Kindling, page 2
part #6 of Painting the Mists Series
“I think five percent would go a long way,” he added.
The comment instantly doused the fire in her eyes. It was replaced with frustration and indignation, and most importantly, unwillingness and stubbornness.
A good sign, he thought. You need to keep them hungry or they won’t work hard.
“Am I looking for anything in particular?” Han Yu asked stiffly.
“Connections to devils,” Yama said. “Investments, relatives, friends, roommates of a third cousin. No matter how obscure they are, I want them found. I don’t particularly care that we sell edicts to devils, but everything must be balanced. We are a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, not a custom reincarnation company that supports the cosmos on the side.”
“Then what about our participation in the election?” Han Yu asked.
“That’s different!” Yama said. “It affects the very survival of our universe.” He looked into the void. “Lily, come join us as well.”
A second woman in a suit appeared beside them. While Han Yu sported a navy outfit, Lily wore a white one, complete with white bordered glasses.
“What can I help with, Your Eminence?” Lily said. A hint of flirtation appeared on her otherwise deferent expression.
“For the last time, ‘boss’ will do fine,” Yama said sternly, hiding his pleasure. “This pile of documents shows that our edict sales have been heavily favoring devils. In passing, I’ve also noticed some disturbing financial details. Our sales group has been booking sales before delivery and has been refusing to write off bad debt. As a result, our numbers have been inflated by thirty percent over the past century. As our company’s controller, I need you to perform a full internal audit and get back to me with suggestions for further accounting regulations.”
Lily’s eyes brightened at the prospect. “I’ll be suggesting the most comprehensive, most ironclad management recommendations possible!”
Yama massaged his brow. “I just want reasonable, incremental regulations that can prevent this specific problem. Why do all you accountants go on a crusade every time someone steps out of line?”
“With all due respect, sir,” Lily said, “if people can’t do anything, it’s impossible to make mistakes.”
Yama groaned inwardly as he flew off the small storage planet and into the chill of empty space. He didn’t dare admit that she had a point, lest it get to her head.
By the way, sir, you have a guest waiting in the lobby, Han Yu sent via SpiritChat, a new messaging service that was taking the Underworld by storm. You could do everything with it, including paying, phoning, and messaging. If you paid for the add-on, it could even take your kids to school. It’s the Jade Emperor. He said you didn’t accept his SpiritChat invite.
“Why does everyone expect me to answer these SpiritChat messages right away?” Yama grumbled. “If it’s really important, can’t they just call me? Or send an email with an urgent tag followed by a second email reminding me to read the first one?”
He swiftly teleported to his office, the only location he could teleport to within Diyu. After straightening himself out, he walked out to greet the ruler of Heaven.
“My friend, Yama, it’s been ages!” a graying man with jade robes said as soon as he entered the lobby. He wore a thin jade crown on his head. “I’m here to ask about my—”
“Your daughter,” Yama cut in. “Yes, I know. It was the same last week and the week before that. I still haven’t seen her, and if I did, I’d inform you immediately.” Just as the stately king was about to protest, Yama continued his tirade. “You’ve lived for aeons, but you still can’t let her wander off for a millennium without getting antsy about her. Are you a king or a housewife suffering from empty nest syndrome?”
“This is different,” the Jade Emperor said indignantly. “I have a foreboding feeling. I feel like our father-daughter karma is about to expire. And when you didn’t add me to SpiritChat, I started to worry.”
“I just added you, so you can stop worrying,” Yama said. He shuddered as he rapidly swept through the man’s profile. It was filled with pictures of him and his daughter, some as much as a million years old. “If you’re so worried about her, why did you lend her your soul-bound treasure, the Jade Moon Cloak? You can’t even keep tabs on her when she wears it. If I were you, I would have placed her under house arrest in the heavenly courts. None of this ‘you’re your own person and you can do whatever you want’ nonsense.”
