter.
"Grandpa Du!"
Chen Shi stepped forward, knelt, and kowtowed, saying, "Chen Shi thanks Grandpa Du for the kindness of saving my life!"
Du Yiran continued packing, saying, "Get up. Your life or death has nothing to do with me. I only agreed to save you because I owed Chen Yindu a favor. This is a matter between us old-timers. You don't need to keep any gratitude in mind."
Du Yiran looked up at him, saying, "Being an evil spirit?"
Chen Shi nodded.
Du Yiran coughed twice, saying, "I knew he'd badmouth me. However, I'm neither alive nor dead, so I'm pretty much an evil spirit."
Having finished packing, he said, "This place isn't safe to stay. The Yan Family was scared off by me, but they'll soon realize my strength isn't as great as they imagined."
He walked quickly along the mountain path, speaking rapidly, "They'll discover my tombstones are useless against ghost gods, only effective against living people, and even then, useless if the distance is too great. Then they'll come back to kill me! I'm old, I can't fight them."
Ahead was a small stone hut, isolated and very simple, likely Du Yiran's dwelling.
Chen Shi quickly followed him. Du Yiran opened the door and went inside, saying, "You and the dog, come in and close the door. Oh, and check if anyone else followed."
Chen Shi closed the door as instructed, then upon hearing this, opened it again to look outside and was immediately stunned.
Outside the door, which moments ago was a frozen, snowy landscape, was now a moonlit riverbank, with lush green mountains in the distance and pleasant weather.
He looked up and saw the moon in the west.
Chen Shi, bewildered, closed the door, thought for a moment, then opened it again. The elk and green mountains outside were gone, replaced by a lake shimmering under moonlight.
Now, the moon was in the south.
Chen Shi closed the door, opened it, and the sound of waves crashing came from outside. In the distance, a coastal garrison watchtower could be seen, and voices called out, "That stone house has appeared again!"
Chen Shi closed the door and went to the stone house's window to look out. A giant beast thrashed in the sea, attacking the coast. Many warriors on the garrison watchtower were fighting these demonic beasts.
"The Thirteen Great Clans have already grown into a formidable force."
Du Yiran's voice came from behind him. "If the Yama Hall falls, then all Ten Kings of Hell will have fallen."
Hearing this, Chen Shi's heart shook violently. He turned around, "Grandpa Du, what do you mean?"
"The Ten Kings of Hell, with the Righteous and Incorruptible Official ranked fifth, commonly known as the King of Hell. Besides the King of Hell, there are nine other Yamas, all of whom have already fallen."
Du Yiran put down his axe and chisel, took off his sheepskin hat, and removed his thick sheepskin coat and cotton-padded jacket, hanging them on the wall. "The Yama of the Xuanming Palace disappeared over a thousand years ago. Now, the Yama of Xuanming Palace is the Yin Spirit of the Gao Family. The Yama of the Puming Palace disappeared over eight hundred years ago. The current master of Puming Palace is a deceased ancestor of the Li Family. Then there's the Zhoujue Palace, Taihe Palace, Mingchen Palace, Shenhua Palace, Bizhen Palace, Qifei Palace, Suying Palace... the masters of these Yama Halls have also, over the course of more than a thousand years, gradually been replaced by people from the Thirteen Great Clans."
He stamped his feet, shaking off the accumulated snow, and said, "Back when we went to rescue you, we encountered several Ghost and God battles. That was the Xia Family mobilizing forces, impersonating demon gods, to besiege the ghost gods of Suying Palace. At the time, your grandpa was only focused on finding you and didn't notice this. He's very smart; in the past, he would have definitely sensed something was wrong. Unfortunately, back then, his mind was completely on finding you, with no time to spare for anything else."
He shook his head, washed his face, went into the inner room to change clothes. The fabric was quite fine, a silk garment.
He pushed open the door and walked out. Chen Shi followed him quickly to the outside.
Outside, the sky was already bright.
Their location wasn't by the sea, but a small town in the mountains. The townsfolk seemed very familiar with Du Yiran, greeting him one after another, calling him Stonemason Du.
Du Yiran kept a stern face, as if everyone owed him a thousand strings of coins, and only gave slight nods to everyone's greetings.
Yet people held him in great respect.
Du Yiran took Chen Shi to have breakfast, ordering a bowl of coarse rice porridge and noodle soup. Looking at Chen Shi and Black Pot, he ordered several more meat dishes, saying, "You're growing, eat more."
He paused, then said, "The Xia Family impersonating demon gods is very strange. Since Chen Yindu isn't investigating, I will. So I entered the underworld alone. I originally thought it was demon gods causing trouble inside, but as I discovered more clues, it turned out the Thirteen Great Clans had already completed a 'changing of the guard' in the underworld, having replaced almost all Ten Kings of Hell. If not for the King of Hell having some real ability, he probably would have been replaced long ago too."
He was old and couldn't eat meat in the morning, only drinking coarse rice porridge to nourish his stomach. He watched the steaming hibiscus chicken soup in front of Chen Shi, swallowing saliva, and asked, "How did you end up here?"
