Chapter 147: Passing Through

Lü Dongbin’s wife was named Wei Sangzi. She was from the same hometown as Lü Dongbin and they grew up as neighbors, making them childhood sweethearts. Her family tree could even be traced back to the royal family of the State of Wei during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, rendering her of distinguished lineage. However, after thousands of years, such ancient prominence had long since turned to dust.

Regarding this, Chen Jin had no particular comment. After all, the body Chen Jin currently occupied belonged to a descendant of Celestial Master Zhang, so everyone possessed some background regarding their bloodline. If people traced their ancestry back far enough, everyone could trace their lineage all the way back to the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.

Thus, the past did not matter; the only things that mattered were the present and oneself. Wei Sangzi’s current status was extraordinary. The title of Lü Dongbin’s wife was definitely something that drew people's attention—though Chen Jin certainly would not harbor any improper thoughts about her.

However, the name of Lü Dongbin’s wife, Wei Sangzi, had not been passed down through the ages alongside Lü Dongbin. Later generations merely knew that Lü Dongbin had a wife, yet her name was unrecorded in history. Furthermore, some people even mistakenly attributed the title of Lü Dongbin’s wife to other female immortals, such as Immortal He or White Peony, though these female immortals were most likely just close confidantes.

"Greetings, sister-in-law," Chen Jin said, cupping his hands in a salute toward Lü Dongbin's wife.

"Hello," Wei Sangzi replied, lying on the bed with a gentle nod and smile.

As for words of gratitude, they had already been expressed previously, so they were omitted here.

Now came the time for questioning—to interrogate this couple and uncover the reason behind Wei Sangzi’s current condition.

Lü Dongbin spoke first: "We first went to Shangdu (Chang'an), then crossed the Qinling Mountains, passed the Han River, traversed the thousand-li Bashan Mountains, traveled south down the Ba River with the current to Yuzhou, and finally journeyed west to this region of Shu."

Lü Dongbin summarized the situation to Chen Jin very concisely—so concisely, in fact, that Chen Jin was forced to prompt him further: "Did you encounter any strange occurrences along the way?"

To be honest, their route was exceptionally long, spanning at least one to two thousand kilometers. Lü Dongbin was both literary and martial, so such arduous travel only invigorated him; yet Wei Sangzi, who appeared to have at most a rudimentary grasp of martial arts and whose physical constitution was merely slightly better than an ordinary person's, managed to endure it all. How she survived the journey was nothing short of a miracle.

"Strange occurrences? There were quite a few," Lü Dongbin said, appearing to ponder.

" Oh? What were they?" Chen Jin immediately asked.

If there were strange occurrences, things would be easier to handle—though there was also a difficult aspect, which was that there were too many strange events, making it impossible to discern which one might be related to this matter.

"When we arrived in Shangdu, we encountered a murder case right inside the inn where we were staying. The victim died a miserable death, and everyone felt it was the work of ghosts..."

***

"It should be unrelated. The baleful Qi of ghosts differs greatly from the Yin-sha primordial energy on my sister-in-law," Chen Jin directly interrupted Lü Dongbin's first description.

Moreover, the inn Lü Dongbin mentioned was vastly different from the post station they were currently staying in. Post stations were established by the imperial court, and the staff inside were government officials, whereas inns were privately operated.

"Mm, and then we headed into the Qinling Mountains. On the mountains, we encountered a ferocious tiger accompanied by ghost servitors (*chang gui*). Fortunately, an iron-eater (panda) rushed out from the dense forest and fought with the tiger, allowing us to narrowly escape the tiger's pouncing. On the way, I killed a few ghost servitors. I wonder if these ghost servitors could practice curses?" Lü Dongbin asked.

"No," Chen Jin could only give such an answer. After all, those were merely ghost servitors—the lowest and most vile form of lingering spirits, driven by tigers. They probably lacked even basic discernment and independent thought; how could they possibly know any sorcery or curses?

"Among all those high-ranking cultivation masters you sought out, have you ever offended any of them?" Chen Jin asked next.

After all, some "masters" were genuine experts, yet these experts often enjoyed teasing juniors and concealing their true identities. Therefore, Chen Jin thought to approach the matter from this angle. As for those bizarre occurrences, he would listen to them later, since anyone capable of casting curses or malevolent spells would certainly not reveal themselves so obviously.

"That we never did," Lü Dongbin shook his head. After all, they were not fraud-fighters; why would they expose someone just because they suspected the other party of being a fake? Having served as an official for several years, he was not so socially inept in human relations just because he had spent a few years studying cultivation.

"Did you show any disrespect when passing by shrines or temples?" Chen Jin asked again.

"Never," Lü Dongbin denied.

"Then let us continue talking about what you saw and heard along this journey," Chen Jin said helplessly, forced to return to the previous topic.

"Very well." Lü Dongbin looked at his wife and nodded.

"After descending from the Qinling Mountains, we arrived at the Han River. There were no strange occurrences on the Han River itself, except that we encountered a boatman. I can no longer remember what this boatman looked like. Although he ferried us across the river, his words were quite eccentric. I did not catch everything clearly at the time, only hearing snatches of mutterings and rambling..." Lü Dongbin recalled.

"What did he say?" Chen Jin asked.

"He spoke in the dialect of the Jing-Chu region, not the official court speech. However, I once had an old friend from the Jing-Chu area, so I could understand a bit of it," Lü Dongbin explained.

"'Mountain spirits and water monsters fill the boat...' After that, I couldn't quite hear clearly. Then there was another part I caught distinctly: 'Lonely ghosts and wandering spirits do not take the righteous path...' I only heard those two lines. It was very strange, but I simply assumed he was humming local mountain ballads," Lü Dongbin said with a hint of regret. "Could it be the work of this boatman?"

***

"The Jing-Chu region is rife with legends of witchcraft and poisons. Since that boatman could speak the Jing-Chu tongue, could it really have been his doing?" Lü Dongbin was currently terrified of his own shadow; as long as he had a single suspect, he would spare no effort in pushing the theory forward.

He was anxious, after all; it was his beloved wife of half a lifetime who had suffered this calamity.

"It's hard to be certain, but this boatman might possess some abilities. Were there others on that boat at the time?" Chen Jin asked.

Chen Jin's suspicion was that mountain spirits and water monsters, as mentioned by the boatman, were hiding aboard the vessel. As for Lü Dongbin's traveling party, Chen Jin had already inspected them with his spiritual sight and found no demons or ghosts—they were all normal people.

"There were five other people sharing the boat," Lü Dongbin recalled.

"Do you know where those five people went?" Chen Jin asked further.

"I do not... However, I happened to run into one of them in Yuzhou," Lü Dongbin said.

"You ran into him in Yuzhou?" Chen Jin felt as though a new continent was about to be discovered.

"He arrived in Yuzhou even earlier than we did. He must have taken the Han River to the Yangtze River and arrived first," Lü Dongbin said.

"You bumped into him in Yuzhou?" Chen Jin couldn't help but feel skeptical. After all, the probability of meeting someone you had only laid eyes on once before, thousands of li away, was even lower than winning the jackpot in a lottery.

Thus, Chen Jin had to harbor doubts, especially since the person before him was Lü Dongbin, not some wealthy young master or member of the imperial family.