Chapter 532: Name
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
"How is it going? Any new discovery?"
Jiese watched as Fang Yuan used his Fiery Golden Eyes to scan the surroundings.
"No! It's all clean!"
Fang Yuan shook his head and turned to face the village chief.
"Is this really the temple?"
"Sir...my ancestors are all here? Why would I lie?"
The village chief replied hurriedly upon noticing Fang Yuan's scowl.
Fang Yuan could tell from his reaction that he was telling the truth.
"Is there nowhere else other than this place?"
"Yes, there is nothing else!"
"Strange!"
Fang Yuan shook his head.
"Let's go! We'll go look for Madam Donghua!"
"Amituofo!"
Jiese has a grave look on his face.
"Could it be...that you want to receive that 'thing''s curse and try to save Goudan's life?"
"Things probably can't get any worse, am I right?"
Fang Yuan nodded and took Jiese to Madam Donghua.
"What is this about finding out about something and being cursed as a result?"
The woman was bewildered.
"What are you even talking about?"
"We monks never say frivolous things!"
Jiese looked very serious.
"I can read fortunes. Your child has a black mark looming over him. He might experience a calamity tonight!"
Since Madam Donghua did not appear to know anything, Jiese guessed that they probably came into contact with the curse after entering the village. He wanted to observe any new developments from up close.
"You are crazy! How dare you curse our Goudan!"
Madam Donghua would have stared daggers at Fang Yuan if not for his burgeoning notoriety in the village.
"Alright, we are going to board at your house. From this very moment, you and your child will not leave my line of sight, is that clear?"
Fang Yuan could not be bothered to listen to her protests and handed her a wad of banknotes upfront.
"If you can follow my instructions, this money will be yours. If you don't…"
He pressed his palm on a nearby wall and gave it a little push.
Boom!
The entire wall fell backwards with a resounding crash. Goudan was so afraid that he burst into tears.
"You people…"
Madam Donghua lowered her head and look as though as she was about to cry
"Are you kidnappers? No! Goudan is more important than anything in the world. Over my dead body!"
"Enough, I've made myself clear enough. If you continue to make noise, I'll tie up the two of you!"
Fang Yuan's gave her an icy stare.
The villagers nearby were terrified and pretended to go about their business. Madam Donghua had no choice but to wipe her tears and agree.
Fang Yuan and Jiese followed the arrangements of the previous day and moved into Madam Donghua's house. All that was left to do was to wait for nightfall.
This time, though, the mother and son pair would not leave their line of sight.
"Amituofo…"
Other than to utter the occasional chant, Jiese sat there silently without drinking or eating, and kept his eyes fixated on Goudan.
According to their earlier investigations, this adorable boy was about to die.
But he was confused all the same.
The boy looked very much alive to him, as did the other villagers!
'I wonder how Mister Tantai and Miss Chen are? Given Mister Tantai's abilities, he would have no problems linking up with us…'
Jiese could only gaze at the rising moon and wonder.
....
Meanwhile. Outside of the village.
"Brother Tantai...what do we do?"
Tantai Guihu had found Chen Xin. She had left in a fit of anger but still returned to him when he came looking for her.
"This fog is unnatural!"
Tantai Guihu's mask had turned blood red and his voice was sombre.
It was not that they did not want to link up with Fang Yuan. They had just realised that they were...lost!
When they had walked out of the fog, they found that they were travelling along a mountain ridge.
The cold wind blew on mercilessly.
Tantai Guihu took off his outer jacket and pulled it over Chen Xin. He then focused his efforts on sizing up the terrain.
"The footprints on the ground are disorderly. A large number of people must have walked past here not too long ago. We can't be too far away from the village!"
Tantai Guihu made his guesses and followed the footprints. He came to a cave shortly after. The ground around them had been turned over, leaving the soil from the lower layers and plant roots exposed.
"Is this...a tomb?"
Tantai Guihu thought back to the words of the village chief and understood.
"There are many tombs in the vicinity of the village. This ancient tomb must have been exposed due to a landslide. The villagers must have gotten to it and taken away the buried treasures. No wonder the village chief wanted to show us antiques and even hinted to us that he wanted to do business. It seems like he wanted to dispose of the stolen goods!"
Tantai Guihu did not think much of this discovery though.
It was only right that inhabitants in this area rely on the mountains for their livelihood. It was not his responsibility to worry about the conservation of cultural relics.
"Brother Tantai...I am scared!"
Chen Xin shivered when she looked into the gaping entrance of the cave. It looked like the open mouth of a huge beast.
"Mm, let's get out of this place now. We'll come back with Fang Yuan tomorrow."
Tantai Guihu was not a reckless person and immediately turned around to leave.
