Chapter 465: Awakening the Great Old Master
Fox Clan Courtyard.
Nannan sat on a chair, uneasily watching the gathered people, clutching the spine of a giant toad.
That toad was a spirit creature, about two feet long, with a face that looked totally defeated. It had clearly struggled and tried to escape, but it had not gotten out of the little Yama’s palm.
Nannan was nine years old, squarely at that irritating “kid” age.
Since the Yin and Yang realms merged these past years, she had lived among the Fox Clan with Zhong Kui, Tie Chi, and the boatman father and daughter. What kind of place was the Fox Clan? Monsters everywhere, it was a miracle if anyone learned anything decent.
At her young age she had learned from the fox spirits how to catch demons and snare ghosts. She had honed impressive skills and subdued this toad spirit, treating it like a precious pet. Wherever she went she carried it—sometimes by its spine, sometimes pulling it by its forelimbs, sometimes dragging it by its hind legs.
Chen Yindu bent over to inspect Nannan, frowning slightly, then turned and asked, “Are you all certain she is the reincarnation of the Yama?”
Chen Shi, Zhong Kui, and the others all nodded.
“She has Black and White Impermanence guarding her, which confirms she is the Righteous Official,” Tie Chi said.
Zhong Kui said, “It’s just that the Righteous Official fell into the confusion of the womb. When he reincarnated, the Six Paths of Reincarnation washed away his memories. He himself does not yet know who he is, and the ghost gods hunting him naturally do not know his whereabouts either.”
Tie Chi nervously added, “The Great Old Master is not stupid at all.”
The little Ox-Head, little Horse-Face, and Little Yaksha kept nodding. They were the three major judges, and these years they had also followed beside the little Yama.
Chen Yindu glanced at the toad spirit in Nannan’s hands and still found it hard to accept.
The Righteous Official had a bond with him.
Back then, when he, Blue Goat, and the others went down to the underworld searching for Chen Shi’s whereabouts, they stormed into a Primordial Palace in the divine city and drew the attack of ghost gods. Behind that Primordial Palace hung a crescent moon. Amid the chaos, the crescent moon slipped away and escaped.
That crescent was the moonmark on the Righteous Official’s forehead.
“Later I heard underworld monsters say the reason you could only see the crescent and not the Righteous Official was that his face was so dark it blended with the night sky, making it invisible. The crescent grew on his brow, so only the moving crescent could be seen,” Chen Yindu recalled.
Nannan, unable to sit still, jumped down from the chair to play, while everyone’s eyes followed her closely.
“How can we dispel the confusion of the womb?” Chen Shi asked.
Chen Yindu said, “When cultivation reaches a certain realm, one can pierce the confusion of the womb and awaken past-life memories.”
Chen Shi frowned. Nannan had only just started school; for her cultivation to naturally reach that awakening would likely take over ten years.
Chen Yindu continued, “The other method is the Three Lives Stone. Using the Three Lives Stone as a catalyst can unlock her past-life memories and restore her previous cultivation strength. But such treasures are extremely rare. Back when, Granny Sha tried to find the Three Lives Stone, which is why her son went to the underworld…”
“Grandpa, I already found Xiang Tianyu.”
Chen Shi smiled, “And Xiang Tianyu found many Three Lives Stones.”
Chen Yindu looked at Nannan, who was excitedly shouting as she rode the giant toad, and laughed, “Then awakening the Righteous Official becomes much simpler. Where are the Three Lives Stones?”
“With Granny Sha.”
Shortly after, Sha Qiutong brought Xiang Tianyu to the Fox Clan courtyard. She had many Three Lives Stones, the pieces Xiang Tianyu had picked up and Chen Shi had brought from the underworld to the mortal world.
“Qiutong, awakening the Great Old Master falls to you,” Chen Yindu said.
Sha Qiutong produced a Three Lives Stone and said, “This is a major matter. When the Great Old Master’s memory revives, it will likely alarm underworld ghost gods who will trace him here and interfere with my rites. There are many mighty figures in the underworld; we must be cautious. It would be best to invite Blue Goat and the others.”
Chen Yindu shook his head, “Unnecessary. Little Ten, call your four disciples.”
Chen Shi complied, calling loudly, “Where are my disciples?”
Long You the Freeholder, Shao Niangniang, and the others came in from outside. Master Pei—the Freeholder Pei—was short and old, but his voice boomed like a bell as he shouted, “What does the master command?”
Chen Shi said, “When Granny Sha awakens the Righteous Official later, you guard her. Do not slack off.”
“We understand.”
The four glanced around, puzzled, and asked, “Which one is Granny Sha?”
Sha Qiutong looked at them, trembling, “Long You senior, Lady Shao, you’re alive? I am the Granny Sha Little Ten mentioned.”
