It is said that in the ancient chaos, yin and yang were overturned, the five phases thrown into disorder, and the rise and fall, life and death of the mortal world could happen in the blink of an eye.
A sage descended into the world, named the Medicine Master. He made twelve great vows, delivering the myriad beings of the world.
The Medicine Master possessed a dharma-form of a thousand hands and a hundred eyes, illuminating boundless worlds with his immeasurable radiance.
Whatever one sought, he would grant.
The sufferings of mortals were no more than birth, aging, sickness, and death.
Worship the Medicine Master, and one could attain longevity.
Worship the Medicine Master, and stubborn illnesses could be cured.
Only benefits, without needing to pay any price.
Where else could you find such a fine immortal?
The rites by which Songlin Village worshipped the Medicine Master were divided into medium rites, great rites, and super-great rites.
For a medium rite, every household in the village, young and old alike, was required to set up an incense table at home during festivals. The family would kowtow and worship in turn, calling out the Medicine Master’s divine name and offering fresh fruits and melons.
For a great rite, Great-Granduncle would personally preside, leading everyone in the village to the old peach tree at the village entrance. They would offer the three sacrificial animals, burn the ritual petition, break off peach branches, dip them in divine water, and pray for blessings for the whole village.
As for the super-great rite, it was only passed down by word of mouth among the villagers, and seemed not to have been held for a very long time. It was said that it would only be held when someone in the village cultivated into an immortal. At that time, even more offerings had to be presented in order to obtain the Medicine Master’s pity and protection.
After leaving the noodle shop, Li Qiuchen jogged all the way to the ancestral hall.
Pushing the door open, he saw Great-Granduncle sitting in a chair with his head lowered, dozing. Li Qiuchen’s gaze swept over the crayfish spirit without pausing, and he walked straight toward Hong Yang in the corner.
“Mm?”
“Shh—”
Li Qiuchen placed a finger to his lips, signaling Hong Yang not to make a sound, then took out a small knife and quickly cut through the ropes binding him.
Hong Yang stared fixedly at the crayfish spirit hanging from the beam, afraid it would make even the slightest noise. But the crayfish spirit merely looked at them with a half-smile and said nothing.
It did not even open its mouth to beg these two little brats to take it with them when they escaped.
Why?
Hong Yang could not understand any of it.
In a daze, he followed Li Qiuchen out of the ancestral hall and ran to the village entrance. Then Hong Yang suddenly stopped and said, “Wait. I have to save Yingcao!”
“She can’t be saved. If you don’t hurry, once Great-Granduncle wakes up, we won’t be able to get away!”
“I know!”
Hong Yang gritted his teeth and said, “Xiaochen, the three of us grew up together. I can’t leave her here alone. You run first. I’ll go back and save her!”
Li Qiuchen said helplessly, “Cut the crap. How long do you think it’ll take you to dig her out by yourself?”
Hong Yang gave an embarrassed dry laugh.
The two of them turned back again, stole two iron shovels on the way, and sprinted all the way into the fields.
Yingcao’s lonely little head was still buried in the ground. All the weeds around her had been pulled clean, and the air was filled with the smell of medicinal liquid. The few tender green shoots growing out of her facial features and orifices emanated a dense vitality.
The two of them swung their arms wide and dug with all the strength they had.
Fortunately, Yingcao was still a child and had not been buried deep. The field had also been watered the whole time, so the soil was soft. If it had been an adult buried here instead, the two of them might not have been able to dig the person out even by nightfall.
Hong Yang was fiercely strong. In just a few moves, he dug more than a foot deep, and somehow still had the energy to talk while digging.
“Xiaochen, did you already know about all this damned mess?”
“About what?”
“About Great-Granduncle.”
“I knew a little.”
“Then why didn’t you say so earlier?”
“If I’d said it earlier, would you have believed me?”
“How would you know whether I’d believe you if you didn’t say it?”
“If I tell you now that Yingcao can’t be saved, and that what we dig out will be a corpse, do you believe me?”
Hong Yang immediately fell silent.
He drove the shovel down viciously. Seeing the soil loosen a little, Hong Yang stepped into the pit, wrapped his arms around Yingcao, clenched his teeth, and pulled with all his might, directly yanking her out of the ground.
“Run!”
Hoisting Yingcao’s ice-cold, completely unresponsive body onto his back, Hong Yang threw down the shovel and took off running.
The two of them sprinted wildly, not caring which direction was east, west, south, or north, charging headlong along the winding mountain road.
They ran like this for half an hour. Seeing that the village had already disappeared behind them, Hong Yang collapsed by the roadside, panting desperately.
After he finally caught his breath, he turned back to look at Yingcao, who was as stiff as an old tree root. The grievance filling his chest surged up in an instant, and tears poured down like rain.
“Why did it turn out like this?”
Seeing Li Qiuchen catch up from behind, Hong Yang grabbed him and demanded sternly, “Tell me! Tell me! Why did it turn out like this?”
“Wasn’t it like this from the very beginning?”
Li Qiuchen calmly asked in return, “Every household in Songlin Village cultivates, but after so many years, not a single proper cultivator has appeared. Don’t you find that strange?”
“Huh?”
Hong Yang looked utterly bewildered.
People were all like this. They did not know pain until the blow landed on their own bodies. Besides, he was only a child of about ten. Every day, he barely had enough time to seize every chance to play like mad, so why would he think about such complicated questions?
“Great-Granduncle is one hundred and eighty years old this year. Where did that lifespan of his come from? Why would the Medicine Master favor him so much?”
