Chapter 141: Hundred Monsters (Part 1)
(I was traveling abroad last week, so the updates were a complete mess. It'll be stable from now on. There's another chapter tonight.)
Although the sky was dim, it wasn't actually that late. Add to that the exquisite and elegant layout of the Autumn Reed Inn's courtyard, and Li Huai found himself touching and fiddling with everything, with no trace of sleepiness. While Chen Ping'an meticulously carved the jade hairpin, the kid simply moved out the wooden box that the Land God of Chess Mound Mountain had given them, placed it horizontally on the table, and stuffed all the painted wooden puppets, along with the five clay figurines gifted by the Snow Wind Temple Sword Immortal Wei Jin, into it. He then tossed in the book *Broken Water Grand Cliff* that they had bought at Red Candle Town.
After this "move," the long box made of delicate yellow lignum vitae still had some space left. The wood was reddish, and according to Wei Bo of Chess Mound Mountain, it had been buried in the soil for countless years, its color gradually changing from yellow to red. Not only had the wood not decayed, but it had also produced a strange fragrance. Li Huai now leaned his head close to the box and took a careful sniff. That clear fragrance was still there, undiminished, no worse than when he had taken it out at Pillow Post Station.
Li Huai began counting on his fingers. Since leaving his hometown, traveling far to study, enduring hardships along the way, he, Li Huai, had relied on his hard work and endurance to make some small gains. Besides the most precious green bamboo book box in the corner, there was this yellow wood box, the puppets, and the clay figurines. Actually, in that book *Broken Water Grand Cliff*, there were also several valuable bookworms being raised, as well as the Azure Dark Fish that A Liang had slapped into the book. But Li Huai didn't like reading and rarely flipped through this book, which had cost Chen Ping'an nearly ten taels of silver.
Now, watching Chen Ping'an, who was engrossed in carving characters onto the hairpin, Li Huai thought about how he had spent so much of the other's money but hadn't really read the book. When buying it, he had sworn to Chen Ping'an that he would read it. This made the kid feel a bit guilty, so he took out the seemingly new *Broken Water Grand Cliff* from the wooden box, randomly opened a page, and began silently reading the text. Li Huai intended to ease his conscience.
Li Huai slapped his forehead, remembering something. He quickly reached into his collar, felt a pocket sewn by his sister Li Liu, and pinched out an oilpaper packet. He shook it at Chen Ping'an, grinning widely. "Chen Ping'an, do you know what this is?"
Chen Ping'an carefully put down the hairpin and carving knife, rubbed his eyes, and asked, "What is it?"
Li Huai looked immensely smug. He pulled a neatly folded piece of paper from the oilpaper packet and explained, "Back in the study, people were leaving one after another. In the end, only me, Li Baoping, Lin Shouyi, Shi Chunjia, and Dong Shuijing were left. On the last day of class, the teacher gave each of us a calligraphy copy. It had just one character, 'Qi,' written on it. He told us to copy it carefully and said it was our homework. Later, the teacher didn't take back the original copy. On this trip, my mother thought that although the teacher's character was written neatly enough, it wasn't as thick or powerful as the characters on the neighbor's Spring Festival couplets. But since I was the teacher's student, keeping it as a memento was fine. So she had my sister secretly sew a pocket inside my clothes and put this oilpaper packet in. Later, I asked Li Baoping and Lin Shouyi about theirs. Li Baoping said she had no idea where hers was long ago. Lin Shouyi said he had left his at home for safekeeping, afraid of losing or damaging it on the journey."
Li Huai unfolded the folded paper and gently smoothed out the creases. There was the small calligraphy copy of the character "Qi," square and neat, about the size of a palm.
Li Huai stared at the character for a moment, then looked up and said seriously, "Chen Ping'an, I'll give this 'Qi' character to you. It's useless to me anyway. Besides, I often lose things."
Chen Ping'an shook his head with a smile. "If you're afraid of losing it, I can keep it for you temporarily until we reach the Great Sui Academy. But since Teacher Qi gave this to you as your homework, and you are his student, you should treasure it properly. Even if Teacher Qi is no longer around and you don't need to copy it anymore, as your mother said, keeping the calligraphy copy for yourself is at least a memento."
Li Huai nodded, casually placed the calligraphy copy between the pages, closed *Broken Water Grand Cliff*, and tossed it into the wooden box.
