On the Path to the Great Dao

The bearded big man scratched his head and said, "I think it's more like Chen Shi corrupted the evil. The kid stays up all night messing around instead of sleeping. These past days, he hasn't had any episodes, so Old Chen must be doing well in the underworld. I'm off to sleep."

"Little Liang, don't sleep. Something big might happen."

Qingyang stared nervously at Chen Shi and said, "I just have a feeling this kid is going to stir up something huge!"

"You say something big is going to happen every day, and you're on edge every day. Since coming back from the underworld, I haven't slept for several nights."

The bearded big man said irritably, "I'm not like you, a lone bachelor. I've got so many beautiful concubines to take care of. If I don't head back soon, things will be in chaos at home!"

Granny Sha was tired too. These days, she'd been running around everywhere, full of worry and fear. She had to watch out for Chen Shi causing trouble while also building a temple for the Mountain Lord. Her family savings had been drained dry, and she hadn't had time to rest.

After all, she was getting on in years, and her energy wasn't what it used to be. She smiled and said, "I've observed that although Chen Shi has done plenty of mischief these days, he's still somewhat decent and hasn't caused any major disasters. Now that the Mountain Lord's divine likeness is no longer in his little shrine, things have quieted down. With Old Chen guarding the underworld passage, it's foolproof. Everyone's exhausted. I'll leave one Ghost King to monitor Chen Shi, and we can all head home. If anything happens, my Ghost King will come report it."

She left behind one Ghost King and instructed, "If Chen Shi causes trouble or runs into danger, come report it immediately."

That Ghost King was the third of the Five Ghost Kings. He clasped his hands and said, "Understood."

With that, he stood in the shadows, watching Chen Shi from afar. The three departed one by one.

That night, the ghost bride was tossed about relentlessly, but the ghost foxes had no idea that the one inside the big red sedan was no longer the ghost bride—it was Chen Shi. They continued carrying him east and west, playing music and singing everywhere.

Also that night, many people saw Huangpo Village's Chen the Talisman Master sitting in the sedan, dressed as the groom, happily scaring people all over.

The news spread, and people said Chen the Talisman Master had married a ghost bride and would soon drop dead.

Yet for a long time after, Chen Shi remained perfectly fine, even looking healthier.

But no one saw the ghost bride again.

"Chen the Talisman Master dual cultivated with the ghost bride and drained her dry!"

At the market gathering, Old Lady Wuzhu said solemnly to Old Lady Wang from the neighboring village, "They tumbled phoenix and dragon in the sedan. The ghost bride screamed and begged for mercy, but she was still sucked into a dried-up corpse!"

"Is Chen the Talisman Master that powerful?"

"Of course! He's a scholar, the Star of Literature descended to earth!"

Old Lady Wuzhu said gravely, "He and the ghost bride had a five-lives predestined bond. He came down this time specifically to subdue her. Chen the Talisman Master will ascend to heaven soon!"

In no time, rumors about Chen Shi and the ghost bride spread through many villages.

Chen Shi had released the ghost bride, and for many days, she didn't come out to hunt.

Later, he heard from other evils that the ghost bride had encountered an evil entity one night and been tormented badly, so she moved to another place. She found an abandoned temple, reformed herself, and became a godmother.

Chen Shi had originally quite favored the ghost bride, thinking that using her for his Divine Embryo cultivation would progress faster than with other evils. But she moved away without even leaving word for him—quite heartless. He had no choice but to let it go.

In the following period, the evils around Qianyang Mountain were in a panic. They'd heard there was a new evil nearby that specialized in catching other evils. Once caught, they were thrown into a strange house from which they couldn't escape. Then invisible ropes would bind them and place them into an open box.

Even though the door was open, they couldn't move.

Next, strange heat would drill around inside their bodies, controlling them to strike bizarre poses and attack other evils.

The evils near Qianyang Mountain dwindled sharply. Some moved away overnight, some hid, and others attached themselves to rocks and trees to evade that new evil. After all, eating people could be done anytime, but getting caught by that evil brought immense humiliation.

