Spirit Medium Dance

The youth was tall and slender, with delicate features. His scholarly bearing made it obvious at a glance that he was a scholar.

Clearly, he did little work in his daily life. He had just drawn a bucket of water and spilled half of it over himself, soaking most of his light blue robe.

But the youth showed no sign of impatience. He wrung out the hem of his robe, then bent over and continued filling the buckets.

After finally filling both buckets, he clumsily hooked them onto the ends of a carrying pole. Only after checking repeatedly that they were balanced front and back did he straighten up and walk away cautiously, carrying the two buckets with some difficulty.

Lin Xiao barely recognized Sun Yigao.

After all, his home was not particularly close to the part of the village where Jiang Youfu lived. Besides, Sun Yigao was usually kept at home to study and rarely went out. No wonder Lin Xiao barely recognized him.

After baiting several small shrimp traps, Lin Xiao washed his hands and stood up.

"Come on, let's go show off our sect to our friends in the village."

At this, Jiang Youfu perked right up.

"Can we talk about it now? Haha, I'm going to tell Tietou that I'm an immortal cultivator!"

Lin Xiao turned and cautioned Jiang Youfu:

"You don't have to make it sound so convincing. What if they all want to cultivate immortality and stop working, and the adults in their families come looking for trouble with us? Not everyone loafs around all day like the two of us."

The only reason Lin Xiao did not work in the fields was that Lin Dayou believed he had suffered a terrible chill as a young child, and his mother had gone through great hardship to exchange her life for his.

Though Lin Dayou always grumbled about Lin Xiao playing everywhere instead of working, if Lin Xiao really went to work, he would be the first to stop him, putting it nicely as: "You haven't even grown all your hair yet. What work are you doing? Don't go ruining my crops!"

In truth, Lin Dayou thought that Lin Xiao was only twelve, and with him and his eldest son at home, there was not much work to do. There was no need for his youngest son, who had yet to grow up, to do it.

He hoped to wait a few more years, until Lin Xiao had grown sturdier.

As for Jiang Youfu, it was entirely because he was doted on.

Everyone in the family doted on him, from oldest to youngest, including his older brother and sister-in-law. They treated him like a child.

Of course, they still had him do a few small chores around the house, such as sweeping out the rabbit hutch.

But the youths in the village all envied the two of them.

For the two of them, work was an interlude; play was the theme of every day.

The two headed toward the village.

The warm sun hung high in the sky. It was noon.

Few people could be seen in the village, as most were eating in the fields.

Only a few old men were under a large tree, holding big bowls and boasting.

Along the way, Lin Xiao and Jiang Youfu greeted their elders from time to time as they headed toward their friends' homes.

They happened to pass Landlord Sun's house.

The gate to Landlord Sun's courtyard stood wide open. Several idle village women stood at the entrance, peering inside as they discussed something.

The Sun Household was a minor landowning family in Xiushui Village, owning around a hundred mu of farmland across several nearby villages.

As such, theirs was also the only family in Xiushui Village that could afford to support a scholar.

But in this day and age, a landlord with a hundred mu of land was no major landowner.

The Sun Household had only a modest surplus of wealth. It was impossible for them to order male and female servants around like a great landlord's family.

Curious, Lin Xiao and Jiang Youfu also glanced through the Sun Household's open courtyard gate.

A strangely dressed person was jumping about in the courtyard, chanting unintelligibly.

It turned out they had invited someone to perform a spirit medium dance.

Could something strange have happened in the Sun Household?

Lin Xiao had originally been an atheist, but now that he had transmigrated and learned that it was possible to cultivate immortality in this world, he had begun to believe somewhat in the existence of so-called unclean things.

The women beside him voiced the question on his mind.

"Brother Sun, what's happened at your house?" Her voice was quiet, evidently for fear of disturbing the spirit medium performing her ritual.

Usually an amiable man, Landlord Sun was in no mood to deal with the women at the moment. He merely sighed softly and said to them:

"Gao'er's mother has been in a daze since early this morning, not quite in her right mind. But we had Old Doctor Jiang from Benevolent Heart Hall in town examine her, and he couldn't find anything wrong.

"My in-law said it looked like she'd been possessed, so we invited Spirit Medium Song from the township to drive the evil out."

One of the women, who had a long face, slapped her thigh.

"Oh my! Someone in the Sun Household's been possessed! Who knows what kind of evil spirit it is? Could it bring harm to our village? No, no, I'd better get home first. If the evil spirit comes out and latches onto me, I'll be done for!"

With that, she turned and trotted away.

The remaining women exchanged looks, then all hastily took their leave of Landlord Sun and hurried off.

Landlord Sun knew what these village women were like and did not take it to heart. He only watched the spirit medium perform her ritual with some concern.

Inside the house, Landlord Sun's in-law heard the commotion and pushed open a window. Seeing the women running off into the distance, she spat softly and closed the window again.

At the instant she opened the window, Lin Xiao sensed a faint, unusual presence.

It also felt somewhat familiar.

Just then, Sun Yigao returned from fetching water.

Seeing him come back, Landlord Sun hurried out of the courtyard gate to help him carry the buckets inside and pour the water into the vat.

Lin Xiao thought for only a moment before recalling the unfamiliar presence he had sensed on the mountain that morning.

He turned and saw Sun Yigao about to enter the courtyard ahead of him. An idea sprang to mind.

After giving Jiang Youfu a meaningful look, he strode forward and hooked an arm around Sun Yigao's shoulders.

The other youth was rather tall, so he had to stand on tiptoe.

Jiang Youfu did not understand what was going on, but he quickly followed.

He heard his Brother Xiao brazenly begin to tell lies:

"Brother Sun, you're finally back. I've thought over what you asked me about before."

Sun Yigao, a strange little boy's arm suddenly slung around his shoulders, looked utterly bewildered.

"I don't..." know you.

But how could Lin Xiao give him a chance to speak? He immediately cut him off.

"Come, come, Brother Sun, let's speak somewhere else."

Jiang Youfu, who had caught up, read the situation well. He joined Lin Xiao in trapping the tall, slender fifteen-year-old between them and dragging him away.

Landlord Sun took only one look and saw that both were village children, one of them the youngest son of the Jiang Household up ahead. His heart filled with comfort.

"My son has friends too..."

Meanwhile, Lin Xiao and Jiang Youfu did not stop until they had taken Sun Yigao to a secluded spot.

Sun Yigao broke free and glared at them in some annoyance.

"What are you two doing?!"

Lin Xiao rubbed his nose and said:

"Brother Sun, calm down, calm down. We had to act as the situation demanded because the matter was urgent. Please forgive us."

Sun Yigao had always been good-tempered. Hearing this, he thought they really did seem to have something to say, and his slight anger immediately faded somewhat.

He straightened his rumpled clothes and asked:

"What do you want with me?"

Lin Xiao saw the damp patches on his clothes and the mud on his shoes and said:

"If I just told you, you surely wouldn't believe me, so I might as well let you see it for yourself. Watch closely."