Looking at the few who had stayed behind, Lu Yan sat in the chair at the center and took a sip of tea. "Red Maiden, your spiritual aptitude is quite good, but you're naturally restless. I doubt you'd be able to sit still in the Laboratory."
"But I can tell you're attuned to the wind element, and you're skilled with throwing knives. You could develop your abilities in that direction."
"For example, you could make cards, enchant them, and imbue them with various spells, then use them to attack your enemies."
After speaking, Lu Yan glanced at Hua Maguai, who stood with his back bent, and continued, "Hua Maguai, I didn't expect your spiritual aptitude to be good, too. You're steady by nature and well versed in corpse poison and medicine, so in the early stages, you should focus on making potions and poisons."
Hua Maguai bowed and assented. Lu Yan said no more. He looked at Kunlun, who towered skyward and touched the earth just by standing there, and rubbed his chin. "Kunlun, your spiritual aptitude isn't high, but your physique is astonishing and your vital energy is exceptionally strong. You'll surely achieve something in martial arts."
"Yulou, you're nearly initiated yourself. You'll oversee the specifics."
"Continue with the plan. We need to move quickly."
Lu Yan stretched, rose from his seat, and headed for the door.
"Yes."
Chen Yulou cupped his hands toward Lu Yan's retreating figure. After a moment's thought, he turned to Hua Maguai. "The details of the apprenticeship ceremony need to be settled as soon as possible. Have the brothers spread the word: the extraordinary man whom the Xieling leader is apprenticing himself to possesses a grotto-heaven."
Hua Maguai bowed respectfully. Somewhat puzzled, he asked, "Chief, we can spread the news, but what's a grotto-heaven?"
"Those who need to understand will understand."
Chen Yulou hesitated, then took a bottle of potion from his sleeve and handed it to Hua Maguai. "I heard that Er Yuehong of Changsha's Nine Gates has a gravely ill wife. Find a few brothers we can trust and send this bottle of medicine to them along with an invitation to the apprenticeship ceremony."
"This..."
Hua Maguai took the potion and studied its emerald-green glow. He hesitated. "Chief, we've never gotten along with the Nine Gates. Asking them to attend the ceremony might..."
With his hands behind his back, Chen Yulou gazed at the plaque bearing the words "Ever-Victorious Mountain" on the wall and sighed. "We don't know how many monsters and demons will show up at this apprenticeship ceremony. Luo Laowai might not be someone we can rely on. We'll need Zhang the Great Buddha to keep things in order."
Red Maiden, seated in a chair nearby, chimed in. "Zhang the Great Buddha is the biggest warlord in Western Hunan, and his troops are recognized by the Nationalist government. The Nine Gates have also grown powerful in recent years, and there's been some bad blood between them and us. Will he help?"
"He'll definitely help."
Chen Yulou turned around and opened his folding fan, confident. "The Nine Gates stand together, and Zhang the Great Buddha has always been a man of honor. We saved his brother Er Yuehong's wife. He'll surely return the favor."
Once the news of the grotto-heaven spread from Ever-Victorious Mountain, forces across the land stirred. Strange practitioners and mystics from all over the country began making their way to Xiangyin.
At Dragon Tiger Mountain in Jiangxi, Zhang Tianyi, the Celestial Master Sect's leader, looked solemn as he knelt before the place where the sect's founding master had secluded himself in the back mountains.
"Grandmaster, news has come from Xiangyin. A grotto-heaven has appeared."
There was no sound from within the cave for a long while. At last, a powerful voice rang out. "Have you confirmed it's true?"
Zhang Tianyi knelt on the ground, his expression reverent. "A Celestial Master Sect disciple was in Western Hunan. He saw a black hole appear before a young man, and the man was able to use it to take things and store them."
"The grotto-heaven is of great importance. I'll go myself this time."
Ripples spread through the empty air at the mouth of the cave. A door appeared out of nowhere, and an old Daoist with an otherworldly air stepped through it.
"Your second grandmaster will oversee the Dragon Tiger Grotto-Heaven. Send a few disciples to accompany me to Western Hunan."
"Yes."
Zhang Tianyi remained calm, showing no surprise. Clearly, he had known for some time that the Dragon Tiger Grotto-Heaven was right here.
At Maoshan in Jiangsu, a middle-aged Daoist in an apricot-yellow robe gave a cold snort as he read the letter in his hands. He added a few words, formed a hand seal with his right hand, and the letter turned back into a paper crane, which flew nimbly into the distance.
"That rebellious disciple Simu! He found a grotto-heaven and didn't report it right away. Now he wants me to go save someone?"
In a small temple on Mount Song in Henan, the venerable Zhiyu, abbot of Shaolin Temple, knelt before the temple gate and said respectfully, "Grandmaster, a grotto-heaven has appeared in Western Hunan."
The temple was silent. Just as Zhiyu thought he would once again return empty-handed, as he had so many times before, the dilapidated temple gate suddenly opened. An old monk clad in hemp robes brought his hands together and stepped through the gate. In an instant, he was standing before Zhiyu. "Amitabha. A hundred years have passed. This old monk should get out and stretch his legs, and see whether old friends are still as they were."
At the same time, the Qingcheng Sect, Wudang Mountain, Soap Locust Pavilion, and other great Daoist sects also sprang into action, sending their disciples to Xiangyin.
Changsha, the provincial capital of Western Hunan, was the region's most prosperous city. The troops of Zhang the Great Buddha, the Nine Gates' chief commander, were stationed there.
At that moment, in the Red Mansion, a lavish estate in eastern Changsha, Er Yuehong accepted the invitation and potion brought by a Xieling man without hesitation. "Please thank your chief, Chen Yulou, for me. If my wife's condition improves, the Nine Gates will owe him a favor."
Holding the potion, Er Yuehong wore a complicated expression. He knew Chen Yulou was a cautious, experienced man who wouldn't have sent the medicine unless he was confident it would work. But after being disappointed time and again, Er Yuehong was afraid this hope would come to nothing as well.
He paced around the room a few times, gripping the potion tightly in his right hand, then headed toward the master bedroom.
As soon as he approached the room, Er Yuehong heard his wife coughing painfully. He quietly peered through a crack in the door and saw bright red blood on the handkerchief she held.
"Ya Tou!"
Er Yuehong rushed into the room, his expression anxious, and took his wife's cold hands in his own.
His wife hid the handkerchief behind her and smiled gently. "I'm fine. Don't worry."
"I won't let anything happen to you."
Er Yuehong was so agitated he seemed nearly frantic as he took out the potion Chen Yulou had sent.
"This is the medicine I found for you. You'll get better."
He watched as his wife drank the potion in one gulp, then asked expectantly, "How do you feel?"
His wife pressed a hand to her chest, looking puzzled. "I feel like there's a fire burning in my chest, as if..."
Before she could finish, she suddenly began coughing violently, each cough heavier than the last. Her face contorted in pain.
"Ya Tou, what's wrong?"
Er Yuehong held his wife's hand, trembling.
"Cough, cough, cough."
Suddenly, his wife gave a heavy cough and spat out a dark, clotted mass of blood. Her expression relaxed.
"I think I'm all right now."
His wife touched her chest, looking pleased as well.
"I feel so much lighter. It's as if I've recovered from my illness all at once."
Er Yuehong laughed heartily, lifted his wife into his arms, and spun her around.
"You're better! You're better! Rest here. I'll fetch a doctor to confirm it right away."
Er Yuehong carefully set his wife down, tucked the blanket around her, and ran out, beaming.
"Someone, fetch Doctor Li!"
"Chen Pi, go fetch Zhang the Great Buddha, too."
"Your shiniang is better."
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