Chapter 1: I Have a Date with the Eunuch

  The sky has changed. A gust of turbid wind blows by, and the desolate yellow sand dust spreads out, the petals of memory wither from my heart, and drift away piece by piece in the wind.

  On the desolate and remote mountain wilderness, thousand-year-old trees grew in anger, stretching their limbs in the fierce wind, emitting sharp whistling sounds, leaves spinning, crows and sparrows clamoring, yellow-green weeds wildly twisting their bodies.

  There is no prosperity here, far from the hustle and bustle, it was once a desolate cemetery for many years. As the day approaches dusk, there is clearly a figure lying on a hard red rock, stretching out his body to form an exaggerated large character. He is using his teeth to bite down on the soft wooden plug, pouring the last bit of clear water from the gourd into his mouth.

  The cool stream water moistened the dry lips and throat, and the small four emotions couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief. He shook his empty gourd and muttered to himself: "Damn old man, why can't you just fix up the Cloud Crane Tower's Danqing Old Cellar?!"

  He listlessly sat up, rummaging through his pockets to produce a pile of variously sized and shaped trinkets. This was all he had managed to scrounge up today - a few pieces of jade, four silver cups, seven or eight gold pomegranate seeds, two rings (one gold, one copper), and some other miscellaneous items that didn't look like they were worth much, or could maybe be exchanged for a few taels of silver. All in all, the whole day had been pretty much wasted.

  Around him, the yellow earth piled up tombs appeared and disappeared in the withered yellow weeds that were more than half a person tall. After Xiao Siyi dug diligently for a whole day, nearly half of the tombs had been excavated. The coffins that had rotted in the ground were exposed under the last crimson sunset, as if they had been painted with a layer of blood-like red on the surface.

  The setting sun drips with blood, on the chaotic mound; alone and forlorn, all trees and grasses are enemies.

  As long as one is human, and a normal person at that, there will inevitably be some sort of adverse reaction on their body, such as goosebumps. But Xiao Si had none, not even the slightest hint of a chill.

  It's not fearlessness, but rather indifference. Since he was four years old, he had been sleeping in the cemetery, and according to Old Man Si, there were many benefits to doing so, but the one that Xiao Si found most ridiculous was: From hell to heaven, it's just a step away.

  Dead old man, Jiao Xiao Si's grandfather, has a god-like schedule, like a divine dragon that appears and disappears suddenly. He also has a god-like work ethic and does not dig ordinary graves.

  According to him, since ancient times, the previous generation occupied the pit and the next generation dug graves. Anyway, digging someone's grave is the same as digging. Isn't it also following nature and conforming to heaven's will to find a place with more oil and water? Just like those who have made a name for themselves, been noble and prominent, favored by others or favored by others..., these dignitaries and nobles, while being buried in glory, also left behind endless dreams and wild thoughts for future generations.

  Double the result with half the effort, this is Xiao Si's four-character motto. Despite experiencing countless times of returning empty-handed, he deeply understands that business is not always successful, and treasures are not always in hand.

  This time, the target of Xiao Si's attention was a group of eunuchs from the previous dynasty. Who would have thought that they were mentioned in such a casual manner in the Jiangzhou Prefecture Annals and the archives of the previous dynasty? After spending half a month searching, Xiao Si finally found the location of the grave of these deceased eunuchs. But little did he know, man proposes but heaven disposes, this excavation not only didn't bring any unexpected surprises to Xiao Si, but instead revealed an infuriating fact - most of the eunuchs were actually prodigal sons.

  Xiao Si really wants to pull these corrupt eunuchs out of their coffins and interrogate them: where did they spend all the people's money, why didn't they keep it safe for Master to collect?

  The sky had completely darkened, and the wind carried a few strands of piercing coldness. The surrounding scenery became vague and hazy in the dim moonlight, desolate and dismal.

  "Do we still need to dig?" Xiao Si's mind was filled with doubts, his eyes resentfully scanning the dozens of graves swaying gently in the wind.

  According to the information provided by Lao Lao, this group of eunuchs took a lot of rare treasures with them when they escaped from the palace that year. Even if they thought their good days were numbered and could only live one day at a time, making a living one day at a time, they spent their days eating, drinking, whoring, and gambling along the way. In the end, they should have left some valuable treasures as a reserve.

  Although Old Man Li's words were usually 95% nonsense, Xiao Si had been trying to comfort himself: this time it must be true.

