Chen Shi hesitated, then told the truth. "An uncultivated mountain suddenly popped up near our village with a temple on it, and my cultivation speed inside was very fast. It's just that the temple was smashed to pieces by a meteorite from beyond the heavens, so I plan to look for another one."
"You cultivated in an ancient temple?"
Granny Sha looked surprised, giving him a deep look as she reminded him, "Little Ten, you no longer have a divine embryo. Do you know what not having a divine embryo means?"
Chen Shi was all smiles. "I know. Granny, I just want to find a place like that to make my cultivation speed even faster, and then I can retake the county examination and reform a divine embryo. I'm going to test for a juren scholar..."
Granny Sha interrupted him, "No divine embryo means you can never cultivate true qi, and it means you've become a cripple from this point on!"
The smile on Chen Shi's face grew somewhat stiff, and his speech turned stammering. "I, once I pass the juren exam, I can get a good job, and Grandpa won't have to go out to work at such an advanced age. I..."
"You can never reform a divine embryo again!"
Granny Sha's expression turned solemn, interrupting him once more. "The divine embryo is bestowed by the True God from Beyond the Heavens, not cultivated. A true god's blessing only happens once in a person's lifetime—there's no second chance! Little Ten, stop daydreaming!"
Chen Shi's face turned pale, his body swaying slightly as if he couldn't stand steadily, and he argued, "Granny, I can definitely reform a divine shrine! Once I form a divine shrine, the true god from beyond the heavens will see how hard-working and diligent I am, and perhaps bestow his blessing upon me once more..."
Granny Sha shook her head, saying coldly, "Utterly impossible. Dismiss this delusion. Little Ten, being an ordinary person in this lifetime is also quite good. Go home."
Chen Shi was utterly disappointed, lowering his head as he walked out.
Granny Sha shook her head. "Silly child, still thinking he can cultivate his divine embryo back..."
She sighed. The Chen Shi of the past had astounded the world, but unfortunately, that Chen Shi had his divine embryo seized by someone else.
The Chen Shi of today was merely a cripple incapable of cultivation.
After a long while, Granny Sha walked out of her courtyard and couldn't help freezing in place.
She saw that Chen Shi was sitting on the stone steps outside her door rather than going home.
"Little Ten, why haven't you gone back yet?" Granny Sha asked.
"Granny, I want to grow up quickly and not make Grandpa worry about me."
Chen Shi hung his head, looking at the ground. "I don't want Grandpa to run around doing manual labor at his age, and I don't want him to become the way he is now because of me. I just want to have some ability of my own to take good care of Grandpa. I don't want Grandpa to be this tired at his age, I want Grandpa to enjoy some peace..."
Hearing this, Granny Sha found her heart softening. "If you want to know about this place, you can, but you have to do something for Granny first."
Chen Shi's spirits surged. He quickly wiped away his tears and smiled, "Just name it, Granny!"
Granny Sha smiled. "In my early years, I lost something in the River of Forgetfulness. This treasure is the apple of my eye, and these past years I haven't been able to think about food or tea, always dwelling on it. Help me fish it up from the River of Forgetfulness, and I'll tell you where that temple is located."
Chen Shi hesitated slightly.
Granny Sha sneered, "Are you scared? If you're scared, then go back and honestly be an ordinary person!"
Chen Shi grit his teeth fiercely, raising his head to declare, "I'll do it!"
He stuck his neck out, exposing the most vulnerable part of his throat, and said, "Granny, kill me, and I'll go get your things from the River of Forgetfulness! Make the strike quick, I'm a bit afraid of pain."
Granny Sha was simultaneously exasperated and amused, and her heart felt a touch of motion.
I thought he was scared. I didn't expect that the reason he hesitated was because he thought he had to die before he could go to the River of Forgetfulness. There is great terror between life and death, yet he is willing to march to his death just to recultivate his divine embryo. Such firmness of the Dao heart is rarely seen in this world. Who is to say he truly won't achieve something in the future?
Thinking to this point, Granny Sha smiled. "What need is there to die to go to the River of Forgetfulness? If one only reached the River of Forgetfulness after death, wouldn't that ruin my prestige as Granny? Rest assured, you don't need to die."
Chen Shi was both startled and overjoyed.
A moment ago, he had indeed undergone an intense psychological struggle before deciding to march to his death for the River of Forgetfulness, and he never expected he could enter the forgetfulness alive!