“How could I do that to my own daughter?” the Jade Emperor said, taking a seat. He sniffed the tea Yama offered him, making sure that the man wasn’t drugging him with Meng Po’s tea. “She has such a free spirit, and if I don’t let her wander, the cosmos would have made something happen. Traitors would have appeared within our ranks and would have tried to kill her from within the palace. Flaws would have appeared in our defensive formations. Rebellion would have fermented in the heavens and lured me away.” He sighed. “It’s not easy being that girl’s father.”
“If you can’t even bear to put her under house arrest, how will you deal with her two reincarnations from now?” Yama said.
A pained expression appeared on the Jade Emperor’s face, causing Yama to regret his words.
“I don’t know,” the Jade Emperor said. “I can only live in the present. In this lifetime, she is my daughter, cosmic balance be damned.”
“You know of cosmic balance, yet you’ve spoiled your daughter,” Yama said. “It’s brought the heavens untold fortune, but you know full well that when the cosmic scales shift, you’ll reap what you’ve sown. The heavens will experience unprecedented disaster, and countless mortals will get caught up in the resulting storm. Hell, I’m experiencing it right now. The Yellow River is flooding, and Heaven and Hell’s policies are forcing me to get involved in politics again. Meanwhile, I’m pretty sure the devils have been tampering with my edict system.”
The Jade Emperor shook his head. “You know I can’t budge on this. My hands are tied. Not only are Heaven’s policies good for Heaven, but if I don’t do this, my senior statesmen will push for Heaven to go on the ten-thousandth-and-eighty-third crusade against the devils. I absolutely loathe our two-party system sometimes.”
Seeing Yama’s downcast expression, the Jade Emperor’s softened his stance.
“I can lend you Fuxi for some pro-bono work,” the Jade Emperor conceded. “Maybe he can think of something that will increase the efficiency of the Yellow River system as a whole.”
“Thanks for doing what you can,” Yama said. “The fate of the universe is at stake. Don’t worry, I’ll let you know as soon as I catch a whiff of your daughter.”
After exchanging a few more pleasantries, the Jade Emperor left. Yama’s gaze wandered over to Iron Planet, where his two assistants were hard at work. He hoped he was reading too much into the situation. As the CEO of Samsara Incorporated, he was karmically responsible for the actions of his employees.
Chapter 1: Kindness
A fresh spring wind blew past Cha Ming as he meditated in a forest clearing. He was surrounded by five energy-gathering formations that were slowly but surely bolstering his cultivation. High-grade spirit stones were rapidly ground to dust as the energy in his body intensified. He wasn’t short on cash like before—the money he’d left in Wang Jun’s care had already netted him a tidy profit.
The five-element qi circulated through his body before entering his dantian, where a small cracked core was greedily absorbing energy. The process was extremely inefficient; a third of what poured in leaked outward and had to be reabsorbed once more.
Cha Ming let out a deep sigh, exhaling all sorts of impurities from his body. Then, he directed his attention to a nearby cave, where his three prospective disciples were eliminating a group of devilish cultivators.
One of the disciples, Zi Long, wielded a large purple staff. He used a familiar style, one inspired by the many pointers Cha Ming had given him. Unlike his teacher, however, he didn’t use soul pearls to complement it. Instead he used his qi to incorporate more lethal moves into his arsenal of staff arts and movement techniques. He used talismans to jam his opponents’ movements and deflect incoming attacks.
Yue Bing, on the other hand, used a completely different style. She wielded a sword with deadly grace while using her qi to bolster her movements and entrap her foes. Her defensive swordsmanship incorporated offensive talismans to make up for her deficiencies. She danced between Zi Long and their enemies, using his strong battlefield presence as a springboard. The duo worked in tacit understanding to fight off most of the weaker devilish cultivators.
While his two companions focused on the small fries, Ling Dong fought against the leader and elites. He used Earth Wall Talismans to lock himself and his enemies within a large cage. His qi covered him in a five-element shield as he slashed away with his heavy saber. One gash after another covered his refined body as he fought. He ignored these nonlethal injuries while trading blows with his enemies, whittling down their qi before cleaving through their defenses.
