Chapter 2019: Amulet

Chapter 2019: Items to Ward Off Evil

The morning light was as gentle as ever, bathing Zhu Xian Zhen in its soft glow.

As soon as dawn broke, Ye Chen got out of bed. He hoisted his table and chair onto his shoulder and headed to the main street.

In front of the inn, Yang Ge Lao was already waiting.

Seeing Ye Chen arrive, he hurried over with a big smile, full of eagerness. He helped Ye Chen set up the table and chair, acting more like a junior than a senior.

Onlookers were baffled and grew even more curious about Ye Chen.

Once everything was arranged, Ye Chen sat down, still yawning and looking a bit sluggish.

"Young friend, could you calculate my fortune for me?" Yang Ge Lao sat down too. He had waited all night and was bursting with impatience. Despite not having slept, he seemed more energetic than Ye Chen.

"Your fate is very stable," Ye Chen said with a smile.

"Is that all?" Yang Ge Lao asked in surprise.

"Anything more would reveal heavenly secrets, which I can't disclose."

"Uh." Yang Ge Lao chuckled awkwardly, his mouth twitching. He had waited all night for just that one line— it felt like a raw deal. If it were any other fortune-teller, he would have flipped the table by now. But he couldn't afford to offend this esteemed person.

"Hey, I wanted to ask you about something," Ye Chen said with a laugh.

"Young friend, feel free to ask. I'll tell you everything I know."

"In Zhu Xian Zhen, have there been any strange incidents, or any peculiar places?" Ye Chen looked at Yang Ge Lao with a deep, probing gaze, making sure not to get fooled.

"There are plenty of strange things." Yang Ge Lao rolled up his sleeves.

"Recently, the Sun family had a baby born with three eyes— can you believe that?"

"Then there's the wife in the Yang family; she always sleepwalks in the middle of the night."

"And that fruit tree at the east end of town— it's been there for fifty or sixty years and has never once bloomed."

Yang Ge Lao was a real chatterbox, going on and on without pause, not even stopping for a breath. He knew everything about Zhu Xian Zhen inside and out.

Ye Chen listened with his mouth twitching. Was this guy a martial arts master? Or a hidden expert among mortals? His mouth was so loose— he seemed more like a gossipy old lady.

"And then there's Master Wang's youngest son; he doesn't look anything like him," Yang Ge Lao continued nonstop, spittle flying everywhere, with no sign of stopping.

"If you keep going on about useless stuff, I might lose my temper," Ye Chen said, glancing at him.

Yang Ge Lao coughed and smiled sheepishly. "Well then, let's talk about the strange places instead."

He pointed off into the distance and said, "About fifty li east of town, there's an old grave— it's incredibly eerie. A few years back, some tomb raiders went in and never came out. Later, a group of over a dozen martial arts experts went in together to search for treasure, and they vanished too. Everyone in Zhu Xian Zhen knows about it. There's even a rumor that the person buried there has turned into a jiangshi."

"Who was buried in that old grave?"

"I don't know. It was already there when I came to Zhu Xian Zhen— at least a few hundred years old, I'd say." Yang Ge Lao spoke slowly. "It's a forbidden area; people rarely mention it."

Ye Chen fell silent, his fingers moving subtly in his sleeve as he secretly divined the old grave.

As he calculated, he raised an eyebrow and muttered to himself, "That doesn't make sense!"

"Young friend?" Yang Ge Lao waved a hand in front of him.

Ye Chen snapped out of it and looked at Yang Ge Lao. "Could you help me get a few items?"

"You're too polite, young friend. Just say the word."

"A section of peach wood— the older, the better; yellow paper and cinnabar for drawing talismans; urine from a boy child; white glutinous rice and black dog blood; and a copper mirror." Ye Chen spoke leisurely.

Yang Ge Lao scratched his head instinctively as he listened.

Though he wasn't involved in yin-yang practices, he knew what these items were for— all bixie zhi wu, things to ward off evil. He couldn't figure out why Ye Chen needed them. Was he planning to catch ghosts?

"Any trouble getting them?" Ye Chen asked with a smile.

"Not at all." Yang Ge Lao smiled and held back his questions. He stood up and headed off into Zhu Xian Zhen to fetch the items. Since Ye Chen had asked, he couldn't afford to be careless.

After Yang Ge Lao left, Ye Chen turned his head slightly and gazed toward the direction of the old grave.

Clearly, he planned to check it out. It wasn't just curiosity— the old grave was very strange. As for the items he had asked Yang Ge Lao to get, they were all for warding off evil. Now that his powers were sealed, he was no different from an ordinary person. Even martial arts experts could beat him, so he had to be wary of any unclean things in the grave. He was certain that the person buried there had undergone corpse transformation, so he needed to be fully prepared.

"Grandpa, can you tell my fortune?"

Just as Ye Chen was deep in thought, he heard a childish voice, soft and a bit babyish.

Ye Chen turned around and saw a five- or six-year-old child standing by the table. The kid was dressed in rags, looking skinny and undernourished— probably from going hungry often. He was only a little taller than the table, but his eyes were clear and pure, without a trace of impurity.

"Little one, where are your parents?" Ye Chen asked with a gentle smile.

"My grandpa said they went on a long trip a long time ago." The child tilted his head. "I want you to tell me when they'll come back and if they've forgotten about me."

