Chapter 10: Empty Millstone (1)
No matter how complex the array in this mansion of Adviser Liu’s was and no matter how sophisticated it might be, in the end, it was still a regular, ordinary mansion. The more attention one paid to the pattern of the fengshui, the more unlikely they were to set up overly fancy designs that were absolutely unnecessary. No matter how many doors and walls one built, one could never stray from the eight directions of north, south, east, west, north-east, north-west, south-east, and south-west.
And these eight positions were an exact match with the eight Gates of Wound, Fear, Luminous, Cease, Sever, Death, Life, and Commence.
Under normal circumstances, among these eight gates, the Gates of Commence, Cease, and Life were the three auspicious gates, whereas the Gates of Death, Fear, and Wound were the three ominous gates, with the Gates of Luminous and Sever belonging to the neutral category.
But the categories of auspicious, ominous, and neutral were not immune to change. As an old saying goes, “Once overcome, the auspicious gates are auspicious no more, and once overcome, the ominous gates are ominous no more.” Just like how the Gate of Life would be auspicious to living people and human residences but ominous for deceased people or for those in graves and tombs, the Gate of Death would be auspicious for deceased people or those in graves.
This meant that the two living, breathing humans, Xue Xian and Xuan Min, would be able to escape the array safely as long as they found the Gate of Life.
It would have been an easy guess if the eight gates were unchanging but once they were disturbed by something, it became a little more complicated.
This was the case with Xue Xian and Xuan Min—for some reason, the precisely calculated Gate of Life had been substituted with the Gate of Death and they had not only failed at escaping the array but had also succeeded in unleashing an entire room of monsters and demons.
All because Xuan Min just had to open the gate without any hesitation. Xue Xian couldn’t have stopped him even if he tried!
In truth, if this had happened when Xue Xian was not paralysed yet, judging by his way of doing whatever he liked, he would have thought, Be it eight gates or nine, be it Life, Death, Shock, or Wound! Damn it all! If I open them one by one, I don’t believe that I wouldn’t find an exit! If nothing works, then I’ll summon thunder to blow this place apart!
This was because he was confident that with his capabilities, he could never be defeated by such a simple trick.
But it was different now. Right now, Xuan Min was the one in control and Xue Xian himself was nothing more than a paper that had borrowed someone else’s shoulder to sleep on.
He had met Xuan Min for not more than a shichen, just about the time for a few cups of tea. In the short time that they were together, Xue Xian still could not tell how capable the Baldy was. He already had the air of an eminent monk and could be quite intimidating at times but Xue Xian had yet to see any of his real capabilities.
For example, “Can he summon lightning or create rain?”, “Can he relieve wandering ghosts like Jiang Shining?”, and “If they were to fight, can he best the old lady with bound feet from the array who was most probably a vengeful ghost?”
The most important one was, “Can he best the old lady with bound feet from the array who was most probably a vengeful ghost?”
Xue Xian had his doubts about that.
After all, the Baldy captured evil spirits with a broken piece of copper.
Xue Xian asked, “Have you ever seen a master who catches evil spirits by shoveling?”
Xue Xian himself answered, “No!”
Xuan Min frowned and glanced briefly at the vile spawn who was muttering about while sitting on his shoulder. Xuan Min’s slender fingers were resting on the gate door. He had held back earlier so as to not make any noise but he gave his all this time and pushed the door open without any restraint.
The magenta door slammed open and made a bang sound as it collided against the wall.
Just as Xuan Min was about to start walking, the palm-sized paper man on his shoulder finally could not sit still anymore and proceeded to climb downwards along his clothes silently. He had still been racketing about the “high vantage point” earlier but now, he quietly climbed down to the waist area and lowered his head towards Xuan Min in a silent tribute before slipping into the pocket and sealing it up after.
Right from the strands of his hair all the way till his ankle, his body language expressed one thing: Look for death yourself, I’m leaving first.
Xuan Min, “…”
This time, there was a garden behind the door with the front and middle halls to the north and south and corridors on the sides. Strangely enough, no one was startled by the sound of Xuan Min opening the door so loudly. Hearing no rustling footsteps coming their way, Xue Xian moved from where he rested his chin against his hand and peeked out of the pocket opening.
There wasn’t a single shadow in the garden and it was deathly silent. But a faint sound could be heard from the front hall, seemingly belonging to Adviser Liu.
Xue Xian did not have a good impression of Adviser Liu at all but was slightly curious about the happenings in the front hall.
