Peach Haven Village (25)

After taking stock, Sun Qi was the only truly honest and dependable one. None of the others was worry-free. Did Ita World prefer people like Sun Qi? Or did it prefer people who fooled around recklessly? Or perhaps it preferred someone as wise, rigorous, and thoughtful as himself—someone who, even after a slight mishap due to objective circumstances, still worked hard to remedy it?

Hmm? From what Blind Zhao said, he had already confirmed that a calamity was coming. That made sense. White Cloud Daoist had risked his life to divine that great misfortune had already taken shape, not merely that there were signs of great misfortune. Then why had White Cloud Daoist not insisted on evacuating the villagers? Perhaps the old man had some wishful thinking too. Ninety-nine years had passed; they were only one last step away. Or perhaps he believed that, with his cultivation, he could settle this matter himself.

In Third Lady Temple, Haitang was still kneeling in worship, with Zhang San beside her. White Cloud Daoist was not idle either. He dipped a brush in cinnabar and painted and wrote over Third Lady's statue. Since the colors were too similar, the onlookers could not make out what he was doing.

Through his conversation with Blind Zhao, Ding Shi had already learned White Cloud Daoist's plan. He intended to suppress Third Lady's soul within the wooden statue. Once the day of the sacrifice had passed, Third Lady's soul would be trapped for another year. During that year, the villagers would offer more incense, while White Cloud Daoist would recite scriptures such as the Jade Emperor Heart Seal Scripture every day to suppress the violent aura of Third Lady's soul.

Great misfortune had already taken shape. This was now the only way to keep the sacrifice going.

It was a solution, but what worried the village chief and Blind Wang was whether White Cloud Daoist could actually suppress Third Lady's soul.

"Alright, go back." White Cloud Daoist had already sensed Third Lady's soul resisting within the statue. The time for the sacrifice had not yet arrived, so the most likely reason Third Lady had begun to resist was Haitang. In other words, not only did Third Lady refuse to accept Haitang's repentance, she did not even want to see her.

Once the irrelevant people had left, Ding Shi carried out the village chief's assignment. He stood nearby watching White Cloud Daoist draw talismans, helping with odd jobs such as mixing cinnabar and grinding ink.

White Cloud Daoist took the jar of cinnabar into the rear hall, and Ding Shi brought over a stepladder. White Cloud Daoist climbed up, dipped his brush in cinnabar, and began writing scripture on the walls. As he wrote, he chanted, "Clean Mouth Divine Incantation: Vermilion mouth deity, expel filth and clear foul vapors. Tongue deity, set order aright, unblock life and nourish the spirit. Luo Qian, deity of the teeth, ward off evil and guard the true. Throat deity, Tiger Warrior; qi deity, draw forth the fluids. Heart deity, Cinnabar Origin, grant me access to truth. Thought deity, refine the liquid; the Dao's qi shall ever remain. Swiftly, swiftly, as the law decrees!"

White Cloud Daoist climbed down from the stepladder and said, "This is the Clean Mouth Divine Incantation, one of the Eight Great Divine Incantations."

The mightiest of the Eight Great Divine Incantations was the Heaven-and-Earth Purification Divine Incantation. Even if ordinary people devoted countless efforts to it, they could only learn its surface. The deeper one's cultivation, the greater the incantation's power. At its peak, it could slay ten thousand ghosts and pardon ten thousand ghosts.

White Cloud Daoist recommended that Ding Shi study the Golden Light Divine Incantation. It was the most common of the Eight Great Divine Incantations; whether it became formidable depended entirely on one's own ability. Perhaps he might even gain insight into Golden Light Divine Thunder from it.

"Daoist, is it enough just to read it?" Ding Shi asked.

White Cloud Daoist answered, "Read it, then memorize it. Memorize it, then comprehend it. Comprehend it, then reflect on it. Only after reflection can you use it." First, one read it and memorized it, sorting out the meaning of the entire incantation. Then one had to break it apart and understand it thoroughly. Only by combining it with one's own circumstances could one truly master the Golden Light Divine Incantation.

Ding Shi agreed verbally but did not take it to heart. If White Cloud Daoist could use Golden Light Divine Thunder to blast the evil ghost Third Lady to death tomorrow, then Ding Shi would copy down the Golden Light Divine Incantation and study it every day when he returned to the island. Otherwise, study it? Hell no.

