As Reverence for the Gods

Granny Sha stared dazedly at this scene. The sequence of changes had happened far too fast, leaving her head spinning.

Chen Shi let out a long breath, took the Ram Horn Copper Lamp off his back, and smiled. "Granny, I've brought back the copper lamp you lost!"

Suddenly, the little old woman ran over trembling, pulled him into her embrace in a single motion, her body shaking and her voice choked with sobs. She hugged him desperately, old tears streaming down like falling rain.

"Child, my good child, Granny will never let you take risks again!"

The little old woman cried very bitterly, completely ignoring the copper lamp she had been thinking of day and night, which made Chen Strict feel somewhat terrified.

Granny Sha held him as though she were holding her own flesh and blood, unable to bear letting go.

After a long while, Granny Sha finally released him, wiped away the crisscrossing tears on her face, and repeatedly checked Chen Shi for any injuries. Finding him unhurt, she was finally at ease.

"Granny, are you alright?" Chen Shi probed tentatively.

Hearing his voice, Granny Sha couldn't help thinking of her own child, and instantly the tears fell in torrents once more.

"My son Tianyu was just as clever and lovable as him. If he were still alive, I'm afraid he would have already started a family and settled down, and I could be holding a grandson by now. My grandson should be about the same age as Little Ten."

Moved by the present scene, the little old woman saw Chen Shi escape from the Underworld despite facing certain death, and couldn't help thinking of her son Xiang Tianyu.

Xiang Tianyu was exceptionally clever and lovable, with high comprehension. Back then, he was also around ten years old.

Little boys are always very mischievous, but they are also very sensible. Xiang Tianyu was just like that.

When he was mischievous, she wished she could grab him and give him a severe beating, but there were also times when he was sensible, acting especially considerate, inquiring after her well-being, and kneading her shoulders or pounding her back.

She loved this son immensely, but at that time she also had her own grand ambitions. Her attainments in the realm of souls were extremely high, and she wanted to go a step further. Yet for some reason, she always found it difficult to break through, so she conceived a bold notion.

That was to sneak into the Underworld and seek a wondrous stone found only there: the Three Lives Stone.

If she could refine medicine with the Three Lives Stone and ingest it, she would be able to awaken to her past lives and transform her past life cultivation into her current life cultivation, thereby allowing her to break through to the next realm.

However, the Underworld was not a place just anyone could visit. Those who went were either the pure souls of young boys or the pure souls of young girls.

The soul of a young boy possessed extreme yang energy, capable of resisting the corrosion of the Underworld's Yin Energy so that his soul would not scatter.

The soul of a young girl possessed extreme yin energy, meaning she would not suffer damage too quickly in the Underworld.

She did not trust outsiders, since the Three Lives Stone was extremely precious, so she planned to let her son Xiang Tianyu secretly enter the Underworld to steal the Three Lives Stone for her.

She made multiple preparations for Xiang Tianyu's safety—all sorts of life-saving talismans, precious diagrams, various spellcrafts, and precious blood—arming him to the absolute teeth before allowing Xiang Tianyu's soul to leave his body and enter the Underworld.

Xiang Tianyu was an exceptionally sensible child. Without a shred of complaint or refusal, he did such a dangerous thing for her, entering the Underworld just like that.

Yet Xiang Tianyu failed to return.

She waited seven days, but Xiang Tianyu never came back.

Seven days was a critical threshold. When a cultivator's soul left the body, the physical shell could remain alive for seven days; after seven days, the physical body died and rotted away.

Her son had died.

That mischievous yet sensible little boy had died.

His soul was lost in the Underworld, unable to find the way home.

The death of her son dealt a devastating blow to her. Because of this matter as well, her husband broke with her, husband and wife becoming like strangers, and because of this she spent her entire life consumed by self-blame and remorse.

Back then, Grandpa Chen Yindu found her and asked for her help. She had originally refused, but upon seeing Chen Shi's face and remembering her own son, she finally agreed, willing to risk her life to cross the Yin and Yang Worlds and summon Chen Shi's soul.

It was also at that time that she offended a giant of the Underworld, leaving behind many enemies and making it impossible for her to set foot in the Underworld again, or she would surely face a siege.

Granny Sha let out a faint sigh and stroked Chen Shi's head.

"Granny won't make you do anything dangerous ever again," she murmured softly.

Chen Shi raised the Ram Horn Copper Lamp and smiled. "Is this the lamp Granny was looking for?"

Granny Sha percerked up and nodded. "For this damn piece of junk, you almost lost your life. Does Little Ten hate Granny?"

Chen Shi shook his head. "Grandpa said Granny did a lot of things for me back then, and told me to repay Granny's kindness."

Granny Sha felt a warmth in her heart, and old tears threatened to fall once more. She quickly said, "It's getting dark, let's head back first."

