Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Niu Da’s Thoughts

Great King’s tone turned sharp, and Li Yan Er immediately went along with it. “It’s great! Just hearing it makes you sound imposing!”

Great King puffed up with pride. “I think so too!”

So when Gu Shi Yi finally slept deeply and woke up, she discovered her best friend had somehow become the underling of the tree spirit in the broken jar—and the tree spirit now called itself Great King.

“Great King?” Gu Shi Yi repeated, dazed, as if she still hadn’t fully climbed out of her dream.

Great King wiggled proudly. “Yeah! Good name, right? Sounds impressive!”

Gu Shi Yi glanced at Li Yan Er, whose mouth was pressed into a flat line. The two of them exchanged a look and nodded in silent agreement.

“It is pretty impressive,” Gu Shi Yi said, dead serious.

After sleeping, Gu Shi Yi finally had some strength back. Once the grief loosened its grip, her hunger came roaring in. She was so hungry her stomach felt glued to her spine, and she swayed on her feet. She rushed outside to cook, then ate five bowls of rice with the leftover pig head meat. Halfway through, she remembered the meat had been bought by the old Daoist priest, and another wave of sorrow hit her. She cried as she ate, swallowing her tears along with the rice.

By the time she finished, it was already midnight. She sat in the courtyard, keeping Li Yan Er company as the clay doll absorbed moonlight essence, and discussed the plan for going down the mountain.

“Master told me to go to the capital first, then go home. Let’s go to the capital first,” Gu Shi Yi said. “Didn’t he divine it? Maybe you can find a body there that lets you return to life.”

Li Yan Er had no objections. Great King wiggled in the jar and declared, “I heard the capital has famous flowers and rare trees. I want to go too. I’ll compare with them—see if they’re sturdier than me!”

As it spoke, it even struck a ridiculous “strong” pose. Gu Shi Yi glanced at it and chose peace. She turned back to Li Yan Er and started counting what they needed to bring.

“The tools in the bundle come with us. The silver notes too. Everything else stays.”

She looked around the courtyard with a tired, aching gaze. She had lived here for years, and the old Daoist priest was buried here too. Of course she didn’t want to leave.

Li Yan Er softened her voice. “When we finish what we need to do, we’ll come back and rebuild the temple. Then we’ll stay with Master.”

Gu Shi Yi nodded. “Okay. The capital first, then my home. After that, we come back and keep him company.”

With that settled, the next day they packed everything they could carry into one large bundle. Gu Shi Yi wore a cloth pouch around her neck with her best friend inside. She carried the bundle on her right shoulder and held the broken jar in her left hand. Then she headed down the mountain, looking back again and again.

From then on, she wandered to the ends of the earth. And when she finally returned, everything had changed.

After going down the mountain, Gu Shi Yi first went to the small town below.

“Let me explain the lay of the land,” she muttered as she walked. “This area is called White Horse Prefecture. To the east is Wangnan Prefecture. To the west there’s Dragon-Breaking Ridge. Cross that and you hit a huge desert called Ten-Thousand Sands Prefecture. Beyond Ten-Thousand Sands Prefecture is Great Western Province. Go north from Great Western Province and you reach Chen Prefecture. South of White Horse Prefecture is Da Hai, called the Illusory Sea. North is Du Mo Prefecture. White Horse Prefecture has several countries, and the biggest is Great Yue Kingdom. Where we’re going is the Huang Capital—Great Yue Kingdom’s capital city. My worthless Senior Brother is there serving as the National Preceptor…”

Gu Shi Yi held the broken jar and walked along the town street, talking softly as she went. The words were for Li Yan Er and also for Great King. Li Yan Er carefully peeked her head out from Gu Shi Yi’s collar, curious as a child, studying everything around them. The people here looked similar to those from her original world, but their clothing and accents were different. Still, she had known Gu Shi Yi for so many years that she’d long since adapted.

Great King, on the other hand, trembled with excitement. It fought the urge to squirm around and whispered, “So many places… I want to go, I want to go! Gu Shi Yi… take me!”

Gu Shi Yi snorted. “Look at you, acting like you’ve never seen anything. This is nothing. Everything I named is just a tiny slice of this continent. I heard that beyond the Illusory Sea there’s an ancient continent—much larger. But to this day, no one can cross the Illusory Sea safely. From ancient times until now, only a handful have gone there and returned. They say the spiritual qi there is overflowing, immortal sects are everywhere, and there are more cultivators—and more chaos. They fight all the time and don’t care at all about mortals.”

Long ago, this continent had been soaked in blood too. Not just immortals—mortals were nearly wiped out as well. Later, everyone took one look at the situation and realized they were about to destroy themselves.

