Chapter 28: A Successful Deception

I did not write to Old Thief Yuan, but Old Ghost Ye was so moved he nearly shed tears. As the two drank, they grew increasingly close. Before long, they were lamenting the hardships of living as old bachelors raising their grandsons, and at the most emotional moments, they even held each other and wept.

Once the tears dried, the two old men hooked arms and insisted on becoming sworn brothers. Old Ghost Ye slurred, "Cat-Cat, go kill a chicken in the backyard and set up the altar. I am going to swear brotherhood with your Grandpa Yuan." He added, "Old brother, from now on, your grandson is my grandson, and mine is yours. If you can fix Ye Huan, I’ll be your grandson."

Old Thief Yuan was stunned. To defuse the awkwardness, he shouted, "Er-Gou, come over here and pour wine for your Grandpa Ghost."

Ye Huan and I turned black in the face simultaneously. Yet, those two old men failed to notice our embarrassment. Old Thief Yuan turned back and asked, "Why is your Ye Huan called Cat-Cat?"

"I named him that!" Old Ghost Ye gestured with his hands. "You wouldn't believe it, but when Ye Huan was born, he was only this long! He looked just like a kitten. Other kids would wolf down their food, terrified of missing a morsel, but he? He ate like a cat! He didn't eat as much in a whole meal as I do in a single bite."

"Isn't it said that a nickname has to suit the person? So I named him Cat-Cat. Doesn't your kid go by Er-Gou?"

"That's different!" Old Thief Yuan retorted. "Haven't you heard? When a dog has a litter, the first one is hard to keep alive. Only the second pup is sturdy. My brother named him Er-Gou so he’d be easier to raise."

The two old men’s tongues grew looser by the second. Opposite me, Ye Huan pulled out an arm-thick wooden club from somewhere and gestured at me with his chin. I immediately snatched the club and shot a sidelong glance at Old Thief Yuan. I felt like knocking him unconscious right then and there; if he kept talking, there was no telling what secrets he might spill.

While I was taking aim at Old Thief Yuan, it was Old Ghost Ye’s turn to speak: "Bear kids are just hard to raise. Look at him now, acting all quiet and reserved, but he was a terror as a child! Setting off firecrackers in people’s outhouses was the least of it, let me tell you..."

I silently handed the club to a livid Ye Huan. Ye Huan and I were grinding our teeth in frustration, but these two old men were no ordinary fools—if we botched a swing, we’d be the ones getting a beating. To make matters worse, they spoke so quickly that before we could prepare, the conversation would shift to the other.

We passed that club back and forth for an hour before the two old men finally drank themselves into a stupor. The next morning, when they woke up, the first thing they did was have a "hair of the dog," which led to them getting drunk all over again. Ye Huan and I served the two alcoholics for another day before they finally packed their bags and hit the road.

The Ye family’s belongings filled an entire cart, mostly wild game. I had no idea if these things were worth anything, but Old Ghost Ye insisted on bringing them along. Old Thief Yuan remarked that the Old Ghost was a frugal man; perhaps that’s just how it is when people get to a certain age.

The only thing from the Ye family that caught my eye was the white-furred fox Ye Huan was holding. The little creature looked like a snowball and was so affectionate that anyone would want to pick it up and pet it. However, the fox wouldn't let anyone else touch it; it only clung to Ye Huan. Looking at that fox, I realized that perhaps the fall of the Shang Dynasty couldn't be blamed entirely on King Zhou.

Before long, my attention shifted back to Old Thief Yuan. All along the way, I had been worried: if Old Thief Yuan couldn't handle Ye Huan’s baleful energy, and I had brought him into our home, wouldn't we be asking for trouble? I hadn't expected Old Thief Yuan to be so cunning. Once we arrived at Fengshui Street, he brought out several items scavenged from ancient tombs. The yin and baleful energy clinging to them were exceptionally heavy.

Old Thief Yuan handed the items to Ye Huan. "You handle these first. Let’s see how many days this can tide you over."

"Purifying!"

Why hadn't I thought of that? On Fengshui Street, there were people who specialized in "purifying"—they usually handled haunted houses where there were ghosts but no baleful energy. The people who could truly purge baleful energy operated in the antique market.

If you acquire antiques through conventional channels from knowledgeable dealers, you rarely make a fortune. There are only two ways to make a killing: "finding a leak" (discovering a hidden treasure) or "tomb raiding." If someone tells you they "found a leak" on a valuable item, don't believe them entirely; they are usually just bragging. There are no "chosen ones" on the antique street, so how could there be so many bargains for you to find?

Items from tomb raiding are usually tainted with baleful energy, which includes not just malevolent aura but also evil spirits and ghosts. If you don't "purify" the baleful energy, those antiques become lethal objects.

"Purifying" is a life-threatening line of work. Ordinary people charge low fees but can't handle the real deal, while the experts don't care for the job, and even if they do, their fees are terrifyingly high. With Ye Huan as a free vacuum cleaner, everything could be solved! Old Thief Yuan was clearly using Ye Huan to make money!

I wondered why he had been so enthusiastic.

Ye Huan put down the antique and said, "Thank you, Grandpa Yuan. This baleful energy is enough to sustain me for a year."

Old Ghost Ye’s face beamed. "Brother Yuan really has a way with things. I’ll work for you from now on—just tell me what needs to be done."

Old Thief Yuan sat down. "Little brother, working isn't the point. As long as I have wine, you’ll never have to drink gruel. But I have something I must say."

"Little brother, Ye Huan is grown now. Keeping him by your side like this isn't a solution; he needs to live his own life. Think back to when we finished our apprenticeship—didn't our fathers and masters feel the same reluctance? Who doesn't know that the path of the jianghu is a point of no return, and its people are desperate souls?"

"But this is what we learned, and this is how we earn our living. No matter how much they cared, they had to be hard-hearted and let us venture out into the world."

"Putting that aside, with Ye Huan’s constitution, his origins are likely no less significant than Yuan Zheng’s. I can help you find items filled with baleful energy, but that only treats the symptoms, not the root cause."

"Even if it’s just to keep Ye Huan alive, you have to let him go out into the world and seek his own destiny. Destiny isn't something that just drops from the sky while you sit at home; you have to go out and encounter it!"

Old Ghost Ye nodded repeatedly. "Where do you think Ye Huan’s destiny lies, brother?"

Old Thief Yuan replied, "Based on my observations, to cure Ye Huan’s constitution, he must learn the 'Eighteen Strikes of Ghost Fire.' Only by tempering his meridians with ghost fire can we fix the root cause. However..."

Old Thief Yuan’s tone shifted. "As far as I know, the only person in this world to have mastered this secret technique is Wei Ping, the head of the Soul Gate."

Old Ghost Ye nodded. "I’ve heard of that. But ever since the Taishan Alliance, Wei Ping has taken his men far from the jianghu. Where am I supposed to find him?"

Old Thief Yuan said, "Little brother, perhaps you didn't know—Wei Ping’s true identity is the 'White Banner' of the Thirteen Ghost Gates! His grandfather was a banner-bearer, and on his own back, he has the 'Soul-Guiding' and 'Soul-Severing' white banners tattooed."

"The Five Soul Banners come from the Thirteen Ghost Gates?" Old Ghost Ye was stunned, then slapped his forehead. "Right, right! Why didn't I think of that? The Five Soul Banners are indeed the White Banners!"

"Ye Huan, from this day forward, you go with Yuan Zheng. The two of you will search for the Thirteen Ghost Gates together!"