Records of the Halls of Ten Thousand Affairs: Chapter 36: Mountain Spirit (Part 9)

Records of the Halls of Ten Thousand Affairs: Chapter 36: Mountain Spirit (Part 9)

The sect members finally managed to gather on the ground. Several people were all in sorry states, staggering as they walked. Only Chen Wang had slightly dirty corners on her clothes. They walked to the cracked source and formed a circle, staring at that mass of unknown object. “This is the yin malice source.” Yunshan said in a low voice. His hands formed seals, invoking a purification talisman. The runes hung in the air. Light halos flowed. The white light was soft and warm. Chen Jiu suddenly felt sweetness in her throat. Then with a puff, she abruptly spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, scattering directly onto the center of the yin malice. Everyone. “!!!” Chen Jiu wiped her mouth and smiled apologetically. “Uh, sorry. I think I was hit somewhere just now. Just a small injury.” Chen Ge handed her a bottle of pills and said. “Twice a day, two pills each time.” Seeing the warm and lustrous jade green bottle body, Chen Jiu’s eyes lit up. She accepted it without the slightest courtesy, expressing thanks. Chen Wang crossed her arms and looked at her, with an air of having seen through her long ago. “Little Jiu, this won’t sell for much money.” “I didn’t say I was going to sell it. Can’t I take it back to eat?” Chen Jiu retorted, but her heart couldn’t help feeling greatly disappointed. Logically speaking, the pills refined by fourth senior brother should have quite a market. Why were they worthless now? While they were bickering here, the others let out exclamations. They saw that mass of uncomfortably sticky substance suddenly seem to be scorched by something, beginning to wriggle, contract, and finally evaporate into gas, dissipating in the wind and rain. Everyone was temporarily struck dumb, all looking at Chen Jiu in shock. Sixth senior brother was dumbfounded. “Little Jiu, do you have qilin blood? How did you directly scorch it to death?” Yunshan smacked his head. “Nonsense.” He then cleared his throat. “This matter is settled. Don’t stand here anymore. It’s rare for us master and disciples to gather together when it’s not a holiday. All follow Master back to the temple. It’s just right to introduce you to the new little junior sister.” Speaking of the little junior sister, Chen Jiu finally remembered that Su Xiaoyu was still honestly in the circular barrier. She immediately turned and ran wildly to retrieve her junior sister. Really! She hadn’t expected it to suddenly rain. Don’t let the child get soaked! Fortunately, Su Xiaoyu was just small, not stupid. When Chen Jiu arrived, she had already picked up an enormous paulownia leaf to shield herself and Chen Xiaoxuan. However, the child was truly earnest at heart. She was indeed still obediently staying in the circle, motionless. “My heavens, why didn’t you go into the pavilion to hide?” Chen Jiu pulled up Su Xiaoyu, looking her up and down. “Are you injured?” Su Xiaoyu said spiritedly. “No! Neither Little Xuan nor I are injured! Little Xuan is amazing, he scared away a monster!” Chen Jiu didn’t ask in detail. She only thought that cats themselves were enough to ward off evil. How could she imagine that this greedy cat also had extraordinary skills. After the master and disciples returned to the temple, the rain was still quite heavy. There weren’t many conditions in the Yunshan Temple. They could only use the most primitive fire roasting. Everyone sat together. Their clothes dried quite quickly. Chen Ge boiled ginger soup, distributing a small bowl to each person to drink to dispel the cold. After learning Su Xiaoyu’s basic information, everyone expressed amazement. Old Liu once again spoke wild words. “I thought Master only took in orphans.” As expected, he was once again smacked on the head by Yunshan. “You can now see all the spiritual bodies in the mountain without entering the mental mirror?” Second senior sister asked. Su Xiaoyu was somewhat confused. “What is the mental mirror?” Hearing this, second senior sister helplessly hugged herself. Perhaps this was just talent. Chen Wang handed over a string of copper coins and said. “A meeting gift. Wear it on your wrist. Ordinary ghosts and monsters cannot easily approach you.” Su Xiaoyu solemnly accepted it, saying crisply. “Thank you senior sister! I will definitely take good care of it!” Chen Wang slightly raised the corner of her lips and nodded. For her, this already counted as a relatively happy big expression. With the eldest senior sister setting an example, the others were unwilling to fall behind. So they all reached into their pockets to see if they had any treasures they could give. Thus in no time, Su Xiaoyu’s body was covered with bits and pieces. She held a peach wood sword in her hands, had a jade pendant hanging on her neck, copper coins tied on her wrist, peach pastry in her pocket, a stack of blank talisman paper on her back, and a slingshot at her waist. Chen Jiu inspected everything, picking up the slingshot to look at sixth senior brother. “Sixth senior brother, you actually brought this out?!” “I came in a hurry. I’ll make it up next time.” Old Liu laughed and joked, smiling at Su Xiaoyu. “Little junior sister clearly likes it too, right?” “Yes!” Su Xiaoyu nodded repeatedly, satisfactorily hugging her pile of little trinkets. She had never received so many gifts before. Yunshan held his bowl and smiled. He hadn’t enjoyed the family happiness of his disciples gathering around his knees for a long time. Tonight was truly rare. In the middle of the night, after chatting with his disciples until his mouth was parched, Yunshan slapped his forehead and finally remembered the matter of reporting. So he translated tonight’s events into a version that people outside the Dao could accept, roughly narrated it, and sent it to Liu Zhiyuan. This counted as closing the order. He could just wait for the final payment in peace. As for Old Zhao’s death… if someone pursued it, they would need a passable explanation. If no one pursued it, that would be best. Listening to the adults talking one after another, Su Xiaoyu stared at the