So the survivors finally sat down and talked it through. If they kept fighting and killed off all the mortals, then cultivators wouldn’t have many left either. Cultivators liked to claim they had severed worldly emotions, but even so—who didn’t have a few juniors and descendants? Who didn’t have a sect?

Even if someone truly had no feelings, immortals still needed incense offerings. If all the mortals died, who would handle the everyday work for them? And righteous or evil, cultivators still needed their lineages to continue. Without mortals, where would they recruit apprentices?

So after discussing it, they agreed: whether it was duels between righteous path and devil path cultivators, or battles between sects, they had to set up barriers—or fight far from the human world—so they wouldn’t harm ordinary mortals.

But plenty of heretical arts still preyed on mortals. So many cultivators who went down the wrong road committed evil in secret among the common people. That was why righteous cultivators partnered with the government office and formed the Clear Spirit Guard. The guards were disciples from major sects who rotated duty. They were sent all over the continent to help the government office eliminate demonic troublemakers and capture heretical cultivators who harmed the world.

As for the ancient continent, maybe because the land was vast and the people were many, the immortal sects there had no restraint at all. They fought whenever they pleased and killed whenever they pleased. Some perfected cultivators who had gone there once returned with fear written all over their faces.

“The people there have terrifying power and countless treasures,” they said. “And the moment they disagree, they start fighting. In my opinion, that place isn’t a human world at all—it’s basically the same as the legendary Devil Realm!”

Places that cruel weren’t welcome among kindhearted people. Li Yan Er frowned hard when she heard it. “That’s terrifying. Let’s not go.”

It sounded like America—say one wrong word and someone pulled a gun.

Gu Shi Yi laughed. “Relax. Even if we wanted to go, we can’t. The Illusory Sea isn’t something you cross just because you feel like it.”

Thankfully, the Illusory Sea blocked them. Otherwise, if those people came charging over, this side would drown in blood.

On the town street, passersby saw a woman in mourning clothes, hair a mess, holding a broken jar and muttering to herself. Everyone assumed she was a little crazy and gave her a wide berth. Gu Shi Yi didn’t care. As she walked, she warned the two hidden with her, “The Clear Spirit Guard doesn’t just handle heretical cultivators. They also deal with demons and monsters. To them, you two—one tree spirit and one resentful ghost—if you fall into their hands, they won’t even ask questions. You’ll be wiped out on the spot. Be careful. Don’t reveal yourselves. If someone sees you and reports you to the Clear Spirit Guard, my little bit of Dao skill won’t protect you.”

Li Yan Er and Great King both shrank back and answered in unison, “Got it!”

They were still talking when someone suddenly grabbed Gu Shi Yi’s arm. She jolted so hard her heart almost stopped.

“Holy crap,” she blurted, “the Clear Spirit Guard already—”

She spun around and saw a tall, chubby man with a simple, honest-looking face. The moment he saw her, he grinned.

“Shi Yi! You’re down the mountain. Are you here to buy wine from our place?”

Gu Shi Yi’s shoulders loosened. “It’s you. You scared me!”

This was the Niu family’s eldest son, Niu Da. The Niu family sold wine in town, but they weren’t exactly honest merchants. They often watered down the wine they sold to Gu Shi Yi and her Master. Still, their prices were cheap, and the old Daoist priest only wanted the taste of wine anyway, so he didn’t bother arguing. Gu Shi Yi bought from them often.

Gu Shi Yi shook her head. “I’m not buying wine.”

Niu Da looked her up and down. He saw the bundle on her back, the broken jar in her hands with a little sapling planted inside, the Little Bai flower tucked behind her ear, and the mourning clothes on her body.

“Shi Yi,” he said carefully, “why are you wearing mourning?”

Gu Shi Yi tugged a bitter smile onto her face. “My Master… passed away.”

Niu Da’s eyes went wide. “The old Daoist priest is dead?”

Gu Shi Yi nodded. “Niu Da… my Master is gone. I’m leaving here and going back home.”

No matter what, they had lived in the mountains for years and dealt with the town below for years too. They weren’t strangers.

Niu Da was stunned for a heartbeat. Then his face brightened in a way that made Gu Shi Yi’s skin prickle. He grabbed her arm and refused to let go.

“Shi Yi, didn’t you say you were an orphan? If you go back home, there’s no one there. Why not stay in this town…”

Before she could reply, he rushed on, words tumbling out. “My wife died two years ago. I wanted to marry you as my second wife, but your Master refused to agree no matter what. Now he’s dead, and no one’s stopping me. Marry me! My dad said the wine shop will be mine in the future. I’m Old Boss—my two brothers won’t get a share. If you come with me, you’ll have wine whenever you want!”