Chen Shi explained his quest to find his mother's soul, saying, "I plan to rescue my mother, but there are too many guards outside the Primordial Palace, making it impossible to act. Also, there's a massive creature similar to Black Pot guarding outside."
Du Yiran said, "Eat your hibiscus chicken quickly before it gets cold."
Chen Shi wolfed it down, soon finishing a bowl of hibiscus chicken soup. Besides chicken, the soup contained rice and pepper, making it fragrant, spicy, smooth, and tasty. After eating, his stomach felt warm and energized.
Du Yiran pushed a bowl of clear soup lamb stew with tofu in front of him, gesturing for him to eat that. It seemed watching Chen Shi devour his food gave him great satisfaction.
"Four years ago, your grandpa went to the underworld to look for you. That time, he went alone and didn't tell anyone."
Du Yiran glanced at Black Pot, who was also wolfing down food, and lowered his voice. "When he returned, he brought back a little black dog the size of a palm."
Black Pot was at another table, eating a red and white duck stew pot, holding the pot and drinking heartily. Hearing this, he froze, his ears perking up.
"I came to see him and met this dog from the underworld."
Du Yiran lowered his voice even more, as if trying to hide it from Black Pot, yet his gaze remained fixed on the dog. He whispered, "I originally wanted to ask him what he gained from this trip to the underworld, but when I saw this little black dog, I was stunned. This little thing carries its own Ghost and God Domain and even tried to alter my perception, which scared me. I asked him where he got it. Your grandpa said, 'Found it.' I didn't believe him and asked again. He said, 'Someone gave it to me.'"
Black Pot, with his back to them, gradually pricked his ears backward, getting closer and closer to their table.
Du Yiran stared at his ears, his voice dropping even lower. "I asked him who gave it. He said he made an agreement with an extremely powerful ghost god, and that ghost god gave it to him. He made a deal with that ghost god."
The back of Black Pot's head was almost touching their table.
Chen Shi coughed. Black Pot immediately sat up straight.
Chen Shi asked, "What deal did my grandpa make with that ghost god?"
Du Yiran said, "The deal was: as long as the dog is safe, your mother is safe."
Chen Shi was stunned and looked back at Black Pot.
Du Yiran finished his porridge and sighed contentedly, "That was really filling."
Chen Shi got up to pay. Du Yiran pressed his hand down, saying, "I'll pay."
Chen Shi smiled, "Grandpa Du, you barely ate anything. It was all me and Black Pot."
Du Yiran shook his head, "You're my grandson. When you're with me, there's no reason for you to pay. I'm old, my stomach isn't good, can't eat recklessly. Just watching you eat satisfies me."
He went to pay the bill, then led Chen Shi back, continuing the previous topic. "During the time I went to the underworld alone, I encountered many dangers, always barely escaping death. But walking the night road for so long, I finally ran into evil. I got caught in a big battle where the Yan Family's ghost gods impersonated demon gods to besiege a ghost god. That ghost god had a strange crescent moon mark on his forehead, a very dark face, and extremely high combat power. However, he was still outnumbered and captured by them. During the chaos, a strange book flew into my body and merged with it. Since then, strange things have frequently happened around me."
Chen Shi listened quietly.
"I was originally a stonemason, carving tombstones for people. In the countryside around our Huangshi Mountain, many old folks, sensing their time was short, would choose their graves and order their tombstones in advance, so many people came to me."
Du Yiran was already a Great Ascension Realm existence. With such cultivation, why worry about money? Yet he particularly enjoyed earning money with his own hands.
Carving tombstones was his craft. Country folk weren't very literate, needing him to write on the tombstones, carving the deceased's honorable name. The pay wasn't much, but enough to support a family.
Old folks came to him to carve tombstones, planning to die sometime later. However, often, as soon as Du Yiran finished carving the name, the person would die.
Gradually, people discovered this pattern.
As soon as Stonemason Du carved a name on a tombstone, the person would die immediately.
Behind his back, people called him Du Yama, viewing him as an evil spirit. But openly, they all respected him, fearing he would carve their names on tombstones.
"Later, I discovered many people from out of town came to me to carve tombstones, not for their own elders, but to eliminate their opponents."
Du Yiran coughed violently at this point, seeming aged and weary. He paused before continuing, "These scoundrels ruined my reputation. Not that I had a good reputation to begin with, but still, it wasn't acceptable. From then on, I only carved tombstones for the dead. As long as someone had even a breath left, I wouldn't carve the name."
The two returned to the stone hut. Du Yiran said, "Chen Shi, the Thirteen Great Clans' momentum is unstoppable. I can't stop it, Chen Yindu can't stop it, and you can't stop it either. My action this time to save those three judges was only because, having obtained this book, I must do something for the King of Hell. That's all. Chen Shi, I'm old. I can't fight the Yan Family, much less the Thirteen Great Clans."
He said no more after that.
