Chapter 95: Golden Rooster, Jade Ring

Midnight, the third watch, is the time when yin energy is heaviest throughout the day.

This period carries many taboos.

For instance, one must not call out the names of ghosts or gods; doing so might summon filth and misfortune.

At this time, men should also avoid sexual intercourse, since such acts rely on yang energy; if one raises yang energy when yin energy is at its peak, it may damage one's fundamental origin.

Furthermore, there is a warning: "In the Zi hour, do not seek divination, or you will invite disaster and ill fortune," meaning one must not pray to spirits or consult oracle bones during the Zi hour, lest calamity and bad luck befall them.

Another prohibition is against opening the door for anyone.

Especially strangers.

Outside the coroner's workshop, the knocking grew increasingly urgent.

Simultaneously, a woman's voice crying for help rang out.

"Young Master, save me! A wild beast is injuring people outside; I have nowhere to hide. I beg your kindness, please rescue me!"

Xu Qing raised an eyebrow, thinking, Sister, did you somehow activate clairvoyance?

Otherwise, how would you know there's a handsome Young Master inside this shop?

Stepping to the window, Xu Qing quietly opened a crack and peered outside.

All he saw was a pitch-black street devoid of even a single human shadow.

Looking at his own shop entrance, it wasn't merely that no customers came; there wasn't even half a sparrow feather in sight.

Where could this knocking sound possibly come from on such an empty street?

Xu Qing finally realized the severity of the problem: some dirty thing had come here to mess with him!

Recalling the two helpers he had exorcised earlier that day, Xu Qing felt a stir in his heart.

He returned to the shop front; at this moment, silence reigned outside, with not a trace of knocking remaining.

Xu Qing donned his brass knuckle gloves, concealed his sword, and manipulated his puppet to lift open a door panel.

Outside, a cold wind and thin mist swirled; the entire funeral street seemed to fade into the netherworld and the Yellow Springs.

Xu Qing approached the puppet; at this moment, only the coroner's workshop still burned with a dim yellow light on the street.

He scanned his surroundings; though he found no human figures, he discovered a pair of exquisitely crafted pink embroidered shoes just beyond the threshold.

Those embroidered shoes were slender enough to fit in one's palm, their delicate toes pointing directly at his shop door.

Xu Qing's eyelid twitched; he immediately recalled the female ghost encountered by Liu Cai and Feng Six in the revolving lantern.

That entity had also worn a pair of pink-and-white embroidered shoes just like these.

Even the patterns upon them were identical!

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes; just as he prepared to bend down and pick up the shoes, the bright candle flames inside the shop behind him suddenly extinguished.

Hm? Xu Qing frowned.

This guest seems somewhat lacking in manners.

It would be one thing if you merely littered at someone else's doorstep, but how dare you extinguish another person's lamp without permission?

"Snap."

Xu Qing snapped his fingers; the Light-Kindling Technique instantly covered the entire shop, causing even the unoccupied paper-effigy shop next door to ignite with candlelight.

Yet the next moment, an inexplicable cold wind swept across the storefront, and the newly kindled flames extinguished once more.

"Snap, snap, snap..."

Over the next few brief breaths, the coroner's workshop flickered on and off, as if someone were holding a late-night rave.

At this moment, neither Xu Qing nor his opponent would yield; they simply remained locked in a stalemate.

If this continued until dawn, wouldn't the hand he used to snap his fingers develop thick calluses!

Fortunately, the opponent eventually made a concession.

The lights inside the coroner's workshop finally stabilized.

Picking up the embroidered shoes, Xu Qing silently closed the door and securely bolted it.

From start to finish, he had no intention of turning around; with the precedents set by Liu Cai and Feng Six, he could fully anticipate what scene lay behind him.

Feeling the faint wisp of yin energy exhaling onto the back of his neck, Xu Qing suddenly revealed a meaningful smile.

