Would You Be My Dao Companion?

Huai River Village's ancestral hall came into view. Strange black stains, like dried blood, marked its dark brown wooden doors. Weeds grew thick on either side of the entrance, seemingly untended. There were footprints on the steps, but a thick layer of dust covered everywhere else, proving that people rarely came to burn incense and worship. This was an ancestral hall, a place housing their ancestors' memorial tablets. Whatever the circumstances, they should never have neglected it like this.

A faint, pungent smell of blood drifted from the ancestral hall, along with the barely audible sound of weeping.

Chen Yi frowned. It sounded like a child crying.

Just as the two were about to push the doors open, an elderly man leaning on a cane called out to stop them.

The old man appeared to be the village chief. He hurried out of a large wooden building. Chen Yi saw many heads poking toward its windows, curiously studying the two Embroidered Uniform Guards in official robes.

"Chen Yi, Thousand Household of the Western Depot, investigating a case by imperial decree."

Chen Yi displayed his identification token.

The old man's face was clouded with worry, but he still forced a smile.

"What case have you two officers come to investigate?"

"Supernatural disturbances."

The old man's face instantly fell, and he waved his hands in alarm.

"Nothing of the sort, nothing of the sort! Our villagers are honest folk. A straight body needn't fear a crooked shadow. What ghosts could there possibly be?"

"Then open the doors and let us look inside."

Chen Yi got straight to the point.

"Officer, outsiders aren't allowed into the ancestral hall."

"We have an imperial decree."

The old man's expression stiffened at that, and he said fiercely:

"Don't say I didn't warn you. Once those doors open, you won't be able to handle what's inside! Nobody can! Only Immortal Lin can deal with this when he comes. Nobody else can!"

In his agitation, the old man stopped calling them officers and raised his voice instead. Sallow and emaciated, he looked quite ferocious when angry.

Chen Yi lowered his gaze toward him and said flatly:

"You dare obstruct an imperial decree?"

Thud!

In an instant, the old man slammed both knees into the ground and knelt, his aged features twisting together as he pleaded wretchedly:

"Officers, go back! I beg you, don't bring disaster on us, don't bring disaster on this whole village!

"Even if you survive going inside, our whole village still has to live here. Who wants to lose several lives from their family for no reason? Officers, please leave. Don't bring disaster on us. We'll gather some grain and silver in the village as a token of respect for you!"

As he knelt, the farmer repeatedly smashed his gray-black forehead against the ground until his head split and bled, leaving a smear of blood on the earth.

Min Ning frowned. What sort of demon could have frightened an entire village so badly that they even dared defy an imperial decree?

Just then, a group of Daoists, led by a villager, approached at a leisurely pace, chatting and laughing.

Their relaxed, cheerful air was worlds apart from the cold, deadly atmosphere around them.

The Daoists wore neat robes, each with a Peachwood Sword or Cash Sword hanging at their waist. Against the thatched wooden cottages along the way, they looked for all the world like immortals roaming playfully through the mortal realm.

The villager leading them shouted as soon as he saw the village chief:

"Chief, I've brought a group of immortals!"

The old village chief, still kneeling and kowtowing, froze where he was, his expression utterly motionless.

The group of Daoists stepped out from the crowd. The young Daoist at their head wore a Lord Lao crown and had something of the air of a banished immortal. Among them, Chen Yi keenly spotted a familiar face.

Yin Weiying.

Today, she wore blue-and-white Daoist robes. A female Daoist beside her enthusiastically discussed Daoist teachings with her. She nodded now and then, occasionally giving a soft laugh. Neither distant nor intimate, she was captivating indeed.

The villager hurried to help the old chief up, only for the latter to drop to his knees again with a thud and shout:

"You dog! Are you trying to get us all killed?"

His hoarse, desperate shout startled the Daoists present. Inside the large building not far away, the villagers huddled together also shifted about, their heads crowding together as they murmured among themselves.

"Chief, these are immortals! Immortals from Shangqing Dao!"

The villager cried urgently.

Only upon hearing the words "Shangqing Dao" did the old chief's expression change slightly. Who inside or outside the capital had not heard Shangqing Dao's great name? Perhaps this time, they really could root out the scourge inside the ancestral hall.

