Le Banquet des Cent Fantômes

Chapitre 131

“A little boy named Shen Caihua,” Guo Ruchang replied.

"I want to avenge my father!" Secretary Xing said through gritted teeth.

Guo Ruchang shook his head and hurriedly said, "Absolutely not! That child is a descendant of Guo Pu's ancestor, a practitioner of incantation therapy, therefore, he is also our young master..."

Secretary Xing remained silent for a long time before taking out the "ghost pot" from his pocket and saying, "Grandpa, this 'ghost pot' is a gift I prepared for Father Li Dihuo. I'll give it to you now."

"'Ghost Pot'?" Guo Ruchang was taken aback. He hurriedly took it and gently stroked the smooth, bony skull, his mind filled with doubt. Although he had been guarding the underground palace for over two hundred and fifty years, he had never entered the secret chamber, nor had he ever seen the true face of the "Ghost Pot." It turned out to be such a small skull? At this moment, as Guo Ruchang's hands caressed the egg-sized skull, he sensed the two peculiar true energies emanating from it.

"Where did you get this 'ghost pot'?" Guo Ruchang asked cautiously.

"Beijing, Chairman Mao Zedong Memorial Hall..." Secretary Xing recounted in detail to Guo Ruchang the series of encounters he had after attending the meeting in Beijing.

"Strange..." Guo Ruchang muttered to himself, "Could it be that after the young master entered the underground palace and retrieved the 'Ghost Pot,' he encountered some trouble and lost it again?"

"Father... is this the Guo family treasure that Heshen has been dreaming of?" Guo Ke'er asked in surprise.

"It should be," Guo Ruchang replied.

"This humble woman, Guo Ke'er, greets my nephew," Guo Ke'er glanced at Secretary Xing, then approached with a smile, interlaced her fingers on her left hip, bent her knees and bowed deeply, "My nephew, you are quite the handsome man, no less than my late husband, Heshen."

Upon hearing the woman's soft moans coming from the bald farmer before him, Secretary Xing was greatly surprised and stammered incoherently, "You...you are..."

"This is my beloved daughter, Guo Ke'er," Guo Ruchang said with a smile.

Secretary Xing bent his long neck and brought his head close to the face of Guo Ke'er's host, Tian Erxi. He stared at her for a long time, still looking puzzled.

"Hehe..." Guo Ke'er let out a soft and charming laugh, and said loudly, "More than two hundred years ago, I was a concubine of Lord Heshen during the Qianlong era. Now I am living in the body of a farmer in Hedong. Secretary Xing will naturally not be able to tell."

"Oh, I see..." Secretary Xing smiled awkwardly and raised his neck shyly.

“Secretary Xing,” Guo Ruchang said approvingly, not knowing that “Secretary” was an official title and assuming it was his name, “You gave me the ‘Ghost Pot,’ which shows your commendable filial piety. Why don’t you come down to the navel with us?”

“Alright, anyway, I’ll be wanted and pursued by the government in the human world anyway,” Secretary Xing readily agreed.

"In that case, Ke'er can stay with Secretary Xing forever underground." Guo Ke'er was overjoyed upon hearing this.

"Where is the entrance to the navel?" Secretary Xing asked.

“It’s on the ginkgo tree inside Fengling Temple,” Guo Ruchang replied with a smile.

"Father, it's getting late, let's hurry up and go," Guo Ke'er urged.

The roosters in the distant village were crowing again, and the eastern horizon was beginning to lighten with the first hint of dawn. Guo Ruchang and Secretary Xing each pulled their necks back, and everyone prepared to enter the temple.

"Grandpa Guo..." Just then, a stuttering shout suddenly came from the night sky.

Secretary Xing looked up and saw a huge blue-feathered parrot circling above their heads...

"Who is calling me?" Guo Ruchang asked, quite puzzled.

“Strange, it’s a large blue parrot,” Secretary Xing replied.

"Oh... could it be that the young master has returned..." Guo Ruchang immediately thought of Shen Caihua and his blue-feathered parrot, and said with delight.

In the darkness, two slender figures suddenly appeared in front of the Fengling Temple gate; the newcomers were none other than Shen Caihua and Momo.

“Grandpa…” Mo Mo stepped forward and gently took Guo Ruchang’s hand, speaking affectionately.