So you enjoy pressing your face against others to scare them, do you?

Then today, this master will teach you a lesson and show you what truly means pressing one's face against another!

"Miss, I am kind-hearted and have already opened the door to extend a helping hand to you."

"However, reciprocity is the essence of human relations."

"Since that is the case, please do me a small favor: the back of my head itches terribly, as if lice are crawling there; kindly help me pick them off..."

No sooner had Xu Qing finished speaking than he felt a pair of ice-cold small hands climb onto the back of his head, scratching about.

"Open your eyes wide and look carefully; do not let those lice escape."

As he spoke, Xu Qing activated the Two-Faced, Three-Knives Technique, and a grinning, ghastly face suddenly grew out from the back of his head!

Eye to eye, Xu Qing saw the face of the woman who had cried for help; it was precisely the embroidress from the old tailor's household who operated the loom.

The embroidress, who had been carefully picking lice, likewise saw Xu Qing's suddenly transformed, ghastly smiling face.

"Ghost—!"

The embroidress shrieked; a sudden gust of cold wind surged around her body, and she attempted to drift backward.

But how could Xu Qing give her a chance to flee? He immediately reversed his hand, seized the ice-cold small hand before him, gave a sharp pull, and dragged the female ghost, light as thin paper, in front of him.

Twisting his face back to its normal appearance, Xu Qing sneered and said, "Exactly who is the ghost here? Make yourself clear!"

The embroidress trembled uncontrollably; she opened her mouth attempting to blow breath onto Xu Qing, yet discovered that the yin energy she exhaled was like a single drop of water falling into the ocean, incapable of raising even a ripple.

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes, feeling as though a spring breeze had brushed past him; his entire zombie body felt significantly more invigorated.

"Don't stop; keep blowing!"

The female ghost was on the verge of crying out; she knelt on the ground, her wrist held firmly by Xu Qing, and said with tears welling in her eyes, "This humble woman has eyes but no sight, failing to recognize your high cultivation. I beg the senior to show mercy and spare my life."

"Spare your life?"

Xu Qing spoke coldly, "When you were blowing air onto me just now, you didn't seem so reasonable."

The female ghost cried out anxiously, "This humble woman was frightened by the senior, thinking I had encountered a vicious ghost. I was terrified, but I never meant to harm the senior. I came here originally to escape disaster; otherwise, I would not have helped the senior pick lice."

"Disaster? You were living well in the old tailor's house; where did this disaster come from?"

Xu Qing frowned slightly; if he had not changed his mind midway to choose drawing talismans, this female ghost might well have encountered him, this evil guest, at the door.

But he had not gone to the old tailor's house just now; could it be that someone had gotten there first?

Hearing Xu Qing pinpoint her origins in a single sentence, the embroiderer felt even more certain she had met a master.

"This humble woman was originally the tailor's daughter; since childhood, I practiced needlework at home and never made enemies with anyone. Later, my father fell ill and died, and my relatives sought to take this opportunity to seize my family's home and even sell me to another family as a wife."

"Although this humble woman lacks the spirit of a man, I was unwilling to be handled at will, so I swallowed realgar and died within my family home."

Realgar is arsenic; listening to the embroiderer's lament, Xu Qing was reminded of Wang Liang in Wan Shou Township.

In terms of age, Wang Liang was even younger than the embroiderer; if he had not taught him martial arts back then, Wang Liang's situation now would surely not have been any better than the embroiderer before him.

"After my death, my resentment did not dissipate, and my consciousness was confused, but fortunately, a passing female Daoist performed a ritual to dissolve my resentment and guided me to cultivate the Ghost Dao."

"This humble woman has a grudge and did not wish to leave, so I broke my promise and secretly returned to my family home."

"Now that female Daoist has brought her own raised vicious beast to punish me. With no other choice, I came here, intending to possess the evil guest who invaded my home the day before yesterday to escape this disaster."

