Yang Tian wanted to step into the Dao path that Ye Chen cultivated after the battle with Northern Devil Jiang in Jiangbei. Back then, Ye Chen had believed that Yang Tian was still immature. He thought that leading him into cultivation would harm him instead.
However, he did not want to reject him, so he had given him an assignment, which was to ask Yang Tian to walk from Jiangbei to Northeastern Changbai Mountain and back. He prohibited Yang Tian from spending money to take any transportation or riding on planes throughout his journey.
The two-way journey was a total of 6,500 – 8,000 kilometers. It was impossible for a regular person to achieve that within three months. However, Yang Tian had agreed to that anyway.
Now, it seemed like it had been two months since he departed. If not for the call, Ye Chen would have forgotten about the assignment.
Now, Yang Tian was calling. Stunned, Ye Chen said in between tears and laughter, “It’s you! What happened? Where are you now?”
“I’m in Huludao now, but I’m dying!”
Ye Chen’s expression became serious. He asked after glancing at Su Yuhan and the rest before him, “What exactly happened? Take your time.”
“I can’t tell you the whole story within such a short period. I-I’ve offended a chumaxian family, and they did something to my body. They said it’ll kill me within seven days!” Fear filled Yang Tian’s voice. Whatever he had gone through for the past two months was enough to write a book named Journey to the West: Special Edition.
Ye Chen said in his deep voice, “Where exactly are you now? Also, whose phone are you using to call me?”
“I’m at a friend’s home. It’s her phone,” Yang Tian said while having the urge to cry, “Old Ye, you must save me. If not for you convincing me to go all the way to the northeast, I wouldn’t have offended a chumaxian[1] family. Also, Xiaohao is your godson. You can’t…”
“Calm down now,” Ye Chen took a deep breath in and comforted, “Send me your exact location. I’ll come over right away. Please remain in contact with me at all times.”
Yang Tian hung up the phone after revealing a location name.
“What happened?” Su Yuhan, who was standing aside, could not help but ask.
Ye Chen glanced at her and sighed softly. “Do you remember Yang Tian?”
Su Yuhan nodded lightly and said while smiling, “Of course. Wasn’t he the one who told everyone about us dating back in university? I remember you guys were pretty close back then.”
Ye Chen told her what happened to Yang Tian earlier and proceeded to say, “Now, Yang Tian is in Liaoning and he’s offended a chumaxian family. From his tone, it sounds like big trouble. I can’t leave him alone.”
“Alright,” Su Yuhan nodded and said in an understanding tone, “I know, it’s alright. You should go. I’ll go back to Tiannan with Mengmeng, and we’ll wait for you at home.”
“Yuhan, I’m sorry.” Ye Chen could not help but hold her little hands. He said while feeling a little guilty, “I promised that we’d get married in Tiannan after settling the matter at the Ghost Rider Sect, but I keep dragging it out.”
“You fool!” Su Yuhan was blushing as she could not get used to his sudden flirting. She said angrily, “It doesn’t matter whether we get married now or later. Go save Yang Tian now. Nothing should happen to him.”
“Daddy, I want to go with you,” the little Mengmeng wrapped her arms around his neck and said in a clingy manner.
“Be good, Mengmeng. You can’t go!” Su Yuhan said with a stern expression, “Daddy is going to save Uncle Yang Tian. He’s not going out to play. You’ll go back to see Grandpa and Grandma with Mommy, okay? Don’t you miss them? Don’t you want to be with me?”
The little girl fell into a pickle upon hearing that. “But Mengmeng wants to be with Daddy too.”
“Pftttt!”
Ye Chen could not help but snicker. He kissed her little cheek and said, “Listen to Mommy. Daddy won’t be bringing you along this time. Go with Mommy and wait for Daddy at home. I’ll bring you lots of delicious foods when I return.”
The little girl’s eyes lit up when she heard there would be food. She was so happy that she revealed her canine teeth. “Okay, Daddy. You promised that yourself. You must bring me tons of delicious foods!”
“Brother, I’ll go with you,” Ye Wushuang said.
“No need!” Ye Chen shook his head. “Wushuang, go back to Tiannan with your sister-in-law this time. Remember, your mission is to protect your sister-in-law and your little niece.”
Ye Wushuang hesitated, but he said yes eventually.
They returned to their accommodation. Ye Chen called Old Chen while Su Yuhan carried Mengmeng to lunch.
“Hey, kid. This is the first time you’re calling me.” Old Chen was rather surprised.
Ye Chen said directly, “Old Chen, do you know about chumaxian of the northeast?”
Silence filled the other side of the phone before Old Chen’s husky voice subsequently answered, “Why are you asking this all of a sudden?”
“A friend of mind has offended them,” Ye Chen said.
Old Chen hesitated and said, “Forget it. I know how you are. It’s dumb to be advising you because I can’t tell you everything over the phone. I’ll get my man to send a document to you via email.”
“Sure, thanks!” After Ye Chen hung up the call, he soon got an email. He opened it to find that it was a document about chumaxian.
The so-called chumaxian, as the name suggested in Mandarin, was a ritual of mediating for the immortals. Meanwhile, most immortals were made of animals which a certain level of attainment.
Such a ritual came from the northeast. Combined with the Maoshan Method in the south, they were called the Southern Mao Northern Horse. There were many mountains and dense jungle in the northeast while there were many old forests too. When a forest grew lush and deep, it was only natural for many wise creatures to be born in it.
Meanwhile, there were a couple of types of immortals, which were the fox, the weasel, the hedgehog, the snake, and the rat.
Those that were extraordinary were usually envied by the heavens, especially animals, as they would encounter many troubles on the path of cultivation such as accidents on the road and having a weak body.
As they cultivated to a certain level, to accumulate good karma or to boost their cultivation speed to avoid tribulation, they would go into the world to do good deeds such as healing, being a medium to communicate with the dead, exorcism, and so on.
The act of doing good deeds was called chuma. They called some of those deeds “incense on the head” and “pole-moving” in the north or “out of the shell”, “sitting” and “table placement” in the south.
As those immortals could not channel themselves through adults, they would usually choose children to be the incense child. Therefore, those children were also called chuma disciples.
After the chuma disciple set up the ritual hall, the immortal would get attached to their body, and use their bodies to do good.
There were basically four immortal families. The most popular ones among the families would be the Golden Flower Lord, the Silver Flower Lord, the Grandmaster of Heaven, the Great Lord of the Three Foxes, and the Great Lady of the Three Foxes. They were the chuma immortals that had conquered the world.
Ye Chen could not help but frown as he read to this point.
Theoretically, chumaxian was something that involved good, so how could Yang Tian have offended a family that practised goodness? And what about that so-called immortal that would kill him within seven days?