Granny Sha's face flickered with uncertainty. Even if Chen Shi had not been bitten to death by Great Gu, he would have been lost in the River of Forgetfulness and unable to return, and she would likewise have been unable to give an account to Chen Yindu!
Without the hemp rope, he has no way to return from the River of Forgetfulness... I have only my own greed to blame for this matter; to think I actually wanted to use this child to find that treasure in the River of Forgetfulness, and ended up harming him! If I had known it would come to this, I should have simply told him where that ancient temple was located.
She felt intense remorse in her heart, yet since the event had already occurred, self-pity was of no use. What needed to be done now was to check whether Chen Shi was truly dead.
If he was not dead, she would make amends.
If he was dead...
Then I can only offer my death to Old Chen as an apology!
Granny Sha bit down on the index finger of her right hand, using her own blood to draw a talisman in the air—the exact talisman she drew was the Soul Summoning Talisman.
Strangely enough, her blood actually floated in the air without the slightest tendency to fall, as though bound by some bizarre force.
Following the movement of Granny Sha's finger, a talisman three feet long and a mere two inches wide was written into being.
At the top was the Imperial Edict of the Three Pure Ones, and below the edict was the Quintessence of the Three Souls and Seven Spirits, with a concise form.
Drawing a talisman out of thin air; this sort of attainment could be called astonishing and world-shaking, an achievement of which talismansmiths dreamed. Yet Granny Sha looked just like a thoroughly ordinary old woman, and not the least bit of extraordinary skill could be discerned in her.
The soul-summoning power that burst forth from this Soul Summoning Talisman was incomparably ferocious, instantly crossing the Yin and Yang Worlds to reach the Underworld directly!
Granny Sha knew full well that she had committed a grave error, and therefore, unlike ordinary soul-summoning incantations, the Soul Summoning Talisman she drew this time utilized the vital heart-blood of her own chest.
Vital heart-blood was exceedingly staunch and yang, and in very scarce supply—just barely enough to draw a single talisman, but its might was truly extraordinary.
Should Chen Shi truly be dead, even if he were dragged to the Hall of Yama, she would be able to snatch Chen Shi's soul back from King Yama's grasp using merely this single talisman!
Yet this talisman burned completely to ashes, and Granny Sha still failed to summon Chen Shi's soul over.
As long as he isn't dead, as long as he isn't dead!
Granny Sha heaved a sigh of relief, and immediately with a stamp of her foot, the old crone's shadow suddenly branched out and grew in all directions across the ground like twigs. From out of the shadow grew five green-faced and fanged ghost kings, standing tall in the air and clasping their hands to await orders.
At a slight movement of Granny Sha's thoughts, the five ghosts whistled away.
A moment later, countless bricks and stones came flying, and in a mere fraction of a moment, an altar measuring three zhang and six chi square and one zhang and two chi high was erected along the banks of the Dejiang River.
The five ghost kings grasped large banners, standing tall at the five corners of the altar and occupying the five elements separately.
Granny Sha took out King Wen's Drum.
This drum was a peculiar instrument, neither quite a drum nor quite a gong, with only a single side covered in skin while the other side was empty. Inside the drum were intersecting cords that could be grasped by hand.
The rustling drumbeats that Chen Shi had heard in the Underworld last time were the sounds emitted by this very instrument.
Granny Sha rattled King Wen's Drum, and instantly baleful winds swarmed. In the blink of an eye, the surface of the Dejiang River seemed to enter the pitch of night, blocking even the sunlight from shining into this darkness.
In my lifetime I have summoned an unknown number of ghosts from the Underworld and offended far too many nether-emissaries and ghost kings. If I take action this time, I'm afraid it will attract the attention of quite a few old nemeses who will seize the chance to exact revenge! Still, I can't worry about all that anymore!
Granny Sha let out a sharp cry, and as the drumbeats thundered, a bluestone path rushed out from the altar amidst a clatter, paving its way toward the middle of the river.
This little old crone was actually using her own magical power to forge a pathway connecting the Yin and Yang Worlds, attempting to guide Chen Shi back from the River of Forgetfulness in the Underworld!
"Little Ten!"
Her voice penetrated into the Underworld. "Follow the sound of my drum, and I will guide you back to the Yang World!"
Meanwhile, inside Great Gu's mouth, Chen Shi clung for dear life to the fish hook, which was deeply embedded in the soft flesh right beside the massive fish's throat bones.
The throat bones were the back molars of this gigantic fish, grinding up and down like two ten-thousand-jin blocks of iron. Every single time they ground together, it was like two colossal chunks of iron smashing into each other, sending sparks flying and shaking Chen Shi's arms completely numb!