Listening to the female ghost's lament, Xu Qing frowned and said, "People say ghosts tell endless lies; their words cannot be trusted. How do I know if what you say is true or false?"

"This humble woman can swear an oath before the lamp!"

"..."

Why does everyone want to swear an oath before the lamp at the drop of a hat?

The lamps in this place must be quite busy.

Xu Qing released the female ghost and was about to speak when he heard a rooster crow again outside the shop; unlike before, this time he also heard the dull sound of a bird flapping its wings.

"Benefactor, that vicious beast is here again! This humble woman will hide first; please, benefactor, be careful in your response."

Having spoken, the female ghost's form flashed; she arrived before the coffin storing the corpse, and then Xu Qing saw her decisively jump into the coffin, followed by her closing the lid.

The entire sequence of movements was without any hesitation or mess.

"..."

Xu Qing withdrew his gaze and turned to look at the shop door.

At this moment, the sound of a rooster crowing rang out again.

But it was not at the entrance; it was in the backyard of the coroner's shop.

For some reason, a sense of unease now rose in Xu Qing's heart.

It was merely an ordinary rooster crow, yet he felt the instinctive fear that an ordinary person feels when facing the roar of tigers and leopards.

"Could the vicious beast the female ghost mentioned be this rooster that crows at midnight and runs around everywhere?" Xu Qing drew the Silver Snake Sword, pinched the Plum Blossom Needles within his sleeve, and strode toward the backyard.

Earlier, the hen he had boarded at Wu Yaoxing's house had already been returned to the backyard for raising after his seclusion.

Now, hearing the rooster's loud crow, the hens in the backyard let out strange cries, like widows in Widow Village encountering a strapping young man.

Arriving at the backyard, Xu Qing scanned the area with his gaze; he saw the hens in the coop squatting on the ground, wings spread open, adopting mating postures seeking favor.

"..."

This is truly bizarre!

Xu Qing opened the coop door, intending to enter and drag out the lecherous thief ruining his hens, but who would have thought that before he even stepped into the coop, a treacherous gust of wind arose behind him!

Two-Faced automatically activated; Xu Qing held the Silver Snake Sword against his back.

Only the clanging of two strikes was heard as a rooster, half a person's height and covered in golden-red feathers, lunged at his long sword.

Roosters have spurs behind their claws, commonly called 'rooster heels'; the older the rooster, the longer the spur.

And the rooster lunging at Xu Qing from the side had spurs fully three inches long.

Illuminated by the moonlight, that pair of spurs resembled golden hooks; upon contacting the sword blade, they actually sparked a trail of fire.

Xu Qing retreated to the courtyard, formed the Southern Dipper Sword Art, and began fighting the rooster.

The rooster was quite supernatural; every time it flapped its wings, a gale rushed forward.

Xu Qing could not pinpoint where that sense of crisis in his heart came from; only his zombie instinct told him he could not let the rooster before him touch his body.

The Southern Dipper Sword Art exploited every opening; several sword shadows flashed, and the courtyard was soon filled with many chi-long chicken feathers.

The Golden Rooster cherished its feathers; seeing its plumage damaged, it went completely mad.

Watching the rooster spread the feathers on its neck in a display, adopting a dueling posture, Xu Qing looked down again at the long sword in his hand.

At this moment, the poison-coated Silver Snake Sword had two new notches.

"This rooster is not right!"

Which rooster pecks at iron and stone as easily as pecking at scorched rice?

Looking again at the golden beak of the rooster before him, flashing with cold light, Xu Qing finally understood where that unease came from.

With one bite like that, even a Silver Armored Corpse would be left with bruises!

Seeing the rooster get serious, Xu Qing grew tired of continuing to parley with it.

Having taken two bites from his Silver Snake Sword, even an iron rooster would kick the bucket and become a dish within a short while.

Xu Qing flipped over the courtyard wall and landed at the street by the well.