“Why us?” the leader said as his last elite fell. “There are plenty more out there who’ve done worse than us.”
“They’ll get what’s coming to them,” Ling Dong said. “You can ask them when you meet each other in the Yellow River.”
Seeing that his defeat was inevitable, the leader burnt his blood essence. His strength surged by a half rank as he abandoned all defenses to concentrate his energy in a single strike. Ling Dong crumbled a defensive talisman, and an icy shield deflected the enemy’s sword. He then cleaved down with his greatsword, cutting the man’s body in half.
His enemy defeated, he banished the earthen walls and climbed out from the makeshift cage. He was greeted by Yue Bing, who immediately got to work healing the many gashes on his bare chest. Unbeknownst to them, jade merit poured into them as the ochre glow surrounding the devilish cultivators dissipated.
“Where to next, fearless leader?” Zi Long said as he wiped the blood off his staff. After recording their kills on a jade slip, he rapidly burned the corpses. A wicked stench filled the air as they turned to ashes.
Ling Dong winced in pain as a dreadful cut on his arm stitched itself together under Yue Bing’s careful guidance. “We still have four more missions. We’ll finish two of them on our way to the Western Wall, and the final two on the other side. My goal is for us to finish them within two weeks’ time.”
“Two weeks?” Zi Long complained. “You’re such a slave driver.”
“If we’re lucky, we can catch them before they hurt anyone else,” Ling Dong said. “The kingdom didn’t issue these missions because they were lazy, they issued them because there’s a lot of work to do, and there are people dying every moment. It’s worth it to go the extra mile, even if that means we suffer extra injuries in the process.”
“I think the kingdom had more than efficiency in mind,” Zi Long said, shaking his head. “They could have solved these small problems by dispatching core-formation cultivators, but they’ve sent us out instead. These missions were issued to have us personally witness these atrocities and grow closer as a country. Strong cultivators will emerge from the survivors and become our new foundation in the war against the south.”
“I wish I was half as smart as you,” Yue Bing said. “Or half as brave as Ling Dong,” she added. “Truth be told, I’m extremely scared to be out here. My dream is to help people, not kill them.”
“Sometimes, it’s one and the same,” Ling Dong said, inspecting the arm she’d just healed. “In fact, healing the righteous will bring harm to sinners. You’re a vital party of this team, Yue Bing, and don’t you forget it.”
“You shouldn’t fight so recklessly,” Yue Bing huffed. “It’s very draining to heal such deep wounds.”
The two men laughed and allowed her to work in peace.
Cha Ming retrieved his resplendent force as the trio set off. According to his calculations, these four additional missions would grant them merit glow. After that, they would be ready to accept Fuxi’s legacy.
He brushed himself off before walking through the forest at a leisurely pace. Every so often, he discovered ripe medicinal herbs and other oddities. He encountered no beasts as he traveled. They were subconsciously repelled by his presence.
As he walked, Cha Ming’s features slowly changed. His steps became short and labored, and his hair turned gray. His face morphed and became covered in wrinkles. His clothes became nothing more than rags. Finally, he slashed his side open and allowed blood to soak the rags he wore. He collapsed a short distance away from the traveling trio.
Yue Bing sighed in exhaustion as they walked toward their next destination. Despite her minimal combat participation, the healing that came afterward thoroughly drained her. It was something that couldn’t be recovered with cultivation—only sleep would make her feel refreshed, despite her peak-qi-condensation cultivation.
A cry rang out overhead as an eagle swooped down and perched itself on Zi Long’s arm. His contracted spirit beast cooed softly before opening its beak expectantly. Zi Long fed it pieces of smoked meat, which it greedily gobbled down before flying off once more.
“Ziying says there’s a wounded man up ahead,” Zi Long said. “He doesn’t think it’s a trap, and there are no other cultivators for several miles.”
“We should take a look,” Ling Dong said, shrugging. “Maybe we’ll be able to help someone in passing.”