Li Qiuchen said softly, “The answer is very simple. There is a monster in the village that eats virgin boys and girls, but it isn’t the crayfish spirit. It’s Great-Granduncle. Why do you think he was so happy when Yingcao grew a spiritual root? Do you really think it was for Yingcao’s sake?”
“Wait a moment!”
Hong Yang hurriedly stopped him. “My head’s a little muddled right now. Explain it to me slowly. When did you learn about all this?”
Li Qiuchen shrugged. “Two or three years ago, I suppose. Back then, I originally wanted to ask the villagers about my family, but none of them were willing to mention it. Later, after asking around in all kinds of ways, I found out that ten years ago, that eldest female cousin of mine, just like Yingcao, also grew a spiritual root. But unlike Yingcao, the spiritual root didn’t grow out of her mouth.”
“And then?”
“Then Great-Granduncle wanted to scheme for her spiritual root. She discovered it in time, killed everyone in her family, and successfully escaped…”
“Hold on!”
Hong Yang hastily interrupted. “What about the part in the middle? Great-Granduncle wanted her spiritual root, so why did she kill her own family?”
“That isn’t important.”
“It’s very important! Don’t skip over the most crucial part!”
Li Qiuchen said helplessly, “Even if I told you, you wouldn’t believe it.”
“Never mind whether I believe it or not. Say it first!”
“Do you think our village has a lot of people?”
“Quite a lot, I guess. I once heard some mountain travelers passing through say that our village’s population was almost enough to rival a town…”
“Actually, there aren’t that many people.”
“Huh?”
“There are more than three hundred households in the village, over two thousand people. More than half of them have already been refined into puppets by Great-Granduncle. The remaining living people have only been kept alive so they can continue producing children for the village.”
“What?”
Hong Yang stared, dumbstruck.
Such an explosive statement had already exceeded what his mind could bear.
“Every single person in the Li family, from top to bottom, had long since become Great-Granduncle’s puppet. And the Li family’s cultivation method had already been taken by Great-Granduncle before my cousin burned it away in a fire. It’s hidden in his house.”
“You even know that?”
Hong Yang was completely stunned.
You already knew your family’s cultivation method was with Great-Granduncle, and you could actually hold back from stealing it?
Even if you only stole a couple of glances, then cultivated in secret… Wait, have you already practiced it?
Sensing Hong Yang’s doubtful gaze, Li Qiuchen shook his head. “I haven’t. Are you rested yet? Don’t tell me you think that after running only this far, Great-Granduncle won’t be able to catch up.”
“You must have secretly cultivated. Otherwise, how could you run so far with me without your face turning red or your heart pounding?”
“How about you put Yingcao down, then?”
“I won’t!”
Hong Yang refused without the slightest hesitation. “She can definitely still be saved. I’m taking her to find a doctor! When we were little, we agreed that when she grew up she would marry me. I can’t just give up on her like this!”
She didn’t say that. Her mother told you that. You remembered wrong.
When she stole my family’s cultivation method from Great-Granduncle and gave it to me, she said she only saw you as a real older brother… Better not tell you something so detrimental to brotherly affection.
Li Qiuchen silently calculated in his heart. If nothing unexpected happened, he and Hong Yang should be able to carry Yingcao and run twenty li.
This was not a random guess.
Last year, when that group of inexperienced mountain travelers was preyed upon by the village, the fastest among them only managed to run twenty li before being caught and brought back by Great-Granduncle the next day.
Hong Yang sat for a while and recovered a bit of strength. Knowing how serious the situation was, he no longer had the time to listen to Li Qiuchen expose village gossip. Gritting his teeth, he hoisted Yingcao onto his back and continued on.
He did not know where this road led. He only knew that people from outside used this road to enter the mountains. In that case, going the other way, he could also walk out.
By now, Great-Granduncle should already be awake, but for the time being, he would not realize the two of them had run so far.
After all, Li Qiuchen had not taken anything with him when he left. He did not look at all like someone fleeing far away.
And even less would anyone believe that two children carrying a corpse on their backs could run very far from the village.
As the ancients said, the artless naturally counter the black-bellied… no, that wasn’t it. It was that no moves beat having moves.
I have absolutely no preparations and no plan. How could you possibly predict my next step?
This should be able to buy them more time.
The mountain road was rugged and difficult to travel. The two of them rested and stopped along the way, and had no idea exactly how far they had walked.
It was not until the sun slanted westward and the sky grew dim that a dilapidated Earth God temple appeared by the road ahead.
Hong Yang’s stomach growled loudly. He turned to ask Li Qiuchen, “Xiaochen, did you bring anything to eat?”
Congratulations! You finally remembered that!
Li Qiuchen took a flatbread from his robe and handed it to him. “Only this.”
Hong Yang swallowed, gritted his teeth, and said, “Break me off a piece. Keep the rest for yourself.”
“You take it all.”
Li Qiuchen stuffed the flatbread into his hand and said, “You’ve used up too much strength. If you don’t eat, I’m afraid you won’t be able to walk when you get up tomorrow.”
“Then what will you eat?”
I’ll eat when I go back.
Li Qiuchen smiled and said, “Don’t worry about me. We’re in the mountains. How could there be nothing to eat?”
Hong Yang thought about it and found that made sense. It was spring now, and the mountains were full of living things. They would not starve. So he nodded and said, “Tomorrow I’ll go hunting in the mountains!”
Hopefully we can hold out until tomorrow.
Li Qiuchen turned his head and glanced in the direction they had come from.
Green mountains and clear waters, lush and verdant. He could hear no movement, and yet it seemed as though something was silently watching him from the shadows.