Watching the thing flee, Ji Yuan was not in a hurry to chase after it. He already knew what it was, and he had a simpler and more effective solution. There was no need to chase after it into the mountains in the middle of the night. It would be better to first check on Fang Qiu, and make sure he hadn’t experienced any serious accidents.

On the other side, in the main house of the Fang family, both the mother and son had been awakened by the fright.

Fang’s mother, Mrs. Ding,¹ lifted her quilt, put on a coat, and hurried to her son”s room. There she found Fang Qiu sitting on the bed with a pale face, trembling slightly and gasping for air.

“Qiu’er,² are you alright? What happened? What was that sound just now?”

Fang’s mother looked around in a panic. She sat on the bed and cupped her son’s face, only to find that it was covered in sweat.

“Mother…Mother…I had a nightmare…Hoooh…”

Fang Qiu’s words were incoherent. Just now, it had been the same nightmare as before, but suddenly there was a bright light in the dream, and an endless flame burned. In the center, a rotten and terrifying monster appeared in the dream and was burned by the flame.

The monster’s screams rang out both inside his dream and inside the room, awakening Fang Qiu.

At this moment, Ji Yuan’s panicked voice sounded from outside the house, accompanied by knocks on the door.

“Knock knock knock… knock knock knock…”

“Brother Fang, Aunt Ding, what happened? I heard a scream just now. Are you alright?”

“Knock, knock, knock…”

Hearing Ji Yuan’s clear voice coming from outside, the two people inside the the house also felt a little more at ease. More noise and more people would always alleviate fear.

“Mother, go and open the door for Mr. Ji.”

Fang Qiu calmed himself and instructed. Mrs. Ding got up and went to the front hall.

She removed the wooden latch and opened the door. Ji Yuan was standing outside with a look of alarm on his face.

“Aunt Ding, are you alright?”

“It’s okay, we’re alright. It seems Qiu’er had a nightmare…”

“Really? I’m glad you’re alright. I’ll go see Brother Fang.”

After he finished speaking, Ji Yuan and the Fang family mother entered Fang Qiu’s room together.

“Brother Fang, did you have another nightmare just now?”

As Ji Yuan spoke, he opened the nearby fire stick, blew on it, then lit the oil lamp in the room.

Seeing the light, Fang Qiu’s complexion significantly improved.

“It’s alright. Sorry to disturb you, Mr. Ji. I just got frightened in my dream. It’s nothing serious.”

Mrs. Ding brought over a bowl of water and handed it to Fang Qiu, but realized that her son did not have his beads.

“Qiu’er, where is the string of beads that your mom asked about for you? Why didn’t you bring it with you?”

“Ah? The beads, this…”

Ji Yuan hurriedly came to his rescue and smoothed things over.

“It must have fallen at Brother Ding Xing’s house.”

“Yes, yes… It must be at Brother Ding’s house. Don’t worry, mom, it hasn’t been lost!”

“Remember to find it tomorrow. It is your protective amulet! Understood?”

Mrs. Ding chattered on and on. To the side, Ji Yuan also confirmed to himself that Fang Qiu was fine. Although his vital energy and Qi were weak, it was just because he had been too frightened.

. . .

Early the next morning, Ji Yuan left the Fang family’s house, using the excuse of needing to take a walk after breakfast, and quietly found Ding Xing.

In the Ding family’s kitchen, Ding Xing, who was currently eating porridge, was a little surprised when he heard Ji Yuan’s words.

“The Fang family’s tomb? Why do you ask, sir?”

At this moment, Ji Yuan was sitting on the small stool in the Ding family home, calm and composed with a hint of a smile on his face.

“If I said I just wanted to take a look, would Brother Ding trust me?”

Ding Xing shook his head.

“Sir, stop joking. You just met the Fang family, there is no need to go pay your respects to their ancestors.”

Due to the familiarity they cultivated yesterday, and out of respect for learned men, everyone here now used a respectful term of address for Ji Yuan.

“Brother Ding, did you hear the screams from where the Fang family house is last night?”

“Yes, yes. I was about to ask you, sir, what was the noise over there last night? I thought it was a wild beast, but now it seems to have been from from Fang Qiu’s house?”

“Haha, let’s go, and you’ll know when the time comes.”

Although Ji Yuan didn’t say much, his words gave off a convincing feeling. Puzzled and curious, Ding Xing quickly finished his porridge, then took Ji Yuan along another village trail to the back mountain right outside the village.

The path was not too far away. The two climbed and walked for about a quarter of an hour, before they began to see tombstones appearing from time to time. In the corner of a small valley, they saw several tombstones of the Fang family.

“Mr. Ji, this is it. Hiss… why is it so cold…”

Ding Xing, who was holding a hatchet, pointed to the mounds of earth and rubbed his hands together as he spoke.

Ding Xing was not afraid that Ji Yuan would do anything to cause trouble. Firstly, he trusted Ji Yuan. Secondly, this gentleman was so thin that not even his thighs were as thick as one of Ding Xing’s arms. What trouble could he possibly make that Ding Xing would let him get away with?

“Good!”

Ji Yuan walked closer. His eyes swept across the four earthen graves here, then walked to the grave furthest to the west and at the lowest point in the ground, reached out, and touched the handful of fine black ash in front of the tombstone.

