Ten Thousand Soul Banner: Deceased, do you have any unfulfilled wishes?
Chapter 38: Soul Hooking

Chapter 38: Chapter 38: Soul Hooking

Shen Siyuan stood there staring blankly at the place where the old Taoist had disappeared, it took a while before he came back to his senses.

Although he had only met the old Taoist for the second time, the old Taoist had helped Shen Siyuan a great deal by resolving many of his doubts about this world, so Shen Siyuan thought highly of him.

But he hadn’t expected the other party to disappear so completely in front of him.

However, what was done could not be undone, Shen Siyuan no longer dwelled on it and continued to look at the items in his hand.

It was a pity, he hadn’t even had time to tell the old Taoist what the Jade Seal and Jade Token were before he vanished.

The old Taoist spent his entire life not figuring out what these two items were, but Shen Siyuan knew that they were both kinds of Sealing Decrees, and their functions were similar.

One seemed to be a Mountain God Seal, and the other a River God Decree, both items representing identity, and likewise, representing divine positions.

Shen Siyuan knew these because there were similar items in the Great Wilderness.

Unfortunately, these two Imperial Decrees had lost their spiritual energy and were of no use, becoming just ordinary items.

That’s why the old Taoist only knew that they were extraordinary in origin, but couldn’t figure out why.

Shen Siyuan put down the Embrace the Wind and Sleep, and picked up the last bundle of iron chains.

The chains were only as thick as a finger, no more than two meters long, and although called iron chains, they weren’t actually made of iron in reality.

Because their entire body was black, and touching them felt icy cool, almost weightless.

Shen Siyuan looked closely and became more and more pleasantly surprised, eventually unable to suppress a smile on his face.

Because this was a Soul-hooking Chain, an item of the Ghost Messengers of the Underworld, specifically used for soul-hooking and soul-locking.

Although it was an ordinary item in the Netherworld, for the current Shen Siyuan, it was extremely useful.

Most importantly, this item did not require nature’s spiritual energy, but only Netherworld Energy for nourishment in order to be refined and used freely.

And what Shen Siyuan had in abundance was Netherworld Energy. Thinking of this, Shen Siyuan’s mind stirred, calling out the Ten Thousand Soul Banner, and with a flick of his fingers, he tapped lightly on the Soul-hooking Chain.

A wisp of faint blue flame twined around the Soul-hooking Chain, and the originally entirely black chain began to emit a faint blue ghostly light.

Finally, the Soul-hooking Chain jumped up from the ground, like a snake waking from hibernation, wriggling on the ground a few times before winding around the wrist of Shen Siyuan’s gesture-making hand, moving upwards along his arm, like a playful Spirit Snake.

But that wasn’t the end of it; Shen Siyuan grabbed the tail of the Soul-hooking Chain, and the chain seemed to shiver, becoming stiff as a javelin in an instant, but soon softened again, yet it did not fall to the ground. Instead, it floated in midair, spinning up and down around Shen Siyuan’s body.

Shen Siyuan pointed forward, and the Soul-hooking Chain seemed to become sentient, immediately rolling towards the direction of his finger.

"Good... good..."

Shen Siyuan was overjoyed; although everyone in the Underworld had one of these chains, it was indeed useful.

But also for this reason, Shen Siyuan was able to refine it easily.

Of course, there was also the possibility that its former owner had long fallen, the absence of the original owner’s imprint being one of the reasons.

Regardless, now the Soul-hooking Chain belonged to him.

With a thought from Shen Siyuan, the Soul-hooking Chain wrapped up several items on the ground, and then they fell into Shen Siyuan’s palm.

Shen Siyuan picked up the shovel and walked towards the broken gate of the Taoist Temple.

Upon reaching the gate, he looked at the Bodhi Tree in front of him, with the breeze fluttering the leaves, and the sunlight sprinkling onto the ground, as if dragons and fish were dancing.

Such a beautiful scene, yet Shen Siyuan felt a faint sense of sadness rise in his heart.

He looked back again at the ruins of the Tingfeng Temple behind him, his gaze fell on the statue of the Three Pure Ones in the main hall, put down the shovel, made another bow, and then once again gathered his things and walked down the mountain.