As he spoke, the child handed over a dry, hard steamed bun, holding it with both small hands and looking up expectantly. "We don't have any money at home. Can I pay with this bun?"

"Of course you can." Ye Chen smiled and took the bun.

Then, he performed a divination.

After calculating, his brow furrowed. He had divined that the child's parents had passed away long ago— their "long trip" was a one-way journey to the underworld. It was heartbreaking that the child was still waiting for them.

"Grandpa, did you find out anything?" The child's eyes blinked brightly.

Ye Chen smiled. "Your parents will be back soon."

The child's eyes lit up with joy. He jumped around excitedly and ran off.

Ah!

Watching the child's back, Ye Chen sighed. He couldn't bring himself to tell the child the sad truth. The child's fate was so similar to his own past— orphaned, struggling to survive.

Fate— it's all about fate.

"Young friend, here are the items you wanted." Yang Ge Lao returned, carrying a large sack on his shoulder. He had been efficient, gathering everything in less than an hour.

"Thank you." Ye Chen took the sack.

"It was nothing." Yang Ge Lao wiped the sweat from his brow, smiling brightly.

In his eyes, helping Ye Chen with errands was a great honor.

"Old man, do you recognize that child?" Ye Chen pointed down the street, where the little one was standing in front of a steamed bun shop, swallowing hard as he stared.

Yang Ge Lao glanced over and nodded slightly, letting out a sigh.

"If you have no children of your own, why not take him in?" Ye Chen suggested.

"Well..."

"This is a good karmic connection. His fate is of the fire element, which would benefit you."

"Since you say so, it must be right." Yang Ge Lao chuckled and sent one of the inn's attendants to bring the child back. He trusted Ye Chen completely. Besides, he had plenty of money, and raising another child wouldn't be a burden. As the saying goes, saving a life is more meritorious than building a seven-story pagoda. If no one took the child in, he might starve to death— this was Yang Ge Lao's way of doing a good deed.

"Good deeds bring good rewards." Ye Chen laughed and started packing up.

"You're closing up shop already?" Yang Ge Lao asked in surprise.

"I'm getting ready to check out that old grave." Ye Chen replied casually.

Yang Ge Lao's mouth twitched at the words. That was a place of great danger, where many had died. Most people avoided it like the plague, yet here Ye Chen was, eager to go. Now he understood why Ye Chen had asked for those bixie zhi wu.

"Want to come along and take a look?" Ye Chen asked Yang Ge Lao with a smile.

"I— I'll pass." Yang Ge Lao said awkwardly. "That old grave is too dangerous."

"You're a martial arts expert? With that level of courage?"

"Young friend, I hate to say it, but you should stay away and avoid trouble."

"Don't underestimate me." Ye Chen hoisted the table with one hand, grabbed the chair and sack with the other, and headed toward the small garden. His voice floated back: "If you're interested, come along and see the world."

With that, Ye Chen disappeared from sight.

Behind him, Yang Ge Lao fidgeted with his hands, deep in thought. He found Ye Chen more mysterious than ever— knowledgeable in medicine, skilled in divination, and now dealing with evil warding. Such an unusual person was bound to have quirks.

Finally, he glanced in that direction and turned back to the inn.

The child who had been brought back was now given a hot bath and clean clothes. He was in the kitchen, devouring flatbreads— the poor kid was starving and eating voraciously.

Meanwhile, Ye Chen had returned to the small garden.

He took out all the items for warding off evil. First, he used a dagger to carve the peach wood into a peach wood sword and dabbed it with black dog blood. Next came the yellow talismans; he dipped his brush in cinnabar and drew the symbols with smooth, flowing strokes. These talismans were effective against unclean spirits but useless against cultivators.

Then there was the boy's urine— definitely the real deal, though the smell was something else.

He was being extra cautious and couldn't afford any mistakes. Even martial arts experts had met their end there, so that old grave must be extremely perilous. As an ordinary person now, one slip-up could cost him his life. The mighty Desolate Ancient Holy Body, the legendary war god, dying in a grave would be utterly ridiculous.

Originally, he could have stayed away, but the old grave contained something familiar to him.

That was what his divination had revealed, though he couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was. It wasn't that his Zhou Tian divination wasn't profound enough; it was just that, as a mortal now, many laws were beyond his reach.

It wasn't until nightfall that he stopped.

All the items to deal with evil spirits were ready; he just had to wait for tomorrow to explore the grave.

The night was quiet and peaceful, with occasional shouts from drunkards on the street and a couple of rowdy folks staggering around, singing opera tunes.

Ye Chen sat under the old tree, gazing at the stars.

He missed home terribly, especially after thinking about the child who had asked for his fortune today. It made him long for his family even more. His own son, Xiao Ye Fan, had lost his mother young, and Ye Chen had taken him away for cultivation. The poor boy's childhood must have been so lonely. He could picture it: late at night, Xiao Ye Fan peering out the window, waiting desperately for his parents to return.

Speaking of his wife, his expression turned distant.

He felt guilty toward Xiao Ye Fan and equally toward Ji Ningshuang. Only through true separation and loss did he realize how painful their past was. That idea of forgetting each other in the rivers and lakes had always been self-deception.

"Ji Ningshuang, I miss you." Ye Chen's eyes filled with tears, his voice hoarse.