Yellow Skinned Taoist Master

Chapter 147: There's Something Hiding in Your Shadow

"In this Xuzhou City, this old man is naturally the most reasonable."

"No, you're not."

"Insolent!!"

"Now, now."

Wang Taiyu waved off his bristling guards.

Then, at his leisure, he asked Chen Huangpi, "Child — if you say this old man isn't, then who in all of Xuzhou City is the most reasonable?"

"Look no further."

Chen Huangpi thrust out his chest and said proudly. "Now that I'm in Xuzhou City, I'm naturally the most reasonable person here. You may be reasonable as well, but your reasoning is no match for mine."

"And why is that?"

"Because you don't have a sword."Chen Huangpi raised the blade fashioned from a dead tree branch and said earnestly. "My Third Master told me that reasoning must be enforced by the sword. You may have your reasoning, but without a sword in hand, how can you enforce it?"

"That's crooked logic."

Wang Taiyu laughed. "People fear your sword — they don't agree with your reasoning."

"Why do I need them to agree?"

Chen Huangpi said matter-of-factly. "My sword enforces my reasoning. If they're afraid, it proves my reasoning is correct. If they're not afraid — well, no matter. I still have a sword."

"What if your reasoning is wrong?"

"Then I become the standard."

Hearing this.

Wang Taiyu froze completely.

He stared at the earnest-faced boy in front of him. No matter how he looked, something was deeply off.

So young. Such formidable cultivation.

And yet his mouth was full of twisted logic. He even had three masters.

How on earth had those three taught him?

A fine piece of rough jade — molded into what looked like a heretic.

Wang Taiyu's curiosity was piqued. "You're a mountain rogue. You don't know the ways of the outside world. Beneath heaven, all people and all things are bound by rules. If everyone behaved as you do, the world would fall into chaos."

"Therefore, your sword-enforcement of reasoning is flawed."

"Then tell me — where, exactly, is the flaw?"

"Naturally, it's..."

Wang Taiyu frowned. "Naturally, it's..."

"It's what?"

Chen Huangpi said dismissively. "See? You say my reasoning is wrong, but you can't even explain how. You must be an idiot."

The word "idiot" had barely landed.

Before the surrounding guards could hold back any longer.

They glared daggers at Chen Huangpi.

But Wang Taiyu shook his head. "A mountain rogue — probably his first time outside. Don't give him a hard time."

"Besides, he does have a point."

Wang Taiyu's tone was strange. "If you have a sword, you can enforce your reasoning. Without a sword, even breaking the heavens — it's all just lip service."

"Reasoning needs sword-enforcement."

"Hmm... sword-enforcement..."

Wang Taiyu chewed on the phrase. The more he thought, the more flawless it seemed. Not a single crack, not a single weakness.

And the more he pondered, the more brilliant it became.

The more he turned it over, the more right it felt.

Reasoning needs to be practiced.

But more than that — you need a sword to practice it.

If he had a sword in hand, he could reason with anyone — even His Majesty himself.

But he was His Majesty's lackey.

With only reasoning and no sword, whatever he said in front of His Majesty was just a dog howling.

How could he ever practice his reasoning?

Thinking this, Wang Taiyu beat his chest, stamped his feet, and let out a long sigh. "Reading from paper will always feel shallow — true knowledge requires practice. I've read too many books of sages. Learned too many principles. And in the end, I'm the idiot."

Chen Huangpi said, "At least now you know."

He turned to leave.

This Wang Taiyu was an idiot.

He wasn't going to waste time with an idiot.

"Wait..."

Seeing Chen Huangpi about to go, Wang Taiyu hastily called out. "It's already past midday. You live in the mountains. If you're not going home, why are you still wandering the city?"

If he didn't leave Xuzhou City before nightfall.

When the City God transformed into an evil spirit, there would be no way out.

They had no connection.

But Wang Taiyu could no longer save those commoners.

Chen Huangpi, however, was not from Xuzhou City.

Urging him to leave — no one could find fault with that.

Chen Huangpi shook his head. "I'll go home tonight. But I still have things to do."

"What things?"

"My master wants me to buy spices. But they're ridiculously expensive here. I can't afford them."

"Someone — give him a hundred silver taels."

Wang Taiyu barely finished before correcting himself. He pointed at one of his guards. "Left Guard Attendant, go buy them for him. One pound of every kind."

"Yes, Grand Tutor."

Wang Mingdao cast a strange look at Chen Huangpi before leaving.

Maybe it was his imagination.

But this kid seemed vaguely familiar.

As if he'd seen him somewhere before.

Before long.

Wang Mingdao returned with a spatial pouch, which he handed to Chen Huangpi. "Everything you need is inside. Just focus your mind into it and you can retrieve anything. Consider it a gift."

"I don't want it."

Chen Huangpi shook his head. "I may be short on money, but I won't take charity."

Wang Taiyu said, "Then write an IOU. Pay this old man back when you can."

"That reminds me."

Chen Huangpi's eyes lit up. "Give me a pen. I'll write you a note."

Someone handed over paper and brush.

Chen Huangpi dashed off a quick note and handed it to Wang Taiyu.

"Right then. I'm off."

"Until we meet again."

With that, Chen Huangpi dusted off his hands, grabbed the Fox Mountain God's leash, and disappeared in a flash.

Wang Taiyu and his retinue stood in place. "Grand Tutor..."

