Le Banquet des Cent Fantômes

Chapitre 87

The Hakka woman pondered for a long time, gazing at the rain outside the window, and said hesitantly, "The wind and rain are too fierce; Caihua's sense of smell is useless. We can only wait until the rain stops tomorrow, then go to that farmer's house, inquire more in detail, and then decide how to search."

"Alright then, you all get some rest. I'll head back to my room now." Master Xufeng took his leave and returned to his own room.

Around 10 p.m., Master Xufeng quietly left his room, borrowed an umbrella from the service desk, glanced at the map of Yongji County hanging on the wall, and asked the staff on duty for the location of the county detention center. Then he hurriedly walked out the door and quickly disappeared into the rain and mist.

The Yongji County Public Security Bureau Detention Center is located in a grove of elm trees on the outskirts of the county town. There are no houses nearby. At this moment, the rain is still quite heavy, and the raindrops are pattering against the umbrellas. Master Xufeng is hidden in the woods, silently observing the entrance of the detention center. The two large black iron gates are tightly closed, and dim light shines from the windows of the guardhouse. From time to time, shadowy figures move around inside.

Master Xufeng made his move, cutting directly from the forest to the side wall of the detention center. The red brick wall was about two people high, with an electric fence hanging on a white insulated porcelain pot, though it was unclear whether it was electrified.

The Taoist priest glanced at his watch; it was already past midnight. All around was quiet; the guards and prisoners should be asleep. He found a crooked old elm tree close to the wall, folded his umbrella, pushed off the ground, and with a "whoosh," leaped up the elm tree. Then he looked into the courtyard.

Inside the walled compound were several rows of red brick bungalows with an open space in the middle, presumably the prisoner's exercise area. Master Xufeng looked at the two rows of houses with iron gates behind them, thinking that must be the prison cells. But which cell would Master Jia be locked up in?

At this moment, two guards wearing military raincoats shone their flashlights and went from cell to cell to conduct a routine inspection. Soon after, they returned to the guard room at the main gate.

Master Xufeng had an idea in mind, so he leaped through the air, jumped over the electric fence, and landed lightly inside the wall. He took out his pen-shaped flashlight and started from the back row of cells, openly shining it through the iron gates of each cell, hoping that if he was lucky, he could find Jia Shiming as soon as possible.

"What are you taking pictures of? Didn't we just check? Can't you let people get any sleep?" a burly man muttered in dissatisfaction.

Most of the prisoners in the cell were fast asleep, snoring softly.

Master Xufeng followed the trail and, in the last single room of the row of bungalows, shone his flashlight in and saw a thin, old figure sitting cross-legged on the bed. Without turning his head, the person said in a low voice, "So, a martial arts practitioner has come to visit me in prison."

Master Xufeng was secretly startled upon hearing this, and said softly, "How do you know that, brother?"

"I can tell from the sound of your footsteps that you are quite skilled in martial arts." The man still had his back to the iron gate. Although his voice was strong, it sounded somewhat dejected.

"Excuse me, are you Master Jia Shiming?" Xu Feng asked tentatively.

"Indeed, who are you?" the man replied calmly.

"I am Xu Feng from Baiyun Temple. I pay my respects to the former abbot," said Master Xu Feng, bowing respectfully.

Upon hearing this, Master Jia's body trembled slightly, and he pondered before saying, "Xu Feng..."

"I came to Beijing from Baiyun Temple in Lanzhou six years ago. I met Abbot Jia once. You rarely came out from Yunji Mountain House at that time, so you may not remember me," Master Xufeng replied.

"Well, what brings you here to see me?" Master Jia nodded and asked.

"I have come on the orders of Abbot Xuwu of Baiyun Temple to retrieve the secret manual of the Quanzhen School's 'Essentials of Innate Qi Cultivation.' Please consider the well-being of the Quanzhen School and give it to Xufeng to take back to the capital," Abbot Xufeng said respectfully.

Master Jia remained silent upon hearing this, while Master Xufeng stood quietly outside the door waiting.

"The Quanzhen Sect is full of useless people. Taking the secret manual back would only make it a decoration. Go back and tell Xuwu that when Baiyun Temple has someone promising, I will naturally send it back," said Master Jia.

