The River of Forgetfulness's Bottom, Ram Horn Copper Lamp

Granny Sha's expression was unpredictable. Even if Chen Shi wasn't bitten to death by the Great Gu, he would still be lost in the River of Forgetfulness, unable to return. She wouldn't be able to explain it to Chen Yindu either!

"Without the hemp rope, he won't be able to return from the River of Forgetfulness... This is all my fault for being greedy and wanting to use this child to search for that treasure in the River of Forgetfulness. I ended up harming him! If I had known, I would have just told him where the ancient temple was."

She was filled with regret, but since things had already happened, self-pity was useless. What she needed to do now was to check if Chen Shi was truly dead.

If he wasn't dead, she could still find a way to fix it.

If he was dead...

"Then I can only offer my life to Old Man Chen as an apology!"

Granny Sha bit her right index finger and drew talismans in the air with her blood. What she drew was precisely a Soul Summoning Talisman.

Strangely, her blood floated in the air, showing no signs of falling, as if bound by some peculiar force.

As Granny Sha's finger moved, a talisman, three feet long and only two inches wide, was written by her.

At the top was the Imperial Edict of the Three Pure Ones, and below it was the Quintessence of the Three Souls and Seven Spirits, its form simple.

Drawing talismans out of thin air – such mastery was astonishing and awe-inspiring, an achievement that Talisman Masters dreamed of. Yet, Granny Sha acted like an ordinary old woman, showing no extraordinary qualities.

The soul-summoning power emanating from this Soul Summoning Talisman was incredibly strong, instantly crossing the realms of yin and yang to reach the Underworld!

Granny Sha knew she had made a grave mistake, so unlike her usual soul-summoning spells, this time she used her own vital essence blood to draw the talisman.

Vital essence blood was extremely potent and masculine, and there was very little of it, just enough to draw one talisman, but its power was extraordinary.

If Chen Shi was truly dead, even if he were captured and brought to the Hall of Yama, she could retrieve his soul from the King of Hell with this single talisman!

However, as the talisman burned to ashes, Granny Sha still failed to summon Chen Shi's soul.

"It's good that he's not dead, it's good that he's not dead!"

Granny Sha breathed a sigh of relief. Then, with a stomp of her foot, the shadow of the old woman suddenly grew and spread out in all directions on the ground like branches. From the shadow, five Ghost Kings with green faces and fangs emerged, standing in the air, with their hands clasped, awaiting orders.

Granny Sha's thoughts stirred, and the Five Ghosts roared away.

A moment later, countless bricks and stones flew in, and in a short period, an altar, thirty-six feet long and wide, and twelve feet high, was erected on the banks of the Dejiang River.

Five Ghost Kings held large banners, standing at the five corners of the altar, occupying the five elements.

Granny Sha took out the King Wen's Drum.

This drum was a peculiar instrument, neither fully a drum nor a gong. It had skin on only one side, while the other was empty. Ropes crisscrossed inside the drum, which could be grasped by hand.

The rustling drumbeats Chen Shi heard in the Underworld last time were the sounds produced by this instrument.

Granny Sha shook the King Wen's Drum, and immediately, a chilling wind swept through. In an instant, the surface of the Dejiang River seemed to plunge into night, and even the sun's rays could not penetrate this darkness.

"In my life, I have summoned countless spirits from the Underworld and offended too many yin officials and ghost kings. This time, I fear it will attract the attention of many old rivals, who will seize the opportunity to seek revenge! But I can't worry about that anymore!"

Granny Sha shouted, and the drumbeats resounded. In the darkness, a bluestone path unfurled from the altar with a rustling sound, stretching into the river.

This old woman was actually using her own magical power to open a path connecting the realms of yin and yang, attempting to guide Chen Shi back from the River of Forgetfulness in the Underworld!

"Little Ten!"

Her voice echoed into the Underworld, "Follow my drumbeats, I am guiding you back to the mortal realm!"

Meanwhile, inside the mouth of the Great Gu, Chen Shi tightly gripped the fishhook. The hook was deeply embedded in the soft flesh next to the throat bone of the giant fish.

