"Thank you, Granny Sha." Grandpa also let out a sigh of relief upon seeing Chen Shi wake up.
That old woman lowered the strange instrument in her hands, chuckled, and said, "Old Chen, we're all our own people, what's with the politeness? If not for your Water-Fire Tempering, my soul-summoning arts alone might not have been able to drag Little Ten back from the Underworld. Even if recalled, his corpse would likely have rotted away."
Grandpa dispelled the ball of water and fire hovering above his head, looked toward Chen Shi, and asked, "Little Ten, how do you feel? Is your chest still hurting?"
Chen Shi wanted to speak, but his throat was hoarse and failed to produce any sound.
"He's been dead for seven days, and his corpse was thoroughly chilled. It's already good enough to pull him back on his seventh-day return."
Granny Sha scurried right up to Chen Shi, pried open Chen Shi's mouth to peer inside, and chuckled. "The muscles in his throat have relaxed, he can't speak yet. Once he gradually warms up and gets used to his corpse, he'll be able to talk."
"It's a body, not a corpse," Grandpa corrected her.
"No difference, no difference."
Granny Sha's eyes crinkled into slits as she said, "Old Chen's methods aren't bad, this Water-Fire Tempering is terribly enviable. Something cultivated for Corpse-Liberated Immortals used by you on Little Ten, heh heh... I saved your grandson this time, won't you pass this Water-Fire Tempering on to me?"
Grandpa turned vigilant, shook his head, and said, "I paid money for you to make a move. However, I don't have many days left. If Granny Sha agrees to become Little Ten's godmother, I will impart the Water-Fire Tempering to you without reservation."
"Become Little Ten's godmother?"
Granny Sha's expression abruptly changed. She glanced at Chen Shi lying on the bed and hesitated. "Become his godmother? I'm afraid this old woman's fate isn't that tough... Should I gamble? Heh heh heh... I don't dare!"
She said with a weeping tone, "Old Chen, are you trying to pass off this hot potato before you kick the bucket? You're also scared, aren't you? I dare not accept this fortune! I'm afraid I won't be able to handle it and will become a sinner..."
Saying this, she lost control of her emotions and wept noisily.
Chen Shi, lying on the bed, felt somewhat baffled: Why is the old woman crying? Why did she say she would become a sinner?
After some more time, Chen Shi was able to speak and asked for water.
Granny Sha gave him water to drink, then began chasing them out. Watching Grandpa help Chen Shi—who still couldn't move—onto the wooden cart, she touched upon some unknown string in her heart and started weeping noisily again.
"Old Chen, you can't take the Water-Fire Tempering to your grave when you die!"
She cried out, "Pass it on to me, and I'll wear mourning sackcloth and serve as your daughter!"
Grandpa didn't even raise his head. "You come be Little Ten's godmother."
"Not doing it!"
Granny Sha refused very flatly. "You might as well take the Water-Fire Tempering to your grave, this old woman will dig it up then!"
The Jia Ma Talisman gradually circulated, and the wooden cart slowly started moving.
Black Pot took brisk steps and trotted ahead of the cart. Chen Shi lay on the cart bumping up and down, his body swaying left and right as the wooden cart left the village where Granny Sha lived.
Chen Shi managed to look outward. The village was very unfamiliar, as he hadn't come here during the Moon Festival.
Grandpa and Granny Sha are very familiar, and Granny Sha even called me Little Ten, knowing my milk name.
Chen Shi blinked. He should have come here before, but simply didn't remember.
"Chirp! Chirp! Chirp!"
Grandpa called Gouzi from the cart. Gouzi turned its head, looked in bewilderment at the wooden cart taking another path, and then trotted over cheerfully.
"We aren't going to Huangpo Village, we're going to another place."
Grandpa said to Gouzi, "Little Ten's body is too cold and his blood is hard to circulate. We need to go to an utmost-yin corpse-nurturing ground to recuperate for a couple of days."
Black Pot nodded with a solemn expression, then ran to the front of the wooden cart to lead the way.
Chen Shi spoke in a faint voice, mustering his volume to say, "Black Pot, thank you."
Gouzi was slightly startled and wagged its tail.
"This is Gangzi Village, to the north of the mountain. Granny Sha is a good person. Back when you were born, she even came to hold you, felt your bones, and praised your natural constitution as being freakishly good. Later on, when you won first place in the County Examination across the Fifty Provinces, she also came to congratulate you. When you died..."