Chen Shi nodded gently, "I understand, Grandpa Du."
Du Yiran said, "Good that you understand. My vitality is insufficient, my stomach isn't good, my physical body is already aged and decaying. Even when eating, I can only watch you eat. Those years I spent investigating in the underworld damaged my body. I don't have many years left. Even if your grandpa came here begging me to act, I wouldn't act. I want to live out my remaining years in peace, can't afford to stir up trouble anymore."
Chen Shi smiled, "Don't worry, Grandpa Du. I'm not one who likes stirring up trouble either. Since the Thirteen Great Clans are powerful, let them be. We'll live our own lives."
Du Yiran breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, "Your grandpa is a bad person, leading Sha Qiutong, Blue Goat, Hu Xiaoliang, and A Zhuo to commit all sorts of misdeeds, being called the Five Great Villains. They even tried to recruit me, but I sternly refused. It's also fortunate I often helped them out, otherwise they would have definitely slid deeper and deeper into wickedness."
He opened the door, saying, "Without me, they would have fallen long ago. It was I who corrected them."
Outside was a frozen, snowy landscape, but not the quarry—it was another place entirely.
Du Yiran said, "Chen Shi, from now on, I'll be in seclusion. Don't tell anyone. If Blue Goat and the others ask, just say I'm already dead. You go back to the Immortal Capital. I won't see you off."
Chen Shi quickly said, "Grandpa Du, wait a moment!"
Focusing his mind, he plucked several life-extending Ginseng Fruits from the small temple and placed them in Du Yiran's palm, saying, "This is my filial offering to you."
Du Yiran glanced at them, saying, "Ginseng Fruits? I've eaten them before. Adds a few months of lifespan, not much use to me. You keep them, give them to someone else."
Chen Shi smiled, "These Ginseng Fruits are different. Mine have a real kick. Please accept them, Grandpa Du, it's the thought that counts."
Du Yiran placed the Ginseng Fruits on the table.
Chen Shi urged him to eat them, then finally walked out of the stone house.
Outside, it was bitterly cold. Chen Shi looked back. The wooden door of the stone house closed, and the moment it shut, the house along with the doorway vanished without a trace.
"Grandpa Du's divine abilities are truly profound and unfathomable," Chen Shi couldn't help but marvel.
"Black Pot, let's go to the underworld, find those three judges!"
A gust of yin wind blew past, and Chen Shi and Black Pot vanished from the snowy plain.
Inside the stone house, Du Yiran opened the door. Outside was a picturesque scene of clear waters and green mountains, birds singing and flowers fragrant. A waterfall cascaded like flying jade, hanging from the cliff ahead, its spray falling into the deep pool below the cliff face.
Du Yiran made himself a cup of tea and sat quietly in a rocking chair, gently swaying, occasionally letting out a violent cough.
He truly was old. Those years following Chen Yindu into the underworld, fighting ghost gods and demon gods, had long ago left him injured upon injury.
He was the oldest among the Six Big Villains of the Five Lakes. Even Chen Yindu called him 'big brother,' so he took great care of the others, contributing the most effort.
Later, when he went alone to the underworld to search for clues about the Ten Kings of Hell, he was ambushed repeatedly. Yin energy had already corroded his internal organs.
"If I were a few years younger, still had vitality, I would accompany you to rescue your mother, would go save the King of Hell, would fight the Thirteen Great Clans. But I'm old."
He looked at the rainbow hanging under the waterfall and whispered, "Facing the Yan Family, I only dared to carve tombstones in advance to ambush them sneakily. I could only pretend to be profound, not even daring to face them directly. I'm really old. My friend Blue Goat is dead, Chen Yindu left early too, and the once beautiful Sha Qiutong has turned into an old woman. Even the celestial fox can only cling to life using a Ghost and God Domain."
He sighed. Perhaps peacefully growing old and dying here was also a beautiful thing.
On the table, the tea had gone cold.
Du Yiran looked at the teacup, not daring to drink. The cold tea would hurt his stomach.
He looked at the Ginseng Fruits Chen Shi had given him, hesitated for a moment, then picked one up and put it in his mouth.
"Isn't this just the fruit from the Ginseng Grass Dolls of Qianyang Mountain? Back when I visited Qianyang Mountain as a guest, I plucked their heads bald... Huh!"
Du Yiran's body shook violently. A tremendous roar, like raging seas pounding against coastal rocks, erupted from within him as his blood and qi surged powerfully!
"This Ginseng Grass Fruit really has a kick!"
A mighty surge of blood and qi power erupted from the stone house!
"Boom!"
The peak blood and qi of the Great Ascension Realm shot into the sky, blowing the stone house's roof off. The next moment, the waterfall reversed its flow, rushing upward into the sky!
In the sky, the blood and qi condensed into a blood-red cloud dozens of miles wide, with lightning flashing and thunder rumbling within.
A young, robust figure stood beneath the blood cloud.
Du Yiran was stunned. It was as if he had returned to his twenty-year-old self, with the cultivation of his peak era.