Chapter 32.4: The Dead Sinker’s Kneel

Li Zhuiyuan got to work, picking up bottles of Jianlibao from the bed one by one and placing them into the box.

Ah Li stood to the side, head lowered.

"This box is perfect for collecting them. Let’s work hard and fill it up as soon as we can, how does that sound?"

Ah Li lifted her head, looked at Li Zhuiyuan, then turned and picked up another bottle from the bed, placing it in the box.

Liu Yumei was used to this by now—days and nights of heartfelt persuasion from her had never been as effective as a single sentence from a boy.

"Xiaoyuan, don’t you want to go back?"

"No."

"This path isn’t an easy one."

"Yeah, but if it were easy, it wouldn’t be interesting."

After dinner, Li Zhuiyuan watched an episode of Ultraman Leo with Ah Li, then went alone to the terrace to complete his horse stance for the day.

Returning to his desk in the bedroom, he turned on the lamp, took out his notebook, and flipped to the first page—a plan he had written for today’s activities.

Rip—

He tore out the page, crumpled it into a ball, and tossed it into the wastebasket.

After today, Li Zhuiyuan realized that no matter how well-crafted a plan might be, at least half of it becomes useless the moment things start moving.

He picked up his pen and began listing today’s mistakes.

• When encountering a classic location like a graveyard, never rush in—always scout the perimeter first.

• Before performing walking the shade, anticipate any possible accidents in advance.

• Taking the roundabout path might be the only way to actually survive.

On the next page, Li Zhuiyuan documented the performance of various tools he had tested that day.

Lastly, when he got to the Yellow Talismans, he hesitated before writing:

Function of Yellow Talismans: Used to detect nearby unclean things; turns black if such a presence is near.

Just as he put down the pen, there was a knock on the door:

"Xiaoyuanhou, I'm going for a bath. Go wait in my bedroom."

"Okay, Taigong."

Li Zhuiyuan entered his great-grandfather’s room. Just like the first few days he had arrived, candles lined the tiled floor, and a very familiar array was drawn out again.

It was familiar because, while similar to previous iterations, this version of the array had subtle differences.

The Sutra of Golden Thread and Silken Spiral still lay open on the floor.

This meant that despite having drawn this array several times, Taigong still needed to copy it from the book each time.

Li Zhuiyuan picked up the book and flipped to the page on the Luck-Shifting Ritual, scanning it, then looked back down at the array on the floor.

"Huh?"

He blinked, thinking he was seeing things, checked the book again, and then carefully examined the array.

"This time… Taigong actually got it right?"

This should’ve been a good thing, but Li Zhuiyuan felt no joy.

Because when Taigong got it wrong, the array’s effects were manageable. But now that it was drawn correctly—who knew what might happen?

The most terrifying thing is always the unknown.

From Li Zhuiyuan’s perspective, he knew the reason Taigong was performing the Luck-Shifting Ritual: to transfer the dark, unclean aspects of his being so he could become a normal child again and live a regular life.

But that wasn’t what he wanted—he had already chosen this path.

And even if you ignored the danger of being overwhelmed by Taigong’s immense blessings, what would he do with them?

Taigong had lived a carefree life. If something went wrong in his final years because of this fortune transfer, what would be the point?

Northern Grandpa and Southern Grandpa had more than one grandchild each. But Taigong… only ever acknowledged him as his one true great-grandson.

Others lusted after this good fortune, but Li Zhuiyuan had no interest.

"Taigong, you should just enjoy your twilight years in peace."

He crouched down, grabbed the cinnabar box and a cloth, and wiped away a small northern corner of the array, then redrew it—this time turning the originally inward-facing angle outward. Previously, both the southern and northern corners had faced inward.

Though he hadn’t yet studied array books, he had copied and carved enough sigils on instruments recently to know that such a minor directional change could disrupt the array’s effectiveness.

Li Zhuiyuan nodded to himself: for such a large array, changing one small corner—Taigong probably wouldn’t notice.

"Xiaoyuan, Xiaoyuan!"

Runsheng’s voice called from downstairs.

"Coming!"

Li Zhuiyuan went downstairs and saw Runsheng fiddling with the TV antenna.

"Xiaoyuan, look at this—the TV’s got no signal!"

Li Zhuiyuan looked out at the darkening sky. "Looks like there’s a storm coming. Probably just bad reception. We're seeing Grandpa Shan tomorrow anyway—better get to bed early. If it’s still broken tomorrow, take it in for repairs while we’re out, and bring it back after."

"Uh, Xiaoyuan, do you still have money for that? I heard fixing TVs is expensive..."

If Runsheng had broken the TV, he definitely wouldn’t dare tell Taigong.

"It’s fine, Runsheng ge. If all goes well, we’ll have money tomorrow."

…

Li Sanjiang came out of the bath, wearing red boxer shorts, drying off with a towel as he entered the bedroom.

"Huh, where’d Xiaoyuanhou go?"

He tossed the towel to the floor and walked over to grab a cigarette.

But stepping onto the damp towel, he slipped.

Luckily, the old man was still spry—quick reflexes helped him twist mid-fall, using his left hand to break the impact. His knee took a bump, but he avoided a full-on crash.

As he got up, he noticed his reddened knee.

"Huh? Bleeding?"

He touched it. No wound. He brought his hand to his face.

Not blood—cinnabar.

Li Sanjiang looked down at the array. His knee had smeared a section of the southern quadrant.

He quickly pulled over the cinnabar box to fix it.

"Eh… what was here again?"

He’d drawn the array so many times that he’d started to get a feel for its symmetry, even if he still needed the book every time.

He looked across to the northern point.

"Oh, it’s an outward-facing corner."

Carefully, he reapplied the cinnabar in that orientation, clapped his hands clean, and nodded, satisfied.

He lit a cigarette, then all the candles on the floor.

Li Zhuiyuan returned.

"You little sparrow, I told you to wait—why’d you run off?"

"Heh, I'm here now, Taigong."

"Sit in the array, quick."

"Got it, Taigong."

Li Zhuiyuan sat in position, glancing deliberately at the northern point. Yep, the corner still faced outward.

Li Sanjiang sat down too. From his waistband, he pulled out a Yellow Talisman, lit it, and waved it around while muttering incantations.

Finally, he took a deep breath and prepared to slam the talisman onto the ground—this would send out a gust to snuff the candles and cause the ceiling light to short out briefly.

Silently, he counted: One, two, three!

With a slap—

Pa!

Darkness devoured everything.

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