Lighting Incense

The feel of different swords in hand was never the same.

Holding the Ink Pine Sword, You Su danced through the sword forms like the wind. The confidence that welled up from within was something the Wood Sword could never give him. You Su savored that confidence. He liked the feeling of having such solid assurance.

The sunlight shifted as You Su immersed himself in sword practice. Only his shadow changed direction, moving from west to east.

Ji Lingruo rubbed her bleary eyes as she stepped out of her room. The setting sun was as red as blood, dyeing her verdant skirt a unique hue and making her look like a rich watercolor painting.

She discovered that her senior brother was working especially hard today. It was clearly already time for dinner, yet he was still practicing his sword tirelessly. She had originally wanted to shout for him to stop practicing and make dinner, but seeing how deeply sweat had darkened You Su's clothes, she couldn't bear to disturb him. Just then, Ji Lingruo's stomach betrayed her with a loud rumble. The girl lightly bit her lower lip, then suddenly had an idea.

She decided to show off a little and let her senior brother taste her cooking as well. So she tiptoed into the kitchen.

You Su had no idea how long he had practiced. Only when the setting sun was completely swallowed by the mountain peaks did he suddenly realize that it was already night. Remembering that he had yet to prepare dinner for his junior sister, he hurriedly put away the Ink Pine Sword and rushed toward the kitchen.

Night had fallen. An orange oil lamp burned in the kitchen, and the girl's skin seemed to give off a faint, indistinct glow. Her clothes were speckled with stains, though it was impossible to tell whether they were water or oil. She rolled up her sleeves and scooped the fried eggs out of the pan. After serving them all, she let out a long breath and sighed over how hard she had worked. Then she hurried off to fetch water and pour it into the pot. Once she was done, she covered the pot and wiped the fine sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand.

You Su stood quietly outside the door. He couldn't see, yet it was as though he could, silently observing everything in the kitchen.

When the water boiled, Ji Lingruo lifted the lid and tossed in a handful of washed cabbage and two bundles of dried noodles, seasoning them along the way. After a while longer, Ji Lingruo eagerly served the clear-broth noodles into two bowls. You Su's bowl was plainly fuller. Ji Lingruo then placed four fried eggs into the two bowls, exactly two for each person. She hesitated for a moment before transferring one of her eggs into You Su's bowl, a smug little curve lifting the corners of her lips.

She set the noodles down and prepared to call her sword-obsessed senior brother to dinner. This was the only food she was good at making, and she had personally prepared it. In her heart, she had already decided that You Su absolutely had to drink every last drop of the broth.

But the moment she turned around, You Su standing in the doorway startled her. Ji Lingruo patted her newly developed chest and complained,

"Why didn't you make a sound? Come in and eat."

You Su walked in with a faint smile. "My junior sister has grown up. She knows how to show consideration to her senior brother now."

"Hmph. This miss merely made too much by accident. What a pity your shabby sect doesn't raise pigs, or I'd rather pour it out for the pigs to eat." Ji Lingruo sat down as she spoke, rolling her pretty eyes.

You Su sat down as well. He lifted the bowl and took a tentative sip of the broth, then lamented, "It's a good thing we don't raise pigs. Otherwise, sooner or later, you'd starve them to death, Junior Sister."

"What do you mean?" Ji Lingruo glared at You Su, then picked up a large chopstickful of noodles and stuffed it into her mouth. She mumbled, "Is... it... really... that... bad?"

But that one bite nearly made her retch. It was truly no small feat to make clear-broth noodles taste this awful.

She gulped down a mouthful of tea and snapped angrily, "I performed abnormally! You're not allowed to eat anymore!"

You Su paid her no heed. He picked up the noodles and began devouring them.

"Hey, I told you not to eat them. Didn't you think they tasted bad?"

"Did I?"

"Didn't you say they'd starve pigs to death?"

You Su took another sip of broth and said with a smile, "When I said you'd starve pigs to death, I meant that you cooked so little—who would that be enough for?" Afterward, he looked at the noodles Ji Lingruo had yet to touch and asked tentatively, "If you're not hungry, Junior Sister, why don't you give yours to me too?"

"No!" Ji Lingruo watched You Su's covetous expression, her heart turning as sweet as honey, and began eating her own noodles as well. She found that they didn't seem quite so terrible anymore.

It was only when the two of them could no longer endure it and raised their teacups together that they exchanged a smile.

The full moon hung high overhead, its porcelain-white light spilling across the earth. The hour of the Tiger the day after tomorrow, as agreed upon with True Man Ling, was almost upon them.

You Su calculated the date. Today was the fifteenth day of the eighth month. In the world of his previous life, today was the Mid-Autumn Festival, a day for families to reunite.

Unfortunately, this continent had no such festival. Even so, You Su wanted to add a sacred sense of ceremony to the day—he would save his junior sister and Mistress, then reunite with them.

That day, he had reminded his junior sister that she didn't need to practice her sword and told her to hurry and finish writing Legend of the White Snake in her room. He had also lingered outside Mistress's room for a while. The deathly silence inside remained unchanged. You Su did not disturb her and merely withdrew in silence.

You Su took out the few objects True Man Ling had given him and arranged them on the table: a lamp, seven wicks, and three sticks of Dragon Sandalwood Incense. He closed his eyes and carefully recalled every detail of his dealings with True Man Ling. The more he remembered, the firmer the decision in his heart became.

All he needed to do was recite that sixteen-character incantation, and he could help True Man Ling complete the Formation Technique, trapping the evil spirits within the Myriad Ghosts Hidden Array and turning them into turtles in a jar.

It sounded like an exceedingly simple task. With only these few steps, he could save his junior sister and Mistress from the mire in which they were trapped.

Yet You Su still did not act. It was not because he was indecisive. It was because he was waiting.

Half a li away, at the foot of the mountain, True Man Ling, dressed in white robes, stroked his slender beard while studying the shifting moonlight and stars, silently calculating the time. Four yellow talismans were clasped in his hand. Before him stood an old redwood table, on which sat an incense burner filled with sandalwood incense.

There were eleven more setups like this within the area centered on the Mandarin Sword Sect and extending half a li in radius.

True Man Ling had gone to great lengths to arrange everything without making a sound. Fortunately, the Mandarin Sword Sect was located in a remote wilderness, making his plan considerably easier to carry out. To ensure nothing went wrong, he had even expended tremendous effort to set up a soundproof Formation Technique of the same size.

But he had yet to receive any sign that You Su had lit the incense, and anxiety began to gnaw at him. Formation Techniques also relied on the right time and place. Once the hour of the Tiger passed, the Formation Technique's power would be greatly diminished.

True Man Ling was somewhat worried that something unexpected had happened on You Su's end, but he sensed no disturbance there. That meant You Su should not have been exposed.

Could he have seen through it?

The more True Man Ling thought about it, the more alarmed he became. If this young man had seen through him long ago yet continued to exchange false courtesies with him for so long, what terrifying state of mind did that reveal?

True Man Ling did not believe he would fail. He was merely furious at having been deceived. He could no longer hold himself back and stepped into the half-li radius.

At the same time, You Su stopped counting down in his heart.

There were still fifteen minutes before the hour of the Tiger ended. At last, he lit the seven sticks of incense.

"Heaven is round and earth is square, by the Nine Chapters of the Law, I command with this brush, the Myriad Ghosts..."

You Su recited the words reverently, then snuffed out the incense, took up the Ink Pine Sword, and slipped quietly out of the sect.

Under the moonlight, his shadow stretched long behind him. He was going to save them.