Little did he know that among the pages, hidden in different places, the three bookworms and the Azure Dark Fish swiftly left their original spots in the book, darted through the gaps between the lines, and quickly entered that calligraphy copy of "Qi." It was a true case of "like a fish in water," and they were extremely joyful.
Compared to Li Huai's great harvest through pure dumb luck, Lin Shouyi was no slouch either. He had a large stack of ancient talismans of varying grades and materials, a book titled *Clouds Above, Pure Sounds*, and a scroll called *Mountain Search Picture* depicting over a hundred mountain spirits and strange ghosts. These were gifts from the blind old Daoist. Because Chen Ping'an had given a top-quality snake gallstone to the lame boy, the old Daoist, in reciprocity, had taken out this treasure, which he claimed was passed down from his sect's ancestors, and Chen Ping'an had then given it to Lin Shouyi.
As for Li Baoping, she had the famous knife Xiangfu and the silver sword-nurturing gourd. Not many things, just two, but both were immortal treasures coveted by cultivators worldwide.
Only Chen Ping'an, who had contributed the most, seemed in the end to have only that slightly withered and shriveled pale golden lotus seed. Now, no one even knew what it was for, and on top of that, he was heavily in debt to that white-clothed youth.
Li Huai lay on the table, repeating an old complaint. "Lin Shouyi's family is very rich, but his identity as an illegitimate son is awkward. So this guy might be more sensitive. Chen Ping'an, don't take him too seriously."
Chen Ping'an nodded. "I'll talk to him later and clear things up. It'll be fine."
Li Huai blurted out for no reason, "Good people and honest people always suffer. That's how my dad is, and that's how you are. Chen Ping'an, maybe from now on, you shouldn't be such a goody-goody. Think more about yourself. You don't have to give in to others in everything. Otherwise, even if you're fine with it, Li Baoping, who calls you 'Little Uncle,' will be furious first."
Mentioning Li Baoping, Chen Ping'an couldn't help but smile and ask, "Baoping always bullies you. Why do you never fight back?"
Li Huai replied instinctively, as if it were only natural, "I don't dare! I can't beat her!"
Chen Ping'an laughed heartily. The fatigue from painstakingly carving characters was instantly swept away.
Li Huai watched Chen Ping'an laughing joyfully, and the kid laughed along happily. In his memory, Chen Ping'an rarely laughed like this. Usually, no matter what Chen Ping'an did or said, he was always restrained and cautious, afraid of saying or doing something wrong.
Li Huai then thought of his own father. He seemed to be the same. A tight-lipped smile when happy, drooping eyebrows when not so happy.
Li Huai hesitated for a moment but decided to share some thoughts buried in his heart. The kid, with his head resting on the table, stretched his neck, lowered his voice, and asked mysteriously, "Do you know why I always give in to Li Baoping?"
Chen Ping'an joked, "You like her?"
Li Huai rolled his eyes. "How is that possible? I'm this young! Besides, I'm not Lin Shouyi or Dong Shuijing, those two perverts. Every time my sister came to the study to bring me something, those guys' eyes almost fell out of their sockets. Especially Dong Shuijing. Every time he found an excuse to come to my house to play, if my sister wasn't there, he'd be all listless. The moment my sister came home, he'd be all hyped up, like he'd drunk chicken blood, willing to fill two big water vats for my family. My mother, she liked Dong Shuijing a bit more, thought he was honest, like my dad. My sister, I think she probably preferred Lin Shouyi—refined, more like a scholar."
After badmouthing Lin Shouyi and Dong Shuijing, Li Huai's expression darkened as he returned to the main topic. "In the study, everyone laughed at my dad. They said he was the most useless man in town, that he married into the family, had no ambition, spent all day loafing and living off his wife, that he was even more useless, stupid as a fool. 'Dragons beget dragons, phoenixes beget phoenixes, a rat's son knows how to dig holes,' so his son, meaning me, was the most useless at studying. Every time the teacher tested us, I was at the bottom."
