Small Thunder Pool

The setting sun slanted westward; dusk fell.

Zhou Sheng finally returned to his own home. He had washed off his Face Paint, taken off his opera costume, and changed back into the black robe he usually wore.

He had casually wrapped a strip of blue cloth around the web of his hand. His long hair was slightly disheveled, with several strands still stained by dried blood.

He lifted his foot over the fire basin and stepped through the door.

The roaring flames unexpectedly began to flicker and waver, as though blown by the wind.

Yu Zhensheng, who had been teasing the goldfish before the water vat, paused slightly before slowly turning around, his gaze falling upon his disciple.

The stench of blood—the killing intent rushing toward him was nearly impossible to suppress.

This was the involuntary air of someone who had just gone on a killing spree.

And after being tempered by blood and fire, his disciple's gaze had become firmer and sharper. Like a bar of refined steel, after constant hammering, it had finally begun to take on the shape of a sword blank.

A breeze swept past, making the black robe snap and flutter.

Zhou Sheng set down the Opera Box, stood tall and straight, and cupped his fists in salute to his Master.

"Master, thank you."

The thanks came out of nowhere, yet he spoke it with utmost sincerity.

Though he had not sensed his Master's presence, he could be certain that when he sang the Yin Opera, his Master had been nearby.

It was also because his Master had been there that he could fight without restraint, give everything he had, and finally defeat that marauding soldier.

This thin old man before him, who liked strolling cats and teasing fish, had silently sheltered him from wind and rain in this world for sixteen years.

"You sang the opera yourself. What are you thanking me for?"

Yu Zhensheng gave a cold snort, but the upward curl of his lips could not be suppressed. He hurriedly turned his back on his disciple and went on teasing the little goldfish.

Zhou Sheng smiled faintly without exposing him. "Master, then I'll go offer incense to the Patriarch."

"Go on. Once you've offered the incense, remember to pack the Patriarch's statue into the box. Then gather your things. Before the sun sets, we old fellows need to hurry up and flee for our lives."

Zhou Sheng: "..."

"Hehe, brat, remember this: in our line of work, who hasn't gone on a killing spree?"

"A fledgling that never stains its feathers with blood will never become an eagle."

"But if you want to live peacefully after a killing spree, you have to run faster than anyone else."

After a pause, he summed it up. "The fiercer the blade that kills, the faster the legs that flee!"

Zhou Sheng silently committed the jianghu wisdom his Master had imparted to memory, then wasted no time at all, packing everything up in the blink of an eye.

With the Patriarch's statue on his back, the Opera Box that fed him in his hand, and his private savings tucked away, he set off light and unburdened.

Rather than feeling reluctant to leave the place where he had lived for so long, he was somewhat excited.

Run after killing someone—what a thrill!

Though he had killed people before, he had always acted passively. Usually, those he killed were bandits and robbers trying to rob him. This time, however, he had struck first, and he had killed far more than three or five.

It was as though some invisible shackle had been cleaved apart, bringing about a change in him that he could not put into words.

"Don't rush off. Give me a strand of your hair."

Yu Zhensheng said this while teasing the fish, extending a hand.

Zhou Sheng froze for a moment, then cut off a lock of hair without hesitation and handed it to his Master.

For those who sang Yin Opera, hair and one's birth characters were both secrets that could not be casually shown to others. Otherwise, someone might use them to lay a curse.

For instance, the Lu Ban carpenters of the Hundred Schools of the Underworld excelled in such arts of suppression. With only a strand of hair, they could even harm three generations of a Household.

But he trusted his Master completely. Without the slightest hesitation, he gave him the hair.

Yu Zhensheng tied the lock into a strange knot, then took out a yellow talisman, placed the hair knot inside it, and folded the talisman shut.

After forming hand seals and chanting an incantation, he reached into the vat and scooped up the goldfish. He forcibly pried open its mouth and stuffed the yellow talisman containing Zhou Sheng's hair knot inside.

A talisman hidden in the fish's belly!

Then he tossed the goldfish back into the vat, where the startled fish swam wildly through the water.

"Alright, let's go."

"Master, aren't we taking Senior Brother Fish?"

"Hehe, after raising a fish for a thousand days, it is used in but a single moment. It has eaten my food for so many years; now it is time for it to repay me."

Under the lingering glow of dusk, the Master and disciple's figures gradually receded. Soon, they vanished from sight, leaving only the goldfish still swimming in the water vat.

Time trickled by.

The sun finally sank beyond the horizon and withdrew all its light. The bright moon quietly rose, and night descended.

A Yin wind suddenly swept through the empty little courtyard. It was not fierce, and even carried a trace of warmth, yet the cicadas and insects all around instantly fell silent.

The night seemed to deepen. Though moonlight shone brightly overhead, the courtyard was so dark one could not see their hand before their face.

The next moment, the goldfish, which had already settled down in the vat, suddenly began to dart about.

It dodged back and forth, swift and elusive as lightning, as though a predator were chasing it. It swam madly around, even slamming again and again into the hard walls of the vat.

Who knew how long this lasted before the goldfish suddenly went still, foam spilling from its mouth as its whole body convulsed. The water in the vat also seemed to be stirred by an invisible force, swirling like a vortex.

With a thunderous boom, the entire water vat exploded.

Amid the water scattered across the ground, the goldfish had gone completely stiff, utterly motionless.

"Memorize these hand seals. They are the key to setting up the Small Thunder Pool."

On a mountain path, Master and disciple were traveling through the night. By moonlight, Yu Zhensheng taught him several hand seals as they walked.

Zhou Sheng recognized them as the very seals his Master had formed when stuffing the talisman into the goldfish.

"Master, what is the Small Thunder Pool?"

"Hehe, as the saying goes, one must not cross the thunder pool by even a single step. This Small Thunder Pool is an illusion array I set for the pursuers from the underworld."

Yu Zhensheng smiled faintly and explained, "That water vat was placed where wind gathered and qi was contained. The goldfish ate your hair and acquired your aura, so in the eyes of Ghosts and Gods, it is no different from you."

"It will temporarily mistake the goldfish for you. Until it catches the fish, it cannot cross the thunder pool by even one step—at least, not until it discovers it has been deceived."

Only then did Zhou Sheng come to a sudden realization. No wonder his Master treasured that goldfish so much and took it everywhere he went. It had been for setting up this Small Thunder Pool, to use when fleeing for their lives.

As expected, the older the ginger, the spicier it was!

Farewell, Senior Brother Fish.

"Master, how long can the Small Thunder Pool hold them back?"

Yu Zhensheng looked up at the bright moon. "You killed Magistrate Zhu and the underworld's marauding soldiers. Judging by the time, if they were sending someone from below, they should have arrived by now."

"That goldfish was raised on secret medicine and is no ordinary fish. Even if Black and White Impermanence came in person, it should be able to delay them for two or three hours, unless..."

"Unless what?"

Yu Zhensheng's gaze deepened, and his voice sank low. "Unless that Judge personally comes to kill you. If that truly happens, the Small Thunder Pool can delay them for half an hour at most."

"Master, you must have another move prepared, right?"

Yu Zhensheng shot him a smiling sidelong glance. "Now you know fear? You were decisive enough when you were killing."

Zhou Sheng showed a slightly embarrassed smile.

Yet he did not regret killing the marauding soldiers and Magistrate Zhu. For one thing, it had followed his heart; for another, it had accumulated a great deal of energy for the turtle shell.

The Luo Shu had never been so abundantly supplied.

Perhaps it could now deduce the true Immortal's Cloud Mica Pill!

A shortcut straight to Mount Zhongnan, one that belonged to him alone, was slowly opening.