Seeing Taigong Again

"The Samadhi True Fire is the true fire of our Daoist sect for refining demons. Once mastered, it is difficult for ordinary water to extinguish, and its power is extraordinary."

Shen Gongbao said, "Whenever a demon encounters this fire, those with shallow cultivation will have their body and soul destroyed, while those with deep cultivation will be burned back into their original form."

Lu Chuan felt a chill in his heart upon hearing this and asked solemnly, "May I ask Master, how does one cultivate the Samadhi True Fire?"

"To refine this fire, you must use your essence, energy, and spirit to forge the three samadhis, nurturing the Li-essence within your chest and abdomen to combine with ordinary fire..."

Shen Gongbao said in a deep voice, "When the true fire is formed, you can spray it from your eyes, nose, and mouth whenever you need it. It is truly formidable!"

"Can you do it, Master?" Lu Chuan asked.

"If I could not, how could I teach you?"

Shen Gongbao laughed, "This fire is different from the Five Elements Escape Technique; it is considered a superior Daoist art. Not everyone can learn it; it requires a certain amount of talent."

"As long as you can do it, that's enough," Lu Chuan laughed.

"Enough, it is getting late. Hurry up and go open the shop."

Shen Gongbao said, "Tonight, after the shop closes, I will teach you the method for cultivating the Samadhi True Fire."

Lu Chuan acknowledged him and turned to walk toward the front of the shop, but suddenly he turned back and said, "Master, I have a question I don't understand and would like to ask you."

"Ask."

"Master, you shouldn't be short of money, so why go through the trouble of running a shop?"

Lu Chuan said with a depressed look, "It's a waste of my precious cultivation time, and there haven't been many customers in the past few months."

"So you feel perfectly at ease napping during the day and cultivating at night, is that it?" Shen Gongbao smiled.

"Uh..."

Lu Chuan froze, then, without blushing or skipping a beat, he bowed solemnly and said, "Then Master, I shall go tend to the shop."

At this moment, he really wanted to slap himself. Why did he have to be a busybody and ask about this?

Wasn't it fine to nap during the day and cultivate at night?

But just as he turned around, his collar was grabbed by Shen Gongbao, lifting him until his feet left the ground.

"You brat, you slack off and sleep all day, yet you claim there are no customers!"

Shen Gongbao scolded with a stern face, "If you are asleep, would you even notice if someone came in? I suspect you wouldn't even notice if they emptied the shop. Hmph, you infuriate me! Today, I must teach you a lesson."

With his neck caught by his collar, Lu Chuan couldn't see how high off the ground he was. He kicked his feet tentatively, only to find he couldn't touch the floor.

He grinned and said, "Master, don't be angry. Whatever the matter, put me down first. You're suffocating your disciple! Let's talk this over calmly; everything is negotiable, right?"

At this moment, he was held off the ground by Shen Gongbao. With his feet unable to touch the earth, water, wood, or fire, he had no way to use the Five Elements Escape Technique to flee.

"Put you down? Hmph, boy, don't think I don't know what you're planning."

Shen Gongbao sneered, "Put you down so you can use the Five Elements Escape Technique to run away, right? Hmph, but don't forget who taught you your skills..."

Could it be that Shen Gongbao held something back?

Lu Chuan thought for a moment, then decided that was unlikely.

The Five Elements Escape Technique was not the Earth Travel Technique, which could be countered by the "Point Ground to Steel" spell when burrowing into the earth.

Aside from the principle of the Five Elements countering each other as Shen Gongbao had explained, the other weaknesses of the technique...

Lu Chuan looked at his current predicament. It seemed that, just like now, if he couldn't touch any of the five elements, he couldn't perform the escape technique.

Lu Chuan narrowed his eyes and began to think of a way to escape. Soon, he said with a cheeky grin, "Master, how about a bet? I have a way to escape from your grasp. Do you believe me?"

"Escape?"

Shen Gongbao looked at Lu Chuan, who was dangling three feet off the ground. After scanning him up and down and confirming that Lu Chuan couldn't touch any of the five elements, he gave a confident, cold laugh and said, "I don't!"

Lu Chuan hadn't been practicing the Five Elements Escape Technique for long and still relied on the five elements to perform it.

Now that his feet were in the air, he couldn't touch the earth, and he had no wood, metal, water, or fire on him. How could he run?

Lu Chuan chuckled, secretly forming a seal with his right hand. After chanting the incantation, he suddenly spat a mouthful of saliva into the air and shouted, "Escape!"

