Master of Strange Dao

"At this point, a tough-looking woman with rolled-up sleeves came rushing out from the yard diagonally across, and after seeing Yu Ziqing, quickly greeted him respectfully and took away the little fat boy. Not long after, the cries of that little boy calling for his parents echoed.

Yu Ziqing chuckled softly and turned towards the backyard of Stone's house.

Their backyard wasn't far from a small river, by which stood a rather old willow tree.

The legend of Grandpa Que had spread widely in this area.

In fact, there were legends in different places that adults used to scare children.

Only, some were indeed true, some were mere fabrications, and some even lacked any basis whatsoever.

The legend of Grandpa Que was a classic example of one with no verifiable basis, widely circulated in many regions of Dali, but only among mortals. Over time, it became impossible to verify the original source.

And as for the cultivators, who among them would have nothing better to do than verify a legend shared among mortals?

After all, many such legends were started by passing cultivators, perhaps even by an Evil Dao that once appeared there.

Just like the Wang Family River that Yu Ziqing visited earlier, hundreds of years later, there might be a legend of Grandpa Yu, bizarrely ugly but kind-hearted and powerful, rescuing children taken away by Human Traffickers.

Such legends weren't like those used by the Dragon Clan to scare juvenile dragons; at least that Peeling figure truly existed.

On the first day Yu Ziqing came to this area, he had heard the tale of Grandpa Que.

He just didn't pay much attention to it, and those high-flying experts would naturally care even less about a folklore that might be revamped every ten or twenty years.

Yu Ziqing never noticed how Gu Shitou was taken, nor did Lou Huai find any traces, neither did Lin Fu, and even now, Yu Ziqing noticed people from the Shadow Department showing up around, looking as lost as headless flies, likely finding no clues as well.

Thus, when Yu Ziqing started thinking wildly, he began to ponder aimlessly.

Was it possible that what even little children knew could be the truth?

Yu Ziqing came to the riverbank and easily found some traces of incense fire worship, and the idol worshipped seemed small, with a square base, and there wasn't even a simple shrine to shelter it from wind and rain.

Evidently, it wasn't an acknowledged Earth Deity.

In Daqian, conferring Earth Deities was common, and there were quite a few, but these Earth Deities mostly lived cautiously, staying within their small realms, scarcely leaving their borders.

In Dali, Earth Deities were rarely conferred; the public usually worshipped their ancestors, and even the few solitary temples with devotees were only humble stone statues without any divine presence.

Those unused incense fires, even mountain demons wouldn't dare to steal at random.

Caught, they would meet a terrible end.

Proper grand ceremonies needed targets who weren't within the common people's worship rights, and even the consecrated idols were far beyond the common people's ability or resources to make.

In Dali, such matters were always very strictly managed.

Yu Ziqing brushed aside leaves and soil, took a handful of gray mud beneath, sniffed it, then restored everything to its original state.

"Lou Huai, did you catch that scent?"

"I did, incense fire was accepted by something."

Yu Ziqing extended his hand, measuring something on the ground for a while, then turned and left.

He didn't rush into further action but spent half a day consulting local elders about the legends of Grandpa Que.

Once he had noted down all versions, Yu Ziqing went to Gu Shitou's room.

He took a broken bronze square pot ornament from beneath one of the lattice shelves and measured the bottom with his hand.

He took out incense and a small incense burner, setting the burner in front of the broken bronze square pot, and lit the incense.

He sat there, his thoughts drifting far away.

When the three sticks of incense were about to burn out, Yu Ziqing sighed lightly.

"I am not from Dali, and gentle people like me are rare to find. You better recognize the good in people.

The child you took is far more troublesome than if you had directly provoked two Ninth Tier strong ones.

I am your last hope. If you don't come out before the incense burns out, you will appear on the desk of the Chief Venerate of the Shadow Department tomorrow.

And starting the day after tomorrow, the name Grandpa Que will be marked as a forbidden term.

I am offering peace before force; you better not push your luck."

Yu Ziqing watched the incense burn out, let out a light sigh, and brought out a filth bucket.

"If you don't appreciate kindness, then don't blame me for drowning you in filth."

As Yu Ziqing reached for the broken bronze square pot, the curling wisps of smoke from the incense suddenly thickened, enveloping Yu Ziqing in a mist.

A faint sandalwood fragrance emerged.

The surrounding mist dispersed gradually, restoring the surrounding scenery.

Yu Ziqing's Yin God suddenly opened its eyes, and everything beyond the room was shrouded in mist, his Yin God unable to penetrate it.

And this place was no longer the original room.

A little boy lay on the bed, while on the opposite chair, an old man draped in hemp robes, adorned with a willow twig crown, with white hair and beard and benign features, sat quietly.

His subtle sandalwood scent lingered, and under Yu Ziqing's Yin God, he appeared neither human nor ghost, neither demon nor devil, his form vague, phantom-like, indistinct.