Chapter 2: Jade and Stone, the Giant Spirit Tribe!

  It's still early, and there aren't many tourists on Wenshu Temple Street. There are only a few vendors selling liangpi, lamian, and kebabs, pushing their carts to set up stalls. A few fair-skinned foreign tourists hold cameras and phones, snapping photos non-stop.

  At this time, Liqiu has passed, the weather turned cold, but Chen Daxing knew that it wouldn't be long before this place would be a scene of hot air steaming.

  "Huh? Isn't this Da Sheng Ge?" Just as they were walking to the Sister's Alley, a 18 or 19-year-old girl smiled and walked towards Chen Da Sheng, with a hint of puzzlement in her eyes.

  The girl had two big braids, not very tall, about 1.6 meters, with an average appearance, and her sleepy eyes looked really cunning. Chen Daxing knew her, a small follower under Chen Xiaoli, named Lu Qiaoer, with a low level of education, after finishing junior high school, she came to the city to find work, was recruited by Chen Xiaoli, and since then followed Chen Xiaoli as a fortune teller.

  "Qiao'er, is my sister in?" Chen Dashi walked over, his face looking somewhat embarrassed for some reason.

  Looking up at the sign of Sister's Alley, Chen Dabing felt more than once that this was more like the name of a brothel. Presumably many men had stepped into Sister's Alley for this reason and were then swindled by his dear sister.

  Lu Qiao'er nodded hastily and said, "He's here, he's here. A big boss just left, a big fat sheep. Little Li Jie was so happy she's gone crazy. She's in the Buddhist hall now. I'll take you there!"

  "Never mind, you go ahead, I'll find her myself!" Looking at Lu Qiao'er's excited appearance, Chen Dajun's forehead couldn't help but have a black line, what a good girl, and yet she was ruined by his own sister.

  "Oh!"

  Lu Qiao'er stuck out her tongue and ran off giggling.

  ——

  "Sister!"

  As he walked into the Buddhist hall, Chen Daxing saw that Chen Xiaoli was holding something in his hand and standing alone in front of the Buddha shrine with a silly smile.

  Upon hearing the shout, Chen Xiaoli's smile immediately disappeared, and he turned around abruptly, a hint of puzzlement flashing in his eyes. "Dai Sheng? How did you get here?"

  Chen Xiaoli is about 1.65 meters tall, a bit thin, but at first glance, he looks very sharp and capable, not handsome, but not ugly either, with straight eyebrows, short hair, flat chest, wearing a light blue tight-fitting outfit, dressed in a somewhat neutral style.

  "It's National Day, school is on holiday, I have nowhere to go, so I came to find you. What? You're not welcoming me?" Chen Dasheng flipped his eyelids and walked over casually, sitting down on the stool next to the donation box.

  "Huh?" Chen Xiaoli was somewhat taken aback, and then thought of Chen Daxing coming over, puzzled and said, "Didn't you usually make an appointment with Xiao Lan? How come this time you have free time to run to my place? Not like your style!"

  Xiao Lan was Chen Daxing's girlfriend of five years, whose full name is Li Lan. At this moment, when Chen Xiaoli mentioned it, Chen Daxing took a long deep breath and said, "Don't mention it, we broke up!"

  "Broken up?" Chen Xiaoli was surprised to hear this, and immediately leaned in front of Chen Dasheng, "How could you break up? Weren't the two of you always on good terms?"

  Chen Daxing let out a soft laugh, with a hint of helplessness and melancholy, "What else can I say? You think I'm poor, and if you follow me, we'll have a hard life ahead!"

  Chen Xiaoli's face twitched slightly upon hearing this, and after a while, she walked up to Chen Dajie, patted him on the back, and sat down beside him. "Don't blame your sister for being too talkative," she said. "The first time I saw that girl, I thought she was very vain. However, since you like her, I won't say anything more. Now that they've broken up, it's probably for the best. My brother is a good person, and in the future, she'll regret it. No money? That's laughable! With me around, how could we possibly lack money?"