Yet he did not dare let go, because at that moment he was right inside the giant fish's mouth, and its other two rows of teeth were snapping back and forth, attempting to bite down on him and fling him out.
Should he let go, he would instantly be chopped into countless fragments!
Just a moment prior, at the exact instant Great Gu lunged downward, he had leaped fiercely through the water and jumped right into Great Gu's mouth, thereby avoiding the fate of being bitten cleanly in half.
Yet his current situation was also perilous in the extreme; if the fish hook came loose, he feared he would still be ground into fine powder!
Suddenly, Chen Shi saw a flash of blue light, and witnessed all the flesh and blood on this giant fish vanish completely away, leaving only the colossal fish skeleton swimming through the water.
Chen Shi raised his hand and saw that the flesh and blood on his own arm had vanished entirely, having likewise turned into bare bone.
He looked down at his body and saw that his own body was similarly devoid of flesh and blood, having transformed into a skeletal framework of white bones!
Have I entered the River of Forgetfulness?
Chen Shi was filled with astonishment.
That huge fish hook had originally been hooked into Great Gu's flesh, but at that moment Great Gu had turned into a fish skeleton, causing the hook to come loose. Chen Shi grabbed the fish hook, his heart sinking.
The hemp rope had snapped.
How am I supposed to go back... Granny Sha's methods are astonishing; she will surely have a way. Right now, finding the bronze lamp Granny Sha dropped is the priority!
Chen Shi untied the iron chain from his body, fastened the heavy fish hook to the chain, hung the hook upon Great Gu's throat bone, and rousingly cheered himself up before swimming out from between Great Gu's gill bones.
This giant fish no longer had flesh and blood, and could no longer trap him.
And what was even more bizarre was that Great Gu showed not the slightest interest in Chen Shi, who was likewise in a skeletal state. It swam right past him without swallowing him whole in a single bite.
Since Great Gu was able to swim from the Yang World into the Underworld, it must surely be able to swim back from the Underworld to the Yang World.
Chen Shi thought to himself, If Granny Sha cannot find me, I will grab this giant fish and let it carry me swimming back to the Yang World. I just don't know when this giant fish will head back.
Great Gu swam about aimlessly, showing not the slightest sign of being in a rush to return.
Chen Shi also set his mind at ease and searched within the River of Forgetfulness.
The river shimmered with a blue, nether light, and upon the river's surface floated passing vessels resembling wooden boats, casting mottled shadows down from above.
The riverbed grew bizarre coral, craggy strange rocks, and possessed massive, very heavy seashells, alongside bone-fish swimming to and fro—which presumably were Great Gu in its juvenile form.
These gu were small in form, and the reason they lived in the River of Forgetfulness of the Underworld rather than going to the Yang World was likely because the River of Forgetfulness lacked predators.
Chen Shi gazed around for a long while, discovering that apart from himself, there were no other skeletons, which suggested this river held no humans.
Even this kind of seashell can shuttle between the Yin and Yang Worlds?
Chen Shi pried open a massive seashell, yet inside the shell there was no clam meat; instead, a panic-stricken little boy of around ten years of age was hidden within, hurriedly making a hush gesture at him before grabbing the seashell and slamming it shut again.
Chen Shi was astonished. He was in a skeletal state, yet this little boy was actually flesh and blood!
However, things in the River of Forgetfulness should be reversed. Great Gu and I had flesh and blood, but once we entered the river we turned into white bones. This little boy should be a white bone, and down in the river he became a creature of flesh and blood.
Chen Shi had questions he wanted to ask, so he pried open the shell once more. The little boy was curled up tight, lying between the two valves of the shell, and upon seeing him grew flustered, lifting a finger to point upward before making to close the shell again.
Chen Shi smiled and said, "What's up there?"
Suddenly, a greenish-teal radiance shone down from above, sweeping across the riverbed. The little boy could care less about anything else, and grabbing Chen Shi's arm, he dragged him into the shell and hastily clamped it shut.
With a low hum, that greenish beam swept past the riverbed, the light returning to the river's surface. Chen Shi looked upward through the crack in the seashell, and saw that the cyan radiance came from a passing wooden boat.
Standing upon the wooden boat was a thin, tall figure, and that cyan radiance was shooting right out of its eyes!
Chen Shi's heart skipped a beat. He figured the thin, tall figure on the wooden boat had perceived the commotion at the bottom of the water and had opened its eyes to look!
Such a terrifying gaze—if he were spotted by those eyes, disaster would surely ensue!
Just as Chen Shi was about to thank the little boy, he was suddenly kicked by the boy inside the shell, sending him flying out.
Chen Shi intended to turn back and thank him, but the little boy had already closed the shell, hiding within and refusing to show his face.
