Chapter 49: Silver Talisman

Old Man Jiang laughed heartily when he heard this, patting my head as he said, “What is strange about a snake being in the soil? If you do not believe me, ask the local farmers. Sometimes when they cut bamboo, they even find snakes sleeping inside hollow bamboo tubes, and no one knows how they got in. If it is in the soil, it dug its way in itself. Look.”

As he spoke, Old Man Jiang pointed at the dirt pit and told me to look. When I looked, it really was as he said. Inside the pit were many uneven, elongated tunnels. At a glance, they looked like they had been burrowed by a snake.

“When it cultivates, it enters a state similar to hibernation. And during cultivation, it does not rely on mouth and nose breathing to absorb spiritual energy. Instead, its entire body, skin and hair, breathes. The same applies to animals cultivating,” Old Man Jiang continued explaining.

“What? Animals are that powerful?” To me, this was simply too incredible.

“Animals powerful? Humans can do it too! When you were in your mother’s womb, did you breathe through your mouth and nose? The way humans breathe in the womb is the breathing state most sought after by cultivators. It is called embryonic breathing technique. Mastering it is extremely difficult,” Old Man Jiang said with emotion.

“Humans can do it too? Then should I practice it as well? Does Master practice it too?” I could not imagine at all what it would be like to not breathe through my nose and mouth one day.

“Heh, once you formally enter the sect in the future, you will understand. Your master here, speaking honestly, is the most useless one. The mountain lineage has declined, and those walking the world now are from the other four lineages. Sigh, this is the hardest part to explain,” Old Man Jiang said with a sigh.

I did not understand a word of what my master was saying, but to save face, I still gave an understanding sounding “oh.” As a result, I got slapped on the head.

Old Man Jiang glanced at me sideways and said, “Know it if you know it. Don’t pretend if you don’t know. You little brat, acting smart? If you keep pretending, I will beat you senseless.”

I……

Just like that, master and disciple fell silent for a while. Old Man Jiang led me away from the big earth pit. Outside the pit, a group of people was still waiting. As soon as we came out, someone walked up to us.

I recognized him at a glance. He was the military man from that courtyard, and he seemed to be a leader.

“Master Jiang, have you decided what to do?” the man asked respectfully.

“I have. We will not open the stone gate. Seal it, then bury it again. Tonight I will also purify the souls in this yin accumulation site, break this land, and adjust the feng shui flow here. Slowly dissolve whatever is underneath,” Old Man Jiang said calmly.

“Really not opening it to take a look?” the man probably could not suppress his curiosity.

“Open it? There is an evil artifact being nurtured inside. You still want to open it? Opening it would require lives as payment. Curiosity should be restrained,” Old Man Jiang said sternly.

However, what he did not know was that after we left this place, it would eventually still be opened, leading to a terrifying ordeal.

Old Man Jiang was the kind of person who looked disreputable and acted unreliable, but when he became serious, he carried a natural authority. Since he had decided to seal the stone gate, no one else dared to object.

The issue now came down to two points.

First, what exactly was inside this stone gate? Because no one even understood what an evil artifact meant.

Second, how would they seal the stone gate?

At a time like this, the only person who dared to ask Old Man Jiang was me. As expected, I did not disappoint everyone’s “high expectations” and immediately asked, “Master, what is an evil artifact? Is there no ghost inside the stone gate?”

“What is inside the stone gate is hard to say. But when something is deliberately made like this, the most likely possibility is an evil artifact. The righteous path has magical tools that can serve as formation cores, ward off disasters, and do many things. But in this world, where there is good, there is evil, just like yin and yang. If there are magical tools, there are naturally evil artifacts that harm people. Magical tools are nurtured with spiritual energy. Humans are the spirit of all beings and naturally carry a bit of spiritual energy, so they can nourish them. But evil artifacts must be raised in places of extreme yin and evil. Places filled with resentment are even better,” Old Man Jiang explained patiently. When it came to me, he always explained things without impatience.

“But Master, why can’t we open a place that is raising an evil artifact?”

“What is the point of opening it? Such places are filled with an evil force. Whatever is inside is strange and dangerous. People die easily. And even if you open it, at most you only retrieve the artifact and destroy it. If you can seal it and disperse this yin gathering land, that is the best solution. At all times, you must consider achieving the best result with the smallest cost. And in that cost, money is the least important. Lives are what matter most. Do you understand?”

“Yes!”

Old Man Jiang’s words always carried a force that made me believe them. At that moment, I remembered this clearly. Lives are what matter most.

“Then Master Jiang, when will we seal the stone gate?” the questions of the crowd were finally voiced by the courtyard leader. After all, many people outside were still waiting to dig bamboo and earn work points. If they waited too long, rumors might spread and things would become troublesome.

“Now.”

With that, Old Man Jiang carefully took something out from his bag.

It was stored inside a wooden box. The box was rectangular, not too large, and exquisitely carved, with a small golden latch.

At that time, I was ignorant and did not recognize its material. Only later did I learn that the wooden surface was made of agarwood and rosewood, and the golden latch was real gold.

Old Man Jiang held the wooden box in his hands, a trace of nostalgia and sorrow appearing in his eyes. He stroked the box and muttered to himself, “The things my master left me, one piece less with each use. I do not have the ability to make such things myself. Even if I tried, I might not succeed even once out of a hundred attempts. What is even more regrettable is that I do not have the ability to draw such talismans a hundred times. I never expected that in such a small mountain village, I would have to use it.”

No one fully understood what he meant, but everyone understood two things. First, this item was extremely precious, something even Old Man Jiang could not replicate. Second, he had unexpectedly mentioned his master.

This made everyone even more curious about what was inside the box.

Old Man Jiang held the box for a moment, then finally used a special technique to twist the small latch back and forth several times before opening it.

Unexpectedly, the inside of the wooden box was lined with fine white jade. In other words, it was a jade box wrapped in wood. The craftsmanship was clearly exquisite. Yet what lay inside was somewhat disappointing, because there was only one talisman.

But that talisman was silver.

The silver talisman paper shimmered under the sunlight. Even more astonishing was the scarlet writing on it, which glowed faintly like colored glass, as if written with ruby ink.

Old Man Jiang took out the talisman and looked at it with some reluctance. At that moment, I finally saw the pattern on it clearly. It was completely different from ordinary talismans. It was not text-like at all, but clearly some kind of totem, surrounded by strange characters I could not understand.

Of course, I did not yet know what a totem was at the time. I only felt that the thing on the talisman looked like a tiger roaring to the heavens, yet also not quite a tiger. I could not describe it.

“Have people dig open this pit. Expose the stone gate completely,” Old Man Jiang said, holding the talisman. His presence carried a natural authority. After he gave the order, a small unit of soldiers came over shortly and began digging the pit with shovels.

Then he gave another order to the people in the courtyard, “Go find some glutinous rice. Freshly steamed is best.”

What followed was a patient wait. Su Rou and I went to pester Xiao Ding, asking about how his bamboo flute was made and how it was played. The ability to drive away snakes was simply too tempting for children.

But this was a sect secret. How could he tell us? Xiao Ding was shy and not good with words. Pushed to the point of helplessness, he simply shut his mouth, lowered his head, and turned bright red like a young girl.

His irresponsible master just laughed on the side and did not help him at all.