69: Such Is Fate

All my questions were answered by my grandmother. Jiang Yan was indeed protecting me. At first, my grandmother hadn’t realized this and thought Jiang Yan meant harm, but she quickly understood that Jiang Yan was warning her that those lurking in the shadows were about to make a move. Taking away a soul and the birthmark were both acts of protection.

My grandmother had been laying her plans for years, and when this day finally arrived, she changed her strategy. That night when Madam Wang came running from the funeral parlor, my grandmother said she had indeed been ambushed by Master Qin, but she was prepared and feigned death, setting off the chain of events that followed.

As for my father's prophecy, my grandmother admitted she didn't know. After careful analysis, she concluded Master Qin had used secret arts to influence my mother's mind, making her believe my father had spoken those words. In truth, from the moment my father collapsed to the moment he passed, my grandmother had never left his side. It was Master Qin secretly influencing my mother to utter the prophecy, aiming to muddy the waters so he could act.

Regarding Xu Buhuo, who had left chasing the mysterious woman, my grandmother said she didn't know when he would return, but as long as he was alive, he would surely come back.

After dinner, my grandmother called me to go to the back mountain. We entered Black Water Ravine again, but this time not to the cave where the incident happened. Instead, we slipped into a deep crevice within the ravine. Following it for a short distance, we found a carved-out cave. Inside were some makeshift living items and the Soul-Eating Puppet that had created illusions for me—this was where Master Qin had hidden before.

After rummaging through the cave, my grandmother asked me to take the Soul-Eating Puppet and two clay jars. Outside, she opened them, and two wisps of fog drifted out.

Night had already fallen, and the fog from the jars quickly transformed into two blurry figures—one was the little ghost I’d seen in the old house, the other was Jiang Yan in a red dress.

The little ghost was delighted to see my grandmother and rushed to hug her. Upon noticing that she was missing an arm, he immediately began to cry, though his eyes bore no tears, his sadness was evident. My grandmother comforted him gently.

The little ghost was just like a child, not at all like a spirit.

Jiang Yan bowed slightly to my grandmother, then turned to me and approached. Her loving gaze made me uneasy. As I was about to react, Jiang Yan reached out to touch my face. Instinctively, I wanted to dodge, but forced myself to stay put.

Her cold, icy hand pressed against my face, and I felt the birthmark she had once left on my right cheek begin to heat up.

The birthmark quickly faded from my face and returned to Jiang Yan’s.

“Thank you,” I said sincerely. I knew that had it not been for the birthmark's warnings, disaster would have struck more than once. Jiang Yan smiled gently, making me even more embarrassed.

At first, seeing the birthmark on my face had seemed dreadful, but now, seeing Jiang Yan restore it to her own face, I felt nothing but gratitude.

“Later, come down the mountain with me. I’ll send you on to reincarnation,” said my grandmother. Jiang Yan nodded gratefully.

Afterward, Jiang Yan and the little ghost returned to the jars. I carried the jars and the Soul-Eating Puppet down the mountain with my grandmother.

On the way, I asked about the six souls I had yet to find. My grandmother said they were inside the Soul-Eating Puppet. Master Qin’s initial plan was to take all three souls and seven spirits, then completely control me. But thanks to Xu Buhuo’s intervention and Jiang Yan’s birthmark, only six spirits were taken.

Unable to do more, he used those six spirits to animate the Soul-Eating Puppet for partial control.

We talked about what happened eighteen years ago. My grandmother said Jiang Yan had indeed taken her own life, and Master Qin secretly exhumed her body, intending to turn her into a fiendish corpse. But he underestimated Jiang Yan and ultimately failed.

Jiang Yan was very wary of Master Qin and rarely appeared in the village. She had sought me out because she knew Master Qin was about to act, and reluctantly took one of my spirits as a safeguard.

If Master Qin had obtained all seven spirits, even the birthmark and Xu Buhuo’s help wouldn’t have prevented my three souls from being taken.

The deaths of Xiaolong and Xiaoling in the village were also caused by Master Qin. Taking advantage of Jiang Yan’s despair, he locked the two children in a secret chamber and tortured them to death, intending to turn them into fiendish corpses to ambush my grandmother.

At first, my grandmother admitted she was injured by them, but since they had just become fiendish corpses and weren’t strong yet, she easily subdued them.

She had wanted to destroy them completely, but couldn't bring herself to do so since they were villagers. So she decided to build a corpse-sealing kiln to suppress and dissolve their fiendish energy, then release them.

What she hadn’t anticipated was that the torture the children endured had made their fiendish energy too strong. Even up to Master Qin’s attack, it hadn’t dissipated.

My grandmother added that if Brother Li, who had turned into a zombie, hadn’t entered the kiln, its energy field wouldn’t have been damaged, and the kiln wouldn’t have lost its power to seal and suppress. Master Qin had long discovered the kiln’s existence and knew the two children were inside. That’s why he sent dead Brother Li to fake resurrection and enter the kiln, breaking its energy field and letting the children escape.

