Chapter 302: Entering Another Dwelling

In the Western Capital, Minister of Rites Yan Guozhi sat at the front of the main hall of the Ministry of Rites. Below him, almost all the officials and clerks from the Shanglin Pasture Office were gathered, performing various soul-summoning, soul-tracing, soul-stabilizing, and missing-person divination spells, yet they still could not find anything.

Yan Guozhi frowned.

More than six hundred provincial graduates had clearly fallen into the underworld together with the Immortal Bridge Blessed Land, but there were neither living people nor corpses to be seen. If they had all been commoners it would have been bad enough, but the key problem was that high disciples from Daoist holy places like Guo Daoist and Jin Lu Daoist were among them.

Even more critical was that Zhang You was among them!

Zhang You belonged to the Zhang Family and was destined to inherit the position of Sect Leader. If such a person died during this crucial examination, then Yan Guozhi’s own tenure as Minister of Rites would be in jeopardy.

“Those two bastards Xia Fanghe and Xia Shouying!” Yan Guozhi cursed under his breath and urged the Shanglin Pasture Office to think of other methods.

The Shanglin Pasture Office managed livestock and sacrificial supplies, and it normally provided offerings to ghost gods. It was the earthly bureau responsible for liaising with the underworld. Its status was low, but its function was extremely important.

Because the Shanglin Pasture Office regularly offered livestock to ghost gods to open channels to the underworld, when nobles and princes died the underworld officers would typically notify them in advance, leaving the dying person ten days to half a month to arrange affairs. Families could even bribe the underworld to secure positions for their deceased elders.

Because of the large number of offerings, the underworld officers were accustomed to dealing with the Shanglin Pasture Office.

On the square below, many pigs, horses, cows, and sheep were led forward and a sacrificial altar was set up. Incense burned brightly, thin swirls of smoke rising into the air.

The sacrificial animals were sent to the altar, and soon underworld officers emerged from the incense smoke to partake of the offerings.

A few clerks stepped forward to question those ghost gods one by one, asking about the whereabouts of the graduates who had fallen into the underworld.

After consuming the offerings, those ghost gods remained rude and foul-mouthed, grumbling nonstop, but they answered the clerks’ questions thoroughly.

—When someone feeds you, your mouth grows soft; since they had consumed the offerings, they were expected to return information.

After a long time, the clerks at the Shanglin Pasture Office compiled the information they had obtained and presented it to the Left Supervising Official. He hurriedly skimmed the report, then dashed up to Yan Guozhi and bowed, saying, “Your honor, please look.”

Yan Guozhi opened the documents. The Left Supervising Official reported, “Your honor, we investigated the whereabouts of a total of six hundred and forty-four provincial graduates and attempted to trace their souls, but we could not locate their spirits. Among the ghost gods we questioned, two hundred and seventeen were reported dead, and four hundred and twenty-seven were said to still be alive. The individuals you are most concerned about — Jin Lu Daoist is deceased; the others remain alive for now.”

Yan Guozhi read as he asked, “Where did they fall? Why can their souls not be summoned?”

“Your honor, the ghost gods say the place they went to is not within their jurisdiction. It belongs to a second-level hell, an abandoned land, and they have no authority to enter it.”

The Left Supervising Official continued, “They also said that souls who fall into that place generally have no chance of coming out. Even those ghost gods dare not enter; there are things inside more terrifying than them. Soul-summoning spells are basically useless; they cannot call those souls. Anyone who enters there has no hope of survival.”

A chill swept through Yan Guozhi’s heart. The corner of his eye trembled, and his voice grew hoarse as he asked, “Is there no other way?”

The Left Supervising Official shook his head slightly. “We have tried all feasible methods. There is no other way.”

He hesitated, then said, “I have heard that among the freeholders there is someone called Granny Sha who is unrivaled in soul arts. She was once the wife of the Ministry of Personnel official Xiang Yunfei, but he divorced her. Perhaps she might have a method.”

Yan Guozhi said, “Bring Xiang Yunfei here at once! Also, these are all scholars who came to the capital for the examinations; we cannot let these provincial graduates die in a strange land. Continue summoning their souls until they are brought back!”

The Left Supervising Official bowed and hurried down the stone steps, shouting to the officials of the Shanglin Pasture Office, “Continue the summons!”