Granny Sha went into the house and retrieved an iron chain weighing over thirty catties, binding it around Chen Shi's body.
Chen Shi's body had grown stronger and stronger over this period, and his strength had also increased, so he didn't find it heavy.
"Wanting to go to the River of Forgetfulness isn't easy. That river is the river of the underworld's departed spirits. After people die, underworld emissaries come to the Yang World, capture ghosts lingering in the world of the living, and pole a boat across the River of Forgetfulness to enter the Underworld."
Granny Sha fetched another bundle of hemp rope, dozens of yards long and very tough. The other end of the hemp rope was tied to a large hook—very big, with a sharp tip resembling a fishhook, though it was easily a dozen catties.
Chen Shi had fished before and seen fishhooks of all sizes, but he had never seen such a huge fishhook, and he wondered inwardly, With a hook this big, how large of a fish does Granny want to catch? And with a hook like this, the bait must be massive, too.
Carrying the fishhook and hemp rope on her back, Granny Sha walked toward the village outskirts, and Chen Shi hurried to follow.
Although this little old woman was advanced in years, her steps were light, and Chen Shi had to use his full effort to keep up.
The two walked over ten li, arriving at the estuary of the Yudai River. The Yudai River merged into the Dejiang River here, and the waters of the Dejiang surged with mighty force, rushing swiftly. Flowing smoothly down this great river, it was a mere two hundred li to the sea.
"All flowing river waters in this world connect to the River of Forgetfulness, so one can enter it through these rivers."
Granny Sha selected a large tree by the riverbank, tied the rope to it, and said, "Making ghosts enter the River of Forgetfulness is simple, but making a living person enter requires a bit of trickery."
She grabbed the fishhook, her dim, aged eyes flashing with cunning as she smiled, "There is a kind of giant fish in this river that can travel between the Yin and Yang Worlds, called a gu. The gu likes to eat people. When a gu eats a person, it swallows the fishhook. The hook causes the gu pain, and it will flee into the underworld, entering the River of Forgetfulness."
A jolt went through Chen Shi's heart. Granny, is this fishhook supposed to hook in through my mouth and pierce out through my chin?
He knew he was that fishhook's bait.
Granny Sha shook her head.
Chen Shi's face turned pale. "Pierced out through my belly?"
Granny Sha came up behind him and threaded that preposterously large fishhook through the iron chains, smiling, "Do you think I'm threading you through like an earthworm? If I did that, wouldn't your grandpa fight me to the death?"
Chen Shi relaxed slightly, asking, "What kind of thing is it that Granny lost in the River of Forgetfulness?"
Granny Sha's gaze flickered. "A bronze lamp with a handle. The lamplight isn't very bright, but you can see it from far away."
Chen Shi asked in confusion, "When did Granny lose it?"
"Nine years ago."
"A bronze lamp lost nine years ago? Why haven't you looked for it before?"
Chen Shi grew increasingly puzzled, asking, "Where was it lost? Can you find that lamp just by going into the water from here?"
Granny Sha's gaze was somewhat evasive as she snapped, "What are you chattering about? Are you going or not?"
"I'm going! Of course I'm going!"
Hesitating for a moment, Chen Shi asked again, "After I'm swallowed by the giant fish, how am I supposed to get out of its mouth?"
"How would I know? I've never been eaten before."
Growing increasingly guilty, Granny Sha said, "You'll know once you go down. Rest assured, if you find that lamp, just give the hemp rope a hard pull. I'll be holding the hemp rope on the bank and will sense your movement. All I need to do is pull the hemp rope back, and you can return to the Yang World. Absolutely nothing will go wrong!"
Chen Shi inquired, "I have one more question. Has Granny tried this treasure-hunting method before?"
"Of course I have!"
Granny Sha beamed with smiles, urging him repeatedly, "Go quickly and return quickly, lest your grandpa worries!"
Chen Shi entered the water gingerly—not because he lacked courage, but because he always felt that using himself as bait to catch a giant fish capable of traveling to the Underworld's River of Forgetfulness, and then searching for treasure in that river, was somewhat unreliable.
The current of the Dejiang was swift, and the flowing water struck him as if a dozen people were pushing him, making it difficult for him to stand steady.
Chen Shi looked toward the river surface, seeing eddies of all sizes moving down with the current. Clearly, the water was even fiercer in the deep parts!
