Ita Era

Chapter 164 Searching for the Divine Tree
Ding Shi said unhurriedly, "Let's first take stock of the strange things about Tianmen Village."

Ding Shi said, "The funeral parlor has been explained, and the indifferent and strange villagers have also been explained. Now it's your turn to ask questions."

Sha Bi asked, "Sanlifen, is Sanlifen only for outsiders? Where are the villagers buried after they die?"

Ding Shi replied, "People from our village also send their children to Sanlifen. Tiezhu said that Sanlifen has good feng shui."

Sha Bi said, "I estimate there are only forty to fifty graves in Sanlifen. Isn't that too few? The truck we encountered this morning brought at least ten corpses."

Ding Shi replied, “No, ordinary soldiers are collected and buried by the funeral parlor, with only tombstones and no graves. The soldiers’ graves are all on the back of the burial mound. The forty or fifty graves we see standing on the road are either for people from Tianmen Village or for high-ranking officials and nobles.”

Sha Bi said, "I have no questions, you ask."

Ding Shi asked, "What exactly is going on with Feng Qiniang and the two ghosts?"

Sha Bi said, "I don't know."

Ding Shi asked, "Zhao Di stayed in the empty house for one night. Did she catch any evil spirits? If not, what's the problem? If she did catch one, why didn't Zhao Di show any unusual behavior?"

Sha Bi said, "I don't know."

Ding Shi said, "Is being possessed by a ghost what the village rules refer to as an illusion?"

Sha Bi said, "I don't know."

Ding Shi: "You know nothing about everything, why don't you just die?"

Sha Bi wasn't annoyed and said, "That's why we need to explore. After we finish eating, I want to go and see the two unoccupied houses among the four households."

As they were talking, Cuihua's scream came from outside the courtyard. The two put down their bowls and chopsticks and ran out. Ding Shi grabbed a handful of boiled green beans, thinking there might be some excitement to see.

Cuihua sat on the ground, her face pale, pointing to the road east of the stream, and said in a trembling voice, "Red and White Collision!"

The white side belonged to Shuanzi's family, and everything was kept simple. Tiezhu, dressed in a Taoist robe, led the way, with four people carrying the coffin, a child holding the memorial tablet following behind Tiezhu, and two women dressed in mourning clothes behind them.

The red side had a four-person sedan chair, with a suona (a traditional Chinese wind instrument) in front, the groom riding a donkey in the middle, and the sedan chair behind. Beside the sedan chair was Feng Qiniang, the matchmaker whom Ding Shi had met.

There were only eight people on the white side and more than twenty on the red side. The two sides collided at the entrance of Liu Niang's house. Although the road was not narrow, the coffin and the bridal sedan chair could not pass at the same time. According to folk custom, one side must give way. But folk custom also says that, regardless of whether it is red or white, one can only advance, not retreat.

Both sides stopped to negotiate. The most miserable were the sedan chair bearers and coffin bearers, who couldn't let the sedan chair and coffin touch the ground.

Ding Shi helped Cuihua sit back down in her chair, then squatted down beside her, eating green beans as he asked, "What happens when red and white clash?"

Cuihua looked at Ding Shi for a while, then looked at the opposite side and slowly said, "Red retreats, bride dies; white retreats, ghosts riot."

Five seconds later, Cuihua said, "Tonight."

Ding Shi noticed that Cuihua was counting on her fingers and asked curiously, "Aunt Cuihua, do you know Taoist magic?" Although Cuihua was slow-witted, her left hand was very nimble in calculating.

Cuihua paused and explained, "My father is a Taoist priest."

Ding Shi asked, "Is Tiezhu your father's apprentice?"

Tiezhu and Cuihua were also outsiders. More than 20 years ago, the sacred tree was felled, breaking the feng shui of Tianmen Village and causing supernatural events. A master discovered that the village's feng shui was damaged. The master Tiezhu mentioned was his master, who, having offended powerful figures, fled southwest with his daughter and son-in-law. Upon arriving in Tianmen Village, his master helped resolve some problems, and the village chief invited them to stay.

