Yin-Yang

The man was an old man, around sixty or seventy years old, with a round face, short hair, and tiny eyes. The glasses he wore, however, were huge.

I became extremely wary. If he had come in from outside, I might have let him be, but this fellow had actually emerged from Little Yi Village. Apart from the road leading to Dragon-Carrying Village, Little Yi Village did indeed have another road. As for that road, I had never dared to take it, and Grandma would never have let me.

That was the road leading to Dead Town!

What kind of place was Dead Town? It was a place where, long before the founding of the nation—or rather, even before that—a plague had killed tens of thousands of people! The road was so perilous that even the living dared not enter. Put it this way: in that place, ghosts were as common as the tiniest toys!

Only someone like Grandma could come here and seal off the road to Dead Town, giving rise to today's Little Yi Village.

Now that an eerie old man had suddenly appeared out of thin air from within the village, wouldn't I be an idiot if I didn't run?

Even without Older Sister Wife's warning, I would have quickly dragged Yu Xiaoxue behind Zhao He first and worried about everything else later.

Although Zhao He was somewhat contemptuous of my actions, seeing that neither of us was strong and that we had taken the initiative to hide behind him proved that we acknowledged his prowess. We were all clever people, after all.

So Zhao He's heroic spirit rose. He thrust out his chest and loudly challenged the newcomer, "I'm Zhao He from Dalong County. Who are you? How come you just showed up out of nowhere!? Are you here to ruin my sister and me while we're performing the ritual?"

"Zhao He? Oh, Zhao He! What a coincidence—I'm your Uncle Hai!" The newcomer quickly reached the bridge, waving his hand repeatedly as he came.

"Uncle Hai?" Zhao He froze, then widened his ox eyes to look at the newcomer.

"Uncle Hai, hurry and help me! The Yin soldiers hooked Captain Huo's soul away. I can't do anything!" Zhao Qian was anxiously running in circles. Huo Dadong's soul had already crossed from one side of the bridge to the other. If they didn't call it back now, they feared it would be too late.

"Oh! Oh! All right. Zhao Qian is here too, huh? That fellow Huo Dadong got his soul seized as well? What a coincidence." The old man hurriedly agreed, immediately pulling a stack of paper figures from the bag on his back.

The paper figures had all been cut out beforehand. They had noses and eyes, and looked terrifying.

So they knew each other? I relaxed slightly, but still didn't dare let my guard down. Who knew how he had appeared here? I touched the Soul Urn in my trouser pocket, ready to lift the lid at any moment.

Only after the old man called Uncle Hai reached the bridge could I clearly see what he looked like. His skin was somewhat dark from years spent under the sun, and the fact that he carried a hiking pack meant for a young person showed that he often traveled outside.

The old man also glanced at me, but after only one look, he turned toward the bridge below. He seemed to have noticed the Yin soldiers seizing people and seen the many ghosts, yet his expression barely changed.

As if he hadn't seen anything, he took out a cinnabar brush, wrote a few scant characters on a paper figure, then pulled out a strand of Huo Dadong's hair and tied it to the figure. He casually tossed the paper figure into the river and muttered several incantations.

The two Yin soldiers seemed to sense something. They released that faint wisp of Huo Dadong's soul and turned back to chase the paper figure.

"Zhao Qian, call him again!" Uncle Hai chuckled, then sat back as if he had already secured victory. His technique was unbelievably practiced, as effortless as cooking an everyday meal.

While astonished, I became even more wary of the old man. That fellow was definitely a formidable Yin-Yang practitioner. He had actually managed to deceive the Yin soldiers with ease.

Moreover, when he came up beside me, he was like a shadow. I couldn't sense any living aura from him, as though he had concealed his presence with some secret Yin-Yang technique.

If a person no longer possessed Yin-Yang energy, no filthy thing could see him. That was the marvelous art of hiding one's form in broad daylight and deceiving ghosts and monsters. Since the old man possessed such ability, it was no wonder he dared to take the road to Dead Town.

"All right, thank you, Uncle Hai." Zhao Qian happily began chanting the soul-summoning spell again, while Zhao He started helping to bind the soul.

After the two of them busied themselves for a while, they summoned Huo Dadong's soul back.

Zhao He then opened an umbrella and held it over Huo Dadong's body, while Zhao Qian chanted several incantations. Huo Dadong's entire body began convulsing, and bubbles of water kept frothing from his mouth.

Although he looked awful, his soul had at least returned. But it still wasn't over. Part of his soul had been injured, so Huo Dadong would still have to suffer a serious illness.

Seeing that the two had succeeded, Uncle Hai immediately beamed. "I never thought you two could stand on your own already. How many years has it been since I last saw you? You're much better than your fathers were back then. Heh heh."

"Uncle, don't say that. Compared with our father and grandfather, we're still far behind." Zhao He chuckled, though he was actually quite pleased.

"Uncle Hai, let me formally introduce you. This is a friend we just met here. His name is..." Zhao Qian extended her hand, intending to introduce me.

"Xia Yitian. Xia as in summer, and Yitian as in one day." I introduced myself before Zhao Qian could finish. After all, she had only learned my name from Huo Dadong; I had never properly introduced myself.

"I'm Yu Xiaoxue, Yu Xiaoxue... just Yu Xiaoxue." Yu Xiaoxue gave a bashful smile. She had never introduced herself before and had always lived in Little Yi Village, so she didn't pay much attention to such formalities.

