The young couple broke down upon hearing this. Chen Ji seemed to have lost control of his tongue, and he heard his own voice say, “What, did you only just find out today that they were being sent for the mountain sacrifice? Or did it hit you after dinner? What were you doing the past couple of days? All that talk about rich families looking for a gold boy and jade girl—that might fool someone else.”
Chen Ji’s soul seemed to have been drawn out of Master Chen’s body, facing that aged, wise face head-on.
Master Chen turned to Uncle Zhou. “Gold boy and jade girl? Hmph, Old Zhou, do you know why those rich folks don’t look anywhere else but in these backwoods? Do you have any idea what they do with the gold boys and jade girls once they take them home?”
“It’s only out here in the mountains—dirt poor and desperate enough to see God and the devil—that a bit of cash sends them packing. The kids don’t even have household registration, so whatever happens to them out there is up to the bosses.” Master Chen lit a cigarette, crossed his legs, and jabbed a finger at the couple. “They go to all that trouble because they’re buying lives! All those feng shui believers—blasting mountains, paving roads, erecting buildings, putting up houses—don’t they need to drive in a couple of living piles? When the old master kicks the bucket, don’t they bury a pair of child servants with him?!”
The young couple went ghastly white. Uncle Zhou staggered back three steps.
What Master Chen meant was clear: from the very start, this couple had known exactly what their brood of children was being bought for. A sum like that was never for anything legit. But now, for whatever reason, they’d had a change of heart and come begging “Master Chen” for help.
Otherwise, why show up three days late? Forget two nursing infants—even a strapping young man in his twenties tossed into these mountains might not last three days!
Uncle Zhou’s chest heaved. “You heartless pair! Aren’t you afraid of retribution? The kids are barely out of the womb—a rare set of dragon-phoenix twins! You… you… ptui!”
The couple wailed in supplication. “Sir, we really know we were wrong! Please save us, sir! Please! The family was starving—we had no choice! Those two wronged spirits came to us in dreams. They said if we don’t get them back, they’ll drag us down with them!”
Master Chen lowered his gaze. He pinched his fingers, calculating silently for a moment, then said, “No can do. It’s a debt you owe, and no one can pay it for you. You’d be better off heading home than wasting time here with me.”
Uncle Zhou’s expression flickered. He leaned in and whispered to “Master Chen,” “Really can’t save them? Then why bother coming down the mountain? For a free meal?”
Master Chen waved him off, signaling the two Zhou nephews to haul the couple away. The nephews obeyed their uncle without hesitation, each grabbing one and dragging them off into the distance. Only then did Master Chen speak. “I didn’t know when I came down. No wonder I spotted Grandpa Huang Er on my way—it was a warning to stay put.”
“The little ones were clinging to the couple’s legs.”
Uncle Zhou’s face twisted. “Fuck your mothers! And you still had your nephews drag them off?!”
Master Chen waved a hand dismissively. “Every grudge has its target, every debt its debtor. The nephews had nothing to do with it. They can just take a hot bath when they get home… I cast a divination just now. I can’t touch this matter, or else…”
Those two children were no ordinary souls. Born into such a calamity, they were surely tangled in karma from past lives. Dead only two days, yet already showing signs of turning into red-clothed ghosts. They were almost certainly a pair of red-clothed spirits who had reincarnated.
After finally finding a body, they’d been inexplicably killed by their parents’ greed. That grudge demanded vengeance.
Just then, a frail old woman shuffled over, so ancient and rickety she could scarcely walk. She was tiny and slight, as if a stiff breeze might carry her off, but her ragged clothes were neat and her hair tidy. Master Chen and Uncle Zhou hurried to their feet, supporting her one on each side as they helped her to a seat. “Grandma Yun, what brings you here?”
“Grandma Yun, it’s getting dark. No one to walk you home?” Uncle Zhou muttered a couple more curses under his breath. “A pair of dog-fucking bastards!”
Grandma Yun shook her head faintly and took the seat of honor. She lifted her head slightly, the deep wrinkles around her eyes parting just enough, and said in a quavering voice, “A Chen… this matter… can you handle it?”
Supporting her arm, Uncle Zhou snapped, “Granny, why help them? They’re rotten to the core! They ignore you, won’t lift a finger for your food or drink, steal what’s yours, and now they’ve sold their own kids! They deserve what’s coming!”
Grandma Yun patted Uncle Zhou’s arm, however. Her withered hand clutched Master Chen’s tightly. “Can… you do it? The last one… we have to keep him. Can’t… let down your… grandpa.”
Grandma Yun was the young couple’s great-grandmother—and the benefactor who had saved both Uncle Zhou and Master Chen. Back during the famine, when countless starved, she and Grandpa Yun had taken pity on the two boys, skin and bones from hunger, and sheltered them, sharing their meager rice until the crisis passed.
They had planned to support her and her husband as their own parents in gratitude. But the Yun family had sprouted nothing but rotten shoots from good stock. After the fallout, Master Chen had returned to the mountain to serve as temple priest, while Uncle Zhou stayed in the village. They kept their distance from the Yun household but helped in secret. As the Yun family dwindled to just Granny, with Master Chen’s bad leg keeping him from descending easily, he’d send money for Uncle Zhou to buy necessities and deliver them quietly. They couldn’t send much, though—too much, and the couple would snatch it away.
Floating in midair, Chen Ji watched his grandfather let out a long sigh and murmur, “All right.” He agreed.
