无常劫水千丞 WuChangJie Impermanence novel by ShuiQianCheng English translation: Chapter 10

"If you win first place during the Jiaolong assembly, have you thought about asking the emperor for a reward?"

"Son hasn't thought about it."

"No matter what the reward is, it will not be a sword quenched by the Shen Nong Ding."

Zong Zi Heng stared at his own reflection on the water’s surface, thinking about the conversation he had with his mother before he left, and couldn't help but be baffled.

"Big brother, the sweet potatoes are baked. They smell so good."

Zong Zi Heng came back to his senses, "Coming." He hurriedly washed his hands and collected his emotions.

After spending time away from Wuji Palace, Zong Zi Xiao had almost gone crazy from playing around. This was his first time leaving the palace since he was born. Everything looked fresh to him. He got tired of staying in the inn and insisted on sleeping in the wilderness. It just so happened that there was an evil spirit causing trouble on Mount Gutuo. Zong Zi Heng planned to deal with them at night, so he settled down nearby.

"Your Highness, try some." The roasted and tender sweet potatoes were handed to Zong Zi Heng.

For this trip, Emperor Ninghua had assigned them two high-ranking cultivators as escorts. They were a pair of brothers named Huang Hong and Huang Wu.

Zong Zi Heng said, "Bring us some wine."

Huang Wu brought the flagon over, and Zong Zi Heng poured three goblets* of wine and handed two to them: "It has been a long journey for you two."

The two of them were flattered: "Your Highness, this is what we should be doing."

"There is no need to be so formal outside of the palace." Zong Zi Heng laughed, "This Xiaoyaoniang is a good wine. It is light and sweet at first, but the aftertaste is endless. The so-called free and unfettered* is like an immortal. It would be boring for me to drink alone. Come on."

The two accepted the goblets of wine from Zong Zi Heng and drank.

Zong Zi Xiao eyed the wine: "Brother, can I..."

"No."

"Just give me a little taste. I've never had wine before."

"How old are you? Who would dare to give you wine?”

Huang Hong and Huang Wu laughed together.

"There is no need to be so formal outside the palace. That's what you just said." Zong Zi Xiao was climbing onto Zong Zi Heng's shoulder, "Big brother, let me try, is it really that good?"

Zong Zi Heng looked skeptically at him and curled his lips in a smile, "Okay, I’ll give you just a little taste." He took his thumb and dipped it into the wine and wiped it onto Zong Zi Xiao's lips.

Zong Zi Xiao curiously stretched out his tongue and licked it. His little face suddenly changed: "Yuck, yuck, so spicy."

The three of them laughed out loud.

Zong Zi Xiao said angrily, "That's disgusting!"

"You're the one who wanted to taste it. You can't blame others." Zong Zi Heng smiled and put him on his lap, "Come, drink some water."

Zong Zi Xiao took a few gulps of water and finally calmed down.

After eating, the sky was getting dark, and the two brothers leaned against each other to enjoy the sunset.

"Brother, where is the evil spirit and when will it come out?"

"You'll have to ask it yourself. For now, we can only wait." Zong Zi Heng flicked his finger at the spirit-attracting talisman placed at the side, which would burn up whenever a ghost appeared within a li radius.

"Why are there so many ghosts and spirits in the world? We can't even eliminate them all."

"As long as there are people, there will be ghosts." Zong Zi Heng said, "Were you not listening in class again? Why are you still asking such questions?"

"I'm just lamenting."

"Come on, let me test you. What is the difference between a soul and a spirit? What's the difference between getting rid of evil spirits among people and collecting spirits in the Underworld?"

"The soul consists of heaven soul, earth soul, and human soul. Spirits are divided into joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, evil, and desire. This is the three souls and seven spirits." Zong Zi Xiao lightly hummed, "I remembered it."

"Good, continue."

"The heaven and earth souls are originally the essences of heaven and earth. After death, the heaven soul returns to heaven, and the earth soul returns to earth. Only the human soul carries karma and is harvested by the Yin servants and Underworld generals. The seven spirits will gradually dissipate on the seventh day."

"If the human soul is not taken away, or if the seven spirits have not dispersed, what happens?"

