Chapter 6: The Sound of the King Wen Drum

The rooster crows, and the world turns white.

Accompanied by the crowing of roosters in the village, the boundary between night and day appeared on the horizon. Yin energy sank, Yang energy rose, and human voices gradually appeared in the village.

"You brat, why are you so lazy?"

"Go feed the pigs quickly; we still have to work in the fields later..."

Li Yan hadn't slept all night, holding his blade and standing guard in the courtyard. Hearing the voices of neighbors scolding their children in the distance, he pushed the wooden door open gently.

*Creak~*

The old door bolt made a tooth-aching sound.

Li Yan stepped out and looked up, his eyes filled with horror.

The "Hundred Battles Mighty" plaque hanging above had lost quite a bit of its lacquer, and there was a clear decay on the corners, and even a crack had appeared on the right side.

Li Yan didn't know the principle of how this treasure could suppress evil, perhaps it had to do with the imperial court.

But he could see that after one night, the plaque had suffered significant damage. It wouldn't be surprising if it failed after holding on for one more night.

And that "Blind Old San" was clearly only temporarily forced back.

What should he do?

Just as Li Yan was thinking of a countermeasure, his grandfather Li Gui came out of the room with his crutch.

The old man was holding his large tobacco pipe and was about to take a few puffs, but seeing him disheveled and standing outside the door with a blade, he scolded, "You brat, practicing the blade so much you don't even eat, and why aren't your clothes worn properly?"

"Don't stand at the door; you'll scare people early in the morning. I'm going to make you some food."

After saying that, he hobbled toward the kitchen with his double crutches.

He was old, and he hadn't heard the movement in the village at all last night.

Li Yan opened his mouth, wanting to stop him, but he had no heart to cook now. He hurriedly entered the room and put on his clothes.

Farm clothes weren't that particular, mostly made of black coarse cloth. Now that the weather was turning hot, he only wore a single layer.

It's just that these pants were usually very large and had no style, hanging straight down. If you didn't wrap your legs, it was really inconvenient to move.

After dressing, he went out and hurried toward the village entrance.

He knew about Blind Old San's corpse being hung on the old locust tree at the village entrance, but he was too lazy to look, never expecting that something would go wrong last night.

Glancing back as he left, looking at the cooking smoke rising outside the kitchen, he clenched his fists tightly.

Grandpa was still at home; he couldn't leave.

No matter what that thing was, he had to find a way to solve it!

At this moment, the warm sun was rising, the loess wheat fields, the blue sky and white clouds, and the commoners carrying hoes coming and going—it was a scene of peaceful rural pastoral scenery.

Compared to the eeriness of last night, it was simply two different worlds.

"Blind Old San's" corpse was hung on the old locust tree at the village entrance. After being smashed by naughty children yesterday, it was tattered, and the dirty blood had long since turned black. The idle fellows passing by would even casually give it a hit with their hoes.

Li Yan didn't rush to approach but sniffed in the air.

He was currently upwind, less than fifty meters away, but the unique fishy, foul odor of "Blind Old San" from before couldn't be smelled at all.

It seemed as if it were just an ordinary wolf corpse.

Li Yan's brow furrowed. He approached to look, but found nothing suspicious.

Just at this moment, a man passed by. Seeing this, he sighed with a *tsk*, "What a pity. I said we should have just eaten it. Hanging it here, it'll stink in a few days."

Li Yan was speechless and didn't know what to say.

The man was named Li Shuanzhu, a bachelor. He had no proper form on ordinary days, not only gluttonous but also famously sharp-tongued, liking to argue, and was disliked by others.

Eating this thing—I'm afraid the unlucky one last night would have been him.

Li Shuanzhu didn't realize he was annoying at all, talking to himself, "Widow Wang even said this thing was unlucky and had to be burned to perform a ritual, but I don't see anything..."

Li Yan was startled upon hearing this and hurriedly asked, "What else did she say?"

"What serious things could she say?"

Li Shuanzhu shook his head. "Her house is as smelly as a latrine, and she's superstitious all day long. It's a pity..."

After saying that, he carried his hoe and walked away.

Li Yan didn't care and looked toward the village thoughtfully, then walked toward Widow Wang's house without a word...

Not long after, he arrived near Widow Wang's house.

This was an old courtyard with the gate closed. The earthen walls were covered in weeds and piled with all sorts of debris, covered in dust.

At this moment, most of the commoners had gone to the fields, so there was no one nearby, and it looked like an abandoned old house.

As soon as Li Yan approached, his brow furrowed.

Besides the Earth Temple, the strange place in the village was Widow Wang's house, but that fishy, foul odor combined with the stench was simply torture for his nose.

Plus, there's always gossip about widows, so even if he was curious, he rarely came near here.

But now he had no choice. "Blind Old San" had to be cleared, and Widow Wang might know something...