Cuihua spent a considerable amount of time explaining some information, and Ding Shi used his imagination to reconstruct the events.

Suddenly, Cuihua, who was calculating, stopped, tilted her head to look at the sky, and her face changed drastically: "Bai cannot retreat, Bai absolutely cannot retreat, you must tell them quickly, Bai cannot retreat."

Ding Shi stood up and asked, "Why?"

This time, Cuihua didn't pause and said, "Many people will die."

Ding Shi started running, not wanting too many people to die on the first day of the dungeon, so Sha Bi followed to watch the excitement.

It seemed that the red and white sides had finished their discussion. When the time came, they saw that the white side had received 20 dollars from the groom. Obviously, the white side had taken the money and was now going to return it.

Tie Zhu saw Ding Shi running towards him and said, "Wait."

Ding Shi ran up to Tie Zhu, who asked, "Ding Shi, what happened?"

Ding Shi turned his head and saw a pretty young woman, the bride from the red side. She lifted the sedan curtain and looked at him with concern. She was not very old, and her face still showed signs of youth.

The red team's representative, Hongniang, also asked, "Yes, what's the rush?"

Ding Shi didn't know what to say for a moment.

Assuming Cuihua is right, if Hong is dismissed and the bride dies, many others will die if Bai is dismissed. Logically, Hong should be dismissed, but how innocent is the bride? She should have lived, but because of her words, the bride died, and wouldn't that debt of life fall on her shoulders?
Ding Shi's eyes darted around, and after a moment he said, "There's no need to back down. One side can step across from the field next to it." There are fields beside the road, streams beside the fields, fields beside the streams, roads beside the fields, and houses beside the roads.

Both the red and white sides knew that the clash between them was inauspicious, and after exchanging glances, they both agreed that Ding Shi's suggestion was good.

But the problem is, who will walk across the paddy field? It's a paddy field, and it's late autumn now, so the field is still filled with water. If you don't step carefully, you'll slip and fall. And with each step sinking into the mud, you'll soon find your shoes stuck in the mud, making you look pathetic.

"You two discuss it." Ding Shi withdrew.

Sha Bi grabbed Ding Shi's arm and whispered in his ear, "Did you come here just to fart?"

Ding Shi gestured, "If you can, you go."

Sha Bi took two steps forward and saw the bride. He paused for a moment and then stepped back to Ding Shi's side: "Cuihua asked you to do this, and you agreed. You have to convey Cuihua's words: Bai cannot retreat."

Ding Shi was caught in a dilemma. He saw Tie Zhu waiting for the results, so he went up to him and whispered what Cui Hua had told him in his ear.

Tie Zhu was stunned. Was this a way of pinning the blame on him? Tie Zhu knew that Cui Hua was more capable than him, but because she was slow-witted and had slow reflexes, she never got involved in these kinds of things.

Tie Zhu grabbed Ding Shi's clothes and said, "Don't run away, give me some advice?"

Ding Shi looked at Feng Qiniang, beckoned her over, and then stepped aside with Tie Zhu. The three of them chattered away for a while. Feng Qiniang was very unhappy, but she still went back and spoke to the bride and groom.

The bride nodded and called out, "Big brother, second brother, third brother."

The three burly men who were negotiating immediately ran to the sedan chair, and the bride said, "I won't marry her, let's go back."

“Alright.” The burly man readily agreed and directed the sedan chair bearers, “Let’s go back.”

Without the bride, there would be no death. If the problem can't be solved, then solve the person who caused it. Since we can't remove the "death" label from the bride, we can only remove the "bride" label from the bride.

The red team's front and rear ranks quickly left the village. The white team waited in place, setting off only after the red team had left the village entrance.

Ding Shi praised, "It's so good to be harmonious and peaceful."

Sha Bi casually said, "I'd rather tear down ten temples than break up one marriage." Ding Shi said, "Save that to the monks and nuns, or they'll beat you to death."