Some didn't believe it and insisted on coming out at night to bask in the moonlight—then they vanished.

A few days later, when seen again, they were silent and withdrawn, as if abused.

Even stranger, any evil caught by Chen Shi and subjected to incense in his little shrine lost much of their interest in eating people. Instead, they developed a strong craving for thick incense.

Some evils burrowed into ancient trees or jagged rocks, or latched onto damaged ancient statues, starting to manifest spiritually to protect travelers in exchange for incense.

In just half a month, the evils on Qianyang Mountain had decreased by more than half. In their place, safe havens blessed by spirits multiplied.

Refugees from other places came to Qianyang Mountain and saw many ownerless spirits. They offered incense, took them as godmothers, and built homes nearby, forming the beginnings of new villages.

It was as if Chen Shi had done a great good deed.

Granny Sha was greatly surprised to see villages springing up around Qianyang Mountain.

"His little shrine is extraordinary. It can make evils accept incense, turning man-eating evils into protective godmothers. In all my years, I've never even heard of such a thing. What exactly is Little Ten's godmother? What kind of existence could grant Little Ten a shrine with such power?"

She puzzled over it endlessly.

"Probably only the Qianyang Mountain Lord knows the origins of that stone stele godmother. But the Mountain Lord has been petrified these days and doesn't respond to my incense."

Her curiosity about Chen Shi's godmother grew even stronger.

"Strange, the third one hasn't come to report Little Ten's whereabouts in quite some time."

Busy with her own affairs, she only noted it briefly and set it aside, continuing to use her Ram's Horn Heavenly Spirit Lamp to search the underworld.

The villagers around Qianyang Mountain were somewhat surprised too. These days, evils seemed much fewer—even the usually active floating heads were rarely seen.

They went out at night, walking from one village to another, and didn't encounter even a single evil.

They worked the fields without worrying about evil disturbances—it was much easier.

After another stretch of time, incidents of evil hauntings grew rarer. Occasional brushes with evil were usually from passing ones.

Later even, transients through Qianyang Mountain behaved themselves, not causing harm locally—only outside Qianyang Mountain. They'd heard there was a great evil named Chen who punished misbehaving evils by locking them in a strange house, so they stayed obedient.

Chen Shi had done a great good deed. Yet under Old Lady Wuzhu's expectant gaze, he never ascended to heaven. Instead, he looked somewhat愁眉不展.

His golden core had reached the second revolution, transforming his dantian into the Vermilion Mound Palace.

As the saying goes: In the Vermilion Mound Palace, refine the golden core; the innate furnace and cauldron turn like wheels.

In his dantian, a sea of fire evolved into a wheel-shaped furnace cauldron golden core at the center. Qi and blood flowed around it like flames, constantly pouring into the core. The golden core was vermilion red like cinnabar, vividly bright.

From golden core first revolution to second, it had taken him only a month—extremely swift.

This speed rivaled cultivators with top-tier Divine Embryos.

However, Grandpa had once told him that as cultivation deepened, the daily medicines needed to increase, and the herbs for medicated baths had to double.

Naturally, the money spent would double too.

Chen Shi sighed. With fewer evils and more godmothers, business had slowed.

He now frequently went to the county town to buy medicines. Ten taels of silver a day meant a hundred taels in ten days.

"In a year, I'll be a poor wretch like Tianqing, unable to marry Little Jin."

These days, his spending kept rising with no income, giving him cause for worry. "Little Jin is poor too. Two poor wretches together—how will we raise our kids? Right, what should our kids be called? Should they take Tianqing as their godfather?"

He took out three incense sticks, lit them, and placed them before him. At that moment, a green ghostly hand emerged from the little shrine behind his head, snatched the three sticks, and retracted into the shrine.

Granny Sha's third Ghost King was currently perched on the Divine Shrine in the temple. He inserted the incense into the censer before the shrine himself and inhaled the fragrance blissfully.

He had originally been watching Chen Shi from afar, but somehow Blackie Pot, Chen Shi's black dog, spotted him. In one glance, Chen Shi caught him and put him in the little shrine to aid his cultivation.

