Yinshan Record

Chapter 3 Old Wounds
Silent all night.

Even though Su Che confirmed that the ghost would not come again tonight, neither the page nor the herb gatherer could sleep at night.

They gazed at each other, though they had endless things to say, but the night wind howled, sounding like the wailing of wronged ghosts. The rattling of windows and tiles seemed to be the work of eerie spirits.

The group had no choice but to stay by the fire and endure the long, dark night.

Su Che, however, felt relieved.

It has been confirmed that the culprit in this withered forest temple is a wood spirit, and since I have the sword box in hand, it is perfect to counter this creature.

Then you might as well go to sleep peacefully.

So this sleep was naturally the darkest and sweetest it had been since the transmigration.

The rooster crows three times, and the world is bathed in light.

The group, gathered around the burnt embers, finally mustered the courage to speak and began discussing their experiences from the previous night.

The horror they each felt goes without saying, but they began to talk about their experiences the previous night.

"Aren't you afraid of people? You can't move a muscle at all. I'm not kidding you, but even the strongest men in our village can walk ten miles of mountain road without stopping. At night, they don't have a shred of strength left."

"Seventh Brother is right. That thing looks like a millstone, and it just looks like a ball of light..."

"Think about it, that thing from last night, didn't it look like a woman with long hair from a distance..."

"I look like a skull..."

"It's a calf..."

The wood spirit that turned into a green ox after ten thousand years is normal, since it's less than ten thousand years old.

"I look more like a nun. Isn't this a Buddhist temple?"

It's quite reasonable for a nun to appear in a Buddhist temple.

"What can you see if you're all lying on the ground like that?" The young page looked at them with disdain, then looked at the dark-faced man next to him with great respect.

"Brother Zhou, you were with my young master last night. Did you see how he slew that monster?"

The dark-faced man glanced at the newly appointed county magistrate lying on the straw and thought to himself that this family was really strange.

This county magistrate, clearly from a wealthy family, lay on the straw without a care in the world. The other, clearly a page, was so incessantly chattering.

Shouldn't the servants of wealthy families be the most adept at reading between the lines and changing their allegiance according to the prevailing winds?

Why is this person so simple-minded?

The dark-faced man glanced at the pageboy's charming eyes and guessed at the relationship between the two.

"You were asleep last night when I heard a series of rattling sounds. The embers of the fire immediately turned a ghostly green, and the roof tiles on the windowsill kept rattling..."

The dark-faced man recounted what he had seen and heard the previous night. He was able to become the leader of this group of herb gatherers not only because he was fair and willing to suffer losses, but also because he was eloquent.

He described what happened last night in great detail.

"...Then I saw the county magistrate gently pat the box and say the word 'please'..."

The dark-faced man couldn't explain how Su Che had severed the blue light outside, so he stopped talking for a moment.

"and then?"

When the young page was in the capital, he heard many anecdotes about those practitioners. There was a master who practiced the Joyful Zen meditation so much that he forgot to eat and sleep for ten days straight. Just when he was about to succeed, he lost control of himself and his practice was ruined. In anger, he returned to secular life and became a butcher who slaughtered pigs and dogs.

A swordsman, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, broke into the deep palace and stole the Empress's undergarment, also taking the waistbands of several eunuchs along the way. Stealing the undergarment was relatively harmless, but when he tried to steal the eunuchs' waistbands, he was discovered by the palace's night patrol guards, resulting in a bloody massacre. In the end, the swordsman escaped by throwing himself into the Yangtze River.

A Taoist priest, in his quest to refine a batch of external elixirs, encountered a demon in his heart. In his dream, he transformed into a famous courtesan, was redeemed by a disabled wealthy merchant, and had nine children. Finally, he was attacked by robbers who killed his entire family, and he was then humiliated for three years. He suddenly awoke from his dream, only to find that he had ruined a batch of elixirs.

I never expected that my third young master, the invincible night tyrant of the brothel, the wealthy benefactor of the courtesans, would have such methods.

"It sounds like the skill that swordsmen cultivate with their lives, keeping a precious sword in a scabbard..."

The young pageboy pointed his right hand like a sword, striking a pose in front of the herb gatherers, trying to recall the incantation the storyteller had mentioned at the market, but he couldn't remember it no matter how hard he tried.

Those storytellers, too, only pick out risqué stories, making themselves only listen to those with fleshy parts.

"Then I can't explain it clearly. You might as well ask an adult."