"Hello, my name is Chen Shi. I'm not here to steal your house; I'm here to look for a bronze lamp that fell into the River of Forgetfulness nine years ago. Do you know where that thing is?" Chen Shi politely inquired.
An arm reached out from the seashell, crookedly pointing off toward the distance.
"Thank you."
Chen Shi followed the direction the little boy had pointed, and along the way saw countless seashells quietly cracking open. Inside them were hidden children, both boys and girls, stealthily poking their heads out and peering at him with curiosity.
On rare occasions there were also a few adult men and women, or even old folk, though their numbers were comparatively few.
Yet whenever a wooden boat passed over the surface of the water, they would hastily clamp their seashells shut, seemingly harboring extreme terror toward the thin, tall figure upon the boat.
"Hum!"
Another beam of radiance shone down. It was the gaze of the thin, tall figure on the wooden boat, piercing through the River of Forgetfulness to reach the riverbed directly, illuminating a boy who had failed to dodge in time.
Helplessly, that boy was lifted into the air within the column of light, flying out of the river's surface to be seized by the thin, tall figure.
Chen Shi looked up and saw that the thin, tall figure actually opened its mouth wide—a maw so monstrously huge that it practically split its head down the middle—and swallowed the boy whole in a single gulp.
The thin, tall figure worked its jaws up and down, seeming somewhat unsatisfied.
Chen Shi could not help shuddering, and likewise found an ownerless seashell. Supporting it with both hands, he walked beneath the water, crouching down and covering himself beneath the shell whenever a wooden boat passed overhead.
Just what sort of beings are those on the wooden boats? And who are these children hiding beneath the shells? He felt intensely curious.
At that moment he abruptly halted his footsteps, gazing at the children within those seashells as a thought flashed through his mind.
I get it! I know why they're hiding inside the seashells! They're children who drowned in the Dejiang River!
Every year, several children who went swimming in the Yudai River—a tributary of the Dejiang—would drown, and those who drowned in the Dejiang itself were likely even more numerous.
These drowned children had turned into ghosts and drifted into the River of Forgetfulness, and because they feared the people on the boats, they hid inside these seashells!
As for why the numbers of adult men, women, and old folk were so scarce, it was because far fewer adults drowned!
Chen Shi gazed at the large and small seashells strewn across the riverbed, and muttered, "To think there would be so many people..."
Steadying his state of mind, he pressed onward until he finally caught sight of a wisp of lamp light.
That lamp light could hardly be called bright, but the bizarre thing was that its piercing power was extremely strong, allowing the radiance to be seen from quite far away.
As Chen Shi walked forward, he felt the surrounding pressure grow increasingly intense, pressing his bones until they creaked and sinking both his leg bones into the mud.
The further forward he walked, the greater the pressure became, and soon the mud swallowed his knees, making every single step exceptionally arduous.
Chen Shi raised his head and finally managed to make out the source of that lamp light.
He saw that the source of the light was indeed a bronze lamp. The lamp possessed a handle, and beneath it was a plump sheep with short limbs. The handle was shaped like the sheep's horns, and a figure sat upon the sheep's back. The flame of the lamp flickered directly from the top of this figurine's head, at its spirit-platform, leading one to surmise that lamp oil was contained within the figurine.
A lamp of such form was exceedingly eerie, and the fact that it could continue burning and emitting light while submerged within river water made this bronze lamp appear all the more extraordinary.
However, at that moment the bronze lamp was clutched tightly within a massive skeleton hand.
That skeletal palm did not possess a shred of flesh, measuring four to five times the size of an ordinary person's, with slender finger joints.
Chen Shi traced his gaze up along the skeletal arm, and saw a rather colossal skeleton seated upon the riverbed. Even while seated, it was two or three times taller than Chen Shi.
What was even more bizarre was the skull of the skeleton, which bore no resemblance whatsoever to a human bone!
Instead, it was a gigantic head, elongated and resembling the head of a bird, yet lacking a beak, with an extraordinarily long mouth filled with fangs.
The eye sockets of the skull were so large they could accommodate an adult's fist.
The nasal apertures of the skull were likewise massive.
Witnessing this scene, Chen Shi could not help recalling the thin, tall figure upon the wooden boat.
This is a fallen thin, tall figure!
Just as the thought crossed his mind, Granny Sha's voice abruptly echoed through the water: "Little Ten! Follow the sound of my drum, and I will guide you back to the Yang World!"
Hearing this, Chen Shi's spirits soared. "Grandmother has come to fetch me!"
Without another word, he thrust out his hand and grabbed for that bronze lamp.
The instant his palm made contact with the sheep-horn handle of the bronze lamp, the tall, thin skeleton suddenly quivered, shaking off the accumulated sediment of ages from its body.
Before you continue