Chapter 4: Cherishing Memories of Past Sufferings and Remembering Teacher's Grace

  Look up at the sky, the rain has stopped for more than half a day. The dark clouds have dispersed unknowingly, and a hazy moon appears in the sky. The surrounding mountains are shrouded in an eerie atmosphere. Except for the occasional howling of wolves from afar, there is no sound to be heard anywhere. A gust of cold wind makes me shiver involuntarily.

  "Alas, I wonder how Master is doing now?" I sighed silently in my heart and couldn't help but worry. I really regretted that I shouldn't have gone out this time.

  Half a month ago, the head of the Ma Yang Li Zhuang clan entrusted someone to find me and asked me to bring back their clansmen who had gone to Gu Zhen to sell tea. The deal was quite generous. Seeing that it was a big business with not too far a journey, and my master happened to order me to go there to get rid of a green-haired corpse king that had been around for hundreds of years, I gladly agreed.

  In ancient times, a green-haired monster harmed countless people in the area. Local wizards gathered several times to enter the mountain and eliminate it, wanting to eradicate this scourge for the people. However, this demon was too cunning and powerful, and in the end, not only did they fail to harm it, but several wizards lost their lives instead. In the end, they had no choice but to give up, and from then on, no one dared to fight this monster again.

  Last year during the Mid-Autumn Festival, Master Gu Zhen's acquaintance had asked me to eliminate it, but due to Wu Liu forgetting to bring the Soul-Searching Net, although I severely injured it, it still managed to escape into the deep mountains. In the end, not only did I return empty-handed, but my own vitality was also greatly damaged, and I barely escaped with half a life.

  This time I went to Guzhang specifically to find this scourge and asked locals in many ways, but didn't get any news, so had no choice but to give up.

  It seems that this guy hid his tracks to recover from his injuries. I was worried about how to report this matter to my master, but unexpectedly, something happened to my master in less than a month.

  I was raised by my master since I was a child, he picked me up from the weeds on the side of Chen Zhou Road and taught me many skills, treating me as his own son. In my life, he not only played the role of a master but also my father and a god in my eyes. Until now, I still know little about his life, it's mysterious and unfathomable.

  He can drive out dozens of corpses, he will also exorcise ghosts, fortune-telling, and has a set of internal and external skills. Every time I see him sitting silently on the edge of the mountain cliff with a very melancholic gaze looking into the distance, I know that there must be an extraordinary but unknown past in his heart.

  From the first day he taught me how to drive a hearse, I knew that for the rest of my life, I would not be able to live like ordinary people.

  I remember that day he told me, "Girl, you're born with a heavy aura, heaven let me adopt you, it's destined that your fate is tied to this profession."

  Can't forget the time he left me alone in the desolate mountain wilderness, surrounded by scattered graves. Can't forget the days during the hottest summer weather when he ordered me to carry hundreds of pounds of heavy stones and climb up the high mountains with great difficulty. Even more unforgettable are the words he said to me when I was 20 years old.

  "Ah, little eagle, there will always be a time when you'll soar alone in the blue sky. Now that you've learned all my skills, it's time for you to make a living on your own. What you achieve in the future depends on your fate. But before you leave, I must tell you some things."

  You look ugly and have a heavy aura, but you are born with a generous personality. You handle things calmly and like to be more reserved. I hope that in the future, you won't take things too seriously, and if something can't be achieved, there's no need to force it.

  Secondly, as someone in our line of work is always dealing with the dead and the strange, from now on you must absolutely not play with corpses, nor can you use them to do things that go against heaven and reason. If you do, you will receive retribution. Otherwise, I, your master, will be the first to come and kill you.

  Three days later, when walking the world, there are some things that shouldn't be your concern. Don't ask too much, everything has its own destiny. Meddling in other people's business will only bring trouble to yourself.

  In the future, don't be infatuated with women and lose your vital energy. It's not that those in our line of work can't take a wife and have children. When fate arrives, there will naturally be excessive loss of vital energy, which will greatly reduce the power of many spells. As for me, I am still supporting the heavens alone. Remember these words well." After finishing speaking, he entered meditation and left.

  With the master's entrustment and holding the magical instrument passed down by the master, for ten years I have been wandering around to make a living, telling fortunes, driving ghosts, and chasing corpses. As long as it can earn me money and is not against heaven and morality, I am willing to do it.

  All these years I have been running around the country, never daring to forget the entrustment of my master, and I think I have not done anything that harms the heavens and the people.

  Because of my ugly appearance, people on the road gave me a nickname 'Ghost Road Long'. I don't like this title. I prefer to call myself 'Night Walker' because I like the night. The night gave me a pair of black eyes. I like using these eyes to walk my own way and do my own things in the quiet night without worrying about other people's gaze.

  At this age, I have reached the golden stage of our profession. Unlike when I first started out, I am no longer willing to do anything for money.