As he was pondering about the situation, Xuan Min had already stepped through the gate and walked silently past the corridor to the back doors of the hall.
One could not see into the hall from the back door because of the rather large screen that was blocking the view. To enter the hall, one would have to walk around either side of the screen. Xue Xian watched with his own two eyes as the Baldy crossed the threshold and stood right behind the screen, listening to the conversation in the hall.
Xue Xian did not know just how many people were gathered in the hall but there were only two people who spoke aloud. One of them was none other than Adviser Liu and the other one was most probably his guest. Judging from his voice and the slow manner in which he spoke, it seemed to be an elderly man.
He heard the old man say, “Oh, everyone in town has been discussing a rumor. I don't know whether it is true or not.”
Adviser Liu made a confused sound and asked, “What rumour?”
“The one about the Jiangs’ medicine hall burning down. Haven’t you heard about it before, old friend?”
“Of course, of course.” For some reason, Adviser Liu’s voice was dry. He tried to speak a few times but only after he raised his cup of tea for a sip could he click his tongue and lament, “The corpses were collected by the county. All of them were scorched black. If not for the coroner, we wouldn’t have known those were human bodies.”
“I had the fortune of meeting Doctor Jiang once when I had come to this town several years ago but I never thought that—sigh!” The elderly man sighed and said, “But the townsfolk say that the Jiangs’ medicine hall wrongly diagnosed your mother’s sickness and gave the wrong medication and that was why she passed away. This…”
Adviser Liu picked up the cup and sipped again. Even Xue Xian could hear the sound of him swallowing the tea.
He seemed to be repressing some sort of emotion or maybe setting the mood for something. He took two gulps of tea and slammed the teacup on the table, sounding a little too worked up, “Do not bring this up again! The Jiangs got what they deserved. I have nothing else to say! I only pity my mother. She had worked hard for more than half her life and only enjoyed a few years of bliss and…sigh…”
Hearing Adviser Liu’s sudden outburst, the elderly man comforted him immediately, “Okay, I won’t bring it up again! The doctor caused her death…”
Hearing this, Xue Xian frowned.
He suddenly remembered the day he first entered the abandoned Jiang mansion, where crushed tiles littered the floor of the relatively large courtyard, where wilted weeds grew with abandon, silent and chilly. The sun wasn’t weak during the day, but there seemed to be an omnipresent sorrow that surrounded it. When he landed in the courtyard, his gaze met with Jiang Shining’s, who had been sitting in a corner.
Only then did he realise that all that sorrow came from this wandering ghost.
The unfortunate thing was, the wandering ghost Jiang Shining was very confused and only remembered the things that happened before his death but not everything that happened after.
Xue Xian had asked him, “Why are you wandering around here? You should go to the cycle of rebirth if you’re dead. If you stay in the living world for too long, you’ll miss the right time and won’t be able to be reborn again.”
Jiang Shining looked at him dazedly and said, “Oh, I’m waiting for my parents. The two of them are quite old, I must look after them.”
At that time, Xue Xian thought that the wandering ghost had ruined his brain from studying too much. Just listen to all this nonsense he was spouting.
“Then, where are your parents?” asked Xue Xian, feeling his teeth ache.
Jiang Shining sighed and said, “They must’ve gone through the wrong household. Too bad I don’t have a proper body. I can’t find them anywhere if I can’t even walk out of the gate.”
Xue Xian stared at him and said, “Fine. I’ll reluctantly help you but on one condition.”
“Go on,” said Jiang Shining immediately.
Xue Xian, “Let me stay in your house for a few days.”
…
Ever since he made a paper body for Jiang Shining, he had been searching the town every night and had almost circled the town twice in three days but to no avail.
Xue Xian used to think that the elderly Jiangs had already passed on. But now, after listening to Adviser Liu, he suddenly had a vague idea.
Just as he was about to climb back to the Baldy’s shoulder, there was a movement from the two people in the front hall.
Adviser Liu said, “Oh, I had mentioned before that I have obtained a precious object that I wanted you to look at. It almost slipped my mind. Let us head to the back.”
The moment Xue Xian heard this, he rushed to poke Xuan Min once.
But there wasn't any strength behind a poke made by paper. It was closer to a scratch than a poke.
Xuan Min frowned when his waist area was scratched by the vile spawn. Just as he turned to cross the threshold and exit this place, he realised there was someone standing right behind him.
