On the old willow tree, the scholar ghost sulked silently.
Zhu Youcai—that was his name.
He had hanged himself here, his tongue sticking out a foot long, his face as purple as a pig's liver—an attractive sight, that would be strange.
"Little Eleven is not at all honest, using my name to say that this woman is ugly."
He thought to himself, "But come to think of it, although the woman is not bad looking, her heart is wicked. I wonder if Little Eleven can handle her?"
He was in a soul state, invisible and inaudible to these people.
Even though he had been hanged and had become a ghost, he could not leave this old tree and was therefore unable to notify Chen Shi's grandfather.
"The porcelain dolls the big sister mentioned should be a group of little ones that only appear at dusk, popping out of the bushes, chattering away."
Chen Shi recounted from memory, "Their voices are fast and dense, unclear what they are saying. If someone gets close, they'll burrow into the bushes, impossible to find. Once the person leaves, they'll come out again. When daylight comes, they disappear. The one big sister is looking for is them, right?"
He had indeed seen these porcelain dolls, often mingling with the little things, thus he was quite familiar with them.
The purple-clad woman and the men in flying fish attire nodded excitedly upon hearing this.
"Sir, this little thing... this young brother described it so clearly, the object must be nearby!"
The man named Fang He in flying fish attire said with a smile, "The rumors are indeed not false; there really is a True King's Tomb here! Those porcelain dolls turned into spirits from burial objects! If we could get our hands on these treasures..."
The purple-clad woman became angry, her almond-shaped eyes glaring fiercely at him.
Fang He felt a chill in his heart and hastily shut his mouth.
The purple-clad woman glanced at Chen Shi and realized that, still naive, the country boy was unaware of what a great tomb was or what it meant for things to become spirits, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
"Little brother, can you take us to where those porcelain dolls disappear to have a look?" the purple-clad woman asked softly.
Chen Shi looked troubled: "My grandfather is waiting for me at home for dinner..."
The purple-clad woman chuckled: "I have some delicious food here, made from spiritual beasts and exotic grasses, wouldn't it be tastier than the meals at home?"
She clapped her hands, and quickly someone presented some meat jerky.
After trying a piece of the meat jerky, which was indeed exceptionally delicious, Chen Shi agreed.
Following Chen Shi, the purple-clad woman asked, "Little brother, what is your name?"
Chen Shi replied honestly, "My name is Cheng Shi. The teacher who taught me to read said 'cheng' stands for sincerity and 'shi' for reality. The people in the village all call me Little Cheng Shi. I never tell lies!"
The others, upon hearing this, laughed to themselves: "Who has the surname Cheng? This country schoolteacher really has no learning."
Fang He's expression became serious, and he whispered to the purple-clad woman, "Sir, there's something odd about this child..."
The purple-clad woman, who had been intently observing Chen Shi's silhouette, nodded subtly, "I've noticed it too."
She spoke under her breath, looking intrigued, "It's unexpected that at such a young age, he's actually a cultivator."
Chen Shi in the front continued eating the meat jerky, his body emitting slight fluctuations of energy as True Qi circulated within him, surprisingly strong.
Behind him, a faintly glowing shrine made of light appeared and disappeared intermittently around his head!
The meat jerky, crafted from a variety of spiritual beasts and exotic grasses, contained potent spiritual energy. After Chen Shi consumed it, the spiritual energy was refined, involuntarily revealing his cultivation level.
"Qi Refinement Realm, Divine Embryo Realm!"
The purple-clad woman whispered, "He has formed the shrine; it must be that the True God has favored him, bestowing the Divine Embryo! If he were in the provincial city, he could participate in the village examination! A scholar in his early teens..."
She couldn't help but be astonished.
In the path of cultivation, there are five major stages—Qi Refinement, Divinity Transformation, Refining God, Returning Void, and Harmonization.
Among these, Qi Refinement is divided into four states—Qi Refinement, Foundation Establishment, the Shrine, and Divine Embryo. Reaching the Divine Embryo Realm is already an incredible feat, eligible to participate in the village exam and become a Scholar, acquiring fame and status.
Nowadays, both scholarly study and cultivation practice are pursued concurrently.
The scholars are cultivators; they can pursue truth, pass exams, and enter the court as officials.
Chen Shi, merely in his early teens, had already reached the Divine Embryo Realm, which even on a global scale, was incredibly rare!
Should he achieve official recognition, it would surely shock the world!
The purple-clad woman and her companions, from a prominent family of Xin Xiang Province, never expected to accidentally encounter such a prodigy in the countryside, and the shock in their hearts was palpable.
"No, this isn't right!"
The purple-clad woman saw Chen Shi's shrine suddenly become unstable, like smoke in the wind, possibly dissipating at any moment, and she quickly walked over to Chen Shi to take a closer look at his shrine.
Sure enough, the shrine behind Chen Shi's head was empty, without a Divine Embryo!
The purple-clad woman looked puzzled.
At this point, Chen Shi's shrine dispersed, and his True Qi also crumbled, returning him to an ordinary person.
The other men in flying fish attire also witnessed this scene, all showing expressions of surprise.
"With his skill at creating a shrine, he should have formed the Divine Embryo! Why is his shrine empty? And why did his cultivation suddenly disappear?" the purple-clad woman murmured.
Chen Shi's shrine was exceptionally stable, stronger even than some Divinity Transformation masters; he certainly had reached the Divine Embryo Realm. Yet his shrine was empty, and the shrine looked like it could collapse at any moment—a truly strange occurrence.
Fang He already understood and whispered with a wry smile, "Sir, coming from a prestigious family, you're unaware of the dangers of the martial world. The emergence of a cultivation prodigy in the countryside might not be a good thing but instead a calamity. If the offspring of powerful and influential families lack talent and cannot cultivate to the Divine Embryo Stage and achieve Scholar status, they would ask their family experts to find a genius without a strong background and strip away their Divine Embryo, transplanting it into themselves. This lad named Cheng Shi must have had exceptional talent and got discovered by powerful people, who harvested his Divine Embryo and transplanted it into their own offspring."
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