A screen painted with court ladies divided the study into two sections. In the half facing the door stood a square table, a side table, and a luohan couch.
The side table leaned against the west wall. An incense burner and a pair of vases sat on top.
Xu Yuan had his eye on the vases.
They were about a foot tall, with slender necks and rounded bellies, and could hold only one or two plum blossoms.
The Beast Sinew Rope slipped from his hand, thinning to the width of a strand of hair. It slid through the crack in the door and gently touched one vase. The vase rocked, but nothing unusual happened.
Xu Yuan turned to the other vase. The moment the rope touched it, a mass of eerie, dark-green light suddenly blazed inside!
Xu Yuan gave his hand a sharp flick. The Beast Sinew Rope twisted into a wad and plugged the mouth of the vase with a thunk.
The thing inside was just about to burst out and unleash its ferocity—only to be blocked head-on by a strange object that was neither soft nor hard, both soft and hard, soft on the outside but hard within.
It was stuck halfway out and couldn't get free. Furious and uncomfortable, it thrashed about inside. The sinister light burned like a blazing fire, and the vase rocked violently on the side table, clinking and rattling.
Xu Yuan threw in the rest of the Beast Sinew Rope. With a whoosh, it wound tightly around the vase and the table.
No matter how violently the thing inside struggled, it could no longer make a sound.
Xu Yuan breathed out his Inner Fire and melted the copper lock on the door, then gently pushed his way inside.
The vase was probably a Divine Cultivator's treasure, with a Yin Soldier hidden inside. But Xu Yuan had been quick enough to plug it up before it could get out.
Once inside, Xu Yuan gave the room another cursory inspection. There shouldn't have been any other traps in the study.
Only then did he search freely.
He soon found an iron box hidden in a compartment of the bookcase. When he opened it, he saw it was filled with explosive powder.
After searching some more, he found a set of special brushes and ink—a treasure belonging to a Literary Cultivator. Master Qiao hadn't taken it to Qihetan Town, perhaps because it was inconvenient to carry, or perhaps because he had another set there.
Besides that, Xu Yuan found four sheets of calligraphy tucked inside an ancient book.
Two bore the character "Seal," one aimed at Law Cultivators and the other at Divine Cultivators.
One bore the character "Arrow," with over a hundred densely written "Arrow" characters covering the sheet.
The last was only palm-sized and looked easy to conceal. In a vigorous, timeworn hand, four baffling characters had been written on it: "Dragon Essence and Tiger Vigor."
Xu Yuan stared at the calligraphy for a long while, utterly perplexed. Why had Master Qiao written these words...?
What were they for?
He bundled everything together, vase included, then quietly retraced his steps and slipped out.
By the time Xu Yuan left Wangjing Ward, it was already late. He hurried back to Golden Attire Building, where he had left his original clothes.
He collected them and changed out of his current outfit.
If he went home wearing these clothes, his stepmother would definitely twist his ear and scold him for wasting money.
The shop assistant at Golden Attire Building eyed Xu Yuan with some suspicion. When he came out after changing, the assistant said bluntly, "Sir, once you've worn our clothes, they're nonreturnable."
This customer had bought a fine outfit, gone out, and come back in less than an hour, carrying a heavy bundle!
It was obvious what he'd been up to, wasn't it?
Xu Yuan waved a hand. "I'm not returning it."
The assistant's expression brightened at once. He eagerly escorted Xu Yuan to the door, then added a reminder: "Sir, turn left and walk fifty paces. There's a pawnshop there. If you have anything you can't conveniently sell..."
Xu Yuan walked out without looking back and kept going straight.
This time, he returned through the east entrance. Uncle Mao had just come back with a pile of carpentry tools. He opened his shop and began putting things in order.
"Uncle." Xu Yuan greeted him warmly. Seeing him, the sorrow etched into Uncle Mao's deeply wrinkled face lifted for once, and he beamed. "You're back, you rascal."
"Yeah. How's business been lately, Uncle?"
Uncle Mao suddenly frowned. "Don't move." He stared hard at Xu Yuan. His fan-sized hand darted into a tattered shoulder bag by his feet and precisely pulled out a chisel and a hammer.
Then he aimed at the empty space behind Xu Yuan and struck down hard with the chisel.
Clang!
Xu Yuan's vision swam. He thought he heard a shrill ghostly cry from behind his ear.
A gust of cold wind whipped up behind him, and something fled.
Xu Yuan turned around, but there was nothing to see. A cold sweat broke out across his back. I let my guard down!
When had that thing started watching him—and hanging behind him?
He had stayed vigilant every moment on Ghost Witch Mountain. But after returning to the city, he'd let his guard down, thinking he was safe.
Uncle Mao put away his tools. "It was a greedy ghost. Those things are the hardest to detect. You... showed off your money?"
Xu Yuan thought about it. It must have happened at Golden Attire Building.
He was just about to answer when Uncle Mao waved a hand. "Forget it. I don't need to hear all that. Hurry home. Your stepmother's probably getting worried."
That was just how Uncle Mao was. If you asked him to help with something, he'd gladly do it. If you volunteered the reason, he'd listen; if you didn't, he'd never pry.
"Thanks, Uncle." Xu Yuan said goodbye and walked into the alley.
Xu Yuan's family lived in a courtyard carved out of what had once been a theater stage.
The stage was three stories tall, with a small plaza in front. The courtyard had originally been part of that plaza. Xu Yuan's grandfather had walled off a small section and built two rooms there.
And they had lived there ever since.
"You've only just come home, and you're already running off again."
The smell of food and his stepmother's complaints wafted out of the house together.
"Wash your hands and eat!"
Dinner consisted of four dishes and a soup, with red bean rice.
For two people, it was a lavish meal—clearly a celebration of Xu Yuan's return.
Sure enough, there was a plate of stir-fried winter bamboo shoots with cured pork on the table.
Xu Yuan happily sat down and began eating.
His stepmother bit her chopsticks, wanting to remind Xu Yuan to put Pill Cultivation on hold for now.
But she thought it over. She still hadn't found a solution to the problem, and telling him would only make him worry for nothing. So she held her tongue.
Instead, she took out Five Tripod Cooking and handed it to Xu Yuan.
"Aunt Wang gave this to you. Put your heart into practicing it. Don't slack off."
Xu Yuan knew this cultivation method. It felt especially heavy in his hands. "Aunt Wang was willing to give this to me?"
His stepmother drew a breath and said solemnly, "You must remember Aunt Wang's kindness. When she passes away, you'll wear mourning clothes and see her off."
Xu Yuan nodded earnestly. "Of course."
His stepmother thought for a moment, then added a few words of caution. "There's probably something wrong with that explosive-powder Inner Pill of yours... For Pill Cultivation, you should practice only the Outer Pill for now. You still need to focus most of your effort on Fate Cultivation."
Xu Yuan nodded in agreement. The explosive-powder Inner Pill was powerful, but he hadn't told his stepmother about everything yet.
His Inner Pill's nature was to consume itself continuously, so the danger should lessen somewhat.
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