Yin Earth

I arrived at the farmer's market and happened to catch the street fair. It was packed with people. After a long search, I found a parking spot, parked the car, and then entered the market.

I rarely went to places like markets when I came to the city before. I didn't know there was a large shopping mall here. Yu Xiao Xue led me around like Liu Grandma visiting the Grand View Garden.

She seemed to enjoy leading me around by the nose like this, because usually, she was the one I bullied.

Yu Xiao Xue had no interest in clothes, so she took me to the second floor of the mall. The clothes she asked about were indeed good and cheap, mostly around thirty or forty yuan each.

I was afraid she'd buy them and I'd be laughed at by Han Shanshan and Zhao Qian, so I pulled her away.

On the first floor of the mall, I bought some cooked food and then took Yu Xiao Xue to a sports brand specialty store. We bought two sets of sportswear, one pink and one blue.

Yu Xiao Xue stared at the bill of over five hundred yuan, her eyes wide and her words jumbled. However, she was very satisfied with her new clothes because sportswear is practical, allowing her to run and jump, which suited her.

After fulfilling her wish, she took me to the antique street of the market. There weren't many shops here, but on market days, some villagers would come to sell uncommon items.

In the past, someone even brought a bronze drum to sell. I heard it was later bought for over ten thousand yuan and sold at auction for hundreds of thousands.

Of course, even if such items appeared, I couldn't afford them. I could at most spend a few hundred yuan. Now that I think about it, Yu Xiao Xue still has a thousand yuan, which is more than I have.

Moreover, I have to start worrying about her school tuition. After all, her father is gone, and I'm like his half-brother. Besides solving livelihood issues, I also have to be responsible for her education.

"You're in your third year of high school, right?" I asked Yu Xiao Xue.

"Tian Ge, I've already finished my second year. Maybe I shouldn't continue studying. We don't have any money, and we can't go back to Xiao Yi Hamlet. I can work in the county, serving dishes or washing bowls," Yu Xiao Xue said with some difficulty. She had asked me about working a while ago, but I hadn't agreed.

"No, your walls are covered with awards. Your grades are good, and it would be a waste not to continue studying," I immediately rejected her idea. Her grades must be excellent, but her family is simply too poor to support her any longer. Since she's with me now, I'll support her education no matter how hard it is.

"My grades aren't that good. I'm actually ranked forty-something. The awards were given by the teachers to make the family look good. Maybe I shouldn't study anymore," Yu Xiao Xue shook her head.

A family so poor that they only had sweet potatoes and awards couldn't expect a sensible child to finish their education. Yu Xiao Xue's mindset was quite normal. I said, "What's the difference between forty-something and first place? Study, brother has money. I've earned tens of thousands in these past few years, enough for your university."

I said with a boastful smile. After hearing this, Yu Xiao Xue stared at me, afraid I was lying: "Tian Ge, you're lying to me... You don't have any money."

"I do. Should I call your aunt?" I said, taking out my phone and finding my mother's number, ready to dial. I knew she wouldn't dare to listen if I called.

"Do you really have it? You're not lying to Xue?" Yu Xiao Xue looked at me aggrievedly.

"I'm not lying. Why would I lie to you? If it's not enough, your aunt can lend it to you, and you can pay her back slowly after you graduate from university. By then, you'll be earning several thousand a month. Right now, washing dishes and serving in the county only pays a little over eight hundred. How long will it take to get ahead?" I persuaded her.

"Tian Ge... Actually, I lied to you. Those awards are real. Last semester, I got second place in the grade. I'll tell you, I could have gotten first place, but that day Xiao Bei said if I didn't answer the last question and let her get first place, she'd give me fifty yuan. I was thinking of buying two catties of rice wine and a plate of roast duck for Dad, so I didn't write that question..."

Yu Xiao Xue dejectedly took out a crumpled fifty-yuan bill from her clothes and gave it to me: "In the end, Xiao Bei gave me the money, and I thought about it for a long time before daring to use it..."

"Will you dare to do it again next time?" I immediately asked her with a stern face, confiscating the fifty yuan. My heart couldn't help but ache: "Sigh, Uncle Yu Gen, this trip back to Xiao Yi Hamlet, I didn't bring anything. I'll owe you two catties of rice wine and a plate of roast duck on Xue's behalf. When I have the strength to go back, I'll definitely bring it to you."

"I won't dare anymore." Yu Xiao Xue's eyes were red. Although she sometimes did foolish things, like digging up other people's sweet potatoes, that was when she was young and didn't know any better, and she was hungry.

"That's good. Listen to your Tian Ge. After you finish studying, if you can get into Tsinghua or Peking University, we'll go. We don't lack that little bit of money," I said heartily.

"Okay! Tian Ge is the best to me!" Yu Xiao Xue became happy. Seeing a young couple almost glued together nearby, she ran over and hugged my arm, refusing to let go.

I shook her off a few times but couldn't. I decided to ignore it. Anyway, there was almost no one in the county who knew me and her, so I didn't care about this image.

But just as I thought this, a familiar figure suddenly appeared at the farthest edge of my vision!

