Nowadays, Xia Jin has only one task: guard East Market Street and prevent Tattoo Evil Ghosts from entering the street searching for the Legend of the Hundred Spirits.
After Xia Jin left, the young man mounted his donkey again. His purpose for coming to East Market Street was simple—find the East Mountain Fox Lady who had been missing for nearly twenty years.
The donkey brayed a couple of times, carrying its master on a stroll through East Market Street.
"This silk scarf of yours looks stunning. With an eye as sharp as yours, help me pick one too."
Yun Ziliang eyed Zhou Xuan’s blue silk scarf enviously.
"No need to pick; just wear a red one—it’ll boost your fortune," Zhou Xuan pulled a small stool and sat beside Yun Ziliang, saying, "Last night, I not only dreamed of Peng Sheng but also saw six tattoo maps."
Yun Ziliang’s facial features scrunched up into a knot—what a dreamer, indeed.
"The first map showed a coffin wrapped tightly with filthy ropes,
The second depicted a blood-stained Ghost Head Blade,
The third was a white paper banner..."
Before Zhou Xuan could finish speaking, Yun Ziliang interrupted while munching on sunflower seeds: "Your three tattoos all depict Alien Ghosts above the Heavenly Dome, namely ’Bitter Ghost,’ ’Six Lives,’ and ’Earth Child.’"
"Earth Child—is it the Alien Ghost linked to storytellers and tattoos, connected simultaneously to the Dream Realm Heavenly God?"
Yun Ziliang said, "The Tangkou behind ’Earth Child’ is called Mr. Ye."
When the topic of "Mr. Ye" came up, Lao Yun grew animated, explaining that this group specializes in infant killings.
"A Tangkou that specializes in killing babies? That’s utterly depraved," Zhou Xuan remarked.
"They don’t kill ordinary infants."
Yun Ziliang began to educate Zhou Xuan about "Earth Child."
"Earth Child’s Dharma Image, according to ancient texts, is a baby lacking eyes, nose, and ears, with a bloated body and boneless limbs."
"Earth Child cannot move, nor does he have vision, smell, or hearing, so he perceives the world through dreams."
"When awake, he experiences lucid dreams; when asleep, he dreams of secrets hidden within heaven and earth."
"In these dreams, Earth Child can foresee the impending birth of Alien Ghosts, envision future New Gods, and even glimpse heaven and earth’s affairs decades ahead."
"Earth Child’s dreamscape can predict certain cosmic changes, and the Night Masters, inheriting methods from Earth Child, serve a specific role in Jing Country—to kill ominous individuals during infancy."
"Each day, they dream, and as soon as they envision the birth of an ominous individual, they use paper banners to guide their way and eliminate the infant shortly after its arrival."
"How accurate is this dream-based identification of ominous individuals?"
Zhou Xuan found flaws in this process: ominousness pertains to future events, judging solely by dreams seems overly arbitrary.
"Accurate or not, who can say?"
Yun Ziliang sighed, saying, "Whether someone is ominous hinges entirely on the Night Masters’ whims, yet this Tangkou remains influential in Jing Country."
He didn’t elaborate further on the Night Masters, switching topics to "Six Lives" and "Bitter Ghosts."
"The Tangkou tied to ’Six Lives’ is called ’Execution,’ essentially Executioners tasked with beheading prisoners. Their totem is a decapitation Ghost Head Blade."
"’Bitter Ghost’s’ Tangkou is called ’Boatmen.’ While ’boatmen’ often refers to ferrymen on great rivers, it encompasses all who make a living off the water—ferrymen, tugmen, fishermen, etc."
"Where great rivers flow, many cliff faces appear, and suspended coffins are often found on those cliffs."
"Legend has it, Bitter Ghost was born in a suspended coffin high on a cliff, hence its totem—a coffin."
Yun Ziliang concluded with, "These three Alien Ghost tattoo maps are known collectively as the Evil Demon Slayer Diagram—to slay waterborne demons, slay inherent ominous entities, and eliminate damned human monsters."
"I also have three other tattoo maps; let me tell you about them."
Zhou Xuan, having understood the first three maps, intended to explain the next three to Yun Ziliang.
Unexpectedly, Yun Ziliang raised his hand, saying, "Save the other three for later," before removing his cloth shoe from his right foot and storming towards Sister Cui’s doorstep...
The young man reclined on his donkey, wandering casually through the street. Every time he passed a shop, he glanced inside to check if the East Mountain Fox Lady was there.
Starting at the eastern end, he wandered as far as Zhou Xuan’s shop, and then to Sister Cui’s small food stall.
At this moment, Sister Cui and Mu Hua were busy working; during a break between boiling noodles, she noticed the young man lying backward on his donkey, feeling immediately suspicious. When their eyes met, her unease only grew, prompting her to hurriedly lower her head.
But the young man rolled off the donkey and strode towards the noodle stall.
"Boss lady..." The young man began to speak to Sister Cui, only to hear a sudden "Smack!" followed by his head ringing painfully. Instinctively clutching the back of his head, he turned around.
He saw an old man clutching a shoe sole.
"Smack!" Yun Ziliang struck the young man’s forehead with another shoe sole, cursing as he hit: "Elder? Can’t even recognize your ancestor!"
The young man, aggrieved, studied him carefully.
"Still can’t recognize me?"
Another strike with the shoe sole.
"You are... sensing... Grandpa Yun of Hidden Dragon Mountain?"
"Figured it out? Aren’t you going to kneel? Or should I keep hitting you?"
Yun Ziliang landed three more blows with the shoe sole.
"Zhao Wuya, Dragon Seeking Taoist of Zhaojiao, pays respect to Grandpa Yun of Hidden Dragon Mountain..."
Zhao Wuya dropped to one knee, bowing respectfully to Yun Ziliang.
Inside the shop, Sister Cui, hearing Zhao Wuya was a Dragon Seeking Taoist, couldn’t help shuddering.
Yun Ziliang lashed out with another blow of the shoe sole.
"Even after bowing, Grandpa Yun is still hitting me?"
"This time it’s for riding the donkey backward! So young, yet so pretentious. Next time, ride properly!"