  "Never mind, sis. I know you must have earned a lot of money, but I'm also grown up now and will be graduating in a year's time. I don't want to spend your money anymore!" Chen Dasheng turned his face to look at Chen Xiaoli, his eyes full of helplessness.

  Although he rarely met Chen Xiaoli, he knew that with Chen Xiaoli's ability to deceive and cheat, she could occupy such a large place in the heart of Chengdu city, where every inch of land is worth its weight in gold, and open a sister workshop, which must have made a lot of money in these years. He really didn't want to spend this kind of ill-gotten gains anymore.

  "What are you talking about?" Chen Xiaoli's voice suddenly rose several decibels, her face sternly staring at Chen Dasheng, "How? You suspect that your sister's money is ill-gotten? Do you still remember who raised you with hardship and bitterness?"

  "Sister, I didn't mean it that way!" Chen Daxing knew as soon as he heard Chen Xiaoli say this that she was going to tell him again about those things from back then. In Chen Daxing's memory, this wasn't the first time; almost every time they came here, Chen Xiaoli would pull him aside and recount those tear-jerking events from years ago.

  "Huh? Sister, what's that in your hand?" Seeing Chen Xiaoli's expression, Chen Dajie knew she was about to start talking again, and quickly interrupted her, pointing at a bright red pendant-like thing in Chen Xiaoli's hand, abruptly changing the subject.

  "Huh?" Chen Xiaoli fell for it, picked up the pendant in his hand and took a look, saying, "It's a piece of jade that Liu Laoban from Rongfa Real Estate brought over earlier, asking me to help consecrate it!"

  "Just now, Xiao Er said that the big fat sheep is him, right? Just now, I saw you smiling so brightly, and you must have made a lot of money again!" Chen Daxing said. Rongfa Real Estate is one of the top three real estate companies in Chengdu, and his sister is indeed doing very well.

  As soon as money was mentioned, Chen Xiaoli's eyes lit up and he mysteriously gestured a number to Chen Dasheng, "This amount!"

  "Is this thing worth it?" Chen Dabai pursed his lips, reached out and snatched the jade stone from Chen Xiaoli's hand, not knowing if she was comparing it to 5,000 or 50,000, and he didn't dare think about it if it was any more.

  "Be careful, if you break it, it's not worth selling!" Looking at Chen Dabing's rough hands and feet, Chen Xiaoli's face showed some tension. "I heard from Old Man Liu that this jade stone is a bit ominous, his family members who touched it all fell seriously ill, probably because they came into contact with something dirty. I think this thing is definitely a newly unearthed artifact from the underworld, maybe even dug up from that tomb!"

  "How dare you still collect?" As soon as Chen Xiaoli started talking about that again, Chen Dasheng immediately rolled his eyes repeatedly.

  "A fat sheep delivered to our doorstep, it would be a waste of national resources if we don't slaughter it!" Chen Xiaoli said with great righteousness.

  "I've heard that Liu Rongfa has many people under his wing, if you want him to know that you're cheating him, you'll have to pay the price!" Chen Daxing looked at Chen Xiaoli with a speechless gaze.

  "What's there to be afraid of? I'm not someone to be trifled with either!" Chen Xiaoli clenched her fists, producing a series of loud cracking sounds.

  Chen Daxing couldn't help but shrink his neck, he knew that Chen Xiaoli's combat value was very high, he had seen Chen Xiaoli and five big men fighting, and with just a few moves, he had knocked those five people to the ground.

  "Sister, you're now earning almost as much as I am, and I'm getting old too. Why don't we quit this line of work?" Chen Dashi ventured after a while.

  "Master Chen!"

  Just as Chen Xiaoli was about to say something, a middle-aged couple walked in from the entrance. Chen Xiaoli immediately stood up, his whole person like he had been injected with chicken blood, and greeted them with a smile on his face.

  "Two of them, worshiping gods?"

  "Really? You're Master Chen? I've heard that the Manjusri Bodhisattva in Sisterhood Temple is very efficacious. My wife and I have come to pay our respects and pray for a child!"