The two hurried back.

"This lamp is a treasure that only Ghost Kings among the Yin messengers can possess. It is called the Ram Horn Heavenly Spirit Lamp. It can illuminate the Yin and Yang Worlds, pierce the nether gloom, and it possesses truly extraordinary might."

Speaking of the origin of the Ram Horn Heavenly Spirit Lamp, Granny Sha said, "Back then, I joined forces with a few old fellows to withstand the power of the Ram Horn Heavenly Spirit Lamp and severely injure the Horse Face Ghost King. The Horse Face Ghost King plunged into the River of Forgetfulness with the lamp. I knew it would surely die, but I never expected it to survive by utilizing the River of Forgetfulness's special properties and live until now."

She couldn't help feeling a lingering fear.

If the Horse Face Ghost King had possessed even an ounce of strength, a single wisp of true breath would have likely ground Chen Shi to powder.

"Granny will keep this lamp safe for you for now. You can take it away at any time in the future," Granny Sha said.

The two returned to Gangzi Village as dusk was falling, only to see a large black dog already waiting at the village entrance.

Chen Shi hurriedly stepped forward. "Black Pot, did Grandpa send you over to call me home for dinner?"

Black Pot wagged its tail.

Granny Sha said, "Little Ten, you go home with Doggy first. Come over tomorrow, and I'll take you to find that ancient temple."

Chen Shi agreed hastily, full of thanks.

Granny Sha watched as the person and dog receded into the distance, her heart filled with a myriad of conflicting emotions.

"Just like Tianyu when he was little. Just as clever, just as spirited, just as stubborn. When he promises someone something, he has to see it through."

She returned to her dwelling and placed the Ram Horn Heavenly Spirit Lamp on the table, causing the table to creak under the weight.

When Chen Shi had carried this copper lamp, it hadn't looked heavy, but it weighed well over three hundred catties.

Granny Sha produced a silver hairpin and pulled the lamp wick a little longer.

That lamp wick was inserted into the heavenly spirit cover of the copper figure on the ram's back. Lamp oil was poured inside the copper figure, and despite many years passing, the oil was still plentiful.

As the wick was pulled out a bit, the copper figure's expression turned bizarre, and it opened its mouth to emit a shrill, miserable shriek that sounded piercingly harsh in the room.

Once the lamp flame stabilized, it seemed to have grown accustomed to the pain and stopped crying out, its face breaking into a smile instead.

Granny Sha channeled the Ram Horn Heavenly Spirit Lamp, and suddenly the light of the flame surged violently. The next moment, her house, the streets, Gangzi Village, and even Ganyang Mountain seemed to vanish completely!

The lamp light that pierced through everything shone through the houses, streets, villages, and mountains, reaching straight into the gloomy Underworld!

Exhausting her eyesight, Granny Sha used the lamp light to look into the endless, boundless darkness, passing through the mist and the wasteland, death and cold silence, sweeping across countless ghosts to search for that tiny figure.

"Tianyu, where are you? Did you get lost? Mother has come to look for you..."

When Chen Shi arrived home, Grandpa had already prepared food and was waiting for him. Chen Shi hurried to wash his hands and face before sitting down.

"When you went to see Granny Sha, she didn't ask you to do anything dangerous, did she?" Grandpa asked casually.

Chen Shi shook his head and smiled. "No. Grandpa, Granny Sha is a very good person, and she treats me so affectionately."

"That's good."

With his back to him, Grandpa slowly chewed on a candle and said, "Though Granny Sha is a good person, her obsession runs deep, and she's prone to doing some out-of-line things. If she asks you to go to the Underworld, you must not agree to her."

Chen Shi felt a jolt of alarm, thinking, Too late, I've already been.

He didn't mention this matter to Grandpa, lest Grandpa forbid him from visiting Granny Sha.

The night passed without incident.

Early in the morning, after eating his meal, paying respects to Godmother, and bidding Grandpa farewell, Chen Shi strode out eagerly and headed straight for Gangzi Village.

"Woof!"

At the village entrance, Black Pot sat beneath a tree and barked at Chen Shi's retreating back.

"I know, he lied."

Grandpa stood behind Black Pot, his expression gloomy. "When he came back yesterday, he was soaked all over and carried Yin Energy. Clearly Granny Sha made him go to the Underworld. He's even covering for the old woman."

Black Pot tilted its head and looked at Grandpa. "Woof woof!"

Grandpa's face bore a dark aura. "You're right, the brat needs a lesson for learning how to lie. And Granny Sha needs a dressing down too, lest she put my grandson in danger! What's even more infuriating is that she actually wants to snatch my grandson!"

Black Pot raised its head in suspicion. That wasn't what it meant at all.

