Above the Great Dao

"Please, the groom—"

One by one, foxes suddenly turned their heads, all looking in Chen Shi's direction in unison, straightening their necks, lifting their heads to emit a human voice, "Please, the groom get into the palanquin—"

Those dancing corpses also looked over at Chen Shi all at once, their pale eyes staring intently at the young man in the temple, in unison they said, "Please, the groom get into the palanquin!"

Chen Shi and Black Pot quickly ducked their heads, their hearts almost leaping out of their chests.

Outside, the wedding procession played music and sang, the red palanquin swaying gently, coming toward the ruined temple to welcome the groom!

Chen Shi rapidly retreated, his gaze fixed on the Peach Talismans hanging from the doors and windows.

Though the Peach Talismans were engraved with talismanic symbols, the symbols outlined the form of a Door God. Peach Talismans drawn by cultivators who had achieved the Divine Embryo could repel ordinary evil beings.

Chen Shi's grandfather's strength was not insignificant. Even though he was old, his cultivation remained, and the Peach Talismans he drew had never failed to fend off evil spirits!

All of a sudden, quiet fell outside, silent as the grave.

Black Pot positioned himself in front of Chen Shi, crawling low to the ground, fixing a stare ahead, baring his teeth with a low growl of threat.

Suddenly, the Peach Talismans hanging on the doors and windows burst into flames and instantly turned to ash!

The temple door opened.

A red palanquin stopped just in front of the temple door.

"Woof, woof, woof!"

Black Pot rushed behind the door, baring teeth and snarling as if mad. Then, a slender jade-like hand was seen extending from the palanquin, gently lifting the curtain, revealing the bride sitting inside.

Black Pot's fur bristled, barking even more fiercely.

"Black Pot is truly loyal!" Chen Shi thought to himself, inwardly praising, "I misunderstood it before."

The bride's slender hand slowly lowered the curtain, and Chen Shi was startled, "Could it be the haunt was frightened by Black Pot and decided to retreat knowing the difficulty?"

Just as this thought crossed his mind, he suddenly saw another person beside him.

Chen Shi turned his head and it was the bride from the palanquin.

Chen Shi was stunned for a moment, looking around, everything was bathed in crimson.

Black Pot, relieved when the curtain fell, then saw that another person appeared in the palanquin, also dressed in a large red robe, seemingly the groom.

A fleeting glimpse as the curtain fell allowed it to see that the groom inside the palanquin looked exactly like Chen Shi!

Chills ran down Black Pot's spine; it quickly turned around only to find that Chen Shi had vanished from the temple!

The red palanquin slowly rose into the air, scores of foxes beating drums and playing music, joyfully escorting the great red palanquin outside the temple.

Not bothering with anything else, Black Pot dashed out of the dilapidated temple, charging towards the red palanquin, determined to rescue Chen Shi.

At that moment, from inside the palanquin came a startled cry, followed by a gust of cold wind, the darkness obscuring all sense of direction. Black Pot immediately halted and saw that with the passing of this cold wind, the great red palanquin, the fox troupe, and those corpses, all disappeared without trace, leaving only Chen Shi sitting on the ground.

Black Pot ran up to him; Chen Shi had a bewildered look on his face, completely unaware of how he ended up inside the palanquin.

He only saw the bride and then found himself inside the palanquin.

As to how he got out, he was equally clueless.

At that moment, the bride beside him had torn his clothes but suddenly seemed to be frightened, recoiling to the corner of the palanquin as if fearing he would harm her, emitting shrill screams, and then he went from sitting in the palanquin to sitting on the ground.

The man and his dog returned to the broken temple, still shaken.

Chen Shi glanced at the wide-open temple doors and the peach talisman burned to ashes, still somewhat dazed, he hastily shook his head to steady his spirit.

He hurried forward, shut the temple doors, and moved a huge boulder weighing a thousand jin behind the door.

Black Pot jumped into the wooden cart, rummaged through the boxes, and quickly jumped down, dropping Grandfather's small knife in front of Chen Shi, then raised a paw and gestured to his own neck, indicating that he should stab here where the black dog blood's yang energy was the strongest.

