Severing Mortal Ties

In Su Yu's courtyard, as the sun shifted, the shadow of that old pine slowly moved across the ground.

Inch by inch, it marked the silent passage of time.

"A talisman is a token of trust."

Su Yu lounged sideways in a rocking chair, pinching a blank sheet of yellow hemp talisman paper between her fingers as she spoke lazily.

"Simply put, I use my qi to write Heaven and Earth's message, ordering them to act."

As she spoke, a brush appeared in her other hand.

"The talismans of the Kan Water Lineage are rooted in water and use metal. Metal forms the bones, water serves as the medium, and what they draw upon is the power of the Constellation."

She sat up slightly and dipped the brush tip into the inky black liquid in the inkstone.

It was specially prepared talisman ink mixed with cinnabar and demon beast blood, precious spirit ink carrying a faintly sweet, bloody scent.

The brush tip touched the talisman paper.

There were no flashy movements. Throughout the entire process, Su Yu remained calm and unhurried.

Silver lines spread across the yellow hemp paper with the movement of her brush, layered with remarkable depth.

At the heart of the pattern were three stars connected in a line, surrounded by overlapping ripples of water.

As he watched and learned, Shen Qingzhou's [Source Tracing] quietly began to operate.

At that moment, he seemed possessed by the soul of a talisman-dao prodigy.

In his eyes, every stroke Su Yu made was not drawing, but more like... "weaving."

She drew out her own Metal-Water Qi and rewove it into the talisman paper according to an exquisite structure.

Shen Qingzhou understood. This was not talisman drawing at all—it was clearly a miniature formation. What exquisite control.

No wonder people said talismans and formations had never been separate since ancient times... If he learned talisman drawing first and formations afterward, he would achieve twice the result with half the effort!

Choosing the talisman path had indeed been the right choice.

With the final stroke, the talisman was complete.

The silver patterns on the entire sheet flashed once, then faded away, returning it to an utterly ordinary appearance.

"Watch carefully."

Su Yu flicked her finger. Driven by spiritual energy, the talisman floated toward a bluestone in the corner of the courtyard.

The paper hovered three inches from the stone, then turned into a streak of watery light and melted into the air.

The bluestone remained where it was and looked unchanged, but in Shen Qingzhou's perception, the stone had "vanished."

"It really disappeared."

When his divine sense swept over it, there was nothing there, as though the stone and the space it occupied had both been hidden away.

This was the [Constellation Concealment Talisman].

"I have the materials for beginners here." Su Yu kicked a wooden box out from beneath the rocking chair. "A stack of talisman paper, three taels of beast blood, and one qian of cinnabar. These were left over from when I first started. They're yours."

"Thank you, Senior Sister." Shen Qingzhou accepted them with delight.

"Don't thank me yet." Su Yu lay back down, the rocking chair creaking as her tone gradually turned more serious.

"Ahem... There's no such thing as a free lunch in this world. I taught you and gave you things, so now you owe me. That's called karma, and it's also called a transaction. Right?"

"You want to draw talismans and earn contribution points? Fine. But first, you have to do something for me."

"Please tell me, Senior Sister."

Shen Qingzhou was not surprised. Getting something for free was clearly impossible; he had long been prepared for this.

He waited quietly for her to continue.

"Three hundred li down the mountain from the sect, there's a place called Peace River City."

Su Yu took out a handkerchief from her sleeve and wiped dust that did not exist from her fingertips.

"There's a wealthy merchant there surnamed Xu. His ancestors had some connection with one of the seniors of our lineage. Go to his home and bring something back."

She tossed him a thin bamboo slip, upon which an ancient iron box was sketched in charcoal, its lid marked with water ripples.

"Why doesn't Senior Sister go herself?" Shen Qingzhou asked.

"Because I'm lazy!"

Su Yu answered with perfect confidence. "Besides, with this face of mine, people watch my every move. You're different. You're a new face, at the first layer of Qi Refining. No one will pay attention to you. Even if you botch it, it won't lead back to me."

That was the real reason. It was convenient, and it left no loose ends.

"My cultivation is low... I'm afraid I might be set upon when I leave the mountain."

Shen Qingzhou said it bluntly. What he meant was: I'm afraid of dying, so you need to pay more!

Yet Su Yu did not take the bait. She looked at him in surprise. "What are you talking about? The sect regularly sweeps the area within several hundred li. Bandit cultivators, demonic cultivators, and demon beasts have all been cleaned up thoroughly.