The third Ghost King struggled and resisted, but Chen Shi offered too much incense. In the end, he submitted and helped with the cultivation.

These past days, as Chen Shi cultivated, he benefited greatly and no longer mentioned leaving.

"Watching Chen Shi from afar or from inside the shrine makes no difference."

The third Ghost King enjoyed the incense and thought, "Plus, I can see even clearer from in here. Granny will surely praise my cleverness when she finds out!"

Fu Leisheng's private school in Bridge Bay Town had opened some days prior. The old gentleman was beaming with joy and invited Chen Shi to visit. He said to Chen Shi, "I've formed my Nascent Soul, and I haven't thanked you yet."

Chen Shi was happy for him too and said, "When you formed your Nascent Soul and left your body, you avoided pregnant women and livestock about to give birth."

Fu Leisheng asked puzzledly, "Why is that?"

Chen Shi recounted his encounter with the master and disciple whose Nascent Souls mistakenly entered a pregnant woman's body and said, "Whenever a Nascent Soul enters a mother's body, it will die no matter what. The placenta is the innate cushion, the umbilical cord the Bridge of Helplessness, the amniotic fluid Lady Meng's soup. The slightest carelessness leads to the confusion of the womb. If you enter just as the woman is in labor, you might retain your past life's memories. But if you cry out, leaking that innate true qi, your past memories dissipate. You'd need five years without speaking to preserve them."

Fu Leisheng was stunned. "Such a thing exists? Isn't forming a Nascent Soul fraught with dangers everywhere?"

"Besides that, there's heavenly thunder. Since the Nascent Soul isn't pure yang yet, it attracts thunder. Never leave your body during thunderstorms. An unstable Nascent Soul can also be scattered by wind, so don't linger in the wind, or it will grow weaker."

Chen Shi explained the taboos of the Nascent Soul and asked puzzledly, "You didn't know any of this?"

Fu Leisheng laughed. "How would I? We're scholars pursuing officialdom. Without a fortuitous encounter, we'll be scholars our whole lives, never becoming recommended men, let alone touching superior techniques. Forming a golden core is already remarkable. Forming a Nascent Soul is typically the privilege of aristocratic heirs—what does it have to do with poor wretches like us? If you hadn't told me, I'd have died leaving my body."

He had originally spoken in flowery literary style, but after a month-plus in the countryside, he'd adapted to local ways.

Still, what Fu Leisheng described was a common phenomenon.

Ordinary folk cultivators couldn't even pass the great medicine body tempering stage, unaware of the seven returns, eight transformations, nine returns. Even external spirit pills cost a lifetime's savings for one, and without sufficiently advanced techniques, the golden core realm was the absolute limit for those born poor—no chance of advancing!

Those who could advance were often like Master Zeng, entering a great clan as servants, getting promoted by nobles before possibly forming a Nascent Soul.

Chen Shi sighed. "Cultivation seems fair, but it's actually not."

Fu Leisheng nodded in deep agreement and said, "The Qianyang Mountain Man used the Heavenly Heart Righteous Qi Art to lower the threshold from aristocratic gates to what poor lads could practice. But the Heavenly Heart Righteous Qi Art only supports up to golden core. For poor lads to go further is harder than ascending to heaven. Sadly, there's only one Qianyang Mountain Man in the world."

His expression dimmed.

To all poor-born youths, the Qianyang Mountain Man was an eternal monument.

Sadly, no one knew his real name or appearance—otherwise, his incense would burn eternally!

Chen Shi's heart stirred. He felt he might be able to fill the gap in the Heavenly Heart Righteous Qi Art, allowing it to reach Nascent Soul level.

"Adding the seven returns, eight transformations, nine returns could elevate it to Nascent Soul! But how to add it safely—that's the puzzle."

As he pondered supplementing the Heavenly Heart Righteous Qi Art, a roar came from the river. Bridge Bay Town's bells rang clang-clang-clang, urgently. Someone shouted loudly, "Quick, burn incense! Worship the godmother!"