When Master Xufeng saw that Jia Shiming was acting like a rogue, he was furious. However, when he left the capital, his senior brother Xuwu had specifically told him not to fall out with Jia Shiming, because Jia Shiming's "innate qi cultivation" had reached a high level of perfection, and Xufeng was no match for him.

"So, if Baiyun Temple has no talent to cultivate, Abbot Jia will not return this manual for a single day?" Master Xufeng suppressed his anger and said in a gentle tone.

“Exactly.” Master Jia exuded an air of arrogance.

Chapter 134

Upon hearing this, Master Xufeng sighed and said, "Abbot Jia is so determined not to return the manual. Could it be that he has some other purpose for it?"

"What do you mean?" Jia Shiming said coldly.

“For example, perhaps Abbot Jia has found a disciple with excellent aptitude who wants to inherit the ‘Innate Qi Gong,’ which is why he did not return the secret manual.” Master Xufeng’s words struck Jia Shiming’s sore spot.

Jia Shi thought of Ni Zi, who had fallen off a cliff and died, and was overcome with grief.

Master Xufeng smiled faintly and said, "In fact, Abbot Jia's 'Innate Qi Gong' is already highly refined. He can teach his disciples by word of mouth and by example. Why be so fixated on a single manual?"

Jia Shiming remained silent.

“Abbot Jia, I would like to make a trade with you. I will exchange one person for the ‘Essentials of Innate Qi Cultivation’. What do you say?” said Master Xufeng.

"Who is it?" Jia Shiming asked, puzzled.

“Guo Ni,” Master Xufeng replied, enunciating each word clearly.

"Nizi!" Jia Shiming trembled and suddenly rose into the air, standing in front of Xu Feng through the iron fence. His speed was unbelievable.

"Didn't she fall off the cliff and die?" Jia Shiming said slowly, his face ashen and his eyes fixed on Xu Feng.

“No, Nizi is still alive,” Master Xufeng replied.

"What? Where is she..." Jia Shiming was suddenly startled and asked impatiently.

Master Xufeng vaguely sensed a chilling killing intent emanating from Master Jia, and his heart sank. However, he remained composed and said slowly, "Then where is the secret manual?"

Master Jia's gaze was gloomy. Reluctantly, he slowly pulled a yellowed, thread-bound booklet from his robes and said in a somber tone, "Xu Feng, tell me, where is Ni Zi?"

Master Xufeng dared not conceal anything, so he recounted from beginning to end how Nizi fell off the cliff from Jade Pillar Peak, accidentally entered the Guanzhong Earth Navel, entered the underground palace, escaped through the secret passage, appeared in front of Yingying Pagoda of Puji Temple last night, slept for half the night at a farmer's house, and quietly left early in the morning.

“Nizi also carries a black cat with her,” Master Xufeng added at the end.

Jia Shiming nodded silently, his eyes already moist. His regret and dejection of the past few days were swept away. What Xu Feng said must be true, otherwise he wouldn't know that Ni Zi had that black cat.

"Take it." Jia Shiming's fingers twitched slightly, and the manual flew out smoothly, passed through the iron fence, and landed in the hand of Daoist Xufeng.

"Thank you, Abbot Jia." Master Xufeng finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Xu Feng, you said that Ni Zi accidentally entered the 'Guanzhong Earthly Navel,' what kind of place is that?" Jia Shi Ming asked casually.

"It's said to be something like 'Feng Hou Tomb'." After verifying the secret manual and confirming its authenticity, Master Xufeng put it into his suit's inner pocket and replied.

Jia Shiming was startled again, but then casually asked, pretending to be nonchalant, "'Feng Hou Tomb'? You went in too?"

Master Xufeng was overjoyed to have finally retrieved the treasured artifact of Baiyun Temple. He casually blurted out, "No, but Nizi went into the 'Feng Hou Tomb' underground palace."

Jia Shiming said expressionlessly, "Xu Feng, you can go back to Baiyun Temple to report now. This humble Taoist is going to sleep." After saying that, he turned around, went back to his bed, and lay down, no longer paying attention to Taoist Master Xu Feng.

"Farewell, Abbot Jia. Please take care." Master Xufeng bowed respectfully, then opened his umbrella, hurriedly left the cell, leaped over the wall, and returned to the guesthouse.

After Master Xufeng left, Jia Shiming leaped out of bed, used his "Innate Qi Gong" to gently bend the iron bars on the iron gate, and then quietly slipped out, disappearing into the darkness in the heavy rain.

