On the old willow tree, the scholar ghost remained sullen and silent.
His name was Zhu Youcai.
He had hanged himself here, tongue stretched out a full foot, face bloated and purple like a pig's liver. It would be strange if he looked pleasant.
"That Little Eleven is far from honest," he muttered in his heart. "Using my name to say that woman is ugly."
"But then again," he thought, "though that woman isn't ugly, her heart is malicious. I wonder if Little Ten can really handle her..."
He existed in a spiritual form; no one could see or hear him now.
Though he'd become a ghost, he was still bound to this old tree and could not leave to inform Chen Shi's grandfather.
"The porcelain dolls the lady spoke of should be those tiny fellows who appear only at dusk, crawling out of the grass and chattering in whispers."
Chen Shi recounted it all like he was counting precious possessions. "They speak very fast, so I can't understand what they're saying. If someone gets close, they vanish into the grass and can't be found no matter how you look. But as soon as people leave, they come back out. And by daybreak, they're gone. That's what the big sister is looking for, right?"
He had indeed seen these porcelain dolls many times and was on very friendly terms with them.
The woman in purple and the men in flying fish uniforms were visibly excited, nodding repeatedly.
"Milady, this little brat—I mean, this little brother—described it so clearly. It must mean the creatures are nearby!"
The man in the flying fish robe named Fang He grinned. "So the rumors were true! There really is a true king's tomb hidden here! Those porcelain dolls must be spirit-animated burial figurines! If we can obtain them…"
The woman in purple glared at him, her almond-shaped eyes wide in fury.
Fang He instantly shut his mouth, fear tightening his chest.
The woman glanced at Chen Shi again and saw only innocent confusion—clearly a country child who didn't understand what a "royal tomb" or "spirit creature" meant. She breathed a small sigh of relief.
"Little brother," she said gently, "can you take us to the place where the porcelain dolls vanish?"
Chen Shi looked troubled. "My grandpa's waiting at home for me to come back for dinner…"
The woman chuckled softly. "Big sister has some tasty food here. It's cooked with spirit beasts and rare herbs—not tastier than your family's cooking?"
She clapped her hands. Soon, someone brought over some jerky.
Chen Shi took a bite and found it incomparably delicious. He agreed.
As the group followed him, the woman in purple asked, "Little brother, what's your name?"
Chen Shi answered honestly, "My name is Cheng Shi. The teacher who taught me to read said it means 'honesty'—Cheng for sincerity, Shi for being real. Everyone in the village calls me Xiao Chengshi. I never tell lies!"
Everyone stifled their laughter. "What kind of surname is 'Cheng'? That village teacher must be completely unlearned."
Fang He's face grew serious as he walked up beside the purple-clad woman and whispered, "Milady, something's strange about this child…"
The woman's gaze was already fixed on Chen Shi's back. She narrowed her eyes and nodded slightly. "I've noticed it too."
Her expression turned thoughtful. "He's so young, yet he's already a cultivator."
Up ahead, Chen Shi was still chewing on the jerky. But inside his body, faint waves of qi circulated—it was true qi, and not weak at all.
Behind his head, a subtle glow emerged—misty and faint. A shrine made of light appeared, flickering in and out of existence!
The jerky was rich in spiritual energy from the beasts and herbs. As he digested it, the qi naturally circulated, and his cultivation revealed itself.
"Qi Refining Stage—Spirit Embryo Realm!"
The woman spoke softly. "He's already formed his divine shrine. He must have received the blessing of a true god and birthed a divine embryo! In the provincial capital, he could already participate in the prefectural exams… A child prodigy, a titled scholar at ten…"
She was genuinely shocked.
In the cultivation world, the major stages were: Qi Refining, Divine Transformation, Spirit Condensation, Void Return, and Dao Integration.
Qi Refining itself had four minor realms: Refinement, Foundation Establishment, Divine Shrine, and Spirit Embryo. Reaching Spirit Embryo Realm was impressive enough to take part in imperial exams and earn a scholarly title.
In this era, cultivation and academics were intertwined.
Scholars were cultivators—if one cultivated successfully, one could take the imperial exams and become an official.
Chen Shi, barely ten years old, had reached the Spirit Embryo Realm. He was a rare genius across the land!
If he passed the exams, he would shake the entire empire.
"Wait!"
The woman suddenly noticed that Chen Shi's shrine flickered violently like smoke in the wind, on the verge of collapsing. She hurried to his side and peered at the shrine behind his head.
It was empty—no spirit embryo inside!
Her face showed confusion.
Then the light behind Chen Shi's head vanished, the qi dispersed, and he became an ordinary child once more.
The other men in flying fish robes saw it too and exchanged puzzled looks.
"With a shrine that stable, he should have a spirit embryo. So why is it empty? And why did his cultivation vanish all at once?" the woman murmured.
Chen Shi's shrine was solid—more so than some experts at the Divine Transformation level. He must have entered the Spirit Embryo Realm already. Yet not only was there no embryo, the shrine itself collapsed. It was strange beyond belief.
Fang He chuckled softly. "Milady, you come from a noble house and don't know how treacherous the martial world can be. A talent like him appearing in the countryside is not a blessing, but a curse. Powerful families often seek out genius children like this, especially ones without background, and steal their spirit embryos for their own heirs."