Chen Shi was astonished. He saw townsfolk surging out, rushing to the town center, each holding incense and bowing to the town's godmother.

The town's godmother was a stone statue: dragon-headed and human-bodied, only half intact, like a Dragon King from some ancient temple. Though just the upper half, it stood three to five men tall, with extremely potent spiritual power.

Bridge Bay Town flooded badly in rains, so the Dragon King statue's incense burned prosperously, with many offerings.

The waves grew more frantic. Chen Shi looked toward the De River and saw the floodwaters rising one or two zhang above the banks, blocked by an invisible wall that kept Bridge Bay Town from inundation.

But many people in the river were swept along by the flood, tumbling. Houses and trees too were carried by the waves downstream.

It looked like a village upstream had been overwhelmed, carrying off one or two hundred people.

These people had already drowned. Some slammed into the invisible wall set by Bridge Bay Town's godmother, sticking to it as if alive, eyes wide staring at the townsfolk before being swept away by the flood.

Vaguely, Chen Shi saw a massive creature swimming in the river, passing under the arched bridge. He couldn't make out what it was, but it shook the bridge several times.

"What's in the De River!"

Just as he thought this, Fu Leisheng said, "There's a crossing dragon stirring up trouble in the De River. Taking advantage of the heavy rains these days, it's caused floods that drowned people and washed away six or seven villages on both banks."

"A crossing dragon?"

Chen Shi asked puzzledly, "There's a dragon nearby?"

"It should be a jiaolong on the verge of transformation! It needs human souls to cultivate and strengthen its demon core, turning it into an evil."

Fu Leisheng wasn't certain and said, "Every day at noon, it passes from upstream. This time it wrecked an upstream village—probably making it stronger."

Chen Shi surveyed the flood, noting how quickly it came and went. Soon the waters receded, and the river ran clear again. Chen Shi went to the stone arched bridge in Bridge Bay Town, examined it, and took out a tael of silver. "Trouble the master to exchange this for copper coins at a town shop."

Fu Leisheng was puzzled but took the silver and soon returned with copper coins.

Chen Shi took the copper coins to the blacksmith shop. Ding-ding-dong-dong, he forged them into a copper sword, gleaming golden-yellow.

He called Blackie Pot over, mixed black dog blood with cinnabar, and inscribed various talisman patterns on the copper sword. He painted with cinnabar, tempered in fire, hammered again—repeating thrice. The copper sword no longer resembled its original form.

Chen Shi boated under the bridge and hung the copper sword in the bridge arch. He said to Fu Leisheng, "My grandpa taught me dragon-slaying arts before. I don't know if it'll work. If it does, Bridge Bay Town owes me ten taels of silver."

Fu Leisheng fetched the town elders upon hearing this and explained.

The elder said, "If it truly succeeds, ten taels it is!"

The next day at noon, the flood returned, river water overflowing the embankments, rising higher and higher.

Suddenly, a yellow flash gleamed at the bridgehead. A dragon roar sounded, and the river water turned blood-red. People looked and saw a dragon-like giant in the river, its head severed, body and head apart, drifting downstream with the flood.

The flood then receded.

Another day passed. At noon, no flood came. Chen Shi came to collect his pay. Fu Leisheng was utterly shocked and said, "Chen Shi, what exactly is your grandpa? How does he know dragon-slaying techniques?"

"Just an ordinary countryside old man."

Chen Shi said, "What background could there be?"

Downstream, the dragon corpse washed ashore, drawing crowds. Chen Shi and Fu Leisheng hurried over and saw many talismans carved on the dragon head's horns. He frowned.

"This is a reared jiaolong, not a wild one!"

Fu Leisheng whispered, "Likely escaped from some big shot's household. We may have invited trouble!"

Chen Shi said uncomprehendingly, "Releasing a jiaolong to wreak havoc and kill so many villagers—that's the troublemaker, right?"

Fu Leisheng shook his head, pulled him away, and said, "Anyone who can rear a jiaolong is no small fry! Who decides right and wrong? They do, not small folk like us. Hurry and go!"