Honest and Kind

On the old willow tree, the Scholar Ghost muttered in lingering resentment.

Zhu Yucai was his name.

He had hanged himself right there, his tongue lolling out a full foot, his complexion suffused with the purple of a pig's liver—it would be a miracle if he looked presentable.

Little Eleven is not honest at all, using my name to say this woman is ugly.

He thought to himself, Though come to think of it, while this woman doesn't look bad, her heart is wicked. I wonder if Little Eleven can handle her?

He was in a spirit state, so these people could neither see him nor hear his voice.

Having been hanged here, though he had turned into a ghost, he could not leave this old tree either, rendering him unable to notify Chen Shi's grandpa.

"The porcelain dolls Big Sister mentioned should be a group of little ones that only appear in the evening, crawling out from the grass and whispering to each other."

Chen Shi rattled them off like family treasures and said, "Their speech is so fast and dense that you can't make out what they're saying. If anyone gets close, they'll burrow into the grass and vanish completely. Once the person leaves, they'll come out again. By daybreak, they'll disappear. The ones Big Sister is looking for are them, right?"

He had indeed seen these porcelain dolls, often mingling with the little fellows, and was therefore quite familiar with them.

Upon hearing this, the woman in purple and the crowd of men in flying fish robes nodded excitedly again and again.

"My lord, this little thing... this little brother describes it so clearly, which shows that thing must be nearby!"

That man in flying fish robes named Fang He smiled and said, "The rumors are indeed true; there really is a True King's Tomb here! Those porcelain dolls are none other than funerary objects from the tomb that have gained sentience! If we can obtain these treasures—"

The woman in purple grew angry, her almond eyes widening as she glared fiercely at him.

Fang He felt a chill in his heart and hastily clamped his mouth shut.

The woman in purple glanced at Chen Shi and, finding him utterly clueless—evidently a country child who knew nothing of grand tombs or attained sentience—she finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Little brother, can you take us to take a look at the place where those porcelain dolls vanished?" the woman in purple asked with a gentle expression.

Chen Shi wore a troubled look. "My grandpa is still waiting for me at home to go back and eat..."

The woman in purple chuckled softly. "Big Sister has some delicious treats here, made by simmering spirit beasts and exotic grasses. Aren't they more appetizing than the food at your home?"

She clapped her hands, and soon someone presented some dried meat.

Chen Shi ate a piece of the dried meat and, sure enough, found it exceptionally savory, so he agreed.

The group followed as Chen Shi walked, and the woman in purple asked, "Little brother, I still don't know your name?"

Chen Shi answered honestly, "My name is Chen Shi. The teacher who taught me to read said that shi in Chen Shi means sincerity, and shi in Chen Shi means truth. People in the village all call me Little Chen Shi. I never tell lies!"

Hearing this, everyone chuckled inwardly. Where is there a surname like Chen? This country schoolteacher is truly uneducated.

Fang He's expression turned grave as he approached the woman in purple and whispered, "My lord, this child is somewhat unusual..."

The woman in purple's gaze had long since fallen on Chen Shi's back; she narrowed her eyes and nodded gently. "I've noticed it too."

Wearing a peculiar expression, she softly said, "Who would have thought that despite his young age, he is actually a cultivator."

Ahead of them, Chen Shi was still eating the dried meat. The aura within this youth's body rippled with gentle undulations, actually harboring circulating true qi, and quite strong at that.

A faint, hazy radiance suddenly appeared at the back of Chen Shi's head, where a divine shrine composed of light flickered in and out of view!

The dried meat was concocted from various spirit beasts and exotic grasses, containing potent spiritual energy. After eating it, Chen Shi refined the spiritual energy, involuntarily revealing his cultivation.

"Qi Refining Stage, Divine Embryo Realm!"

The woman in purple softly murmured, "He has already forged a divine shrine, and presumably received the true god's favor, causing a divine embryo to descend! In the provincial city, he would already be qualified to take the provincial examination! A juren in his early teens..."

She could not help but be astounded.

Cultivators' cultivation is divided into five major stages: Qi Refining, Spirit Transformation, Refining Spirit, Void Returning, and Dao Integration.

Among them, Qi Refining is further divided into four realms: Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Divine Shrine, and Divine Embryo. To cultivate to the Divine Embryo Realm is already remarkable; one can participate in the provincial examination, become a juren, and hold official rank.

In the world today, scholarship and cultivation go hand in hand.

Scholars are cultivators who can practice the true way, take examinations for official rank, and enter the imperial court as officials.

Chen Shi was barely in his teens, yet he had cultivated a divine embryo—even looking across the entire world, this was a rare sight!

