Ita Era

Chapter 15 Peach Blossom Village (Thirteen)

The fifth time the ghost milk knocked on the door, it was practically banging on it, her entire palm striking the door, making the wooden door creak.

Sun Qi's voice came from inside the room: "Go out! She's looking for you! Go out!" Her voice was choked with sobs and her volume was barely contained.

A cracking sound rang out, and the door lock was opened for the sixth time. Sun Qi was pushed towards the Ghost Grandma, who grabbed Sun Qi's neck with both hands without any hesitation.

Zhao the Blind wondered, "Strange, why would they attack this girl? Could it be because she smells like Zhao Liu?"

Just as Sun Qi was about to die, the window by the door opened, and Zhao Liu leaped out of the window and ran towards the school to the south. Gui Nai flung Sun Qi away, and Sun Qi flew nearly ten meters before his body slammed into the canteen wall like a cannonball.

Blind Zhao immediately followed Ghost Milk. Ding Shi hesitated for a second, jumping up and down, before running towards the unconscious Sun Qi. He checked Sun Qi's breathing and heartbeat—damn! He was still alive. What to do? Damn kindness.

Ding Shi picked up Sun Qi, ran to the village chief's house, knocked on the door three times, and shouted, "Help!" before putting the boy down.

Without the villagers' help, Ding Shi wouldn't have known how to save Sun Qi.

The school was near the village chief's house. With a quick sprint, Ding Shi ran back to the school. He gracefully flipped over the wall with one hand and landed steadily, only to see a bell flying towards him. In a flash of inspiration, Ding Shi reached out his left hand and caught the bell in his palm.

Then he saw Ghost Milk lift up Blind Zhao and throw him out.

I wouldn't watch the Olympics without some kind of jinx.

Ding Shi threw the bell, which landed with a sound that attracted the attention of the Ghost Grandmother. Zhao the Blind, spitting blood, stood up and staggered about ten steps before collapsing onto the fallen Zhao Liu, asking, "What did she want from you, or what did she ask you?"

Zhao Liu had a large hole in his chest, and blood kept gushing from his mouth and nose. His left hand was gripping Zhao the Blind's ankle as if he wanted to speak.

Blind Zhao asked urgently, "What do you want to say?"

"They're here," Ding Shi said urgently.

The ghost milk had already approached Zhao the Blind Man by five meters. Upon hearing Ding Shi's voice, it immediately turned and floated towards Ding Shi. Ding Shi took out his bell, held it in his hand, and turned to run away.

Blind Zhao looked puzzled: "That's not right, this isn't right." Why does Ghost Milk attack everyone she sees? Is her obsession to kill a lot of people? That doesn't make sense.

Zhao the Blind Man had a sudden inspiration and shouted, "Take off your clothes!"

Ding Shi threw the bell at Zhao the Blind.

Zhao the Blind was shocked. A goalkeeper lunged at the bell, but he missed. The bell hit the ground with a sound and slid into the grass. Ghost Milk immediately turned and pounced on the bell. Zhao the Blind was injured and couldn't run fast, so he could only reach for the bell in the grass.

Seeing the ghost milk getting closer and closer, Zhao the Blind Man gritted his teeth and ran away, taking off his clothes as he ran. The ghost milk pounced into the bushes, paused for a few seconds, and then turned to look at Zhao the Blind Man who was closest to it.

Blind Zhao glanced back at Ghost Grandma and saw that she floated towards him unmoved by his clothes. He decisively began to take off his pants. But the pants weren't so easy to remove; he stepped on the hem and fell to the ground. Seeing that Blind Zhao was about to give up, Ding Shi found Blind Zhao's bell and threw it to the side. The sound of the bell lured Ghost Grandma away.

Seeing that Ding Shi was about to come over, Blind Zhao said, "Don't come any closer. Her obsession is probably related to clothes."

After saying that, Blind Zhao stripped himself naked, threw his clothes everywhere, and waited for Ghost Milk to make her move.

As he wished, he was still the living person closest to the Ghost Milk, so the Ghost Milk came after him.

"Something's not right." Zhao the Blind turned and ran, but why was he charging at people? Could it be that Ghost Grandma's obsession is with strong, muscular men? But why was she attacking Sun Qi?
Ding clapped his hands and shouted, "Shoes!"

Zhao the Blind Man threw his shoes aside, but Ghost Milk immediately stopped, floated to the shoes, bent down and looked inside.

Now Zhao the Blind Man understood everything. He said, "Her obsession is with thousand-layered insoles. Her son's birthday is in a few days, and according to local custom, she, as his mother, will make a pair of thousand-layered insoles." But then another question arose: why couldn't she find the insoles at home? Who would steal even insoles?

