Chapter 211 – Greeting Gift
It seemed that this little girl had a lot of secrets up her sleeve!
The old beggar man rolled his eyes, and suddenly fis.h.i.+ng a jade ring out of his pocket, he waved it in front of Dandan and asked, “Like it?”
Dandan blinked his big eyes, then nodded repeatedly.
The old beggar man laughed. “If you like it, then I’ll give it to you! All you have to do is; the next time there’s food, remember to save a bit for me!”
Dandan quickly rushed to him, and accepting the jade ring, he held it close to his chest. Then, glancing at the old beggar man, he eagerly ran to Hexi. “Mother, Mother, the spiritual energy in this jade ring is so abundant, it’s a very good item! If we were to sell it, it would certainly make a lot of crystals, so I’ll give this ring to you!”
Up until now, Dandan still remembered that Hexi continuously said that his eating habits were making her poor.
Therefore, whenever he now saw valuable things, he wanted to give them to her. If she were to then sell them, she would be able to buy food materials and cook delicious food.
Hexi took the jade ring, and without needing to use her Divine Sense to check, she could already feel through her hand that it was something valuable.
She couldn’t help but extend her hand and stroke Dandan’s head while praising him, “Dandan really is a good child.”
A corner of the old beggar man’s mouth twitched as he watched this scene from the side.
His Abundant Dragon Ring that everyone in the Mi Luo Continent would forcibly take if the chance occurred…these two guys didn’t know anything! They actually wanted to sell it; they were simply too ungrateful!
The old beggar man glared at them, and after grunting, he then continued to gnaw on the last roasted sheep leg in his hand.
Hmph, for the sake of…the food, he, Daoist Spiritual Master Xuan Qing, wouldn’t lower himself to the level of these two common people.
Finished devouring the sheep leg, the old beggar man gazed at Hexi, yet this time, his expression became somewhat grave. Unlike before, he now no longer had the mischievous and lecherous expression of a wretched old man.
“Baby Doll, you really don’t want to consider paying your respects to me as a Master?”
Hexi’s expression was indifferent as she replied, “I’m not interested in a person with an unknown origin and unclear objective. Who knows if you harbour evil intentions towards my safety? Moreover, if I pay my respects towards you as a Master, apart from cooking for you every day, what benefits do I get? This is a losing transaction that I don’t want to do!”
Hearing this, the old beggar man’s eyes flashed and he unexpectedly laughed, mysteriously saying, “What a joke! If you pay your respects to me, the Daoist Spiritual Master Xuan Qing, how could you not receive any benefits?”
“If you don’t believe me, I’ll give you a greeting gift!”
Finished speaking, the old beggar man’s left hand lightly waved, and suddenly, a gale erupted within the forest, while a plume of intense pressure abruptly filled the air.
****
Hexi still hadn’t figured out what that crazy old beggar man meant, when suddenly, she felt extremely dizzy; her body feeling as if it was being ripped apart.
When she returned to her senses, it was to discover that she was now in a strange place.
Before her eyes stood a closed stone door. The stone door was so tall, that even when Hexi looked up as far as she could stretch her neck, she was still only barely able to see the top of it.
Right above the stone door, there were three words scrawled in a blood red script; Sealed Dragon Domain.
Hexi was startled. Yet when she tried to figure out where this place was and turned around, it was only to find that there was a seemingly endless dark pa.s.sage behind her.
From a distance, it seemed as if it lead to the underworld.
As soon as the cowardly Dandan saw this, he immediately threw himself into Hexi’s arms, s.h.i.+vering as he said, “Mother, is this the gate of the underworld? I’m scared~~”
This little guy’s IQ wasn’t very high; but his memory was particularly good. Having heard ghost stories, he clearly remembered something like Yellow Springs[1], h.e.l.l, the gate of h.e.l.l, and Old Lady Meng’s soup[2]…unfortunately, his courage happened to be particularly small.
Hexi was also somewhat tense, as things seemed to have exceeded her expectations and control. What was that smelly old man up to?
Right at this moment, Hexi abruptly heard the old beggar man’s happy laugh in her mind, and he cheekily said, “Baby Doll, didn’t you say that if you pay respects towards me as a Master, you wouldn’t get any benefits? Here, I’ll give you the benefits now!”
[1]In ancient Chinese religion, the Underworld was called Yellow Springs(Huángquán 黄泉) — possibly a reference to the ubiquitous Yellow River. The Yellow Springs were not a ‘h.e.l.l’ where one suffers retribution, but rather a place where the souls of the departed were supposed to reside; the destination of the whitesoul (pò 魄).
[2]Meng Po is the Lady of Forgetfulness in Chinese mythology.
Meng Po serves in Diyu, the Chinese realm of the dead, in the 10th court. It is her task to ensure that souls who are ready to be reincarnated do not remember their previous life or their time in h.e.l.l. To this end, she collects herbs from various earthly ponds and streams to make her Five Flavoured Tea of Forgetfulness, which is then given to each soul to drink before they leave Diyu. The brew induces instant and permanent amnesia, and all memories of their other lives is lost. Having been purged of all previous sins and knowledge, the dead spirit is sent to be reborn in a new earthly incarnation, and the cycle begins again. Occasionally people are able to avoid drinking the brew, resulting in past life memories surfacing in children.