Chen Shi fetched pen, ink, paper, and inkstone, but instead of smearing it on Black Pot's neck, he carefully took a little black dog blood and proceeded to draw Peach Talismans following his grandfather's example.

Grandfather's Peach Talisman had long been engraved in Chen Shi's memory; once he ground the cinnabar, he swiftly moved his brush as if commanding an army.

Drawing Talismans required the mobilization of True Qi, Chen Shi activated the Three Light Righteous Qi Technique, pouring his hard-gained True Qi into the ink, focusing his intent on the tip of the brush, and quickly completed a Peach Talisman in one go.

It was now deep into the night, and evil creatures could come searching at any moment, he needed to draw enough Peach Talismans as soon as possible to seal the doors and windows!

Chen Shi's brushwork was divine, and in no time, he had drawn six Peach Talismans, hanging two on the door and four on several windows.

He did not know whether the Peach Talismans he drew would be effective or not, he felt uneasy and found it hard to fall asleep.

Black Pot couldn't get to sleep either; one man and one dog lay by the window, peering out quietly to prevent another attack from an evil creature.

"It's really strange, why did that evil spirit let me go?"

The more Chen Shi thought about it, the more puzzled he became; such an evil spirit could easily destroy a whole village and his wet nurse. As a mere kid like him, he'd probably be sucked dry in an instant.

Yet, that bridal evil spirit seemed to be quite afraid of him, taking off after dropping him.

Chen Shi could not understand why and decided not to dwell on it, remaining alert to the comings and goings outside the temple.

After a while, all was quiet outside.

Black Pot rested his front paws on the window, peering out as well, just about to relax and lower his paws when he heard Chen Shi's voice, "Black Pot, Grandfather might no longer be human."

Black Pot pricked up his ears, looking at him with confusion.

Under the moonlight, a few teardrops glistened on the young boy's cheeks, yet his gaze was deep, as he looked off into the distance and whispered, "Over half a month ago, Grandfather said his time was nigh, and that he had to stage a funeral for himself, to trick the ghosts sent to seize him and take him to the underworld. If the ghosts thought he was dead, they wouldn't come for him anymore."

Black Pot remembered the event.

The old man had planned the ruse to deceive the ghosts for a long time, already prepared a spirit altar for himself, including his own spirit tablet, not to mention money candles and paper offerings.

"Grandfather said that if he could just get through that day, lying in the coffin pretending to be dead, fooling the ghosts, he could live a few more years. He couldn't bear to leave me alone."

Chen Shi stared distantly for a moment, then continued, "But after that day, when Grandfather came out of the coffin, he changed. He no longer ate food but preferred to eat candles; he disliked the taste of meals and instead liked the scent of incense. He also started to eat strange things, such as... people!"

He shivered, his voice tinted with sadness, "Perhaps after that day, the one who came out of the coffin was already dead. Maybe, he didn't fool the ghosts."

Chen Shi's maturity was beyond his years as he spoke softly, "He didn't want me to know this; he wanted to stay by my side to protect me and watch me grow. But he was no longer human, he was a zombie, always wanting to eat people."

Black Pot's face turned grave, his eyebrows furrowed, and he nodded solemnly.

"No matter what, he's still my Grandfather, even if he turned himself into a zombie, even if he tried to eat me multiple times, he's still my Grandfather."

Chen Shi's eyes glistened as he whispered, "He's the only family I have... Black Pot, you go rest for now; come and replace me later."

Black Pot lay down on the floor to sleep, and at that moment, the young boy at the window whispered to himself, "... the dog knows too many of my secrets, he might tell Grandfather; should I kill the dog to silence him?"

Instantly, Black Pot got up and hurried over to Chen Shi's side, gesturing for him to sleep while he kept watch, wagging his tail as if to say that it was only right for him to do so.

—— Thanks to the support of Alliance Hierarch Shijia Suo! The next chapter will be updated around 6 p.m.