Grandpa spoke as if talking to himself, and also as if talking to Chen Shi. "...When you got injured, she was also very angry. She ran around bustling for you, racking her brains to summon your soul for you. If I die in the future, I'll leave behind a copy of the Water-Fire Tempering Art, you go and give it to her to repay her kindness."
He paused, then said, "She is someone who values affection and righteousness. Once you give her the Water-Fire Tempering Art, she'll keep your kindness in mind and find every way to return this human favor. Even though she didn't dare become your godmother, she will definitely protect you with all her might."
Chen Shi lay on the cart listening to the rattling sound of the wheels, and murmured, "Grandpa won't die."
"Heh."
Grandpa chuckled out loud and patted his head. "Silly child, how can there be people who don't die? I don't dare stay behind, when the moon rises, I'm afraid I won't be able to hold back my hunger..."
He fell silent.
Chen Shi quickly changed the subject, saying, "Grandpa, is Black Pot a normal dog? How can it enter the Underworld to save me?"
"You suspect it too?"
Grandpa's gaze fell upon Black Pot, his expression gloomy. "I've suspected it for a long time too, I just can't catch any dirt on it."
Ahead, Gouzi sensed the gazes of the grandpa and grandson, and involuntarily shuddered.
Mixing in a living at the Chen family was simply too difficult!
Why was its doggy life filled with such twists and turns?
Clearly, it only wanted to be an ordinary dog.
Black Pot led the way, the wooden cart following Gouzi as they drove into the mountains, going further and further along the rugged mountain paths.
Some mountain paths were dilapidated and steep, making them difficult to climb even for humans; yet the wooden cart rolled right up them as if traversing flat ground.
After a long time, they arrived at a place of picturesque scenery. All around were not very tall peaks, with a basin in the middle and a deep pool at the very center. The water quality was pure and incomparably clear. Looking down into the pool from a high vantage point, it resembled an eye that was clear on the outside and pitch-black on the inside.
Beside the pool was an immensely ancient villa. Tall pine trees blocked out all sunlight, and the villa was pitch-black inside, requiring one to adjust for a moment before making out the surroundings.
Black Pot sneezed a few times in a row; it was exceptionally chilly here, making it shiver with cold.
It stopped outside the door and did not enter the villa.
Carved upon the lintel of the villa's gate were two characters: "Mirror Lake."
Mirror Lake Villa.
Chen Shi found it odd that there were actually no mosquitoes in the villa. Lying there unable to move, by rights mosquitoes should have bitten him long ago, yet there wasn't a single mosquito.
Not only were there no mosquitoes, but neither could any bird calls be heard. Everything was dead quiet, so quiet it made one's hair stand on end.
A large tree caught Chen Shi's eye. The tree was very thick, its bark resembling pieces of dragon scales, growing downward with a straight trunk that three or five people could barely wrap their arms around.
Parked under the tree was a coffin—pitch-black, standing upright and leaning against the tree trunk.
Chen Shi rolled his eyeballs, wanting to look more closely, but a second dragon-scaled tree and vertical coffin had already entered his field of vision.
Then came the third large tree and the third black coffin.
The wooden cart stopped beneath a dragon-scaled tree in the center of the villa. Under this tree there was also an upright black coffin; the coffin was not large, and probably wasn't meant for an adult to use.
Grandpa lifted open the coffin lid, placed Chen Shi inside, and then closed the coffin lid again.
Strangely enough, it was freakishly cold here, yet lying inside the coffin, Chen Shi felt his body gradually warm up.
His heartbeat also gradually resumed, growing increasingly vigorous.
What made him find it even stranger was that lying in the coffin, he actually felt completely at peace and incomparably tranquil inside, as if he were very familiar with this place.
He even fell asleep comfortably until Grandpa opened the coffin and he woke up.
Grandpa touched his hand; his palm was already warm, and his heart was beating quite powerfully.
Chen Shi stepped out of the vertical coffin, stretched his limbs, and felt that his body had recovered just as before, except that he was full of questions.
"Grandpa, have I been here before?"
"Mhm."
"I used to lie in this small coffin?"
"Mhm."
"The last time I came here, was it like this too?"
"Worse than this time. Last time you... suffered heavy injuries."
Chen Shi thought for a moment, and tentatively asked, "Was it that time when I was the child scholar who won first place across the Fifty Provinces? How long did I sleep here?"