A glimmer of hope appeared on the old chief's face. The villagers in the large building also emerged from the inner rooms, dozens of them crowding noisily together to study the striking Daoists curiously, crying things like "Immortals!" and "They really are immortals!"

The old chief immediately trotted over to the Daoist leading the Shangqing Dao party and cautiously apologized:

"My old eyes are dim. Forgive me for offending you, True Person..."

"You're too kind, too kind. My Daoist name is Xuanzhen. We have cultivated the Dao for only thirty years and cannot be called True Persons. Seeing the heavy layers of yin and baleful intent around this ancestral hall, we have come on our honored master's orders to slay demons and vanquish evil."

The young Daoist Xuanzhen spoke humbly.

The old chief and the others surrounded the newly arrived Daoists, asking all manner of questions. Before long, they were offering wine and food, attentive in the extreme. Chen Yi and Min Ning, who had arrived first, were left standing to one side instead.

Min Ning frowned deeply at their behavior, but Chen Yi showed little reaction.

"Aren't you angry?"

"What's there to be angry about? It's human nature."

Chen Yi spoke casually.

Among the Daoists, Yin Weiying was the first to notice Chen Yi and Min Ning. Her dark brows knitted tightly. What rotten luck, she thought, preparing to turn away.

To her surprise, that irritating Chen Yi actually winked at her and smiled faintly.

Yin Weiying stilled the lake of her heart. She looked at the fellow Daoists around her, then at Chen Yi. A plan came to mind, and she deliberately asked:

"Chief, these two are...?"

The old chief paused, then turned around and hurriedly offered a placating smile.

"Officers sent by the court to investigate the demon inside the ancestral hall by imperial decree."

The Shangqing Dao Daoists were puzzled at first. Then Xuanzhen, their leader, seemed to think of something, and a slight smile appeared on his face.

Xuanzhen addressed Chen Yi and Min Ning earnestly:

"Please go back, officers. The yin and baleful energy here is quite heavy. Though you are both martial experts, you aren't skilled at dealing with demons and ghosts. To put it bluntly, I'm afraid you would be a burden if you stayed."

Xuanzhen spoke sincerely, but some of the Shangqing Dao Daoists beside him were secretly amused. Sending two martial experts to slay demons and vanquish evil was simply a dog catching mice.

Chen Yi was about to answer when Yin Weiying spoke first:

"Fellow Daoist Xuanzhen, you jest. I think these two officers have a finished bamboo painting in their hearts; they must have something to rely on. Especially the taller officer. Not only is he a martial artist, I imagine he's quite adept at slaying demons and vanquishing evil too."

The moment she said this, the atmosphere grew subtle.

Chen Yi narrowed his eyes.

Others might not know, but he did. Yin Weiying was clearly putting him on a pedestal.

With the Taihua Jade Maiden herself saying it, how could anyone doubt her? This woman cultivating supreme oblivion of emotion intended to lift him high, then dash him down hard enough to shatter his bones.

Tsk, troublesome. If it were someone else, they might say... you've already earned yourself a death sentence?

But... I've never been willing to lay that sort of hand on a woman...

The first person displeased by Yin Weiying's words was not Chen Yi, but Min Ning beside him.

She said coldly:

"Immortal Maiden Yin, more words serve no purpose."

The atmosphere abruptly chilled.

The old chief, accustomed to smoothing things over, hurried to mediate:

"Let's look inside first. Daoists, officers, please all go in."

With that, the old chief turned and pushed open the ancestral hall's heavy doors.

The Daoists stepped forward after him.

As Yin Weiying passed Chen Yi, she turned her head and said with a quiet laugh:

"Thousand Household Chen, I've cast a divination for you. You don't have the Heavenly Eye."

Having said that, Yin Weiying brazenly sought to examine the man's surprised, disappointed reaction.

But he turned his head and stared straight at her, saying something that made her blush and break out in goosebumps.

He merely said with a teasing smile:

"Yin Weiying, would you be my dao companion? Those offensive words... I won't hold any of them against you..."

Yin Weiying's cheeks burned, and goosebumps rose along her snow-white neck. She felt thoroughly unnerved.

Those were the very words she had spoken that night! He actually dared throw them back at her almost unchanged...

As luck would have it, several Shangqing Dao Daoists heard this and turned their heads, curious and astonished.

There will be an extra update tonight.