The child rushed into his ho, crying out, "Dad! Mom! I’m back!"
The courtyard of the old house was overgrown with weeds, everything was in disrepair, but the door creaked open, and two white-haired old people erged, a man and a woman, trembling as they looked at the child running towards them.
"Xiao Jun is back!"
The old woman hurriedly crouched down, embracing the oncoming child, tears streaming down, choking with emotion, "Xiao Jun, you’re finally back! Mom’s been waiting for you for thirty years!"
The old man was also in tears, hugging both mother and child, incessantly saying, "I knew you’d co back! I knew you wouldn’t forget the way ho, I even left the door ajar for you..."
"Dad, Mom, how co you both look so much older?"
The child gazed at the faces of the two elders, puzzled, "Mom, why is your hair white? Dad, why are there so many wrinkles on your face?"
The old woman affectionately touched his face: "Silly child, you’ve been gone for more than thirty years, of course, Dad and Mom aged."
The old man got up, bringing both mother and son to their feet, bowing and kowtowing to Chen Shi, repeatedly saying, "Thank you, benefactor, thank you for your rescue!"
Chen Shi said, "Since you have already been reunited, you should leave soon. The village’s godmother can’t protect you forever. If you absorb the moonlight, you will beco an evil spirit. Let send you off with a Rebirth Talisman."
The family of three was bewildered, not comprehending his aning, but they nodded in agreent nonetheless.
Chen Shi activated the Three Light Righteous Qi Technique, circulating his Qi-Blood. Inside the small temple, Xiao Zao sat on the shrine, helping him regulate his Qi-Blood.
Chen Shi’s fingertips were tinged with a flow of vital energy, using Qi-Blood as ink, he wrote a Rebirth Talisman in the air.
"Swiftly—"
With a flick of his sword finger, the Rebirth Talisman shone brightly, growing more luminous, piercing through the Yin Yang Two Realms, carving out a path to another world.
The couple, holding their child’s hand, stepped onto the path ford by the light.
They felt a marvelous force from the other world drawing them in, calling out to them, so they followed the path.
As they moved further away, they looked back, waving towards Chen Shi from the end of the path.
As the light gradually faded, the family of three also vanished without a trace.
Chen Shi watched the burnt Rebirth Talisman for a mont in the dilapidated courtyard before turning to leave the desolate house.
By the well, the won were astonished to see him erge, their whispers of discussion reaching his ears.
"Isn’t that Old Tian’s family? Old Tian and his wife have been dead for four or five years."
"Their house has been deserted for a long ti. Recently, soone drunk broke in and saw the old couple sitting at the door, saying they were waiting for their son. Their son has been missing for thirty-four or thirty-five years."
"It’s quite pitiful, the old couple searched all their lives."
...
During the al, Dingding couldn’t help but scrutinize Chen Shi, who had been served breakfast by the hosting villagers—pickled vegetables with sweet potato rice, and large maize ’wotou’.
—In Fei County, maize is referred to as large maize.
Dingding felt that Scholar Chen seed to be preoccupied with sothing. Just as she was mustering up the courage to ask, Chen Shi suddenly showed an annoyed expression and slapped his thigh forcefully.
"Ah, I forgot to collect the money in Sancheng Village!"
Chen Shi was sowhat upset, "I knew I had forgotten sothing, and it was this! Green-robed Scholar, you still owe twenty silvers!"
He slapped his thigh forcefully, full of regret.
Dingding had thought it was so significant matter and didn’t expect it to be about this, laughing and saying, "He did so much evil, he was nearly killed by you, and you’re still worrying about those twenty silvers?"
Chen Shi looked at her earnestly, with a serious expression, "He hired to exorcise evil, and I did. He did evil, and I killed him. These are separate matters. Having resolved the evil spirit in Sancheng Village, he owes money!"
He bit into the exceedingly tough ’wotou,’ his voice muffled with determination, "When he recovers from his injuries and cos to seek revenge, before I kill him, I must make sure he pays those twenty silvers!"
Dingding chuckled at his greed, wondering, "Can’t you collect the money upfront in the future?"
Chen Shi shook his head: "Grandfather said we mustn’t start the precedent of collecting money in advance, it’s a matter of principle. If you take the money first, you run the risk of looking like you’re extorting people with the threat of evil spirits, and those in distress might beco anxious, fearing the Talisman Master might not do a good job. If you take the money after dealing with the evil spirits, the victims feel joyous, they are grateful and willing to give money, and you might even get a al out of it, getting respect and toasts."
