Rice Divination

So-called rice divination used rice as a medium. A Spirit Walker could send their soul into the underworld, invite the dead to possess them, and answer all manner of questions from the living.

But this method came with many taboos. The Three Don'ts passed down through the generations were actually meant to protect Spirit Walkers from being claimed by Vengeful Spirits.

"Rice divination indeed has Three Don'ts, but what if we insist on asking?"

Yu Zhensheng stepped forward and spoke calmly.

A ripple passed through Grandma Cui's pupils, clouded white with cataracts. "And how does Master Yu intend to force the matter?"

"You are a renowned figure among the Hundred Schools of the Underworld. All these years, we have kept to our own wells and never trespassed into each other's rivers. This old woman has never revealed a word about you. Must Master Yu truly bully a blind old crone like me today?"

As she spoke, the Spirit Tablets behind her began to tremble faintly with a rustling sound, while the candle flames swayed without cease.

The white pupils became all the more grim and terrifying in the flickering light.

The atmosphere instantly plunged to freezing point, taut as drawn swords and cocked bows.

Zhou Sheng tensed as well, a little puzzled. Hadn't Master just taught him to maintain good relationships with disciples of other lineages?

Why had he suddenly become so overbearing?

Yu Zhensheng smiled faintly and stepped forward. "Watch closely. This is how you force the matter."

With that, he slapped a gold bar onto the Eight Immortals table.

Zhou Sheng: "..."

Grandma Cui: "..."

"Master Yu—"

"Not enough?"

Yu Zhensheng slapped down another gold bar.

Grandma Cui stared at the two bright, glittering gold bars. After a moment of silence, she still shook her head.

"...This isn't a matter of money."

"This is exactly a matter of money."

Yu Zhensheng chuckled and took out another item. This time, it was no longer a gold bar, but a string of Copper Coins.

Yet this string of Copper Coins was extremely unusual. Ordinary Copper Coins were round on the outside and square within, symbolizing the round heavens and square earth of the human world. These coins were precisely the opposite—square on the outside and round within, with corroded patterns engraved into them.

Perhaps it was only an illusion, but when those Copper Coins appeared, Zhou Sheng seemed to catch a faint scent of incense offerings.

In an instant, Grandma Cui's gaze was drawn to that string of Copper Coins as if by a magnet, and did not leave it for a long time.

The coins seemed far more alluring than the two gold bars.

"You're eighty-four this year. Your allotted years of life are nearly exhausted. With this string of Incense Money, once you reach the other side, you can grease the palms of Ghosts and Gods. You might even become an Underworld Official."

"As for these two gold bars, you can leave them to your little apprentice. After all, the living always have use for them."

Yu Zhensheng's words plunged Grandma Cui into deep thought.

"Ask or don't ask—give me a straight answer. But let me remind you: once this village is past, there won't be another inn."

Grandma Cui shook her head.

Just as Zhou Sheng thought she was still going to refuse, she sighed. "Fine. This really is a matter of money."

"Xiao Yun'er, go prepare the things for rice divination."

Zhou Sheng: "..."

Yu Zhensheng smiled and winked at his disciple, sending him a quiet message.

"Brat, learn from this. This is experience from the jianghu. Don't start fighting and killing at every turn."

About a quarter of an hour later, everything was ready.

Grandma Cui sealed the door. Offerings were set upon the Eight Immortals table, and the Incense Burner held not ash, but snow-white Rice Grains.

She placed the head on the table, respectfully lit three sticks of incense, then formed hand seals and began chanting.

"The Dharma emerges, the command turns, opening passage to the dark netherworld. This disciple wholeheartedly invites the true spirit. Above, reach the heavenly palace; below, connect to the underworld. Swiftly summon the myriad Spirits of the Underworld..."

As she spoke, she suddenly grabbed a handful of rice and scattered it all around.

"First handful, scatter open Ghost Gate Pass!"

