Mountain Lord

"Does a Heaven-Mixing Talisman need to merge into a mental aperture? No wonder when I used this Heaven-Mixing Talisman to control objects, its power became much greater, and it obeyed my wishes far more readily."

Wang Chong did not know that he thought embedding a Heaven-Mixing Talisman into a mental aperture was an ordinary, commonplace matter, but that was far from the truth.

Take the Primordial Sword Formula as an example. It possessed only twenty-eight Heaven-Mixing Talismans in total, yet one had to open one hundred and thirty-six mental apertures and cycle one's mana through five layers of heavenly circuits. How could there possibly be enough to go around?

Even Xiao Nan had not refined all twenty-eight Heaven-Mixing Talismans of the Primordial Sword Formula into his apertures. He had only placed twelve within them. With each additional talisman refined into an aperture, spells circulated a fraction faster and responded more swiftly—born the instant a thought arose. In a battle of spells, that granted no small advantage.

Wang Chong did not know that, without realizing it, he had already taken a step ahead of others.

The words on the three stone steles he visualized had originally been as distinct as the Jing and Wei rivers, each separate and unimpeded. Yet when this Heaven-Mixing Talisman, containing the "intent of gathering and taking, pronounced Hook Tone," merged into his mental aperture, it was like a mysterious nail pinning the three talismans firmly in place. The three Heaven-Mixing Talismans seemed to brighten by the slightest trace.

Little Bug did not know what this meant either. After studying it for a long while, he secretly thought, I'll ask Brother Zhu tomorrow!

He studied during the day and learned the Primordial Sword Formula from Zhu Ying at night, leaving him thoroughly exhausted. His curiosity gradually faded, drowsiness welled up, and before long he fell into a deep sleep.

The next day, when Little Bug got up, he found that Zhu Ying was gone. Greatly puzzled, he thought, Why did Brother Zhu get up so early? Why didn't he wake me?

After tidying himself up a little, he searched everywhere but could not find Zhu Ying. He could only go eat alone in low spirits. He asked several people in the dining hall, but none had seen Zhu Ying, which made him feel even stranger.

When it was time for class, Zhu Ying still had not appeared. Little Bug began to worry. At noon, he could not resist asking the master of Class A. The master of Class A said he had not seen him either, and Little Bug immediately panicked, begging the master to send someone to look for him.

When the master of Class A heard that Zhu Ying had been missing since morning, he only assumed the boy had slipped out to play and refused to send anyone searching.

Little Bug was still young. After being scolded several times by the master of Class A, he could only leave with his head hanging low. He did not attend class that afternoon, instead searching all over the academy.

Unable to find him anywhere in the academy, Little Bug suspected Zhu Ying had gone to the rear mountain. Following the side gate Zhu Ying had used before, he found Master Xiao's thatched cottage.

Little Bug searched through the cottage, but still found no trace of him. Dust lay thick inside, clearly showing that no one had been there for a long time.

He grew ever more anxious and wandered through the rear mountain in a blind search. Before he knew it, he had gone deep into White Egret Mountain, and the sky was gradually darkening.

By the time Little Bug came to his senses, he was surrounded by mountain forests he had never seen before. He looked in every direction, but had no idea which way led back to the academy. Frightened and alarmed, he still could not stop worrying about Zhu Ying.

"Should I keep searching, or should I return to the academy?"

"Perhaps Brother Zhu has already gone back to the academy? Even if he hasn't, I should find his family. The academy must know where his household servants live. I have to notify them."

"If something truly unspeakable has happened, then all I can do is report it to the authorities! If all else fails, I'll have to disregard Father and Mother's instructions and give them Father's name. The yamen won't dare be careless then."

Little Bug turned the matter over and over in his mind, but had no idea what he should do.

He was, after all, only a twelve-year-old child. His body had not fully developed, and once exhaustion overtook him, he stumbled and sat down, unable to rise again for quite a while.

Worried about Zhu Ying, Little Bug had not eaten properly that morning, and he had missed dinner as well. Hungry and exhausted, he rested on the ground for a good while, but still did not recover.