  "Wanting a child? Those two have come to the right place! Come, come, come, first add some incense oil. The more incense oil, the more efficacious the Bodhisattva will be!"

  Chen Xiaoli pushed Chen Daxing away with a smile, leading the two of them to the donation box. Chen Daxing sighed helplessly, knowing that another business opportunity had come knocking on their door.

  "Sister, your stuff!" Chen Dashi held up the jade stone and waved it at Chen Xiaoli.

  Chen Xiaoli didn't even turn his head and said, "You hold on to it for now, I'll take it later!"

  After that, Chen Xiaoli continued to chat with the middle-aged couple, and soon had them smiling from ear to ear, nodding repeatedly, and involuntarily taking out their wallet.

  "Two fools!" Chen Dashi cursed in a low voice, clutching the jade stone and heading towards the backyard.

  ——

  The backyard is where the sisters of Sister Fang live, and Chen Dabao also has a room here, but he rarely comes to stay.

  He plopped himself down on the bed, which was soft and fluffy, with the quilt neatly folded. It seemed that even if he hadn't come, his sister often came to tidy up here. Thinking of this, Chen Dasheng's heart felt a warmth.

  "Jade, oh jade, why does Chen Dashi have such a bumpy fate? As soon as I was born, my mom passed away, and at the age of five, my dad also left. My girlfriend dumped me, and my sister is still single even though she's almost thirty... Sigh..." Chen Dashi held the jade in his hand, feeling like crying but unable to shed tears.

  "Huh? This jade seems to have turned a lot redder than before?" He carefully examined the oval-shaped jade in his hand, about half the size of a palm. Originally, it only had a drop of blood-like red color in the center, with the rest being pale red, but now it seemed to have clearly turned much redder.

  "It can't be that sinister, right?" Thinking of Chen Xiaoli saying this thing was just taken out from the grave as a spirit tool, Chen Dasheng felt a chill down his spine for no reason.

  Chen Dasheng didn't notice at all that the blood flowing from the cut on his palm, caused by the flower pot shards, was dripping onto the jade stone and then mysteriously merging into it.

  "Ah, it's scalding!"

  Just as he was about to throw away the jade stone, Chen Daxing suddenly felt a surge of extremely hot energy emanating from it, like an electric eel, which quickly slid along his right arm and into his body.

  It's hot! So hot that Chen Da Sheng wants to shout loudly!

  Almost instantly, Chen Daxing felt the hot energy spread throughout his body, scorching, hot like a raging fire, as if every cell and every drop of blood was boiling.

  Inhuman pain made Chen Da Sheng unable to utter a single cry, his neck arched back, and he fell straight onto the bed, his entire skin red like a monkey's buttocks, scorching hot, as if branded with an iron.

  ——

  "Giant, giant?"

  It wasn't until much later that Chen Dajun slowly came to, muttering to himself and looking utterly disbelieving.

  Just now he had a dream, a strange dream, that was a vast and desolate world shrouded in gray mist. A group of humans with enormous bodies, some were fighting against powerful wild beasts, one move after another, shocking the heavens and shaking the earth. Some held giant stone axes as big as mountains in their hands, swinging them back and forth, splitting the sky and cleaving the earth. The gray and hazy world gradually became clear and bright.

  "Was that just a dream?"

  The dream was too real, Chen Dasheng panted heavily, his whole body sticky and already soaked in sweat and a layer of black and smelly grime. A message from the depths of his blood vessels appeared in Chen Dasheng's mind, filling his heart with countless questions and incredulity.

  Giant Spirit Clan! At the beginning of heaven and earth, the strongest race, they pioneered the heaven and earth, created the vast world, with their heads reaching the sky and their feet treading on the ground, possessing divine power that defies the heavens.

  In that piece of jade just now, a drop of giant blood was hidden, and Chen Dabao accidentally absorbed it, becoming the only descendant of the Giant Spirit Clan on Earth.

  Is all this true? Chen Dasheng pinched his face hard, the intense pain made Chen Dasheng even more unable to distinguish between dreams and reality.