Dima Pulou Nayouda

Zhu Ying still could not let it go. He thought to himself, If I had taught him some spells a few days earlier, and he had displayed them before Master Xiao, there was an eighty or ninety percent chance Wang Chong could have entered his tutelage.

Regret and resentment alike—after all, I was one move too late.

Feeling he had wronged Wang Chong, Zhu Ying put twice the care into teaching him the sword formula. He traced the air again, drawing a second Heaven-Mixing Talisman, and said, "This Heaven-Mixing Talisman carries the meaning of turning things about. Its incantation is read in reversed tones. If you can focus your mind and visualize it within your spiritual awareness, tracing it into form, you will be able to rotate objects and turn up into down."

Zhu Ying pointed at the inkstone, and the red-thread inkstone from Qingzhou began to spin, reversing its orientation.

Little Bug copied him exactly and pointed with his hand. Zhu Ying's inkstone also turned, though its direction was slightly off, leaving it somewhat crooked.

Covering his mouth, Zhu Ying laughed. "You have yet to refine qi and possess little magical power, so you cannot wield talismans with complete ease."

Gradually, the red sun sank westward, and the loft grew dim. By the time Zhu Ying had taught the seventh Heaven-Mixing Talisman, he noticed how dark it had become. With a casual wave, he lit the lamp beside the bed and said, "Studying talisman arts consumes the mind and spirit greatly. I know you learn quickly, but I cannot pour everything into you in one gulp. We must spread it over some days, lest you cannot bear it."

"Once you have learned all the sword formula talismans, I will teach you the art of refining qi. Only by cultivating both qi refinement and sword formula talismans can yin and yang complement each other, allowing the arts and the Dao to nourish one another."

Little Bug was quite curious about Zhu Ying's lamp-lighting technique. He asked, "Is that a spell too?"

Zhu Ying said, "Just a petty trick, not worth mentioning."

Little Bug was not tired at all. He was considering whether to review his lessons and recite a few volumes of books when Zhu Ying gave a soft laugh and said, "You really can hold yourself back. Aren't you going to ask how to take things out of the Black Wind Bag?"

Only then did Little Bug remember that matter. "Being with Brother Zhu is so pleasant that I forget all such mundane affairs."

The smile on Zhu Ying's face deepened. Under the lamplight, there seemed to be a faint spring warmth flowing around him, like some exotic flower slowly blooming. He said, "Storage treasures throughout the world all use no more than three or four methods of ritual refinement. The Black Wind Temple lineage follows the Myriad Demons Formula, and their storage treasures are founded upon the Little Beckoning Spell."

"The Myriad Demons Formula has incantations but no talismans, which is why it is also called the Wordless Heavenly Scripture. The Little Beckoning Spell consists of seven incantation words. I will teach you to recite them."

"Dima Pulou Nayouda!"

Little Bug recited after him, not missing a single word, yet nothing happened.

Zhu Ying said with a smile, "If you could chant it just by hearing it once, it would not be much of a spell. This incantation requires you to vibrate seven acupoints within your body at once, each answering the others, before it can take effect."

"For the first word, steady your spirit in your lower abdomen. For the second, gather your intent at your left waist..." As Zhu Ying explained, he also reached out to point at Wang Chong's body and correct him.

Little Bug understood it in his heart and tried several times.

On the seventh or eighth attempt at chanting "Di," he suddenly felt his lower abdomen swell slightly. When he chanted "Ma," his left waist gave a faint twitch...

He recited all seven incantation words in one breath, and immediately sensed the Black Wind Bag around his wrist. With a thought, a mass of black cloud slowly floated out.

Little Bug was mildly startled and hurriedly withdrew his thought. The black cloud was sucked back into the Black Wind Bag.

Light glimmered faintly in Zhu Ying's bright eyes as he murmured, "A true prodigy indeed."

When he had learned the Little Beckoning Spell, it had taken him half a day, and his family had already praised him as having "a Dao heart born of Heaven, with enlightened natural talent." Wang Chong surpassed even his younger self by several measures. Among any Daoist sect, he would surely have been a once-in-a-thousand-years inheritor of the lineage.

Zhu Ying still regretted that Little Bug had not been able to take a master.

With the experience of successfully chanting the Little Beckoning Spell once, Little Bug found that every subsequent attempt worked without fail, as effective as could be.

