You're Still Alive!

"Fugui? His surname is Liu? A child from the Liu family?"

Chen Shi found the name somewhat familiar. Suddenly, his mind roared, and he widened his eyes, looking at the frail boy in front of him.

He remembered. Sanwang had once said that the last child to go missing was from the Liu family, named Fugui!

And this child before him was named Liu Fugui!

Could it be that this village had two Liu Fuguis?

He doubted it!

The frail boy named Liu Fugui walked towards the village. Seeing Chen Shi motionless, he quickly waved at him and said with a smile, "Chen Shi, come over here. I'll introduce you to some good friends!"

Chen Shi hesitated for a moment before following him into the village.

He had originally thought he would gain a living friend, but now it seemed this friend might not be so alive.

"Master Chen!" Sanwang shouted loudly.

Chen Shi ignored him, continuing to follow Liu Fugui. Black Pot quickly followed Chen Shi, feeling uneasy.

The frail boy walked quickly. The other people in the village seemed not to see him, letting him trot all the way to the center of the village. Like other villages, the houses in Huangyang Village were built in concentric circles around the Godmother, forming a series of circular structures.

Chen Shi looked ahead and saw a temple standing in the center of the ruins of an ancient palace.

The temple must have been built later. Although it was already very old, it was still quite young compared to the ruins.

The temple enshrined a bronze statue of a seated figure, left from some unknown era. The statue depicted a peculiar deity with indigo skin and fangs, over six feet tall even when seated. If it stood up, it would probably be over ten feet tall.

This was the Godmother of Huangyang Village.

Chen Shi followed Liu Fugui into the temple and saw that various offerings were piled up in front of the bronze statue: chickens, ducks, geese, fish, shrimp, crabs, melons, fruits, pears, and peaches – a very generous spread.

Behind the offerings sat a fat man with a large head and ears. He held a boiled chicken in one hand, stuffing it into his mouth with his large jaws, his mouth slick with oil. In the other hand, he clutched a sweet melon, his small eyes darting around, afraid someone would steal his offerings.

This plump, round man was likely the divine manifestation condensed by extraordinary power.

Chen Shi glanced at the corner of the temple, where several children were hiding and talking to Liu Fugui.

"This is Chen Shi, his nickname is Little Ten. He can see me!"

Liu Fugui was very excited and said to the children, "My parents can't see me, and no one in the village can see me. Only he can! He can definitely see you too!"

The children immediately looked at Chen Shi, their faces filled with hope.

"Brother Little Ten, my mother is going crazy looking for me. She's been crying for so long!"

One child hurried to Chen Shi's side. As he spoke, tears rolled down his cheeks, and he choked out, "I saw my mother crying, and I wanted to cry too. I hugged my mother's leg and told her, 'Mom, I'm here,' but she still couldn't hear or see me! Can you help me find my mother?"

Another child's eyes turned red. "My parents can't see me either!"

The child behind them said, "My mother's eyes are almost cried blind!"

Chen Shi's heart sank. These four children must be the missing ones.

They had become ghosts, which meant he was too late.

All four children were dead.

"As the Godmother worshipped by the villagers, shouldn't you be responsible for protecting them?" Chen Shi turned around and looked at the fat man sitting behind the offerings, eating and drinking greedily.

The fat man stopped feeding himself and turned his head, his gaze fierce.

Black Pot quickly rushed in front of Chen Shi, baring its teeth and growling in its throat.

The fat man snorted, "I'm only responsible for expelling malevolent spirits. Other matters have nothing to do with me! Little ghost, for Chen Yindu's sake, I'll let you off this time! If you dare to speak disrespectfully to me again, I'll eat you, and Chen Yindu won't dare to say a word!"

He turned back and continued to eat and drink.

Chen Shi was slightly taken aback. "Other matters have nothing to do with you? Does that mean... the one who killed these four children wasn't a malevolent spirit?"

The Godmother of the village had a responsibility to expel malevolent spirits, but if the perpetrator wasn't a malevolent spirit, then the Godmother wouldn't need to intervene, unless the villagers offered sacrifices.

Chen Shi had found it strange when he heard about the malevolent spirit appearing during the day.

According to Grandpa, malevolent spirits only appeared at night because moonlight contained a strange power.

A malevolent spirit appearing in broad daylight was extremely rare.