Behind him, the rooster pursued relentlessly.

Xu Qing employed the Wall-Crawling Gecko Art, the Lightness Technique, and the Slithering Snake Step, dodging left and right; his movements were so graceful they resembled a half-grown boy being chased by a goose at the village entrance.

Xuan Yu, returning from a stroll, sat on the wall, watching the youth being chased back and forth by a Golden Rooster on the street, his eyes full of wonder.

Inside the coffin shop, Hu Baosong heard the commotion and strolled out; when he saw Xu Qing running toward him, he, despite his poor legs, ran even faster than Xu Qing.

"You don't sleep in the middle of the night, what foolery are you up to?" Hu Baosong took out a Tracking-Disguising Talisman and stuck it on the coffin shop's door.

Xu Qing followed Hu Baosong closely into the coffin shop, not feeling the slightest embarrassment, and rattled off a quick account of his encounter with the female ghost.

"I thought it was a filial rooster used for soul-calling — who would've guessed it'd be something like this!"

"But don't worry, Old Hu. That chicken took the poison; it won't be flapping around much longer."

Hu Baosong listened to the golden rooster circling outside looking for someone, frowned, and said: "This golden rooster is no ordinary bird. The one who raised it is probably no common figure either. Don't go making enemies over this."

Xu Qing said irritably: "Even walking a dog requires a leash. Her family's chicken barged into my shop in the middle of the night, running wild and pecking people — and she thinks she has the right?"

In the gap between the two men's murmuring, a "cluck-cluck-cluck" sound of someone calling a chicken suddenly came from the street outside.

Hu Baosong and Xu Qing exchanged a glance, and the two of them, perfectly in sync, stopped talking.

Outside the shop, a female Daoist in a buttoned, blue-green Daoist robe stood before the golden rooster.

By now the big rooster was a far cry from its earlier cocky, strutting self. The female Daoist looked at the rooster, whose comb had turned black and purple, and her brow furrowed.

She stood at the end of the street, scanning all around — apart from a black cat on a distant rooftop, there was no other movement.

After a moment of silence, the female crown took a milky-white pill from her sleeve, fed it to the golden rooster, then paced over to the coffin shop's door, performed a Daoist bow, and gently opened her fragrant lips:

"This penniless Daoist, Yizhen, offers her greetings. That golden rooster is a spirit-bird kept by our Five Elders Abbey. If it has offended you, Fellow Daoist, this penniless Daoist apologizes first."

"I only hope Fellow Daoist will be magnanimous and provide an antidote recipe. This penniless Daoist would be endlessly grateful."

In the shop, separated by only a single door panel, Xu Qing played deaf and mute.

First the female ghost Embroideress begged him to lend a hand and save her; now a female Daoist was at his door asking for medicine.

Anyone who didn't know would think he wasn't running a funeral parlor but a charity hall!

Compared with Xu Qing's unhurried calm, Hu Baosong, who had been steady as a rock until now, was the first to lose his composure.

"Hey, hey! Old Hu, what are you doing?"

Hu Baosong paid no heed. As he opened the shop door, he instructed Xu Qing: "Kid Xu, go light the lamp, quick!"

Click — the lamp flared to life at his word.

The two men now got a clear look at the female Daoist's face outside.

She was a beautiful woman in her thirties or forties, dignified in bearing, comely of face, with endless charm between her brows.

"You're a Jurchen from Five Elders Abbey?"

"Indeed."

"Then do you know Zichen?"

"My master's Daoist title was Zichen."

Hu Baosong could hardly hide his agitation at the words: "Is she doing well these days?"

"Master departed this world on a crane fifteen years ago."

"The jade ring you're wearing?"

"The Heart Moon Ring was passed down by Master before her passing — though only half of it remains."

Xu Qing listened to the two of them going back and forth and immediately sensed there was something going on.

This old man Hu was clearly not as honest as he appeared on the surface.

(End of chapter)