Before the word had even faded, his entire body had transformed into a streak of water, escaping toward the front of the shop.

Only Shen Gongbao remained standing in place, dumbfounded. When he finally reacted, he was left standing alone in the wind, utterly bewildered...

"Water Escape... can it be used like that?"

Shen Gongbao muttered, truly stunned this time.

Honestly, even the Jie Sect, who were experts in Water Escape, probably wouldn't have thought of such a shameless method.

Of course, while it was a bit shameless, who would care about that when their life was on the line? As long as one could survive, any method was acceptable.

After arriving at the front of the shop, Lu Chuan reappeared. He carefully looked behind him and breathed a sigh of relief when he realized Shen Gongbao wasn't chasing him.

In truth, he had just thought of that trick on the spur of the moment. He didn't know if it would work, but he had tried it with a "why not" attitude. He hadn't expected it to actually succeed.

"Heh, to think of using Water Escape like that—I really am a genius!"

Lu Chuan shook his head and muttered to himself, feeling a bit speechless. But then, he thought again and secretly mused, "But who cares how the escape technique is used? Escape is escape; isn't it meant for saving your life? As long as it works, that's all that matters. This Water Escape—no, 'Saliva Escape'—well, I'll just keep it as a trump card for saving my life. You never know when it might come in handy..."

After escaping the "clutches of the devil," Lu Chuan opened the shop doors; it was still a woodcarving shop.

However, it had been over two months since the shop opened, yet the entrance remained as deserted as a bird's nest, and few of the woodcarvings left behind by the previous owner had been sold.

Fortunately, Shen Gongbao did not need to eat, which saved a significant expense.

This shop cannot go on like this...

Lu Chuan lay slumped over the counter, his chin pressed against his hands, watching the pedestrians passing by outside as he thought to himself.

Buying a shop was difficult, but running this kind of business was even harder.

In his past life, Lu Chuan had bought property, but he had never sold woodcarvings; besides, these carvings were flashy but impractical, serving no purpose other than as ornaments once taken home.

Although the people of Yin Shang were relatively wealthy, they would not buy such a useless trinket.

Therefore, he truly could not understand why Shen Gongbao had bought this shop in the first place.

Since purchasing the shop, Shen Gongbao had acted as an absentee owner, handing over full management to him.

He neither managed the accounts nor cared about profit or loss; aside from passing down Daoist arts and teaching him cultivation, he simply hid in his room reading military strategy books.

"This won't do. Keeping the shop open like this is no solution; it loses money every single day."

Lu Chuan pondered, "I must open a shop that can turn a profit, preferably one that helps with my cultivation, a business with high returns and no losses—and it has to be something this era doesn't have yet..."

Right now, he was eating and drinking at Shen Gongbao's expense, and if this continued, it would be no good!

He began to narrow his eyes and think.

Just as he was squinting, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a familiar figure flashing past the front of the shop through the slits of his eyes.

"Wait, was that..."

Lu Chuan quickly straightened up and stepped outside the shop, only to see an old man in a gray robe walking ahead, carrying a load of bamboo strainers on his back.

"Uncle-Master Jiang!"

Lu Chuan raised his hand and called out with a smile, "Uncle-Master Jiang!"

The person was none other than Jiang Ziya.

Although Jiang Ziya was now seventy-two years old, he was light-footed, healthy, and sharp-eyed because he had studied the Dao.

Hearing the voice, he turned his head, and upon seeing who it was, he also revealed a smile.

"Master, Master, Uncle-Master Jiang is here."

Lu Chuan led Jiang Ziya into the backyard of the shop and shouted aloud.

"You brat, what kind of decorum is it to make such a racket in the courtyard?"

With the sound of a door opening, Shen Gongbao walked out of his room looking sullen; Lu Chuan's voice had directly disrupted his train of thought.

However, the moment he stepped out and saw Jiang Ziya, Shen Gongbao could not help but be startled, then quickly stepped forward with a smile and said, "Senior Brother, what a rare guest! What wind has blown you to your Junior Brother's place?"

"Rare guest indeed!"

Jiang Ziya gave a bitter smile and waved his hand, "I came into the city to sell these strainers. I just saw the boy, Lu Chuan, and he insisted on pulling me in for a visit."

"He pulled you in well!"

Shen Gongbao smiled and stepped aside to invite him in, "Come, come, Senior Brother, let us go into the room to talk. Disciple, brew some tea!"