He then called over a clerk and instructed, “Go quickly to the Ministry of Personnel and fetch the official Xiang Yunfei.”

The clerk rushed off.

Not long after, the Ministry of Personnel official Xiang Yunfei arrived at the Ministry of Rites and greeted Yan Guozhi. Yan Guozhi asked, “Sir Xiang, can you summon Sha Qiutong to assist us in searching for the provincial graduates who fell into the underworld? I know you might be in a difficult position, but this is an urgent matter. Please do not refuse.”

Xiang Yunfei bowed. “Your honor, I have no further ties with Sha Qiutong. I do not know where she is now, and even if I wanted to persuade her to act, I am powerless.”

Yan Guozhi smiled. “A few days ago, wasn’t a woman at the outer exam site of my Ministry of Rites, chatting with you?”

Xiang Yunfei was stunned, eyes bulging, speechless for a moment before stammering, “That woman did bear some resemblance to Sha Qiutong, but Sha Qiutong is over sixty…”

Yan Guozhi said, “She is Sha Qiutong, known as Soul-Searching Rakshasa Granny Sha. She originally served in the Shanglin Pasture Office as a clerk. You married her and had a son, then divorced her. Now, by some demonic arts, she has made herself young again and deliberately approached you.”

Xiang Yunfei was dumbfounded.

After a while he collected himself and shook his head. “I truly do not know where she is. If you can find her, I will go and speak to her in person.”

Yan Guozhi frowned slightly and immediately ordered people to search for Granny Sha’s whereabouts.

Days passed and Granny Sha was not found. The Shanglin Pasture Office’s officials tried every method imaginable but still could not locate the whereabouts of the provincial graduates.

“Minister Yan, the Shanglin Pasture Office’s three hundred and sixty-four officers have been searching for thirteen continuous days, day and night. They are exhausted and cannot continue.”

The left and right supervising officials came together to see Yan Guozhi and pleaded, “If we continue, people will start to die. Please have mercy and allow them a few days’ rest before resuming!”

Yan Guozhi looked down and saw the officials of the Shanglin Pasture Office—all of them depleted of spirit and energy—indeed in no condition to continue. He relented, “Rest for two days.”

The Left Supervising Official hesitated and said, “Your honor, to be honest, I believe that even if we search longer, they are unlikely to be alive. The underworld is filled with countless terrifying spirits and dangers. The yin energy there is intense. Even if someone escapes from the mouths of those monsters, their cultivation would be corroded by the yin energy and their bodies would decay. If we rescue them today, they will likely be broken people.”

Yan Guozhi’s eye twitched as he pictured Zhang Fuzheng’s stern face and ground his teeth. “If alive, there must be people to see; if dead, there must be corpses!”

The left and right supervising officials could only step back.

Two days later the Shanglin Pasture Office had recovered some strength and resumed the search.

Meanwhile, at Jiexiu Hall, Fu Zheng Pavilion continued to dispatch people to the Shanglin Pasture Office and the Ministry of Rites to inquire whether the missing provincial graduates had been found.

Reports came in one after another, and Shui Xuanzhi and Qin Su’s expressions gradually eased.

“The longer it drags on, the lower the chance of survival,” Qin Su said with a smile. “It’s already been half a month. Those provincial graduates in the underworld have likely turned to white bones. Pitiful bones by the Unsettled River, still the dream-people of spring boudoirs. Their families do not yet know they died in the underworld.”

Other Fu Zheng Pavilion officials sighed as well.

“If Chen Shi and Zhang You died in the underworld, Young Master’s victory is almost certain,” the chief clerk Tang joked.

Shui Xuanzhi admonished sternly, “Do not gloat. Say no more of that!”

He paused, then said, “Soon the Ministry of Rites will cease rescue efforts. The metropolitan exam will release its results and Young Master is sure to place first. Half a month after that will only be a formal palace examination. Winning the top scholar is no small feat. Gentlemen, we must start building momentum for him early!”

Everyone agreed.

The Sacrificial Officer Dou Qi asked, “Chief Administrator Shui, after falling into the underworld so long, can they still return alive? If they suddenly appeared—”

“That is impossible,” Shui Xuanzhi said coldly. “Even someone of my Great Ascension Realm would find it hard to last in the underworld. It is filled with ghost gods and monsters, strange and unfathomable. No one can survive a month there—not even I! Moreover, most of the provincial graduates who fell have not even formed their Primordial Spirit yet, let alone severed the Three Corpses.”