Uncle Zhou escorted Grandma Yun home. When he returned, he asked Master Chen, “You really going to handle it? More trouble than it’s worth? You’ve got one foot in the grave already—don’t rush toward the other. If it’s too much, I’ll chuck them beyond the mountain and say they went off to work.”
Master Chen shook his head and fell silent for a long moment. Then he chuckled suddenly. Today, the schoolteacher had told him he’d come to no good end… Heh. How right he was!
“Troublesome, sure. But worth a shot,” Master Chen said. “Granny’s getting on in years. We can’t let her line die out. We have to try.”
To others, “Granny” was a mark of respect for her age. To them, it was short for “young mistress”—the name they’d used since she saved their lives.
Uncle Zhou scrubbed a hand over his face. “Fine, you call the shots. Just say the word on how to do it!”
Master Chen thought for a moment. “Call that couple back. Do you still have the swaddling clothes the little ones slept in? Lay them out on the floor—no stepping on them. Have the couple kowtow their way here, one step at a time.”
“Tch, back to your mumbo-jumbo! Why didn’t someone drag you out and shoot you years ago?” Uncle Zhou grumbled, but he went off to make it happen.
He griped, but he believed.
Chen Ji settled onto the other side of the large square table. He sighed wordlessly. Saving that couple… would be difficult.
His grandfather had probably died because of this.
About an hour later, the couple kowtowed their way back to Master Chen. The two children were no longer clinging to their legs. Instead, they lay wrapped in swaddling clothes, their sha qi now a deep crimson. They glared viciously at Master Chen, as if to say, Mind your own business.
Master Chen dismissed everyone but kept the swaddling clothes behind.
He looked at the two infants and addressed them. “You two forced your way into reincarnation when you already bore a brush with life and death. Now that tribulation’s come due. Killing the couple won’t change anything. Heed my advice: find a better chance to reincarnate…”
The boy infant let out a sinister chuckle. 【Easier said than done. A pair of villains like that is hard to come by! They’re fated for three sons. They’ve lost their first. Who between my sister and me takes that slot?】
Master Chen looked more haggard. “Must it be this couple? What if I take you to find a better fit elsewhere?”
【No!】 The girl infant’s voice shrilled. 【They’re my enemies! They harmed me and killed my mother. I have to reincarnate into their family and torment them for life!】
【Stay out of it, old man!】 the boy snapped. 【We missed our shot this time, but we’re killing them anyway. After that, whose womb we pick next is none of your business!】
【Granny pities us? We pity Granny too—she even gave me two candies! She hasn’t got long anyway. We’ll torment the couple for a few years, then finish them.】
Master Chen sighed. “No room for talk, then?”
【No room for… Ah—!】 Before the words finished, a scream erupted from the swaddling. Master Chen’s left and right hands each gripped a peach wood nail. He drove them into the bundles. Countless strands of crimson sha qi burrowed into his body. His fingers blackened like coal. The boy howled, 【You’ll get yours! You’ll get yours!】
The girl spat venomously, 【You show no mercy, so we won’t show any for you!】
Master Chen’s once ruddy face had turned ashen gray. He coughed once and murmured lowly, 【No need to run. Trading myself for you two… is still possible…】
With that, he clenched his hands hard. The peach wood nails pierced straight through his own palms, pinning him to the swaddling clothes. The crimson sha qi grew ever thicker as his vital energy withered rapidly. Victory hung in the balance when, all at once, the sha qi from the boy’s bundle surged. Master Chen glanced that way—only for the girl’s bundle to shrivel flat. By the time he realized it, the children had tricked him with an illusion—one swapped for the other. The girl had escaped.
Something seemed to dawn on him. Ignoring the blood he coughed up, he had Uncle Zhou carry him to the mountain gate. There, he begged Grandpa Huang Er to take him up the mountain.
【Well now, Old Man Chen. Never thought I’d see you begging.】 Grandpa Huang Er snorted coldly.
Master Chen cupped his hands and offered a magical artifact. “Second Grandpa, I beg you… Ah…”
Grandpa Huang Er pocketed the item and finally led Master Chen back up to the Mountain God Temple. Chen Ji followed along through his eyes. There, he saw the Red-Clothed Ghost—in a pair of red embroidered shoes—chasing after his younger self, intent on seizing his body.
“Stop!” Master Chen burst in. The Red-Clothed Ghost sneered coldly but actually halted. 【Just you wait, Old Man Chen! I’ll see how many more days you have left!】
Master Chen scooped up the unconscious “Chen Ji,” coughing up blood nonstop.
Grandpa Huang Er reverted to his original form and hopped nimbly onto the well’s edge to lick his paws. 【Oho, Old Man Chen. You’ve got maybe half a month left at best! Your grandson’s been marked. What now?】
【How did you provoke that fiend just now? She saw you and hated you with every fiber of her being. If I hadn’t been following you, she could’ve slaughtered your entire family right then and there!】
Master Chen let out a bitter laugh. “I…”
Chen Ji paused. He sensed that what came next was of utmost importance, so he stared intently at his grandfather, waiting for him to continue.
Unbeknownst to him, a strand of black mist coiled around his waist. In an instant, his entire body was dragged into an icy embrace. Everything around him froze in that moment—only the black mist entwined around him remained active. He heard a voice that pierced straight into his consciousness: 【You… are… looking… at… what… mine…】
【Mine…】
【Chen Ji…】