  For a moment's hesitation, Xiaosan picked up the pickaxe and jumped down the mountain rock, gritting his teeth and walking to the nearest grave.

  This land is all desolate mountains and wild graves, and no one has erected a monument for them. Whether the deceased below likes it or not, they have all become lonely ghosts in the wilderness.

  In Xiaosuo's distant and vague memory, from the day he became an apprentice, he understood that although both were digging earth, the results were completely different. One was to see what could grow on the surface of the earth, while the other had to see what was buried underneath. The former relied on physical strength, while the latter relied on luck.

  He circled around the grave again and again, poking and tapping here and there with the thing in his hand, while continuously muttering to himself.

  Although the process and feeling of digging graves and opening coffins are always the same, very tiring and dusty, but thinking about the large amount of pearls, agate, coral, and jade waiting for me in the coffin, Xiaosan suddenly gained layer upon layer of courage and strength, even the coffin boards that gradually appeared from the yellow soil became dazzlingly beautiful and lovely.

  When the soil on the coffin was removed, the copper nails that had been driven into the coffin were pulled out, and Xiaosi used an iron crowbar to slowly pry open the coffin lid. A foul smell of rot and decay wafted up.

  Xiao Si took two steps back, gasping for air, and fixed her gaze on him. Her scalp couldn't help but feel a chill run down it.

  In the coffin lay an old eunuch with bright and clean clothes, his face looked lifelike as if he were still alive. Although he had been dead for many years, he looked just like a living person.

  Similar things had happened to Xiao Si before, and he had heard the old man say that some high-ranking monks would not rot after they died. If their bodies were cremated with fierce fire, relics could be produced. Until today, a relic of a high-ranking monk is still worshipped in the Daming Temple in Yangzhou Prefecture, where incense is constantly burning and is revered by devout men and women as if it were a god.

  But this old eunuch was obviously not a god who had attained enlightenment, and seemed to have a bit of a demonic aura. Xiaosan's vigilant gaze slowly scanned down the old eunuch's body, and when he saw the crystal-clear green jade plate being held in both hands on his chest, his eyes lit up.

  This color, this craftsmanship, this texture, if taken to the black market with eyes closed, could sell for at least a thousand taels of silver.

  Soon, a sense of accomplishment brings joy and satisfaction. The old saying is indeed correct, perseverance is victory!

  He pulled out a talisman from his sleeve and slapped it onto the old eunuch's face with a loud "slap".

  The seal had intricate dragon and phoenix patterns on both sides, with a "鎮" character in the center written in cinnabar from the Azure Sea, which was the Ananda Seal passed down through the Di family, used to suppress and seal away all evil spirits and ghosts roaming the world.

  Then, Xiaosan sprinkled a small handful of gold dust evenly and finely around the eunuch's corpse in a circle. Only then did he squat down with a clear conscience and say: "Old brother, you have King Yanluo as your host below, so you don't need to worry about food and drink. Why bother holding an empty plate? How about lending it to me for use, and I'll give you some wine money in return?"

  He spoke as he went to pry the eunuch's fingers, one by one stiff and icy cold, and it took a lot of effort to finally pull out the jade plate from the eunuch's chest.

  Before he could take a closer look, a gust of wind suddenly came from somewhere and blew away the Ananda seal that was stuck to the eunuch's face. It fluttered for a few moments before disappearing into the dark and dense mountain wilderness.

  Xiao Si was shocked, but before he could regain his composure, he suddenly discovered that the dead person who had been lying in the coffin had actually opened his eyes and was staring at him.

  Those were a pair of eyes that didn't get angry, with dull grey eyeballs that remained still, empty and icy.

  "Fake corpse? You're a joke, dead for so long and still having the mood to haunt ghosts?! " Xiao Si confronted the living dead face to face, suddenly came back to life after a shock, stretched out his hand and pulled out a peach wood nail, which was inserted into the opponent's chest.

  "Thwack!" Taomu Ding's nail shot in with a crisp sound and entered the eunuch's body.

  The dead eunuch suddenly opened his empty hands and grasped Xiao Si's shoulders. Xiao Si had learned a few tricks from the old man, and was usually able to handle three or five big men with ease. But the dead eunuch, although stiff in all four limbs, moved as fast as lightning, leaving him no time to dodge.

  For the first time in his life, Xiao Si encountered a corpse that was not afraid of Ananda Town's Yin and Yang Peach Wood Nails. At the critical moment of life and death, his brain became extremely agile, and he flipped his wrist to pull out a short knife "Youquan" which was said to have been blessed by a high-ranking monk 300 years ago, and stabbed it into the eunuch's chest, then used force to strangle him again.

