I listened quietly for a while, then gathered my courage and walked toward the source of the sound.
There were some gaps in the wooden house, so I peered inside through one of them...
The moment I looked over, the sound suddenly stopped. Had I imagined it?
No, impossible. That sound had been so real. I couldn't have heard wrong.
My heart drummed uneasily. I glanced outside again and saw nothing, which reassured me a little.
I was about to get up and head back when the sound came again just as I turned around.
After being toyed with again and again, I got a little angry and shouted, "Who's there?"
Then a somewhat cold voice came: "Kid, do you want to cultivate?"
I shrank my neck and asked, "Who are you?"
"You don't need to know who I am. I'm only asking whether you want to cultivate."
"I do. Why?"
Hearing my answer, the voice said excitedly, "Let me out, and I'll teach you."
I asked him, "Where are you?"
"That red-sealed jar outside. Go out and smash it, and I'll be able to come out.
Then I'll teach you how to cultivate," the voice said sinisterly.
Wouldn't that mean going outside? No, no, I can't go out.
My voice trembled with fear. "No need. My martial uncle will teach me. He can come back tomorrow."
The voice outside fell silent for a moment, then said unwillingly:
"I'm better at teaching than he is. Believe me. If you let me out, I can swear a Ghost Oath."
"Ghost? You're a ghost?" I said, trembling.
"Yes, but I won't hurt you. Don't worry."
I became even more frightened and said, "No, no. My martial uncle will teach me. Hurry up and leave. My martial uncle will be back at dawn."
Then he said, "You're a ghost too—a scaredy-cat."
Nothing happened until dawn. I sat beside the fire and only dared to go out once the sky was fully bright.
Stepping out of the room, I looked around and found the jar sealed with red wax.
The Talisman Paper pasted onto that jar was very different from that on the other jars.
The Talisman Paper on the other jars was yellow, while the jar with the red seal had purple-black paper.
And it was covered in layer upon layer of it; some of the Talisman Paper at the bottom had already weathered away.
I walked over to take a look when a voice suddenly came from inside. "Yo, the scaredy-cat came out?"
I froze and turned to run back to the room, but halfway there, I thought, What am I afraid of in broad daylight?
Besides, if he could come out, he wouldn't have needed to stay inside that jar all this time. I immediately felt relieved.
Then I went back and asked, "What kind of ghost are you?"
The words slipped out too quickly, and I ended up saying something rather ridiculous.
The thing inside laughed heartily for a while before replying, "Anyway, not a scaredy-cat."
My face darkened as I asked, "What's so funny?"
"Nothing. It's just been a long time since I met someone this interesting."
I asked again, "A long time? How long is that?"
The voice inside the jar paused. "Hmm... eighty years? Or a hundred?
I forgot. It's been too long since I last spoke with anyone.
That sloppy old man is also a stuffy gourd. No matter what I say to him or how I provoke him,
he never reacts. After a while, I stopped wanting to bother with him."
I gathered my courage and asked, "Who are you? Why are you in there?"
The moment the words left my mouth, all the jars around me began trembling one after another.
Then an enraged voice said, "An old Taoist priest trapped me in here."
Then he asked himself, "And who am I? Who am I?"
He shouted and screamed like that, questioning himself over and over. The sudden change gave me such a fright that I jumped.
I hurried back into the house, and before long, the commotion subsided.
I didn't dare step out of the room for the entire day, until around five or six in the afternoon.
My martial uncle returned, flashing straight to the doorway in an instant.
I jumped in fright, then asked my martial uncle how he had done that.
With an unruffled expression, my martial uncle said, "When your cultivation reaches my level, you'll be able to do it too. No need to be surprised."
Then he set down the pack on his back. It was bulging full.
My martial uncle dusted himself off, glanced at the sky, and said to me:
"It's too late today. Rest well tonight. Starting tomorrow, I'll teach you cultivation."
I said okay, then asked what the red-sealed jar outside was.
"That's an old ghost who's lost his memories. Oh, no, he should be called a chatterbox ghost. He talks to himself every day. Just ignore him."
My martial uncle glanced at me and asked, "Did he disturb you last night?"
I nodded and told my martial uncle everything that had happened the night before.
My martial uncle said calmly, "It's fine. He can't get out. Even if he does, I can catch him and put him back."
So I asked my martial uncle about that ghost's origins.
My martial uncle told me that his master had sealed it away many years ago—the previous Maoshan Sect Master.
Back then, his master had gone traveling and discovered it somewhere. His master studied it for half a day but couldn't figure it out.
Though it seemed to possess no cultivation, it gave off a hair-raising feeling.
It was very strange, so his master brought it back with him. At first, he sealed it with an ordinary jar and ordinary yellow talismans.
But it escaped the very next day. The strange thing was, even after getting out, it didn't run away. It just turned Maoshan upside down.
One day it would knock over a nest of eggs, the next it would ruin a vegetable garden, and the day after that it would leave his master's room in complete shambles...
Punishing it seemed unnecessary, since it hadn't committed any great wrong; not punishing it, however, left the mountain in a state of chickens flying and dogs leaping.
His master had been helpless, and the disciples of Maoshan were full of complaints.
In the end, his master used a specially made jar and higher-grade Talisman Paper to seal it away.
Then, when Senior Disciple Brother and my martial uncle came to Lin'an Village, his master had my martial uncle bring it along, saying it might be useful someday.
I asked my martial uncle what use it could have. He said he didn't know either.
It had been left there all these years. Usually, aside from being a little too talkative, it caused no other trouble.
"Go make something to eat, then get a good night's sleep. Starting tomorrow, I'll teach you cultivation."
I answered okay. After eating, I went back to my room to rest. My martial uncle made a bedroll for me on the floor, and I slept dreamlessly through the night.
The next day, I woke up yawning and went outside. I saw my martial uncle fiddling with something, and curiosity drew me over.
As he worked, my martial uncle said, "It's almost ready. In a while, you'll enter the array."
Confused, I asked, "Enter an array? What array?"
My martial uncle stopped what he was doing and said, "This is a Spirit Gathering Array. Because you've passed the proper age for cultivation,
the breath of Innate Qi within your body no longer exists. So we need to use an array and some materials to help you find your Qi Sensation."
Looking at all the miscellaneous items, I asked my martial uncle what they were. He said they were materials for setting up the array.
Then my martial uncle picked up a stone and a piece of wood and introduced them to me. "This white stone is called North Sea Ivory Stone. It gathers Spiritual Energy.
This branch-like piece of wood is called Sun Gathering Wood. It also gathers Spiritual Energy.
Together with a cultivation method, they can allow someone who has never cultivated to sense the Spiritual Energy around them."
Then he added, "Every sect has its own cultivation methods. The processes differ, but the result is the same.
They all guide the Spiritual Energy of the outside world into the body, then circulate it through the Heavenly Cycle within the body.
This is the beginning of cultivation, and also the foundation for the realms that come later."
After saying that, my martial uncle pointed at the completed array. "Enter it. Sit cross-legged inside and relax your body.
Calm your heart and use your body to sense your surroundings. First, let's see how your Qi Sensation is."
I followed my martial uncle's instructions and sat inside, trying to sense the changes around my body. At first, I felt nothing.
Then, gradually, I felt as though something was wrapping around my body.
It felt like a thin layer of mist pressed against my skin.
Sometimes it was icy cool, sometimes warm, and my entire body felt exceptionally comfortable.