Li Huai grinned, his eyes squinting. "Li Baoping's family background was the best in the study. But even including Lin Shouyi, she didn't play with anyone. Every day she was like a gust of wind, flying in and out, always the last to show up for class and the first to disappear. She would complain that I was noisy and liked to hit me for no reason. But she never laughed at my dad. Once, when my dad came to the study to find me, everyone else despised him. Only Li Baoping was willing to show him the way and called him 'Uncle Li.' That made my dad happy for days. Whenever someone deliberately mocked my dad in front of me, Li Baoping would always stop them and forbid them from badmouthing my dad."
Chen Ping'an sighed. "So that's how it was. By the way, Li Huai, do you have anyone you really hate?"
Li Huai was stunned. "No. Every time I go home and eat a big, fragrant, greasy chicken leg, listening to my mother scold my dad and sister over trivial matters, all my unhappiness disappears."
Chen Ping'an pinched the lamp wick directly with his fingers to make the flame brighter and said with a smile, "You're amazing."
Li Huai was puzzled. "What's so amazing about me? I think it's amazing that you're not afraid of heat. You can go up mountains and into water without wearing straw sandals. You can chop wood and fish. That's amazing. Li Baoping, that wild girl, when she was very young, loved climbing trees, then shouting 'I'm flying, I'm flying!,' falling down with a thud, never crying, standing up on her own, and finally limping home. To avoid being seen by the adults, she'd deliberately delay coming back until very late. Even someone like her, who fears nothing under heaven, thinks you're the most remarkable person in the world."
Chen Ping'an picked up the carving knife again. "When you're older, you'll understand why you're amazing."
Li Huai didn't understand. Staring at the hairpins, he grew even more envious. "When will you give us the hairpins?"
Chen Ping'an stopped carving. "When we reach the Great Sui Academy."
Li Huai asked, "Why did you give that *Mountain Search Picture* to Lin Shouyi? I could tell you liked it too."
Chen Ping'an held up a jade hairpin, examining its fine lines under the lamplight. "I'm afraid I can't hold on to good things. You're not outsiders. Giving them to you doesn't bother me."
Li Huai, never knowing when to drop a subject, probed, "And spending two thousand taels of silver in one night? Doesn't that bother you?"
Chen Ping'an put down the jade hairpin and carving knife, packed them away in the box, and said with a straight face, "I need to go out for a walk. Take a few more steps, look at the scenery, and pretend I've earned back a few taels of silver."
Li Huai turned his head to watch Chen Ping'an's retreating figure. The kid secretly snickered.
After Chen Ping'an closed the door, Li Huai silently told himself that someday he would give the best thing he had to Chen Ping'an.
Because this guy, walking along so many mountains and rivers, had accompanied him, the timid one, countless times to relieve himself far away, standing nearby and talking to him.
---
Chen Ping'an didn't dare wander around aimlessly. He walked toward the pavilion and saw Lin Shouyi sitting there as expected. Not wanting to disturb this person who had already risen above the mortal world as a cultivator, he watched from a distance for a while. Just as he was about to turn and leave, he saw Lin Shouyi stand up and wave him over.
Chen Ping'an entered the pavilion. Compared to the handsome youth before entering the Autumn Reed Inn, the current Lin Shouyi seemed to have gained some ethereal elegance.
Lin Shouyi picked a topic that wasn't awkward. "That Cui Dongshan borrowed a talisman from me, broke the inn's rules, walked out of this pavilion, jumped into that old well, and vanished."
Chen Ping'an said softly, "Whether Cui Dongshan lives or dies is none of my concern, and I won't concern myself with it."
Lin Shouyi was silent for a long time, then turned to look toward the well. "I know you meant well about staying at the Autumn Reed Inn, but you should have discussed it with me beforehand."
Chen Ping'an nodded. "I'll do that in the future."
Lin Shouyi turned back, carefully examining the straw-sandaled youth's expression and eyes. "Just like that?"
Chen Ping'an countered, "What else?"
Lin Shouyi laughed self-deprecatingly. "I thought you'd reason with me, or simply roll up your sleeves and give me a beating first. I was actually prepared to not fight back or talk back."
Chen Ping'an shook his head and didn't speak. He leaned against the pavilion pillar, looking toward the well at the site of the old city god temple. He couldn't make out anything special.
Lin Shouyi looked at Chen Ping'an. "I'm sorry."
Chen Ping'an waved his hand with a smile, sat down cross-legged, and then stared intently at the old well without blinking.
Lin Shouyi, relieved, asked curiously, "What are you doing?"