A storm of emotion rose in her heart. These four elders were legendary among the freeholders, their cultivation reaching heaven and earth. Each had life-prolonging methods and lived longer than even the elders of the Thirteen Great Clans; they were freeholder legends.
They were like four bright moons of the freeholders, radiant and dazzling. After they retired and disappeared, the freeholders declined significantly.
But when Mirror Lake Villa was established, the four elders were already on the verge of corruption. Chen Yindu had sealed them one by one into coffins, and Sha Qiutong had watched them transform, nailed into coffins, which had terrified her.
They had made an agreement then: once Chen Yindu solved the corruption problem, he would wake them.
Since then the four elders slept in coffins for decades. Chen Yindu and the others never solved the corruption problem, though the obscure aura from the coffins indicated the elders avoided corruption while asleep. But the moment they woke, they would inevitably be corrupted!
Sha Qiutong had even thought it might be good if the four elders died in their sleep to avoid corruption.
She never expected them to actually come back to life!
Even more unexpected was that they had become Chen Shi’s disciples!
“You are Granny Sha?” the four elders asked in surprise. Mu Daozi said, “You’re still a young girl—how did you become a granny?”
Sha Qiutong said, “Sirs, you have slept twenty or thirty years! Why did you take Little Ten as your master?”
The four of them looked a little embarrassed.
Shao Niangniang whispered, “We wanted to learn his Yin-Yang Variation but didn’t want to owe him favors, so we took him as master. We thought he would be too proud to accept, but his face was thick enough and he agreed. Back when we learned from Chen Yindu, we used this ruse and it always worked. We didn’t expect it to backfire.”
Long You the Freeholder said proudly, “But the skill’s learned now!”
Shao Niangniang shook her head, “Not yet. Yin-Yang Purgation is difficult; Yin-Yang Variation is even harder. It will take research.”
While they spoke, Chen Shi stepped out of the Fox Clan courtyard and called Nannan back from play.
Nannan came dragging the toad by its hind webbing, sulking.
Sha Qiutong raised the Three Lives Stone and chanted. The stone shed rings of white radiance that descended over Nannan. The rings approached like the light seen at reincarnation, growing brighter in her sight until they merged into a pure white that obscured everything.
The halos swirled and quickly enveloped Nannan.
Chen Shi watched intently. Within the light surrounding Nannan, images began to flicker—her past-life memories appearing in those rings of light. Scenes flashed rapidly.
At first in the halos appeared a Ming treasure ship sailing out of the Sea of Darkness. Armored warriors on the ship were solemn and reverent as they disembarked and fetched half a temple from the Divine Continent of China.
Inside that temple sat only a miniature shrine. On the shrine stood a deity statue carved of wood, dressed as a Grand Secretary, the face charred black as coal, with a crescent-shaped scar on the brow between the eyebrows.
A couplet was written on the pillars beside the temple.
Smiles outshine the river clear, forever shall Dragon Chart be immortal
Heart like a mirror, let his ghostly courage reflect and soothe sorrow
Below, the True King led civil and military officials in person to welcome and install this half-temple, shrine and statue in the imperial capital Xinxiang.
The True King and officials performed grand rites, inviting the Righteous Official and a host of ghost gods from China to enter the underworld, lead its ghost gods, maintain order, reward the good and punish the wicked, apprehend criminals, and set births and deaths in the cycle.
This half-temple sank into the underworld and rapidly transformed there into a Yama Hall.
The statue on the shrine revived at that moment, gathering supreme divine power to condense a Book of Life and Death and the Judge’s Brush, distributing duties to the judges, recorders, and vice magistrates below,
…
Sha Qiutong suddenly cried nervously, “Everyone, something’s coming!”
The sky abruptly darkened. White banners whirled around the Fox Clan courtyard, accompanied by waves of ghost fire that swayed like eyes observing the courtyard’s movements.
“We found you!” a sinister voice called out.
Then the sound of a mighty tide rose. Everyone turned to look and saw a surging flood heading straight for the Fox Clan courtyard, the water overwhelming the sky!
It was the River of Forgetting!
One wooden boat after another raced across the water. Each boat bore an underworld officer holding a child’s lantern, beams of light scanning toward the Fox Clan courtyard!
Swish, swish, swish!
Many of the fox women in the courtyard were exposed by the light; their true forms surfaced uncontrollably and their Primordial Spirits or souls were driven from their bodies.
Straw cages spun through the air like hatted skulls, scooping up those spirits and stuffing them inside the cages. In mere moments more than half the fox monsters in the courtyard collapsed!
Zhong Kui stepped forward, his frame suddenly towering, and positioned himself in front of the Fox Clan courtyard.
