Grandmaster

Inside Old Jin's home, Chen Wu looked around. He hadn't expected a dignified Mystic Realm expert to live in a place like this.

The walls were packed earth, and the roof was a thatched shelter. There was little furniture in the house, just one conspicuous heated brick bed. A cotton mattress covered it, with a long table set on top. A teapot and several teacups sat on the table.

Chen Wu went to the bed, lifted the bedding, and searched carefully. Sure enough, he found a hidden compartment beside it.

He removed the bricks covering the compartment. Inside lay a stack of banknotes and three manuals.

The banknotes were the ones Chen Wu had lost earlier. He had no idea where the three manuals had come from.

After taking out the banknotes and manuals, Chen Wu looked up and saw a sanxian hanging on the wall.

It was a rather old-looking sanxian, with clear signs of wear on its body. Yet its strings were new and fastened with meticulous care. Clearly, its owner had maintained it often.

Chen Wu took down the sanxian and carried the manuals and banknotes outside. He swung his sword at the tree in front of the house, chopped off a branch, and shaved it into a wooden shovel.

He wanted to lay Old Jin to rest.

Daya Hall was the best clinic in Jincheng Prefecture, and the only one there capable of performing surgery and stitching wounds.

"Doctor Wang, how is he?"

Doctor Wang had just stepped out of the room when Yang Yuchun hurried over to ask, his face taut with worry.

"He won't die." Before the doctor could answer, Li Changgeng's voice came from inside the room, sounding weak. "Come in."

Yang Yuchun let out a long breath and quickly entered.

Li Changgeng lay on the bed, white bandages wrapped around his neck and shoulder. He seemed not to notice Yang Yuchun's arrival, staring blankly at the rafters.

"Alas—Jin Shiyi lived up to his reputation. So many of us surrounded him, and we thought victory was certain. Who'd have guessed he'd still cut a path through us?" Li Changgeng's voice was bleak. "Even I have no hope of becoming a Grandmaster in this life."

Yang Yuchun was stunned. "It's that serious?"

"You don't understand," Li Changgeng said. "I practice a body-tempering art, and my physical foundation matters most. Jin Shiyi's sword not only broke through my Astral Energy, it damaged my Jade Bone."

"His Spiral Qi Force burrowed into me like a maggot in the bone. It's penetrated right into my marrow, and I still can't drive it out completely. The doctor could only stitch up the surface wounds. He can do nothing about damage like this."

"If I rest and recover from now on, I might live a few more years. But if I fight anyone again, I'm afraid it'll cost me years of my life." Li Changgeng shook his head. "A Grandmaster... I can forget about it."

"How could this happen..." Yang Yuchun couldn't believe it.

"Jin Shiyi can't have come out of it unscathed either. He's probably dead by now."

"But we don't have Jin Shiyi's head, so we can't answer to Guo Xuchu." Yang Yuchun furrowed his brow.

"Hmph! Let that Guo come find me if he wants! I've already paid with my entire future in the martial path. If that's not enough for him, he can come kill me! Tsk—" Li Changgeng snapped, then winced as his wound pulled.

"Calm down, calm down." Afraid Li Changgeng would work himself into another crisis, Yang Yuchun hurried to soothe him. "I'll speak to the Star-Pulling Sword. I won't let all this sacrifice go to waste."

Behind Old Jin's house, a small grave had been freshly made.

A wooden plaque stood before it, bearing several large characters: "Tomb of Jin Shiyi, the String-Plucking Bewitching Sound Sword."

"Old Jin, whenever you appeared, you always played that sanxian. You came and went in a flash. I only learned your name and title from Li Changgeng."

Chen Wu's voice was low as he continued, "I don't know if I've done the right thing. I took it upon myself to bury the sanxian with you. If that wasn't right, don't blame me. I just thought that once you reach the underworld, you can play and sing to your heart's content. Maybe the King of Hell will enjoy it and let you be reborn into a good family."

"I've done all I can for the dead. Now I have to do something for the living."

"Old Jin, until we meet again!"

Chen Wu cupped his hands toward the grave, turned, and headed for the summit of White Pagoda Mountain. He had someone to meet.

Monk Zhongcheng had just sent off a few constables when he saw a Daoist standing before him.

The Daoist carried two swords on his back and a bundle. He smiled at Monk Zhongcheng.

Zhong Cheng immediately smiled and pressed his palms together. "Amitabha. Chen, it's been a while. Have you come to take me up on our martial arts match?"

"You really don't know how to read the room, monk! The Golden Wind and Drizzle Tower is caught in a storm right now. How could I possibly feel like fighting you?" Chen Wu said bluntly.

"This humble monk was only joking. Please don't take offense, Chen." Monk Zhongcheng sobered. "The Constabulary Office came to ask about Old Ma's whereabouts just now. When even he was exposed, I thought the Golden Wind and Drizzle Tower had been wiped out, and that you couldn't have escaped either."

"You didn't exactly wish me well."

"You misunderstand. I was worried about you and feared the authorities had taken you..."

"No one's going to fight you, is that it?" Chen Wu cut in.

"Amitabha. Monks do not tell lies!"

"Enough, enough." Chen Wu interrupted the chattering monk. "Master, what did you tell those constables just now?"

