Qingzhu Village.
Chen Jiuyang's ancestors for eighteen generations were fortune-tellers. They revealed too many secrets, leading to difficult childbirths for their descendants. Later, an ancestor, to prevent the Chen family from dying out, left a secret art: the Chen family would only have daughters, with women taking charge and marrying sons-in-law into the family.
This was the practice for hundreds of years.
However, by Chen Jiuyang's generation, a huge change occurred. When Chen Jiuyang's mother, Zhang Xiuzhen, was pregnant with him, Chen Jiuyang's father, Chen Jianmin, calculated that Chen Jiuyang would be a male infant and that Chen Jiuyang would be unable to be born. This was Heaven's will to end the Chen family line!
His mother was supposed to die in childbirth at the hour of Zi (11 PM-1 AM), but she stubbornly held on until the hour of Chen (7 AM-9 AM) when the sun appeared. Only then did Chen Jiuyang's mother exhale her last breath and pass away. Chen Jiuyang's father performed a cesarean section and brought Chen Jiuyang out. Heaven intended for the Chen family to have no heirs, but his father and mother defied Heaven, forcibly bringing Chen Jiuyang into the world to live.
Chen Jiuyang was a child born against the natural order, someone who should not have survived. Chen Jiuyang's original name was Chen Chenyang, but Chen Jianmin calculated that this name would cause him to not live past three years old, so he changed Chen Chenyang's name to Chen Jiuyang.
Because he was born against the natural order, Chen Jiuyang was disliked by those around him from a young age. Furthermore, as Chen Jiuyang was born defying Heaven, Heaven afflicted him with constant bad luck.
From kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, to high school, Chen Jiuyang either suffered from high fevers or was inexplicably hit by objects. Sometimes, cats, dogs, snakes, or birds would attack him on the roadside. The most severe incident resulted in a three-month hospitalization.
From the moment Chen Jiuyang was born, his father contracted a strange illness. Every night at the hour of Zi, he would cry out in agonizing screams, yet his body was completely immobile, forcing him to endure it.
When Chen Jiuyang was young, he didn't understand why his father had this strange illness. It wasn't until Chen Jiuyang grew a little older that he understood. His parents had defied fate to change his destiny, and this was their punishment.
Every night, recalling his father's pained appearance, Chen Jiuyang felt heartache. By the time Chen Jiuyang was nearing eighteen, his father, in his early forties, had hair as white as snow, a shriveled body, and a withered face, appearing like an eighty or ninety-year-old man.
Paper figures, a coffin, and burning candles were set up in the house, with his father's black and white photograph hanging, giving the clear impression of an impending mourning period. Chen Jiuyang was enveloped by grief, understanding that his father was about to make his final arrangements.
"Jiuyang, do you know what day it is tomorrow?"
"The first day of the first lunar month, New Year's Day."
Chen Jianmin showed a brilliant smile. "Finally, I've made it through."
"Dad, I don't understand."
"I've endured the sixty-year cycle of Jiazi. In the Jiazi year, Yin and Yang connect, all things return to their origin, and new life is created!"
Chen Jianmin held Chen Jiuyang's hand, his voice filled with complex emotion. "Jiuyang, Dad is going to leave."
Hearing this, Chen Jiuyang could no longer suppress his grief, and tears streamed down his face.
"Before I go, there are three things I need to tell you."
"The first is, after I pass away tonight, you will carry my coffin up the mountain tomorrow at the hour of Chen and bury me. You must set up the mourning hall at home for seven full days. Many people will come. You are not allowed to host a feast, accept gifts, or let them kowtow and bow before my mourning tablet. If anyone comes, you must kneel and hold their hand, saying thank you."
"Your mother and I defied fate to change our destiny, and we cannot accept such things. If anyone breaks this rule, great disaster will befall you. Do you understand?"
Chen Jiuyang's eyes were filled with tears. How could Chen Jiuyang not understand that everything his father was doing was for him, to allow him to live?
"The second thing is, my grave will be on the mountainside opposite the house. After you bury me with my coffin tomorrow, use the Yan Sheng Saber hidden on the eaves to smash my tombstone. This way, the original curse of the Chen family's fate will be broken, and a sliver of hope for new life can be recreated."
"The third thing is, you were born a pure Yin male infant at the Yin hour and Yin time. However, your mother and I forcibly changed your birth to the Yang hour and Yang time. You must marry a woman born at the Yang hour and Yang time, preferably surnamed Yao. Otherwise, you will not live past twenty-four years old, nor will you be able to have offspring, rendering all my and your mother's efforts in vain. Do you understand?"
"Dad, I understand."
"After I die, if anyone asks for your help, that person must be a woman surnamed Lin."
"You were born a pure Yin male infant. For these years, your soul has been suppressed by me and the Yan Sheng Saber. Once I am gone, you will inevitably encounter those ghostly and malevolent entities. You must carry the Yan Sheng Saber with you at all times. But remember, in your life, before your soul is severed, you must understand the reason for it. Only slay evil spirits. Remember this, remember this. Go out now. Before the hour of Zi arrives, you must not enter the house. Before the hour of Chen arrives, you must not take out the Yan Sheng Saber from the eaves."
Having said this, Chen Jianmin drove Chen Jiuyang out of the house, telling him to wait outside. Somehow, Chen Jiuyang fell asleep. It wasn't until midnight that a commotion inside the house woke him. Chen Jiuyang hurried to the door and saw.
The Yan Sheng Saber hanging from the eaves was trembling.
Inside the house, his father, at some point, had lain down in the coffin. He slowly sat up from the coffin, his body pale and stiff, beckoning to Chen Jiuyang. "Jiuyang, come in and chat with Dad."
"Boom!"
The two large red candles in the house suddenly blazed fiercely.
The circle of glutinous rice scattered around the coffin vibrated, turning slightly dark. Coupled with the frantic humming of the Yan Sheng Saber.
A talisman pasted on the door suddenly ignited. Chen Jiuyang was startled. He looked again, and the scene was no longer as it had been.
Chen Jianmin lay in the coffin, his head resting on yellow paper, his eyes tightly closed, his face ashen and stiff.
Chen Jiuyang came to his senses, his hands and feet instantly turning cold. His father was gone. Who was it that had sat up in the coffin and called him in for a chat just now?
Chen Jiuyang glanced at the slightly scorched and darkened raw glutinous rice on the ground, his scalp tingling.
He felt extremely uneasy.
The bizarre scene before him made Chen Jiuyang deeply unsettled. Was there something unclean in the house, or had his father's corpse become reanimated?
This glutinous rice and the arrangements in the mourning hall were all personally set up by his father. Could it be that his father had long anticipated such events after his passing?
Chen Jiuyang checked the time. It was exactly midnight. It was the first day of the first lunar month, the Lunar New Year. In other parts of Qingzhu Village, firecrackers and fireworks were being set off, making the place seem lively.
Suddenly, a gust of chilling wind blew through the mourning hall, raging fiercely, blowing outwards from the main door. After the chilling wind passed, the Yan Sheng Saber finally quieted down.
This made Chen Jiuyang shudder, confirming his earlier guess. There had been something unclean in the house just now, and the circle of glutinous rice on the ground was meant to prevent dirty things from approaching his father's corpse.
What happened next made Chen Jiuyang break out in a cold sweat.
On either side of the mourning hall, four paper figures were placed. Now, under the blow of the chilling wind, they seemed to come alive. They stood up and walked to the doorway, bending slightly, their faces bearing eerie smiles, as if welcoming guests.