Nothing happened that night.
Though Su Che had confirmed that the ghost would not return tonight, neither the bookboy nor the herb gatherers could sleep another wink.
They looked at one another. Though they all had endless things to say, the night wind wailed like wronged ghosts weeping in the dark. The windows stirred and the tiles rattled; no matter how they looked at it, it seemed as if lurking specters were making mischief.
They could only sit guard by the fire and endure the long, heavy night.
Su Che, however, finally relaxed.
It was now clear that the thing haunting Withered Forest Monastery was a Wood Wraith, and he had the Sword Case in hand—just the thing to restrain it.
He might as well sleep without worry.
And so, this was naturally the soundest sleep he had had since crossing over.
After the rooster crowed thrice, the whole world turned white.
As they sat beside the burned-out ashes, the group finally found the courage to speak and began discussing last night's experience.
There was no need to mention the terror each of them had felt; they simply began recounting what had happened.
"Wasn't it terrifying? My whole body couldn't move at all. I'm not spinning you a yarn, brother—us country folk are strong men. We can walk ten miles of mountain paths without stopping, but last night I didn't have even a scrap of strength."
"Brother Seven is right. That thing looked like a millstone, just a ball of light..."
"Think about it—didn't that thing last night look like a woman with long hair from far away...?"
"I thought it looked like a skull..."
"It was a calf... a little bull..."
A ten-thousand-year wood spirit turned into an Azure Ox. Since it had not yet reached ten thousand years, turning into a calf was perfectly normal.
"I thought it looked more like a nun. Isn't this a monk's temple?"
A nun appearing in a monk's temple was perfectly reasonable.
"What could any of you see while you were sprawled on the ground?" The little bookboy looked at them with considerable disdain, then turned a respectful gaze toward the dark-faced man beside him.
"Brother Zhou, you were with my young master last night. Did you see how my young master slew that demon?"
The dark-faced man glanced at the newly appointed county lieutenant lying on the straw, privately feeling that this household was truly strange.
This county lieutenant was clearly a young master born of a wealthy family, yet he lay on straw without a care. The other was clearly just a bookboy, yet his mouth was so endlessly noisy.
Shouldn't servants of great households be best at reading faces and adapting to the wind?
Why was this one so dull-witted?
The dark-faced man looked at the bookboy's peach-blossom eyes and made a guess about the relationship between the two.
"After you all fell asleep, I heard a rustling sound beside my ears, wave after wave of it. The dying fire immediately turned an eerie green, and the window frames and tiles kept rattling..."
As the dark-faced man described what he had seen last night, it became clear why he could lead this band of herb gatherers. Besides being fair-minded and willing to take losses himself, he was also quite eloquent.
That episode from last night came alive in his telling.
"...Then I saw Lord County Lieutenant lightly pat that case with his hand and say one word: 'Please.'"
But the dark-faced man could not explain exactly how Su Che had severed that ball of green light outside, so he paused.
"And then?"
Back in the capital, the little bookboy had heard no shortage of anecdotes about cultivators. Some master from some household had practiced Joyful Zen until he forgot food and sleep, going at it for ten days straight. Just as success was in sight, he failed to restrain himself, his cultivation was ruined, and in fury he returned to secular life to become a butcher who slaughtered pigs and dogs.
Some swordsman from nowhere had broken into the deep palace and stolen the Empress's undergarments, along with the waistbands of several eunuchs. Stealing the undergarments had gone smoothly, but while stealing the eunuchs' waistbands, he was discovered by Imperial Demon Hunters patrolling the palace at night. A fierce slaughter followed, and in the end the swordsman threw himself into the Yangtze River and escaped.
A certain Daoist priest, while refining a furnace of Outer Elixir, encountered a Heart Demon. In his dream, he became a famous courtesan, was redeemed by a crippled wealthy merchant, and bore nine children. In the end, his entire family was slaughtered by bandits, and he himself was humiliated for three years before suddenly waking. As a result, a furnace of spiritual elixirs was wasted.
Who would have thought that Third Young Master Su, the invincible nighttime tyrant of the Music Bureau and the wealthy patron of the ladies of pleasure quarters, possessed such a method as well?
"It sounds like the life-bound cultivation of swordsmen—raising a treasured sword within a case..."
The little bookboy formed a sword gesture with his right hand and struck a pose before the herb gatherers, trying to recall the incantation he had heard storytellers mention at the market, but no matter how hard he thought, he could not remember it.
Those storytellers, too—they only ever told the dirty parts, making him seek out only the meaty bits when he listened.
"After that, I can't explain it. You'd be better off asking milord."
