Thousand Dusts Ferry Me - Chapter 50

The next morning, Chu Yanzhang sent someone to invite Yun Qing and the other three.

The four arrived at a flower hall where Chu Yanzhang and Chu Yanhe were already waiting for them. Upon seeing them arrive, Chu Yanzhang said nothing but suddenly knelt down and respectfully performed a deep bow.

Cheng Suiyan was closest and quickly helped him up, saying, “City Lord Chu, what are you doing?”

Chu Yanhe explained from the side, “My big brother’s men who were sent to Linglong Mountain returned yesterday. They said they saw the corpse of a beast as large as a mountain inside Linglong Mountain. Now my brother finally believes you.”

She still hadn’t recovered from the shock of her Ai Ge turning stupid, her eyebrows drooping with her spirits, and even her voice lacked its previous vigor.

Fu Xue wanted to remind her about how she had called her senior sister a liar yesterday, but seeing her so dejected, she softened and decided not to mention it.

Chu Yanzhang’s expression was solemn. “That monster has plagued Linglong City for hundreds of years. Now that it has finally been eliminated, you have bestowed upon our Linglong City a kindness as weighty as a mountain. Linglong City will remember this forever. Such great kindness cannot be repaid with mere words. If you have any requests, I, Yanzhang, will brave fire and water to fulfill them without hesitation.”

Fu Xue said, “City Lord Chu, you’re being too formal. As cultivators, it is our duty to eliminate evil and protect the righteous. We wouldn’t think of it as any great kindness.”

Cheng Suiyan nodded with a smile, “Indeed.”

Chu Yanzhang glanced at Chu Yanhe, who then said:

“My big brother plans to hold a feast three days from now to celebrate your achievements with the entire city. There will be flower-decorated carriages parading through the streets, and at night, there will be fireworks and colored lanterns. You must attend… Really, big brother, this is a good thing. What’s there to be embarrassed about?”

Chu Yanzhang ignored her last remark, nodded, and looked at Yun Qing with a somewhat expectant gaze.

Yun Qing hesitated a bit. “Wouldn’t this be too high-profile?”

“This is just a small token of Linglong City’s appreciation.”

Yun Qing wasn’t very good at refusing others’ goodwill, so she nodded, “Then we gratefully accept.”

Chu Yanzhang breathed a sigh of relief and brought up another matter, “I heard from my sister that the people of Linglong City became stupid because they lost their earth souls?”

“From what we can tell, that appears to be the case.”

“Do you have any clues about this? My younger brother… is there any chance he can recover?”

Yun Qing and Jiang Baiyu exchanged a glance. “Baiyu, you explain.”

“Mm,” Jiang Baiyu nodded slightly. “Yun Qing and I both believe that to investigate the cause of the missing earth souls, we need to start with the mountain god’s bride who committed suicide over two hundred years ago.”

“Why? Didn’t you say the earth souls’ disappearance had nothing to do with the mountain god?”

“It is indeed unrelated to the mountain god, but not necessarily unrelated to that bride.

First, the earliest earth soul disappearances occurred shortly after the bride’s suicide, matching the timeline.

Second, when we first entered Linglong City, all the citizens mentioned that Linglong City had offended the mountain god, but not one mentioned the bride who committed suicide. It was Yanchuan who told us about the bride after reading it in family archives.

So we suspect someone is covering up the connection between the bride’s suicide and the missing earth souls.

Of course, it’s also possible that people have simply forgotten this incident due to the passage of time. But regardless, there are currently many coincidences pointing to that bride.”

Chu Yanzhang lowered his eyes and pondered for a while before asking, “What does the City Lord’s mansion need to do?”

Yun Qing said, “First, go to the Chongshen Society and bring us the registry with that bride’s name. If there are other things about her, bring those too. The more detailed, the better.”

****

In the end, they only obtained the registry.

After all, it had been too long ago, and she had no descendants. No one would have kept her belongings, nor would anyone have written books about an ordinary woman who tried to resist her fate.

This woman didn’t even have a proper name. On the registry, she was called Wei Sanniang.

Wei Sanniang’s parents made tofu for a living. They lived in Anle Lane in the southern part of the city. She was twenty years old when she died.

Yun Qing asked Chu Yanzhang for a guide, and the four followed the guide to Anle Lane.

As soon as they reached Anle Lane, Yun Qing’s expression suddenly became strange.

Cheng Suiyan asked, “Haven’t we been to this place before?”

Fu Xue answered, “Indeed we have. Didn’t that Li Siniang’s in-laws live here? We came here on our first day in Linglong City. There was even a female ghost in a red dress hanging from the osmanthus tree in front of their house. People were cooling off under it in summer, um—”

Fu Xue suddenly realized why her senior sister’s expression had changed. She looked at Yun Qing, “No way, what a coincidence?”

The four found that large osmanthus tree. The female ghost in red was still hanging there properly, staring blankly as they approached her.

Yun Qing felt somewhat of a headache.

This female ghost was clearly an earth-bound spirit, guarding this osmanthus tree. And because she had been dead for so long, her memories had been eroded by the passage of time.

When Yun Qing interrogated her that day, she couldn’t even remember her own name, only knowing that she was waiting for someone under the osmanthus tree.

How were they supposed to question her now?

Perhaps they could try at midnight when the yin energy was at its peak. Maybe then she might regain some consciousness.

……

At midnight, a light autumn rain began to fall. The autumn wind carried raindrops onto the dim lanterns, and the fragrance of osmanthus flowers was dampened by the rain, scattered and melancholy like strands of sorrow.

