"Eek, Master, a ghost!"
Of the yellow-robed Taoist's two disciples, the one who looked sharper spotted Su Che's figure from afar. He immediately stepped through the ritual paces, formed seals with both hands in rapid succession, then snatched a handful of glutinous rice from his waist and scattered it wildly.
"By the decree of heavenly soldiers and earthly fire, let my Dao display its divine might! This command is like thunder—break for me!"
The handful of glutinous rice came down like a driving rain, pelting him over the head and face. Just as Su Che was about to speak, several grains of raw rice flew into his mouth.
"Heh, this little ghost has some skill."
"Senior Brother, this little ghost isn't afraid of your Heavenly Soldiers and Earthly Fire Decree. I'm afraid he may be an old ghost."
The other junior brother, who looked twenty years older than his senior brother, had narrow eyes and a long face. With a bleak, frosty look, he spoke from the side.
"No matter. Watch my peachwood sword and Maoshan talismans." The senior brother drew a peachwood sword from behind his back and wrapped two Yellow Talismans around it.
"Talismans command the Nine Netherworlds, Maoshan's orthodox law, Yang Essence of the Ninth Heaven, transform into my sword's edge. Let my Dao display its divine might, quickly, quickly..."
He struck the pose of Kui Xing Kicking the Dipper, and his peachwood rod was about to come crashing down on Su Che.
Before the peachwood sword could move, a slap came flying toward the back of his head.
"You burn incense without looking at the gods—you'll make Taoists everywhere laugh themselves sick. So rash and reckless! What sort of behavior is this?"
The yellow-robed Taoist had straight brows and a mustache above his lips. Raising his right hand, he smacked his disciple on the back of the head.
"How many times have I told you? When you see Sword Qi congealed between a man's brows, he must be a tower above towers from the Eastern Sea. You dare make trouble upon meeting an expert of the sword?"
As he spoke, the yellow-robed Taoist cupped his hands in greeting toward Su Che.
"Lin Jiugong, a humble late student of Maoshan from Guobei County, greets you, Dao Brother. My two disciples are good-for-nothings and have disturbed you, Dao Brother."
Looking at the group of three, Su Che felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity. He casually came up with an alias for himself.
"Wandering cultivator Yue Buqun greets you, Dao Brother. In times like these, people are unlike people and ghosts are unlike ghosts. Meeting someone and first showing a hand is what reveals our true colors as those who banish demons and defend the Dao. How could that count as a disturbance?"
"It is still because I have failed in my discipline." One-Brow Taoist looked at Su Che. "Where have you come from, Dao Brother?"
"Sons and daughters of the martial world do good deeds as they travel; ask not what lies ahead. Passing through Shanyin, I heard there was a wood demon causing trouble here, so I came to investigate."
"You came too late, Dao Brother. The Wood Wraith that had entrenched itself here was wounded by Shanyin County's newly appointed county commandant. No one knows where it has hidden itself." Lin Jiugong looked around. "The wood aura here has already faded. That proves the Wood Wraith has moved elsewhere."
One-Eye had left?
That fellow had dared go to the county office to seek him out a second time. He had clearly set his heart on that one arm—why had he abandoned his old nest so easily?
His copy of Records of the Hidden Within recorded it clearly: Wood Wraiths were most attached to their roots and would not move house lightly.
Su Che thought of that arm of One-Eye's, neither gold nor iron.
Could he have guessed wrong? Perhaps that fellow was not a Wood Wraith at all.
"Since the Wood Wraith has left, what have you master and disciples come here for?"
"We are pursuing a zombie."
"That fellow has cultivated for nearly a hundred years and has forged a copper head and iron arms..."
"Master accepted a bounty of ten taels of silver. He wants to bring that zombie's head back."
"Then we can have Huadiao wine when we get back."
"White-cut chicken, roast suckling pig, roast goose..."
Lin Jiugong's two living-treasure disciples—one gesturing wildly, the other chanting away—worked together to recite a menu of dishes.
A trace of embarrassment flashed across One-Brow Taoist's face.
Before this swordsman who roamed the four seas, his own habit of taking money to get things done truly made his face burn.