"Nizi?" Guo Ruchang was taken aback upon hearing this, and his eyes immediately welled up with tears. He murmured, "Child, is it really you?"

"Meow..." The big black cat "Xiao Cui'er" meowed in Mo Mo's arms, greeting Guo Ruchang.

“It’s me, Grandpa, and Caihua,” Momo replied.

"Talent... young master?" Guo Ruchang wept with joy.

"Grandpa, what's wrong with your eyes?" Shen Caihua stepped forward and asked in surprise, looking at Guo Ruchang's tightly closed eyes.

"Alas, I have lived underground for so long that I cannot bear the light. Last night, I was injured by a hidden weapon at the Guo family's old house..." Guo Ruchang explained, while asking happily, "How did you two get back?"

A gentle breeze swept by, and a figure suddenly stood in front of Guo Ruchang, smiling slightly, "This must be the old man Guo Ruchang from 'Guanzhong Navel', right?"

"You are..." Guo Ruchang's face showed a look of doubt.

"Zhu Hansheng from Wuyuan," Hansheng said with a smile.

“He is Hansheng’s father,” Shen Caihua introduced.

Guo Ruchang hurriedly said, "It's a pleasure to meet you. You've come all this way to Fengling Temple. Is there something you need?"

Han Sheng nodded and explained, "We heard that a 'Worm-Headed Barbarian' in the capital stole the 'Ghost Pot' and is very likely heading to the 'Guanzhong Earthly Navel,' so we rushed here day and night, never expecting to meet Master Guo here."

Guo Ruchang was taken aback upon hearing this, then chuckled and said, "You've come at just the right time. Here, the 'Ghost Pot' is." With that, he opened his hand, revealing a skull the size of a goose egg lying in his palm...

The sky was hazy, it was the darkness before dawn, and a gentle breeze blew from the old course of the Yellow River, passing through the holes on the "Ghost Pot," and faintly emitted the sounds of the Five Elements...

Han Sheng was greatly surprised and quickly focused his mind to listen. At first, he heard a faint sound like a sprout breaking through the soil, called "Jiao Diao," which is the 3 (Mi) in the simplified musical score. This is the sound of spring, belonging to wood, and representing the sprouting of all things. Next, he heard the sound of bamboo shoots growing, called "Zheng Diao," which is the 5 (Suo) in the simplified musical score. This is the sound of summer, belonging to fire, and representing growth. After that, he faintly heard the sound of thunder, which is "Gong Diao," which is the 1 (Lan) in the simplified musical score. This is the sound of late summer, belonging to earth, and representing transformation. Then, the bleak autumn wind suddenly rose, called "Shang Diao," which is the 2 (Lai) in the simplified musical score. This is the sound of autumn, belonging to metal, and representing harvest. Finally, he heard the sound of ice freezing, called "Yu Diao," which is the sound of winter, which is the 6 (La) in the simplified musical score. This is the sound of water, representing storage.

"The sounds of the Five Elements, the sounds of the natural workings of heaven and earth..." Han Sheng sighed sadly, his eyes filled with tears.

“Brother Zhu Hansheng, this is strange. Can you possibly recognize the sound of this ‘ghost pot’?” Guo Ruchang asked him in surprise.

"In this world, heaven, earth, and humanity are one, forming the natural world. The five musical notes—Jiao, Zheng, Gong, Shang, and Yu—correspond to the five elements—wood, fire, earth, metal, and water—and the five internal organs—liver, heart, spleen, lungs, and kidneys—giving rise to the five emotions: anger, joy, thought, worry, and fear. The wind blowing through the 'ghost pot' generates these five musical notes, truly a creation of heaven and earth, and indeed beyond comprehension..." Han Sheng explained with deep emotion.

Guo Ruchang handed the skull to Han Sheng and said solemnly, "Our ancestor Guo Pu left instructions that whoever is a successor of the Zhuyou tradition and obtains the 'Ghost Pot' from the navel of the earth shall possess this sacred object, use it to heal the sick and benefit all living beings. Young master Chen Caihua is the only successor of the Zhuyou tradition in the world today, so the 'Ghost Pot' should belong to him."

"Thank you, Grandpa Guo. The first thing we will do after obtaining the 'Ghost Pot' is to release the souls of 50,000 Chinese Expeditionary Force soldiers to return to their hometowns..." Han Sheng said emotionally.

