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Chapter 131: The Revenge of the Immortal Family
Thinking about how A-Lang not only killed a whole nest of weasels but also offended the Guardian Spirit, I curiously asked Aunt Liu, "What’s the story with your Guardian Spirit? Has it been worshipped for a long time?"
Aunt Liu said that their Guardian Spirit had been worshipped by their ancestors for several generations. She had heard stories from the older generation about the Guardian Spirit, which was said to have come to protect their family because their ancestors had accumulated virtue. With that, Aunt Liu began to tell me about the Guardian Spirit.
This happened over a hundred years ago. At that time, the head of the Liu family was named Liu Si. He had a wife and two young children, making up about one or two family members. The Liu family was in decline but owned many courtyards. They lived in the front courtyard while the back courtyard remained empty.
One day, an elderly man arrived, leaning on a cane, and came to their door. He found Liu Si and said his surname was Huang and that he hoped to stay in their back courtyard. Upon seeing this elderly man with white hair and a snow-white beard, Liu Si felt that he was no ordinary person. Since the back courtyard was empty anyway, Liu Si agreed to let him stay. Mr. Huang said he would move in three days later in the morning and asked that no one from their family come out. Liu Si instructed someone to clean up the back area. It is said that on the third day in the morning, they heard a gust of wind, and then the sky turned dark; by noon, there were people living in the back courtyard—a whole family with elderly people, middle-aged individuals, and children.
Later on, Liu Si's family became quite familiar with Mr. Huang's family in the back courtyard and often visited each other. One winter, Liu Si's youngest child went to play at Mr. Huang's house, where he was given a bright red peach. This might not seem unusual today, but it was about seventy years ago. The child brought the peach home, and both Liu Si and his wife were very worried. They took a knife to cut a piece for themselves first to ensure it was safe before letting their child eat it. Upon tasting it, they found it incredibly sweet.
Another time, Liu Si's youngest child went missing. They searched from morning until afternoon and were very anxious. Eventually, Liu Si decided to ask Mr. Huang if he had seen his son. When he found Mr. Huang and asked him about it, Mr. Huang reassured him to go home; he would send the child back shortly. Not long after, Liu Si's son was returned home. When Liu Si went to thank Mr. Huang, he explained that one of his own children had taken Liu Si's son out to play without permission and promised to punish him for it. Liu Si replied that they were just children and should let it go; it wasn't intentional. The next day, Liu Si discovered a weasel covered in wounds running around in the back courtyard, bowing repeatedly as if it had done something wrong.
About two or three years later, Mr. Huang came to find Liu Si again and said they had disturbed them for quite some time and were planning to leave. He offered Liu Si three bundles of money; he could keep the first two but should not take the third one.
A few days later, Mr. Huang's family moved away without any further contact. The day after they left, there were copper coins all over Liu Si's offering table at home; they accepted them but did not take the third bundle on subsequent days.
Not long after that, a gentleman came to their house asking for water and saw the pile of copper coins on the offering table. He told Liu Si that those were from their Guardian Spirit—a yellow Great Master—and advised them to burn incense regularly for safety and prosperity. Upon hearing this, Liu Si realized that Mr. Huang who had borrowed their back courtyard was actually an Earth Immortal.
Strangely enough, ever since they placed those copper coins on the offering table, the once-declining Liu family suddenly began to prosper again. Whatever business they engaged in turned profitable, and their children became successful; they quickly regained their former wealth.
However, shortly thereafter, war broke out in the country. Liu Si's son joined the army during those tumultuous times when death was commonplace; yet every time artillery shells landed near him, he somehow managed to escape unharmed.
Later on, Liu Si's son became an official in the Nationalist government. As this government faced imminent defeat, it is said that he had a dream where an old man with a white beard urged him to resign from his post and return to farming, telling him this was the only way to avoid disaster. After sharing this dream with his father Liu Si, they realized it must be their worshipped yellow Great Master guiding them. Thus, they decided for him to resign from his official position and return home to farm. Soon after doing so, they indeed avoided disaster as the Nationalist government fell apart.
After liberation, the Liu family became local landlords. One night they dreamed of that old man again; he instructed them to distribute their land among the villagers while keeping only a small plot for themselves. The Liu family complied with this request; soon after there was a wave of land redistribution occurring throughout society—though they lost their land, they were not treated as public enemies nor subjected to criticism.
This worship continued until after liberation; generations of the Liu family enjoyed protection from the yellow Great Master—though they did not become immensely wealthy or powerful—they lived safely without any disasters until last year when A-Lang threw out the plaque of the yellow Great Master along with those copper coins, bringing upon them great calamity.
At this point in her story, Aunt Liu felt both angry and regretful—angry at A-Lang for making mistakes and regretful for not having properly protected their Guardian Spirit. She urgently asked me: "Sir, do you think this ongoing torment of our Liu family could be due to our Guardian Spirit?"
This question is indeed difficult for me to answer. Although the Guardian Spirit Huang Great Master has always protected the Liu family, seemingly bestowing great blessings upon them, it is said that while inviting a deity is easy, sending them away is hard. If you do not serve them well, not only can you forget about relying on them for safety and wealth, but they might also turn around and cause chaos in your home.
So, I shook my head and said, "I don't know for now, but when he comes again next time, I will definitely ask him clearly."
