Chapter 93: The Batou Kan and the Shan Ye Stele (First of Two!)

Xu Yuan shook his head without hesitation: “Don’t dream. Build a temple for a malevolent spirit? Why don’t you ask your grandfather whether he’d dare accept it—if we built it, he’d be dead within three months when the River Dragon comes calling.”

“Really?” The elder sister’s eyes widened.

Xu Yuan felt a bit exasperated; being stupid made them easy to fool, but hard to communicate with.

The younger sister suddenly spoke: “Help us slay the Haikou Toad.”

Xu Yuan looked at the two sisters.

This time the elder sister didn’t blurt out nonsense—this condition must have been prearranged by the old fox.

“Why?”

The younger sister began babbling: “That thing and its offspring are covered in stubborn warts—so disgusting.”

Since they refused to tell the truth, Xu Yuan didn’t press further.

“Fine.”

Xu Yuan had come to negotiate with the sisters precisely because he already had a bargaining chip ready.

He couldn’t easily give live human offerings, but chickens, ducks, cattle, and horses—he could provide as many as they wanted.

But since they’d raised this condition, he could accept it.

With the Doghead Guillotine in his possession, Xu Yuan still had some confidence.

The sisters’ eyes gleamed with suppressed delight; the younger sister pulled out a tuft of fox fur and said to Xu Yuan: “Burn this with your abdominal fire, then swear an oath.”

Clearly, it was the old fox’s fur.

The Huang Ming had binding oaths; malevolent spirits had similar methods.

Xu Yuan did as instructed.

After swearing, the younger sister lifted the rope tied to the fox’s paw; Xu Yuan pointed at it, and the rope instantly snapped back.

“The Ghost Temple introduced a group of outsiders from beyond the mountains to the Locust Witch. That old hag plans to take them to Guanghuo Street.”

“In Ghost Witch Mountain, if you need to go to Guanghuo Street to settle something, it must be a matter of immense importance!”

“They set out this afternoon. If you want to do anything, hurry—by noon the day after tomorrow, they’ll reach Guanghuo Street.”

Xu Yuan shook his head: “These are all things we already know. Not enough to justify us killing the Haikou Toad for you.”

The younger sister grinned: “Don’t expect us to risk ourselves gathering intel for you. The Locust Witch isn’t to be trifled with—and if word got out we helped the Quhui Office, we’d never survive in the mountains again.”

Xu Yuan thought for a moment: “We’ll handle our own business, but right now we can’t enter the mountains—the Locust Witch’s spawn are watching us.”

The sisters exchanged glances, then leaned close together, whispering urgently.

But Xu Yuan could tell they were using some secretive method to consult the old fox outside the town.

After a while, the sisters lifted their heads again: “We can get you safely into the mountains.”

“Avoid the Locust Witch’s spawn?”

“What’s the difference between those stinking bugs and blind men?”

Xu Yuan: “?”

“Wait,” the younger sister said, then rolled onto the ground and transformed back into a fox, dashing out.

About a stick of incense later, she returned, a leather pouch clamped in her jaws.

She shook her head, and the pouch fell into Xu Yuan’s hands.

She didn’t transform back, and spoke to him in fox form: “Guess what this is?”

Xu Yuan simply opened the pouch—what’s the point of guessing?

The younger sister stamped her foot in annoyance; Xu Yuan pulled out half a stone tablet, inscribed with strange characters.

“This thing…” Xu Yuan frowned: “Not a malevolent spirit, but heavily tainted by one.”

He fiddled with it in his hand, astonished: “With such intense contamination, even a stubborn rock should’ve become a weirdity by now.”

The younger sister rolled her eyes at this humorless man: “Do you know why the mountain runners in the village can move freely through Ghost Witch Mountain?”

Xu Yuan’s interest sparked: “Is it related to this?”

“Every village’s mountain runner carries a similar piece. Otherwise, they couldn’t survive in the mountains.”

Xu Yuan grew even more curious: “What exactly is this?”

“It’s a Shan Ye Stele from the ‘Batou Kan’ in Ghost Witch Mountain, before the river was dredged.”

Xu Yuan’s doubts multiplied as he turned the stone tablet over: “Batou Kan… Shan Ye Stele… Are these characters Chiao-chih script?”

They resembled Huang Ming script, yet weren’t quite the same—most neighboring states’ scripts were like this.

“I think so…” The younger sister didn’t recognize them herself: “My grandfather said, back then, Ghost Witch Mountain had its own mountain runners, living off the land. Before entering the mountains, they all paid respects at the Shan Ye Shrine at the trailhead.”

Every fork in the path had a small shrine, barely half a person tall—the Batou Kan—housing a Shan Ye Stele.”

“After paying homage to the Shan Ye, you wouldn’t get lost or be targeted by spirits.”

“Back then, there were thirty-six mountain trails and thirty-six Batou Kans.”

“And later, thirty-six villages sprang up in the mountains!”

Xu Yuan: “That’s not right—there are only thirty-four villages in the mountains.”

“Two villages broke the rules,” the younger sister said proudly, “and were wiped out.”

Xu Yuan frowned inwardly: “What rules?”

“My grandfather’s rules!”

Xu Yuan’s gaze flickered. He didn’t ask further.

The younger sister continued: “After the river was dredged, all thirty-six Batou Kans collapsed, and the mountains became overrun with malevolent spirits.”

“Now, the village mountain runners must perform a ‘Qing Shan Gui’ once a month.”

“Before, they paid homage to the Shan Ye; now, they summon the Mountain Weird.”

“After doing so, they can move freely through the mountains for a month—most malevolent spirits will treat them as one of their own.”

The younger sister explained the method of “Qing Shan Gui”; Xu Yuan finally asked: “Where is Guanghuo Street?”

The younger sister leaned close, whispering into Xu Yuan’s ear, then jumped back: “We’ve done what we promised—when will you kill the Haikou Toad for us?”

Xu Yuan said: “Once I deal with the group in the mountains, I’ll fulfill my promise immediately.”

The sisters nodded, hugging the fox and preparing to leave.

At the door, the fox suddenly lifted its head from the elder sister’s arms, staring blankly: “Auntie, didn’t you forget to tell them this Shan Ye Stele can’t be used often—or they’ll become like the mountain runners, neither human nor weird… jee!”

The elder sister pinched the fox hard.

Xu Yuan chuckled and said to the fox: “If you get hungry later, come find me—I’ll treat you to chicken.”

The fox, whose eyes had been watery, instantly brightened.

“Really?”

“Of course. Humans always keep our word!”

The sisters shook their heads vigorously and hurried off with the fox.

“Remember our agreement.”

“If you break it, Grandpa will make you pay!”

“Go ask how those two villages were wiped out!”

Xu Yuan shut the door and looked again at the stone tablet in his hand—had the collapse of the ‘Roadside Kan’ meant the mountain god had been stripped of his divine office?

Now transformed into weirdness, these broken tablets still somehow remained connected to it.

Performing “Qing Shan Gui” grants “protection,” but this protection is utterly different from the mountain god’s ancient safeguard!

(End of Chapter)