bookbashuk Chapter 17 Memorial
Chapter 17 Memorial
Shen Gui stood before the ancestor's corpse, his brows furrowed.
The old man was placed on a bed, his face ashen, his lips purple, and dried bloodstains at the corners of his mouth.
"Fellow Daoist Shen, you must help us find out the truth about this beast!" Zhao Laowu knelt by the bed, sobbing uncontrollably. "Our ancestor suffered his whole life, finally accumulating this little bit of wealth, and now it's all been ruined by this beast! I, Zhao Laowu, swear to avenge our ancestor!"
Shen Gui ignored his wailing, leaned down and got close to the old ancestor's face to observe him carefully.
He reached out and gently pressed his fingertips against the old man's neck, releasing a wisp of magical power that slowly seeped into the old man's body through his meridians.
A moment later, Shen Gui withdrew his magic power, his eyes serious.
"Fellow Daoist Zhao, please get up." Shen Gui straightened up, his tone calm. "Your ancestor didn't die of anger."
Zhao Laowu was taken aback, his crying stopped abruptly, and he looked up at Shen Gui with teary eyes: "He didn't die of anger? But the villagers said..."
"What do villagers know about cultivating immortality?" Shen Gui interrupted him, pointing to the ancestor's lips and face. "Look here, these are symptoms of poisoning. If it were truly a case of anger attacking the heart, it shouldn't look like this."
Zhao Laowu leaned closer for a look and, sure enough, noticed something amiss. His expression changed drastically: "Poisoned?! You mean... that beast is poisonous?!"
"It was poisonous." Shen Gui lifted the old ancestor's robe, revealing a dark blue bruise on his chest. "Look here, the poison entered his body, spread along his meridians to his heart, and eventually he vomited blood and died. When the villagers collected the body, they saw the old ancestor vomiting blood and assumed he had died of anger, but that's not the case."
Zhao Laowu shuddered as he looked at the dark bruises.
"Fellow Daoist Shen..." Zhao Laowu's voice trembled, "What kind of demonic beast can use poison?"
Shen Gui pondered for a moment, then asked, "Are there any special mountain forests or dangerous places near your Jimingtun? Places where monsters frequently appear?"
Zhao Laowu wiped away the tears and snot on his face, trying to calm himself down. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Fellow Daoist Shen, you don't know this. Our Northern Frontier is divided into three parts. Liaozhou is modeled after the Celestial Dynasty and is called a prefecture or county, but in fact, they don't recognize it at all."
"Our area is the border between Liaozhou and another region. To the east of Liaozhou, there is a boundless old forest that we call the Infinite Sea of Forest."
"An endless forest?" Shen Gui raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, the Boundless Forest." Old Zhao nodded, his tone becoming low. "The Boundless Forest is about the same size as Liaozhou. It's full of old forests and is extremely strange. It's said that apart from cultivators, ordinary people simply cannot survive in it."
Shen Gui's eyes narrowed slightly: "Do you think that chicken-stealing monster came from the boundless forest?"
"Most likely!" Old Zhao slapped his thigh forcefully. "We're not far from the Infinite Forest anyway!"
He became increasingly agitated as he spoke, tugging at Shen Gui's sleeve: "Fellow Daoist Shen, that beast is most likely a venomous insect like a scorpion or centipede that has become a spirit! Otherwise, how could it use poison?"
Shen Gui took a deep breath, barely suppressing the urge to roll his eyes.
"Fellow Daoist Zhao, let me ask you," Shen Gui said calmly, "Scorpions, centipedes, do you eat chicken?"
Zhao Laowu paused, scratched his bald head, thought carefully for a moment, and said somewhat uncertainly, "I guess... they don't eat them, right? Scorpions eat insects, centipedes eat insects too, I've never heard of them eating chicken."
"Then why do you think it's a poisonous insect?"