"Otherwise, how do you think mortals like you survived before gathering qi?"

She patted the young man on the shoulder and gave a sly grin.

"Junior Brother, just relax. There's a deacon stationed around Peace River City. At most, you'll run into some small fry Rogue Cultivators in the Early Qi Refining Stage. If you can't beat them, surely you can run away?"

Shen Qingzhou felt helpless.

Still, this was also an opportunity for him.

He had no Lineage background to speak of. If he remained in the sect, waiting to be fed, he would starve to death sooner or later!

"After I go down the mountain, I want to return home first." He made his condition.

"Home?"

Su Yu raised an eyebrow. "Fine. Do as you please. Just bring the item back within one month. Once you succeed, I'll help you sell the talismans you draw in the future. Seventy-thirty split—you get seven, I get three."

"Deal."

Three days later, Shen Qingzhou stepped out through the gates of Sword-Coming Peak.

The farther down he went, the thinner the spiritual energy in the air became, and the more "sluggish" the vitality of the plants and trees grew. Birdsong and beast cries filled the mountain forest, replacing the howling mountain winds of the heights.

Memories of the mortal world gradually surfaced.

The original owner's "home" was in a place called Qingshi Town. It was a tiny town that barely sustained itself by relying on a post road.

The original owner's father had been a small peddler, while his mother had woven cloth. The couple had pinched every penny all their lives, then squandered their entire fortune and pulled countless strings before they finally managed to send him onto the path of cultivation.

Less than three years after the original owner left home, the two elders passed away from illness one after the other.

"Alas, they were all people with bitter fates." He sighed. This was the deepest pain in those memories.

No wonder the original owner had struggled so desperately to climb upward. Life had been too bitter. After finally gaining the chance to cultivate immortality, how could he not strive to seize it?

When Shen Qingzhou stepped into Qingshi Town, the scenes from his memories overlapped with the sight before him for an instant, then separated again.

The street was still that same street, its bluestone slabs worn smooth, moss growing from their cracks.

The afternoon sunlight poured down, and the air carried a scent of dust, livestock dung, and food, instantly bringing back that familiar feeling.

A vendor selling steamed cakes shouted loudly. Several children chased and played in an alley. A woman stood in her doorway, cursing and grumbling. Everything seemed exactly as it had been.

Shen Qingzhou walked among them, as though reminiscing, as though merely wandering about. Everything about him seemed so careless.

After an unknown amount of time, he found the small courtyard from his memories.

The courtyard gate was tightly locked, a rusty bronze lock hanging from it.

Through the gap in the gate, he could see waist-high weeds filling the yard. No one had lived there for a long time.

He stood there for a while without pushing open the gate. Let this place remain as it was, he thought.

After he had stood there for some time, a man carrying water buckets passed by. He looked Shen Qingzhou over a few times, then suddenly recognized that vaguely familiar face.

It differed somewhat from the youthful appearance in his memories, but the features had become more handsome.

"You... You're that boy from the Shen family?"

Shen Qingzhou nodded.

"Oh, it really is you! I nearly didn't recognize you. They all said you went up the mountain to become an immortal!"

The man set down his buckets and spoke with a sigh. "A few years after you left, your parents' health failed. Luckily, your distant paternal cousin Shen Fu was truly a good man. He sold his own shop to treat your parents, and when there was truly no other way, he sold the old family home to repay the debts and took his family to start over."

Shen Qingzhou nodded.

The original owner's parents had received the kindness of his cousin's family. Today, that kindness had to be repaid.

"Where does he live?" Shen Qingzhou asked.

"At the eastern end of town. That newly built two-courtyard residence is his. He's a capable man too—his business has picked up again over the last few years."

Shen Qingzhou thanked him and turned toward the eastern end of town.

The new residence was easy to find. Red lanterns hung at the entrance, and two stone lions stood there with imposing majesty.

He did not knock. Soundlessly, he walked straight inside.

The gate hinges did not turn, the door panels made no sound, and he simply passed through them.

Inside the courtyard, a portly middle-aged man lay dozing in a rattan chair. His face was full of fatigue, as though worn down by the struggle to make a living.

He was Shen Fu, the original owner's cousin.

Shen Fu's son, a boy of seven or eight, was chasing a rooster around the courtyard. But after only a few steps, he stopped to gasp for breath, his cheeks flushed red as he panted heavily.

Shen Qingzhou's arrival disturbed no one. He was merely a passing observer.

He walked over to the boy.