They ran down the road until they saw an unconscious man wearing nothing more than rags. He didn’t even have a bag of holding—his only possession was a third-grade spirit sword, which was fastened to his thin body with a hempen rope.
Yue Bing rushed toward the man and infused green runes into his body. The gash on his abdomen gradually began to close under her supervision. It then stubbornly refused to heal any further, despite her intervention, continuing to leak blood onto the forest floor.
He’s only at the sixth level of qi condensation, she thought. Why would such a weak man be wandering out here, where even the weakest beast could kill him in a few exchanges?
The results of his expedition were self-evident. If he didn’t get proper healing soon, he would die of blood loss. She looked at the man uncertainly before firming her resolve.
There’s still one thing I can do, she thought. But who would have thought the first time I would use it would be with a stranger?
She took out a golden ankh, a relic she’d inherited from the family she never knew. As she began pouring qi into the mystical object, Ling Dong grabbed her wrist.
“Are you sure he’s worth it?” he asked. “He could be a complete scumbag for all we know.”
“There’s only one way to find out,” Yue Bing said coolly. “And this isn’t your decision to make.”
“Carry on, then,” Ling Dong said, releasing her wrist. “It’s your life.”
As he walked away, Yue Bing focused on the mystical runic characters on the golden ankh. It was only after she’d met her teacher that she finally understood what they meant. Her spiritual force and qi traced the runes, and so too did her life force.
A bloody glow encompassed the ankh as her blood coursed through it. The wounded man stirred uncomfortably as she worked.
Perhaps he’s not so far gone, she thought as she stopped pouring in life force. She then took the ankh in both hands and uttered an incantation.
Bloody light flowed into the man, and the gash on his torso vanished. Color returned to his face as he woke. His eyelids fluttered, and an intense spiritual force covered the three. Before Yue Bing knew what happened, her surroundings changed, and she was now in an open meadow.
“That was a very kind thing you did,” a voice said. “But you should care more for your life, or you’ll find yourself with very little time remaining.”
Yue Bing turned around and saw an older man dressed in a regal robe. His eyes contained a piercing jade glow that shone far brighter than her teacher’s purple-and-green irises. A golden sword hung at his waist, and his gray hair was tied in a knot like a Confucian scholar.
“This junior greets senior,” Yue Bing said, moving quickly to bow. The man suddenly appeared before her and stopped her midway.
“I can’t bear my savior abasing herself in such a way, especially after she’s lost so much,” the man said. He reached out with his bony hand and pulled a few strands of gray hair from her head for her to see. She gasped when she saw them. “Your ankh is powerful; it can make you an unprecedented healer, but it can also drain you dry if you try to heal someone beyond your capabilities.”
Yue Bing gulped. “I’ll be more careful in the future.”
“Then I am relieved,” the man said. Then, he tapped his finger on Yue Bing’s forehead. A stream of information poured into it, and an aged voice whispered inside her mind.
Devil-Sealing Scripture
A single scripture to seal all evils in the realms.
Can you see what I see with these eyes of pure jade?
Only those who share my will can understand my resolve.
She felt a sharp, debilitating pain in her eyes. It felt like a thousand needles were blinding and piercing them simultaneously.
“The pain only comes once, when the technique confirms that you’ve slain a devil,” the man said. “From now on, you’ll be able to see merit and sin as well as angelic and devilish endowment. Beware the color ochre.”
Then, as suddenly as the pain had come, it vanished. Yue Bing gently opened her eyes and saw an entirely different landscape. The meadow was gone, and two jade-colored figures approached her position in the spirit woods from a distance.
“Yue Bing?” a familiar voice asked. Both Zi Long and Ling Dong walked out of the woods wearing relieved expressions. “What happened? Where did you go? Where’s the old man?”
“You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you,” Yue Bing said, rubbing her eyes. Despite having exhausted her energy healing the man, she now felt fully invigorated. Her qi seas were full, and her body felt spry and refreshed. She reached beside her ear excitedly but was disappointed to discover a few strands of gray hair.
