Three Immortals Return to the Cave

The old man apologized, adopting an extremely humble posture.

His words seemed to imply that some expert had secretly sabotaged his trick.

Lin Shou watched from afar. After spending so long in the jianghu, he had heard of some of its rules and customs. Clearly, this conjurer was new on the scene. He'd made too much money and attracted too much attention, so someone had grown jealous.

His Decapitation Trick was so good that crowds had flocked to see him. He'd already stolen the livelihoods of plenty of his fellow performers.

Cutting off someone's means of making a living was like killing their parents.

These days, people would kill and set fires just to get a bite to eat. And this was only a little trip-up, enough to make your act go wrong.

Lin Shou figured some expert from the Color Sect had made a move. Whether he was standing up for a disciple or had simply grown jealous himself, he was certainly petty.

Lin Shou looked at the old man, who was bowing in apology now that he couldn't continue his act, then glanced over the crowd. After using Subtle Perception to observe and deduce, he fixed his gaze on a short old man in a maroon robe.

After apologizing, the old man called out, "Rise!" again.

His own son lay there, head still separated from his body, motionless.

It seemed that even the old man's groveling, humble apology wasn't enough to make the "expert" let him off.

And just then, constables from the yamen arrived.

Seeing the son lying on the ground, his head separated from his body, one constable turned and pointed at the old man, shouting, "You've murdered someone in broad daylight! Come with us to the yamen!"

Who had reported it was anyone's guess, but the constables had arrived far too quickly. The trick had only just gone wrong, and the officers were already on the scene. Anyone who didn't suspect foul play would have to be a fool.

The old man sighed helplessly and cupped his hands toward the constables.

"Officers, there are hundreds of onlookers packed around me. I couldn't escape even if I wanted to. But please, let me perform one more trick. I'll bring my son back to life."

The constables looked around. The crowd had packed in so tightly that the old man really had nowhere to run. They couldn't tell whether something had truly gone wrong or if it was all part of the act, so they nodded and let him perform. If the boy didn't come back to life, they could arrest him afterward.

The old man took a watermelon seed from his pocket.

He tossed it onto the ground, then drew his knife across his forearm. Blood flowed onto the seed, which shot up as if it had caught the wind. In the blink of an eye, it had grown into a giant watermelon.

Holding his bleeding arm, the old man cupped his hands again.

"I have no wish to take anyone's life. I only ask that the expert show mercy and let my son get up. I'll pack my things and leave Tianqiao at once, and never set foot here again."

With that, he called out, "Rise!" once more. His son still didn't move. The "expert" still refused to let the two of them go, and the old man could only sigh helplessly.

"Alas, I never wanted to take anyone's life."

He swung his great cleaver and chopped the watermelon from its vine. It rolled across the ground with a rumble.

"Son! Get up for your father!"

The old man roared. The boy's head rejoined his body, and he stood upright. This time, he really was up—full of life and bouncing about.

But at the same moment, a heavy thud sounded from the crowd.

A huge head hit the ground!

The crowd gasped and scattered to either side. A headless corpse in a maroon robe lay sprawled on the ground, its head rolling with a rumble until it bumped into the watermelon.

"Hey! What's this? Who's committed murder?"

The two constables jumped in fright. In broad daylight, who would dare take a life so brazenly?

Watching from afar, Lin Shou furrowed his brow. Nobody else had noticed, but he'd already used Subtle Perception to lock onto the "expert" who'd been secretly tripping up the old man. He'd kept his eyes on the man in the maroon robe.

Yet even he hadn't seen what happened. The moment the old man chopped the watermelon, the man in the maroon robe's head had fallen to the ground as well.

Though Lin Shou had kept observing and deducing with Subtle Perception, he still couldn't figure out how the old man had killed the man in the maroon robe.

Lin Shou turned back to look at the old man. He had the boy on his back now, and there was a large rice vat nearby. The old man pulled himself up onto the vat and jumped inside.

"Hey! Demon! Don't run! What kind of wicked sorcery is that?"

The constables realized the old man was no ordinary man, but by the time they tried to catch him, it was too late.

They'd seen the old man jump into the rice vat and rushed over after him. But when they leaned in to look, the vat was empty. There was no one inside.

The conjurer had vanished into thin air.

On Tianqiao Street, the Color Sect's "expert" lay dead, and the killer had disappeared without a trace. The yamen's three shifts of runners were left with a headache: another unsolved case.

The onlookers, far from minding the trouble, clapped and marveled. They'd be gossiping about what happened today for days to come.

Lin Shou had watched the whole thing from afar and couldn't help sighing.

The old man's tricks were so extraordinary that even with Subtle Perception, Lin Shou couldn't see through them. It was truly terrifying.

The old man's skill was clearly exceptional, yet he had a humble, tolerant heart. His fellow performer had sabotaged him while he was working the streets, but he'd endured it again and again. With such ability, he'd even been willing to back down.

But that short old man in the maroon robe, the so-called Color Sect "expert," had only pushed his luck and bullied the old man mercilessly.

The old man had endured and yielded because he didn't want to do something cruel and unjust, not because he lacked the skill to take you on. You kept provoking him, blind to your own peril, and brought your doom upon yourself.

Now you'd gone beyond the limits of his patience. You'd been given chances and thrown them away. The moment he made a move, your fine head hit the ground. You'd brought this on yourself; no one could save you.

So, when you can spare someone, spare them. Don't go too far.

Lin Shou clicked his tongue and shook his head. Seeing that it was getting late, he hoisted his Burial Shovel and returned to the Corpse-Stitching Shop.

It had been another full and happy day. The daily spectacle he got to watch was honestly far more entertaining than anything on TV. No TV show would dare film something this fantastical—magic realism.

So, here in the Great Jing Dynasty's Capital City, where the local customs were so pure and simple, it paid to get out and about. Watching the action and having a laugh was even more enjoyable than visiting a brothel. Lin Shou loved it here.

Of course, that wasn't the end of it.

That evening, a corpse was delivered to the Corpse-Stitching Shop.

Lin Shou lifted the straw mat and took a look at the body. Well, well—an old acquaintance.

Maroon robe, head separated from the body.

Wasn't this the Color Sect "expert" who'd brought about his own death?

Lin Shou happily accepted the job.

That night, after the three incense sticks had burned down, Lin Shou operated the Medical Arm to stitch up the corpse. Ever since the incident with the Tomb Raider's corpse, he'd been doing his stitching remotely. Safer that way.

The Color Sect expert's corpse was stitched up without a hitch. The Record of Selling Corpses appeared, and the Lantern of Life started rolling.

Lin Shou took a look. It was the life of a performer: how he'd trained as a conjurer's apprentice and learned to perform, how he'd grown arrogant after becoming a big hit, and how, once his fame faded, he'd grown jealous of the talented...

There wasn't much worth seeing. It was a pointless rags-to-riches story about a nobody getting carried away.

But Lin Shou carefully watched the final moments, trying to see how the old man had knocked the man's head off. Even after watching for ages, he still couldn't figure it out. The old man's tricks were so ingenious that he couldn't find a single flaw.

The Yin-Yang Abacus clacked away. Heaven, Earth, Black, and Yellow—what a price.

Corpse valuation: Yellow Grade, Eighth Rank.

A set of Color Artifacts appeared in Lin Shou's hands.

Two white bowls, three red balls.

Lin Shou grinned. This was one of the classics of traditional conjuring, a basic trick that was as widespread as they came—a foundational skill.

Three Immortals Return to the Cave.