The throat bone was like the back molars of this giant fish, like two ten-thousand-jin iron blocks crushing down. Each grind sent sparks flying, making Chen Shi's arms go numb!

But he dared not let go, for he was in the mouth of the giant fish. The other two rows of teeth were gnashing, trying to bite him and fling him out.

If he let go, he would be instantly cut into countless pieces!

Just as the Great Gu pounced, he had suddenly leaped in the water and into its mouth, thus avoiding being bitten in half.

However, his situation was now equally dire. If the fishhook came loose, he feared he would still be crushed into pieces!

Suddenly, Chen Shi saw a flash of blue light. The flesh and blood of the giant fish vanished, leaving only its enormous skeleton swimming in the water.

Chen Shi raised his hand and saw that the flesh and blood on his arm had completely disappeared, turning into white bones.

He looked down at himself; his body was also devoid of flesh and blood, turning into a skeletal frame!

"Did I enter the River of Forgetfulness?"

Chen Shi was astonished.

The fishhook had originally been hooked into the Great Gu's flesh and blood. Now that the Great Gu had become a skeleton, the fishhook came loose. Chen Shi grabbed the fishhook, his heart sinking.

The hemp rope was broken.

"How should I go back... Granny Sha has amazing methods, she must have a way. For now, finding the copper lamp Granny Sha lost is the priority!"

Chen Shi took off the iron chain from his body, tied the heavy fishhook to it, and hooked it onto the Great Gu's throat bone. He braced himself and swam out through the Great Gu's gill bones.

This giant fish, devoid of flesh and blood, could no longer trap him.

Even stranger, the Great Gu showed no interest in Chen Shi, who was also a skeleton, and swam past him without trying to swallow him.

"Since the Great Gu can swim from the mortal realm to the Underworld, it must also be able to swim back from the Underworld to the mortal realm."

Chen Shi thought, "If Granny Sha can't find me, I'll catch this giant fish and have it take me back to the mortal realm. I just don't know when this giant fish will return."

The Great Gu swam aimlessly, showing no urgency to return.

Chen Shi also felt relieved and began searching in the River of Forgetfulness.

The river shimmered with a blue, ethereal light, and boats like wooden skiffs drifted on its surface, casting dappled shadows.

Strange corals grew on the riverbed, along with jagged rocks and enormous, heavy shells. Schools of bone fish swam by, likely juvenile forms of Great Gu.

These Gu were small. The reason they lived in the River of Forgetfulness in the Underworld instead of the mortal realm was probably the absence of predators.

Chen Shi scanned the area for a long time and found no other skeletons besides himself, concluding that there were no humans in this river.

"Can these shells travel between the mortal realm and the Underworld?"

Chen Shi lifted a giant shell, but there was no meat inside. Instead, a panicked young boy, about ten years old, was hiding within. He quickly made a shushing gesture at Chen Shi and pulled the shell shut.

Chen Shi was surprised. He was a skeleton, yet this boy was flesh and blood!

"However, it's the reverse in the River of Forgetfulness. I was flesh and blood, but became bones here. This boy should be a skeleton, and in the river, he appears as flesh and blood."

Chen Shi wanted to ask something, so he lifted the shell again. The boy was curled up between two shells. Seeing Chen Shi, he panicked and pointed upwards, trying to close the shell again.

Chen Shi chuckled, "What's up there?"

Suddenly, a greenish light shone down from above, sweeping across the riverbed. The boy, disregarding everything else, grabbed Chen Shi's arm and pulled him into the shell, quickly closing it.

The green light hummed as it swept across the riverbed and returned to the surface. Chen Shi looked up through the shell's gap and saw that the light came from a passing wooden boat.

A tall, thin figure stood on the boat, and the green light was emanating from its eyes!

Chen Shi's heart skipped a beat. He figured the tall, thin figure on the boat had sensed the movement below and looked down!

The gaze was terrifying. If he were seen by it, he would likely be in grave danger!

Just as Chen Shi was about to thank the boy, he was kicked out of the shell by the boy inside.