He looked up at the inscription and read carefully: “Here lies father Fang Shenghan and son Fang Qiuli.”

“Brother Ding, please stand far away and don’t get your clothes get wet.”

Ji Yuan reminded him. He stretched out his right hand and pointed to the grave with two fingers. A small transparent chess piece appeared in front of his sword fingers, and began pulling something out.

“Crash…shhh…”

Don’t let your clothes get wet?

Hearing the sound of water, Ding Xing, who was a little puzzled at first, was shocked to see the filthy water flowing out of the Fang patriarch’s tomb, like a dragon of turbid water being pulled forwards. It rose one foot off the ground then fell down the slope to the other side of the mountain.

The surroundings seemed to become even colder, and at the same time, an unbearable stench spread, making Ding Xing nauseous.

“Roar!”

A hoarse voice came from the tomb. Ding Xing, who was already horrified and feeling sick, froze in fear. He backed away in a hurry, almost tripping over the rocks on the ground.

“Mr… Mr. Ji…!”

“Don’t be afraid, everything will be fine with me here!”

Ji Yuan stretched out his right hand to draw out all the filthy water, then, with his left hand, he picked took out a burning wick covered in a layer of lamp oil, as if he were simply picking a flower. He held it in front of him, opened his mouth, and blew gently, using his power.

The wick, with a steady flame, danced in the wind and entered the tomb through the small hole that had just been opened by the water.

Boom!

There was a burst of fire inside, and the flames faintly shone through the hole in the grave mound.

“ROAR— AAAHHH—“

The terrifying roar in the tomb changed from a raspy shout to an intense sound. Ding Xing, with stiff hands and feet and a pale face, couldn’t help but cover his ears.

After about a dozen breaths, everything subsided.

Ji Yuan sighed softly. It was indeed a corpse. The Historical Account from Outside the Tao had said: shades³

who hid in corpses could be both real and illusory, as demons or evil spirits who could harm our descendants…

“Dust to dust, ashes to ashes.⁴ Okay, Brother Ding, let’s go. In the future, you can ask Brother Fang Qiu to move his father’s burial site to a location that is sunny and slightly more elevated. Of course, it’s also fine if he doesn’t change it. By the way, please don’t mention this to anyone else.”

“Hey, hey, hey… I got it, I got it. Hey, sir, wait for me, wait for me—!”

Ding Xing’s legs were shaking at this moment, and he hurried to catch up with Ji Yuan, who was leaving quickly, for fear of being left here alone.

Ji Yuan walked in front and Ding Xing followed closely behind. The latter was still trembling, the former also had doubts in his heart. The colorless transparent chess piece tucked back in his sleeve had turned into a transparent black piece.

‘Sure enough, it’s a black piece again? ’

. . .

For Ji Yuan, the matter was over, so he naturally said goodbye to the four households he was familiar with. However, for these four families, this was not a sudden farewell. After all, Ji Yuan had originally been planning to take Qingshui County’s official road.

The villagers were very friendly and accompanied Ji Yuan to the fork in the road. Ding Xing even gave Ji Yuan a bag of braised rabbit legs wrapped in large bamboo leaves.

“Okay, everyone, I will bid you farewell here. Brother Fang, remember to go to the Mountain Buddhist Temple to pray, and also go to the Earth Temple to burn some incense. I believe that your nightmare problem will get better.”

“Okay, I’ll listen to you, sir!”

Fang Qiu answered with a smile, thinking that Ji Yuan was reminding him to quickly buy a new string of beads to cover up his previous lie.

“Well, everyone, until we meet again!”

Ji Yuan bowed solemnly to the four families, causing them to hurriedly bow back in a non-standard posture,⁵ saying things like “take care” and “safe travels.”⁶

Looking at Ji Yuan’s receding figure, Ding Xing looked at Fang Qiu and suddenly said:

“Fang Qiu, kowtow twice to the master!”

“What?”

Fang Qiu was confused.

“Kowtow? Why?”

Mr. Ji was a good person and very knowledgeable, but there was no need to kowtow to him. The others hadn’t performed any great formalities either.

“It’s okay, never mind…”

Ding Xing evaded the question and secretly decided to wait for everyone to leave and go follow Mr. Ji quietly. He was very excited as he thought of his.

However, when Ding Xing quietly left the village, he ran for a full hour, but still couldn’t find Ji Yuan. Just as he was excited when he left, he now regretted waiting.

1. Specifically her maiden name, so it would be “maiden name Mrs. Ding” ↩︎
2. 儿 (ér): child/son, diminutive ↩︎
3. Specific word used is “beings of 荫 yìn” which I think refers to anything of the underworld/supernatural ↩︎
4. Quote from the Bible, Genesis 3:19. Full quote: “ashes to ashes, and dust to dust; in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection unto eternal life.” There’s a TON of different interpretation (as is wont with religious studies) but if I might offer my own in this context: all things return to their natural state. ↩︎
5. i.e. they weren’t educated on how to perfectly bow so they did their best ↩︎
6. Lit: 顺风 “tail wind,” similar to saying “may the winds be fair” for a sailboat ↩︎

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read