He knew he could not spend the night on the rear mountain. If he encountered wolves or venomous creatures, his life would surely be in danger. Yet his body truly could not hold on any longer; no amount of anxiety could help.

Little Bug raised his wrist and saw the Black Wind Bag, now transformed into a faint shadow like a birthmark. He could not help thinking, If only I could ride the clouds.

After obtaining the Black Wind Bag, he had spent his days studying and his nights cultivating the Primordial Sword Formula with Zhu Ying. He had never found time to examine it, much less try refining that mass of Black-Wind Baleful Cloud.

"With just a few fragments of cloud, one can leap and bound as freely as one wishes and change direction in midair. If I could refine all of Old Demon Luo's Black-Wind Baleful Cloud, wouldn't I be able to fly wildly across the four seas like an immortal?"

As he indulged in such wild thoughts, two lights suddenly flickered ahead of him, brightening and dimming. Little Bug was overjoyed and called out, "Is anyone there?"

The moment his words fell, a low roar sounded from where the lights were, shaking the mountain forest until echoes answered from all directions. The boy nearly lost his soul in terror, immediately understanding: "Those aren't two lanterns. They're the eyes of a hungry tiger."

In his panic, Little Bug hurriedly pulled out the copper ring.

A moment later, a fierce striped tiger with hanging eyes and a white forehead came through the forest by moonlight. At the sight of the fair, tender boy, it let out a long howl. A vast gust of fearsome wind swept forth, terrifying Little Bug until his liver and gallbladder nearly shattered.

He was still young, and could no longer think of anything else. With a flick of his hand, the copper ring expanded to the size of a washbasin and flew through the air, striking the striped tiger squarely on the forehead.

Though Little Bug had opened one mental aperture, it had not even been a full day, and his mana was weak. The copper ring struck the tiger's brow, yet the striped tiger was utterly unhurt. Instead, the ring bounced away more than ten paces and fell into the bushes.

Little Bug cast his spell again to summon it, but the copper ring gave no response and did not move at all.

He hurriedly turned to flee, only to hear the striped tiger with hanging eyes and a white forehead let out a low growl and speak in human words. "Little Daoist friend, why did you strike me with the Qiankun Ring?"

Little Bug froze in astonishment and cried, "Has the tiger become a spirit too?"

The striped tiger's cry was half roar, half laughter. "Why can't I, the Mountain Lord, become a spirit?"

Little Bug and the striped tiger stared at one another, man and tiger locking eyes. The boy's heart pounded wildly, and only after a long while did it settle. He stammered, "I mistook Mountain Lord for a man-eater, so I struck out recklessly."

The striped tiger gave a low roar and continued speaking in human words. "If I had not attained the Dao and had been captured by mountain hunters, with my tiger meat sold in the marketplace, would you eat it?"

Though Little Bug was afraid, he struggled to his feet, solemnly bowed, and said, "This boy has been taught."

The striped tiger roared, seeming to smile yet not smile. "You disciples of the orthodox mystic sects are always accustomed to looking down on the Demon Race. I won't argue with you, and I do not want your apology either. I took a Qiankun Ring for nothing; count it as bad luck when I left my cave today."

After Little Bug tried several times, the copper ring suddenly resonated with his senses again. It flew up from the bushes and came rushing back, and he caught it in one hand.

The striped tiger looked at it again and again, a faint envy in its eyes. "This is a method handed down by the Great Deity of the Three Altars and Ocean Assembly. Your refinement is terribly crude. It might knock an old woman to the ground, but it could not hurt a strong man. Besides, I am a cultivator of some attainment myself. My demonic aura has worn away twenty or thirty days of this artifact's refinement. Go back and refine it anew from the beginning."

Little Bug tested it slightly and indeed found the mana within the copper ring circulating sluggishly and unsatisfactorily. He truly did not know this copper ring's origins. Hearing this, he asked curiously, "Mountain Lord, who is the Great Deity of the Three Altars and Ocean Assembly?"