The comment instantly doused the fire in her eyes. It was replaced with frustration and indignation, and most importantly, unwillingness and stubbornness.
A good sign, he thought. You need to keep them hungry or they won’t work hard.
“Am I looking for anything in particular?” Han Yu asked stiffly.
“Connections to devils,” Yama said. “Investments, relatives, friends, roommates of a third cousin. No matter how obscure they are, I want them found. I don’t particularly care that we sell edicts to devils, but everything must be balanced. We are a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, not a custom reincarnation company that supports the cosmos on the side.”
“Then what about our participation in the election?” Han Yu asked.
“That’s different!” Yama said. “It affects the very survival of our universe.” He looked into the void. “Lily, come join us as well.”
A second woman in a suit appeared beside them. While Han Yu sported a navy outfit, Lily wore a white one, complete with white bordered glasses.
“What can I help with, Your Eminence?” Lily said. A hint of flirtation appeared on her otherwise deferent expression.
“For the last time, ‘boss’ will do fine,” Yama said sternly, hiding his pleasure. “This pile of documents shows that our edict sales have been heavily favoring devils. In passing, I’ve also noticed some disturbing financial details. Our sales group has been booking sales before delivery and has been refusing to write off bad debt. As a result, our numbers have been inflated by thirty percent over the past century. As our company’s controller, I need you to perform a full internal audit and get back to me with suggestions for further accounting regulations.”
Lily’s eyes brightened at the prospect. “I’ll be suggesting the most comprehensive, most ironclad management recommendations possible!”
Yama massaged his brow. “I just want reasonable, incremental regulations that can prevent this specific problem. Why do all you accountants go on a crusade every time someone steps out of line?”
“With all due respect, sir,” Lily said, “if people can’t do anything, it’s impossible to make mistakes.”
Yama groaned inwardly as he flew off the small storage planet and into the chill of empty space. He didn’t dare admit that she had a point, lest it get to her head.
By the way, sir, you have a guest waiting in the lobby, Han Yu sent via SpiritChat, a new messaging service that was taking the Underworld by storm. You could do everything with it, including paying, phoning, and messaging. If you paid for the add-on, it could even take your kids to school. It’s the Jade Emperor. He said you didn’t accept his SpiritChat invite.
“Why does everyone expect me to answer these SpiritChat messages right away?” Yama grumbled. “If it’s really important, can’t they just call me? Or send an email with an urgent tag followed by a second email reminding me to read the first one?”
He swiftly teleported to his office, the only location he could teleport to within Diyu. After straightening himself out, he walked out to greet the ruler of Heaven.
“My friend, Yama, it’s been ages!” a graying man with jade robes said as soon as he entered the lobby. He wore a thin jade crown on his head. “I’m here to ask about my—”
“Your daughter,” Yama cut in. “Yes, I know. It was the same last week and the week before that. I still haven’t seen her, and if I did, I’d inform you immediately.” Just as the stately king was about to protest, Yama continued his tirade. “You’ve lived for aeons, but you still can’t let her wander off for a millennium without getting antsy about her. Are you a king or a housewife suffering from empty nest syndrome?”
“This is different,” the Jade Emperor said indignantly. “I have a foreboding feeling. I feel like our father-daughter karma is about to expire. And when you didn’t add me to SpiritChat, I started to worry.”
“I just added you, so you can stop worrying,” Yama said. He shuddered as he rapidly swept through the man’s profile. It was filled with pictures of him and his daughter, some as much as a million years old. “If you’re so worried about her, why did you lend her your soul-bound treasure, the Jade Moon Cloak? You can’t even keep tabs on her when she wears it. If I were you, I would have placed her under house arrest in the heavenly courts. None of this ‘you’re your own person and you can do whatever you want’ nonsense.”