With Ding Shi's help, White Cloud Daoist covered the walls of Third Lady Temple with scriptures, then used a Bagua mirror to set up the formation's focal point. As he arranged it, he taught Ding Shi. Without a focal point, if Third Lady's soul attacked one section of wall, then only that section was attacked. With a focal point, if Third Lady's soul attacked one section of wall, it was equivalent to attacking every wall.

To bind Third Lady's soul, White Cloud Daoist not only drew talismans on the wooden statue but also set up a formation within Third Lady Temple.

Ding Shi asked a question. "Why didn't the Daoist from a century ago destroy Third Lady? Why did he only suppress her?"

White Cloud Daoist answered, "Because he was powerless to do so. Guided by hatred, Third Lady willingly became a zombie and refined herself under moonlight. The moment she emerged, she was already a black zombie."

The zombie ranks were: purple, white, black, hairy, flying, and drought demon. A rank higher than that was an intelligent zombie, one that lived among humans and was almost indistinguishable from them.

Black zombies had extremely stiff bodies and feared sunlight. Compared to white and purple zombies, they not only did not fear humans, but would also attack them.

Hairy zombies were nimble and incredibly fast, with heads of copper and arms of iron. They feared neither fire nor sunlight, and their claws carried deadly poison. Compared to black zombies, their combat ability was a qualitative leap.

White Cloud Daoist's master had been very formidable, but his specialty had been exorcising ghosts and dispelling evil, not destroying zombies. Faced with Third Lady after she had become a black zombie, White Cloud Daoist's master had been helpless as well. But people always found a way. So, he first located Third Lady's soul and forced it into zombie Third Lady's body, thereby gaining control over zombie Third Lady. After suppressing zombie Third Lady, he used spells to separate her soul from her body.

Just as Ding Shi was listening with relish, the village chief called out, "Little Ding, come here."

Ding Shi trotted over to the village chief, playing the role of an obedient assistant to perfection. He was currently at 90 satisfaction points, only 10 short.

"Because the heavy fog has sealed off the village, many villagers haven't been able to return in time. Go make a count," the village chief said.

Ding Shi's heart skipped a beat. "Count the villagers?"

"Yes."

"Village chief, there are over a hundred households, plus two natural villages. I won't be able to cover them all in a day, will I?"

The village chief took out a notebook. "There are twenty-one people working outside. You only need to check whether they've returned."

Fine! Ding Shi took the notebook, looked through it, then got on his bicycle and began the count. Some had returned, while others had not. The task had originally been going to end smoothly, without any story at all, until Ding Shi reached the final household.

The last household was home to a brother and sister, both performers in an acrobatic troupe. They had returned to Peach Haven Village last night. The brother was called Xiao Suan, and the sister was called Xiao Jian. During some polite small talk, Ding Shi learned that Xiao Jian had once been a sacrificial bride. Wanting to know more about Third Lady, Ding Shi sat down for tea and chatted with the siblings.

The contents of their conversation were unimportant. Ding Shi had more information than the siblings did. What mattered was that Ding Shi saw a set of willow-leaf throwing knives.

Thrown weapons had appeared as early as the late Eastern Han Dynasty. During the Song Dynasty's foreign wars, both sides had used all sorts of concealed weapons, such as the javelins favored by the Mongols.

Concealed weapons used on battlefields were relatively large. The concealed weapons used by traveling bodyguards were mostly for sneak attacks; they were not only small and delicate, but often poisoned as well. It was said that the most popular poison was not something like arsenic, but feces. Once struck by a weapon soaked in feces, one had to quickly cut away the flesh around the wound, or the rot would spread. Fecal poison was not only found in the martial world; it was not uncommon in ancient warfare either.

Of course, the willow-leaf throwing knives used in acrobatic performances could not possibly be poisoned.

The siblings' act was very traditional. The sister would be tied up, and the brother would throw knives while blindfolded. As it developed, the sister was tied to a spinning wheel, which was then turned while the brother threw knives blindfolded. Rather than acrobatics, this performance was actually closer to magic.

There were six willow-leaf throwing knives in the set, tucked into a leather knife pouch. Ding Shi liked them very much and asked about the price. At first, both siblings refused to name one. Ding Shi slapped down a ten-dollar bill, and the sister was tempted. He added another five-dollar bill and finally persuaded the brother to sell him the set of willow-leaf throwing knives.

The knives were shaped like willow leaves, with extremely thin blades. They were not suited for close combat and could easily snap.

Having received such a huge sum, the siblings were delighted, though somewhat embarrassed as well. They invited Ding Shi to stay for dinner, and he agreed. The reason: he wanted to learn how to throw knives.