"Then it will become an evil spirit." Zong Zi Xiao answered, "The soul and the spirit turning into a ghost is different. The soul has no physical body, so it can only possess other bodies. A corpse will rise when the spirits cannot disperse due to deep obsession."

"Right." Zong Zi Heng nodded, "If it is the soul that causes chaos, the people will generally make offerings to the local City God to request the Yin servants and Underworld generals to harvest it. If it is the spirit that causes chaos, we need to step in. However, any kind of situation can be encountered when performing an exorcism. Whether they are souls or spirits, never ever take them lightly."

"Hmm." Zong Zi Xiao leaned into his big brother's arms, feeling a little sleepy, "So what's the City God like? In the Underworld, is there really a lot of Yin servants and Underworld generals? Big brother, have you ever been to the Underworld?"

"The City God is not a person. It is an official position. Each place has a local City God. As for the Underworld, big brother has actually been there. Big brother has been to Mount Luofeng. The Underworld is in Mount Luofeng, but there is a barrier separating the two worlds. As living beings, we cannot see it."

"Then one day when we die, can we be reunited in the Underworld?"

Zong Zi Heng couldn’t help laughing: "Why mention death? It is so inauspicious."

"Because when a person dies, the living won't be able to see him again. But I don't want to be unable to see big brother. Whether on earth or in the Underworld, I want to be with big brother forever."

Zong Zi Heng's heart warmed, and he rubbed his face against Zong Zi Xiao's: "Big brother also wants to be with Xiao Jiu forever, but when people die, before they reincarnate, they have to drink Meng Po soup. After drinking Meng Po soup, they won't remember anything in the next life. So, when people are alive, we have to cherish them and conform to destiny after death."

"Then I won't drink it, not even in death." Zong Zi Xiao felt that he's going to die when he thought that he was going to drink it, and changed his words, "Dead or alive, I will not drink it, I don't want to forget big brother. Big brother also don't drink it, don't forget me. After reincarnation, I will go and find you, and we will still be brothers."

Zong Zi Heng was amused by these child’s words.

"I'm mean it. Promise me, big brother, neither of us will drink Meng Po soup." Zong Zi Xiao was very anxious about this matter and needed to get a promise.

Zong Zi Heng said with warmth in his voice, "Okay, I promise you. Both of us will not drink it. You will come back to annoy me to death in the next life."

"Hmph, maybe I will be your big brother in the next life, no, your father."

"You're rebelling huh." Zong Zi Heng hugged Zong Zi Xiao and started tickling him, which led to a burst of crying and laughing for mercy.

---

At midnight, Zong Zi Xiao had fallen asleep on top of his big brother when he was suddenly shaken awake.

"Xiao Jiu, look." Zong Zi Heng said in a quiet voice.

Zong Zi Xiao saw a glint of fire in his eyes. It was the spirit-attracting talisman! He jumped up abruptly, looking left and right both nervously and excitedly, "Where is it, where is it?"

"Calm down."

Zong Zi Xiao took a deep breath and spread out his spiritual power to probe for ghostly resentment in all directions. His cultivation was still shallow, and he had never fought in real life, so he concentrated his senses for quite some time, but still couldn't find it.

"Follow me." Zong Zi Heng drew his sword and flew towards the southwest.

Zong Zi Xiao followed his big brother, while Huang Hong and Huang Wu escorted them from behind.

This ghost at Mount Gutuo had been infesting the local area for a year, and it specialized in digging out people's bellies and intestines. There were at least 6-7 victims. But this place was located at the border of the Chunyang Sect and Wuyun Sect. The two sects had been at odds with each other, and neither was willing to take care of matters here, which led to the ghost becoming more and more powerful.

Although the famous Zong Clan ruled over this territory, Jiuzhou was vast. Each place was always guarded by a local immortal family. The people paid taxes to seek protection from the immortal families. The immortal families then paid tribute to the Zong Clan. Those people from remote areas, poor people, or people who were caught between different forces, were often neglected because the tax paid was not enough, and they ended up suffering from the scourge of demons and monsters.