The night sky was covered with dark clouds and the rain was pouring down. Master Jia seemed oblivious to the storm and headed straight for the Five Old Peaks. He knew that Nizi would definitely go to Jade Pillar Peak because the child had no relatives or friends and had always firmly believed that only he, Jia Shiming, could lead her to find her mother.

Master Jia sighed, then unleashed his "Innate Qi Gong," causing a white aura to suddenly rise above his head, blocking the rain and mist, and he sped through the darkness. Around midnight, he arrived at the foot of Jade Pillar Peak, and gazing at the dark mountain, he immediately began to climb it without stopping.

On Jade Pillar Peak, the rain and mist were heavy. A small oil lamp was lit in the wooden house. Nizi was sitting cross-legged on the bed, holding "Little Cui'er" in her arms, staring blankly out the window. She was still silently waiting for her master, Master Jia.

At dawn yesterday, she woke up early at the farmer's house. Seeing that the owner of the house in the next room was still fast asleep, she strolled out of the door. It had rained all night, and now the sky had cleared up a little. The fields were shrouded in mist, and five mountain peaks could be seen standing on the eastern horizon, surrounded by white clouds. "Mother..." Nizi murmured.

"Meow..." The big black cat seemed to know what Nizi was thinking and gently meowed twice towards the mountain peak.

"Let's go." Nizi bent down and picked up "Little Cui'er," then walked barefoot towards the distant Five Old Peaks without looking back.

As dusk fell, Nizi, both hungry and exhausted, reached the foot of Jade Pillar Peak. She now possessed the foundation of "Blood Curse," the "Five Forms of Bodhidharma," and a bit of "Innate Qi Gong" taught by Master Jia. Although her internal strength was still lacking, her stamina was far superior to what it used to be. She rested for a while at the foot of the mountain, then climbed upwards, reaching the summit of Jade Pillar Peak shortly after nightfall.

Nizi pushed open the door and entered the small wooden house. The scenery was the same, but her master, Master Jia, was not there. Recalling the terrifying moment when she fell off the cliff that night, it felt like a lifetime had passed.

She quickly started a fire to cook, slicing some cured meat and steaming it in the rice cooker. Back in the old house in Fenglingdu, she often cooked for her sick grandfather, so this was familiar to her. When the rice was ready, she set two sets of bowls and chopsticks on the table, poured a bowl of aged Fenjiu liquor for Master Jia, and then quietly waited for her master's return.

The rain gradually intensified, the raindrops pattering against the bark roof, the oil lamp flickering, but Master Jia still hadn't returned.

That night, during a fierce battle on Jade Pillar Peak, Nizi was thrown off a cliff by the fat woman with gold-rimmed glasses, known as the "Old Nun of Emei." But she firmly believed that her master, Master Jia, was more than capable of defeating that woman and the two ugly Taoist priests. If her master had lost, that wicked woman would surely have taken over the cabin. Since the "Old Nun of Emei" wasn't in the cabin, it meant it still belonged to her master, and her master must have won.

Although Nizi was starving, she resisted the urge to eat, only feeding a few pieces of cured meat to "Xiao Cui'er," while she herself remained quietly sitting on the bed waiting...

With a loud bang, the door was flung open. In the wind and rain, Master Jia stood there dumbfounded at the doorway, rainwater streaming down his face.

“Nizi…” Master Jia’s heart warmed, and tears welled up in his eyes. He had been alone all his life, but in his old age he had found a well-behaved and intelligent little girl. Looking at the two pairs of bowls and chopsticks and a bowl of old wine on the table, he felt a kind of family affection that he had never experienced before, which warmed his heart.

"Master! Waaah..." As soon as Nizi saw Master Jia return, she burst into tears, as if an endless stream of grievances was pouring out in an instant, which was extremely heartbreaking to hear.

"Nizi, you scared your master to death." Master Jia stepped forward and hugged Nizi tightly. Hot tears instantly melted away the coldness and loneliness deep in his heart.

"Master, did you chase that bad woman away?" Nizi asked, wiping her eyes and sobbing.

"Haha, of course!" Master Jia laughed heartily, pulled Nizi to sit at the table, picked up the bowl of old Bai Fenjiu, and drank it all in one gulp. "Good wine! I'm so happy today. My Nizi has been found again. I must drink to my heart's content."

