Chapter 100: The Shadow Dragon

"Have you really never been to any other village besides Wangjiaya? You haven't even been to a town, or anywhere else at all?"

"Other than the time my father married Aunt Hui, when I followed them to her old village, and the village where I visited my grandparents, no."

"Then have you never thought about going elsewhere to see the world? Never thought about other things?"

"Where would I find the time to think about such things? I didn't even have the awareness for it. There were fields at home that needed tending—that was the family livelihood. I also needed to find a wife to carry on the family line; of the three unfilial acts, having no descendants is the greatest. Besides, given the situation at my home, the whole village was waiting to see us make a fool of ourselves."

"Then you really are pathetic."

The water rippled, causing the boat to sway. Li Yue rested her chin on her hand, looking at me earnestly, her voice filled with sympathy.

I smiled. "There's nothing pathetic about it. I'm a country boy, and what I’m supposed to do is the work of a farmer: raise a family, till the land, and support the household. Once I save my mother, I must ensure she gets to hold a chubby grandson."

At that point, my heart stiffened, and I fell silent, turning my gaze toward the outside of the boat.

Li Yue let out a scoff and said, "With you like that, who would want you?"

I didn't respond.

Ten full days had passed since the incident in Qianshui Town. We had spent two days recovering at the City God Temple.

Li Yue’s hand had only been dislocated, and while the injury to her chest was slightly more serious, it was not life-threatening. She had only lost consciousness due to exhaustion and significant blood loss. My injuries were worse than hers, but that was largely due to the accumulation of old and new wounds over such a long period. Although I had used the Spirit-Shaking Talisman, the soul of Wang Gongming had served as a buffer, preventing it from causing me any major harm.

My right fist had a minor hairline fracture, but after Li Cangshui applied a special ointment and I drank Wang Erjun's nauseating 'Returning Origin Soup' for two days, I could barely feel any pain. My other injuries were also slowly mending.

After Li Cangshui gave Li Yue some instructions, he left with Wang Erjun. When we parted, Wang Erjun had clung to me, weeping, swearing that he would become a Taoist even more powerful than Master Wang Jiu or Granny Li, so that when he returned to Wangjiaya, he could blast the Ghost Granny into oblivion. I felt a sense of reluctance in my heart as well, though I was better at controlling my emotions than he was.

After parting ways in Qianshui Town, Li Yue and I began our journey, recovering while we traveled. As for the book in the leather case Li Cangshui had given me, it felt exactly like the Earth Talisman Book. However, unlike the Earth Talisman Book, which was blank except for the first few pages, this one was filled with dense, tiny characters on every page I turned. It detailed various Feng Shui techniques, and even arcane arts for controlling and raising ghosts through Feng Shui.

During our journey, I didn't make much of an effort to hide it from Li Yue, thinking that since she knew Feng Shui, she might be able to offer pointers that would make it easier for me to understand the contents. But Li Yue asked me in astonishment why I was reading an empty book with no words. That was when I realized she couldn't see anything at all.

Li Yue remarked that I was a strange person, carrying two books that both appeared to have no text. I didn't offer any explanation. For one, it wasn't necessary, and for another, these books surely held secrets. The Earth Talisman Book that Wang Gongming spoke of was the blue-covered one, which countless people yearned to possess; the book he gave me was certainly no less extraordinary. It would do no good for Li Yue to know too much.

At the start of our journey, Li Yue kept her distance, but once she learned I had used a talisman to seal the companion ghost on the back of my hand, she became bolder, and her personality slowly returned to its former lively state.

After eight days of travel, we were close to our destination: the border between Sichuan and Yun. Once this boat reached the shore, we would be only a day away from finding the person Li Cangshui had sent me to locate. My heart was filled with tension.

There were others on the boat besides Li Yue and me. There were many villagers dressed in ethnic attire—about a dozen men and women—all chatting with one another. Some would occasionally steal a glance at Li Yue and me. By now, I had grown accustomed to the stares during our travels.

"Xie Yuan, look at the mountain over there. Do you know what kind of mountain that is?"

After idly trailing her hand through the water, Li Yue pointed toward the direction the bow was facing. A massive green mountain stood there, far more imposing than the rolling hills surrounding it, appearing as if it had severed the entire river. I could faintly see the wharf on the shore, and other boats heading in our direction.

"Hmph, you don't know, do you? Beg me, and if you do, I'll tell you what's inside that mountain."

Li Yue looked smug. Along the way, she had told me many novel things, including knowledge about Feng Shui. I hadn't read much of the white-covered book yet, and my understanding was patchy, but I had learned a little from her. Over the past eight days, I had read through a dozen pages of the white book.

Seeing the green mountain, my pupils constricted, and I blurted out, "The mountain acts as a town-stone, cutting the tail of the water dragon; it’s also a form of suppression. This river we're on is an Yin Dragon Vein. It is surrounded by hundreds of mountains, and the reason it is an Yin Dragon is because its nature is Yin, and the land beneath the mountain rarely sees sunlight."

"At the other end of this river must be the head of the Yin Dragon, which is surely suppressed by an even larger mountain."

"This green mountain suppresses the tail of the Yin Dragon; there must be many people living in the mountain but few graves. There is almost no disaster on the mountain, the weather is favorable, and the people living there are healthy and at peace."

As I finished speaking, Li Yue stared at me as if I were a fool. She muttered to herself, "Xie Yuan... are you really Xie Yuan? How could you know so much? Just a few days ago, you didn't know anything at all."

