The Elder’s Grave (Part 1)
Before transmigrating, Gu Shi had watched his fair share of horror movies, but this was his first time seeing such a gloomy and terrifying scene from a horror film in person. Shaking with fear, he grabbed the sleeve of Ye Xunzang’s robe and stammered, “Senior, I think we should find another place to stay.”
The man followed his gaze, offering an explanation, “This is a custom of our village. Every household has them.”
Gu Shi asked, “What kind of custom is that?”
The man replied, “We have many elders in the family, so we prepare these for them in advance.”
This custom existed in modern times as well. As long as Gu Shi could remember, his hometown had two coffins placed in a very inconspicuous corner, covered with black cloth. Unless you looked closely, you would not notice them; they were prepared by his grandparents for themselves. Once it was explained, much of the fear in Gu Shi’s heart dissipated. Furthermore, since the situation outside was unknown, he decided to stay.
“Who is it?” A woman in her fifties walked out of the house. Her back was slightly curved, her hair was completely gray, and her belly was heavily rounded, appearing close to full term.
When the woman saw Ye Xunzang, she visibly stepped back two paces, her face showing a look of dread. As if he had not noticed, the man said to Gu Shi, “This is my wife.” Then, turning to the woman, he instructed, “They are travelers passing by and looking for a place to stay. Go wake up those little rascals in the east room and clear out some space.”
The woman kept staring at Ye Xunzang, and Ye Xunzang looked back at her. “What are you looking at?”
“Your face… what happened to it?” the woman asked tremblingly, as if trying to use this to judge whether this ferocious-looking entity was human or a ghost.
Fearing she would ask more questions, Gu Shi quickly intervened, “It is a burn injury.”
The man urged, “Why are you asking so much? Go on.”
Only then did the woman walk over to the east room, standing at the doorway and calling inside, “Eldest, Second, call your younger brothers and come out quickly.”
As soon as she finished speaking, a voice from inside answered, “Coming.”
Before long, four half-grown children emerged from the room. They did not look very energetic and were yawning continuously, but the moment they opened the door, they were startled by Ye Xunzang. “What kind of monster are you?”
Fearing that Ye Xunzang might get angry, Gu Shi quickly grabbed his arm. However, Ye Xunzang showed no reaction at all, simply asking, “Can we sleep now?”
“Yes, right in this room,” the man replied to him, then added a warning, “It is fine for you to stay here, but according to the village rules, the doors can only be opened when the sky turns bright. At night, no matter what you hear, you must not come out, and you certainly must not be curious. If you break the rules, you will have no choice but to stay here forever.”
“We understand. We will not cause any trouble,” Gu Shi acknowledged, pulling Ye Xunzang into the room. The room was not large, and the furnishings were simple: a large heated brick bed, a large cabinet, and various sundries piled in the corner. There was no lamp lit, so it was impossible to see what they were.
As Gu Shi closed the door, he heard the man telling the kids, “You lot go sleep in the incense room.” Then, turning to his wife, he said, “Go back to sleep.” There was nothing out of the ordinary; soon the courtyard was empty, quiet save for the sound of the wind blowing past.
Gu Shi turned and walked back into the room, looking at Ye Xunzang. “Senior, are we going to sleep now?”
Ye Xunzang stood in front of the large bed without answering his question, simply telling him, “Change the bedding.”
“Oh, right.”
Gu Shi walked over, pulled off the bedding on the bed, which was so filthy its original color was unrecognizable, and tossed it into the corner. He then took out clean bedding from his storage bag and spread it out. Wen Qingtang had specially scented it with herbs, leaving a faint floral fragrance.
The bedding only covered half of the large bed; the other half remained bare wooden planks.
Ye Xunzang took off his outer robe and lay down on the bed. Gu Shi debated whether he should sleep with Ye Xunzang or lay down another set of bedding nearby. Over the past three days at the sect, the two of them had slept in separate beds, and Gu Shi was not sure what Ye Xunzang’s preference was. After waiting a short while and seeing no indication that Ye Xunzang was going to call for him, he decided to lay out his own bedding on the side.