"Oh, Xia Yitian and Yu Xiaoxue? Good, good, fine names, and fine young people too. You and Zhao He and his sister are of the same generation, so just call me Uncle Hai or Old Hai along with them. I'm a native of Dalong County too." Uncle Hai spoke with a hearty laugh. Since we could remain here until nightfall, he probably felt that Yu Xiaoxue and I were no ordinary people, so he was very courteous.

Zhao Qian smiled and nodded, while Zhao He chimed in, "Uncle, Xia Yitian is the grandson of Zhou Xian."

I frowned, and a grave look surfaced in my eyes. Zhao He was far too loose-lipped.

"Hiss? Zhou Xian? You're Senior Zhou Ying's grandson?" Old Hai sucked in a breath and only then gave me a careful look from head to toe.

"Is there a problem?" I forced out a faint smile, then asked with a frown, "How did you come out of Little Yi Village, Old Hai? That narrow path in Little Yi Village must be difficult to walk."

Seeing my unfriendly expression, Old Hai immediately revealed a meaningful smile and got straight to the point. "Heh heh, young man, do you think Senior Zhou Ying's death had something to do with me?"

"Big Brother Yitian, Uncle Hai is one of us. He definitely has nothing to do with your grandmother's death." Zhao Qian was as clever as snow and ice; she immediately understood why I had asked.

"Since we're all from Dalong County and have made it to this place, I figure you've probably learned about some things already. As for the things you don't understand, you'll eventually try every possible way to find out, won't you?" Uncle Hai adjusted his glasses and gestured for us to leave. "Carry Huo Dadong on your back. It's about time."

"We're leaving the village? Uncle Hai, we've already tried to get out. The Yin soldiers were passing through, and it was impossible to leave. We went out today and had to turn back again. An auxiliary police officer even died. Otherwise, we wouldn't still be here." Zhao He complained.

"Only one person died? Heh heh. With the aftermath of this incident, the fact that you managed to hold out until now might be considered lucky. I went to watch the battle with several friends, and three died. I almost couldn't make it back either." Old Hai shook his head with a bitter smile.

"What? Uncle Hai, did someone engage in a ritual battle? Then you have to tell us all about it, so we can learn the details of this battle!" Zhao He was incredibly excited. Although he was carrying Huo Dadong, he looked completely unburdened.

"Wasn't it just so! I was invited to observe it. My friends didn't participate either, but they were secretly ambushed and couldn't return with me." Old Hai sighed, then glanced at me.

I didn't know why he was looking at me, but with a little thought, I knew it had to be related to Grandma.

"Little Brother Yitian, do you know about what happened before the founding of the nation? Or what your grandmother was called outside? Or perhaps do you know any hint about the cause of everything that's happened recently?" Old Hai asked me instead.

I thought it over, then immediately pushed all responsibility away. "I've been working away from home these past few years. I don't know much about Grandma's affairs either. She never told me anything about what happened in the past."

"I see. No wonder. Sigh, she really lived under an assumed name." Old Hai shook his head, then continued, "Zhou Xian—in other words, the Zhou Old Devil whose famous name back then was Zhou Ying."

"Heh heh, Zhou Old Devil? How could Grandma possibly have had such a name? She was always saving people and driving away evil, generous and charitable. Old Hai, did you get something wrong?" I let out a cold laugh and stared fixedly at Old Hai. Grandma had always been kind and benevolent, and everyone praised her relations with the neighbors. Being called the "Zhou Old Devil" was no different from someone pointing at my nose and cursing me.

Old Hai chuckled. Seeing that I had lost my temper, he said, "Little Brother, don't get worked up yet. The Zhou Xian in my heart was Senior Zhou, of course she wasn't the Zhou Old Devil. That title was given by outsiders who feared her. I met her once, and I know what kind of person she was. Don't be anxious. Listen while I explain it slowly."

"Uncle Hai, is that true? Zhou Xian really was the Zhou Old Devil?" Zhao He gazed at him with admiration. Anyone who could be called an old devil had to be a terrifying figure on the level of a demon lord.

Although Zhao Qian's eyes were shining too, she was not nearly as unable to contain herself as Zhao He.

"Heh heh, you brat Zhao He, do you know who Senior Zhou Ying was? Even before the Cultural Revolution, she was already the renowned Zhou Old Devil, and the sole successor of the Ghost-Nurturing School! Would I lie to you?"

"All right, don't interrupt for now. I'll tell you as we walk. First, take these paper figures and put them in your pockets." Old Hai produced several paper figures and handed them out to us.

I took mine and examined it carefully. Since Older Sister Wife didn't warn me, I put it in my pocket.

"Since I've mentioned devils and brought up Senior Zhou Ying, I also have to mention her opponents—the 'Orthodox Path.' What was the Orthodox Path? The Orthodox Path consisted of the Sutu, Ma Yi, Zhongge, Quanzhen, and Maoshan schools. Those were what they called the orthodox traditions of the Orthodox Path. Branches like ours were called by them minor paths with only superficial knowledge, or even heretical and crooked ways. Although everyone usually lived in peace, something happened once." Uncle Hai spoke with a look of reminiscence. He glanced at the place where Grandma lived and shook his head. "I truly never imagined that the Zhou Old Devil was her... I always thought it would be a man."