Above the Great Dao
Chapter 225 - 121 Your Name (Asking for Votes at the Beginning of the Month)_2

Chapter 225: Chapter 121 Your Name (Asking for Votes at the Beginning of the Month)_2

The child rushed into his home, crying out, "Dad! Mom! I’m back!"

The courtyard of the old house was overgrown with weeds, everything was in disrepair, but the door creaked open, and two white-haired old people emerged, a man and a woman, trembling as they looked at the child running towards them.

"Xiao Jun is back!"

The old woman hurriedly crouched down, embracing the oncoming child, tears streaming down, choking with emotion, "Xiao Jun, you’re finally back! Mom’s been waiting for you for thirty years!"

The old man was also in tears, hugging both mother and child, incessantly saying, "I knew you’d come back! I knew you wouldn’t forget the way home, I even left the door ajar for you..."

"Dad, Mom, how come you both look so much older?"

The child gazed at the faces of the two elders, puzzled, "Mom, why is your hair white? Dad, why are there so many wrinkles on your face?"

The old woman affectionately touched his face: "Silly child, you’ve been gone for more than thirty years, of course, Dad and Mom aged."

The old man got up, bringing both mother and son to their feet, bowing and kowtowing to Chen Shi, repeatedly saying, "Thank you, benefactor, thank you for your rescue!"

Chen Shi said, "Since you have already been reunited, you should leave soon. The village’s godmother can’t protect you forever. If you absorb the moonlight, you will become an evil spirit. Let me send you off with a Rebirth Talisman."

The family of three was bewildered, not comprehending his meaning, but they nodded in agreement nonetheless.

Chen Shi activated the Three Light Righteous Qi Technique, circulating his Qi-Blood. Inside the small temple, Xiao Zao sat on the shrine, helping him regulate his Qi-Blood.

Chen Shi’s fingertips were tinged with a flow of vital energy, using Qi-Blood as ink, he wrote a Rebirth Talisman in the air.

"Swiftly—"

With a flick of his sword finger, the Rebirth Talisman shone brightly, growing more luminous, piercing through the Yin Yang Two Realms, carving out a path to another world.

The couple, holding their child’s hand, stepped onto the path formed by the light.

They felt a marvelous force from the other world drawing them in, calling out to them, so they followed the path.

As they moved further away, they looked back, waving towards Chen Shi from the end of the path.

As the light gradually faded, the family of three also vanished without a trace.

Chen Shi watched the burnt Rebirth Talisman for a moment in the dilapidated courtyard before turning to leave the desolate house.

By the well, the women were astonished to see him emerge, their whispers of discussion reaching his ears.

"Isn’t that Old Tian’s family? Old Tian and his wife have been dead for four or five years."

"Their house has been deserted for a long time. Recently, someone drunk broke in and saw the old couple sitting at the door, saying they were waiting for their son. Their son has been missing for thirty-four or thirty-five years."

"It’s quite pitiful, the old couple searched all their lives."

...

During the meal, Dingding couldn’t help but scrutinize Chen Shi, who had been served breakfast by the hosting villagers—pickled vegetables with sweet potato rice, and large maize ’wotou’.

—In Fei County, maize is referred to as large maize.

Dingding felt that Scholar Chen seemed to be preoccupied with something. Just as she was mustering up the courage to ask, Chen Shi suddenly showed an annoyed expression and slapped his thigh forcefully.

"Ah, I forgot to collect the money in Sancheng Village!"

Chen Shi was somewhat upset, "I knew I had forgotten something, and it was this! Green-robed Scholar, you still owe me twenty silvers!"

He slapped his thigh forcefully, full of regret.

Dingding had thought it was some significant matter and didn’t expect it to be about this, laughing and saying, "He did so much evil, he was nearly killed by you, and you’re still worrying about those twenty silvers?"

Chen Shi looked at her earnestly, with a serious expression, "He hired me to exorcise evil, and I did. He did evil, and I killed him. These are separate matters. Having resolved the evil spirit in Sancheng Village, he owes me money!"

He bit into the exceedingly tough ’wotou,’ his voice muffled with determination, "When he recovers from his injuries and comes to seek revenge, before I kill him, I must make sure he pays those twenty silvers!"

Dingding chuckled at his greed, wondering, "Can’t you collect the money upfront in the future?"

Chen Shi shook his head: "Grandfather said we mustn’t start the precedent of collecting money in advance, it’s a matter of principle. If you take the money first, you run the risk of looking like you’re extorting people with the threat of evil spirits, and those in distress might become anxious, fearing the Talisman Master might not do a good job. If you take the money after dealing with the evil spirits, the victims feel joyous, they are grateful and willing to give money, and you might even get a meal out of it, getting respect and toasts."

