Chapter 38: Shadow Guardian

  As the iron door creaked open, I saw Xu Bo pushing my father in as well. Still with eyes like a ghost from the underworld, dressed in white, holding a pure black paper umbrella, and that strange little thing was still asleep.

  I recalled what our ancestors said, this skin tone is the result of Yu Tian Gang's cleanliness and hard work in scrubbing the ground with his soul. I sympathetically smiled at Xu Bo with a sarcastic smile.

  It seems that my loud cry has startled everyone, I awkwardly waved and said hello with both hands, repeatedly saying it's nothing, explaining that I just had a nightmare. Looking at their smiling faces, I was indeed embarrassed, but there was a warmth in it, this feeling of being cared for made me secretly pleased.

  "Have you seen your ancestor Cui Ke now?" Father asked with a smile.

  "Huh, Dad, how did you know?" I remember I didn't mention anything about our ancestors just now.

  "I used to shout like that too, and after one loud shout I couldn't speak for three days. You're much better than me, indeed the strongest of our generation." My father smiled and gave me a big step down, and I almost felt embarrassed to step down from it.

  "When the sky was about to brighten, my ancestors appeared in a dream and told me this matter. They also said that you are the most powerful man of the Cui family for generations, and also the person who is most likely to complete the great task of breaking the curse of ten thousand souls. The flattery was too much, my mouth was numb and my tongue was tied."

  My ancestors still held my hand and said, "When I gave birth to you, I designed you very well." Listening to my father's words, thinking of the image of my ancestors, this tone is really his style, like a exclusive label.

  But I don't understand, I'm obviously the only choice, can this tone be any more hypocritical? This honest ancestor is even hypocritical about being hypocritical.

  I saw my father looking at my bed, messy and wet, with a foul smell filling the air. I suddenly felt my cheeks burning with embarrassment. I wished I could use the twelve-character mantra to dig holes in the floor and crawl into them. Hmm, this scene of digging holes seems familiar, forget it, I'd better just jump in.

  As I chatted with my father, Tie Yi and Xu Bo, the two "mummies" stood motionless on either side of him without any expression. Looking at my father's smile, although his pupils didn't show that mind-reading blue color at this moment, he should have seen my embarrassment at this moment.

  "This trip to the underworld is something that every generation of the Cui family must do. It's already a remarkable feat for a living person not to be scared to death, and as for the little traffic on your bed, it's much less than what I had back in my day." Watching my father laugh, although I don't know if he's telling the truth or not, this kind of self-mockery that puts me at ease still touches my heart deeply.

  This must be the silent love of family members, this must be the ordinary warmth of home.

  The awkwardness that was just enveloped in a thick fog has now dissolved into the laughter and the urine stain on the bed.

  "At first, it was indeed like that. The more I saw ghosts, the more they felt like people to me. It became normal, and then natural. As long as nothing's wrong, that's all that matters! Nothing's wrong, that's all that matters!" Looking at my father laughing so hard right now, I feel a kind of indescribable emotion. Anyway, it feels very reassuring.

  "Ming'er, you're not bad at all. Your high-pitched singing is really reminiscent of me in my younger years. It's so loud and clear that it's heart-wrenching." I said with embarrassment, "It's...it's okay..."

  When my gaze shifted to Tie Yi's body, with the morning breeze blowing through the window, I saw clearly the appearance of this iron lump for the first time.

  I can assert with certainty that this guy's long hair is not due to lack of confidence, it's simply a "nine-heads-body" physique.

  Broad shoulders, protruding buttocks, long legs, a figure similar to mine, over 1.8 meters tall, paired with this palm-sized smile and three-dimensional facial features, although the long hair covers it up, but still can't block the sharp gaze, full of English spirit.

  This styling is almost on par with the idol-like me! Thinking of this guy's skills, I suddenly felt a surge of curiosity.

  It seems that this iron clothes will be my greatest opponent in relying on my face to eat in the future!

  I stared intently at the man in front of me, tilting my head to a 46.2-degree angle (because this was the most charming angle I had repeatedly verified in front of the mirror), and my father saw my expression and smiled.

  "Tie Yi, you've seen him, I told you I had arranged for Tie Yi to follow you, what I didn't tell you is that Tie Yi is your shadow guardian!"

  Looking at the man in black standing before me, I was slightly taken aback. Come to think of it, this is only our second meeting. "What's with the 'Guard'? Isn't that an antivirus software?" Since I've already gotten used to being here, my humanities-student habit of talking nonsense has started acting up again - maybe it's also because of the time spent hanging out with my ancestors.

  Looking at Father's expression, there was no joking intention. The man in front of me is actually my guardian? If it's really what Father said, why have I only seen Tie Yi twice until now? Isn't this a serious dereliction of duty?

  "Ming Er, to you, it may seem like this is only the second time you and Tie Yi have met, but in reality, you two should be the most familiar strangers. Every generation of the Cui family has a shadow guard, and Tie Yi is your shadow guard, the invisible shadow that replaces me as your father." Father looked at me with an expression full of regret.