The straw-sandaled youth replied seriously, "I'm going to stare that silver back!"
The stern youth, now a cultivator, quickly reached up and rubbed his cheeks vigorously to keep from laughing out loud.
---
By the Cold Food River, at the Grand Water Mansion.
The green-robed man in the seat of honor looked down at the guests in the hall. People kept standing up to toast, speaking words of praise and flattery, inevitably revealing some complacency.
Just now, a famous literary giant had stood up once more to toast, saying that the prefecture had enjoyed favorable weather for so many years, all thanks to him, the Water God. His words implied that the well-being of the prefecture's people had nothing to do with the prefect surnamed Wei. The key was that such blatant flattery was met by one person present, who wore the third-rank official robe of the Yellow Court Kingdom. He unhesitatingly stood up to toast, echoing the literary giant with a mouthful of praise. As a third-rank high official, the deputy prefect of the prefecture, the highest-ranking officer at this sacrificial ceremony, he repeatedly addressed the Water God on the high throne as "Your Lordship."
Once one becomes a deity enjoying incense offerings, one's former name and family are taboo. Those who meet the deity must observe this and generally avoid using names.
The term "Your Lordship" is a relatively safe and common form of address. There are many theories about its origin. One of the most widely cited claims that among the Taoist Ancestor's three great personal disciples, one liked to address his teacher as "Your Lordship." The Taoist Ancestor gladly accepted it, and the term has been passed down to this day.
The green-robed man slowly withdrew his gaze. To his left and right in the hall sat four trusted subordinates who had followed him on campaigns far and wide. The longest service was over three hundred years, the shortest over a hundred. One of them, before transforming into human form, was originally a red carp. He was on friendly terms with a carp essence wild cultivator from the Great Li Dynasty's Chongdan River, calling each other brothers.
However, this carp essence currently had a task and his seat was empty.
Another was a water snake that had cultivated into a spirit, using a pair of iron maces, relics of an immortal that the green-robed man had obtained by chance. He loved to smash his opponents' heads with the maces in battle. He enjoyed devouring virgin boys and girls, but was restrained by the green-robed man, only occasionally going out to hunt, not daring to be too wanton.
There was also a toad from a dam that had cultivated. He had the best innate talent but was lazy by nature, and his cultivation level was the lowest. However, he had a unique gift: at will, he could swallow vast amounts of river water at the forks of big rivers. As long as he didn't close his mouth, he could keep drinking water endlessly, never feeling full or bursting his belly. Therefore, no one dared to bully him, and he was highly valued by the green-robed man. Once, two river gods who had joined forces to rebel gathered many forces, attempting to overthrow the green-robed man. This capable lieutenant of the Cold Food River Water God was ordered to secretly go ashore and sneak to the source of one river, then reveal his true form, as big as a mountain, and forcibly swallow the river's source, forcing that river god to surrender without a fight. The other river god was left isolated and eventually had his temple and golden body smashed by the green-robed man, the pieces sunk to the bottom of the Cold Food River, never to be reborn.
The last one seemed out of place. He had a beautiful beard and wore a scholar's robe, appearing refined. If not for his dark, bluish complexion, unlike a living person, he could be mistaken for a middle-aged Confucian scholar from a scholarly family.
The Cold Food River stretched eight hundred miles, passing through three prefectures and eight commanderies. Thus, the northern part of the Yellow Court Kingdom relied on this great river for nourishment. Although this man was never known for his combat prowess in this Grand Water Mansion, he was recognized as the chief strategist. He always worked behind the scenes, offering advice to the Water God Lord, and he didn't like forming cliques or standing out.
The beautiful maidservants serving tea and wine in the hall were half earthly beauties, and half women who had applied special cosmetics to hide their corpse aura—these were water ghosts who had drowned.
As for water ghosts, whether from drowning or suicide, naturally not everyone could become one. After death, one must have unresolved resentment, a suitable innate physique, and die at an auspicious time. Only if all three conditions were met, allowing the soul to gather without dispersing, was there a chance to be accepted as a maidservant in a Grand Water Mansion. Among them, some water ghosts were battered by the astral winds, constantly dissolving into nothing.