Gu Shi moved very slowly, but until he finished making his bed, Ye Xunzang still had not spoken. Gu Shi pressed his lips together, kept his clothes on, and lay down.
This was an earthen house, and the walls were drafty on all sides. The wind drilled in through thumb-sized gaps, making a whimpering sound.
Every time Gu Shi closed his eyes, he saw those rows of crimson coffins in the main hall. It had not even been a year since his transmigration, and now that he had lost his cultivation as well, he was still somewhat frightened. Secretly, he inched closer to Ye Xunzang’s side, but the moment he moved, the old wooden bed creaked loudly. Gu Shi did not dare move further; he simply turned his head to stare in Ye Xunzang’s direction, but Ye Xunzang was hidden in the darkness, and nothing could be seen.
Panic crept into Gu Shi’s heart, and finally, unable to hold back anymore, he whispered, “Senior, it is too dark. Let me take out a night-pearl to provide some light.”
When his words fell, the room lapsed back into a dead silence, making Gu Shi even more panicked. Could the senior have gone out to look for the Karmic Flame? The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed. Gu Shi hurriedly got out of bed and walked over toward Ye Xunzang’s side. Still unable to see anyone by the bed because it was far too dark, he called out once more, “Senior?”
Ye Xunzang’s voice rang out from the darkness, “What is it?”
Hearing his voice, the boulder in Gu Shi’s chest finally settled. He rushed to say, “Nothing, nothing. I was just worried, so I came over to check.”
Ye Xunzang’s voice carried heavy drowsiness, “What do you have to worry about?”
Embarrassed to admit that he was scared, Gu Shi fished for an excuse, “I think this place is extremely bizarre, Senior. Neither of us has any cultivation left right now, so if anything happens, we will not be able to handle it. Let me keep watch by the bed while you sleep tonight.”
Ye Xunzang refused flatly, “No need.”
For the first time, Gu Shi disobeyed him and sat straight down by the edge of the bed, “Senior, I will just keep watch.”
The room fell silent for a moment before Ye Xunzang’s voice sounded again, “As you like.”
Gu Shi leaned against the wall. The wind blew in through the gaps, sending a chill down his spine. He shifted his posture to lean against the wooden bed frame instead, but doing so meant he was turning his back to Ye Xunzang with the deep darkness ahead of him. He changed positions again to face the bed, but that left the darkness at his back and Ye Xunzang, whom he could not see clearly, in front.
The aftereffects of watching too many horror movies fully manifested at this moment. Gu Shi was terrified no matter what, and finally, unable to endure it any longer, he softly called out, “Senior?”
As expected, Ye Xunzang did not respond; he must have fallen fast asleep. Emboldened, Gu Shi tiptoed and stealthily slipped into the bedding. The bedding was very warm, resting lightly over the back of his hand like a feather. Remembering what he was about to do, Gu Shi no longer felt scared; he only felt the nervous flutter of someone about to be caught.
Fumbling around under the covers for a moment, he brushed against a warm arm. Following the rugged, burn-scarred arm downward, he grasped that scorching hand.
Gu Shi swallowed hard and said in a voice so low only he could hear, “Senior, I am genuinely a bit scared. I am just holding your hand, I swear I do not have any bad intentions.”
With those words spoken, Gu Shi’s intensely anxious heart settled just a fraction. He then opened his fingers and interlocked them with Ye Xunzang’s.
“What are you afraid of?”
Ye Xunzang’s voice rang out abruptly, giving Gu Shi a fright. Not daring to act presumptuously anymore, he quickly let go of him and blurted out, “I am sorry, Senior. I just… a bit afraid of the dark.”
Gu Shi’s voice grew smaller and smaller as he spoke, his head lowered in guilt. If it were not for him, Senior would not have come here to take risks, yet here he was being so useless, just thinking about it made him want to slap himself twice.
