Chapter 191 - 177: Rice Divination Lady

Ye Mingzhe looked at the completely unfamiliar face in the mirror, unable to recover his senses for a long time, until a line of bleeding words slowly appeared on the mirror.

[Welcome to the New World.]

Ye Mingzhe took two steps back and looked away, only to find that the bloody words remained in his line of sight. Moreover, there was a countdown above the bloody text.

[167:57:55]

A seven-day countdown. What did this mean?

As the question surfaced in his mind, the bloody words in his vision began to change.

[You will experience seven days of a brand-new life in this world devoid of the supernatural. Your new Identity possesses the emotions of a normal person. You will feel happiness, anger, depression, and resentment. Isn’t this what you have always wanted?]

[You will no longer be trapped in endless nightmares after falling asleep. You will not have to fulfill the duties of a Night Watcher, nor will you have to deal with Fierce Ghosts anymore. You can completely be a normal, ordinary person.]

The content of the bloody words made Ye Mingzhe’s heart beat violently. He felt it in disbelief; for the first time in his twenty-eight years of life, he was experiencing such intense and complex emotions.

Excitement, doubt, fear, unease...

These were all things he had never felt before. This served as an Explanation that the bloody words were true—he truly possessed the emotions of a normal person now.

"A world without the supernatural? Really? Aren’t you some kind of supernatural Strength?"

Ye Mingzhe dropped his usual nonchalant facade. His gaze grew deep and sharp, his entire being exuding a piercing edge.

[I am the will of the High-dimensional World. If you are willing to make a deal with me, I can help you achieve all your desires.]

"Even if my wish is for there to be no more supernatural phenomena in this world, can you still fulfill it?"

[Play a game with me. If you win, I can help you erase the world’s entry for ’supernatural.’ By then, your world will no longer have any supernatural phenomena or related Strength, and the Night Watcher’s curse will completely disappear along with it.]

Ye Mingzhe widened his eyes in disbelief. What did all this mean?

[There is no need to rush into a choice. You have a seven-day trial period. A massive treasure is hidden in this brand-new world. Please enjoy your time as an ordinary person to the fullest.]

[A friendly reminder: in six hours, you will receive this body’s memories from the past seven days. Remember, hiding beneath this skin, you can live longer.]

The bloody words quickly vanished from his sight. Ye Mingzhe slumped against the edge of the bathtub behind him, his mind in utter chaos.

At six-thirty the next morning after her return, Yin Zhen, having slept dreamlessly through the night, was awakened by the crowing of roosters in the village.

She got up to wash, went for a jog along the mountain path to exercise, and practiced her martial arts for a while on the platform outside the pavilion halfway up the mountain. She mainly practiced dagger Fighting Skill, striving to integrate Qiao Yun’s dagger fighting techniques into her own body as soon as possible.

There were also Qiao Yun’s carving techniques, which her main body needed to continue practicing and refining.

After practicing until eight o’clock, Yin Zhen called Lucy to ask how she was doing. To Yin Zhen, it felt like she had been away from Lucy for a long time, but to Lucy, it had only been a few days.

"Are there any abnormalities at home or over at the villa?" Yin Zhen asked, holding her phone as she walked down the mountain. Both places were haunted houses, after all.

Lucy’s flat voice came through the phone. "Everything is normal. The villa’s renovation is progressing smoothly, and we expect to be able to move in a week."

"By the way, I need a woodworking room for making puppet constructs. Please arrange one for me."

"Alright. Do you have any other requests? When are you coming back?"

Yin Zhen stopped in her tracks and looked toward the town. "Tomorrow."

Lucy didn’t say anything else and hung up.

Yin Zhen’s original plan was to stay here and learn from Grandma Bai, to figure out what a Taoist was, and to learn some orthodox methods of Yin Yang Masters for exorcising ghosts. But after she returned yesterday, Grandma Bai suddenly said she would take her to the graveyard today. Yin Zhen had a strong premonition that Grandma Bai was going to drive her away.

Returning to the Paper Binding shop, Yin Zhen ate breakfast with Grandma Bai. Under Grandma Bai’s instructions, she grabbed two Papermen and some paper money, golden ingots, and other offerings, and they headed together to the graveyard located on the shady side of the mountain.

The town didn’t have a public cemetery. Whenever someone died, they would be buried near this graveyard, and Grandma Bai’s family members were all buried here as well.

Right on the edge of the graveyard grew several crooked willow trees, which were excellent materials for crafting substitute death puppets.