Chapter 10: Empty Millstone (1)
No matter how complex the array in this mansion of Adviser Liu’s was and no matter how sophisticated it might be, in the end, it was still a regular, ordinary mansion. The more attention one paid to the pattern of the fengshui, the more unlikely they were to set up overly fancy designs that were absolutely unnecessary. No matter how many doors and walls one built, one could never stray from the eight directions of north, south, east, west, north-east, north-west, south-east, and south-west.
And these eight positions were an exact match with the eight Gates of Wound, Fear, Luminous, Cease, Sever, Death, Life, and Commence.
Under normal circumstances, among these eight gates, the Gates of Commence, Cease, and Life were the three auspicious gates, whereas the Gates of Death, Fear, and Wound were the three ominous gates, with the Gates of Luminous and Sever belonging to the neutral category.
But the categories of auspicious, ominous, and neutral were not immune to change. As an old saying goes, “Once overcome, the auspicious gates are auspicious no more, and once overcome, the ominous gates are ominous no more.” Just like how the Gate of Life would be auspicious to living people and human residences but ominous for deceased people or for those in graves and tombs, the Gate of Death would be auspicious for deceased people or those in graves.
This meant that the two living, breathing humans, Xue Xian and Xuan Min, would be able to escape the array safely as long as they found the Gate of Life.
It would have been an easy guess if the eight gates were unchanging but once they were disturbed by something, it became a little more complicated.
This was the case with Xue Xian and Xuan Min—for some reason, the precisely calculated Gate of Life had been substituted with the Gate of Death and they had not only failed at escaping the array but had also succeeded in unleashing an entire room of monsters and demons.
All because Xuan Min just had to open the gate without any hesitation. Xue Xian couldn’t have stopped him even if he tried!
In truth, if this had happened when Xue Xian was not paralysed yet, judging by his way of doing whatever he liked, he would have thought, Be it eight gates or nine, be it Life, Death, Shock, or Wound! Damn it all! If I open them one by one, I don’t believe that I wouldn’t find an exit! If nothing works, then I’ll summon thunder to blow this place apart!
This was because he was confident that with his capabilities, he could never be defeated by such a simple trick.
But it was different now. Right now, Xuan Min was the one in control and Xue Xian himself was nothing more than a paper that had borrowed someone else’s shoulder to sleep on.
He had met Xuan Min for not more than a shichen, just about the time for a few cups of tea. In the short time that they were together, Xue Xian still could not tell how capable the Baldy was. He already had the air of an eminent monk and could be quite intimidating at times but Xue Xian had yet to see any of his real capabilities.
For example, “Can he summon lightning or create rain?”, “Can he relieve wandering ghosts like Jiang Shining?”, and “If they were to fight, can he best the old lady with bound feet from the array who was most probably a vengeful ghost?”
The most important one was, “Can he best the old lady with bound feet from the array who was most probably a vengeful ghost?”
Xue Xian had his doubts about that.
After all, the Baldy captured evil spirits with a broken piece of copper.
Xue Xian asked, “Have you ever seen a master who catches evil spirits by shoveling?”
Xue Xian himself answered, “No!”
Xuan Min frowned and glanced briefly at the vile spawn who was muttering about while sitting on his shoulder. Xuan Min’s slender fingers were resting on the gate door. He had held back earlier so as to not make any noise but he gave his all this time and pushed the door open without any restraint.
The magenta door slammed open and made a bang sound as it collided against the wall.
Just as Xuan Min was about to start walking, the palm-sized paper man on his shoulder finally could not sit still anymore and proceeded to climb downwards along his clothes silently. He had still been racketing about the “high vantage point” earlier but now, he quietly climbed down to the waist area and lowered his head towards Xuan Min in a silent tribute before slipping into the pocket and sealing it up after.
Right from the strands of his hair all the way till his ankle, his body language expressed one thing: Look for death yourself, I’m leaving first.
Xuan Min, “…”
This time, there was a garden behind the door with the front and middle halls to the north and south and corridors on the sides. Strangely enough, no one was startled by the sound of Xuan Min opening the door so loudly. Hearing no rustling footsteps coming their way, Xue Xian moved from where he rested his chin against his hand and peeked out of the pocket opening.
There wasn’t a single shadow in the garden and it was deathly silent. But a faint sound could be heard from the front hall, seemingly belonging to Adviser Liu.
Xue Xian did not have a good impression of Adviser Liu at all but was slightly curious about the happenings in the front hall.