Ye Xunzang sounded doubtful, “Afraid of the dark?”
Gu Shi pressed his forehead against the wooden bed frame, “I am sorry.” Guilt had bred courage, and at this very moment, he actually felt that even if the coffins outside were full of ghosts, there was nothing to be scared of anymore.
Ye Xunzang said, “I thought you were afraid of me.”
Gu Shi was very surprised; he could not understand why Ye Xunzang would say that. “Did I do something to give Senior the wrong idea?”
Ye Xunzang continued, “You kept hiding from me back at the Yuandao Sect.”
Gu Shi was shocked. He quickly explained, “I was not hiding from you. At first, I was running around asking for stories, and later I was busy packing luggage for our trip outside.”
Ye Xunzang added, “You never sleep with me at night.”
Gu Shi opened his mouth, remaining silent for a good moment before answering dryly, “You did not call for me, and I did not dare.”
Ye Xunzang asked him, “Why did you not dare?”
Gu Shi was somewhat bewildered. How was he supposed to explain this? To this day, he still did not know what kind of relationship they had; how could he possibly dare to crawl into someone’s bed?
“I was afraid of annoying Senior.”
“Oh, well, I am not annoyed yet.”
Ye Xunzang’s tone was as languid as ever, leaving Gu Shi feeling rather unassured. Not annoyed yet did not mean he would never be annoyed, right? What if he got annoyed one day?
He probed cautiously, “Then… can I sleep with Senior tonight?”
“Mn.”
The moment the word fell, Gu Shi flipped open the quilt and hopped onto the bed. The bedding had already absorbed Ye Xunzang’s body temperature, and the floral fragrance was rich. Only then did Gu Shi’s heart settle completely and thoroughly.
As usual, Ye Xunzang leaned against Gu Shi’s chest. With that heavy yet reassuring weight against his chest, Gu Shi asked softly, “Senior, did you sense the Karmic Flame?”
Ye Xunzang answered, “Mn.”
That light, breezy single syllable hooked Gu Shi’s curiosity right back up. “Where is it?”
Ye Xunzang yawned, “I do not know. Around here somewhere, I suppose.”
Gu Shi asked again, “Shall we go look for it tomorrow?”
Ye Xunzang said, “No, we will not look. We will wait for it to show up on its own.”
Gu Shi was dumbfounded, “That is going to take until when?”
Ye Xunzang replied, “Who knows? We will just wait slowly. This place is quite fun.”
Gu Shi did not understand what was fun about this place, though on second thought, since Ye Xunzang had never watched a horror movie, to him, this place was probably just like watching one.
“Do you not feel scared?”
Ye Xunzang answered, “I do not know what fear is.”
Gu Shi fell silent. Right. With someone as overwhelmingly powerful as him, not knowing what fear is makes total sense.
“So we are just going to keep living here?”
Ye Xunzang replied, “That works too.”
Gu Shi did not speak anymore. This kind of situation was something Gu Yan had already anticipated, and their cover story was already prepared, so it would not be too hard to deal with.
“Let us talk about it tomorrow.”
Ye Xunzang yawned again, sounding extremely sleepy. “Can we sleep now?”
Subconsciously, Gu Shi began lightly patting his back, his voice softening as well, “Sleep.”
Soon, Gu Shi felt Ye Xunzang’s breathing steady out; he had fallen asleep. Only then did Gu Shi stop patting his back, though his hand remained resting on it. The skin on Ye Xunzang’s back was uneven as well, feeling like a rugged mountain road.
Gu Shi’s mind raced with countless thoughts until the latter half of the night, when he finally drifted off into a hazy sleep. He slept so deeply that he did not even wake up when a strange noise echoed through the courtyard just before dawn. It was not until a hurried voice rang out, “Oldest, your old man is dead,” that Gu Shi snapped awake with a start.