Crack!
He had stepped on something crisp.
"This...is the symbol of the Tantai family?"
Tantai Guihu bent down to pick up a broken piece of tile. He looked amazed.
"Indeed...this is the origin of the Tantai family! The ancestors of the Tantai family are buried in this tomb!"
Whoosh!
His words were cut short by him falling through the air.
The ground beneath them had collapsed and the two of them were swallowed up into the black hole.
…...
"Hehe…"
"Ring ding ding!"
The ball made out of reeds rolled about on the ground, the bell in it ringing for all it was worth.
Goudan laughed and played on as if all was right with the world. Like there was no curse, no danger.
Smack!
The ball rolled to a stop beside Jiese's foot. Goudan looked at his busy mother and could not make up his mind about what to do next.
"Amituofo, take it back!"
Jiese smiled at Goudan and handed him the ball.
'Strange...why isn't anything happening?'
Seeing Goudan receive the ball and thank him politely, Jiese became even more unsure of himself. He was inclined to believe that everything he had seen the previous night was an illusion.
'So weird…'
Goudan was curious too. Why did this two formidable uncles insist on staying in his house to keep an eye on both his mother and himself?
He had to admit that he was in awe of Fang Yuan.
Raw power could usually win over little children. Every person would have dreamed of becoming a hero when they were younger.
Never mind, off to dinner.
Just as Goudan prepared to dig in, memories flooded in.
It seemed to be from the afternoon of that same day.
The emergence of the sun had cleared up all the puddles on the ground. He was walking along the mountain trail. There were many people, many footprints. Everyone was jostling for their turn to enter a dark cave, to get their hands on the many things in that cave.
There were many toys in that cave.
The most striking object in that area was the great blood-red monolith. It said something that he could not read, but the people around him were mocking it.
"'Restricted Area, No Entry'? What a joke!"
"The artefacts in the ancient tomb belong to our village!"
"One would die if one finds out about it. The sealing of the tomb...what is this? A ghost story?"
....
Madam Donghua held Goudan's little hand tightly. The dimness of his surroundings had a frightening quality to it. The men around him were holding onto torches, and the light illuminated their faces in a hideous way. It made them look like savage ghosts.
"Let's go, Goudan, let's hurry up and leave!"
With a firm grip, Madam Donghua pulled Goudan towards the cave entrance.
Except that at that moment, someone had already read 'it' out loud!
"Ahh!"
In the real world, Goudan had burst out crying without any warning.
…..
"Eh? How did this thing end up in my house?"
The village chief scratched his head and looked at the bronze item hidden under his bed.
It was a beautiful bronze statue with an archaic feel to it. Anyone could tell that this was a valuable treasure.
"Wait a minute, I think I dug this out. From that ancient tomb…"
At the same time, memories came flooding back.
"Funny. It was an activity that took place in the morning involving the entire village. It's the afternoon now. Where's everyone?"
Since he had discovered the ancient tomb on the mountain slopes, he had activated everyone in the village in the hopes of striking it rich.
"I remember now. That tomb was built like a temple inside. There was a tablet that said the items within were cursed, and to stay away. Especially the name on the first memorial tablet. Finding out about it would result in... death!?"
The village chief gave an involuntary shudder and tried to forget all of that by shaking his head violently.
Not even Fang Yuan could find out about his memory loss. Now that the village chief had remembered everything, he would never forget it for as long as he lived.
"That...that name!"
"Tantai…"
Poof!
Streaks of red appeared on the village chief's body and his entire person split apart sickeningly. There was blood everywhere.
A spirit with a blank gaze rose slowly from the blood red puddles. It had taken on the face of the village chief!
…..
"Cough cough…"
Tantai Guihu helped the dishevelled Chen Xin up in the large pit.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine! It's just that we seem to have fallen into a crypt…"
Chen Xin let out a forced laugh.
"Not only that, I have discovered something else. Look!"
Tantai Guihu turned his torchlight on and the structures around them swam into view. Chen Xin was surprised.
"Is this... a crypt? Why does it look more like a temple?"
"...I think this might be the temple Madam Donghua was talking about!"
Tantai Guihu and Chen Xin took a few steps forward and examined the rows of tablets carved from green stone.
"My Tantai ancestors are buried here?"
Tantai Guihu bowed to the tablets in reverence. When he looked up, he noticed that there was a lone tablet placed on the top row. It was surrounded by chains and was supposed to be covered by a curtain which had somehow fallen down, revealing a set of large characters.
"The ancestor...Tantai Moye!?"
Tantai Guihu was not sure why, but looking at this tablet made his hair stand on end and gave him a sense of impending doom.