"Yes, a long time ago," Grandpa replied in a muffled voice.
He packed up the wooden cart and looked over.
Chen Shi solemnly closed the coffin lid, tending to this other "home" of his with the utmost care, fearing he might damage it.
The grandfather and grandson got onto the wooden cart. Chen Shi looked toward the other vertical coffins in the villa; there were eight vertical coffins in total here, with the other seven black vertical coffins distributed beneath the ancient trees. He didn't see any ghosts or gods, and didn't know if anyone was slumbering inside those coffins.
However, he vaguely sensed extremely powerful oppressive sensations emanating from several of the vertical coffins. Wherever his gaze reached, the oppressive sensation grew stronger and stronger!
Clearly there was something inside those coffins—extraordinary things!
"This corpse-nurturing ground was found by a few friends and me."
Grandpa manipulated the Luopan compass as the wooden cart drove outward, saying, "We can't really be called friends either, we just know each other, are aware of one another, and have spoken a few words. They are very afraid of death, just like me, so everyone gathered together to build this villa. Keeping our physical bodies placed here means we don't have to worry about them spoiling or rotting. Some old fellows were already impatient and moved in. But everyone who moves in must follow a few unwritten rules."
He paused, then said, "You cannot inquire about other people's backgrounds, you cannot inquire about who moved in, you must not reveal this place to outsiders, and each time visitors arrive they cannot exceed two people. If violated, everyone will attack in unison. Heh heh, if they get up from their coffins, that'll be terrifying."
Chen Shi smiled and said, "No wonder Gouzi didn't follow us in."
The wooden cart drove out of the villa, and Black Pot hurriedly trotted up. Not far from Gouzi, a carriage was also parked, looking extremely lavish.
Unlike Grandpa's rustic wooden cart, that carriage had a wooden frame, bronze for the axle hubs, gold as accents, and pearls as decoration. A magnificent canopy covered the roof, and four fine horses stood at the front—even the horses were bedecked in gold and silver armor.
A coachman sat on the carriage shaft, holding a whip.
Sitting inside the carriage was a figure like a prince of royal lineage. His white clothes surpassed snow, with sword-like brows and star-like eyes, possessing an exceptionally handsome and refined air, carrying an air of poised grace.
Seeing the grandfather and grandson come out, the snow-white-clothed man finally stood up and leisurely stepped down from the carriage.
At his waist was a long sword. The scabbard was a dark lacquered sheath bearing diamond-shaped patterns, narrower in the middle like a woman's slender waist, while the sword hilt and scabbard tip were both carved and polished from hawksbill turtle shell, looking quite gorgeous and eye-catching.
The man in white wore his sword with the hilt pointing downward, his posture tall and slender, his gait unhurried.
After he left that carriage, the four fine horses in front of the carriage were seen rapidly turning to stone, transforming into four stone horses!
And the coachman driving the carriage also spontaneously transformed into a pottery figurine, still raising the reins in his hand in a gesture of reining in the horses.
Just as Chen Shi was marveling, he saw the man in white already arrive by the side of the grandfather and grandson, bowing and greeting them with cupped hands.
Grandpa also bowed and returned the greeting.
"Long time no see, Master Chen's demeanor remains unchanged."
"I wouldn't dare. Prince Xiao's deportment is dashing, I am far inferior."
The two exchanged a couple of polite remarks.
That Prince Xiao's gaze fell upon Chen Shi's face. Staring deeply at him for a moment, he praised, "Water-Fire Tempering, truly extraordinary."
Grandpa's pupils constricted slightly.
Chen Shi felt a creeping sensation, as if he were once again being stared at by an injured leopard. He wondered inwardly, Why is Grandpa harboring murderous intent again?
Prince Xiao also sensed that murderous intent. Without saying much more, he said, "Excuse me." Having spoken, he walked straight into the villa.
Chen Shi looked back and saw Prince Xiao arrive in front of an upright coffin. That coffin resembled a small house, twelve feet tall and eighteen feet long, its surface carved full of supremely gorgeous talismans and various runes that dazzled the eyes.
The coffin lid lifted automatically and flew away. Then, a yellowish coffin lid flew out from the coffin, followed by a coffin lid flashing with silver light, then a coffin lid glowing with golden light, and finally a jade-textured panel flew out, roughly the size of a normal coffin lid.
Prince Xiao stepped into the coffin, and layer after layer of coffin lids successively flew back in, sealing him within.
Before you continue