"Probe a bit deeper!" Granny Sha urged from the bank.
Chen Shi said loudly, "Granny, if I can't find it, you must still tell me where that temple is!"
Granny Sha agreed repeatedly.
Chen Shi continued walking toward the deeper water, dragging dozens of catties of iron chains and the fishhook, which made him worry he wouldn't be able to swim. If he drowned in the river...
Granny will summon my soul anyway, I won't die!
His courage bolstered, Chen Shi walked deeper and deeper.
Seeing him enter the water, Granny Sha couldn't help her heart rising as she muttered inwardly, The ancient books wrote it was done this way—using a person to fish for the gu fish that shuttles between Yin and Yang. It's just that the books didn't write how a person is supposed to get out of the fish's mouth.
She felt uneasy. The great gu shuttled between the Yin and Yang Worlds, and using a person as bait to fish for a gu was a first for her as well.
She had no certainty whether it would succeed.
Suddenly, Chen Shi stepped into empty space and sank into the water, causing Granny Sha's heart to tighten!
Yet the next moment, Chen Shi bobbed his head back up from the water.
Having undergone his recent period of cultivation, his body was far more formidable than before. In the past, if he had been bound with dozens of catties of heavy objects, he would have been dragged to the riverbed and rendered immobile, but now he was actually able to swim to the surface with ease.
Granny Sha let out a sigh of relief. At that moment, a loud splash came from the river, and the river water kicked up a wave two to three zhang high. Within the spray, a massive tail flashed across the water, its cyan-black scales reflecting the sunlight and gleaming with a metallic texture!
That tail appeared much larger than the fishing boats on the river!
"So big?" Granny Sha couldn't help being dumbfounded.
Hearing the sound, Chen Shi hastily raised his head to look, seeing only the white expanse of water without being able to make out what kind of creature was thrashing its body on the surface.
A trace of panic stirred in him as he heard Granny Sha's voice carrying over from the riverbank: "I see a great gu! Swim a bit further into the deep water and lure it to eat you!"
Chen Shi called out loudly, "Granny, where is the gu? I can't see it!"
Granny Sha peered out over the river, only to see the turbulent surface suddenly churn with violent waves, as if some behemoth were darting swiftly underwater. Vaguely, she caught sight of an underwater head larger than a house, its enormous maw gaping open to reveal upper and lower rows of sharp, piercing steel fangs.
A jolt went through Granny Sha's heart once more; this gu was far too large, exceeding her expectations!
Furthermore, looking at the fish's teeth, Chen Shi would likely be chewed to pieces before he was even swallowed!
The hemp rope in my hands probably can't contend with this giant fish. With a slight tug from the great gu, it'll snap! Even if the gu doesn't snap it, it can sever it with its teeth!
Thinking of this, she immediately grabbed the hemp rope with both hands, pulling it hand over hand to drag Chen Shi from the water toward the bank.
Chen Shi also sensed a behemoth rapidly approaching him beneath the water's surface, and fear gripped him. He immediately followed the hemp rope and swam frantically toward the bank.
Crack!
A thunderous crash erupted from the river surface. Chen Shi looked back and his eyes widened in horror. A cyan-black giant fish the size of a small mountain leaped out of the water, its shadow blocking out the twin suns as it opened an abyss-like mouth and lunged to bite him!
Boom!
The great gu smashed back into the water, and Granny Sha felt the hemp rope in her hands jerk with violent force, pulling her stance forward and dragging her toward the river!
The next moment, the large tree tied to the hemp rope was also yanked violently by the tremendous power, its trunk tilting toward the riverbank!
Granny Sha exerted all her strength to pull the rope, but before she could steady her footing, snap—the broken rope flew out of the water and slammed onto the bank!
Granny Sha's expression turned dull. She saw a giant fish darting swiftly through the water below, and in a flash, a blue light burst forth underwater, causing the fish to vanish!
"It's over, it's over..."
Cold sweat rolled down Granny Sha's forehead, her body trembling as she shivered and pulled back the remaining hemp rope. The spot where the rope had broken was exceptionally smooth, evidently severed by the great gu's teeth.
Little Ten is most likely chewed to pieces by the great gu. Even if I know soul-summoning, I can't bring him back to life... How am I supposed to explain this to Old Chen?
Before you continue