If he were to pass the imperial examinations, it would inevitably shock the world!

The woman in purple and her companions hailed from a great clan in Xinxiang Provincial City, and they never expected to inadvertently encounter such a prodigy in the countryside, so one can imagine the shock in their hearts.

"Wrong!"

Seeing the divine shrine at the back of Chen Shi's head suddenly turn wavering and erratic—resembling cooking smoke in the wind, liable to be blown away at any moment—the woman in purple quickly hurried to Chen Shi's side and looked at the divine shrine behind his head.

She saw that the divine shrine at the back of Chen Shi's head was completely empty, with no divine embryo at all!

A look of incomprehension appeared on the woman in purple's face.

At this moment, the divine shrine behind Chen Shi dissipated, and his true qi unraveled along with it, reverting him to an ordinary person.

The other men in flying fish robes also witnessed this scene, all wearing peculiar expressions.

"Given his mastery of the divine shrine, he ought to have cultivated a divine embryo! Why is his divine shrine empty? And why did his cultivation suddenly vanish again?" the woman in purple whispered.

Chen Shi's divine shrine was extremely solid, surpassing even some Spirit Transformation masters; he had definitely entered the Divine Embryo Realm long ago. Yet there was no divine embryo in his divine shrine, and the divine shrine could shatter at any second—truly a bizarre occurrence.

Fang He had already figured it out and smiled quietly, "My lord comes from a renowned and powerful lineage and does not know the perils of the martial world. The appearance of a cultivation prodigy in these rural wilds is not necessarily a blessing, but rather the root of disaster. If the children of powerful and wealthy families lack innate talent and fail to cultivate a divine embryo to pass the county or provincial examinations, they will hire family experts to seek out a prodigy with supreme talent and no background, plunder his divine embryo, and transplant it into themselves. This kid called Chen Shi must have been discovered by powerful people because of his superior talent, and had his divine embryo harvested and transplanted into their own kin."

The woman in purple looked at Chen Shi's back in surprise and asked, "Can someone still live after having their divine embryo plundered?"

Fang He was also somewhat puzzled and said, "Logically speaking, one can only pry open the skull to seize a divine embryo, and a cultivator whose divine embryo is stolen will undoubtedly die. It's just a strange thing why this kid hasn't died even after having his divine embryo dug out."

Every year, quite a few people died due to having their divine embryos stolen; this was very common in the Great Ming Dynasty. That Chen Shi hadn't died after having his divine embryo stolen was rather a freak occurrence.

Fang He strode forward, coming up behind Chen Shi, and felt around the back of his head, actually touching a long-healed scar at the base of his skull.

This scar was three or four inches long, and the bone beneath it bulged into a lump.

"Chen Shi, don't move."

Saying this, Fang He parted Chen Shi's hair. The scar was flesh-colored, looking like a thick, red centipede the size of a thumb lying prone across the back of Chen Shi's head.

Chen Shi kept eating the dried meat, paying it no mind.

The woman in purple also saw this scar and felt a jolt in her heart; this youth's skull had been opened up before!

"To survive such an injury is truly a miracle!" She exhaled a breath of turbid air.

Without a divine embryo, any true qi was like a tree without roots or water without a source, liable to scatter into thin air at any moment. Chen Shi had his divine embryo plundered and was reduced to a cripple, so after consuming the spirit jerky, the medicinal power within it transformed into true qi, making his divine shrine reappear. Yet because he lacked a divine embryo, both the divine shrine and his cultivation were merely reflections in a pond and flowers in a mirror.

Lapsing a few steps behind, Fang He lowered his voice. "My lord, last year Magistrate Li's son in Shuinui County, Li Xiaoding, caused a sensation in the provincial examination and seized the top spot as jieyuan. But I've heard this Young Master Li is unlearned and unskilled, with mediocre cultivation and even supreme foolishness, never having received the true god's favor. Some say Young Master Li must have plundered the divine embryo of a destitute youth..."

The woman in purple coughed and said meaningfully, "Magistrate Li's official post may not be large, but the Li family is a great and formidable clan. Whatever means Young Master Li used to become a juren has nothing to do with us. This child is rather pitiful."

Her gaze fell on Chen Shi, and she gave a low instruction: "Give him a quick end later. Don't torture him."

She turned her head back, looked toward Huangpo Village, and spoke with a gentle expression and a soft voice, "As for this village, wipe it out as well to keep the little fellow company, lest word leaks out and people say our Zhao family does things dishonestly—discovering the True King's Tomb without telling them and needlessly generating complications. Once we find the True King's Tomb, you will arrange the silencing matters; make it clean."

Fang He bowed and agreed.