As he was pondering about the situation, Xuan Min had already stepped through the gate and walked silently past the corridor to the back doors of the hall.
One could not see into the hall from the back door because of the rather large screen that was blocking the view. To enter the hall, one would have to walk around either side of the screen. Xue Xian watched with his own two eyes as the Baldy crossed the threshold and stood right behind the screen, listening to the conversation in the hall.
Xue Xian did not know just how many people were gathered in the hall but there were only two people who spoke aloud. One of them was none other than Adviser Liu and the other one was most probably his guest. Judging from his voice and the slow manner in which he spoke, it seemed to be an elderly man.
He heard the old man say, “Oh, everyone in town has been discussing a rumor. I don't know whether it is true or not.”
Adviser Liu made a confused sound and asked, “What rumour?”
“The one about the Jiangs’ medicine hall burning down. Haven’t you heard about it before, old friend?”
“Of course, of course.” For some reason, Adviser Liu’s voice was dry. He tried to speak a few times but only after he raised his cup of tea for a sip could he click his tongue and lament, “The corpses were collected by the county. All of them were scorched black. If not for the coroner, we wouldn’t have known those were human bodies.”
“I had the fortune of meeting Doctor Jiang once when I had come to this town several years ago but I never thought that—sigh!” The elderly man sighed and said, “But the townsfolk say that the Jiangs’ medicine hall wrongly diagnosed your mother’s sickness and gave the wrong medication and that was why she passed away. This…”
Adviser Liu picked up the cup and sipped again. Even Xue Xian could hear the sound of him swallowing the tea.
He seemed to be repressing some sort of emotion or maybe setting the mood for something. He took two gulps of tea and slammed the teacup on the table, sounding a little too worked up, “Do not bring this up again! The Jiangs got what they deserved. I have nothing else to say! I only pity my mother. She had worked hard for more than half her life and only enjoyed a few years of bliss and…sigh…”
Hearing Adviser Liu’s sudden outburst, the elderly man comforted him immediately, “Okay, I won’t bring it up again! The doctor caused her death…”
Hearing this, Xue Xian frowned.
He suddenly remembered the day he first entered the abandoned Jiang mansion, where crushed tiles littered the floor of the relatively large courtyard, where wilted weeds grew with abandon, silent and chilly. The sun wasn’t weak during the day, but there seemed to be an omnipresent sorrow that surrounded it. When he landed in the courtyard, his gaze met with Jiang Shining’s, who had been sitting in a corner.
Only then did he realise that all that sorrow came from this wandering ghost.
The unfortunate thing was, the wandering ghost Jiang Shining was very confused and only remembered the things that happened before his death but not everything that happened after.
Xue Xian had asked him, “Why are you wandering around here? You should go to the cycle of rebirth if you’re dead. If you stay in the living world for too long, you’ll miss the right time and won’t be able to be reborn again.”
Jiang Shining looked at him dazedly and said, “Oh, I’m waiting for my parents. The two of them are quite old, I must look after them.”
At that time, Xue Xian thought that the wandering ghost had ruined his brain from studying too much. Just listen to all this nonsense he was spouting.
“Then, where are your parents?” asked Xue Xian, feeling his teeth ache.
Jiang Shining sighed and said, “They must’ve gone through the wrong household. Too bad I don’t have a proper body. I can’t find them anywhere if I can’t even walk out of the gate.”
Xue Xian stared at him and said, “Fine. I’ll reluctantly help you but on one condition.”
“Go on,” said Jiang Shining immediately.
Xue Xian, “Let me stay in your house for a few days.”
…
Ever since he made a paper body for Jiang Shining, he had been searching the town every night and had almost circled the town twice in three days but to no avail.
Xue Xian used to think that the elderly Jiangs had already passed on. But now, after listening to Adviser Liu, he suddenly had a vague idea.
Just as he was about to climb back to the Baldy’s shoulder, there was a movement from the two people in the front hall.
Adviser Liu said, “Oh, I had mentioned before that I have obtained a precious object that I wanted you to look at. It almost slipped my mind. Let us head to the back.”
The moment Xue Xian heard this, he rushed to poke Xuan Min once.
But there wasn't any strength behind a poke made by paper. It was closer to a scratch than a poke.
Xuan Min frowned when his waist area was scratched by the vile spawn. Just as he turned to cross the threshold and exit this place, he realised there was someone standing right behind him.