I smiled and remained silent.

The old man rowing the boat, his hair gray with age, praised me with a single word of approval, then asked, "Young man, is this really your first time visiting our Yalong Mountain?"

I took a deep breath and nodded. Li Yue was leading the way, and Li Cangshui had entrusted her entirely with the location of Master Liu of the Funeral Affairs.

The old man said proudly, "Our Yalong Mountain suppresses a dragon. According to the rules passed down by our ancestors, no one is buried on the mountain—there isn't a single grave on the entire peak—and no evil people are born here."

Just then, I suddenly saw a bamboo raft drifting past in the water. It was piled high with earthenware jars and some other cargo-like items, and a person was lying on it with their eyes closed, drifting slowly forward.

Li Yue suddenly let out a startled cry, shouting, "Quick, there's someone there! He looks like he's fainted, let's save him and bring him onto the boat!"

As soon as Li Yue’s words fell, the atmosphere on the entire boat shifted. The dozen or so villagers glared at Li Yue with anger, speaking in a dialect we couldn't understand. The boatman's expression changed drastically; he immediately shouted at Li Yue to stop talking. He then rowed even harder, refusing to look at the bamboo raft, showing no intention of saving the person.

Li Yue looked anxious, but I gripped her shoulder tightly. In a low, hoarse voice, I whispered, "Look closely. Is that a living person, or a dead one?"

Li Yue’s expression turned deathly pale. I hadn't realized at first glance that it was a corpse on the raft. It was the change in the villagers' expressions, the boatman's reaction, and the way the 'person' on the raft remained completely motionless that tipped me off. On such a river, how could someone be drifting on a bamboo raft without rowing, just lying there at the mercy of the current? And the custom of Yalong Mountain—that no one is buried there—made me realize this must be a water burial.

Beyond the water burials I had heard of from old folks, and the cremation and earth burials I already knew, I vaguely remembered two other burial methods mentioned in the white book, which were also forms of Feng Shui. Water burial was among them: the corpse passes through the water, the soul leaves home, crosses the underworld, and is then reincarnated. If a river with an Yin Dragon vein is used for a water burial, it is as if the dragon carries the deceased to be reincarnated, ensuring they are born into a good family.

Not until the bamboo raft had disappeared far into the distance did the boatman’s expression soften slightly. However, the others continued to glare at us with hostility. Li Yue was silent, not daring to speak.

The boatman leaned in cautiously and told us not to speak recklessly. The 'person' who had just passed by was a 'Reincarnation Traveler' on their way to be reborn. If he had heard us calling for him to wake up, he might have climbed onto the boat, and if he didn't want to leave, we would be in big trouble.

I apologized repeatedly until he waved his hand, saying that those who are ignorant are not to be blamed.

Before long, the boat finally docked. The people on board disembarked one by one, still glaring at Li Yue and me the whole time, as if we owed them money or were their mortal enemies. Li Yue whispered something, but I couldn't catch it. The boatman asked where we were heading, noting that Yalong Mountain was huge, with over a hundred villages, and we would never find our way alone.

My gaze fell upon Li Yue. She seemed to think for a moment before saying, "Changyuan Village. We are looking for someone, an old man named Zhang Chang. He should be quite elderly."

The boatman’s brow furrowed, his eyes widening. He was just about to speak when someone suddenly screamed in terror. The old man spun around, his face shifting, and he pushed us to get off the boat immediately.

I looked toward the water, and my heart turned cold: a bamboo raft was drifting against the current, floating toward us.

On the raft... stood a person.

The man had his eyes closed, swaying back and forth with the movement of the raft, as if he might collapse at any moment.

Li Yue let out a gasp, covering her mouth and pointing at the man, saying, "Isn't that the corpse from before?"

My expression changed, and the old man's voice was filled with panic. "Something’s wrong... the Reincarnation Traveler doesn't want to be reborn; he wants to go home. We shouldn't have spoken so carelessly on the boat earlier."

I bit the bullet and asked, "Sir, has this happened before? What will happen?"

It was just a ghost, which wouldn't have scared Li Yue and me, but we had never encountered a ghost like this. I was afraid that acting rashly would violate the local customs.

The old man’s face was deathly pale. "It has happened before, though it’s been many years. Those who pass through the water are Reincarnation Travelers. If they turn back against the current halfway, it means they don't want to go to reincarnation alone. If he comes ashore, he will kill many people. Usually, at such times, one of his family members must be pushed into the water to let the raft drift on."

"If he is satisfied, he will take that person with him..."

"And if he isn't satisfied?" My eyelids twitched violently.

I could already see several people pushing a woman and a young girl toward the shore. The woman was weeping, wearing white mourning clothes, and the little girl was dressed the same.

"I’ll go down, please, I’ll go down! Don’t let my child die..."

"Wife of the Liu family, if you go down and your husband is satisfied, we certainly won't push his child. But when he left, he said he couldn't rest peacefully going alone. He doesn't think this child is his. Will your going down even be of any use?"

The group of people pushing the mother and daughter spoke in cold, indifferent tones, as if they had anticipated this scene all along.

My expression darkened. I already knew the outcome before the old man could say another word. Li Yue’s face turned from angry to horrified. She started to walk toward them, but the old man grabbed her arm, his face pale. "Young lady, you must not go over there... if they find out you were the one who called the Reincarnation Traveler to the boat earlier, they’ll throw you in too..."