“How could I do that to my own daughter?” the Jade Emperor said, taking a seat. He sniffed the tea Yama offered him, making sure that the man wasn’t drugging him with Meng Po’s tea. “She has such a free spirit, and if I don’t let her wander, the cosmos would have made something happen. Traitors would have appeared within our ranks and would have tried to kill her from within the palace. Flaws would have appeared in our defensive formations. Rebellion would have fermented in the heavens and lured me away.” He sighed. “It’s not easy being that girl’s father.”
“If you can’t even bear to put her under house arrest, how will you deal with her two reincarnations from now?” Yama said.
A pained expression appeared on the Jade Emperor’s face, causing Yama to regret his words.
“I don’t know,” the Jade Emperor said. “I can only live in the present. In this lifetime, she is my daughter, cosmic balance be damned.”
“You know of cosmic balance, yet you’ve spoiled your daughter,” Yama said. “It’s brought the heavens untold fortune, but you know full well that when the cosmic scales shift, you’ll reap what you’ve sown. The heavens will experience unprecedented disaster, and countless mortals will get caught up in the resulting storm. Hell, I’m experiencing it right now. The Yellow River is flooding, and Heaven and Hell’s policies are forcing me to get involved in politics again. Meanwhile, I’m pretty sure the devils have been tampering with my edict system.”
The Jade Emperor shook his head. “You know I can’t budge on this. My hands are tied. Not only are Heaven’s policies good for Heaven, but if I don’t do this, my senior statesmen will push for Heaven to go on the ten-thousandth-and-eighty-third crusade against the devils. I absolutely loathe our two-party system sometimes.”
Seeing Yama’s downcast expression, the Jade Emperor’s softened his stance.
“I can lend you Fuxi for some pro-bono work,” the Jade Emperor conceded. “Maybe he can think of something that will increase the efficiency of the Yellow River system as a whole.”
“Thanks for doing what you can,” Yama said. “The fate of the universe is at stake. Don’t worry, I’ll let you know as soon as I catch a whiff of your daughter.”
After exchanging a few more pleasantries, the Jade Emperor left. Yama’s gaze wandered over to Iron Planet, where his two assistants were hard at work. He hoped he was reading too much into the situation. As the CEO of Samsara Incorporated, he was karmically responsible for the actions of his employees.
Chapter 1: Kindness
A fresh spring wind blew past Cha Ming as he meditated in a forest clearing. He was surrounded by five energy-gathering formations that were slowly but surely bolstering his cultivation. High-grade spirit stones were rapidly ground to dust as the energy in his body intensified. He wasn’t short on cash like before—the money he’d left in Wang Jun’s care had already netted him a tidy profit.
The five-element qi circulated through his body before entering his dantian, where a small cracked core was greedily absorbing energy. The process was extremely inefficient; a third of what poured in leaked outward and had to be reabsorbed once more.
Cha Ming let out a deep sigh, exhaling all sorts of impurities from his body. Then, he directed his attention to a nearby cave, where his three prospective disciples were eliminating a group of devilish cultivators.
One of the disciples, Zi Long, wielded a large purple staff. He used a familiar style, one inspired by the many pointers Cha Ming had given him. Unlike his teacher, however, he didn’t use soul pearls to complement it. Instead he used his qi to incorporate more lethal moves into his arsenal of staff arts and movement techniques. He used talismans to jam his opponents’ movements and deflect incoming attacks.
Yue Bing, on the other hand, used a completely different style. She wielded a sword with deadly grace while using her qi to bolster her movements and entrap her foes. Her defensive swordsmanship incorporated offensive talismans to make up for her deficiencies. She danced between Zi Long and their enemies, using his strong battlefield presence as a springboard. The duo worked in tacit understanding to fight off most of the weaker devilish cultivators.
While his two companions focused on the small fries, Ling Dong fought against the leader and elites. He used Earth Wall Talismans to lock himself and his enemies within a large cage. His qi covered him in a five-element shield as he slashed away with his heavy saber. One gash after another covered his refined body as he fought. He ignored these nonlethal injuries while trading blows with his enemies, whittling down their qi before cleaving through their defenses.