Thus, we stayed at Aunt Liu's house that day, waiting for the Earth Immortal to come knocking again.
The Earth Immortal is different from ghosts; generally, you can only reason with them and try to agree to their terms in hopes of getting them to stop causing trouble. To put it nicely, this is called sending them away or negotiating; to put it bluntly, it's begging for mercy. After all, they are Earth Immortal, not ordinary spirits, and dealing with them is not easy. In folk beliefs, there are very few who can truly handle an Earth Immortal.
That day, we scattered incense ash at Aunt Liu's front door, and then Cao Qilong and I took turns guarding the entrance, waiting for the Earth Immortal to arrive.
The reason for scattering incense ash at the door is that when the Earth Immortal arrives, he will leave footprints in the ash. Although I can open my Heavenly Eye, we still cannot accurately predict when he will come. It’s not feasible to keep my Heavenly Eye open just waiting for him, especially since Cao Qilong does not know how to use it.
We waited like this for a day or two without any sign from the Liu family. Of course, without the Earth Immortal causing trouble, A-Lang had returned to normal. He had long since cast aside his disbelief in superstitions and was now both fearful and regretful. Hearing that we were there to help him resolve his troubles, he treated us as his saviors over these two days.
On the third day, shortly after finishing lunch, Cao Qilong suddenly sprang up from his chair at the entrance. From his expression, I knew he must have discovered something.
Sure enough, Cao Qilong hurriedly signaled me to come over and pointed at the incense ash at the door, saying it seemed like something had come knocking.
I quickly looked down at the ground by the door and indeed saw two footprints appearing in the incense ash. Just as we looked at the ground, those footprints were moving toward our house. Soon a row of footprints emerged in the ash.
These footprints were not animal tracks but human footprints. This does not necessarily mean that the entity was a human-turned-ghost; after all, Earth Immortals often like to transform into human forms after cultivating their essence, so leaving human footprints is not surprising.
Now that the entity had come knocking, I certainly could not allow him to harm the Liu family under my watch. So I opened my Heavenly Eye and discovered that he was an old man with a white beard and a sharp face. Although he had transformed into human form, his sharp features still resembled those of a weasel.
Seeing him about to enter, I blocked the doorway and cast a spell while shouting: "You bold Evil Spirit, last time you escaped; today you dare come back here to cause trouble? Do you really think you won't ruin your centuries of cultivation?"
Although one must invite an Earth Immortal to leave peacefully, one cannot show fear. Negotiation requires having some standing; if he thinks it would be as easy as squashing an ant to play with you, why would he bother negotiating?
The weasel-like figure was taken aback when I noticed him and then glared at me angrily: "It's you again, little Yin-Yang! The other day you ruined my plans; I didn't settle accounts with you then. Today I'll make sure you understand the consequences of meddling!"
Hearing this from him, I naturally could not let him gain the upper hand. I replied: "What an arrogant Evil Spirit! It's surprising that you are a century-old immortal yet act so shamelessly."
I have a purpose in saying this. Although Earth Immortal is not a true immortal, they consider themselves as such and place great importance on their reputation. This is why they always refer to themselves as "this immortal."
Sure enough, Weasel was furious when I criticized his actions, glaring at me and saying, "Boldly speaking, this immortal has always acted with integrity, rewarding virtue with virtue and vengeance with vengeance. How dare you, Little Yin-Yang, speak out of turn? I originally intended to let you off today since we have no grievances against each other, but now I have changed my mind. Today, you will learn that offending an immortal is the biggest mistake of your life."
Seeing that he had indeed taken the bait, I quickly said, "Since you claim to act with integrity, why did you come here so sneakily today? If you're already here, then show yourself!"
I was forcing him to reveal himself because I was worried that I couldn't handle him alone. Only if he revealed himself could Cao Qilong help me in case things turned violent.
"I was afraid of scaring you!" Weasel said before revealing himself.
When I spoke to the empty space at the door, Aunt Liu and A-Lang inside the room couldn't see anything but knew that Earth Immortal had arrived. When Weasel appeared, they were so frightened by his sharp features that they hurriedly hid behind Cao Qilong, not daring to show their faces.
Seeing the Liu Family people so scared of him made Weasel quite pleased. He smirked and said, "I told you, I didn't reveal myself because I was afraid of scaring you. I wouldn't want to play if you all died of fright before I even got started. Ha ha..."
Seeing his smug expression made me sneer as well. I said, "What a notion of rewarding virtue with virtue and vengeance with vengeance! The Liu Family has served you for generations, yet when they suffer a loss at your hands, you would bring about their ruin? Is this the way of an immortal? To me, you're nothing more than a beast, even worse than an Evil Spirit."
Upon hearing this, Weasel became furious. He retorted, "How could the Liu Family have ever served me? Let alone for generations! If they had done me a favor, would I harm them?"
Hearing this made it clear to me that this Weasel was obviously not the Wong Tai Sin worshipped by the Liu Family. It was highly likely that he belonged to the family hiding inside the Liu Family's coffin.
Thinking about this made my head ache. My greatest concern had always been that this family was a bunch of tricksters, and now it seemed they truly were tricksters who had cultivated their powers. It should be noted that A-Lang had previously killed their entire family; this vendetta was not something that could be easily resolved.
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