Starting Cultivation During a Trip

Chapter 583: Chapter 285: The New Xu Dog! The Innate Spirit Embryo of White Crane Temple

Dragon and Tiger Tomb, Zhang Family Burial Ground, the graves are filled with nothing but the dead, in the orifices of the dead there are no souls; soulless and spiritless, they become immortals.

The lame old man spoke in a low, hushed voice, as if mumbling in a dream, drifting at the mysterious village entrance, like wandering shades, guarding that ancient desolate tomb within the shrouding, bewildering mists.

Ghost money soared, firelight flickered across the face of the lame old man, casting that gaze directed at Zhang Fan all the more unfathomable.

”Crippled Elder...”

Bai Yujing’s expression tensed; she stepped forward, blocking Zhang Fan with her body.

The lame old man bared his teeth in a chilling grin; the paper money in the brazier spiraled ever more fiercely.

”Little Si Snake, what makes you so nervous? After all these years, what sort of people hasn’t Tai Sui Village seen?” the lame old man said blandly.

”The Zhang Family has come, the Li Family has come too...”

”Zhang Tian Sheng...”

”Zhang Lingzong...”

At this, the motions of the lame old man slightly paused, yet the ghost money continued to burn at his fingertips.

”Brat, are you from South Zhang!?”

”Junior, Zhang Fan.”

Zhang Fan hesitated a moment, but finally offered his name.

”Zhenwu’s teachings span seventy-three generations, after ordinary tribulation comes ginseng... So you are that tribulation...”

”Chu Chaoran’s great calamity!”

At those words, all faces went ashen except Qin Ergou. Zhang Fan in particular, his eyes fluttered, filled with deep suspicion and astonishment.

”Senior, what do you mean?”

”Young man, what do you make of this great grave? Does it feel familiar?” The lame old man slumped to the ground, pursing his lips, shooting a sidelong glance at the tomb behind him.

”Familiar!?” Zhang Fan wore a peculiar expression.

”Senior, why is it called Dragon and Tiger Tomb, Zhang Family Burial Ground?”

”The Dragon Tiger Zhang Family... After nine times breaking mountains and attacking temples, all the dead have been buried here...”

As he spoke, a bleak chill surfaced in the depths of the lame old man’s eyes.

”What name do you think this great tomb deserves?”

As his words fell, Zhang Fan’s eyelids twitched violently twice.

”Crippled Elder, he’s just a youngster, can’t take such jokes.”

Bai Yujing quickly stepped forward, smoothing things over.

”Jokes? Place of life and death, path to immortality—who jokes with him?” The lame old man grinned, baring yellowed teeth.

”Brat, perhaps when you die, you too will be buried here.”

Zhang Fan’s mouth moved, as if meaning to curse, but glancing at Bai Yujing’s respectful attitude, he swallowed it down.

”Crippled Elder, may I take him inside?” Bai Yujing asked, her tone uncertain.

”A Zhang entering the village? Do you think you’re the Three Corpses Daoist?”

The lame old man scoffed coldly, the fire in the brazier swirling into a vortex, and even the vast mist behind him surged and stirred.

”Crippled Elder...” Bai Yujing’s flower-like face turned pale, she called softly.

”Heh heh, just teasing you both.”

The lame old man waved his hand; with that, the fire in the brazier dimmed, and fluttering paper money slowly drifted down.

”Go on, then.”

At those words, Bai Yujing moved as though released from pardon, dragging Zhang Fan and Qin Ergou along as they hurried into the village.

The mist behind them roiled, veiling all; Zhang Fan looked back, glimpsing only the looming mass of the great tomb bathed in ghostly firelight and drifting paper currency.

”Aunt Bai, who exactly was that old... old man?” Zhang Fan couldn’t help but ask.

”He is the gravekeeper of the village. We all call him Crippled Elder,” Bai Yujing said solemnly.

”Gravekeeper? Guarding that giant tomb alone? He doesn’t feel like a Primordial Spirit kind...” Zhang Fan asked in doubt.

”You are quite right.”

Bai Yujing nodded: ”Since I joined the Wuwei Sect and became one of the Thirteen Zodiacs on my first visit to the village, Crippled Elder was already here.”

”I heard Jin Mao Day mention, when he joined the Wuwei Sect, he, too, had met Crippled Elder.”

”Rooster!?”

Zhang Fan mused deeply.

The Rooster, Jin Mao Day, ranks as one of the oldest among the Thirteen Zodiacs.

Eighty years ago, during the Daoist Sect’s great tribulation, the seniors of the Divine Evil lineage escaped death by failing to ascend the mountain for the grand ceremony. Before dying, he defied the ancestors, passed on the lineage twice, and took on two disciples.

One was Jin Mao Day, the other, Cui Siye.

Cui Siye’s dharma lineage, along with the Divine Evil Sect’s Treasure, the Divine Evil Fighting Robe, all were transmitted to Wen He.

As for Jin Mao Day, in his youth he parted ways with his senior brother, wandered the war-torn world, and amidst the corpses was rescued by Three Corpses Daoist. Thereafter, he became a disciple of the Wuwei Sect.

In this case, Jin Mao Day must be over eighty years old, likely the eldest of the Thirteen Zodiacs.

He had indeed seen the Three Corpses Daoist alive.

”If Jin Mao Day met him upon joining the Wuwei Sect, then that old... that old man must be truly advanced in age?” Zhang Fan couldn’t help but ask.

”No one knows.”

Bai Yujing shook her head: ”No one knows Crippled Elder’s origins. All we know is he is the village’s gravekeeper, never leaving the village, ever.”

”Everything in this village reeks of strangeness,” Zhang Fan said in a low voice.

Tai Sui Village, the sacred ground of the Wuwei Sect—secular folk forbidden, the living warned away; if it wasn’t strange, that itself would be strange.

”Rabbit’s Life Palace should be in that direction.”

Bai Yujing strode through the mist, paused suddenly, pointing a way ahead.

”Aunt Bai, with fog this thick, you can still tell directions?”

Zhang Fan glanced around, but there was not the slightest landmark. In such an environment, even if he spun in circles, he’d never know, much less fix a direction.

”Don’t forget—I, too, am one of the Thirteen Zodiacs. Naturally, I can sense the location of my Life Palace.” Bai Yujing answered coolly.

Of the Thirteen Zodiacs, the Snake is of the Fire element; Si lies in the Xun trigram, Wood element, southeast position, where Xun Wood engenders Si Fire.

Thus, the Si Snake’s Life Palace is in the southeast.

Bai Yujing faced southeast—within the boundless fog, in a trance, a palace-temple loomed faintly in the depths; observed with her Primordial Spirit, a spectral shadow of a great serpent coiled within, incense smoke curling like clouds, ascending three feet high, its body cloaked in bleak, surging firelight—which divided by yin and yang, proved to be yin fire.