The Aggrieved Party

Chen Shi wiped the blood from the little knife on his cuff and looked at the corpses sprawled every which way across the camp, his face dark as still water.

"The Master said, since you have come, make your peace with it. Since your duty was to protect my enemy, you did not die unjustly."

He walked toward Li Xiaoding.

Li Xiaoding could have killed him with a single spell, yet Chen Shi was not afraid in the slightest. He did not know where this confidence and conviction had come from, but he felt certain that he could take Li Xiaoding down before he could cast a spell!

Strangely enough, it was his first time killing someone, yet he did not feel the slightest fear. The moment his hand closed around the knife hilt, his mind held only one thought: how to kill his opponent as quickly as possible.

Black Pot was still crouching beside the table, blankly staring at the corpses lying spread-eagled on the ground, not yet having recovered its senses.

—it simply could not connect the decisive, ruthless youth before it with its little master.

The old Chen Shi had been mischievous and troublesome, a cheerful, thoughtless boy. But the current Chen Shi was like a god of slaughter!

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"

Chen Shi threw punch after punch, each casual movement carrying the force of a thousand jun. He smashed the Golden Light Bell to pieces and strode up to Li Xiaoding.

He was much shorter than Li Xiaoding, reaching only to his chest. Yet Li Xiaoding seemed battered by his imposing aura. He staggered, then fell to the ground with a thump, bracing himself with both hands as he scooted backward in terror.

"B-brother, don't, don't..."

Chen Shi grabbed his collar and tried to haul him up. Yet whether Li Xiaoding was too heavy or Chen Shi had exhausted all his strength in that battle, he could not lift him.

After all, it was his first time killing people. Though he had wiped out his enemies completely and had felt nothing at the time, now that it was sinking in, a wave of weakness washed over him.

Chen Shi felt his hands aching and trembling. He took a breath and activated the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art, only then feeling somewhat better.

His battle just now had looked clean and swift, but it had actually drained him greatly. He even felt hungry and badly wanted something to eat.

"Don't kill me!"

Li Xiaoding burst into tears, and his crotch was soaked through.

His realm surpassed Chen Shi's, his true qi was more powerful by an unknown margin, and he carried all manner of protective talismans. Yet he was terrified and had lost all will to fight.

He was like a lamb awaiting slaughter, lifted up by Chen Shi.

"You stole my Divine Embryo, and you still want to live?"

Chen Shi gritted his teeth and said viciously, "The expert you hired pried open my skull and took my Divine Embryo. You never expected me to survive, did you? Back then, you should have rammed a stick into my head and stirred my brains into mush! You left me one breath, so I came to seek revenge!"

Li Xiaoding went limp all over, his face deathly pale.

His aptitude had never been particularly good. On top of that, he spent his days eating, drinking, and having fun, devoting little time to cultivation. He had never managed to cultivate a Divine Embryo. Forget a provincial graduate—even his scholar status had been bought by his family.

But his family was not worried in the least and never pressed him to study or cultivate diligently, so he was happy to live freely and enjoy himself.

Then one day, his Third Uncle brought him a fresh Divine Embryo and mysteriously told him that as long as it was transplanted into his Divine Shrine, he would immediately become a Divine Embryo Realm cultivator. Passing the provincial examination and becoming a Golden Core practitioner to attain even greater achievements would be no trouble at all!

He had asked his Third Uncle where the Divine Embryo came from, but his Third Uncle merely said it was none of his concern and that everything had already been handled. So he transplanted the Divine Embryo with a clear conscience.

Sure enough, he passed the provincial examination smoothly. Word spread that he was a genius, causing the other aristocratic families to view him in a new light. Some young women from those families had even taken a liking to him.

But who could have expected that his Third Uncle had not cleaned things up properly? The aggrieved party had not died. Instead, he had cultivated a body full of wicked skills, killed all of his Imperial Guards, and even wanted to kill him for revenge!

"Do you know how I lived these past two years?"

Chen Shi said fiercely, "How much suffering did I endure over these two years? How many wrongs did I suffer..."

Li Xiaoding suddenly shuddered, and a glimmer of hope appeared in his eyes. He stammered, "Wait, h-hero..."

He felt that calling Chen Shi, a child barely over ten, a hero was rather inappropriate, but he forced himself to continue. "Wait, hero. Your Divine Embryo was cut out two years ago? But I only transplanted someone else's Divine Embryo last year! Hero!"

Cautious yet daring himself to speak, he said, "Did you kill the wrong person?"

Chen Shi had been about to continue, but at those words, his heart jolted. More than half the killing intent in him dissipated as he asked suspiciously, "You mean you only transplanted someone else's Divine Embryo last year?"

Li Xiaoding nodded frantically, looking as though he might laugh or cry as he protested, "I only took the provincial examination and became a provincial graduate after transplanting someone else's Divine Embryo last year. This can all be verified. Just ask around and you'll know!"

Chen Shi froze. His hands loosened, and he let Li Xiaoding go.

Li Xiaoding landed on the ground on his backside. Ignoring the pain, he continued, "If your Divine Embryo was cut out the year before last, then the person who took it was not me, nor was it my Li Family. Once a Divine Embryo leaves the body, it will turn to ash and scatter in no time! Your Divine Embryo could not possibly have been preserved for an entire year!"

"Impossible?"

Chen Shi became somewhat flustered and muttered, "You mean you are not the person who stole my Divine Embryo? I killed the wrong person?"

Li Xiaoding was somewhat exasperated. "More than just the wrong person! You killed my seven Imperial Guards, nearly killed me too, and even killed Miss Zi E of the Ding Family!"

Chen Shi's expression shifted uncertainly.

He had heard Second Miss Zhao and the others speak of Li Xiaoding's stunning success in the provincial examination. At the time, they had guessed that Li Xiaoding might have stolen Chen Shi's Divine Embryo. From then on, Chen Shi had regarded this Young Master Li as an enemy with whom he could never coexist.

But thinking it over now, Second Miss Zhao and the others had merely been guessing as well.

"So I really did kill the wrong person..." Chen Shi murmured.

"You really did kill the wrong person!"

Li Xiaoding was angry as well and complained, "Why didn't you ask before attacking..."

"Sshh—"

A cold flash swept across his neck. Li Xiaoding went rigid and raised a hand to cover his throat. Gurgling sounds came from his throat, but he could not speak. Then blood began to gush out without end.

Blood filled his lungs, making him cough continuously as bubbles emerged from the wound in his throat and from his mouth.

Chen Shi wiped the blood from the little knife on his sleeve again and glanced at Li Xiaoding, who was still struggling.

"But I did not kill the wrong person. What you stole was not my Divine Embryo, but you still stole someone else's Divine Embryo. The genius whose Divine Embryo you stole was not as lucky as I was. I survived, but he did not. Someone like you deserves to die!"

Chen Shi turned to the table, put the knife into his book box, gathered up his writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, then slung the book box over his back. Muttering to himself, he said, "I avenged him for him. Damn it, I cannot kill all those powerful nobles who steal the futures and lives of poor students!"

With the book box on his back, he staggered, and his stomach rumbled loudly. He was so hungry his chest seemed pressed against his back.

At that moment, the fragrance of food drifted over. Following the scent, Chen Shi found a large pot of stew simmering beside a yurt. Li Xiaoding and the others had apparently hunted some wild beast, cleaned it, and thrown it into the pot. The meat was cooked now.

Chen Shi lifted the lid and saw chunks of meat within, half fat and half lean, with bones still in the middle. Bubbles rose one after another from the bottom of the pot, jostling the dark-red chunks of meat until they trembled without pause.

He should have left this place of trouble immediately, lest someone discover him and cause fresh complications. But he was starving so badly that he could barely walk. So he simply tossed the lid aside, gripped the pot handles with both hands, and carried the whole pot of meat to the table.

"Boom!"

He set the pot on the table, put down his book box, sat on it, and reached in for meat. Ignoring the heat, he devoured it in huge bites. With a flick of his tongue, he stripped off the fat and lean meat alike, then spat out the bones with a puff.

Black Pot finally woke from the chain of battles and was still trembling, but it was an animal after all. Seeing the bones on the ground, it hurried over to pick them up.

"Pathetic."

Seeing this, Chen Shi chuckled. He lifted the pot and poured half the meat onto the ground, laughing. "Eat. Eat quickly. Once you're full, we can be on our way."

Black Pot shivered and carefully considered whether being "on the way" meant making it take the Black Pot and sending it on its final journey.

But after thinking it over, it decided that its little master probably did not mean that. Mainly because it was a dog, and this pot was too much for it to carry. Reassured, it began eating boldly.

One man and one dog, one above the table and one below it, feasted heartily.

Before long, they were full. Chen Shi put his book box on his back and looked around, but he did not see the ghosts of Li Xiaoding or the others, which puzzled him.

"Could Grandpa have been telling the truth? Is there really some netherworld power that summons ghosts into the Underworld? But why were Scholar Zhu and the three water ghosts not summoned into the Underworld?"

He called Black Pot over and prepared to leave the camp.

Chen Shi had eaten too much meat and felt thirsty. He spotted the fruit scattered all over the ground from the basket Zi E had brought. One large sweet melon was still intact, so he picked it up, smashed it open with a punch, and ate it in great mouthfuls as he strode from the camp. With Black Pot beside him, he vanished into the forest.

"Once night falls, the moon rises, and evil things emerge, none of these corpses will remain. Even someone with heaven-reaching means will never trace this back to me!"

Not long afterward, Chen Shi emerged from the forest and saw a wooden cart stopped by the roadside. Grandpa sat beside the road in a bamboo hat, as though he had known all along that Chen Shi would come out from here.

Chen Shi was startled and walked over.

Grandpa raised a hand and tossed him several garments. "Change your clothes. There's blood on them. People could trace you through it."

Chen Shi obediently acknowledged him and hurriedly took off his bloodstained clothes and changed into the new ones. Just as he was wondering how to dispose of the bloody garments, the bundle suddenly burst into flames and quickly turned to ashes.

Chen Shi knew Grandpa had done it and secretly praised him. The Master said, do not look upon what is improper. As long as no one sees it, it does not count as breaking the law. Grandpa handles things even more properly. He must have done plenty of bad things back in the day!

However, he could not tell whether Grandpa had used a spell or something else.

Grandfather and grandson sat in the wooden cart. The talismans on its wheels gradually lit up, and the cart rumbled along the post road toward Huangpo Village.

"You came all the way here to work as a talisman master for them this time. Did you get paid?"

"I did."

"How much did the aggrieved party pay you?"

"Fifty taels of silver. A ingot this big."

"Give it to me. I'll keep it for you."

"...Grandpa, I want to keep it myself."

"A child's hands have wide gaps; they can't hold on to money. Put your five fingers together—don't the gaps still leak? Grandpa's hands don't leak. Give the money to Grandpa. Grandpa will save it and not spend it recklessly. I'll keep it for when you grow up and need to marry a wife. Would Grandpa covet your money?"

"No."

Chen Shi handed the silver ingot to Grandpa, dreaming of the happy days when he would marry a wife.