The fat man ignored his words and did not reply.

Chen Shi asked, "Fugui, how did you die?"

Liu Fugui was startled and said timidly, "Brother Little Ten, did I... did I die?"

"Don't be scared. Think carefully, how were you abducted?"

"I was peeing, and then the world spun, and I didn't know anything else. I must have fallen asleep. I don't know how long I slept before I woke up. I heard my parents calling my name..."

Chen Shi's spirits lifted upon hearing this. Hearing his parents calling his name meant the incident didn't happen far away!

Liu Fugui said, "I climbed over the wall and saw my parents looking for me. I told them I was here, but they couldn't hear or see me. Brother Little Ten, am I really dead?"

Chen Shi asked doubtfully, "You climbed over the wall? Whose wall did you climb?"

"It was the abandoned house in the village where no one lives."

"The Tian Family's abandoned house?"

Liu Fugui nodded and said, "That's right, the family's surname is Tian. I met them in the Tian family's house." He pointed to the other children.

Chen Shi looked at the other children and suddenly said, "The four of you come with me, we'll go to the Tian Family's abandoned house."

He led the four children out of the temple. Outside the temple, a dense crowd of villagers had gathered, holding their breath and staring at him.

Chen Shi looked back and saw that only Liu Fugui was following him. The other three children were trapped by the temple's threshold, unable to jump out.

Chen Shi returned to the temple and said, "You all come out with me, we'll go to the scene to take a look."

One of the children said, "I can't get out. When I walk to the threshold, it just gets higher and higher, blocking us!"

The other two children nodded repeatedly.

Chen Shi heard this and looked at the big fatty behind the offerings.

The big fatty said lazily, "Others eat meat, I drink soup. These three little ghosts are dead, their souls have been sacrificed to me. You can't take them away."

Chen Shi asked doubtfully, "Why can Fugui leave?"

"He's not dead yet, his soul has just left his body."

The big fatty added, "When he dies, his soul will also belong to me."

Chen Shi gave him a deep look, did not try to take the other three children, and said to Liu Fugui, "Let's go to the Tian Family's abandoned house!"

He walked out, and the villagers voluntarily made way for him. Liu Fugui quickly followed him through the crowd.

"Can this little talisman master do it?" someone worried.

"There's nothing in the temple, he's just talking to himself in there. Maybe he's got mental problems."

Chen Shi ignored them, let Liu Fugui lead the way, and soon they arrived in front of the Tian Family's abandoned house.

This abandoned house also had mud walls, not a single brick. It was built with mud and lime, with simple beams and pillars, and thatched with straw to form the main hall.

The door to the main hall was locked with an iron chain, which was already rusty.

In the courtyard, there was an old locust tree, extremely tall and lush, covering almost the entire courtyard.

Beyond that, he couldn't see clearly.

Chen Shi wasn't in a hurry to go in. He put down his book box, took out a small knife, and Black Pot quickly stepped forward, letting him cut himself to get blood.

"Black Pot, I'm sorry to trouble you. I don't have any exotic beast meat here. I'll compensate you when we get back."

Chen Shi ground the ink, mixed the cinnabar and Black Dog blood, and without using any talisman paper, went directly to the door of the Tian Family's abandoned house and began to draw a talisman on the door with his brush.

He activated the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art, and the surrounding starlight converged, forming the Big Dipper around him. A divine light suddenly appeared behind his head, condensing into a shrine.

Chen Shi held his breath, channeling his intent and energy into the brush tip. With one hand, he wielded the brush with flowing strokes, quickly drawing a Yulei Diagram on a door panel. He then exhaled, and the divine light behind his head receded, the shrine disappearing.

He could not currently retain his true qi, so he could only rely on a single breath to manifest his shrine. Once this breath dissipated, the shrine would also vanish.

Chen Shi took another breath, replenished the ink, and the shrine reappeared. He then drew a Shenshu Diagram.

These two diagrams were the Door God Talismans drawn on peach charms.

As the two diagrams formed, a faint divine light erupted from the door, then gradually faded, blending into the air until it was barely visible to the naked eye.

Chen Shi exhaled the turbid air and said, "The peach charm has no reaction. It seems there are no malevolent spirits in this abandoned house."

If there were any malevolent spirits, the peach charm would have been triggered, and the two Door Gods on the charm would have leaped out to expel them!

