Chapter 1076: Kowtow
Gao Yang, Qing Ling, and Wang Zikai enjoyed a scrumptious lunch. During the meal, Gao Yang chatted with his uncle more about his grandmother, but didn’t get any clues.
At two o’clock in the afternoon, his uncle took him to the graveyard in the mountain to visit their family. Since Qing Ling and Wang Zikai were close to Gao Yang and had met Gao Yang’s family, they decided to follow along as well.
Gao Yang’s uncle had changed into worn clothes and fetched a small basket from a small wooden shed beside the front yard, filled with incense sticks, joss paper, three bottles of liquor, leafy greens, and a machete.
Qing Ling glanced over, stiffening suddenly.
Noticing her alert, Gao Yang nudged Wang Zikai to distract his uncle while he fell back beside Qing Ling.
“What is it?” he asked in a low voice.
Qing Ling whispered back, “There’s something wrong with the machete.”
“In what way?”
“It’s made of Black Gold.” Qing Ling paused. “And there’s energy left in it.”
Gao Yang suppressed his shock. A few seconds later, he hurried over and interrupted his uncle’s enthusiastic chat with Wang Zikai.
“Uncle, I’ll carry this for you.” Gao Yang took the small basket naturally.
His uncle didn’t seem to suspect a thing. “Sure.”
Gao Yang studied the machete. Its long flat blade resembled a small shovel, dark gray and dirty. To anyone else, it would look like ordinary metal. But it was Black Gold.
“Uncle, why bring a machete to the graveyard?” Gao Yang asked casually.
His uncle chuckled. “The plants thrive in his season. The weeds will have drowned the tombs. I have to clean them up.”
“Oh, that so?”
“When your granny was staying with me, she also brought this machete when she visited your grandpa’s grave. Despite her age, she was hale and hearty…”
His uncle pratled on, bringing up whatever he recalled. The casual reminiscence, however, stirred up a storm in Gao Yang’s mind.
A blurry snippet of memory from a distant past flashed through Gao Yang’s head. He stared at the Black Gold machete, breaking into a cold sweat.
Qing Ling noticed and caught up with him, shooting him a questioning look.
Gao Yang glanced back. Later.
The tomb visit took half an hour. His uncle's stories flowed continuously as they paid respects to Gao Yang's grandfather, grandmother, and parents.
Finally, his uncle knelt before the grave where Gao Yang’s parents were buried together, placing burning incense sticks and pouring three cups of liquor to pay tribute to heaven, earth, and finally the deceased.
He waved around a bundle of joss paper he had ignited. “Brother, Sister-in-Law, Yang Yang and I have come to visit you.”
“Yang Yang’s doing well. He’s matured. He’s settled down with his girlfriend, and he has a reliable good friend. Don’t worry about him…”
“Xinxin’s doing well, too. She gets good grades. She has school today, so she couldn’t come…”
“You must give Yang Yang and Xinxin your blessings, wishing them a safe and peaceful life…”
He thought the young ones couldn't hear, but their keen senses caught every word. Standing amid the smell of grass carried by the breeze, the trio each looked in a different direction, silent with their thoughts.
After the visit, Gao Yang, Qing Ling, and Wang Zikai bid farewell to Gao Yang’s uncle. His uncle took his hand and nagged him about eating well and dressing warmly; Gao Yang nodded again and again, promising to take care of himself.
Once his uncle was out of their sight, they turned back and followed his uncle home stealthily, secreting the Black Gold machete out of the wooden shed in the front yard—it was as simple as Qing Ling waving a hand and calling the machete out of the shed in the front yard through the ajar window. She caught it and handed it to Gao Yang with a simple remark:
“Nice blade.”
Gao Yang turned it over and inspected it.
“Can you say it now?” Qing Ling's patience was wearing thin.
“Have I ever told you about my dream when I was little?” Gao Yang asked.
“What dream?” Wang Zikai hadn’t heard about it.
“Your dream of your grandmother killing your grandfather?” Qing Ling asked.
Gao Yang nodded. “Let’s walk and talk.”
“What?!” Wang Zikai shouted in surprise.
Gao Yang hurriedly covered his mouth. “Quiet.”
Wang Zikai lifted his hand and said in disbelief, “Your grandpa…your granny…”
“Well, that wasn’t actually my grandpa, but a lizardman in disguise.” Gao Yang sighed. “Come on. Let’s walk.”
As they headed back to the graveyard, Gao Yang recounted the dream he'd told Li Weiwei, modified to fit Wang Zikai's understanding of their world.
“I knew all that, but what are you trying to say?” Qing Ling asked.
“I saw Grandpa’s arm then…” Gao Yang paused. “The next day, his body was covered by a white cloth, and he was missing a forearm.”
Qing Ling’s eyes lit up. “Something to do with this machete?”
Gao Yang nodded darkly. “I remembered it the moment I saw the machete. I saw it that night. I forgot about it because I was too young, and I was scared.”
“Oh!” Wang Zikai connected the dots for once. “Your grandpa’s arm was chopped off by this machete!”
“Possibly.” Gao Yang stroked his chin. “This machete must have been my granny’s weapon. My grandpa was a summoner among the lizard people. When he discovered that I was the Divine Scion, Granny had no choice but to kill him, chopping his arm off with this machete. That was why he was missing an arm when I woke up the next day.”
Qing Ling took the machete from her. Her God of Blades and Metal were level 7 now. That gave her a keen affinity with Black Gold weapons. “There’s remnant energy in the blade.”
“Can you resonate with it?” Gao Yang asked.
She shook her head. “It’s not awakener’s energy. If I force a resonation, it may instead destroy the remnant.”
“I’ll keep it!” Wang Zikai seized the machete from her. “Or you’re gonna break it.”
Qing Ling rolled her eyes at him. “You’re trying too hard to prove your worth.”
“Bullshit! I’m always worthy!” Wang Zikai shot back. Her comment had hit a nerve. “It’s not yet my time to shine. You’ll see very soon!”
Gao Yang smiled wryly. He never expected them to bicker like this.
They returned to his grandfather’s tomb. Since his grandfather had died many years ago, his family managed to secure an auspicious burial site in terms of feng shui. On the other hand, it was also older, never renewed since the man’s death.
Gao Yang had been considering his uncle’s words on their way here. Granny stayed at Uncle’s place every year, most often during spring or summer. And she always brought the machete when she visited his tomb.
If she had had another goal, the first thing they should investigate was the tomb.
They looked around the tombstone. Qing Ling kept Metal activated to look for anything made of Black Gold, while Gao Yang used Sensory to look for suspicious lifeforms. Neither found anything.
“What do we do?” Qing Ling asked.
After a moment of silence, Gao Yang dropped to his knees and kotowed thrice to his grandfather’s tomb.
Then he rose to his feet, dusting himself and turning to Wang Zikai.
“What are you waiting for? Start digging!”
Houseau3's ThoughtsUghhhh I have a bad feeling about this.
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