He could sense that the space inside the Black Wind Bag was vast, as large as three or four rooms. Countless things were piled within in utter disorder, like the storeroom of some household that had gone untidied for years. He thought, No wonder Brother Zhu did not want it. How could someone so fond of cleanliness endure such a filthy, chaotic thing?

A mass of black cloud swirled about within. It was precisely the object Old Demon Luo had used, identical to the fragmented cloud Little Bug had picked up in the back mountain, except countless times larger, with wind and thunder within it whose power was unknown how many times greater.

Zhu Ying said, "Old Demon Luo came from Black Wind Temple. He was not skilled in any of its other arts, but he had painstakingly cultivated the Black-Wind Spell for several centuries. He had even refined Earthcore Sha Qi and Nine Heavens wind and thunder into it, so it counted as a formidable method."

"When Master Xiao had only recently taken a master and had not yet learned deeply, he traveled the martial world and suffered a small setback when he encountered Old Demon Luo."

"But the orthodox Mystic Gate is no trifling matter. In merely a few years, Master Xiao's abilities surpassed Old Demon Luo's, scattering his centuries of painstaking effort like smoke and clouds."

Little Bug found this quite interesting and nodded repeatedly. His nature was gentle, and he disliked fighting others. He did not care whose cultivation was higher, Master Xiao's or Old Demon Luo's, but he secretly thought, If I could control this mass of black cloud, wouldn't I be able to visit Mother whenever I wished?

Unable to stop himself, he asked, "Brother Zhu, do you know how to cultivate the Black-Wind Spell?"

Zhu Ying smiled. "Though I know a little of the Myriad Demons Formula, what I learned is not of the same lineage as Black Wind Temple. A common spell such as the Little Beckoning Spell is known by nearly everyone, but the Black-Wind Spell is Black Wind Temple's secret transmission. Outsiders have no way to glimpse it."

"You should not think of ritual-refining this Black-Wind Baleful Cloud either. Dismantle it for materials and use them to refine other magical treasures later."

Little Bug nodded, yet that Heaven-Mixing Talisman arose once more in his mind—deep and secluded, surging without end, vast and mighty, like a dragon startled from hibernation, carrying an irresistible force. He secretly thought, Perhaps I can use the Heaven-Mixing Talisman to ritual-refine Old Demon Luo's Black-Wind Baleful Cloud as well?

When I have time, I'll secretly try it.

Though Zhu Ying was friendly with Wang Chong, it was already late, and there were certain proprieties to observe. It was inconvenient for them to continue chatting while sharing a bed, so Zhu Ying used the excuse that they still had school the next day and urged him to return to sleep.

Little Bug returned to his own bed, wished Zhu Ying good night, removed his clothes, and lay down to sleep.

Zhu Ying, however, had no desire for sleep. He took out an idle book and read for a long while before finally blowing out the lamp and lying down fully clothed.

The next morning, Wang Chong and Zhu Ying rose and, as usual, went to breakfast together and attended class together.

After entering Class Yi, Wang Chong also had lessons all day. Sometimes school ended later for him than for Zhu Ying, and sometimes earlier, but every night, the two would always arrange to be together, inseparable as shadow and form.

After eating dinner together, they returned to the storeroom together once more, and Zhu Ying continued explaining the Primordial Sword Formula to Wang Chong.

Little Bug not only had an excellent memory, but could also infer ten things from one and draw inferences from one instance to another. In only a few days, he had mastered all twenty-eight Heaven-Mixing Talismans of the Primordial Sword Formula.

Each of these twenty-eight Heaven-Mixing Talismans had its own use. Some controlled objects, some reversed them, some hastened them, some made them hard or soft, some increased sharpness, and some added toughness. Used together upon a flying sword, they allowed the sword light to fly and dance as it pleased, changing without limit, striking and piercing with nothing that could fail to answer.

After Zhu Ying had taught him all the sword formula talismans, he somehow acquired a bundle of bamboo chopsticks and had Wang Chong use them as flying swords, practicing their various transformations.

Little Bug had never encountered anything so fun before. Dozens of bamboo chopsticks circled and flew through the storeroom loft. He and Zhu Ying each controlled part of them, battling in a dazzling riot of blossoms and brilliant, bewitching orchids.