"This boy Cheng Shi was likely targeted. His embryo was harvested and given to someone else."
The woman looked at Chen Shi's small back in shock. "But how can one survive without a spirit embryo?"
Fang He shook his head. "You can't, usually. Stealing a spirit embryo means cracking open the skull. The victim dies. I don't know how he's still alive."
Spirit embryo theft was common in the Ming Dynasty. But for Chen Shi to survive it—that was a miracle.
Fang He stepped forward and checked the back of Chen Shi's head. Sure enough, he found an old scar, three or four inches long, with a slight bulge beneath.
"Don't move, Cheng Shi."
He parted the boy's hair. The scar was a raw red line, thick as a thumb—like a red centipede clinging to his skull.
Chen Shi chewed his jerky, unfazed.
The woman saw the scar and gasped. His skull had been opened!
"To survive such a wound is nothing short of a miracle," she whispered.
Without a spirit embryo, all qi was rootless and ephemeral. Chen Shi's cultivation reappeared only because the jerky's spiritual energy briefly reignited his shrine—but without an embryo, it was all illusion.
Fang He fell behind, lowered his voice. "Milady, last year in Shuiniu County, Li Xiaoding, the son of Deputy Magistrate Li, stunned the world by becoming a top scholar in the exams. But he was rumored to be talentless and dull, with no divine blessing. Some say he stole a poor boy's embryo…"
The woman coughed. "Deputy Li may hold a small office, but the Li family is a powerful clan. Whatever method the young lord used is not our concern. This child... is pitiful."
Her eyes rested on Chen Shi.
She murmured to her men, "Give him a swift end later. Don't let him suffer."
Then she looked toward Huangpo Village and said softly, "And this village—wipe it out too. Bury them with the boy, so there are no loose ends. If anyone finds out the Zhao family discovered a true king's tomb but kept it secret, it would bring endless trouble. Once we locate the tomb, handle the cleanup thoroughly."
Fang He bowed. "Yes, Milady."
Chen Shi's face remained calm—but his ears twitched.
Though he had no spirit embryo, his hearing was extraordinary. Their whispering, though soft, didn't escape him.
"They mean to kill me and the village… So they're the culprits. As Master said, such evil must be uprooted—down to the last descendant."
"I can't beat them, that's for sure. Master says, 'Do not speak of ghosts and spirits unless you command them.' My power is not yet enough to subdue spirits… so I'll just borrow a knife to do it."
"Master's teachings really are the wisdom of life."
Admiration for his master welled up in his heart.
Chen Shi quietly slowed his pace, signaling the group to catch up.
They followed him until they reached the edge of the forested hills. There, a dozen or so tiny figures, each just over a foot tall, played by a mountain stream.
Their features were delicate and complete—green clothes, white porcelain skin—like miniature living people.
When they touched each other, they clinked like ceramic, revealing their true nature.
The porcelain dolls were laughing and playing in the stream, splashing water and chasing fish joyfully.
Their speech was strange—not human, full of gibberish and giggles—but they understood each other and laughed loudly and often.
The group crept up behind Chen Shi. When they saw this scene, they were elated.
"These must be the spirit-animated porcelain figures buried with the true king! If we follow them, we'll find the tomb!"
Chen Shi took one step forward, cracking a dry twig.
One doll noticed, looked around, and spotted him. It shrieked—sharp as a yellow oriole.
The others turned, scowled deeply, rolled up their sleeves, and charged at him with fury—as if they bore an old grudge.
But as they got closer, they saw the strangers behind Chen Shi and gasped. They dove into the tall grass near the stream.
From the grass came angry chatter—apparently, they were cursing Chen Shi for calling backup when he couldn't beat them alone.
Fang He and the others tore through the grass, chasing the porcelain dolls, but the forest was vast, dense, and unfamiliar.
The dolls were fast, darting through grass and trees, quickly eluding their pursuers.
Suddenly, the woman's eyes lit up. "Follow Cheng Shi!"
They realized that Chen Shi was running through the forest with ease, completely at home.
The dolls were hard to chase, but Chen Shi was easy to follow. So they all went after him, deeper into the woods.
The forest grew thicker. Sunlight became scarce.
They didn't know how far they'd gone when Chen Shi suddenly vanished.
When they caught up—trees were growing before their eyes! Massive, towering trees like pillars of the sky! Even the weeds were thick as trunks, the stones like hills, the stream a mighty river!
Then someone shouted, "It's not the world growing—it's us shrinking!"
Panic erupted. Everyone looked at each other. They had shrunk to less than a foot tall.
The woman looked at her own hand and trembled.
Then she knocked lightly on her arm—clink.
The sound of porcelain.
She nearly fainted.
She had become a porcelain doll!
Looking around, she saw that all her elite guards had also transformed.
"A ghostly domain! We've stepped into a ghost god's realm! Wait—Cheng Shi!"
She clutched at that last hope. "He's been here before. He must know how this works… Wait!"
Her face went pale.
"If he knew entering here would turn us into dolls, why did he lead us in? Is Cheng Shi… really as honest as he claims?"