Grandma Bai led Yin Zhen to a cluster of graves that clearly belonged to the same clan. Several tombstones stood side by side here, mostly single graves belonging to the Bai Family.

Grandma Bai crouched down and lit the yellow paper and golden ingots they had brought, then told Yin Zhen to burn the tied Papermen along with them.

"Ancestors, I’m old. My hands and feet are no longer nimble, and I can barely keep up with the work in the shop," Grandma Bai said. "How many generations has the Bai Family’s craft been passed down? I’m afraid it’s going to end with me. I can’t find a proper successor, and no one is here to take up this burden."

She paused and tossed another handful of paper money into the fire, making the flames leap higher.

"This is your own fault, clinging to those broken rules—not passing it on to outsiders, not passing it on to women. You didn’t even look at yourselves! A bunch of widowers, widows, orphans, the childless, and the disabled; what kind of good sons could you possibly sire? If I hadn’t learned it in secret back then, this craft would have died out long ago. Now that it’s ending in my hands, it’s just your retribution."

Yin Zhen scratched her head as she squatted to the side. Grandma Bai really dared to speak her mind!

"This girl," Grandma Bai pointed her chin at Yin Zhen, "looks pretty good, doesn’t she? She’s a good kid. She’s steady, patient, and has a proper sense of focus when tying Papermen. At first, I thought heaven wouldn’t let the Bai Family die out. But who knew? This girl possesses a ghostly aura; she can’t learn your skills anymore.

"You ask me why I insisted on bringing her here? I just wanted to show you that a good seedling has no fate with our Bai Family. Go ahead and be anxious; crawling out of your graves won’t help. Give up your thoughts, all of you, and stay dead peacefully."

Yin Zhen was entirely speechless.

Grandma Bai complained for a long time, not stopping until the paper money and Papermen had completely turned into ashes. She pushed against her knees and stood up with some difficulty, patting the dust off her pant legs.

"Girl, originally, I really wanted to pass on all the Bai Family’s orthodox skills of warding off evil and soothing souls to you. But that requires years of ascetic practice. One’s heart must be righteous, and one’s energy must be pure, accumulating Taoist bit by bit. However, you’ve walked the yin path and tainted yourself with things you shouldn’t have. You can no longer walk this righteous path."

Yin Zhen nodded; she understood what Grandma Bai meant.

"However," Grandma Bai’s tone shifted, "the righteous path is hard to walk, but I have a unique skill of my own. By a stroke of luck, it’s just right to pass it on to you."

Yin Zhen looked at Grandma Bai full of anticipation.

"My birth name is Bai Shanyin. I was born with a yin life and an exceptionally light astrological weight. I have the skill of rice divination and Walking Yin and Crossing the Bridge. It’s not a family heirloom, but... taught to me by a ghost."

"A Rice Divination Lady?" Yin Zhen asked softly to confirm.

In the north, people who could communicate with spirits were often called a Rice Divination Lady or a Spirit-Walking Medium.

Rice Divination, simply put, meant inviting a ghost to ask questions. It was somewhat like a plate fairy and belonged to the category of divination. Spirit-walking, on the other hand, was a more profound method. It allowed a person’s soul to leave their body and walk the yin path to treat fright, call back wandering souls, or even exorcise ghosts.

Grandma Bai nodded. "That’s right. Rice Divination treads the yin path and connects to the ghost realm. Being entangled with yin energy is inevitable in this line of work, and you are destined to grow old and die alone. You need to think it through carefully. I’m teaching you this with the sole hope that when I die, you can come and collect my body. My old bones carry too much yin energy; variables are very likely to occur after I die, and ordinary people might not be able to suppress it."

"Alright," Yin Zhen solemnly agreed.

Grandma Bai showed a hint of a relieved smile. "Let’s go. Come back with me. As long as you understand the rules of Rice Divination, you can learn it in one night. Leave tomorrow; this poor mountain ravine is not suitable for you to stay in."

Returning to the cramped shop filled with Paper Binding crafts, Grandma Bai took out a small locked wooden box from the inner room, walked over to Yin Zhen, and opened it.

Inside the box was an object carefully wrapped in red cloth. Uncovering the red cloth revealed an extremely old earthenware bowl. The body of the bowl was made of coarse pottery, and its rim had several chipped spots. The walls of the bowl were covered with dark grime left behind over the years, and it emitted the smell of incense ash.

She handed the bowl to Yin Zhen.

"This is a yin rice bowl. It’s yours from now on," Grandma Bai said. "I’ll take my time teaching you the tricks contained within this bowl today."