Dingding was still unaware of the peculiar customs held by symbol masters in the countryside.

She had followed Madam Hua Li, traveling from the south to the north, seen much of the world, and encountered numerous symbol masters who roamed between town and country, but she had never delved deeply into their ways.

After they finished breakfast, Chen Shi performed his morning exercises and then packed his belongings, bidding farewell to the two families where they had stayed. Chen Shi gave each household half a piece of silver, but the men and women of both families hurried after them, repeatedly saying, "You’ve given too much! Too much! Why pay for just one night’s stay?"

They tried to stuff the silver back at Chen Shi, insisting he take it.

Chen Shi hurriedly declined, gesturing for Black Pot to speed up the wooden cart.

Black Pot grabbed Compass, and the wooden cart gradually picked up speed, racing away swiftly, shooting out of Yanfeng Village in a trail of dust.

The two couples chased to the edge of the village, but seeing they couldn’t catch up, had to give up.

Suddenly, one of the men seemed to remember something and exclaimed in shock, "That black dog just now, was it running on two legs or four?"

With his remark, everyone came to their senses, and one after another they said, "That dog, it seemed to stand on two legs, and it was holding something round in its hand!"

"That dog seemed to speak to me last night!"

"An evil spirit—"

The crowd scattered in a hubbub, each returning to their own home, locking their doors tight, trembling in fear.

Chen Shi and Dingding continued to the nearby town to sell talismans, with Chen Shi responsible for painting them and Dingding for selling them.

Drawing talismans was still done with black dog blood and cinnabar. Although Chen Shi could manage to draw talismans with empty hands, it consumed a significant amount of qi-blood, and the effect was nowhere near as good as those drawn with black dog blood and cinnabar.

More crucially, the effectiveness of the talismans drawn with Black Pot’s blood had been improving by the day. Chen Shi was even somewhat worried that they were becoming too effective, which might sever his own business. For example, if a Peach Talisman were too effective, it might not spoil for an entire year, meaning there would be no business for a year.

However, there were more important matters waiting for Chen Shi.

Dingding managed the talisman stall, while he focused on diligently practicing the art of drawing talismans with empty hands, repeatedly practicing various types of talismans so that he could fluidly draw them without end, his qi-blood unceasing.

His grandfather had taught him a great many talismans, and with his extraordinary memory, Chen Shi selected those for combat and protection, focusing on practicing them.

He was doing this in preparation for the retaliation from the Green-robed Scholar.

This time, the Green-robed Scholar had fallen into his trap because of his element of surprise and Chen Shi’s unexpected attack, but the scholar’s Southern Sect talismans were indeed very powerful and not to be underestimated.

Especially concerning was the Green-robed Scholar’s speed in drawing talismans—it was incredibly fast, using his own blood to draw talismans that took shape in an instant, far quicker than Chen Shi’s current pace!

The Green-robed Scholar’s injuries would heal sooner or later, hence Chen Shi had to prepare early to counter this talisman master’s assault!

"Green-robed Scholar, your wounds must be healing by now, right?"

At dinner, Chen Shi said to Dingding, "He still owes me twenty pieces of silver."

Another day passed, and while practicing, Chen Shi remembered the issue and said again, "The Green-robed Scholar’s injuries must be mostly healed by now. I should have asked for his name. He still hasn’t paid me the twenty pieces of silver he owes."

On the third day, Chen Shi looked towards the horizon with a touch of melancholy, muttering to himself, "Twenty pieces of silver..."

On the fourth day, Dingding noticed that Chen Shi didn’t mention the Green-robed Scholar or the twenty pieces of silver anymore, but he seemed much more haggard, practicing the art of drawing talismans with empty hands while constantly looking around uneasily.

"Talisman Master Chen!" someone called out to him.

His face lit up with joy, only to turn somewhat disheartened.

The newcomer wasn’t the Green-robed Scholar.

"’The debtor is always the lord,’ no doubt about it," Dingding thought to herself.

On the fifth day, Chen Shi seemed gloomy and dispirited, when suddenly a malevolent wind blew through, cold to the bone.

Chen Shi was greatly invigorated, laughed heartily, and called out loudly, "Green-robed Scholar, what’s your name?"

In the sky, the traction worm, into which the Green-robed Scholar had transformed, hovered in midair. Hearing this, he felt a jolt within, "He wants to kill me!"

—The beginning of the month, asking for your monthly ticket to surge in the rankings, only two hundred votes behind the previous rank!

This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