Gu Shi Yi stared, horrified. “What? You… you… you actually had that idea?”

She went to town several times a month and bought wine from the Niu family, sure—but she and Niu Da had nothing more than a few polite words between them. When had he started thinking like this? And he’d even brought it up to the old Daoist priest? Yet the old Daoist priest hadn’t let a single word slip.

Niu Da said, “Last year, when the old Daoist priest came down the mountain—”

Then he leaned in as if he’d solved some great mystery. “Shi Yi, I know you like me too. Now the old Daoist priest is dead, and you have nowhere to go. Why not marry me?”

Gu Shi Yi’s eyes widened. “When have I ever liked you?”

Niu Da looked genuinely confused. “If you weren’t interested, why do you come to our place for wine every time?”

Gu Shi Yi almost choked. “Because there are only two families selling wine in town! If I don’t buy from you, I buy from the Li family. What’s wrong with that?”

“Of course it’s wrong,” Niu Da insisted. “You know my dad waters down the wine, yet you still buy ours every time. And every time you come, you find a chance to talk to me. If that’s not interest, what is?”

He wore a smug, knowing expression that said, don’t be shy, we’re adults. Gu Shi Yi felt like she’d been smacked in the forehead by a flying injustice.

“Nonsense!” Her face flushed red. “What nonsense are you spewing? I buy your wine because it’s the cheapest, and I talk to you because… because…”

[Because while you’re distracted, I use a bit of illusion art so you’ll pour me an extra two taels.]

She couldn’t say that.

Niu Da saw her stammer and laughed. “Don’t be shy! We’re grown. Who doesn’t know what’s what? Come home with me. I’ll have my dad find a matchmaker tonight. Even if it’s a second marriage, we’ll do it properly. I won’t shortchange you on any of the formal steps!”

“I… ptooey! Even if I were desperate for a man, I still wouldn’t pick you!”

Gu Shi Yi was furious inside, but on the surface she suddenly laughed and nodded hard. “Sure, sure. You… you go first!”

Niu Da’s whole face lit up. “We’ll go together—”

“No, you go first,” Gu Shi Yi said, lowering her head and putting on a shy act. “You’ve been married once. I’m still a proper maiden. It won’t look good.”

She shook off his hand. “You go first. I’ll follow.”

Niu Da chuckled, delighted. “Right, right. Shi Yi, you’re right. That wouldn’t look good.”

He really did turn and walk ahead.

Gu Shi Yi’s eyes flashed cold. She lifted her foot and drove a hard kick into the back of his knee.

Thump.

Niu Da went down like a sack of grain, face-first into the mud. Gu Shi Yi stepped around him, spat once, and snapped, “Pah! You want me to marry you? Go home and dream!”

Then she hugged the broken jar, shouldered the bundle, and ran.

Only after she sprinted out of town and dove into the woods by the road did she finally stop. She collapsed onto a big boulder, panting, and looked back.

“He didn’t chase me!”

“Huff… huff…”

She wiped sweat from her face, then let out a breath that sounded almost like laughter. “Hahaha…”

A giggle burst from the cloth pouch on her chest. Gu Shi Yi’s anger flared again. She yanked the pouch open and pulled out Li Yan Er.

“What are you laughing at?”

Li Yan Er stood on the boulder, laughing so hard she almost toppled over. “Shi Yi, you complain every day that you can’t get married. Wasn’t there a ready-made one just now?”

Niu Da wasn’t handsome, but he was tall. He should fit Shi Yi’s taste, right?

“Pah!” Gu Shi Yi spat onto the dirt, disgusted. “His first wife was poisoned to death in their house. Why do you think he hasn’t remarried in two years? His reputation is already rotten. No young lady in this town dares to marry him!”

The Niu family ran their business like scammers and treated their daughter-in-law like trash. They wouldn’t throw out spoiled food. The family couldn’t stomach it, so they fed it to their daughter-in-law instead. That made her sick. When she complained about stomach pain, they refused to call a physician. They dragged it out for three days. Only when she was clearly dying did they finally call one—and the moment the physician arrived, he shook his head and said it was too late.

“Do you know why their house was haunted? It’s because their daughter-in-law came back for revenge. I talked her down and sent her to reincarnate!”

But the sins the Niu family had made were recorded in the Underworld Court on the Book of Life and Death. It was only a matter of time before the debt came due.

“I’d have to be an idiot to marry him.”

Li Yan Er had been teasing at first, treating it like a joke. But after hearing what kind of family they were, she cursed too. “You should’ve kicked him a few more times!”