Jiang Baiyu set up a yin-gathering formation under the osmanthus tree. The surrounding yin energy flowed like water towards the center, forming an invisible energy eye.

The surroundings grew increasingly cold.

The yin-gathering formation couldn’t be maintained for too long. Otherwise, if the ghost within absorbed too much yin energy and gained power, she might harm the area.

As the yin energy gathered, the ghost’s eyes gained some brightness, and her red dress appeared more vivid.

“Wei Sanniang?” Yun Qing tried calling her.

“Ah…” Wei Sanniang’s suspended body swayed, and she looked down at her. “Are you calling me?”

Yun Qing rubbed her neck. “Could you come down to talk? Looking up like this is tiring for me.”

“Oh.” She withdrew her head from the rope and slowly descended, stepping—or rather, floating—on the ground.

Yun Qing was satisfied with her response, indicating she was indeed more lucid than during the day.

“Who are you?” Wei Sanniang asked. She had an oval face, phoenix eyes with long eyelashes, and cherry-like lips. It was evident she had been a beauty in life, though her hair was somewhat thin.

Yun Qing didn’t answer but instead asked, “I heard you’re waiting for someone?”

“Ah, yes, I’m waiting for him.”

“Who are you waiting for?”

“Waiting for, ah, who am I waiting for…”

“Think carefully.”

“Waiting for, waiting for, I’m waiting for Jing Lang! Jing Lang, why haven’t you come yet, wuwu—” She began to sob, raising her sleeve to wipe her eyes, though there were no actual tears.

“What’s Jing Lang’s full name? Tell us clearly so we can help you find him.”

“His name is, his name is…” She racked her brains, getting so anxious that she began scratching her face. Her red fingernails left several marks on her pale face, but there was no blood, as if a cat had scratched open a worn piece of leather.

“Don’t rush, think carefully. What’s his surname?”

“His surname, his surname is Chu! Yes, he’s called Chu Jing’an!”

Surnamed Chu? Yun Qing couldn’t help but raise her eyebrows.

After questioning her for a while longer, the ghost’s speech became jumbled. Yun Qing roughly pieced together her story.

She came from a humble family. Because of her beauty, many came to propose marriage.

While helping her family sell tofu, she met Chu Jing’an and they fell in love.

Chu Jing’an was raised by a widowed mother. His family wasn’t wealthy, but he was smart, alert, and ambitious.

They met under the osmanthus tree in the alley and pledged their love there, which was why she loved osmanthus flowers so much.

Her parents took her and Chu Jing’an’s birth charts to a fortune teller, not knowing that the fortune teller was in cahoots with the Chongshen Society and gave her birth chart to them.

The Chongshen Society took her birth chart to the mountain god’s temple to consult the deity. The mountain god was pleased and specifically requested her as a bride.

The Chongshen Society used threats and inducements, and eventually her parents gave in. After all, the whole family needed to survive, and she wasn’t their only child.

Chu Jing’an said he could solve the problem and asked her to wait for him.

But in the end, she didn’t wait for his return.

On the eve of her wedding, while the matchmaker guarding her was asleep, she escaped and returned to this alley, the place where she grew up.

She returned to the osmanthus tree where they had pledged their love.

Then a red silk cord ended her life, hanging from the tree.

She thought she would wait for him here forever.

And she believed her Jing Lang would definitely come find her.

Fu Xue listened until she cried, wiping her tears and saying, “That Chu Jing’an is such a bastard, a heartless man!”

Yun Qing asked, “Did he really never come even once?”

The ghost’s expression was distant. “Did he come? It seems like he did, yet also like he didn’t. I can’t remember. Ah, my Jing Lang!” Then she began to ramble incoherently again.

……

On their way back, Cheng Suiyan asked, “Could Chu Jing’an be related to the missing earth souls? Is he an evil cultivator?”

Fu Xue, still speaking with a nasal tone from crying earlier, said, “It’s certainly possible, but where do we find this Chu Jing’an?”

Cheng Suiyan said, “Indeed, it’s been over two hundred years.”

Jiang Baiyu said, “Since earth souls are still disappearing every day, he probably hasn’t left Linglong City.”

“That’s true,” Fu Xue nodded, then thought of another question. “What does he do with so many earth souls—just eat them? One a day, won’t he burst?”

A flash of insight suddenly crossed Yun Qing’s mind but vanished just as quickly, before she could grasp the thought.

Jiang Baiyu had expected Yun Qing to say something and glanced at her, only to see her staring blankly. So he said:

“According to texts I’ve read before, generally speaking, when stealing human souls, one either eats them or uses them to forge magical treasures. Demons usually eat souls, while both humans and demons might use souls to forge magical treasures.”

Cheng Suiyan said, “So if the person stealing earth souls is really Chu Jing’an, then he’s using the earth souls to forge a magical treasure?”

“That’s one possibility, but there are others. After all, there are three thousand great Dao paths, and many strange secret techniques aren’t recorded in texts.”

Fu Xue threw up her hands, “You’re just stating the obvious.”

Yun Qing finally gave up trying to recapture that fleeting thought and disappointedly thumped her head.

Jiang Baiyu smiled and pulled her wrist. “What are you doing? Don’t knock yourself silly.”

Yun Qing looked up at the black night sky shrouded in rain. “Forget it, let’s go back to sleep.”

The four braved the wind and rain back to the City Lord’s mansion. Just as they stepped through the door, Yun Qing’s expression sharpened.

Even Fu Xue sensed it and said solemnly, “Such powerful demonic energy!”