The ghost woman, confirming the insoles weren't hers, headed towards Ding Shi, a living person who had some. Ding Shi, prepared, grabbed an insole in each hand and tossed them aside before casually walking towards the ghost woman. As expected, the ghost woman ignored him and floated towards the insoles. After confirming that no living person present had what she wanted, she began to wander aimlessly through the village. Ding Shi retrieved Zhao the Blind's clothes, and as Zhao the Blind put them on, Ding Shi asked, "Uncle Zhao, shouldn't we settle our bill?"

Zhao the Blind said slowly, "Don't rush, we haven't found the insoles yet. Come with me to her house now."

Ding Shi put a hand on Zhao the Blind's shoulder and said with a smile, "Uncle Zhao, we wanderers hate people who are faithless and unrighteous the most."

Zhao the Blind Man chuckled and said, “Little Ding, young man, don’t be so impetuous. Let me tell you, Third Sister is indeed sealed in a coffin, but the coffin isn’t below the Third Sister Temple, but inside the Third Sister Temple. The Third Sister Temple is built against the mountain, and Third Sister’s coffin is placed inside.”

Ding Shi: "Uncle Zhao, I'm not well-educated, you wouldn't lie to me, would you?"

Zhao the Blind Man raised two fingers: "If I lie to you, may I be reborn as an animal forever."

Ding Shi thought for a moment, then released Zhao the Blind's shoulder and said, "Everyone go back to your own home and find your own mother."

Zhao the Blind said, "Wait a minute, let's see this through to the end. In case she throws another tantrum, it's always safer to have someone look after her."

Ding Shi asked, "What are the benefits?"

Blind Zhao: "I'll share half of my good karma with you."

Ding Shi didn't eat the flatbread and asked, "Anything else?"

Zhao the Blind thought for a while and then said, "I'll teach you a move."

Ding Shi asked curiously, "What move?"

Blind Zhao: "I don't know either."

Seeing Ding Shi's disdain, Zhao the Blind explained, "The master who suppressed the Third Sister passed on a book on feng shui to my father to thank him for helping him build the White Cloud Temple. The last page is a talisman. You yourself said that the talisman must be made in one stroke, but neither my father nor I have that ability."

As Zhao the Blind spoke, he took something out of his bag—two pieces of glass sandwiching a talisman. Ding Shi stared at it for a long time, completely unable to decipher it, not even finding the tip or end of the talisman. Overall, it depicted four ditches flowing into a river. The four ditches were of different shapes; the only one he could guess was the one in the upper left corner, which resembled the character for fire in oracle bone script.

Ding Shi asked, "Why is there only one page?"

Zhao the Blind sighed, "But people found out about it. Someone reported me, saying I was promoting feudal superstition. Luckily, my family has been poor farmers for three generations. My father tore off the last page and hid it. He burned the book in front of everyone and then gave Master Baiyun a good scolding. That's how we escaped this disaster."

Ding Shi put away the talisman paper and glass, and said, "Let's go, let's get this done quickly."

But things didn't go as planned. When passing by the village chief's house, Ding was grabbed by the village chief: "Little Ding, come here for a moment."

Ding Shi gestured for Zhao the Blind to wait a moment, then jogged into the village chief's yard. Ding Shi said, "Village chief, I still have some things to take care of here."

The village chief pretended not to hear. He put on a coat, glanced at Sun Qi lying on the floor, and said to Ding Shi, "This girl is dying. You need to get her to Dr. Qian's house as soon as possible." Dr. Qian was a barefoot doctor in Taoyuan Village, a woman in her fifties, who lived about a mile away.

New task: Deliver Sun Qi to Dr. Qian's house within 10 minutes.

Alright! Ding Shi hoisted Sun Qi onto his shoulder and went out, saying to Blind Zhao, "Wait for me, I need to save someone first."

Blind Zhao objected, saying, "Saving people is not as important as helping that thing. Helping it once is equivalent to saving countless people."

Ding Shi pushed Zhao the Blind aside, saying, "I'll go get the Seven-Tier Pagoda first, then I'll come back to you to share the Yin Virtue. Wait for me." He wasn't particularly interested in Yin Virtue itself, but he was interested in information about it. If Zhao the Blind took all the Yin Virtue by himself, he would have to tell him what Yin Virtue was.

Sure enough, seeing that Ding Shi had disappeared, Zhao the Blind hesitated for a moment, then stamped his foot and went alone to the Ghost Grandmother's house.

(End of this chapter)