Chapter 117

Chapter 117

I carefully put away the medicinal pill Master had given me, then started flattering her.

“As expected, my Master is one of the greatest experts in the world! Your powers reach the heavens, and your divine might is beyond comprehension! No matter how difficult the problem, the moment you step in, it practically solves itself. My admiration for you flows as endlessly as the mighty river, surging beyond control like the flooding Yellow River–”

Smack! Smack! Smack!

Master hit me on the head three times in a row.

Her tone was mild. “Didn’t I tell you I would hit you again if you kept running your mouth?”

“Oh. Got it.”

I hugged my head, looking thoroughly aggrieved, like a poor young wife being bullied by her in-laws.

Honestly, if anyone else saw me like this–especially my classmates at school–their jaws would hit the floor.

I wasn’t exactly cold and aloof in front of other people, but I at least carried myself with more authority and presence than most kids my age.

In front of Master, though, I was a total coward.

Still, the Xiao family’s problem was more than half solved for now, even if we had only treated the symptoms instead of the underlying cause.

For the next two or three years, at least, we wouldn’t have to constantly worry about Xiao Sheng, the living corpse.

Anyone could tell that the pill Master had given me was worth far more than the fee the Xiao family had paid.

Once Xiao Sheng swallowed it, his corpse aura would be suppressed, eliminating the danger of him losing control.

All Xiao Mao and his wife had to do was listen to us and not behave like complete idiots.

With that settled, I felt a little more at ease.

“When I get back to town in a few days, I’ll see whether Boss Duan has found that photocopy of the *Fubei County Gazetteer* for Old Cao, then tell him what happened. After that, I can focus on dealing with Zhou Min’s nether covenant.”

Master and I began eating dinner.

According to her rules, we weren’t allowed to talk during the meal.

Eating was a form of cultivation in itself.

Once we finished, I naturally cultivated for another fifteen minutes using the Hand-Sealing Method.

Then Master said, “The village chief came to see me yesterday. He said Xia Family Hamlet is haunted and wants me to take care of it.”

Xia Family Hamlet?

I knew the place fairly well.

It lay beyond several mountains behind Wujia Village. A small settlement built on flat ground in a mountain hollow, it had perhaps thirty or forty households, making it slightly smaller than Wujia Village.

When my grandpa was still alive, he sometimes took me over the mountains to visit the villages near Wujia Village.

We had been to Xia Family Hamlet two or three times.

But even our last visit had been several years ago.

“Master, are we going there together tomorrow?” I asked.

To my surprise, she shook her head. “I have something to deal with lately, so it isn’t convenient for me to leave Wujia Village. You’ll go alone.”

If I had heard that a month ago, I would have shaken my head in terror.

But now…

I didn’t feel much of anything.

It wasn’t that I had become arrogant. With Master’s help, I had absorbed the corpse core Zhou Min gave me, and my overall strength had advanced by leaps and bounds.

As long as I didn’t encounter an especially vicious ghost or corpse-fiend, I should have no trouble dealing with it alone.

What I lacked now was real-world experience, not cultivation.

“Is Master sending me to Xia Family Hamlet alone because she wants to test me?”

The thought crossed my mind, but I didn’t ask.

Whether Master truly had something urgent to handle or merely wanted to test me on my own, she would tell me if she wanted me to know.

If she chose not to say, asking would be pointless.

So I nodded. “All right, Master. I’ll head over first thing tomorrow morning. Who should I look for when I get there?”

“Ask the villagers where Xia Dong lives. The village chief tried to tell me more, but I couldn’t be bothered to listen. I just asked whose home you needed to visit.”

She spoke as though it were nothing.

Master had always found talking to ordinary people troublesome.

There was nothing I could do about it. I would have to learn the details after reaching Xia Family Hamlet tomorrow.

As for the payment?

She probably hadn’t given it a single thought.

But I couldn’t ignore that part.

Once I reached Xia Family Hamlet tomorrow, the first thing I would do was ask how much they planned to pay.

I chatted with Master for a while longer about school and showed her the certificate I’d received for ranking first in my entire grade.

A delighted smile spread across her face. She reached out and ruffled my hair.

“Well done, Ah-Zhong. You finally lived up to my expectations. Keep working hard. As I’ve told you before, if you want to reach greater heights in the arcane arts, you can’t neglect scientific knowledge either.”

I basked in the warmth of her praise and the gentle touch of her hand on my head.

As for arcane arts, science, and all that…I didn’t really care much about any of it.

What mattered to me was what Master said. I was afraid that if I didn’t do well enough, she might decide she no longer wanted me as her disciple.

“This is the first time you’ve ranked first in your grade, so I’ll give you a little reward. It’s something I used when I first began cultivating.”

With that, she turned and entered her bedroom, apparently to fetch it.

What?!