  Xiao Si faintly felt that under the urging of his "Great Self-Abandonment Seal", the Yuquan Short Sword emitted strands of spiritual energy, which seeped into the body of the dead eunuch.

  Not to mention the ordinary zombies and ghosts, even the evil demons that have attained the Tao and become spirits will also have their souls scattered under this Yúquán knife.

  Who would have thought that with this one stroke of the knife, the aura of the Ghostly Spring Knife would be like a mud cow entering the sea, and the dead eunuch would seem as if nothing had happened.

  Xiao Si felt a chill run down her spine for the first time, and she blinked her eyes, suddenly breaking into a warm smile: "Old man, don't get me wrong, I'm afraid it's stuffy and hot in the coffin, so I especially asked you to come out and get some fresh air."

  It would have been better if he hadn't said that. As soon as his voice dropped, the dead eunuch suddenly sat up from the coffin.

  Xiao Si felt a sharp pain in his shoulders, as two ghostly claws had already clamped down on him, rendering him immobile. Immediately after, the other party pressed their dark red, purplish thick lips onto his face.

  "No way, you're a dead man—" Xiao Si guessed what the other person was going to do and his heart skipped a beat as he desperately struggled to break free from the other's ghostly claws.

  In an instant, he felt a chill on his face, the dead eunuch's lips were tightly sealed over his mouth, and his throat was making all sorts of vicious curses that could be thought of.

  At this moment, he would rather be entwined with an old sow and sleep.

  Is there anything more miserable than being invaded and forced to lose one's virginity? The answer is yes, for example, death.

  At this moment, Xiang Si thought of many, many things...

  He thought of the old man who had evaporated from the world again, thought of his mother who was kidnapped, and the legendary father who was rich and carefree, but he couldn't imagine that he would be desecrated by a dead eunuch...

  Although Xiao Si repeatedly comforted himself, the eunuch was not a beauty, but he must be "unprecedented" and "peerless". Unfortunately, no matter how unprecedented and peerless he was, he still couldn't persuade himself to accept!

  At this moment, Xiao Si's inner emotions were turbulent and she couldn't help but shed tears... It wasn't something that everyone could experience, it wasn't something that everyone could accept...

  Tears couldn't flow, the dead eunuch suddenly let out a "puff" of sound from his mouth, spewing out a thick and icy cold ghostly energy that forcibly poured into Xiao Si's mouth.

  "Hsss——" This endless, surging cold yin energy poured down his throat and spread through his body along the meridians in an instant. Wherever it passed, the pitifully small True Self Seal that Xiao Si had painstakingly cultivated with great difficulty was immediately destroyed, swept away without a trace.

  "You're a shameless thing who deserves to be hacked to death a thousand times!" Xiaosan felt as if he had been thrown into an ice bath, his whole body getting colder and stiffer by the second, unable to stop shivering all over.

  No matter how he struggled, the dead eunuch showed no signs of giving up. Wave after wave of cold air poured into his body, flowing through the meridians and orifices, swelling and churning like a large bucket of ice water sloshing back and forth inside him.

  It's unknown how much time had passed, but Xiao Si gradually felt his whole body numb and stiff. Suddenly, the dead eunuch loosened his grip on Xiao Si's shoulder, and he collapsed into the coffin like a deflated leather bag.

  Xiao Si gradually regained his breath and slowly came to, the flames of anger rapidly igniting his nerves and thoughts. He didn't have time to feel nauseous or afraid, and instead glared fiercely at the eunuch lying motionless in the coffin, shouting: "You dead old ghost! Today I'll make sure to deal with you properly! First, I'll dig out your eyes, then cut off your nose and ears, and turn you into a human stick. I'll send you to your ancestors as a gift!" As he spoke, he ignored his still-stiff body and forced himself to stand up straight, stepping forward to place one foot on the eunuch's belly. He raised the Youshui knife, ready to begin.

  Suddenly a faint "hiss" sound was heard, and wisps of green smoke emerged from the face of the dead eunuch, his silver hair turning from white to black.

  Xiao Siyi took a step back, his eyes fixed on the eunuch as he gripped the Youquan knife, fully alert and ready for anything, but he had no idea what other tricks this dead eunuch still had up his sleeve.