"Hahahaha! Excellent. Then I shall travel with Dao Brother Lin. I only ask for a plate of roast goose to accompany my wine."
Truly a swordsman—what a Yue Buqun, bright as a clear breeze and radiant moon.
Yue Buqun: deep as an abyss, steadfast as a mountain, standing apart from the crowd. What a fine name.
Daoist Lin felt deep admiration in his heart.
"Then I must trouble you, Dao Brother."
Su Che nodded.
"I would also ask to borrow your disciple's peachwood sword."
Lin Jiugong was startled. Did swordsmen walking the martial world these days not carry swords anymore?
"Fine. Qiu Sheng, give him the sword."
The lively Qiu Sheng smiled at the words, channeled strength into his arm, and threw over the peachwood sword in his hand.
He still intended to test this "swordsman" before him.
Had Su Che encountered such a scene last night, he could only have stamped his foot and sighed. But today, having just returned from the Mount Zhong Association, Zhongyuan had imparted an exquisite sword art to him.
The Mirage Shadow Primordial Sword Zhongyuan had sent into Su Che's mud-pellet palace had not merely brought him the method of practicing this sword art, but also its insights and experience.
Once it had been poured into him, it was as though he had practiced the pure skills of a boy for several decades, utterly familiar with them.
Su Che brought together the index and middle fingers of his left hand as a sword finger and tapped the center of the peachwood blade. Using Su Che's right hand as its axis, the peachwood sword spun several times, shedding the force of Qiu Sheng's throw before hovering horizontally in midair. Then Su Che lightly plucked it down with his right hand.
"Amazing!"
Qiu Sheng had the temperament of a youth to begin with. Seeing Su Che's move, he immediately cried out in praise.
Lin Jiugong could not help nodding. With such a swordsman helping them, their odds against that fiend had risen by another thirty percent.
The group of three continued searching through Withered Forest Monastery.
Though the moonlight that night was not bright, its glow was enough to make out the road ahead. Phosphorescent flames flickered now and then amid the broken walls and crumbling ruins, yet the path ahead remained visible.
Suddenly, Lin Jiugong's nose twitched slightly, and he raised the mirror in his left hand before his chest.
Straight ahead, a cluster of ghostly blue phosphorescent fire drifted toward them.
"There's something unclean here. Everyone, take cover."
One-Brow Taoist said no more. Leading Su Che and the others, he hurried to the side and hid behind a withered pine tree.
As the blue fire drifted closer, two figures dressed in monk's robes emerged beneath the moonlight.
"Damn it, One-Eye has finally left. If we could bask in the moonlight like this every day from now on, maybe we could become a little stronger too. If we could catch some Emperor's Nectar a few times, these ghost bodies of ours might become more stable."
"What are you thinking? Our corpses aren't even whole. Being headless ghosts at all is already a blessing left by our patriarchs, and you still want to advance further? Stop dreaming."
The two monks strolled beneath the moon, clad in dark monk's robes and hemp shoes, each with a string of prayer beads in hand.
Unfortunately, clean-cut severed marks lay across their necks.
Their scarred six-yang chiefs had long since vanished to who knew where.
"I heard there is a Yin-Yang Dharma King in Guobei County, a man of vast divine powers and the foremost figure among Ghost Cultivators. Perhaps if we go seek refuge with him, we might still have a future."
"Junior Brother, first, you heard that from a ghost. Second, Senior Brother has developed a condition these past few years. I can't bear to hear the words head, skull, chief, or severed head."
"Ah, being trapped here every day like this, I might as well be dead."
"Junior Brother, we're already dead."
"Senior Brother, according to the Buddhist School's division of the Six Paths, which path do you think we belong to?"
"I think we should count as the Hungry Ghost Path. The heavens, Asura, and humans—the three upper paths—must all have heads. Beasts, Hungry Ghosts, Hell... even beasts ought to have heads."
"But Hungry Ghosts should have mouths too, shouldn't they?"
"Maybe it's because we're in the Central Land and not under the west's jurisdiction. And Junior Brother, even without a mouth, you have far too many questions."
Pfft.
Su Che turned his head.
He saw that Daoist Lin's unlucky disciple named Wencai could not hold back his laughter.