He smiled faintly. “Their Three Corpses Gods will absorb yin energy and grow stronger, corrupting the foundation of their Dao. Even if some return alive, their foundational Dao will be ruined and they will be crippled for life. There is nothing to be optimistic about. The underworld is far more terrifying than you imagine!”

In the underworld, a bluestone road was laid across the sky, stretching endlessly forward. Below, Black Pot carried Chen Tang as they rushed along.

On the bluestone path, Granny Sha—looking like a woman in her youthful twenties—stood at the road’s end. The bluestones continued spreading forward beneath her feet.

She had regained youth and her vitality surged. Previously her qi and blood had been exhausted and she dared not lavish herself like this. Now, though she indulged, her cultivation also advanced and she felt an imminent breakthrough.

The two humans and the dog had been traveling through the underworld for more than ten days. Granny Sha had been helping Chen Tang determine their bearings.

Black Pot helped them slay the ghost gods and monsters they encountered along the way, cutting through them with unstoppable force.

The underworld was vast and finding specific people was not easy, but Granny Sha had divided the underworld into nine zones, allowing her to rapidly triangulate positions.

However, when she attempted to summon Chen Shi’s soul, she discovered that his and the others’ locations were not within the nine zones.

These days of travel had mostly been spent using the nine-zone coordinates to locate Chen Shi in the underworld’s spatial grid.

She suspected a second-layer space existed within the underworld and hoped to fix the exact coordinates of that space.

She had made many enemies among powerful beings in the underworld, and showing herself here had brought many underworld officers to pursue and attack them, but Chen Tang and Black Pot had blocked those pursuers.

Strangely, in recent days fewer and fewer underworld officers had chased them, and eventually they simply stopped pursuing.

The region of the underworld they had recently entered showed no signs of ghosts or underworld officers or monsters. It was desolate and bleak: the ground jet-black, the sky gray and dull, devoid of other colors.

“Chen Tang, Black Pot, stop! We must be nearby!” Granny Sha suddenly said.

Black Pot halted immediately and scanned the surroundings. The place was engulfed in deathly qi, bleak and desolate, with enormous dead trees everywhere.

Each withered tree would take dozens of people to encircle; they were massive and thick.

Chen Tang jumped down from Black Pot’s head and examined the trees closely. “These are bodhi trees, the trees of enlightenment of the Buddhist sect. Legend says Sakyamuni attained enlightenment beneath a bodhi tree and became Buddha,” he said.

The bluestones under Granny Sha’s feet still extended forward. In the withered grove ahead stood an ancient temple of grand scale, radiating an aura of antiquity.

Chen Tang and Black Pot walked to the temple. The temple plaque hung askew and bore the characters for “Kṣitigarbha Temple.”

“This temple likely venerates Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva of the Buddhist order,” Chen Tang said. “This bodhisattva descended into Buddhist hell to repeatedly rescue the souls of mothers and vowed to save all those damned to hell.”

The trio entered the temple and immediately saw the skeletal remains of a massive dog sprawled on the floor. Black Pot barked twice at the giant canine bones.

Inside the temple there were only miniature shrines and no deity statues—the statues had been smashed to pieces.

“Chen Shi and those provincial graduates are nearby! But they are not in the same underworld as we are.”

Granny Sha looked around and retrieved two meditation cushions, laying them on the ground. She sat on one and said, “Xiao Tang, I will perform a spell to send our Primordial Spirits into another underworld. Black Pot will guard and protect us. Sit down.”

Chen Tang sat opposite her.

Granny Sha’s Primordial Spirit, in the form of the Imperial Maiden, floated behind her. She stretched out a palm. The ground beneath their cushions seemed to vanish and was replaced by a clear spring.

Chen Tang glanced down. The cushions had become lotus flowers floating on the spring, and looking down along the lotus stalk the spring rose clearly from beneath the ground, as if welling up from another space-time.

“My technique is called Entering Another Dwelling,” Granny Sha said. “Relax and raise your Primordial Spirit.”

Chen Tang did as instructed and summoned his Primordial Spirit. Granny Sha’s voice came to his ear.