Nizi took her rice bowl to the pot and filled it with rice. At the same time, she placed a plate of steamed cured meat in front of her master. The food was still warm when she picked up her bowl and wolfed it down. She was starving.

Looking at the dirty, pitiful child, Master Jia secretly thought to himself that he would not only pass on all his knowledge to her, but also protect her well and never let her suffer again.

“Nizi, tell your master how you survived the fall from the cliff.” Master Jia said, reaching for the wine jar and filling his bowl again.

As Nizi stuffed rice and cured meat into her mouth, she recounted, in fits and starts, how she fell from the cliff, landed on a large pine tree, crawled into a cave, met a giant tortoise, and rode it into a large underground lake. On the small island there lived a large civet cat, red-haired bats, and an old man named Guo, a giant insect called a "Worm-Headed Barbarian." Later, she accidentally put a copper thimble into a crevice in the rocks, which suddenly opened an underground palace. She fell into a huge spider web and was nearly bitten to death by a spider the size of a washbasin. She pushed the spider into the pool, where a group of large fish ate the spider and pushed her ashore…

Master Jia looked at Nizi with a puzzled expression, as if he were listening to a fairy tale.

“Nizi also encountered tiny people the size of a finger, including an old man with a white beard, a fat woman, and a child, but they were all actually beans... There were also eight kappa that looked like monkeys, with white mushrooms on their heads. They told Nizi that she had entered a secret room and saw a girl who looked just like her, and then she fought with her…” Nizi giggled as she spoke.

Master Jia became increasingly confused and couldn't help but ask, "A girl who looks just like you?"

"Yes, I killed her," Nizi said proudly, chewing on a piece of cured meat.

Master Jia reached out and touched Ni Zi's forehead, wondering if she was talking nonsense because of a fever.

"Later, I saw a withered old man who had already died, sitting on a wooden cart, his head was only this big..." Nizi said, gesturing with her fist.

“Oh…” Master Jia’s heart suddenly stirred. Xu Feng said that Ni Zi went into the “Feng Hou Tomb”. Could that mummified corpse be the “Feng Hou”?

"And then what happened?" Master Jia urged Nizi to continue.

Chapter 135

The rain intensified, and rumbling thunder echoed in the sky.

"Later, that withered old man disappeared without a trace, and I crawled out from a narrow little hole..." Nizi recalled.

"'Feng Hou' is gone?" Master Jia asked in astonishment.

"Well, the old man's body is gone, but his little head is still here with Nizi." As Nizi spoke, she took out the egg-sized, dark brown skull from her pocket and put it on the table.

Master Jia stared in astonishment at the tiny skull. In the dim light of the oil lamp, he could see that its skull and jawbone had been deformed and closed together, leaving only six differently shaped holes: eye sockets, nasal cavity, mouth, and ear canals. This was definitely a human skull, but why was it so small?

He carefully picked up the skull, held it in his hand to examine it, and suddenly felt two completely different energies, one warm and one cool, seep into the Laogong acupoint in his palm. His whole body shuddered. Jia Dao was taken aback and quickly put it back on the dining table.

"Master, is this the old man's head?" Nizi wasn't entirely sure.

“Hmm, I understand now. So the ‘Ghost Pot’ is actually the skull of ‘Feng Hou’. This prime minister of the Yellow Emperor is the ancestor of the Zhuyou technique in the Central Plains. It is said that there is a lost secret technique in the ancient Zhuyou technique called ‘Bone Shrinking Technique’, which condenses the six souls in the skull. Could this be it…” Master Jia muttered to himself.

"Master, what are you saying? I don't understand," Nizi said, looking at Master Jia with confusion.

Master Jia smiled slightly and said, "Girl, you are still young, and there are some things you naturally won't understand. There's no use for you keeping this skull. Would you like to give it to your master?"

“Nizi is willing,” Nizi nodded in reply.

“Good child, after the rain stops tomorrow, your master will take you away from here to the capital. After we settle things there, I will take you to find your mother,” Master Jia said with a smile.

"Really? That's great! Nizi can go find her mother now!" Nizi was so happy she almost jumped for joy.

Master Jia gazed silently at the innocent child, his heart filled with immense guilt. Back in the Burmese jungle, he had been forced to kill the patriarch, and now he had adopted her daughter. Alas, fate is truly cruel...

"Is my mother in the capital?" Nizi asked with longing.