The boy's body was somewhat weak. Shen Qingzhou could tell at a glance that a mass of turbid qi had accumulated within his lungs and organs.

It was caused by congenital weakness, compounded by improper care after birth.

Shen Qingzhou stretched out a hand and pressed it lightly through the air above the boy's head.

A trace of [Jade Well Cleansing Water] entered through his Baihui acupoint, washing over that mass of turbid qi.

The boy's body trembled. His previously ragged breathing immediately steadied.

He stopped moving and looked around in confusion. Then he let out a huge yawn, swayed over to the rattan chair, and fell asleep beside Shen Fu.

Shen Fu woke with a start and touched his son's head, muttering, "This child..." Yet he did not notice that his son's sickly flush had become a healthy rosy color.

Shen Qingzhou walked over to Shen Fu again.

He did nothing, merely watched quietly for a while. Shen Fu looked very much like the father from his memories.

Then he took out an ordinary green jade pendant from his sleeve. It was the one he had worn as a child before going up the mountain.

He rubbed it, infusing it with a trace of pure water-aspected spiritual energy.

The jade pendant could neither attack nor defend. Its sole use was to slowly release purified water vapor. Worn for a long time, it could keep a person free from illness and extend their lifespan.

He placed the jade pendant on the stone table and turned to leave.

This could also be considered an answer for having occupied the original owner's body like a magpie in another's nest.

From beginning to end, he did not say a single word to anyone in this "home." He came lightly, and he left lightly.

The debt of gratitude had been repaid, and this body's final attachment had been severed.

From that day onward, there was no longer a Shen Qingzhou of Qingshi Town in this world—only Shen Qingzhou of Sword-Coming Peak.

After leaving Qingshi Town, Shen Qingzhou traveled east. Seven days later, he arrived in Peace River City.

Peace River City was more than a hundred times larger than Qingshi Town. Its city walls were tall and broad, its moat wide, and its streets packed with carriages and people.

He first found an inn and settled in, then changed into ordinary cloth garments and entered the largest teahouse in the city.

Shen Qingzhou ordered a pot of the cheapest coarse tea and sat in a corner. He did not deliberately listen; he merely spread out his senses.

From the clamorous voices around him, he could easily pick out whatever information he wanted.

Before long, he had sorted out the Xu Family's current circumstances.

The Xu Family of Peace River had once been renowned local silk merchants, wealthy enough to rival one side.

But in this generation, the family head Xu Bonian was poor at business. The family had declined, and now they only guarded a three-courtyard ancestral residence and several shops on the verge of closing, barely making ends meet.

Recently, the Xu Family had run into serious trouble.

The newly appointed prefect of Peace River City had taken a fancy to the Xu Family's ancestral land and wanted to buy it by force. Xu Bonian refused, so the prefect found an excuse, claiming the Xu Family's shops had evaded taxes. He sealed the shops, arrested the accountant, and forced the Xu Family to sell off their assets.

"The Xu Family is finished this time. Once you offend the authorities, not even immortals can save you," a tea drinker at the next table sighed.

"What a pity about that residence. I heard its feng shui is excellent."

Shen Qingzhou raised his teacup and took a sip.

Going directly to their door and using force to seize it was the worst possible strategy.

Behind the authorities stood the Great Gan Dynasty, a dynasty jointly governed by immortals and mortals.

If he caused too great a disturbance, it might attract the sect's inspectors. The losses would outweigh the gains.

There was no need to confront the prefect directly, either.

He was only a first-layer Qi Refining cultivator, not yet capable of flying through the heavens and burrowing through the earth, omnipotent in all things. Even before a mortal army, he would gain no advantage.

The key was that if the prefect died, the problem would disappear.

As long as he did not openly assault the government office and merely took the man's life, it would not be difficult.

He was only a mortal prefect. At most, he had a few personal guards around him, but they could not possibly stop Shen Qingzhou's methods.

The [Star-Felling Gold-Shattering Blade] was invisible and formless, specializing in harming the soul. Afterward, people would only assume he had died suddenly of an acute illness, unable to uncover the slightest trace.

Now that was what efficiency meant!

Night fell, and lamps lit up along the streets.

After sorting through his thoughts, Shen Qingzhou returned to the inn, shut his room door, and adjusted his breathing to prepare.

Cultivation was for great transcendence and great freedom, not for rolling around in the mud of the mortal world and playing with dirt.

Outside the window, the clamor of Peace River City gradually quieted down.