Dingding was still unaware of the peculiar customs held by symbol masters in the countryside.
She had followed Madam Hua Li, traveling from the south to the north, seen much of the world, and encountered nurous symbol masters who road between town and country, but she had never delved deeply into their ways.
After they finished breakfast, Chen Shi perford his morning exercises and then packed his belongings, bidding farewell to the two families where they had stayed. Chen Shi gave each household half a piece of silver, but the n and won of both families hurried after them, repeatedly saying, "You’ve given too much! Too much! Why pay for just one night’s stay?"
They tried to stuff the silver back at Chen Shi, insisting he take it.
Chen Shi hurriedly declined, gesturing for Black Pot to speed up the wooden cart.
Black Pot grabbed Compass, and the wooden cart gradually picked up speed, racing away swiftly, shooting out of Yanfeng Village in a trail of dust.
The two couples chased to the edge of the village, but seeing they couldn’t catch up, had to give up.
Suddenly, one of the n seed to rember sothing and exclaid in shock, "That black dog just now, was it running on two legs or four?"
With his remark, everyone ca to their senses, and one after another they said, "That dog, it seed to stand on two legs, and it was holding sothing round in its hand!"
"That dog seed to speak to last night!"
"An evil spirit—"
The crowd scattered in a hubbub, each returning to their own ho, locking their doors tight, trembling in fear.
Chen Shi and Dingding continued to the nearby town to sell talismans, with Chen Shi responsible for painting them and Dingding for selling them.
Drawing talismans was still done with black dog blood and cinnabar. Although Chen Shi could manage to draw talismans with empty hands, it consud a significant amount of qi-blood, and the effect was nowhere near as good as those drawn with black dog blood and cinnabar.
More crucially, the effectiveness of the talismans drawn with Black Pot’s blood had been improving by the day. Chen Shi was even sowhat worried that they were becoming too effective, which might sever his own business. For example, if a Peach Talisman were too effective, it might not spoil for an entire year, aning there would be no business for a year.
However, there were more important matters waiting for Chen Shi.
Dingding managed the talisman stall, while he focused on diligently practicing the art of drawing talismans with empty hands, repeatedly practicing various types of talismans so that he could fluidly draw them without end, his qi-blood unceasing.
His grandfather had taught him a great many talismans, and with his extraordinary mory, Chen Shi selected those for combat and protection, focusing on practicing them.
He was doing this in preparation for the retaliation from the Green-robed Scholar.
This ti, the Green-robed Scholar had fallen into his trap because of his elent of surprise and Chen Shi’s unexpected attack, but the scholar’s Southern Sect talismans were indeed very powerful and not to be underestimated.
Especially concerning was the Green-robed Scholar’s speed in drawing talismans—it was incredibly fast, using his own blood to draw talismans that took shape in an instant, far quicker than Chen Shi’s current pace!
The Green-robed Scholar’s injuries would heal sooner or later, hence Chen Shi had to prepare early to counter this talisman master’s assault!
"Green-robed Scholar, your wounds must be healing by now, right?"
At dinner, Chen Shi said to Dingding, "He still owes twenty pieces of silver."
Another day passed, and while practicing, Chen Shi rembered the issue and said again, "The Green-robed Scholar’s injuries must be mostly healed by now. I should have asked for his na. He still hasn’t paid the twenty pieces of silver he owes."
On the third day, Chen Shi looked towards the horizon with a touch of lancholy, muttering to himself, "Twenty pieces of silver..."
On the fourth day, Dingding noticed that Chen Shi didn’t ntion the Green-robed Scholar or the twenty pieces of silver anymore, but he seed much more haggard, practicing the art of drawing talismans with empty hands while constantly looking around uneasily.
"Talisman Master Chen!" soone called out to him.
His face lit up with joy, only to turn sowhat disheartened.
The newcor wasn’t the Green-robed Scholar.
"’The debtor is always the lord,’ no doubt about it," Dingding thought to herself.
On the fifth day, Chen Shi seed gloomy and dispirited, when suddenly a malevolent wind blew through, cold to the bone.
Chen Shi was greatly invigorated, laughed heartily, and called out loudly, "Green-robed Scholar, what’s your na?"
In the sky, the traction worm, into which the Green-robed Scholar had transford, hovered in midair. Hearing this, he felt a jolt within, "He wants to kill !"
—The beginning of the month, asking for your monthly ticket to surge in the rankings, only two hundred votes behind the previous rank!
This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦
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