Seven Songs(Yin Deng Jue/Secret Of Leading The Light) - Chapter 26

Chapter 26: The Eight-Trigram Soul Sacrifice Plate—Part 3

After breakfast, Yan Qige mentioned that he needed to purchase some items for their journey the next day. Ming Ran accompanied him, while Yusang was sent to the southernmost part of the market to hire a carriage.

Yusang gave Yan Qige a look full of resentment, as if complaining that now that he had Mingran, he no longer needed her. She put on a show of being aggrieved but not daring to speak out, grumbling before finally heading south.

At the carriage hire, Yusang chose a suitable carriage but did not return to Huliu Town. Instead, she drove straight towards the Red Pearl River. After about half an hour, she arrived at the riverside. The sun was rising over the river, and flocks of water birds flew by, their calls echoing across the water. The river breeze was constant, and the waves lapped against the sandy shore, creating white foam.

Yusang parked the carriage and noticed a woman in hemp clothes and a square scarf picking up seafood on the beach with a bamboo basket. She jumped off the carriage and ran over.

“Auntie, can I ask you something?”

“Go ahead,” the woman replied without looking up, still bent over picking things up.

“I want to know how to get to Hongzhu Village.”

“Go west for about a mile. You’ll see a big dead tree. That’s the place.”

“Oh, thank you.”

Yusang shielded her forehead with her hand, brushing away the hair blown by the river breeze as she looked west. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the woman picking up a shell from the sand where the waves had receded. The shell was about the size of a palm, with a bumpy surface and vibrant colors. It immediately caught Yusang’s attention; she had never seen such a beautiful shell before.

“Miss, isn’t this shell beautiful?” the woman asked, as if she could read Yusang’s thoughts.

“Yes, it’s really beautiful,” Yusang marveled at the shell.

“Then I’ll give it to you,” the woman said, actually handing the shell to Yusang.

“This… this is too kind,” Yusang said, feeling both surprised and a bit uneasy, but her hand had already taken the shell.

“Miss, things born from the water have spirits. Don’t lose it.”

“Yes, I know. It’s so beautiful, I’ll definitely keep it safe,” Yusang replied, looking down at the shell and touching it a few times. She thought the woman probably sold these things for money, so she felt around her waist and took out the last bit of loose change she had, intending to give it to the woman.

But when she looked up, she found the woman had already walked far away.

Yusang was shocked. The woman had walked away so quietly and quickly that if it weren’t for the footprints left in the sand, she would have thought the woman was a ghost or some kind of spirit.

Leaving the Red Pearl River, Yusang headed west and soon saw the dead tree the woman had mentioned. It was over ten feet tall, as thick as a millstone, with roots sprawling across the ground. The tree looked like it had been there for hundreds of years. At its base was a stone carving of what looked like a fox, incredibly lifelike.

“You look like an ancient tree with some history. If you had any spirit, you should have cultivated a soul by now. It’s a pity you’re dead, now just a dry trunk,” Yusang said, jumping off the carriage and approaching the tree. She looked up at the dead branches and sighed. Since the carriage was too big for the village paths, she tied the reins to one of the tree’s roots and playfully patted the trunk, saying, “Old tree, I’ll trouble you to watch over it for me.”

She then kicked the stone carving at the base of the tree and said, “It’s carved quite well, but it’s too skinny and short. Can’t even tie a horse to it. Pretty but useless.”

After securing the horse, Yusang looked around the village. She found herself in an open area with low shrubs and grass on three sides, and a muddy path leading straight ahead from the tree. The path wasn’t wide but was relatively flat. In the distance, she could see rooftops, presumably the villagers’ houses.

Yusang walked along the muddy path into the village. The village wasn’t large, and as she walked, she occasionally passed women and elderly people. However, everyone seemed unhappy, walking with their heads down, not stopping for anything, though their pace wasn’t fast.

Yusang thought that to understand the sacrificial marriage, she needed to find someone who knew the whole story. Remembering the conversation she overheard by the river, it seemed the village chief was in charge of major events. She reached out and stopped an old woman to ask for directions to the chief’s house.

“Ah!” Yusang couldn’t help but gasp softly when the old woman looked up. She was wearing a coarse blue robe, extremely thin, with deep wrinkles and hollow eyes. At first glance, she looked like a skeleton draped in old skin.

“Excuse me, can you tell me how to get to the village chief’s house?” Yusang took a shallow breath and tried to ask calmly.

The old woman looked at Yusang, seeming to hear her but also not, as if she was scrutinizing her, yet her eyes showed no light, making Yusang wonder if the old woman could even see.

Just as Yusang was about to ask someone else, the old woman raised her bony hand and pointed to a mud-walled house about ten meters behind Yusang.

Yusang followed the direction and looked, then turned back to thank the old woman, only to find her gone. She looked around and vaguely saw a blue-clad figure disappearing behind a house.

“Didn’t expect her to walk so fast with such poor eyesight,” Yusang muttered, turning towards the house.

The courtyard wasn’t very large but wasn’t small either, surrounded by mud walls about two meters high. In the center was a heavily weathered wooden gate, with remnants of faded New Year couplets still stuck to it. On either side of the gate were equally faded couplets, though the words were still somewhat legible.

“Is anyone home?” Yusang knocked on the door. While waiting for someone to answer, she looked at the couplets.

“Spring fills the world, fortune fills the hall; water covers the marriage, the tree shades the sun.”

Though not particularly literary, Yusang knew that couplets were supposed to be auspicious and balanced. The first line seemed like a common wish for fortune, but the second line was completely off, neither balanced nor auspicious.

Yusang instinctively looked up at the horizontal scroll above the door and was even more surprised. While the couplets were faded and weathered, the horizontal scroll was very new, with bright yellow characters on red paper: “Eight-Trigram Soul Sacrifice.”

Yusang pondered with confusion when a sudden thought struck her, making the hairs on her back stand on end. She turned to leave, but it was too late. As she turned, the wooden door suddenly swung open. The red and yellow horizontal scroll emitted a blinding light, and from the open door, something like silk or smoke wafted out, brushing against Yusang’s face, wrapping around her neck, and quickly encircling her chest and waist.

In no time, she was trapped as if in a large cocoon.

“The eighty-first one, finally enough…” Before losing consciousness, Yusang faintly heard an androgynous voice whisper in her ear.

Then, all her senses disappeared, and everything fell into darkness.