"Father, if we don't leave soon, it will be dawn." Guo Ke'er urged anxiously, looking at the sky.

“Alright then,” Guo Ruchang agreed, and said to Momo and Caihua with lingering affection, “Nizi, Grandpa is leaving… Little Master, you must study hard and pass the imperial examination in the future, so that you can bring glory to your ancestors. I’ll take my leave now.” After saying that, he led Guo Ke’er and Secretary Xing up the hillside into Fengling Temple, and then entered the Guanzhong Earth Navel through the entrance on the ginkgo tree trunk. From then on, they never came out of the ground again.

Outside Fengling Temple, Han Sheng watched Guo Ruchang's departing figure, sighing to himself. Although the Rutou barbarians were ancient creatures, they were still far more honest and kind than some of the world's high-ranking officials. He lowered his head, gazing intently at the skull of Feng Hou, the ancestor of incantations from five thousand years ago. He felt the two strange, warm and cool energies in his palm, and remembered the old man from Xiangxi's words: "'The Ghost Pot' must be opened with incantations." He then asked Chen Caihua, "Caihua, do you know any incantations that can open the 'Ghost Pot'?"

Shen Caihua pondered for a long time, but finally shook his head and said, "Hansheng's father, I don't know..."

“Talent, you need to think this through carefully. My mother is still waiting…” Mo Mo said softly, tears slowly streaming down her face.

"Don't cry, Mo Mo, we'll think of something else..." Han Sheng comforted her, reaching out to wipe away her tears.

Mo Mo took out a small handkerchief from her pocket, when suddenly there was a "thud" sound, and a small stone box rolled to the ground...

Chapter 199

Han Sheng bent down and picked up the small stone box, asking in surprise, "Mo Mo, what is this?"

What is it?

Mo Mo shook her head and replied, "I found this in the secret passage of the Earth's navel. I don't know what's in this little box."

As dawn broke, Han Sheng carefully examined the stone box. It seemed to be very ancient, with some hieroglyphs engraved on its surface, including images of the sun, moon, mountains, rivers, and a unicorn monster he had never seen before.

"How can I open it?" Han Sheng turned it over and over, examining it closely, but couldn't find the opening. He then activated his Corpse-Hidden Soul Technique, opening his tiny, fly-like eyes to peer inside. Finally, he discovered something strange about the monster: a tiny hole in its mouth. Han Sheng reached into his robes, pulled out a small cloth bag, took out a silver needle, and carefully inserted it into the hole…

A soft "click" sounded, and the lid of the stone box suddenly popped open...

Han Sheng and the others stared intently and saw a small tortoise shell inside the stone box. More than ten oracle bone characters were engraved on the hard shell. They carefully examined it for a long time, but still couldn't recognize a single character.

"What exactly are the words engraved on this tortoise shell? There must be a reason why it's been preserved so carefully..." Han Sheng said, puzzled.

Shen Caihua stood to the side and hesitated before saying, "Father Hansheng, the spirit fetus knows everything. Let me ask it."

"Alright." Han Sheng nodded with a smile.

Shen Cai took the spirit embryo out of his pocket, held it in his palm, and asked gently, "Spirit embryo, spirit embryo, wake up..."

The spirit fetus yawned, slowly opened its eyes, and uttered a very delicate voice: "It's not dawn yet..."

“I know,” Shen Caihua quickly coaxed it, “There are some words here that we don’t recognize, but you will definitely know them.”

The spirit rubbed its eyes, sat up, and asked, "Where are the words?"

Han Sheng handed the tortoise shell to Cai Hua. The spirit fetus, with its bare bottom, lay on the tortoise shell and examined it carefully with a serious expression.

“Spirit Embryo, do you recognize the words on this?” Shen Caihua asked anxiously.

The spirit fetus nodded and said, "Of course I recognize it."

Shen Cai was overjoyed and couldn't wait to ask it, "What does that character mean?"

The spirit fetus, speaking in a thick northern Jiangxi accent, recited word by word: "Nose boogers, ear boogers, I eat my own excrement, what do I seek in fragrant excrement, the ghost pot incantation..." At the same time, it sat cross-legged on Shen Caihua's palm, picking at its own nostrils and ear canals with its hands, and wiping them into its mouth, its expression seemingly quite intoxicated...