Of course, all of this was irrelevant to Su Che; he was already awake, but too lazy to move.

The group of young heroes I encountered in the capital attacked me very hard, and my bones and meridians were severely injured.

The family had consulted imperial physicians, but those quacks simply said it was no longer their responsibility. Young Master Su's life was in the hands of the God of Longevity and under the feet of the King of Hell; the two sides were locked in a power struggle, leaving no room for these doctors to intervene.

In the end, it was the elder of the Su family who put aside his pride and handled the matter properly.

First, have the steward take three hundred taels of gold and head straight to Qixia Temple on Jiming Mountain overnight. After meeting the abbot, light a golden longevity lamp in front of the Buddha and use Buddhist karma techniques to protect your fate.

Then, the second young master of the Su family went to the Celestial Masters' Temple to obtain a talisman personally written by the current Celestial Master of the Han Dynasty, which was then turned into talisman water and drunk to protect his soul.

Finally, a Nine-Turn Purple Cloud Rejuvenating Pill, reserved for imperial use, was obtained from the Imperial Alchemy Room. Taking it warmed and nourished the five internal organs, strengthening the body's foundation and replenishing its vitality.

Ginseng soup, prescriptions, and talisman water were offered to him for free, and Su Che consumed two jin of incense ash from the Jiankang City God Temple alone.

They then used the "rich and noble method" to nourish and nurture her for another two months.

This was how the God of Longevity dealt a heavy blow to King Yama, saving Young Master Su.

Su Che can say with certainty that right now, apart from his hair not hurting, he feels uncomfortable all over his body.

But I feel good, and I'm getting better every day.

Su Che slowly got up from the ground and gently patted the dust off his body.

"We, your humble servants, pay our respects to Your Excellency, the County Commandant."

Upon seeing that Su Che had woken up, the dark-faced man immediately led the group of herb gatherers to kneel in worship.

The county magistrate is like a local deity, a prefect who can wipe out an entire family, and a county magistrate who can ruin a household. The county lieutenant is like the steel knife and axe in the hands of the county magistrate, and even the humblest people cannot help but bow to him.

"Thank you for your courtesy, everyone."

Su Che gestured for them to stand up with his hands in a gesture of support.

"The court has already failed the people by failing to bring peace to the land. I am already ashamed beyond measure, how could I possibly accept your bow?"

The dark-faced man looked at the gentle-looking Third Young Master Su and steeled himself to ask.

"I dare to say that last night I heard the county magistrate say that he was going to lead a group to destroy this place. I wonder when you plan to make your move? I have a few strong friends who are willing to serve you."

Su Che looked outside the palace and saw that the red sun had already risen above the sea of ​​clouds, a golden mass climbing towards the center of the southern sky, while the surrounding vegetation swayed gently in the mountain breeze.

It seemed as if they were listening.

"Brother Zhou, you must have misheard me. I had no such intention." Su Che's eyes swept over the sword box lying on the ground.

"Ah? Indeed, I misremembered." The dark-faced man's expression changed, his expression a mix of disappointment and relief.

He turned and smiled, "Sir, I have just cooked some hot porridge. If you don't mind that it is too humble, I will serve you a bowl."

"No need, I eat qi."

Su Che stretched out his arm, declining the dark-faced man's offer.

Firstly, he remained wary of these people's identities.

Secondly, due to his injuries, he really couldn't eat anything. The wounds had penetrated deep into his lungs, and he would vomit blood if he wasn't careful.

At that time, the image of Su San Gongzi, the county magistrate of Shanyin, will change from a young swordsman to a consumptive.

How will they save face?

After tidying himself up a bit, Su Che straightened his clothes and slowly walked into the courtyard.

The sun rose in the east, but the night chill had not yet dissipated, and there was a faint coolness in the air. White dewdrops clung to the leaves and branches of the plants.

The vegetation in this Kulin Zen Temple is far too lush.

It's unclear whether the abundance of vegetation is due to the presence of wood spirits here, or whether the abundance of vegetation nurtured wood spirits.

Su Che couldn't help but ponder the reasons and consequences.

Su Che's eyes swept across the ground.

Sure enough, he found what he was looking for.

A foreign object lay quietly among the weeds, its texture resembling gold and jade, its entire body a dark bronze color.

What was that thing that the sword box cut off last night?
Su Che suddenly felt that something was wrong.

This thing is clearly made of metal.

(End of this chapter)