  In an instant, the face in front of me underwent a bizarre transformation, as a layer of human skin mask dissolved and fell off, gradually revealing a stunningly beautiful face with a national color and heavenly fragrance.

  Xiao Si couldn't help but stare, his eyes wide with wonder, and muttered in a low voice: "So she's actually a palace maid... She looks quite pretty, why does she have to dress up like an old eunuch and disgust people?"

  But recalling the scene where he was worse off than dead, like falling into an ice cave, he couldn't help but curse loudly: "No way, today I must take this old... woman apart bone by bone! Ah no, what did she pour into me, why is my body getting colder and colder, damn it's almost freezing to death!"

  He was about to strike again, raising the Youquan knife to tear this woman apart. But when his gaze fell on her absolutely beautiful face, he couldn't bring himself to lower the knife.

  "Lucky for you, no one bullies beauties in front of me." Xiao Si put away his knife, stuffed the palm-sized jade plate into his bosom, slammed the coffin lid shut with a clang, and used an iron shovel to fill in the dirt.

  After all the commotion, he didn't even break a sweat but instead felt colder. The chill that had seeped into his body was thick and cotton-like, as if his internal organs were frozen solid.

  Although he was small in stature, he had a big temper and couldn't help but feel scared at this moment. He rubbed his hands and stomped his feet to warm up while thinking: "This woman is strange, could she still be carrying corpse poison?"

  But he lifted his hand and looked at it, and his skin didn't change in the slightest, nor did he see any signs of poisoning. His fingernails only faintly showed a layer of pale cyan.

  He suddenly shouted: "No way, I'm freezing to death! We must find a monk or Taoist priest to perform an exorcism!" But as soon as he raised his head, he was stunned on the spot!

  But all around, one by one, skulls rose silently from their coffins and walked towards him. The unexcavated graves also stretched out a pair of white bony claws from the soil, reaching for something in the sky.

  "Damn it, this group of dead eunuchs has collectively turned into zombies!"

  He didn't say another word and quickly pulled out a "Fire Exorcism Stick" inserted in his lower back, grasping it in the palm of his hand.

  This silver-white rod, about one foot long, is made of nine Yang true gold from Luo Fu Mountain. If you encounter ghosts, demons or evil spirits, just operate the air to blow the cluster of silver-red small beads on the rod head, and a string of nine Yang fire can be ejected, teaching the opponent to turn to ashes.

  With a rod in hand, I have the world under control. The four small hearts have settled down quite a bit. Looking at a approaching skull, he shouted: "Dead eunuch, you come out to roast fire too?" Aiming at the red pellet on the rod head, he exerted his strength, puffed his lips and blew fiercely.

  "Puff, puff, puff..." A few times, two times, three or four times - Xiao Si exerted all his might to blow fiercely, but the fire poker didn't budge, and not even a spark was lit.

  "Unbelievable! Even a fool like you is trying to act smart with me?" Xiao Si seemed as if he had been hit on the head with a mallet.

  His dantian was completely empty, and although there was a thick breath circulating inside his body, it didn't listen to his commands. This fire-driving ghost stick had no true energy guiding it, so it became useless in his hands.

  That skeleton eunuch stopped about ten feet away from Xiao Si, looking at him with a puzzled expression.

  "Damn it, why do I keep running into weirdos today?" Xiao Si's heart was still racing from the forced "drowning" experience earlier, and he didn't know where he got the energy from, but he turned around and ran away.

  As soon as he lifted his leg, a group of skull-headed jailers suddenly followed suit, keeping pace with him like shadows.

  "You guys are all nonsense! I'm not a fallen fish or a withered flower, what are you following me for?!" Xiao Si was both sad and angry, and he rushed out of the cemetery with his life on the line.

  Those skeleton eunuchs ran at a speed that was in no way inferior to Xiao Si's, gradually gathering together into two long dragons that followed behind him as he sped along, seeming as if they would entwine him all the way to the ends of the earth.

  At the critical moment of life and death, Xiaosao naturally understood that life is more precious than wealth. He didn't care about the treasure left in the tomb anymore, and he ran out for over ten miles with his head down, panting like a cow, his hands and feet numb and sore. Without looking back, he could see from the corner of his eye that the two long rows of skulls were still following closely behind him.

  Just as they were about to give up in despair, a dark shadow was seen swaying vaguely in the mountains and fields ahead. Xīao Sì didn't care if it was a monster or a human, he tore open his throat and shouted with the most heart-wrenching voice of his life: "Save us——"

  Just this slight distraction made him lose his footing, and before he knew it, he had stumbled and fallen out.