  When I knew the whole story, I had completely forgiven my parents for sending me to An De. If it were me, I would have done the same thing too. Sometimes giving up is not a lack of love but a deeper kind of love.

  For my parents, I only have gratitude and no complaints. To ease the frown on Father's face, I tried to joke: "But honestly, the name Iron Clothes is really fitting, although I've seen him twice, this guy has no expression at all, just like iron! Brother, your facial nerves are okay, right?"

  I recalled how this guy had rudely burst into my room, catching me off guard, and I thought of teasing him a bit to relieve the pent-up annoyance in my heart. Incidentally, it was also to ease the awkward atmosphere, but Tie Yi's silence made my joke even more awkward.

  This shameless and thick-skinned guy is really unbeatable, he's completely a iron lump without any expression!

  This ignorant attitude is not capable of communication, with a very obvious autistic tendency. It reminds me of when I was in college and worked as a psychological counselor, and suddenly I had the urge to give this guy a set of mental adjustments.

  Xu Bo, who had been quietly standing beside his father all along, maintained a smiling expression without saying a word. It seemed that after waking up once and then falling asleep again, he had given up the urge to go up and pinch him, recalling the ancestors' instructions in the underworld.

  This road of breaking curses, this guy seems to be one of the main actors too, and I am undoubtedly the leading actor.

  That pale skin, that zombie-like body, that eerie black paper umbrella, and that cool-sounding ghostly legend, made me smile at this leprosy-ridden zombie and pay my respects with a nod.

  Who knows if this guy can see or not, being polite won't hurt anyway. As the saying goes, "more courtesy is never a fault", but I have to admit that nodding and greeting such a puppet-like thing does give me a weird feeling.

  I looked at Xu Bo's appearance and it seemed like he was smiling at me, I don't know if it's because of my own psychological reasons, but after returning to the world from the underworld, everything looks abnormal to me.

  "My father continued, 'Looking at the scene in front of me reminds me of when I first met Tie Yi's father, Tie Chong. It feels like it was just yesterday.'"

  But in the blink of an eye, several decades have passed. Time is ruthless and years are fleeting, ever since Tie Zheng was appointed as a ghost catcher by the ancestral court due to a shortage of personnel, it has also been many years.

  It seems that although I have learned a lot about family matters, it is clear that there are still many more things that I don't know.

  His father took a deep breath, as if recalling many past events. Perhaps after people get old, the thing they like to do most is reminisce.

  My father regrets not witnessing my growth, while I regret not being filial enough as a son. Fortunately, everything is still on time and hasn't been too late to make up for it. Looking at my father sitting in his wheelchair with white hair on both sides of his temples, my eyes are filled with a faint sadness. For the fleeting years, for the passing days, cherishing the people in front of me is the most important thing.

  "Alright, alright, let's stop talking about this sad topic for today. We won't mention it again. There are still many days ahead."

  "Dad, what is Shadow Guardian?"

  My father looked at me and said seriously, "Cui Ming, about the Shadow Guard, let's start from our ancestor Cui Yan. During the prosperous Zhenguan era, our ancestor was the county magistrate of Changzi County in Lu Prefecture. People knew that he could handle matters in the mortal world during the day and resolve grievances in the underworld at night, distinguishing between humans and ghosts, just like a god. He would judge people during the day and interrogate ghosts at night. Whether it was for official duties or doing errands for the underworld, he had to apprehend offenders. Dealing with evil people in the mortal world was one thing, but handling vengeful spirits and ghosts required skill. The Iron Family of Fengdu was destined to be the ones to capture them."

  In the yamen, this catcher was an indispensable position. And in those years, the first catcher of our ancestor Cui Yun was Tie Xiang's ancestor Tie Ning. This Tie Ning was a formidable figure back then, whether it was evil people or evil ghosts, as long as they heard the name "Ghost Catcher Tie Ning", they would immediately be frightened out of their wits and surrender.

  At least tens of thousands of evil-doers have been captured by Tie Cong, never once letting any escape. It is said in the streets that one man with a sword is Tie Cong, evil-doers die, and malevolent spirits are vanquished; his entire body is made up of bravery.

  According to the proof of "Jin Suo Liu Zhu Yin", Cui's ancestors were entrusted by the underworld, and their descendants would inevitably be entangled with evil ghosts and evil people who were punished. This iron family has been following the Fendou Cui family for generations, accompanying them left and right, protecting them all around, although they are nominally masters and servants, but have long been like family members.

  Tie Yi's father, Tie Chong, after Tie Yi left the sect, returned to the Ghost Captor's headquarters and became a formal ghost captor. It has been almost ten years since then." His father's tone was calm, but with a hint of forced restraint, as if when talking about Tie Yi's father, he himself had returned to that time, his eyes gleaming with intensity.