Sha Bi scoffed, glanced at the time—it was 3:30—and said, “Let’s hurry and go take a look.”

……

The first house was uninhabited; the gate was missing, and the house inside was dilapidated. The yard and front hall were piled high with straw, looking very messy. It's likely that after the autumn harvest, villagers were using the yard to thresh and husk the rice.

The two quietly entered the courtyard, observed the surroundings for a while, and then Sha Bi said, "Now we can confirm that this village only has insects, not even rats. How did they manage that? Is yin energy that effective? Can it be channeled into the modern sewer system?"

Ding ignored him and slowly walked forward. Then he pointed ahead and saw a grand chair in the front hall swaying back and forth. Because the movement was small, he hadn't noticed it before.

The fool imagined an old man sitting in a grand chair, rocking back and forth, looking at him peacefully.

Sha Bi blocked Ding Shi's path, signaling Ding Shi to back off.

Sha Bi knelt on one knee, and a dark figure rose from his body, walking step by step toward the grand master's chair. This was the ghostly figure that Sha Bi had raised.

Looking at the ghostly figure's thin frame, Ding Shi couldn't help but remind him, "It's gotten thinner."

Hearing Ding Shi's fart, Sha Bi almost lost his balance, and the ghostly figure swayed a few times, nearly breaking the spell.

The ghostly figure continued walking forward, reaching the grand chair. It embraced the chair, then paused for a moment. Afterward, the ghostly figure touched the air beside the chair, transforming into a wisp of black smoke, which was then absorbed into the Foolish Dagger's body.

The side effects backfired; Sha Bi collapsed to the ground, writhing in angina, too pain to utter a sound. This state lasted for a minute before Sha Bi finally caught his breath and wearily said, "There's nothing there."

Ding Shi stepped forward, stood in front of the grand chair, clapped his hands, and pointed to the side: "It's the wind."

As Sha Bi stepped forward, a gust of wind blew from the side, nearly making him faint.

Ding Shi asked, "Are you sending Ghost Shadow to eat ghosts?"

Silly Dagger said, "When the killing rule is not triggered, the evil spirit has no physical form, which is the best time for the ghost to catch it. Although it has no physical form, you can still find the evil spirit if you look carefully. In the last instance, I caught a ghost by being caught alone."

Ding Shi: "If it doesn't have a physical form, won't the sheet fall to the ground?"

Foolish Dagger: "No, the absence of a physical form doesn't mean that evil spirits are truly ethereal; existence is existence. Rather than saying that evil spirits have no physical form, it's more accurate to say that we can't see them. However, evil spirits are very cunning; they will avoid humans as much as possible before humans trigger the rules of killing."

Like the Ghost Third Sister, when she is not killing people, her ethereal form floats in the sky.

Ding Shi didn't have a deep understanding of ghosts, and upon hearing Sha Bi's words, he immediately formed a hand seal and shouted, "Formation!"

Then Ding Shi transformed into Iron Man, opening his left hand and unleashing a beam of light that swept across the entire front hall. Although it lasted only two seconds, it yielded an unexpected result. When the light from his palm swept across the table above, smoke hissed and then disappeared.

Ding Shi pointed at the table in shock and looked at Sha Bi: "Is it that thing?"

Sha Bi grabbed Ding Shi's hand and examined it, asking, "What kind of weird skill is this?"

Ding Shi shook off Sha Bi's hand and said with dissatisfaction, "This is not a ghost skill, this is a skill for shooting ghosts."

Sha Bi assessed that Ding Shi would need three to four seconds to execute the eight hand seals. If Ding Shi triggered the killing rule, most evil spirits could eliminate him within three to four seconds, so it seemed pointless. However, if he used this move against his own ghostly shadow, it would be a sure-fire counter.

Damn it, is this the legendary natural enemy? Even the skills I learn are countered by it.

The two began their search. Ding Shi walked along, making hand seals as he went, the light in his hands sweeping around at will, which annoyed Sha Bi: "Don't you have enough Force?"