"But it uses poison!" Zhao Laowu argued confidently. "Aren't poisonous beasts like scorpions and centipedes the only ones that can spew poison?"
Shen Gui rubbed his temples, too lazy to argue with him anymore.
Zhao Laowu is ignorant and his knowledge of demonic beasts is entirely based on hearsay, so he can't be relied upon at all.
"Let's not talk about that now." Shen Gui changed the subject. "Let me make this clear first: if I can't beat that beast, I'll run away."
Zhao Laowu's face stiffened for a moment, then he forced a smile and nodded repeatedly, "Of course, of course! I, Zhao Laowu, am already extremely grateful that Fellow Daoist Shen is willing to come and help! If you, a sword cultivator at the fourth level of the Nascent Soul stage, can't even defeat him, then it's no wonder that my Jiming Village was destroyed. I have absolutely no complaints!"
Seeing his sincere attitude, Shen Gui didn't say anything more.
He then asked, "That beast has already eaten all the breeding chickens. Will it come back?"
Zhao Laowu's expression froze, his eyes darted around, and his lips moved a few times, as if he wanted to say something but stopped himself.
Shen Gui noticed something amiss and frowned slightly: "Fellow Daoist Zhao, speak plainly."
Zhao Laowu gritted his teeth, lowered his voice, as if he had made a major decision: "Fellow Daoist Shen, actually... there are still breeding chickens."
"Anything else?" Shen Gui raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, yes, that's how it is..." Zhao Laowu rubbed his hands, his face full of embarrassment. "Our ancestor had three branches of descendants, and I am from the uncle line. When our ancestor was alive, each family counted their own breeding chickens. I... I secretly hid a few in the basement of my backyard without telling our ancestor."
His voice trailed off as he spoke, “I was just thinking that if something went wrong in the village, at least my family line would continue, so we wouldn’t be wiped out. If my ancestors found out, they’d kill me…”
Shen Gui remained silent for a moment, looking at the bald man in front of him, feeling a mix of emotions.
This person is good, but not entirely good; bad, but not openly bad.
If you say he had ulterior motives, he genuinely cared about the whole village when he came to ask for help, and the two spirit stones he paid as a deposit were real money.
While he was considered selfless, he also secretly kept secrets from his own ancestors.
He's just a normal person.
But then I thought, it's not so bad that my neighbor is such a coward.
They are at least much better than those ruthless and vicious cultivators.
"Take me to see it," Shen Gui said calmly.
Zhao Laowu nodded repeatedly, leading Shen Gui through the village to a small courtyard with blue bricks.
The yard wasn't big, but it was kept very tidy.
"This is my home." Zhao Laowu pushed open the courtyard gate, walked quickly to a woodshed in the corner, lifted the wooden planks on the ground to reveal a deep staircase, "The basement is here, and the spirit chickens are kept down there."
Shen Gui did not follow, but stood in the courtyard waiting.
His gaze casually swept across the courtyard, then suddenly stopped at a certain spot.
In the corner of the backyard wall, there was a small wooden table with an incense burner on it. Inside the burner were three incense sticks that had already burned out, but the embers were still warm.
A faint fragrance lingered in the air, almost imperceptible.
This is for offering sacrifices to the dead.
Shen Gui's eyes narrowed slightly.
Behind the incense burner stood a small memorial tablet, about the size of a palm, made of ordinary wood, with a few words carved on it.
It's quite far away, so I can't see it very clearly.
Shen Gui's heart stirred, and he was about to take a closer look when he heard footsteps behind him.
"Fellow Daoist Shen! The chicken is here!"
Zhao Laowu climbed out of the basement carrying an iron cage. Inside the cage, a large rooster was flapping its wings and clucking loudly.
That rooster was twice the size of an ordinary rooster, with bright red feathers, a vivid red comb, and piercing eyes; it was clearly a top-quality specimen.
When Zhao Laowu looked up, he saw Shen Gui staring at the altar. His expression changed drastically, and he staggered, almost dropping the cage on the ground.