“The dwelling refers to a house, a place to shelter the self. The physical body is the soul’s dwelling. Since we cannot physically enter the other world, we abandon our original dwelling and descend as spirits into dwellings within the other world, thereby possessing a body that allows independent action.”

Granny Sha activated the formation. Chen Tang saw various talisman sigils appear around them, evolving and transforming, many of which he had never seen before.

His own talisman knowledge came from Chen Yindu. Left at home were a few copies of the Compendium of Talismans and the Precious Mirror of Talisman Creation. He had learned partly by self-study and partly from teaching by Chen Yindu and Creation Little Five, mastering the contents of those two books.

Across the world, those who surpassed him in talisman craft were few and could be counted on one hand.

There were hardly any talismans left that he had not encountered in this life, yet many of the sigils Granny Sha used in this spell were unfamiliar to him.

“Sister Sha, what talisman is this?” Chen Tang asked.

Granny Sha glanced at him. “These are some soul-class talismans I created myself—my own pioneered techniques. Xiao Tang, do you know why your father favored Chen Wu slightly more? You are knowledgeable and surpass many peers, but you lack originality. You are better at learning what others have created but have too little of your own. In this respect you are far behind Chen Wu, even behind your father, and even behind me.”

Chen Tang said nothing.

He learned anything quickly, but creating new spells or talismans was a struggle for him.

Creation Little Five was a different sort—he always devised strange techniques that delighted Chen Yindu.

Suddenly Granny Sha’s magic surged. Their Primordial Spirits dropped sharply, as if passing through countless dimensions. White light spun wildly before their eyes.

Chen Tang felt his Primordial Spirit jolt as if striking something and hurried to steady himself.

“Gwa ji gwa ji!”

A blue-faced, fanged ghost beside him looked at him with puzzlement and said, “Gwa ji?”

Chen Tang was stunned. “I can’t understand—”

But as soon as the words left his mouth, they came out as: “Gwa ji gwa ji…”

Strangely, he could understand it!

He hurriedly examined himself and discovered he had become a blue-faced, fanged ghost himself!

At that moment another ghost came over, carrying a pitchfork, on which hung a human corpse wearing only a ragged pair of shorts. The ghost waved to Chen Tang.

Chen Tang hurried over and tentatively said, “Granny?”

The ghost slammed a heavy fist into his head and barked angrily, “Call me sister!”

“Sister,” Chen Tang complied meekly.

“Come with me!” Granny Sha lifted her skirt with her left hand and said.

Chen Tang followed and couldn’t help but remark, “Sister, there is a person hanging on that pitchfork.”

Granny Sha said, “Do you find the corpse’s clothing somewhat familiar?”

Chen Tang examined it carefully and his heart pounded violently. “It is a provincial graduate who attended the metropolitan exam!”

Granny Sha tugged at her skirt. “When I entered this dwelling, I found that it carried this graduate’s corpse. This means Little Ten and the others should be nearby!”

She grabbed one of the ghosts and questioned it, “Gwa ji gwa ji?”

“Gwa ji gwa ji gwa ji!”

Granny Sha told Chen Tang, “It says the things that fell from the sky are over there! Let’s go!”

Chen Tang’s spirits soared. They hurried over and before long found the Immortal Bridge Blessed Land. There were no living people left in the blessed land.

They exited the blessed land and searched around. At that moment they encountered a herding ghost god. Its lower limbs were enormous wheels, flesh growing on the wheels, and its body was towering.

Granny Sha stopped and asked, “Gwa ji gwa ji?”

The herding ghost god raised an arm and pointed toward the distant Buddhist figures. “Gwa ji.”

Granny Sha bid farewell and tugged at her skirt, leading Chen Tang in pursuit. “It says the pasture grass went into the mountains. It was too dangerous, so it didn’t go to graze there.”

Chen Tang worried as they penetrated deeper into the mountain of Buddhas, where one by one eyes emerged from the bodies of the Buddha figures to stare at them curiously.

Granny Sha seized a ghost monk that had leapt down from one of the eyes and interrogated it, torturing and coercing information. She rejoiced, “Alive! It says Little Ten and the others are still alive!”

She tugged at her skirt and hurried off, thrilled. “They fell into the underworld so long ago and yet are still alive!”

—Big chapter. Please vote at the start of the month!