Chapter 608

Liang Bo?

Thus we need to compile list of all named entities appearing.

Let's go through each line and extract.

I'll create a set.

Liang Bo (person)

Footsteps sounded, coming hastily from the east.

Li Qingying retreated back to my side.

Not long after, Liang Bo was standing in the southern study.

He looked extremely exhausted, his complexion poor, his left shoulder bandaged, and though he had changed into clean clothes, he still looked as if he might collapse at any moment.

He was holding a long string of packaged medicine packets, likely just taken from the Bai Family Medical Clinic.

I let Liang Bo sit down to speak, and had Li Qingying pour him a cup of warm water.

It's the middle of the night, don't drink tea.

Liang Bo cradled the tea cup, took a sip with a heavy heart to moisten his throat, then said: "Shopkeeper Xiao Jiu, first I must thank you, Yin Dang Hang, for setting aside past grievances and lending a hand in this critical moment, saving my and Lin Mei's lives; then, I sincerely apologize for our initial concealment and lack of trust, and for the trouble we later caused Yin Dang Hang."

"Liang Bo, just say what you need to say." Li Qingying yawned and reminded, "We've been tossed about all night; everyone is exhausted."

Liang Bo nodded embarrassedly, opened his mouth, and for a moment didn't know where to begin.

I greeted Li Qingying to come sit down; it seemed Liang Bo had more to say than could be summed up in a few words.

"Just now... Bai Yixian prescribed medicine for me, especially urging that my wife and I accumulate virtuous deeds and merit in order to prolong our lives. On the way back, passing the street, I saw that the lights were still on in our Yin Dang Hang, and I thought perhaps Shopkeeper Xiao Jiu would like to hear about the matter of the City God's attendant child, so I came over."

I followed his line of thought and said: "I not only want to know about the attendant child, I also want to learn how you and your wife first came to know of the Mandarins Duck Heart-lock, and how you conceived that bubble of blood? As far as I know, without a certain level of cultivation, it is very difficult to ascend the iron chain bridge of the Nineteen Grotto-Heavens."

"Lin Mei and I are both employees of a funeral home in the suburbs of Jiang Cheng."

Under my guidance, Liang Bo finally opened up: "I am a corpse transporter, she is a mortician; this line of work is not something just anyone can do. Besides needing courage and meticulousness, certain essential skills for dealing with the dead are also required."

We share a common grandmaster who taught us how to perceive and settle matters, personally guiding us into the gate of cultivation. Over the past twenty years or so, our colleagues have come and gone, but only we two have made a name for ourselves; we can even simultaneously hold nominal positions in the funeral businesses of several nearby counties, and our lives have been prosperous.

The only regret is that we have never had children. Our grandmaster, on his deathbed, told us that we are inherently fate‑hardened, constantly exposed to death, and our bodies have accumulated too much corpse‑qi, so in this lifetime we are likely destined never to have a child of our own.

Just like him.

After a pause, Liang Bo again spoke sadly: "Our grandmaster treated Lin Mei and me as his own children, raising and nurturing us."

That's how it is.

It seems Liang Bo and Lin Mei do have cultivation, but not as high as I imagined.

I asked: "What happened then?"

"Last year, an intern came to the funeral home and told us that there is a City God Temple on Mount Junzhu, especially efficacious for praying for children." Liang Bo continued, "My wife Lin Mei and I, desperate for a cure, would certainly try even the slightest hope."

That night, after returning from offering incense at the City God Temple on Mount Junzhu, Lin Mei and I had the same dream. In it, an old Daoist with the aura of an immortal told us that we were fated to have no offspring, yet we were destined persons of the Nineteen Grotto-Heavens of the temple. If we could ascend to the Nineteen Grotto-Heavens and obtain the Mandarins Duck Heart-lock in the Three Lives Hall, we might be chosen to conceive the City God's attendant child.

The attendant child is not an ordinary mortal of the yang realm; it merely borrows the womb of a destined person for a time, and though the City God may reclaim it at any moment, it can bring us a karmic link to offspring, after which we could have our own child.

Li Qingying and I exchanged a glance.

I have to say, this story is incredibly tempting for those desperate for children.

Especially for people like Liang Bo and Lin Mei, who walk the yin‑yang trade and have seen much, they are all the more prone to believe such mysterious matters.

"Lin Mei and I were overjoyed, and the very next night we went again to the City God Temple on Mount Junzhu, where the senior disciple of the Hermit of Bamboo Seclusion personally led us onto the iron chain bridge."

"Hold on." I interrupted Liang Bo, asking, "Was it the senior disciple of the Hermit of Bamboo Seclusion who led you onto the iron chain bridge? Or was it a little Daoist?"

Liang Bo paused, then confirmed: "He said he is the senior disciple of the Hermit of Bamboo Seclusion, appears middle‑aged, and is certainly not a little Daoist."

I nodded, signaling him to continue.

"Upon the iron chain bridge, Lin Mei and I truly realized how insignificant our cultivation was; without the senior disciple clearing the way, we likely could not have persisted at all."

Liu Junyan and I entered the Nineteen Grotto-Heavens by our own effort, and it was fraught with danger.

Yet I never expected that Liang Bo and his party would ascend with the senior disciple of the Hermit of Bamboo Seclusion opening the path for them.

Could the difference between the two situations be related to who guided us into the Nineteen Grotto-Heavens?

They were guided by the Hermit of Bamboo Seclusion, aiming for the attendant child.

Liu Junyan and I are on the side of Wang Fuchen.

"Not long after returning from the Nineteen Grotto-Heavens, Lin Mei had a pregnancy dream in which that same immortal‑seeming old Daoist told her that the fetus was already seated in her womb, and that the attendant child must not be defiled by the mundane world; we should not interfere excessively, but let things take their natural course."

"Lin Mei woke from the dream and immediately used a test strip, which confirmed her pregnancy. Yet we dared not go to the hospital, first because we knew this child would eventually be taken by the City God, and second because we feared defiling the attendant child."

"We carefully nurtured the pregnancy for over five months, setting aside many of our duties at the funeral home, until last night—or rather, what should be considered the night before last—when we were drawn into the Nineteen Grotto-Heavens to offer incense, realizing that the day the City God selects the attendant child is approaching."

That day, Liu Junyan and I were also present.

I asked: "What happened after the incense offering?"

"Six couples were retained, but only four attendant children would be selected from them." Liang Bo said, "The quota for those four attendant children will be announced last night, so Lin Mei and I went to offer incense outside the City God Temple at dawn yesterday, hoping the City God would see our sincerity and choose us."

Thus, the quota of four attendant children for last night has already been determined.

There is no child of Liang Bo and Lin Mei.

"If chosen, how will they be arranged? Do you know?"

"This is why I came to Yin Dang Hang." Liang Bo said sincerely, "Bai Yixian urged us to accumulate virtuous deeds and merit. Since the attendant child is a scam, I will tell you the upcoming arrangements; perhaps you can still save those four couples, which would count as my merit."

Everyone has selfish motives, and all the more so given that Liang Bo's life hangs by a thread.

"Last night the four spots were already set; at midnight tonight, Zhu You San Ren and his three disciples will open an altar to perform rites, to liberate those four attendant boys into the Chenghuang Temple..."