Chen Shi intended to go back and thank him, but the boy had already closed the shell and refused to show himself.

"Hello, my name is Chen Shi. I'm not trying to steal your home. I'm looking for a copper lamp that fell into the River of Forgetfulness nine years ago. Do you know where it is?" Chen Shi asked politely.

An arm reached out from the shell and gestured vaguely in the distance.

"Thank you."

Chen Shi headed in the direction the boy pointed. Along the way, he saw many shells quietly opening, revealing children, both boys and girls, peeking out curiously at him.

Occasionally, there were a few adult men and women, and even some elderly people, but their numbers were small.

However, whenever a wooden boat passed overhead, they would hastily close their shells, seemingly terrified of the tall, thin figure on the boat.

"Hum!"

Another beam of light shone down. It was the gaze of the tall, thin figure on the boat, piercing the River of Forgetfulness and reaching the riverbed, illuminating a boy who couldn't dodge in time.

The boy was uncontrollably lifted by the beam of light, flying out of the river and caught by the tall, thin figure.

Chen Shi looked up and saw the tall, thin figure open its mouth wide, its jaw splitting almost in half, impossibly large, and swallow the boy whole.

The tall, thin figure moved its jaw up and down, seemingly unsatisfied.

Chen Shi couldn't help but shiver. He found an unoccupied shell, cradled it with his hands, and walked underwater, crouching down and covering himself with the shell whenever a boat passed.

"Who exactly is on the boat? And who are these children hiding in the shells?" he wondered curiously.

At this moment, he suddenly stopped and looked at the children in the shells, a thought flashing through his mind.

"I know! I know why they're hiding in the shells! They're children who drowned in the Dejiang River!"

The Yudai River, a tributary of the Dejiang River, drowned a few children every year who went swimming. The Dejiang River likely drowned even more.

These drowned children became ghosts and ended up in the River of Forgetfulness. Fearing the person on the boat, they hid in these shells!

As for the small number of adults and elderly people, it was because fewer adults drowned!

Chen Shi looked at the shells of all sizes on the riverbed and murmured, "There are so many of them..."

He steadied his mind and continued forward, finally seeing a faint light.

The light wasn't bright, but strangely, it had strong penetrative power. He could see the glow from afar.

As Chen Shi walked forward, the pressure around him increased, making his bones creak. His leg bones sank into the mud.

The further he walked, the greater the pressure became. Soon, the mud reached his knees, and every step was incredibly difficult.

Chen Shi looked up and finally saw the light clearly.

The source of the light was indeed a copper lamp. The lamp had a handle, and below it was a plump, short-limbed sheep. The handle was made of ram horns, and a figure sat on the sheep's back. The flame emerged from the top of the figure's head, suggesting the figure contained lamp oil.

The lamp's form was very strange, especially its ability to burn in the river water and emit light, making the copper lamp extraordinary.

However, the copper lamp was currently held in a large, skeletal hand.

The skeletal hand was devoid of any flesh and blood, four to five times the size of a normal hand, with long, slender fingers.

Chen Shi followed the skeletal hand upwards and saw a rather large skeleton sitting on the riverbed. Even while sitting, it was as tall as two or three Chen Shis.

Even stranger was the skull, which did not resemble a human skull at all!

Instead, it was a massive head, long and resembling a bird's head, but without a beak. Its mouth was very long and filled with fangs.

The eye sockets were large enough to fit an adult's fist.

The skull's nostrils were equally large.

Seeing this, Chen Shi couldn't help but recall the tall, thin figure on the wooden boat.

"This is a fallen, tall, thin figure!"

Just as he thought this, Granny Sha's voice suddenly came through, "Little Ten! Follow my drumbeats, I'll guide you back to the living world!"

Chen Shi's spirits lifted upon hearing this, "Grandma is here to get me!"

Without a second thought, he reached out and grabbed the bronze lamp.

The moment his palm touched the lamp's ram horn handle, the tall, thin skeleton suddenly trembled, shaking off the accumulated dust on its body.