leaping flames. Her head nodded bit by bit. Finally she couldn’t hold on and fell asleep. Chen Jiu let her lean against herself, using a small stick to poke at the fire, occasionally adding firewood. Chen Xiaoxuan actively ran to Chen Wang’s side, curiously rubbing against her hand. However, when Chen Wang raised her hand, it slyly ran away, causing Old Liu to burst into laughter. After taking her medicine, Chen Jiu felt the qi flow around her body was quite peaceful. For the moment she had no violent thoughts. So she propped her chin and asked second senior sister. “Senior sister, do you know what that lump of stuff actually is?” “I’ve also heard of similar things, but I don’t know if it’s the same thing.” Second senior sister recalled for a moment, then slowly narrated. “All things have spirits. Qinghua Mountain also long ago gave birth to its own mountain spirit through millions of years of rising and setting sun and moon. At first, all the mountain spiritual bodies that appeared in our spiritual vision were born from the mountain spirit. They also served as the mountain’s immune system, maintaining the balance of energy within the mountain, until the first ghost full of resentment appeared in the mountain.” “You must know that resentment, fear, and pain are all poisonous.” Everyone was attracted by her narration and quieted down to listen. “The yin malice source we encountered existed approximately a hundred years ago.” Second senior sister drank a mouthful of ginger soup and continued. “It can roughly be understood as a pathological growth parasitic on Qinghua Mountain’s earth veins. The wriggling karma threads attract innocent souls to come and be devoured by it, strengthening its energy. The black water it spits out is the non nutritious substance excreted after digestion. These dirty things won’t disappear. They only seep into the soil and spread throughout the entire mountain body.” Chen Jiu suddenly realized. This was the true culprit causing all the mountain spirits to be on the verge of death. A hundred years ago, the first fellow practitioner predecessor discovered a tiny pathological growth here. But he also didn’t have the ability to eliminate it. He could only seal it. Until a hundred years later, the first pile broke through the seal’s protective layer, and the accumulated yin malice spat out its first pump of black water. Unfortunately, the first one to take over was Old Zhao, this half baked practitioner who had money drilled into his eyes. Not only did he not seek higher level practitioners, but he also disrupted the yin malice source’s aura, causing the mountain body to be chronically ill and untreated, growing sicker and deeper. Over time, the mountain’s feng shui reversed, fortune was greatly lost. The souls of those who died unjustly after being affected in their mental state gathered more and more, all devoured by it. Every time someone died, Old Zhao would perform his deceptive ritual again, adding a new layer of seal, attempting to deceive himself and others. But his shallow techniques actually couldn’t suppress a hundred years of malice. Strand by strand, it would emerge every so often to claim lives again. During the great battle just now, Chen Jiu clearly saw the face of that mischievous child who had fallen from the cable car crack. His soul had long been crushed, merged, and remade into a monster. It could never be restored to its original form. “That idiot Old Zhao.” Chen Jiu closed her eyes, frowning as she cursed. Second senior sister also felt somewhat puzzled thinking of this. “How did this fake Taoist die? Didn’t you still leave him with a breath? Logically speaking, yin malice cannot forcibly devour a living person’s soul.” Yunshan stroked his beard and said. “As for this… perhaps the problem lies in those talismans he used.” Old Zhao’s death was a coincidence among coincidences. His talismans were stained with his own blood. The yin malice had already accumulated quite a bit of power within them. After several years of mutual fusion, the yin malice had long been familiar with Old Zhao’s aura. Unknowingly, it directly tangled in both his lifebound ritual instruments carrying his aura and himself. Compared to the yin malice source accumulated in the earth veins for a hundred years, a half secular person like Old Zhao was extremely insignificant. Only a true person who had entered the Dao, exerting all their strength, could barely contend with it one or two times. So, how was this not a death that found its proper place? The flames leaped up. For a moment, only the crackling sound of burning fire remained in the room. Yunshan got up to relieve himself. Chen Ge was not at ease and followed to support his master. The master and disciple walked a short distance alone. Chen Ge was usually taciturn, but at this moment he actively asked. “Master, has Little Jiu’s tribulation been resolved?” “I don’t know either.” Yunshan said. “That was a divination I casually cast when I picked her up. Twenty years have passed in a flash. Perhaps the destiny chart has long since changed.” Every time he picked up a child to bring home, Yunshan would actively cast a divination. After that, with multiple bonds formed, he could no longer cast divinations for them. This also counted as his meeting gift to his disciples. It’s just that back then, he calculated that Chen Jiu’s life path would be rough and troubled, and he harbored hidden worries in his heart. But these past two years, Chen Jiu had lived quite smoothly down the mountain. Yunshan felt that perhaps destiny was something that could truly be quietly changed through a person’s heart and will. If Chen Jiu had a tribulation in her destiny, and each of them shared a bit of it, would that count as passing this tribulation? “At least this time she didn’t go crazy to the point of not recognizing who we are.” Chen Ge said. “Exactly. Among the children, she is the one who likes the concept of all things and I are one the most. She is the most broad minded one.” Yunshan laughed, patting his hand. “As the saying goes, ‘When emptiness reaches its extreme and stillness is profound, all things transform themselves. Heaven and earth are with me, all things are one with me.'”