"Yi Dan!" I almost shouted! I broke free from Yu Xiao Xue's hand and chased after him like lightning!

Yu Xiao Xue was stunned. Seeing me chase, she also ran after me.

As a result, the crowd was too dense. I was afraid something would happen to Yu Xiao Xue, so I stopped and watched Zhang Yi Dan's figure disappear into the edge of the market from afar.

"Brother Dan? How could that be?" Yu Xiao Xue asked me in surprise. She seemed not to have seen him.

"Maybe I saw wrong. It's impossible, impossible," I explained to myself, then looked at Yu Xiao Xue with a wry smile. Zhang Yi Dan was clearly dead, killed by his own ghost infant. Now he appeared in broad daylight, how was that possible? A fierce ghost possessing a body might be understandable in a dark forest, but in this vast sea of people? Absolutely impossible.

With a population of 800,000 in the county, it's normal for people to look similar. I sighed. Perhaps the memories evoked by Yu Xiao Xue made me think of this childhood companion.

"Brother, you're going to the antique street, right? It's right there, look," Yu Xiao Xue pointed to the intersection where the person who looked like Zhang Yi Dan had come out.

"Mm, I see it. Let's go," I said, my originally calm heart rippling again. "Zhang Yi Dan" went to the antique street?

I shook my head and turned into the antique street with Yu Xiao Xue. That small street was actually just an alley, where even chickens, ducks, and geese were sold.

I casually found a shop with a friendly-looking owner and asked him if he had old yellow paper, high-quality cinnabar, and brushes.

In an old county like this, such items would never be lacking. The owner quickly brought out several types.

I bought these items not because Zhao Qian didn't have them, but because I couldn't use things that others had used; it would affect the accuracy of my spells.

I picked out the oldest types and the most expensive aged cinnabar. This cinnabar alone cost dozens of yuan per gram. I bought a little and spent over four hundred yuan. The old yellow paper was also not cheap per stack due to its storage period. Including the specially made brush, six hundred yuan was gone just like that.

Thinking about it, wealth, dharma, companions, and place. This is indeed true. Without money, it's impossible to dabble in these things. Playing with this is playing with your life. Can something that risks your life not be expensive?

So, the first thing is to have money. The second is to see how powerful your Taoist magic is. After that, you consider fellow Taoists, companions, and the place of cultivation. After all these are tested by time, you can finally become a master of Taoist magic.

"Boss, did a young man in his twenties wearing factory clothes pass by here just now, or buy anything here?" On a whim, I asked the boss, describing Zhang Yi Dan's attire.

"Oh, you mean him? Hey, I was wondering why you young people are playing with these things lately? That person came to me just now, asking me for cinnabar and brushes like you. He bought the brush, but then said the cinnabar wasn't suitable and ran to the stall opposite to buy it. Heh, the things at the opposite stall are all made by the boss himself, can they be used?" The boss didn't hide anything and pointed to the stall opposite, implying it was not good.

I immediately ran to find the old lady at the stall and asked her if she had done business with that young man. The old lady didn't say a word. She looked in the direction where Zhang Yi Dan had disappeared, pointed at the cinnabar, and held up one finger.

I thought that if I didn't buy her things, I wouldn't be able to get any information from her. So, I took out fifty yuan: "Give me five grams."

The old lady smiled and held up one finger, but her smile was creepy. Her gums were severely lacking teeth, but that was normal. However, her tongue was more than half cut off! She was a mute, which scared Yu Xiao Xue and me into taking two steps back!

Her tongue must have been cut off by someone!

"Young man, that's one hundred and ten grams!" The shop owner opposite me kindly reminded me, seeing that I was startled.

I felt I wouldn't get any information by asking. This cinnabar had already turned a brownish-purple. I had no idea how to use it, so I pulled Yu Xiao Xue and left.

Holding the remaining two or three hundred, I realized I still needed to buy a soul urn, so I prepared to head to some antique shops.

A soul urn is a cinerary urn, specifically for holding the ashes and bones of the deceased. But nowadays, no matter how exquisitely carved, bone ash boxes are just junk. Even if made of gold or white jade, they're useless to me. I must find some pottery urns to use as replacements. Unfortunately, I searched many antique shops, but the owners told me they were all decorative items. Whether Han Dynasty or Qing Dynasty, even cheap fakes cost several hundred.

My heart chilled, and I felt that Xijun's home was likely out of the question. I carefully recalled Grandma's process for making soul urns. Before making a soul urn, Grandma would go out for a trip and then find all sorts of materials upon her return.

These materials weren't particularly special, just ordinary soil. However, she never seemed to intend for me to play with them, saying they were bad for me.

Moreover, she always fired them herself, but now I don't have the conditions for firing.

Grandma was, of course, a master. She could find her own clay to make soul urns, then carve seal script onto them before firing them into soul urns. The ghosts nurtured by such soul urns were also incredibly powerful. Could I do it?

"It's Yin Earth!" Just as I was hesitating, this term popped into my mind, making me completely abandon the idea of staying on the antique street. I decided to make pottery myself.