Ding Shi asked in disbelief, "Is there such a thing as 'the Force' being used up?"

Foolish dagger is jealous, Foolish dagger vomits blood, Foolish dagger doesn't want to talk to this person.

About ten minutes later, Sha Bi shouted, "Here!"

Ding Shi walked to the backyard, which was not large and connected to a small hill covered with bamboo groves.

Silly Bike squatted by the mountainside, in front of him a small tree branch about 50 centimeters tall, weak and feeble, seemingly unable to support its few leaves, its head tilted to the left. It was certain that this was indeed a tree, not grass.

Ding Shi squatted down and asked, "How do you know it's a divine tree?"

Sha Bi stared straight at the tree and said, "At least he is a tree."

Ding Shi asked, "Were you stunned for ten seconds?"

Only then did Sha Bi remember that there was a system to distinguish between different tasks. He glanced at the system task, which was not completed, and stood up and left without saying a word.

Ding Shi then realized the malice of the dog system. In the original mission, he needed to kiss for 10 seconds to verify if it was the Divine Tree. He had to hold the idiot dagger and gnaw on it many times.

Disgusting!
The two then searched another empty house, but still found nothing. On the contrary, Ding Shi's hand seals became even more skillful. That afternoon, Ding Shi walked and shone lights along the way, and Sha Bi directly felt the difference in the amount of Force, which made him feel a deep sadness: he probably had no chance to kill Ding Shi.

As the sun set, everyone quickened their pace to return home, including Sha Bi and Ding Shi. They soon arrived at Tie Zhu's house and did some chores. Ding Shi helped Tie Zhu cover the coffin with a plastic sheet to protect it from the morning dew. Sha Bi, on the other hand, helped in the kitchen by washing vegetables and tending the fire.

Ding Shi kept glancing towards the kitchen; he already sensed that Sha Bi was up to something. Knowing Sha Bi as he did, even if Sha Bi helped, he wouldn't be in the same space as Cui Hua, unless Cui Hua had something he wanted—information or items.

This kid definitely has information that I don't have.

Coincidentally, he also possessed important information that Sha Bi was unaware of. Ding Shi had already guessed two possible locations where the divine tree might appear. The first location was the Divine Spring in the North Mountain, mentioned by the village chief, and he decided to visit it when he had time.

Before dinner, two men named Fugui and Jixiang brought a large log on a cart. Ding Shi and Shabi helped unload the log and placed it in the yard.

Fu Gui and Ji Xiang were both indifferent villagers, showing no concern for the two outsiders who had joined Tie Zhu's family. Compared to Liu Niang and Tie Zhu, or even to Zhao Di's family, Fu Gui and Ji Xiang lacked humanity.

"Uncle Tiezhu, were they also possessed?" Ding Shi asked after seeing the two off.

Tie Zhu shook his head: "No, they stay out all night and are tainted by the yin energy. Over the years, this has made them introverted."

Ding asked, "Why do you often stay out all night?"

Tie Zhu replied, “Young people like to get together, drink, and gamble. I’ve advised them before that even if they’re drinking and gambling, they should stay until dawn before going home, but they don’t care.”

Silly Bike called out from the kitchen doorway, "Dinner's ready!"

Tonight's meal consists of three dishes and a soup: stir-fried bamboo shoots, braised pork in fermented rice wine, and stir-fried cabbage. The soup is niuyan soup, which may be scientifically known as a marsh clam or a snail shell. It's a very small shellfish commonly found in rural streams and ditches, often hidden in the mud and sand. It can be harvested by simply shoveling it with a winnowing basket and shaking off the mud and sand. However, because they are so small, you need to put forty or fifty of them in one serving of soup.

After everyone was seated, Tiezhu gestured for them to start eating. He used a serving spoon to ladle a bowl of soup for Cuihua and himself first. Although the clam meat was small, it was still meat.

Fermented pork is a method of preserving pork by soaking raw meat in fermented rice wine lees. After steaming, it has a pungent taste, but it is still meat.

(End of this chapter)