For example, the Soul-Patting Wind and Soul-Blowing Wind that often blew in the golden autumn. In the Five Elements, metal governs death. These two winds, one during the day and one at night, wandering in turn, are natural enemies of ghosts and spirits. The worldly saying "the soul is scattered and the spirit flies away" originates partly from this. These winds generally only threaten yin entities, but if a living person is extremely weak and has little fortune, they can also be harmed.
Furthermore, executions in autumn, as performed by imperial courts, follow this same principle, to prevent the rampant emergence of vengeful spirits.
In addition, the thunderclaps of spring, which ordinary people might just hear and forget, are like death drums to filthy yin entities, and are also difficult trials.
Thus, it can be seen that if being human is not easy, being a ghost isn't easy either.
Apart from these four trusted generals of the Grand Water Mansion, the rest were all guests come to pay respects.
The person the green-robed man liked best was, of course, that now-famous literary giant, once a poor scholar who had accidentally fallen into the water. Unfortunately, this man was truly not cut out for officialdom. Even with the support of the Water God Lord, he only managed to become a sixth-rank remonstrance official before he couldn't go on. He finally claimed to have resigned and retired, building a magnificent mansion in the wilds of Hezhou in northern Yellow Court Kingdom, becoming a carefree "forest prime minister." After over twenty years of management since his retirement, he was hailed as the literary leader of the northern scholarly world of the Yellow Court Kingdom. He had been tirelessly promoting the Cold Food River Water God, writing over twenty poems about the river alone. Every two or three years, he would invite a large number of poets and literati to hold poetry gatherings on the Cold Food River, spending lavishly on fine wine, delicacies, courtesans, and maids, embodying the ultimate in scholarly elegance.
As for the literary giant's son rising steadily in the Yellow Court Kingdom's court, and his mediocre grandson becoming a cultivator, no one cared to investigate, or rather, no one dared to dig deeper.
This literary patriarch, who styled himself as Old Daoist Huang, was currently having a cheerful conversation with the Deputy Prefect, laughing heartily.
The Deputy Prefect was nominally the third-ranking official in a prefecture. The top was the Prefect, then the Provincial General with military power. In the Yellow Court Kingdom, military officials were weak, and civil officials were favored in court. Therefore, the Deputy Prefect's authority often surpassed that of the Provincial General. The Deputy Prefect's existence was more of a tool for the emperor to check and balance the Prefect.
At that moment, everyone unconsciously fell silent and turned to look at the entrance. A man in armor with two long whiskers on his cheeks strode into the hall. He clasped his fists and laughed, "Reporting to Your Lordship, that arrogant rogue cultivator is dead. I personally twisted his head off. No mistakes."
The green-robed man first glanced at a white-haired old man in the hall, who seemed to want to speak but hesitated. Then he said with a smile, "If you have something to say, just say it."
This person was the one who had gone to the Autumn Reed Inn via the old well. His true form was a red carp. He grinned cheerfully. "Before that young rogue cultivator died, he spilled a bunch of scandals. Some about you, Your Lordship, some about the big families in the prefectural city, but mostly about that prefect surnamed Wei. Nasty stuff. He cursed the Wei family for eighteen generations several times over. If I hadn't acted quickly, he might have even revealed whether that Wei guy wet his bed as a kid. No doubt, by tomorrow, the prefectural city will be buzzing with rumors, all jokes about Prefect Wei."
The green-robed man was clearly surprised. "Oh?"
The sturdy carp essence was about to speak, but the green-robed man waved his hand, signaling him to return to his seat and not waste words. The former obediently sat down, glanced at the scholar-looking man, who nodded slightly as if to say "don't worry." Only then did the sturdy man relax and start tearing into his meat and drinking heavily.
Hearing that the rogue cultivator had died violently in the prefectural city, a young man in the hall who looked sickly could no longer hide his joyful smile and kept pouring wine to drink heartily.
In the prefectural city, Prefect Wei was dejected; the young rogue cultivator was dismembered.
In the Grand Water Mansion, host and guests were all enjoying themselves.
A stark contrast.
The green-robed man suddenly lifted his head, staring at the entrance. The True God of the Cold Food River wore a dark expression.
At the door stood a graceful white-clad youth, silent and soundless. He was patting his sleeves, flicking off some water droplets. Finally, the youth stepped across the high threshold, looked around, and said with a playful grin, "Neither human, nor ghost, nor god. Strange, strange, very strange."
Let's set a small goal first, like remembering for 1 second: