Don't Wet the Bed

Chen Shi returned home, still feeling somewhat dazed. Grandpa called him for dinner, but he only managed a couple of bites before putting down his chopsticks. He stumbled back to his room, falling onto the bed and staring blankly at the ceiling beams.

"You brat, are you eating or not? If not, I'll feed it to the dog!"

Grandpa threw the food in front of Black Pot.

Black Pot sniffed it, shook its head, and turned away.

"My own dog, I wonder if it tastes good..."

Hearing this, Black Pot wagged its tail, put on a fawning smile, and trotted back. It sniffed again, opened its mouth to eat, but found it truly unpalatable. It could only tuck its tail and turn away.

"The food I made today really was a bit much. It was almost all medicinal herbs, nothing I could stomach."

Grandpa frowned slightly and reflected, "I'll be more restrained next time. At the very least, the dog should be able to eat it. If the dog refuses to eat it, Little Ten definitely won't either."

By dinnertime, Chen Shi finally got out of bed, feeling listless.

The desolate mountain temple was the only place he'd found where he could properly cultivate. Now, that place had been shattered by a meteorite. If he relied solely on starlight to cultivate, who knew how long it would take him to shed his status as a cripple.

He wanted to retake the scholar's exam, then the recommended scholar's exam, to escape his current life. At the very least, he wanted to earn enough money to support his Grandpa in his old age.

Grandpa was getting older and older. He didn't want Grandpa to have to run around taking care of him, this little cripple, in his twilight years.

And now, a sudden meteorite from beyond the heavens had turned his dreams into a pipe dream.

He was utterly dejected.

However, life had to go on. Chen Shi quickly emerged from his state of despair because Grandpa had made a sumptuous dinner.

This dinner had no strange-tasting medicinal herbs. Apart from an excessive amount of salt, there were no other faults.

It was the first time in two years that Chen Shi had eaten food that tasted relatively normal. After a couple of bites, his eyes welled up, and he almost wept.

"Is it too salty?"

Grandpa stood with his back to him before the ancestral altar, an eyeball on his shoulder staring at Chen Shi. Seeing this, he asked, "I can't taste anything. Perhaps it's a bit salty."

He had lost all sense of taste, and could even eat candles with great relish.

Chen Shi shook his head. "It's not salty, it's delicious."

Grandpa smiled. "Endure the bitter to become the superior. We'll double the medicine dosage tonight."

Chen Shi ate with his head bowed. After a moment, he looked up and said, "Grandpa, the dilapidated temple where we stayed overnight the other day was destroyed. A stone from beyond the heavens broke that mountain."

"There are countless such occurrences on the Western Ox Continent. Why bother with it?" Grandpa said slowly, chewing on a candle, his tone indifferent.

"Have many such things happened?"

"Mm. Many."

After the meal, without Grandpa needing to tell him, Chen Shi proactively cleaned the pots and bowls, diligently so.

After his medicinal bath, Chen Shi cultivated the Three Lights Righteous Qi as usual. From the adjacent room, he could hear Grandpa using a Thousand Mile Sound Talisman to contact his father. Grandpa, in his old tune, told his father, Chen Tang, that he was old and didn't have many days left, wanting Chen Tang to take Chen Shi to the city.

However, the other end of the Thousand Mile Sound Talisman always had various excuses.

Grandpa then asked Chen Tang if he would be returning for the New Year.

Again, there were only excuses.

The Thousand Mile Sound Talisman burned out, plunging the room into darkness, save for a long sigh.

"A'Tang, I really don't have much time left. I'm worried about Little Ten..."

In the courtyard, Chen Shi felt dejected and continued to cultivate with his head down. However, his cultivation speed had significantly decreased, nowhere near as fast as his progress in the desolate mountain temple.

Deep into the night, he returned to his bed, staring at the dim ceiling beams with wide eyes. After a long while, he finally fell into a deep sleep.

Hearing sounds from Chen Shi's room, Black Pot couldn't help but prick up its ears.

"Grandpa, don't worry about me. I can take care of myself..."

Black Pot was puzzled. Grandpa had clearly already gone out, so who was Chen Shi talking to?

It quickly stood up, quietly nudged open Chen Shi's door, and peeked inside.

"Grandpa, I'm not a cripple anymore. I won't have another episode. I'll get better. I'll pass the scholar's exam and the recommended scholar's exam."

On the bed, Chen Shi wasn't sleeping soundly, muttering in his sleep, "I'll let you live a good life... I don't like Dad. I've never even met him. Grandpa, please don't give me away, okay? Grandpa, don't give me away. I'll be filial to you..."

Black Pot watched for a while. Chen Shi turned over and fell asleep, no longer talking in his sleep.

Black Pot stepped forward, helped him pull up the kicked-off blanket, and quietly went out, holding the door ring to close the door.

Early the next morning, Grandpa had already harnessed the cart, preparing to leave. Chen Shi was a little nervous and asked, "Where are you going, Grandpa?"

"To the county town to buy medicine. We've run out at home."

Chen Shi thought for a moment and said, "The reason the meal Grandpa made last night was delicious was because we ran out of medicine at home?"

"Mm. I'll be back this afternoon. Don't wander off."

The old man sat on the cart, holding a compass, and instructed, "If you get hungry, just go hungry for a meal. I'll bring you something good to eat tonight, from the county town."

Chen Shi looked forward to it.

The wooden cart rumbled out of the village.

Chen Shi went out to pay respects to his Godmother and cultivate for a while. As expected, he got hungry quickly, so he extorted a few duck eggs from Yu Zhu's family's ducks, and also stole some sweet potatoes and a watermelon. He only returned home after eating his fill.

His Godmother from Huangpo Village sat on a tree, her dark, lustrous eyes wide open. She held a bright red fruit in her hand and waved at him.

"You want to poison me while Grandpa's away, is that it?"

Chen Shi sneered and returned to his room, finding his brush, ink, paper, and inkstone. He planned to draw some talismans to sell for money secretly.

"Black Pot, are we best buddies?" Chen Shi asked, one hand behind his back, a smile on his face as he approached the big black dog.

Black Pot cautiously retreated, already guessing what he was up to.

Chen Shi lunged forward, revealing the dagger hidden behind his back. He shouted, "A good brother should go through thick and thin for his brother... Why don't you stab me? My blood isn't as fragrant as yours... How about I draw some talismans, sell them, and we split the profits?"

As he was wrestling with Black Pot, causing a commotion, a loud knocking suddenly came from the door. Then, the door was pushed open, and a dust-covered man burst in. He wore coarse linen clothes and a pair of grass sandals with worn-down soles. Seeing a man and a dog wrestling, he couldn't help but freeze.

"Is this Master Chen's home?"

The man hesitated and then said, "Something has happened in our village! There's a Malevolent Spirit causing trouble, and several children have gone missing. We beg Master Chen to help us get rid of the evil!"

Chen Shi let go of the dog and got up. He said to the man, "My Grandpa went to the county town to buy medicinal herbs and won't be back until the afternoon."

The man looked disappointed and cried out, "What are we going to do? If we wait until the afternoon, I'm afraid they'll all be dead!"

"Um... is there a reward for getting rid of the evil for you?"

Chen Shi's eyes sparkled, and his breathing quickened slightly. "Is there money?"

The man hesitated, then took out three or four pieces of broken silver, about the size of a finger, totaling around five taels. He mumbled, "This is all we in Huangyang Village could scrape together..."

Chen Shi snatched the silver and clasped it in his hand, laughing. "My Grandpa is Master Chen, and I am also Master Chen. I'll take this job! Wait for me for a moment, and I'll pack my things and go with you!"

The man was dumbfounded. He watched as Chen Shi excitedly went into the house, followed by the black dog.

From inside the house, he could hear dog barks and the child's voice, as if they were conversing.

"Woof, woof!"

"I know I don't have true qi and can't use magic, but I can draw talismans."

"Woof woof, woof woof woof!"

"Don't worry, nothing will happen. Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda, let alone they've lost several children, several lives."

"Woof..."

"You're saying it's unusual for the Malevolent Spirit to act during the day, right? I also think it's a bit unusual. However, I must earn this money. When I encounter a desolate mountain and a ruined temple next time, I won't have to ask Grandpa for money; I'll have my own to repair the temple."

"Woof?"

"I was thinking, if that temple wasn't so ruined, the sunlight wouldn't be discovered by the eyes in the sky, and perhaps it wouldn't have been destroyed, and I could have continued cultivating."

After a moment, Chen Shi was ready. He went out carrying a book box that was taller than he was. It was packed with things, weighing at least twenty pounds, yet Chen Shi carried it as if it were weightless, as if he couldn't feel any burden.

"Black Pot, I'll leave a letter for Grandpa, telling him where I've gone."

Chen Shi wrote the letter and handed it to the dog. "When Grandpa comes back, give him this letter. If I encounter danger, tell him to quickly come to Huangyang Village to rescue me."

Black Pot, holding the letter in its mouth, quickly ran to the main hall and placed it under Grandpa's ancestral tablet. It then ran back quickly, picked up a small knife, and gestured for Chen Shi to put the knife in the book box, suggesting that if he were in danger, splashing the Malevolent Spirit with its dog blood might save him.

Chen Shi knew it was worried about his safety, so he let it follow.

The man quickly led the way, and the two, along with the dog, headed towards Huangyang Village.

Huangyang Village was located at the northern foot of Ganyang Mountain. The straight-line distance wasn't far, but the mountain path was rugged and difficult to travel. The roadsides were lined with desolate mountains and dense forests, where wild beasts often roamed.

Along the way, Chen Shi learned about the situation.

There was a derelict house in Huangyang Village that was originally inhabited by a family named Tian. There were eight people in the family. One day, the entire Tian family, regardless of age or gender, suddenly died. Even their livestock, including chickens, ducks, cats, and dogs, were all dead!

The authorities did not investigate this matter, as such incidents were too common in the countryside for them to handle. Thus, it became an unsolved case.

Later, rumors spread that the Tian residence was haunted, and over time, it became a deserted house that no one dared to enter.

"A naughty child from our village climbed over the wall and was possessed. He was crying and laughing, muttering, 'Whoever wets the bed, I'll eat them, whoever wets the bed, I'll eat them.'"

The man said, "Putting up peach charms didn't help, and the child's mother even offered sacrifices to the Godmother, but it was also useless. That night, something happened."

Chen Shi listened intently and asked, "What happened?"

"A child from the village wet the bed and was taken away."

The man's expression was strange. "The child's father vaguely saw a huge shadow on the wall of his house in the middle of the night. It opened its huge mouth, extended a long tongue, and slurped his child away."

Chen Shi's heart skipped a beat. An evil spirit that specifically ate children who wet the bed?

This was too bizarre.

"Yesterday, two more children went missing. The other families were so scared that they didn't dare to let their children drink too much water, fearing they would be eaten if they wet the bed at night. Some families would wake their children up in the middle of the night to let them pee, but something still happened. Today, during the day, Old Liu's child, named Fugui, was peeing when a long tongue hanging from the sky coiled around him, and he disappeared with a slurp."

"During the day?"

Chen Shi couldn't help but frown. Did evil spirits appear during the day?

"And then?"

"Then he was eaten, I suppose."

"Your village's Godmother, didn't she inquire about this matter? Can she tolerate Malevolent Spirits entering the village?"

The man shook his head and said, "Not all Godmothers protect the villagers. Some Godmothers get angry if the offerings are insufficient. Some say the family of eight surnamed Tian was killed by our village's Godmother. They say that night, our village's Godmother didn't drive away the Malevolent Spirits, but instead let one into the village to kill the Tian family of eight. It seems it was because the Tian family's daughter-in-law spoke disrespectfully to the Godmother, cursing her, so the Godmother held a grudge and killed them. After the Tian family of eight died, the Godmother appeared in our dreams, telling us to offer more incense and sacrifices, otherwise we would suffer the same fate as the Tian family."

Chen Shi frowned. Aren't all Godmothers kind?

How could they do evil?

They arrived at Huangyang Village and saw that it was dilapidated and run-down, with old houses, mostly thatched huts. The villagers were also wearing tattered clothes, looking like refugees. Both children and adults had sallow complexions and were very weak.

There were a few children in the village. Some were timid and hid behind their parents, while others were bold and clamored for water, likely because they hadn't had any for a long time.

"A Malevolent Spirit that specifically eats children who wet the bed? This kind of Malevolent Spirit should be attracted by virgin boy urine. In other words, the reason the child was taken wasn't because they wet the bed, but because of the virgin boy urine. I'm still a virgin... Wait a minute, before my Divine Embryo was removed, did I lose my virginity? I was only nine years old then, I shouldn't have..."

Just as Chen Shi thought of this, he was suddenly bumped into. He saw a half-grown child, about his age, run past him.

The child bumped into him, quickly stopped, and turned to apologize to Chen Shi. It was a thin boy, very shy, with half a snot hanging under his nose, sniffling.

"It's okay, it's okay."

Chen Shi waved his hand generously and smiled, "Aren't you afraid of me?"

If a child from Huangpo Village had bumped into him, they would probably be kneeling on the ground by now, kowtowing and begging for mercy from Boss Chen.

The thin boy looked curious, "Why should I be afraid of you?"

Chen Shi remembered the village children who knelt before him, begging for their lives, and said understandingly, "The children in my village are all afraid of me and don't dare to play with me."

The thin boy scratched his head, "Then you don't have any friends?"

"I still have my Godmother. And Black Pot. And Scholar. They are all my friends," Chen Shi smiled.

The thin boy also smiled, "Then would you like to have one more friend?"

Chen Shi's eyes immediately lit up. This was the first human friend he had made since he woke up!

And more importantly, he was alive!

The village elders surrounded the man who had guided Chen Shi. An old woman trembled and said, "Sanwang, you were sent to invite Master Chen, where is Master Chen?"

"Master Chen is not at home, only his grandson is. Although he is young, he is also a Talisman Master."

The man, Sanwang, glanced at Chen Shi and whispered, "Besides, our village didn't pay much. I'm afraid we can't invite any other Talisman Masters, only this young one. Five taels of silver, which Talisman Master would be willing to come?"

Everyone looked at Chen Shi, who was talking to the air and even laughing. They looked at each other in surprise.

Sanwang boldly asked, "Master Chen, who are you talking to?"

"My new friend!"

Chen Shi smiled. "By the way, my name is Chen Shi, and my nickname is Little Ten. What's your name?"

"My surname is Liu, and my name is Fugui," the thin boy said.