"Buddha said, 'It cannot be spoken of, it cannot be spoken of.'" Monk Zhongcheng smiled. "Even the Buddha left fourteen questions unanswered. Although this humble monk has some dealings with Old Ma, it was only routine business. As for questions like where Old Ma is, I naturally knew nothing at all."

"Then where is Old Ma?"

"He's already left the prefectural city and settled in a villa at Qingbaishi."

"You really do know!" Chen Wu had only asked on a whim and hadn't expected an actual answer.

"Old Ma had already guessed you'd come looking for me, so he told me where he was."

What a meticulous mind. No wonder he was Old Ma!

"Why does Old Ma trust you so much?"

"Back then, I sought the method of Tummo and challenged the Kagyu Sect's Living Buddha. I was gravely injured and nearly died three times in a row. Old Ma saved me each time."

Damn, you sure loved courting death. You were lucky to still be alive.

"I remember you've mastered Tummo now, Master."

"Seeing me challenge him three times in succession, the Living Buddha was moved by my sincerity and taught me the key to Tummo."

Maybe the Living Buddha had just gotten sick of you and figured it'd be better to teach you sooner so he could have some peace.

"Master, sincerity moves the heavens."

"As they say, where sincerity reaches, even metal and stone yield." Monk Zhongcheng spoke with utmost conviction.

Chen Wu was at a loss for words.

"Thank you for telling me. I still have to see Old Ma, so I won't stay."

"Please wait, Chen." Monk Zhongcheng called after Chen Wu as he was about to leave.

"It's getting late. There's no need to rush," Monk Zhongcheng said. "Besides, neither you nor Old Ma should show your faces in public right now."

"Why don't you stay here on White Pagoda Mountain for the night? I'll send a message for you tomorrow."

"That... will do." Chen Wu thought for a moment, then accepted Monk Zhongcheng's suggestion. "I'll also have to trouble you to contact one more person for me."

"Who?"

"General Fubo, Shui Ziyi."

Monk Zhongcheng didn't put Chen Wu up in one of White Pagoda Temple's monks' quarters.

After all, Chen Wu was dressed as a Daoist. Putting him in a monk's quarters would make him stand out, so Monk Zhongcheng arranged for him to stay at the home of a lay Buddhist outside the temple.

Chen Wu had assumed lay Buddhists were like volunteers at temples in later generations, doing odd jobs around the grounds. But Monk Zhongcheng explained the matter, and Chen Wu realized he'd oversimplified it.

It turned out that lay Buddhists had their origins in religious precepts.

When the Buddha was alive, he established a precept now known as the Prohibition Against Handling Money. In short, monks were forbidden from possessing or saving money, lest the sangha fall into corruption.

But in the Buddha's time, the economy was underdeveloped. This was especially true in the northern Indian kingdom of Kapilavastu, where the Buddha was born. People hardly used money there and mostly bartered goods, so observing the prohibition was easy.

In later generations, however, Buddhism spread far and wide, and the commodity economy grew. People in the marketplace all used money. Even believers made offerings in money for convenience. If monks strictly followed the prohibition, they would only make trouble for themselves and their followers.

As a result, many Buddhist schools simply disregarded the prohibition. But some monks observed their precepts strictly and insisted on keeping the prohibition, giving rise to the group known as lay Buddhists.

The most important task of lay Buddhists was to handle all money-related matters for these monks, ensuring that the monks who strictly observed their precepts never dealt with money.

They even developed a whole system of coded language between lay Buddhists and monks, so that monks not only didn't have to handle money, they didn't even have to say the word.

In other words, anyone who observed the Prohibition Against Handling Money had to have a lay Buddhist to assist them.

After hearing all this, Chen Wu couldn't help thinking that this "I have no interest in money" act was pure bullshit.

"Do you think it's making a fuss over nothing, Chen?" Monk Zhongcheng seemed to have guessed what he was thinking.

"Hard to say!"

"Hahahaha!" Monk Zhongcheng laughed. "I think it's making a fuss over nothing too."

"Who at White Pagoda Temple observes the Prohibition Against Handling Money?"

"The abbot himself—Master Guanghui." Monk Zhongcheng pressed his palms together.

"Huh?" Chen Wu said. "Isn't it rather inappropriate for you to talk about the abbot like that, Master?"

You've offended the abbot. Do you still think you can get away?

"This humble monk is only temporarily staying at White Pagoda Temple. It isn't my temple, so I have no restrictions. Besides—" Zhong Cheng beamed. "Although Master Guanghui's Buddhist teachings are profound, his martial arts are ordinary. He's no match for me."

"I see."

So Buddhist teachings couldn't hold a candle to a good punch!

After chatting for a little while, Monk Zhongcheng took his leave.

Once Monk Zhongcheng had left, Chen Wu took the three manuals out of his bundle.

One was the Nine-Evolution Dragon-Expelling Art, practiced by everyone in the Golden Wind and Drizzle Tower. Another was Old Jin's signature art, the Sound Transmission Soul-Searching Technique.

But the one Chen Wu most wanted to read was the third. It was the source of the strange phenomenon afflicting him, a manual Old Jin had called a flight of fancy: the Heaven-Intercepting Dao-Exposition Method.

The name sounded absurdly grandiose. He wondered what the contents were like.

As Chen Wu wondered, he opened the book.