Shen Caihua was stunned, staring intently at the strange movements of the spirit fetus, as if he had a sense of déjà vu. Just then, a flash of inspiration struck him, instantly enlightening him… It was a kind of limb dance, the most profound limb dance movement in the "Pig Fat Divine Skill"—the eighteenth move, "Heavenly Profound Earthly Yellow"...

Shen Caihua sat down on the ground with a "plop," inserted his index fingers into his nostrils and ear canals, and scooped out a pair of dried nasal mucus and two pieces of wet earwax. Regardless of how disgusting they were, he stuffed them all into his mouth...

"Boogers and earwax, I eat my own excrement, what do I need for fragrant excrement, ghost pot and lard..." He also loudly recited along.

These sixteen characters are the four lines of verse engraved on the Moonlight Stone Coffin and the Guanzhong Earth Navel Stone Gate: “The corpse and the corpse, no corpse and no breath, what do you seek in the corpse, the ghost pot incantation…” They never imagined that these were the incantations to open the “ghost pot”.

“Whoosh…” Suddenly, an ancient and desolate sound came from the cavity of the “Ghost Pot” in Han Sheng’s hand. Then, the skull trembled violently, so much so that he had to hold it tightly to prevent it from flying out of his hand.

The "Ghost Pot" emitted an extremely powerful magnetic field after the wind...

At this moment, looking out from the eyes of Han Sheng, Chen Caihua, and Mo Mo, the entire world had changed. The dawn's light was gradually fading, the sky had turned a dark blue-black, and the earth was a dull yellow...

The Book of Changes, Kun, Wenyan says: "The black and yellow are the mixture of heaven and earth; heaven is black and earth is yellow."

Later generations changed it to "天地玄黄" (heaven and earth are dark and yellow) for the sake of rhyme. Thus, the Southern Dynasties' "Thousand Character Classic" says: Heaven and earth are dark and yellow, the universe is vast and boundless, the sun and moon wax and wane, the stars and constellations are arrayed, cold comes and heat goes, autumn harvests and winter stores...

Feng Hou was the progenitor of the Zhuyou technique in the Central Plains. His skull contained the energy of his life's witchcraft. Shen Cai used the Zhuyou Eighteen Styles "Heaven and Earth, Black and Yellow" to open the "Ghost Pot," releasing a huge biomagnetic field, which caused the people around to hallucinate as if they had returned to the distant primordial era of the universe.

The sky is a deep blue, almost black, which is called "Tianxuan" (Heavenly Mystery). The Loess Plateau, the Yellow River, the people of Yan and Huang, and crops such as millet and sorghum are all yellow, which is called "Dihuang" (Earthly Yellow).

"Oh no...oh no! Why is the sky and earth changing color?" Dudu cried out in panic in mid-air.

"Meow..." The big black cat "Xiao Cui'er" nervously snuggled into Mo Mo's arms.

Han Sheng stood with his hands behind his back, gazing up at the sky and earth, his heart filled with awe. He seemed to hear countless sounds of clashing swords and galloping horses, the roars and howls of tigers, leopards, bears, and other ferocious beasts, as well as the stirring beat of drums and the long, drawn-out sound of horns. It was the great battle for the Central Plains between the Yellow Emperor and Chi You five thousand years ago...

"Boogers, earwax, I eat my own shit..." Shen Caihua closed his eyes and chanted faster and faster until he was almost in a frenzied state.

Just then, the mournful and desolate military song suddenly rang in everyone's ears: "Have you not seen Zhong Jun of Han, who, at the tender age, bound the enemy and asked for a long spear?"

Have you not seen Ban Dingyuan, whose light cavalry in the remote regions spurred the battle clouds?

A man should be prepared to face danger; how can he let a scholar's cap ruin his life?

Moreover, the country is in grave danger, like eggs piled on top of each other, and urgent dispatches are flying around without stopping!

I cast aside my old pen and donned my wartime robe.

With a single call, over 100,000 comrades joined the army, singing battle songs in unison.

Qi joined the army, cleared away the barbarian dust, and vowed to sweep away the Japanese invaders regardless of his own life!

Suppressing his longing for home, he generously offered his heart to serve his country.