  Now I just need to take over a few big orders and I can live comfortably for a year. It should be good, let the master enjoy his old age until he dies. Who knew that the person who played the role of father in my life hadn't even had time for me to show filial piety when something happened to him.

  To me, this is no different from a thunderbolt on a clear day. I couldn't accept the fact and could only try my best to save him even if it meant risking my own life.

  "Big Brother and Sixth Brother seem to have returned." Fourth Brother exclaimed with joy.

  My brother's words broke my reverie, and I couldn't help but feel a sudden jolt in my heart. Hurriedly, I looked forward, and by the faint moonlight, I saw a familiar tall and majestic figure walking towards us from not far away.

  Before he could even go forward to greet him, he heard his sixth brother's loud and clear voice saying: "Big brother, there is a cave about five or six miles ahead. I just got some wild game from the cave and we can roast it later. We've been eating dry rice balls all along the way and it's getting a bit boring. It's great to have this opportunity to satisfy my craving, haha."

  Seeing Sixth Brother's very pleased appearance, I smiled and said: "Yes, Old Six. You've followed me and haven't let your five internal organs temple be idle, it's really been hard on you."

  "Haha, where is it? We've finally made it through the tough times!" Lao Liu joked.

  "Let's hurry up and set off then. After arriving at the cave, we'll take a short rest. It seems like it's only one night's journey from here to Li Village. We still have Master Tianyu's matter waiting for us, let's head back early to deal with it." Fourth Brother said, seeing that the two of us were just joking around and looking somewhat impatient.

  "Alright!" Sixth Brother shouted excitedly as he took over the Soul Summoning Banner from Fourth Brother, "The Great Ghost has started work."

  After finishing, he took out the conch shell horn from his waist and blew it loudly towards the sky. After a long and low "Woooo" sound, Old Six shouted in a desolate tone: "On the road——"

  As soon as I heard Lao Liu's voice, I hastily swung the Hurry Corpse Whip with a 'pa' sound and scolded the Joy Gods: "Bastards, don't you hurry up and leave."

  The joyful gods, summoned by the conch shell horn, heard my command and began to stretch out their hands in unison, led by the guide banner, quickly jumping forward. In an instant, the air was filled with a gloomy atmosphere.

  Everyone silently and carefully made their way through the rugged mountains, for a time there was no sound. The further they walked, the more rugged and difficult the road became. It seems that the local saying "Mayang has a mountain of hope, only three feet away from heaven" is not just an empty phrase.

  The surrounding area kept hearing the howling of wolves, which made me feel very uneasy. The most feared thing about driving a corpse is dogs, wolves and cats, which are all things that communicate with yin (the spirit world). These things can see ghosts, and if they encounter them while driving a corpse, they will desperately bite and tear at the body.

  To deal with the home dog, the master specially taught me the dog-beating stick method. If it's a wolf, then it may not just be rushing towards the ghost, for them, food is the greatest temptation, let alone in this cold and scarce season.

  And cats can even directly lead to the transformation of corpses into zombies. Once the corpse is torn apart, it will be impossible to deliver messages to clients and I may not receive any more business afterwards.

  As we continued to move forward, the howling of wolves seemed to be getting closer and closer. My fourth brother also noticed this abnormal situation and worriedly said: "Big brother, it seems that there are wolf packs appearing around here, I think it's better to find a place to hide for now."

  "It's nothing, Ghost Old Big. I think it might be tonight's rare moon that brought these evil wolves to make trouble on a night with a moon. Moreover, with my knife scar, those few wild wolves are not even in my eyes, otherwise I would definitely let them taste the length of my big knife." Lao Liu said with a smile while leading the way forward.

  "Sixth brother, listen carefully to the wolves' cries. They are so mournful and urgent, responding positively to the wolf king's call. In my experience, the wolf pack must have encountered something big. We'd better be careful, wolves are extremely cunning animals." Fourth brother seemed to be worried about the wolf howls, a hint of concern in his words.

  Fourth brother, born in a hunting family, has rich hunting experience. What he says must make sense. I looked around uncomfortably, but except for the dark mass, I couldn't even see half a wolf shadow. However, the intermittent howling of wolves was indeed desolate upon closer listening.

  "Let's hurry up and get going. By the way, Fourth Brother, you said you found some game in that cave up ahead? What kind of game was it?" asked Fourth Brother.

  "It's a few plump wolf cubs that I strangled to death, and they're in my travel bag waiting to be cooked later. The taste will definitely be good." Sixth Brother joked, "If that mother gray wolf hadn't run away, I would have finished them off in one pot. That mother gray wolf is really cunning! I thought I had kicked it to death, but who knew it was just pretending to be dead... Tsk tsk..."

  "Ah——" Fourth Brother hadn't even finished listening to Old Six when he exclaimed in great surprise, "From the sound of this Wolf King's howl, we may be in for a disaster tonight."