Boom!
The roaring River of Forgetting struck him and split, flowing around the courtyard on both sides.
Zhong Kui reached out. The straw cages fell down into the yard.
Seeing they could not collect the fox spirits, the underworld officers attacked Zhong Kui. Suddenly Tie Chi sprang up onto one of the wooden boats and swung a leg, striking the bamboo pole with a crack. The pole shattered, nearly decapitating the underworld officer on that boat. He spun up and was flung dozens of miles away.
Tie Chi planted the toe of his other foot on the boat below, lifting one end. He drew back his left foot and kicked forward; the boat shot out like an arrow, smashing into another underworld officer steering a different boat and knocking him away.
Tie Chi ran across the water, roaring, his body swelling as his true Ox-Head marshal form appeared, bellowing as he charged other underworld officers.
At the same time the boatman father and daughter piloted their painted pleasure boat into the River of Forgetting to block the incoming officers.
“Father, another merit!” the boat girl cried happily.
The boatman was overjoyed. His pole transformed into a great spear and he skewered an incoming underworld officer, sending him flying, and bellowed in his thick voice, “This time I’ll get promoted!”
The four ghost gods held back the attack from the River of Forgetting. Suddenly the earth around the Fox Clan courtyard thundered and sank rapidly; surrounding magma and blazing fires rose high.
With a great roar the courtyard came to a halt.
Darkness spread all around, cold light flashing in the shadows, and countless ghost monsters turned toward the Fox Clan courtyard.
Glimmering by their sides were towering trees whose leaves took the form of blades and swords. Many of the ghost monsters clutched souls and impaled them on those blade-leaves.
The third layer of hell—the Iron Tree Hell!
Chen Shi sneered, “Child’s play!”
He stamped heavily. The Yin-Yang Dao Field burst forth and reversed yin and yang. In the next moment the Fox Clan courtyard began to return from the underworld to the mortal world!
At that moment, a grand voice rang out, “You’ve reached my Iron Tree Hell and still want to leave? Can you leave?”
Two towering figures of the Fire and Earth Judges rose from the gloom, swinging a long bone whip and a flame whip toward the courtyard.
Little Ox-Head, little Horse-Face, and Little Yaksha leapt up and revealed their true forms to meet the Fire and Earth Judges; they were none other than the three major judges Jia Yuan, Wang Fu, and Zhu Shun.
The Fire and Earth Judges matched them in strength, but could not stop Chen Shi. The Fox Clan courtyard immediately returned from the underworld to the mortal world.
At that moment, a knock sounded outside the courtyard gates. A voice chuckled, “Yan Ruoxi leads the Fifth Hall’s recorder of the Ten Kings of Hell and Tai Ao, come to apprehend the wanted. May we enter?”
Shao Niangniang laughed, “Long You, Mu Daozi, our turn!”
Master Pei strode to the front, smiling, “No need for you. I’ll open the gate!”
He opened the gate and saw several ghost gods outside dressed in paper garments riding paper horses, and several sedan chairs holding some old women with faces painted red and white patches.
Pei turned back and asked, “If I unleash my full power, can my little master hold up?”
Chen Shi’s voice came from inside the courtyard, “Do not leave my Dao Field. Even if you use immortal strength, I can ensure you will not become corrupted.”
“That’s fine!”
Pei laughed heartily. Suddenly boundless power burst from his small frame. He pushed his Great Ascension realm to the point where his self merged with the Realm of Emptiness; his aura ran wild. He stepped outside the Fox Clan courtyard and closed the gate behind him.
With a fierce tremor, Chen Shi’s expression shifted. An intense demonic influence erupted inside his Dao Field, nearly overwhelming his control!
“Pei, so strong! Is this the combat power of the New Method immortals?” he thought in alarm.
The demonic energy emanating from Pei was ferocious and nearly uncontainable. Fortunately the clash was brief; within a few breaths the demonic energy vanished.
Pei opened the gate and walked into the courtyard, “They retreated when they realized the difficulty. Pity I didn’t master the Yin-Yang Variation yet; had I become a true New Method immortal, I could have kept them all.”
He sighed.
He had unified half the Dao and felt the corrupting energy beginning to assimilate him, so he dared not cross that last half-step.
Chen Shi admired this disciple’s strength greatly. He thought, “His power rivals Zhong Wuwang. A freeholder practicing the New Method getting this far is truly impressive!”
At this time, within the rings of light around Nannan, the Righteous Official’s life unfolded in images streaming through Nannan’s memories—over ten thousand years of careful, dutiful service without a single lapse.
The Three Lives Stone’s radiance gradually dimmed; clearly the Righteous Official’s revival had reached a critical moment.