Of course, none of this had anything to do with Su Che. He was already awake; he simply could not be bothered to move.
That group of young heroes he had encountered in the capital had struck very heavily, and his muscles, bones, and meridians had all suffered grave damage.
At the time, his family had summoned imperial physicians from the palace to examine him. After looking him over, those quacks had only said that he was no longer within their jurisdiction.
Half of Third Young Master Su's life was in the hands of the God of Longevity, and the other half beneath Yama's feet. The two sides were wrestling, leaving no room for these doctors to act.
In the end, it was an elder of the Su Family who swallowed his pride and settled everything properly.
First, he had the steward take three hundred taels of gold and rush overnight to Rooster-Cry Mountain and Qixia Temple, where he met the supervising master and lit a golden longevity lamp before the temple's Buddha, borrowing the Buddhist School's art of Karmic Cause and Effect to protect Su Che's fate.
Then he had the Su Family's Second Young Master go to the Celestial Master Sect attended by their Attendant, where he sought a spiritual talisman personally inscribed by the current Heir of Han Celestial Master. It was dissolved into Talisman Water and drunk to protect Su Che's soul.
Finally, he obtained from the imperial Inner Elixir chamber a Ninefold Violet Firmament Restoration Elixir reserved for imperial use, which nourished the five viscera, strengthened the foundation, and replenished the source.
Ginseng soup, medicinal formulas, and Talisman Water were poured into him as though they cost nothing. Su Che alone consumed two jin of incense ash from Jiankang City God Temple.
He was then nursed with every method wealth could buy for another two months.
Only then did they land a vicious blow on Yama for the God of Longevity and pull Third Young Master Su back from death's door.
Su Che could responsibly say that, aside from his hair, not a single part of his body felt comfortable.
But he felt good, and better with every passing day.
Su Che slowly climbed up from the ground and casually patted the dust from his clothes.
"This commoner pays respects to Lord County Lieutenant."
Seeing that Su Che had awakened, the dark-faced man immediately led the herb gatherers in a bow.
The county magistrate was a local god who stood upon the earth. As the saying went, a prefect could wipe out a family, while a county magistrate could ruin a household. The county lieutenant was the great magistrate's steel saber and battle-axe; how could common folk with only a few pecks of grain fail to bow?
"You are all too courteous."
Su Che raised both hands in a token gesture, signaling for them to rise.
"The court's failure to clear the skies and purify the realm is already an injustice to the people. I am ashamed beyond measure—how could I deserve a bow from all of you?"
The dark-faced man looked at Third Young Master Su's mild expression, gritted his teeth, and asked.
"This lowly one dares ask: last night, I heard Lord County Lieutenant say that he intended to lead men in destroying this place. May I know when milord plans to act? I also have several strong friends willing to serve milord like dogs and horses."
Su Che looked beyond the hall. The crimson sun had already risen above the sea of clouds, a mass of flowing gold climbing toward the center of Southern Heaven. The surrounding grass and trees trembled gently in the mountain wind.
As if listening.
"Brother Zhou must have misheard. I have no such intention." Su Che's gaze swept over the Sword Case lying on the ground.
"Ah? Then this commoner must indeed have remembered wrongly." The dark-faced man's expression changed, and it was impossible to tell whether he was disappointed or relieved.
He turned and smiled. "Milord, hot porridge has just been cooked. If you do not find it poor and crude, I shall serve you a bowl."
"No need. I consume qi."
Su Che stretched his arms and declined the dark-faced man's kind offer.
First, he still remained wary of these people's identities.
Second, his injuries truly left him unable to eat anything. His wounds had reached his lungs and viscera; one careless move and he might cough up blood.
Then the image of Third Young Master Su, county lieutenant of Shanyin County, would transform from a youthful swordsman into a consumptive invalid in an instant.
How would he ever live that down?
After putting on a slight show, Su Che straightened his clothes and slowly walked into the small courtyard.
The great sun rose in the east, while the night's chill had yet to fade. The air still carried a trace of coldness, and gleaming white dew beaded the grass, trees, branches, and leaves.
The vegetation at Withered Forest Monastery was a little too lush.
Was it because the Wood Wraith dwelled here that the vitality of grass and trees flourished, or because the vitality of grass and trees flourished that it had nurtured a Wood Wraith?
Which was cause and which was effect made Su Che ponder for a moment.
Su Che swept his eyes over the ground.
Sure enough, he found what he had been expecting.
A strange object lay quietly amid the weeds. Its texture resembled gold and jade, while its entire body was the color of dark bronze.
Was this the thing the Sword Case had cut down last night?
Su Che suddenly felt that something was wrong.
This was clearly something of the metal element.