“Why us?” the leader said as his last elite fell. “There are plenty more out there who’ve done worse than us.”
“They’ll get what’s coming to them,” Ling Dong said. “You can ask them when you meet each other in the Yellow River.”
Seeing that his defeat was inevitable, the leader burnt his blood essence. His strength surged by a half rank as he abandoned all defenses to concentrate his energy in a single strike. Ling Dong crumbled a defensive talisman, and an icy shield deflected the enemy’s sword. He then cleaved down with his greatsword, cutting the man’s body in half.
His enemy defeated, he banished the earthen walls and climbed out from the makeshift cage. He was greeted by Yue Bing, who immediately got to work healing the many gashes on his bare chest. Unbeknownst to them, jade merit poured into them as the ochre glow surrounding the devilish cultivators dissipated.
“Where to next, fearless leader?” Zi Long said as he wiped the blood off his staff. After recording their kills on a jade slip, he rapidly burned the corpses. A wicked stench filled the air as they turned to ashes.
Ling Dong winced in pain as a dreadful cut on his arm stitched itself together under Yue Bing’s careful guidance. “We still have four more missions. We’ll finish two of them on our way to the Western Wall, and the final two on the other side. My goal is for us to finish them within two weeks’ time.”
“Two weeks?” Zi Long complained. “You’re such a slave driver.”
“If we’re lucky, we can catch them before they hurt anyone else,” Ling Dong said. “The kingdom didn’t issue these missions because they were lazy, they issued them because there’s a lot of work to do, and there are people dying every moment. It’s worth it to go the extra mile, even if that means we suffer extra injuries in the process.”
“I think the kingdom had more than efficiency in mind,” Zi Long said, shaking his head. “They could have solved these small problems by dispatching core-formation cultivators, but they’ve sent us out instead. These missions were issued to have us personally witness these atrocities and grow closer as a country. Strong cultivators will emerge from the survivors and become our new foundation in the war against the south.”
“I wish I was half as smart as you,” Yue Bing said. “Or half as brave as Ling Dong,” she added. “Truth be told, I’m extremely scared to be out here. My dream is to help people, not kill them.”
“Sometimes, it’s one and the same,” Ling Dong said, inspecting the arm she’d just healed. “In fact, healing the righteous will bring harm to sinners. You’re a vital party of this team, Yue Bing, and don’t you forget it.”
“You shouldn’t fight so recklessly,” Yue Bing huffed. “It’s very draining to heal such deep wounds.”
The two men laughed and allowed her to work in peace.
Cha Ming retrieved his resplendent force as the trio set off. According to his calculations, these four additional missions would grant them merit glow. After that, they would be ready to accept Fuxi’s legacy.
He brushed himself off before walking through the forest at a leisurely pace. Every so often, he discovered ripe medicinal herbs and other oddities. He encountered no beasts as he traveled. They were subconsciously repelled by his presence.
As he walked, Cha Ming’s features slowly changed. His steps became short and labored, and his hair turned gray. His face morphed and became covered in wrinkles. His clothes became nothing more than rags. Finally, he slashed his side open and allowed blood to soak the rags he wore. He collapsed a short distance away from the traveling trio.
Yue Bing sighed in exhaustion as they walked toward their next destination. Despite her minimal combat participation, the healing that came afterward thoroughly drained her. It was something that couldn’t be recovered with cultivation—only sleep would make her feel refreshed, despite her peak-qi-condensation cultivation.
A cry rang out overhead as an eagle swooped down and perched itself on Zi Long’s arm. His contracted spirit beast cooed softly before opening its beak expectantly. Zi Long fed it pieces of smoked meat, which it greedily gobbled down before flying off once more.
“Ziying says there’s a wounded man up ahead,” Zi Long said. “He doesn’t think it’s a trap, and there are no other cultivators for several miles.”
“We should take a look,” Ling Dong said, shrugging. “Maybe we’ll be able to help someone in passing.”
