A Dream and a Gift from Master

When Master said that, I was stunned.

To me, paying respects to the Grandmaster was no different from worshipping one's ancestors.

It was just a ritual.

I had never expected to actually receive anything from it.

At most, I might pray for a little good luck.

But even that was intangible.

Yet Master said

that the Grandmaster I had worshipped today could actually give me something, and I could even go collect it directly.

That made it hard for me to believe.

But judging by Master's expression, he did not seem to be lying.

I wanted to ask a few more questions, but Master yawned.

He said it was late and time to sleep.

When he took me there, I would naturally understand.

Then he pointed at a room and told me to sleep there tonight.

As for the other locked room, Master warned me:

"The locked room might make a little noise tonight. But don't worry about it. Just sleep."

I looked up at that room's door.

A large iron padlock hung on it.

I had no idea what was inside, but since Master said there might be some noise at night, I guessed

there might be something in that room...

But what kind of thing had to be kept so secretively, hidden away from sight?

Could he be raising ghosts?

Scenes from horror movies flashed through my mind.

But I did not say it aloud.

Master did not explain either. He simply turned and walked toward his own room, saying he would call me tomorrow.

I glanced at the locked room and felt waves of burning joss paper smell drifting out from inside.

A sudden chill ran through me.

The thought that he was raising ghosts grew even stronger.

After taking a deep breath, I returned to my own room.

Whatever it was, I would be fine as long as I did not provoke it.

I had come here to save my life. I did not care about anything else.

I was exhausted. Lying on the bed, I thought back over everything that had happened today.

It had been full of twists and turns, but fortunately, everything had gone smoothly.

In the end, I had even taken Corpse Collector Song Decai as my master.

Now that Corpse Head Song was my master and my backing,

my problem should be resolved perfectly, right?

I just did not know what trouble Xiao Yu had run into, to the point that she could not even protect herself!

I was too tired. As I kept thinking, I quickly fell asleep.

That night, I did not hear any movement outside.

I only had a dream.

In the dream, I walked out of the room.

I arrived in a place that was pitch-black.

I was completely alone. There was nothing around me. Other than darkness, there was only darkness.

I was terrified in the dream and wanted to find a way out.

After an unknown amount of time, I suddenly saw several figures.

I wanted to approach them, but I could never get close.

I wanted to shout, but no sound came out.

After a long while, they suddenly asked me,

"Are you Jiang Ning?"

I could not see them clearly, so I said yes.

Then I asked where this was and how I could get out.

But there was no answer, and the figures quickly vanished.

They left me alone in the darkness.

When I jolted awake from the dream, I discovered it was already noon the next day.

My entire body was drenched in sweat.

Only then did I realize that everything I had seen and heard before had merely been a dream.

I checked the time and found that I had slept until twelve.

First, I examined my body.

I found that the corpse spots on my body had faded considerably and were gradually disappearing.

I got up and went to the bathroom, staring at myself in the mirror.

My complexion was no longer as awful as before. There was even some color in my face.

I could clearly feel my body recovering.

All of this was thanks to sending Zhang Qiang on his way last night and receiving a bit of "blessing."

And I became even more certain of what I needed to do next.

Accumulate yin virtue, send off yin souls, seek blessings, and earn Yin Longevity.

Only then could I suppress the Four Calamities in my fate and extend my life.

Otherwise, my rotten fate would draw yin and evil things to me and get me killed...

After washing my face, I found that Master's room door was open, but he was gone.

So I went downstairs.

When I passed the Grandmaster's memorial tablet, I bowed to it as well.

A gust of wind blew in, lightly lifting the red cloth draped over the Grandmaster's tablet.

When I reached the first floor, I smelled a strong aroma of Chinese medicine.

I poked my head over and saw Master brewing medicine in the kitchen.

"Master!"

I called out to him.

Master turned to look at me.

"You're awake. Perfect, the medicine's ready too!"

"Medicine?"

I was not sick. I was merely being haunted by ghosts. Did I need medicine?

But Master nodded.

"That's right. This medicine replenishes your blood and qi and dispels yin toxins. Drink a couple of mouthfuls later."

With that, Master carried out a bowl of medicine.

It was steaming hot and reeked strongly of herbs.

"Let it cool a little, then drink it yourself!"

Master handed the medicine to me.

I was somewhat resistant and asked whether I really had to drink it.

He nodded.

He also said it was best to drink it on an empty stomach.

After I finished it, he would take me out for a meal.

Since Master had put it that way, I could not say anything more.

My life was in Master's hands. Even if it was a bowl of poison, I had to drink it.

The taste was beyond words. Beneath the herbal flavor was a fishy stench, and one sip nearly sent me to my grave.

After I finished the medicine, Master saw how miserable I looked and handed me a bottle of water.

"Medicine for dispelling yin toxins is like this. You have so many corpse spots on your body.

If you do not take some medicine, you definitely will not recover anytime soon."

"Thank you, Master!"

I took a few sips of water and felt a little better.

Then Master handed me a small pouch and said,

"Your first day as my disciple. This is your gift from your master. Keep it on you from now on. It can protect you too."

"What is this?"

Holding the pouch, I was puzzled.

Master motioned for me to look myself.

I slowly opened the pouch and found a sword made from fish bones inside. It looked more like a dagger.

It was about twenty centimeters long, with red thread wrapped around its handle.

The fish bone itself was segmented, its spines removed and polished smooth.

Only the tip was extremely sharp.

Looking closely, I could see words carved into the fish bone.

More accurately, they were runes.

"A fish-bone dagger?"

I asked in confusion.

Master smiled.

"More or less!

It was made from the bones of that Giant Black Carp from last night.

When a black carp took the hook, a disciple came to the door.

That black carp was fated with you.

So I killed it this morning.

I took its bones and made this.

The fish bone has eighteen segments, engraved with eighteen inscriptions.

With this thing on you,

no wandering soul or wild ghost will dare act recklessly."

Hearing how powerful the fish-bone dagger was, I became a little excited.

I immediately said to him,

"Thank you, Master."

"It's nothing. Keep it safe.

We'll go eat now. After we finish, we'll head to your school and take a look."

Master said with a smile.

I noticed several bandages wrapped around his fingers.

He had not had them when we returned last night.

I guessed he had been pricked by fish bones while making the fish-bone dagger for me.

Although Master had a strange temper and kept strangers at a distance,

he was truly good to me, his newly accepted disciple.

He brewed medicine for me and gave me a dagger for protection.

And now he was taking me to my school to deal with the ghostly thing haunting me...

Soon afterward, Master drove his luxury sedan worth more than six hundred thousand.

He took me away from his Big Fish Fishing Gear Store.

We went to a rather upscale restaurant, where he ordered an entire table of dishes, choosing whatever was expensive.

He told me to eat as much as I wanted.

Looking at the table full of delicious food, I was quite excited.

In all my life, I had never eaten so lavishly before. I had never even tried many of those dishes.

I wondered if Master was treating me a little too well.

But Master said

that if you had money, you should spend it and enjoy it.

He also said that I had entered the Yin Sect and was Song Decai's only disciple.

What the hell was a little money for one meal?

He told me to study his craft properly from now on.

Not only would I be able to keep my life, but I would be able to eat and drink well every day.

The money would come in so fast that I would question reality.

It would be thousands of times better than studying medicine...