If Grandpa wanted to beat Chen Shi, he could just do it himself—why drag it in by claiming it said so?

Yet this blame was one it simply had to shoulder.

When Chen Shi reached Gangzi Village, Granny Sha had already prepared a meal early on. She hadn't eaten herself and was waiting for him.

"The food Chen Yindu cooks isn't even fit for dogs! I marvel that you've managed to eat it all these years."

Granny Sha took a few bites of the food, then set down her chopsticks and watched with a smile as Chen Shi devoured his meal like a wolf.

There was no helping it; Grandpa's medicinal diet truly was far too unpalatable.

"Eat slowly, eat slowly, don't choke."

Granny Sha smiled. "There's more in the pot, I'll scoop you some more."

Chen Shi ate until his belly was rounded—the first time in two years he had eaten this full. He quickly got up to help Granny Sha wash the pots and bowls.

Granny Sha hurried to say, "Leave it there, I'll clean up myself! This child..."

Chen Shi finished tidying up, helped her sweep the courtyard, and then looked at Granny Sha with eager anticipation.

Granny Sha dressed neatly and carried a small basket covered with a piece of floral cloth. Smiling, she said, "I know you've been waiting anxiously. Let's set off right now."

The old woman and the youth left their home and entered the mountains.

The path entering the mountains from Gangzi Village differed from the one at Huangpo Village. The mountain path at Huangpo Village was relatively gentle, whereas here it was quite steep.

The mountain trail was chiseled directly out of sheer cliffs—a narrow ribbon of a road that could barely accommodate a single strong man passing through. If someone approached from the opposite direction, it would be extremely perilous, and the slightest carelessness could send one plunging down the cliffside.

Old as she looked, Granny Sha walked with exceptionally steady steps and showed not a shred of fear in the face of the precipitous cliffs, though Chen Shi's heart was somewhat in his mouth.

"Old sister-in-law, Little Ten and I are passing by and wish to borrow a path from you," Granny Sha stopped in her tracks and smiled at a gnarled, intertwining ancient tree.

She walked to the tree, took several sticks of incense from her basket, lit them, and planted them in the earth beneath the tree.

Chen Shi looked on with curiosity, seeing that the ancient tree had lived for who knows how many millennia. Its roots intertwined and spread across the cliffside, with the exposed roots alone covering an acre or two of land!

However, the main trunk of this massive tree seemed to have been struck by lightning; traces of lightning and fire remained burned into the stump, and the trunk they were looking at now was a new one that had grown beside the main trunk.

Even as a new growth, it looked to be several thousand years old.

The spirit of this ancient tree was an old woman who lived inside a tree hollow. She was very short—even shorter than Chen Shi—with combed white hair, leaning on a walking stick, wearing a benevolent expression, and smiling cheerfully as she looked at Chen Shi and Granny Sha.

Her mouth was sunken with very few teeth, though one could barely spot two or three when she smiled.

"Little Ten, come pay your respects to Granny Zhuang!" Granny Sha stuffed a few sticks of incense into Chen Shi's hands.

Chen Shi hurried forward, offered the incense, and bowed. "Chen Shi greets Granny Zhuang!"

"Good child, good child." Granny Zhuang looked at him with a smiling chuckle.

The two passed right through the gaps in the tree trunk.

"The great mountains command awe. You must revere the mountains just as you revere deities. There are many spirits within Ganyang Mountain: grass and trees have spirits, mountain rocks have spirits, crawling insects and running beasts have spirits. Even that mountain torrent and that stream have spirits dwelling within them."

As she walked, Granny Sha instructed Chen Shi, "Keep awe in your heart, and all roads will be open to you. Hold disrespect in your heart, and even a living path can turn into a living hell."

They arrived at an even steeper spot where the path ahead suddenly cut off, black stones piled high across the road.

Granny Sha stepped forward, offered incense, and said, "Daoist Brother, Little Ten and I are passing through. Please grant us passage."

Chen Shi widened his eyes and saw those black stones actually moving in an orderly fashion, climbing up the steep cliff face and gradually moving away.

Once those black stones had retreated, Chen Shi was finally able to glimpse their true form. They were the scales of an unimaginably massive black snake, simply so huge that they looked like a pile of black mountain stones!

Chen Shi followed Granny Sha as she continued along the mountain path. After walking four or five li, they finally caught sight of that gigantic black snake.

The black snake coiled atop the peak where they stood, its solitary, desolate head raised high. Its exhalations formed clouds, its inhalations summoned the wind, and with every breath it drew, wind and clouds shifted over the mountain valley in wondrous fashion.

The great black snake was a beast spirit of the mountains, long past the age of feeding on flesh and blood. It drank the wind, supped the dew, slept amid the rosy clouds, and slumbered in the mist, residing like a hermit within the great mountains, content and at peace with the world.