Now that the peach charm was not triggered, it meant there were no malevolent spirits in the abandoned house.

"Then, who was it that took the child who wet the bed?"

Chen Shi held his brush in one hand and the inkstone in the other. With a gentle squeeze, he broke the iron chain locking the door and pushed it open, stepping into the courtyard. Although he had no magical power, his strength was increasing.

Black Pot and Liu Fugui quickly followed.

The villagers stopped outside the door, not daring to enter.

The courtyard was filled with weeds and trees, the largest being the locust tree.

Chen Shi approached the locust tree, held his brush, and concentrated. Using the true qi he had just exhaled and had not yet dispersed, he drew a Five Sacred Mountains House-Suppressing Talisman on the locust tree.

He noticed a dry well in the courtyard and immediately went to it, drawing a Well Talisman on the rim of the well.

With this, the front was protected by the peach charm to ward off evil, the center by the Five Sacred Mountains House-Suppressing Talisman, and even the well was sealed by the Well Talisman. The Tian Family's abandoned house was now as solid as gold, with no evil entering from outside. If there were any evil in the courtyard, it would feel as if it were being suppressed by the Five Sacred Mountains, unable to move.

Chen Shi put down his brush and asked, "Fugui, where did you wake up?"

"Right in the main hall!"

Liu Fugui quickly walked into the main hall and said, "It's here!"

Chen Shi followed him, but Liu Fugui had disappeared.

The main hall was empty, with only an offering table. On the table were eight black spirit tablets, the table and chairs were covered in dust, and the corners were full of cobwebs.

"Fugui, Fugui!"

Chen Shi called out loudly, but Fugui, who had just rushed into the main hall, had vanished.

Chen Shi went to the side room on the left and suddenly felt a chilling cold. He saw four black coffins placed in the left side room. The coffins were placed on benches, neatly arranged.

He bravely approached them and saw that the nails on the coffins were still in place. They should have been stored here for a long time.

Chen Shi thought for a moment, but didn't open the coffin.

He went to the side room on the right, where four more black coffins were placed on benches, not touching the ground.

Chen Shi frowned slightly. These eight black coffins should belong to the eight members of the Tian family. For some reason, they had only been prepared for burial but not actually interred.

There was no sign that the coffin nails had been removed.

"Fu Gui clearly came in just now, how did he suddenly disappear? Unless..."

Chen Shi's gaze fell on the coffins. He hesitated for a moment, about to step forward to open them. Just then, he heard barking. Chen Shi returned to the main hall and saw Black Pot standing outside the entrance, not daring to come in. It was tilting its head back and barking incessantly at something above.

Chen Shi looked up and froze.

The roof above the main beam of the hall had been repaired. Instead of thatch or straw, it had been replaced with incredibly smooth wooden planks, forming a gable roof. The planks were thick and polished to a brilliant sheen. On them, drawn with blood from some unknown source, was an incredibly complex talisman, a vivid, brilliant red!

The talismans were huge, each one spanning over ten feet, and there were five of them in total.

The structure of the talismans was strange. Squinting, the lines blurred, and it was as if he saw five monstrous, gaping maws, with tongues over ten feet long, like grotesque specters!

Five chains hung down from the mouths of the talismanic specters. Four of the chains were each attached to a child, their limbs bound, hanging upside down from the roof.

The eyelids of these four children were hooked open with fishhooks, and their noses were also hooked and pulled upwards.

The corners of their mouths were hooked with four fishhooks and stretched in different directions, making their mouths appear very wide.

They hung head-down, their bodies dangling diagonally. A metal hook pierced through their tongues, pulling them downwards.

The metal hook was connected to a thin iron chain, at the end of which was a palm-sized small cauldron.

Their tongues were stretched very long.

Blood flowing from their tongues dripped down the hooks and chains, flowing into the small cauldron.

"Fu Gui!"

Chen Shi recognized the face of one of the children – it was the thin boy who had just wanted to be friends with him. He immediately shouted, "Liu Fugui! Wake up! Quick, wake up!"

The child seemed to hear his call, his eyes rolling groggily.

A surge of wild joy filled Chen Shi's heart.

"He's alive!"

"You're still alive!"

"Don't touch Fu Gui! I'll save you right now!"