Wang Mingdao said quietly. "The money for the spices was mine. The spatial pouch was mine. Shouldn't the IOU be given to me?"

"Take it, then."

Wang Taiyu tossed the note to his son.

Then he climbed back into the ox-cart and announced loudly, "Move out at once! This old man is returning to the capital — to forge a sword."

The convoy set off again.

Wang Mingdao stared at the paper, confused.

Because it wasn't an IOU.

It was an instruction to withdraw money from a money house as repayment.

"This Chen Huangpi can't even afford spices, but he has money in a money house?"

Wang Mingdao murmured. "And that name... Chen Huangpi..."

...

Inside the carriage.

Wang Taiyu rested both hands on his knees in a gripping motion.

As though a sword truly rested in his palms.

"Chen Huangpi — if I recall correctly, Song Jiu, the man Song Tiangang sent last time, was sent to kill him, wasn't he?"

"That's right."

The shadow evil spirit mused. "But Song Jiu died at the God-Burying Mound. Mingdao and I escaped with our lives, but all related memories were erased."

"Just like the settlers who were sent back to Xuzhou City."

Wang Taiyu said thoughtfully. "This Chen Huangpi is extraordinary. That dog he's leading around..."

"It's a fox."

The shadow evil spirit said. "And it's a god. Only, there's not a trace of incense on it. Instead, it carries a strange, indescribable aura that gave me a deeply unsettling feeling."

"A guardian deity, perhaps."

"No. The fox isn't it. There's something else — inside his shadow."

"Perhaps that is his true guardian."

Wang Taiyu raised an eyebrow. "What kind of being?"

The shadow evil spirit shook its head. Its voice was soaked in fear. "I didn't dare look. Didn't dare make contact. The only reason I sensed it at all is because my physical form dissolved into a shadow long ago."

"Whatever it is — it's terrifying."

"As though it doesn't belong to the mortal world."

...

Elsewhere.

Inside a tavern in Xuzhou City.

Chen Huangpi sat by the window.

Just then, a wisp of flame — invisible to ordinary mortals — zipped through the air and dove into the Brass Oil Lamp hanging at his waist.

It was a lamp-flame.

The Brass Oil Lamp's lamp-flame.

"Chen Huangpi, guess what I saw."

"I'm not guessing."

Chen Huangpi said lazily. "I need to ask around about whether anyone's seen the Vast-Sight God or the Evil Daoist. I don't have time for guessing games. Say it or don't."

"There's an evil spirit trailing Wang Taiyu."

"An evil spirit?"

"That's right. The same kind as the four who had nails in their skulls."

The Brass Oil Lamp said coldly. "And you know this particular evil spirit."

Chen Huangpi said, "Now you're talking nonsense. This is Xuzhou City. Every evil spirit I know is back in the Hundred Thousand Mountains. How would one end up here?"

"The God-Burying Mound."

The Brass Oil Lamp said. "Last time we were leaving the God-Burying Mound, you forgot that a bunch of evil spirits signed servitude contracts with you. That evil spirit was one of them. It's a shadow. Ring any bells?"

"I think I remember."

Chen Huangpi pulled out the Soul-Hooking Manual and flipped to a particular page.

The signature at the bottom read: Shadow Evil Spirit.

The handwriting was immaculate.

Chen Huangpi remembered it clearly.

"So it was that one. Why is it with Wang Taiyu?"

"Probably one of Wang Taiyu's underlings."

"But that's not the important part. The important part is — the evil spirit said there's something extremely terrifying lurking inside your shadow."

The Brass Oil Lamp's tone was deeply wary.

It had initially noticed only that Wang Taiyu's shadow harbored an evil spirit, so it had split off a lamp-flame to observe discreetly.

With its abilities, neither Wang Taiyu nor the shadow evil spirit could have possibly detected it.

So the other party had no reason — and no incentive — to lie.

But the problem was...

The Brass Oil Lamp itself hadn't noticed anything wrong with Chen Huangpi's shadow.

Chen Huangpi lowered his gaze to his own shadow.

He saw nothing amiss, either.

People rarely pay attention to their own shadows.

Where there's light, there's shadow. It's the easiest thing in the world to overlook.

Chen Huangpi said pensively. "Did Master stuff something into my shadow again?"

The Brass Oil Lamp shook its head. "I don't think so."

"If the Guanzhu had done it, the shadow evil spirit couldn't possibly have sensed it."

"I suspect whatever's in your shadow appeared recently."

"Recently..."

Chen Huangpi thought hard. "The only place I've been recently is the God-Burying Mound. I met Yi Qingzhou there. If Yi Qingzhou had done something to me, he would have told me. It shouldn't be him."

"What about the Underworld Yellow Spring?"

"Even less likely."

Chen Huangpi said. "The Ferryman looked at me like he'd seen a ghost. He'd never dare target me. And if it had done anything, wouldn't you have noticed?"

"That's true."

The Brass Oil Lamp ran through the possibilities.

Then it realized — if anything in the Underworld Yellow Spring could have done something to Chen Huangpi without its knowledge, there was really only one candidate: the Yin Emperor.

"The Yin Emperor is dead."

Chen Huangpi said. "Died horribly. And we left before nightfall. It wouldn't have had time to do anything to me."

"Then it makes no sense."

The Brass Oil Lamp found the whole thing utterly baffling. "It's not this pair, it's not that one — so what on earth is hiding in your shadow?"

"How should I know? Don't tell me it's the Headless Yama."