They ran down the road until they saw an unconscious man wearing nothing more than rags. He didn’t even have a bag of holding—his only possession was a third-grade spirit sword, which was fastened to his thin body with a hempen rope.
Yue Bing rushed toward the man and infused green runes into his body. The gash on his abdomen gradually began to close under her supervision. It then stubbornly refused to heal any further, despite her intervention, continuing to leak blood onto the forest floor.
He’s only at the sixth level of qi condensation, she thought. Why would such a weak man be wandering out here, where even the weakest beast could kill him in a few exchanges?
The results of his expedition were self-evident. If he didn’t get proper healing soon, he would die of blood loss. She looked at the man uncertainly before firming her resolve.
There’s still one thing I can do, she thought. But who would have thought the first time I would use it would be with a stranger?
She took out a golden ankh, a relic she’d inherited from the family she never knew. As she began pouring qi into the mystical object, Ling Dong grabbed her wrist.
“Are you sure he’s worth it?” he asked. “He could be a complete scumbag for all we know.”
“There’s only one way to find out,” Yue Bing said coolly. “And this isn’t your decision to make.”
“Carry on, then,” Ling Dong said, releasing her wrist. “It’s your life.”
As he walked away, Yue Bing focused on the mystical runic characters on the golden ankh. It was only after she’d met her teacher that she finally understood what they meant. Her spiritual force and qi traced the runes, and so too did her life force.
A bloody glow encompassed the ankh as her blood coursed through it. The wounded man stirred uncomfortably as she worked.
Perhaps he’s not so far gone, she thought as she stopped pouring in life force. She then took the ankh in both hands and uttered an incantation.
Bloody light flowed into the man, and the gash on his torso vanished. Color returned to his face as he woke. His eyelids fluttered, and an intense spiritual force covered the three. Before Yue Bing knew what happened, her surroundings changed, and she was now in an open meadow.
“That was a very kind thing you did,” a voice said. “But you should care more for your life, or you’ll find yourself with very little time remaining.”
Yue Bing turned around and saw an older man dressed in a regal robe. His eyes contained a piercing jade glow that shone far brighter than her teacher’s purple-and-green irises. A golden sword hung at his waist, and his gray hair was tied in a knot like a Confucian scholar.
“This junior greets senior,” Yue Bing said, moving quickly to bow. The man suddenly appeared before her and stopped her midway.
“I can’t bear my savior abasing herself in such a way, especially after she’s lost so much,” the man said. He reached out with his bony hand and pulled a few strands of gray hair from her head for her to see. She gasped when she saw them. “Your ankh is powerful; it can make you an unprecedented healer, but it can also drain you dry if you try to heal someone beyond your capabilities.”
Yue Bing gulped. “I’ll be more careful in the future.”
“Then I am relieved,” the man said. Then, he tapped his finger on Yue Bing’s forehead. A stream of information poured into it, and an aged voice whispered inside her mind.
Devil-Sealing Scripture
A single scripture to seal all evils in the realms.
Can you see what I see with these eyes of pure jade?
Only those who share my will can understand my resolve.
She felt a sharp, debilitating pain in her eyes. It felt like a thousand needles were blinding and piercing them simultaneously.
“The pain only comes once, when the technique confirms that you’ve slain a devil,” the man said. “From now on, you’ll be able to see merit and sin as well as angelic and devilish endowment. Beware the color ochre.”
Then, as suddenly as the pain had come, it vanished. Yue Bing gently opened her eyes and saw an entirely different landscape. The meadow was gone, and two jade-colored figures approached her position in the spirit woods from a distance.
“Yue Bing?” a familiar voice asked. Both Zi Long and Ling Dong walked out of the woods wearing relieved expressions. “What happened? Where did you go? Where’s the old man?”
“You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you,” Yue Bing said, rubbing her eyes. Despite having exhausted her energy healing the man, she now felt fully invigorated. Her qi seas were full, and her body felt spry and refreshed. She reached beside her ear excitedly but was disappointed to discover a few strands of gray hair.