A light breeze picked up a Bodhi Leaf that floated leisurely into the temple, circling the statue of the Three Pure Ones, twirling around, and finally landed on the broken offering table.

-----------------

"On such a hot day, where have you been?"

Hearing the sound of the motorcycle, Huang Huijuan came out from inside the house.

"Didn’t I tell you, I went to see my classmate."

"You buried him?" Huang Huijuan looked at the shovel lying across the back of the motorcycle.

"Mom, what nonsense are you talking about?"

"Nonsense? I think you’re the one who isn’t speaking the truth, taking a shovel to see a classmate."

"We buried a time capsule before, and I just remembered it today, so we dug it out," Shen Siyuan lies with quite a bit of skill.

Huang Huijuan looks at her son skeptically.

"Where is that thing?"

"My classmate took it home."

"Which classmate?"

"You wouldn’t know them even if I told you."

"Is it a male classmate or female classmate?"

"Mom, why are you asking so many questions, where’s Dad?" Shen Siyuan is getting annoyed by her questioning.

"He’s in the bedroom sleeping."

"It’s so late already and he’s still sleeping."

Shen Siyuan wipes his sweat, having been busy all afternoon his clothes were soaked with sweat.

"There’s watermelon in the fridge, have some, I’ll go wake your dad and ask him to drive you," says Huang Huijuan as she turns to go call Shen Jianjun.

Shen Siyuan washes his hands and then returns to his room to take out the Jade Seal and Jade Token from his pocket and tosses them into the drawer. The only exception is the Soul-hooking Chain which he ties around his waist as a belt.

It’s a pity that the space inside the Ten Thousand Soul Banner can’t be opened yet; once it’s accessible, he can directly store the Soul-hooking Chain inside the Ten Thousand Soul Banner.

When he comes out of his room again, his dad has already gotten up and is pouring water into his cup from a bottle.

Shen Jianjun glances at Shen Siyuan, but doesn’t ask where he’s been all afternoon.

Instead, it’s Huang Huijuan who starts to complain when she sees Shen Siyuan didn’t eat the watermelon.

"You really are a young master, aren’t you? You won’t eat the watermelon if I don’t serve it to you, huh?"

As she speaks, she takes the watermelon out of the fridge, while Shen Jianjun, who was just pouring water, has already gone to the kitchen to get a knife.

"You have a couple of slices, then take your son to town."

Shen Jianjun nods, cutting open the watermelon and passing the middle part to Huang Huijuan.

Huang Huijuan, not at all shy, takes it directly.

"Is there anything you need to buy, I can bring it back on the way," says Shen Jianjun.

Huang Huijuan thinks for a bit and says, "Buy some marinated delicacies."

"Okay, I’ll buy some lamb as well, we can have a barbecue tonight," responds Shen Jianjun.

"Then I’ll freeze some beers for you later," says Huang Huijuan.

Shen Siyuan is nibbling on his watermelon, listening to their conversation.

This chilled watermelon feels especially refreshing today.

So this is how you play, huh? I won’t come back next time, Shen Siyuan thinks to himself, irked.

"Mom, I’m going."

Shen Siyuan straddles the motorcycle, waving to Huang Huijuan.

"Go on, go on, I get annoyed just looking at you," Huang Huijuan says with a look of exasperation.

She steps forward, though, adjusting Shen Siyuan’s collar, then takes out a wad of cash from her pocket and stuffs it into his.

"Mom~" Shen Siyuan calls out touched.

"Alright, quit it. I’m giving you money, be thrifty," she says.

"That’s not what I meant. I’m saying can you not give me cash next time? I have to deposit it into my bank account, it’s such a hassle, you could just transfer it to me via WeChat or Alipay..."

Hearing this, Huang Huijuan becomes so annoyed that she raises her hand to hit him.

Shen Siyuan quickly pats Shen Jianjun’s back.

"Dad, let’s go."

But even though the motorcycle has started, it isn’t moving.

Not until Shen Siyuan gets punched several times on his back does his father finally step on the gas.