Chen Shi's demeanor remained normal, but his ears twitched.

Although he lacked a divine embryo, his hearing was astonishing. Though the conversation between these two was faint, it failed to escape his ears.

These people harbor ill intentions toward me and the village. It seems they are the culprits. According to Master's words, we must cut the weeds and dig up the roots so they have no descendants left.

Chen Shi thought to himself, I definitely can't beat them. Master said that the Master does not speak of strange powers and chaotic gods. My current strength is not yet sufficient to be called a strange power, nor can I make ghosts and gods submit, so it's better to borrow a knife to kill someone. Master's words truly contain worldly philosophy everywhere!

His admiration for Master welled up spontaneously.

Chen Shi quietly slowed his pace, signaling the group to follow.

The woman in purple and the others followed him forward, only to see a dozen foot-tall little people playing by the stream at the edge of the mountain forest.

These little people possessed fully formed facial features and limbs, green garments, and white skin, resembling living humans.

When they touched one another, it made the sound of colliding porcelain, indicating they were not human.

The porcelain dolls were frolicking by the mountain stream, splashing water and catching fish to their hearts' content.

The words tumbling from their mouths were also quite strange—not human speech, but gibberish and babble of unclear meaning. Yet the porcelain dolls could all understand each other, communicating back and forth and bursting into bouts of hearty, joyful laughter from time to time.

The woman in purple and the others arrived behind Chen Shi and, seeing this sight, were overcome with excitement. They whispered, "These must be porcelain objects from the True King's Tomb that have gained sentience! We only need to follow them to find where the True King's Tomb is located!"

Chen Shi took a step forward and snapped a withered branch on the ground. One of the porcelain dolls sensed it, tilted its head to look all around, and upon seeing Chen Shi, let out a sharp cry resembling the call of an oriole.

When the other porcelain dolls saw Chen Shi, they all assumed grim, bitter expressions, rolled up their sleeves, and aggressively charged straight at him, bearing some unfathomable grievance and enmity.

It was only then that the porcelain dolls noticed the strangers like the woman in purple, letting out shrieks of dismay as they scrambled into the stream-side grass.

Chittering and cursing drifted out from the grass; the porcelain dolls were likely angrily berating Chen Shi for not being able to beat them and actually calling for backup.

Fang He and the others hurriedly stepped forward, parting the grass and swiftly pursuing the traces ahead. They saw the mountains bathed in lush greenery with towering trees; the mountain forest was gloomy and vast, making it impossible to distinguish directions.

Those porcelain dolls moved with flying speed, weaving through the forest and grass, giving their pursuers a hard time and soon losing their tracks.

The woman in purple's eyes suddenly lit up as she whispered, "Follow Chen Shi!"

Only then did the group notice that Chen Shi was actually moving like flying through this mountain forest, skillfully and familiarly chasing after those porcelain dolls.

It was difficult for the group to catch up with those porcelain dolls, but Chen Shi presented a larger target and was easier to track, so they hastily followed Chen Shi and gradually plunged deep into the mountain forest.

They saw that the trees grew increasingly dense, with only scattered, mottled patches of sunlight on the ground.

After chasing for who knows how far, the Chen Shi ahead suddenly vanished without a trace.

As the group rushed forward, they saw the surrounding trees growing at a blistering pace, towering taller and taller until they became like sky-propping giants, lush and verdant, holding up the azure sky!

Even the wild weeds grew as thick as trees, boulders looked like rolling hills, and the stream transformed into the turbulent, majestic Yangtze River!

Just as they were feeling astonished, they heard someone cry out, "The plants didn't get bigger—we've gotten smaller!"

The woman in purple and the others were struck with terror, hastily inspecting one another, only to discover that in the span of a brief moment, they had shrunk from adult stature to less than a foot tall!

The woman in purple looked at her own skin and trembled involuntarily.

After a moment, she mustered her courage, gently tapping her own arm, which produced a crisp sound of colliding porcelain.

She nearly fainted on the spot.

She had actually turned into a porcelain doll!

She looked toward the others; the Imperial Guard members who had followed her had also inexplicably transformed into porcelain dolls!

"Ghost and God Domain! We've blundered into a Ghost and God Domain! Right—Chen Shi!"

Clinging to the woman in purple like a drowning person clutching a straw: "Chen Shi has been here before; he must know what's going on... Wait a minute!"

Her face turned pale. "If Little Chen Shi has been here before and knew that entering this place turns one into a porcelain doll, why did he still lead us here? Is Chen Shi... really as honest as he looks?"

----There will be another update tonight, around six o'clock. Chapter word count: 3000-4000 words.