He also wanted to use the fiendish energy within the kiln to create another dangerous fiendish corpse. But he hadn’t expected me to sacrifice a year of my life to track Brother Li, finding and destroying him during his absorption of the fiendish energy.

Back home, my grandmother, hindered by the loss of her right hand, guided me in drawing a ritual array in the main hall.

Once completed, using Jiang Yan’s time of death, we calculated her fate and placed it in the array. At my grandmother’s signal, Jiang Yan entered, I performed the ritual steps, and my grandmother recited the incantation.

After three rounds, Jiang Yan’s figure began to fade. Before vanishing completely, she knelt to thank my grandmother for her help.

Next, we transferred my six spirits, sealed within the Soul-Eating Puppet, back into my body. My grandmother handled this, though with only one hand it took longer, working until midnight before my spirits were restored.

The sensation was like a cool breeze sweeping over me, leaving my whole body inexplicably comfortable. After a night’s sleep, my mind felt refreshed.

During breakfast, my grandmother suddenly looked at me and asked, “Ziwu, you’ve been exposed to all this recently. I want to ask you: do you want to walk this path?”

Her gaze was earnest—I knew she wasn’t joking. I hesitated over how to respond, but she said, “Don’t rush. I’ll give you a day to decide.”

As I pondered whether to follow this path, I felt conflicted—part of me wanted to, but I feared I wasn’t clever enough.

Everything that had happened recently had broadened my horizons. I now understood that metaphysics truly held mysteries.

After a day of quiet reflection, my answer was: I would walk this path.

When I told my grandmother, she seemed unsurprised; her expression barely changed.

Next, she gave me the first task of choosing this path: opening the Celestial Eye.

This time was different from before—it would be a permanent opening. Once awakened, the Celestial Eye wouldn’t always be open, but could be activated with a spell whenever needed.

Opening the Celestial Eye consumed a great deal of energy. It was most useful at night, and seeing certain things unexpectedly could be frightening. My grandmother warned me not to activate it unless absolutely necessary.

The process of permanently opening the Celestial Eye was unpleasant. As night fell, my eyes burned intensely. Tears flowed ceaselessly—I couldn’t open or close them, as if grains of sand were lodged inside, causing pain.

The suffering was so intense I almost regretted my choice, but my grandmother’s words were clear: once you choose this path, you lose the right to regret.

After enduring the pain, my daily routine became following my grandmother, reading the books she left behind. Whenever I didn’t understand something, I asked her; she would give examples and analyze.

A mysterious doorway began to open before me.

For instance, there was a lesson on spirits.

Spirits are essentially souls of the dead, but the term is broad. The two words “spirit” explain the degree of danger: “ghost” means evil spirit, “soul” means ferocious soul.

Those who died violent deaths are most likely to become ferocious souls or evil spirits. Evil spirits are worse than ferocious souls—evil spirits are like madmen, fearless and bloodthirsty, while ferocious souls retain some reason and won’t harm people easily.

When encountering ferocious souls or evil spirits, my grandmother’s advice was: ferocious souls can be redeemed, evil spirits must be destroyed.

You can reason with ferocious souls, find topics that resonate, and as their fiendish energy dissipates, they can move on to where they belong—this is called redemption.

But evil spirits—upon meeting one, strike without hesitation. Never try to reason with an evil spirit.

Evil spirits can never be redeemed, only destroyed. If you hurt one and let it escape, it will fixate on you and bring endless trouble.

The more I learned, the more I realized my grandmother’s teachings were all metaphysical: fate, physiognomy, the art of divination. She never taught me her main techniques, such as spirit invocation or possession.

When I asked why, she explained these methods were dangerous shortcuts, deeply entangled, and would end badly. She knew this from experience and didn’t want me to suffer.

Time passed swiftly. In the blink of an eye, nearly five months had gone by, the weather shifting from summer to autumn, then autumn to winter, gradually growing colder.

During this period, there was still no news of Xu Buhuo, and I often dreamed of him.

My grandmother’s health declined steadily. I sensed her urgency; she didn’t want to waste a single second, pushing me to study hard.

In mid-December, a sudden cold snap arrived—several days of gloomy weather.

Despite the chill, I followed my routine, rising early to walk the Nine Palaces steps in the courtyard. After finishing and preparing to wash my face, my grandmother appeared at the door. I was about to call her, but seeing her clothes, my heart skipped a beat and I tensed up.

She was wearing the bright red burial robe she had prepared long ago. Her demeanor was completely changed—not sleepy as usual, but radiant and alert, her face flushed, her eyes clear.

This day, at last, had come. I couldn’t stop trembling.

Since autumn began, as I watched my grandmother’s health deteriorate, I knew she likely wouldn’t hold out much longer. Every morning I worried she wouldn’t be able to leave her room.

The inevitable comes, as my grandmother had told me many times.

Because this is fate.