"Fellow Daoist Shen?" Zhao Laowu's voice was a little tight.
Shen Gui looked calmly at Zhao Laowu and asked indifferently, "Fellow Daoist Zhao, whose spirit tablet is being worshipped in the backyard?"
Zhao Laowu avoided eye contact with Shen Gui.
"It was... a junior member of my family who died young..." He lowered his voice, as if afraid of being overheard. "The child was short-lived and couldn't be saved. I burn incense for him every few days as a way of remembering him."
Shen Gui looked at his expression and understood.
Zhao Laowu is lying.
Why would a junior who died young cause him such panic and guilt?
But now is not the time to ask further questions.
The most urgent matter is dealing with that monster.
"That's enough. The dead can't be brought back to life. Please accept my condolences." Shen Gui didn't press further. He turned and walked towards a side room in the corner of the courtyard. "Find me a place to recuperate. I need to rest and recover so I can deal with that beast tonight."
Zhao Laowu felt as if he had been granted a pardon, and quickly put down the iron cage, leading Shen Gui into the side room.
The room was small and simply furnished, with a wooden bed and a table, but it was clean.
"Fellow Daoist Shen, please rest first," Zhao Laowu said, then hurriedly left the room and closed the door behind him.
Shen Gui sat cross-legged on the bed, closed his eyes and regulated his breathing.
The four spiritual wheels within his body circulated slowly, his magical power recurred, and his essence, energy, and spirit gradually recovered.
He stopped thinking about the memorial tablet.
Since Zhao Laowu is unwilling to talk, there's no point in pressing him.
Anyway, after today, if Jimingtun is brought under our control, there will be plenty of time to investigate.
He wouldn't care if he remained independent.
……
Night was falling.
A crescent moon hangs in the sky.
Jimingtun was shrouded in silence, with even the chirping of insects being sparse and intermittent.
Shen Gui and Zhao Laowu sat in the woodshed not far from the chicken coop, staring intently at the iron cage in the yard through the crack in the door.
The rooster in the cage seemed to sense the danger as well, shrinking into a corner of the cage, clucking softly, its wings trembling slightly.
Zhao Laowu gripped the black rattan whip in his hand tightly, his knuckles turning white.
It was a low-grade magic weapon, not of high quality, only usable by those at the Nascent Soul stage.
"Fellow Daoist Shen..." Zhao Laowu lowered his voice, his throat dry, "Will that beast come tonight?"
"I don't know." Shen Gui said calmly, his eyes closed. "We'll just wait."
Zhao Laowu swallowed hard and stopped talking, but fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.
Time passed little by little.
The moon was high in the sky, and all was quiet.
Suddenly, Shen Gui opened his eyes.
"They're here."
Zhao Laowu shuddered and nervously peered through the crack in the door, but saw nothing.
"Where is it? I can't see it!"
"Don't make a sound." Shen Gui raised his hand and pressed down on his shoulder, listening intently.
Outside the woodshed, a very faint rustling sound reached my ears.
The sound was faint, like withered leaves being blown by the wind, or like something slowly moving in the grass.
But Shen Gui understood.
That wasn't the sound of insects crawling.
The insects crawled, making a fine and even sound.
And that sound was the sound of four legs landing alternately.
"It's not an insect." A cold glint flashed in Shen Gui's eyes as he lowered his voice. "It's a four-legged demonic beast, a wolf or leopard."
Zhao Laowu's face changed drastically, and his voice trembled: "Wolf... wolf-leopard?! No, not a scorpion-centipede?"
Shen Gui did not answer. His right hand had already gripped the sword hilt, and his internal magic power was slowly circulating, ready to be unleashed.
The rustling sound grew closer.
Outside the courtyard wall, a dark figure quietly appeared.
Under the moonlight, those eerie green eyes, like two will-o'-the-wisps, stared intently at the iron cage in the courtyard.