*Creak~*

Just as he was about to lift his foot, the wooden door suddenly opened, and Widow Wang, disheveled and pale, poked her head out.

She first looked behind Li Yan cautiously, her eyes full of vigilance, before saying in a trembling voice, "Come in; the Immortal wants to see you."

Li Yan was stunned upon hearing this.

Widow Wang actually knew he was coming!

And... Immortal?

Li Yan raised his vigilance, but his face remained expressionless. He pressed lightly on the hilt of his blade and walked into the small courtyard with large strides.

As soon as he entered, a suffocating stench rushed toward him.

Li Yan's sense of smell was far superior to ordinary people, and this was a torture. He hurriedly held his breath, frowned, and looked around.

He saw a circle of rotten wood piled up in the corners of the courtyard, along with pickle jars, in which some unknown liquid had rotted, floating with a layer of white foam, and dense flies flying around.

The smell in this place was simply comparable to a latrine.

Li Yan couldn't help but cover his nose and was just about to speak when his gaze froze, discovering something suspicious.

!.

These jars containing filth looked messy, but there was a method to them, placed according to the eight directions: Open, Rest, Life, Injury, Du, Scene, Death, and Surprise.

He practiced martial arts and blade techniques, so he also knew a little about this.

With such an arrangement, could there be another hidden secret?

Before he could think more, Widow Wang gently opened the room door, signaling him to follow.

Her way of opening the door was also strange, pulling it open from the side and hanging a cloth curtain to block the light, as if afraid of the wind blowing in.

Good heavens, even sitting in confinement wasn't this strict...

Li Yan's suspicion grew stronger, and he followed into the room.

Unexpectedly, the smell in the room wasn't as bad as in the courtyard, but the light was dim and very stuffy, and that fishy, foul odor with the scent of incense was even stronger.

Li Yan's gaze was immediately attracted by the furnishings in the room.

In the center, against the wall, was a square altar table, placed with four plates of steamed buns, three plates of melons and fruits, as well as roast chicken, fat meat, and a jar of wine.

Three sticks of incense were inserted in the incense burner, and the candlelight on both sides was dim.

And behind the offerings, a wooden plaque was enshrined, with red paper pasted in the center, on which was written "Position of Third Aunt Hu," and on both sides were a pair of small couplets:

Cultivating truth and nurturing nature in the deep mountains, famous throughout the four seas from the ancient cave.

Chuma Immortal?

Li Yan was stunned for a moment, and many faded memories welled up.

In his past life, besides various ancient objects, he also had some knowledge of folk customs.

This thing originated from primitive Shamanic Witchcraft, which was more prevalent in the Northeast region, having "Protective Family Immortals" and "Chuma Immortals." In the Guanzhong region, it was relatively rare.

Thinking carefully, Widow Wang was bought by her husband from a human trafficker, and he had vaguely heard someone say she was from the Northeast.

But what attracted him more was the front of the altar table.

There, the ground was covered with red wooden sticks, surrounded by a circle of red rope, and a little girl dressed neatly was lying on the ground.

Her eyes were tightly closed, as if she had already fainted, her eyelids trembling constantly.

Even more eerie was that from her head to her shoulders and even her arms, the skin in the areas where acupuncture points were located was trembling slightly, like a drum surface.

What was this doing?

Everything before him made Li Yan feel somewhat absurd.

But since last night, many of his perceptions had been overturned, knowing that this world wasn't simple and that another kind of power existed.

Widow Wang didn't explain much to him, but lifted a large piece of red cloth from a shelf beside the altar table, which contained a drum.

The drum skin was painted with the Eight Trigrams, and there were eight strings on the back, four facing north and four facing south, and some copper coins were hung, which jingled when picked up.

And the handle of the drum hammer was tied with five-colored red cloth strips.

King Wen drum, King Wu whip?

Li Yan's eyes narrowed, and he became interested.

In this world, perhaps it wasn't just as simple as folk customs...

He saw Widow Wang pick up the drum and whip, and she was like a different person, shaking her shoulders, trembling her head, and while knocking, she circled the red rope on the ground.

*Thump! Thump! Thump, thump! *

The drum sound was booming and rhythmic, and Widow Wang's temperament gradually changed, from the original timidness to a solemn expression, and she began to chant:

"The sun sets in the west, the sky is dark, every family bolts their doors. The traveler rushes to the inn, the bird rushes to the mountain forest, the tiger returns to the mountain. The bird rushes to the mountain forest, there is a place to rest, the tiger returns to the mountain, and it is safe..."

As the chant started, her accent also changed.

Li Yan had also seen this scene in his past life.

The scene was the same, but his abnormal sense of smell made him notice the difference.

He could smell that as the drum vibrated, the fishy, foul odor with the scent of incense in the surrounding space seemed to have found a destination.

Accompanied by the rhythm of the jumping, it constantly gathered toward the center...

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 7 =====