Every time Zong Zi Heng went on a trip, he would eliminate threats for the people. There were many cultivators like him. The sky and land were vast. Wandering the world with a sword and living a carefree life was what he yearned for the most.

They soon caught up with the evil spirit.

Zong Zi Heng said, "Huang Hong, Huang Wu, you guys come and set up the formation, don't let him get away." This time, besides collecting this thing, he also wanted to let Zong Zi Xiao gain a bit of experience.

"Yes."

The evil spirit was indeed a rising corpse. His abdomen was gutted with a large hole almost right through, which was extremely shocking. The corpse was already half-rotten, emitting an unbearable stench in the middle of the summer night.

The walking corpse realized a threat was approaching and lunged wildly at Zong Zi Xiao.

This was the first time Zong Zi Xiao faced a real ghost with a horrible appearance and the stench of decay. He was so scared that his face turned white. He gripped the sword, and for a moment, he froze on the spot.

Zong Zi Heng jumped in front of Zong Zi Xiao, blocked, and kicked the corpse away. He raised his sword and stabbed it. The corpse's speed was faster than both had imagined. It dodged backwards and then pounced on Zong Zi Xiao, obviously knowing who had the weakest spiritual power.

"Xiao Jiu, take out the talisman!"

Zong Zi Heng made a sword move and forced the walking corpse to back away, yet, he was not in a hurry to subdue him.

Zong Zi Xiao finally came back to his senses. Thinking that he had just been scared silly, in a moment of shame and anger, he took out a talisman from his pocket, which was written in cinnabar, and he turned to the back of the walking corpse and struck the talisman out.

That corpse felt the spiritual pressure from behind and dodged quickly. He let out a mournful howl. The rotten eyes with only two black holes left "looked" at Zong Zi Xiao fiercely.

Zong Zi Xiao gritted his teeth and swung his sword to strike.

The walking corpse stretched out its ten sharp fingers and grabbed Zong Zi Xiao.

A white shadow flew by and picked up Zong Zi Xiao to dodge the corpse's attack: "Xiao Jiu, don't be afraid. Big brother is here, try again."

Zong Zi Heng was in front fighting with the corpse. Zong Zi Xiao pulled out another talisman, using the same trick to try to sneak up and attack the corpse's back.

The corpse was also prepared. As soon as it sensed the spiritual pressure, it flew and dodged.

This time Zong Zi Xiao did not retreat. His eyes were fierce, and his small body jumped up in place. The corpse was finding it difficult to dodge both the talisman and Zong Zi Heng, when faced with attacks from both his front and back. Using that opening, Zong Zi Xiao sneaked up behind the corpse and attacked fiercely with his sword.

A head flew up into the air.

Zong Zi Heng was dumbfounded.

For the first exorcism, he did not want to leave Zong Zi Xiao with a terrible impression, so he aimed to subdue it, but he did not expect Zong Zi Xiao to have such a ruthless character and to seize the opportunity to chop off the head directly.

The head and the corpse fell to the ground.

Zong Zi Xiao was standing with his sword. His small chest was heaving violently. His face was sweating profusely, and his heart was still fluttering with fear.

Zong Zi Heng walked over: "Xiao Jiu, are you okay?"

Zong Zi Xiao shook his head, "Big brother, I'm not afraid."

Zong Zi Heng patted his head, "It's okay for you to be afraid. Big brother was scared to death when facing an evil spirit for the first time."

"Really?"

"Really."

Zong Zi Xiao smiled: "But I'm really not afraid. I am just a little nervous. With big brother around, I know nothing can hurt me."

Zong Zi Heng also smiled, "You did well to end this evil spirit with your own hands. Father will definitely be very happy when he finds out."

"Your Highness." Huang Wu was examining the corpse, "Something is odd."

The two of them walked over.

Huang Wu frowned at the corpse, then looked at his brother and inquired, "What do you think, does it look alike?"

"It does."

"What's wrong?" Zong Zi Heng was puzzled.

Huang Wu said, "Your Highness, this man's injury looked like a cultivator who had his golden core dug out."

----

Translator Thoughts:

goblet*[酒杯]---keep in mind that Chinese people in the past did not drink wine from glasses. They drink wine from the small cups called goblets (the big one is flagon):