  Just as the figure was about to make a powerful move, Xiaosan suddenly felt a tightness on his shoulder, and then his body lightened and he stood firmly back on the ground.

  "Little brother, don't be afraid."

  Xiao Si let out a sigh of relief, and as he looked up, he saw a middle-aged man in his thirties with a sturdy build wearing black clothes. He had red hair and an unusual appearance, with a straight nose, wide mouth, and a thick beard that covered his face. Behind him was a black scabbard with a silver hilt, and on his feet were a pair of hemp shoes.

  For some reason, Xiao Si's gaze inadvertently dodged away as soon as it met the black-clad man's eyes, as if his eyes emitted a deterrent force that made him inexplicably feel guilty.

  But he saw the black-clad man grab Xiao Si with his left hand and pull him behind his back, his right hand pinched a seal, a flash of golden light, and a faint sound of thunder, "Hiss" a light print was slapped out.

  If one looked closely, the light pattern was woven from thousands of fine golden threads that resembled cursive script, merging together to form a thunderous and surging wave that rushed towards the two rows of skeleton-like eunuchs who were running in formation.

  The man in black clothes, with his right palm not stopping at all, made a swift and decisive move, striking out two more rays of light. The three rays of light merged into one place in the air, like the Yangtze River's waves pushing forward, with an aura that was awe-inspiring and had the courage to defy tens of thousands of men.

  Xiao Si watched with his heart racing, his eyes wide with excitement and said: "This black big guy actually doesn't need to use a talisman, directly slapping out the Xuanmen Law Seal with one palm, could he be the legendary Sword Immortal who can kill people without shape or form from thousands of miles away? I'm so lucky today, I've met a dead person, a demon and even an immortal."

  His cultivation may not be high, but his vision is not bad, and he knows that the black-clothed big man has made a move with a genuine Xuanmen orthodox law seal. But such skills, let alone Xiao Si, even that old dead man can't keep up.

  Just as he had this thought, the three rays of light had already engulfed and overwhelmed the numerous skeletal eunuchs who were chasing after him in a majestic golden wave.

  As the golden light gradually faded, seventy or eighty eunuchs stood still like they had been cast with a petrifying spell, their souls seemingly sucked out of them, leaving only empty skeletons.

  "Hmph!" The black-clad man let out a low, stern cry, his two fingers shooting up into the air to make a swift, empty strike. The black scabbard of his sword behind him rang out with a loud dragon's hum as it shot upwards, flying and spinning above his head before transforming into a ball of silver lightning that smashed down onto the ground with a deafening crash, causing the earth to shake and sand and rocks to fly everywhere.

  The hard-as-iron rock was blasted out by the silver thunder of the Xianjian, creating a deep pit with a diameter of over ten zhang. The skulls fell into the pit one after another. Immediately following that, pieces of broken stone and soil fell down like raindrops and hailstones, quickly filling up and covering the huge pit.

  "Clang!" The sword flashed back with a crisp sound, flying steadily and landing in the scabbard on the black-clad man's back.

  Xiao Si watched as the black-clad man neatly took down and disposed of the skull troops that had chased him for ten miles, and couldn't help but think to himself: "Am I dreaming? If I had this big guy's skills, which ancient tomb mechanism could stop me? Wouldn't all the gold and silver treasures be mine for the taking?"

  The man in black didn't know what sinister thoughts Xiao Si was harboring at this moment. As soon as he had touched the young man's shoulder, he had detected a strange and eerie cold energy within him that was far from normal. With his own experience and insight, for a moment, he couldn't determine its origin either. Seeing Xiao Si standing behind him, speechless and seemingly stupid, he asked with concern: "Young brother, do you feel uncomfortable?"

  Xiao Si heard this and suddenly felt a chill run down his spine, hastily nodding in response: "I'm covered in cold sweat, I fear I've just been poisoned by the corpse."

  "Corpse poison?" The black-clad man furrowed his brow, thinking to himself: "The chill emanating from this youth's body is not corpse poison, but rather some kind of evil demonic energy accumulating and surging. At his age, even a heaven-defying prodigy would be unable to cultivate such dense and pure power. Moreover, he clearly doesn't know how to use it."

  Just as he was lost in thought, the young man beside him suddenly murmured as if in a trance: "It would be great if it were summer, no matter how hot it is, I wouldn't..."

  The words were left unspoken, but the person had already fallen.