My excitement surged.

I was getting a reward too?

And it was something Master herself had used when she was young?

It had to be an incredible ritual implement.
I waited eagerly.

Master soon returned from her bedroom carrying a short wooden case.

She opened the lid. Inside lay a sword.

It appeared to be cast from brass.

The entire weapon was very short, its blade only about two handspans long.

Its shape was also rather strange. The tip was oval and not the least bit sharp, which made it useless for stabbing anyone.

The edges were extremely blunt as well, as though they had never been sharpened. Clearly, the weapon couldn’t cut anything either.

The blade was engraved with numerous designs from the talisman arts and grew narrower toward the hilt.

The hilt itself was a ring threaded with seven copper coins that could slide around it.

All in all, one glance was enough to tell that this short sword wasn’t meant for ordinary people.

Master explained, “Although it looks like a sword, it is known as a ritual blade. Different traditions have a few other names for it as well. It’s a ritual implement designed to be easy to carry. Both the great orthodox Daoist schools and folk arcane lineages use them widely. As for the one in this case…”

At that point, Master gazed down at the short sword, and reminiscence suddenly filled her eyes.

Her gaze carried the weight of endless years, striking an odd contrast with her young, beautiful face.

“This was my first ritual implement. It seems fairly ordinary to me now, but it should be more than sufficient for you to use for the next three to five years. Pick it up yourself.”

Master held the case out to me.

I studied the short brass sword, then reached out and lifted it free.

It felt cool in my hand, yet it also had the smooth, lustrous texture of polished jade.

I gave it a gentle swing.

The seven copper coins on the hilt immediately slid around the ring and struck one another with a crisp series of chimes.

The sound alone seemed to clear the mind and sharpen the senses.

There was no need for the wielder to activate the weapon with their own qi. It was as though the coins themselves contained a mysterious power and the profound resonance of the Dao.

“What a wonderful ritual implement!”

I couldn’t help exclaiming as I stroked the blade, utterly unwilling to put it down.

Before, my delight had mainly come from the fact that Master had used it herself. The fact that she had passed it on to me gave it tremendous meaning.

Now, the ritual blade itself had become a wonderful surprise.

As I gripped the hilt, I could feel an indescribable presence forming a connection with me.

With this ritual blade in hand, combined with the gains I had made recently, I felt that I could barely hold my own even if I faced a vicious corpse like Miss Duan by myself.

At the very least, I should be able to exchange several blows with one.

Even if I couldn’t win, I could probably still escape.

Master seemed quite pleased that I could make the coins on the hilt slide and chime the moment I picked up the ritual implement.

She smiled. “As expected of my disciple. This ritual blade has accepted you as well. Use it well, Ah-Zhong. Even after you become very powerful, don’t cast it aside lightly.”

“Of course I won’t! How could I ever throw away something you gave me? I’ll keep it by my side at all times and never let it leave me for even a moment.”

I grinned as the words spilled from my mouth.

“Running your mouth again!”

She raised her hand as though she were about to smack me on the head.

I covered my head and scurried away, fleeing from the house as fast as I could.

When I reached the courtyard gate, I turned and called back, “Master, I’m heading home! I’ll go catch that ghost at Xia Family Hamlet first thing tomorrow morning. Make sure you get some rest!”

I ran all the way home along the village path.

The small plastic clock on our dining table showed that it was already nine thirty at night.

Only then did I finally have time to sit in the courtyard and chat with my parents, sharing funny stories about my teachers and classmates at school.

They were thrilled to learn I had ranked first in my grade.

Mom was especially delighted. She held my hand and kept saying that our family was finally going to produce a college student.

Laughing, I told her it was far too early to say that. This was only the first monthly exam of seventh grade.

I chatted with my parents in the courtyard until eleven or twelve that night, then finally went to my room to sleep.

Naturally, I met that little rascal Roundy in my dreams.

It had gotten even fatter.

Or rather, it never seemed to stop getting fatter.

If people didn’t know it was a Jade-Talon Gyrfalcon, their first thought would probably be that it was a plump hen.

I had to admit, the little glutton possessed none of the pride or dignity befitting a top-tier bird of prey.

I found myself wondering what it would be like once my cultivation met the requirements and it could accompany me in the real world every day.

Would people see us walking down the street and ask, “Wu Zhong, why are you parading around with a fat hen?”

That would be ridiculous.

…

The next morning, after eating breakfast with Master, I set out for Xia Family Hamlet.

I followed the path halfway up the mountain behind my house until I reached the top of a small hill.

From there, I took a narrow trail along the ridge and headed west.

After crossing roughly four peaks and walking for about an hour and a half, I finally spotted Xia Family Hamlet in the mountain hollow below.

But why was such a small village called Xia Family Hamlet in the first place?

For that, the story began in the early years of the Qing dynasty…