As the Rice Grains fell to the floor, Zhou Sheng's eyes narrowed. He discovered that Grandma Cui's face had already turned a bluish black, and her chest no longer rose or fell, as though she had become a corpse.

The Yin wind surged around them, snuffing out every candle flame and making the room even darker and more oppressive.

"Second handful, feed the Vicious Golden Rooster!"

She flung the rice like snow, each grain scattering distinctly in every direction. Her feet moved through strange steps, as though she were rapidly passing through some place.

The next moment, something miraculous happened.

Amid the floor strewn with Rice Grains, black footprints resembling those of roosters suddenly appeared one after another. The grains also rapidly dwindled, as if invisible things were scrambling to devour them.

Zhou Sheng recalled a folk legend. When the dead traveled to the underworld, they would pass through a perilous place on Yellow Springs Road known as Golden Rooster Mountain.

If a departed soul had abused animals or committed wicked acts in life, it would have its eyes pecked out and its organs torn apart by flocks of golden roosters.

Even kind people who had committed no evil in life might still be pecked and injured while passing this trial, though their suffering would be lighter.

Therefore, in some places, when burying the dead, people placed a handful of grains and miscellaneous cereals upon their bodies so they could feed the flock of chickens while crossing Golden Rooster Mountain and suffer fewer pecks.

"Third handful, bribe the Yellow Springs Guide Soldier!"

After Grandma Cui scattered the third handful of rice, her entire body suddenly collapsed into the chair. Her limbs paddled wildly as if she were in water, and gurgling sounds came from her throat.

She clearly had not drunk any water, yet the sound of water was unmistakably real.

It was as if she was no longer in the world of the living, but had fallen into the Yellow Springs.

A moment later, her entire body suddenly went still. She lay sprawled in the chair like a corpse, her tangled white hair covering most of her face.

Zhou Sheng could no longer sense the slightest trace of living breath from her.

Just as he began to wonder whether she was still alive, Grandma Cui suddenly opened her eyes wide, sucked in a sharp breath, and made a dodging motion as she repeatedly shouted.

"Ghost Messenger, do not strike! Do not strike! This old woman was not trying to toy with you—"

Her voice stopped abruptly. Only when she realized she had returned to the human world did she finally let out a full breath of relief.

"Who are you?"

Zhou Sheng did not know whether the Grandma Cui before him was still herself. Could she have been possessed by the ghost of that head?

"I wasn't possessed. The rice divination failed."

"Failed?"

Grandma Cui nodded, then stared at the head with an exceedingly strange expression.

"I carried this head into the underworld, but the Ghost Messengers told me..."

"This woman isn't dead. She is alive."

"Alive?"

Zhou Sheng pointed at the already rotting head, his expression strange. "You're telling me she's still alive?"

"That's what the Ghost Messengers said, anyway. They even thought I was deliberately toying with them and gave me two lashes..."

As Grandma Cui spoke, she rolled up her sleeve. Sure enough, there were two bluish-black whip marks on her arm.

As soon as she finished speaking, she reached for the two gold bars and the string of Copper Coins, only for Yu Zhensheng to seize her wrist.

"The job isn't done, and you want to take the money?"

"Do you take me, Yu Zhensheng, for some easy mark?"

Grandma Cui said with a bitter face, "I did ask, but she's alive. I... what could I possibly do..."

Her voice grew softer and softer, and shame showed on her face.

Clearly, faced with someone's rotting head, claiming that person was still alive was such an absurd thing that even she could scarcely believe it herself.

"Perhaps... perhaps the Ghost Messengers checked incorrectly? How about... I try again?"

Yu Zhensheng shook his head. "Change the person. This time, try calling her up."

As he spoke, he handed over a sheet of yellow paper with a name and date of birth written upon it.

Zhou Sheng glanced at it, and his heart jolted.

"Xu Cui Cui, Guiyou Year, Dingwei Month, Renzi Day, Jimao Hour."