Zhang San carried two bowls of mushy meat noodles on a wooden tray. On his own initiative, he had also bought a flask of wine and a plate of braised pig head meat drenched in vinegar sauce.
After making a trip outside, he had already learned of the changes in the county.
Magistrate Jiang had fallen out with County Commandant Su.
That left Zhang San somewhat hesitant.
County Commandant Su was indeed a fierce dragon that had crossed the river, but Magistrate Jiang was no mere local snake.
The man was a fierce tiger sitting atop a mountain.
When dragon and tiger clashed, the flowers and grass nearby were naturally the ones to suffer.
Zhang San felt that he was merely an ordinary yamen runner. Now that he had caught County Commandant Su's Dharma Eye, he had to make a good showing while the opportunity was here.
Didn't those storytellers have a saying?
"A fierce wind reveals the strength of the grass." Now he had to be that sturdy blade of grass.
He lightly knocked on County Commandant Su's door, but there was no movement inside.
Zhang San gathered his courage and called out twice for the county commandant.
Yet there was still no response at all.
That shouldn't be. Even if he really was doing something with the Qi Household's wife, there ought to have been some noise inside.
He gently pushed the door open a crack, only to see that aside from the deeply sleeping Qi Household's wife, there was no one else in the room.
Three stubs of incense continued to burn in the censer, offered before the wooden box County Commandant Su had brought.
Where was he?
Su Che was on the road.
Dressed in a green robe, he had quietly left the county yamen.
The night had grown late, and the chill was beginning to show.
A bright moon hung high in the sky.
A white figure floated beside him.
She was about five feet tall, with long hair streaming behind her and a white face without features.
This was Qingqiu.
"Did you really have to do this? Even if you aren't pretty, there's no need to make yourself into a blank-faced ghost to scare people. If some old man saw you, the whole neighborhood could start serving funeral banquets."
Su Che looked at Qingqiu's face beside him.
"If you don't understand, don't talk nonsense."
Little Fox was utterly speechless at this fellow's ignorance of cultivation.
"Since your cultivation is so shallow, I'll explain it to you. Before reaching the Seventh Grade Realm, a Yin Spirit cannot manifest facial features."
"There's such a rule?"
"When I was in the Eastern Sea, I heard the elders in my household tell a story. I'll tell it to you today."
Little Fox's chatterbox nature was on full display.
"They said that long, long ago, there was a god named Chaos. He had been born without seven apertures. He had two friends, both gods, one named Shu and the other Hu. Seeing that Chaos lacked seven apertures, they felt terribly sorry for him. Everyone else had them, yet he alone did not, so they opened one aperture for him each day."
"After seven days, the seven apertures were bored through, and Chaos died," Little Fox said. "That is the principle of cultivation. According to Daoist teachings, the human body is born with a trace of Innate Spirit. It is the foundation for attaining the Great Dao, and the root of all future gathering, refining, and consuming."
"My household elders said that Chaos was that trace of Innate Spirit, while Shu and Hu were time. As time passes, the Innate Spirit gradually wears away. Once it has all leaked out, one's lifespan has reached its end. Cultivation is the process of replenishing and strengthening one's Innate Spirit."
"And upon reaching the Seventh Grade, the Innate Spirit can stabilize itself and no longer flow away into heaven and earth. Even if some occasionally leaks away, one can seize the essence of heaven and earth to replenish it. Only then can the Yin Spirit gradually develop facial features, join with the fleshly body, evolve into primal unity, and point straight toward the root of the Great Dao."
Was this how demons viewed cultivation?
Perhaps this was why the world possessed so many methods of cultivation. Perhaps it stemmed from differing understandings of the world itself.
The divide between sages, immortals, demons, Buddhas, and devils might well have arisen from this.
To sum it up in the words of his previous life: different worldviews produced different methodologies, and different ideas naturally gave rise to different cultivation methods.
Seventh Grade?
Ninth Grade cultivation could only be considered a first step through the door. Only upon reaching Seventh Grade could one be said to have planted one's feet firmly.
An expert with Fifth Grade cultivation could be considered a pillar in any region. Many great generals and important ministers of the imperial court possessed Fifth Grade cultivation. In the Confucian School, Fifth Grade was called "Golden Seal" and "Pillar of the State," meaning that upon reaching this realm, one could become a chief minister of the nation or an important official governing a region.
The Yin-Yang Dharma King in neighboring Guobei County, with Fourth Grade cultivation, could lead a host of ghosts in a howling gathering and dominate an entire region. Even the imperial court did not dare interfere with him.
That was also why so many people coveted that Old Lion deep within Mystic Mountain.
Even if they could not reach Third Grade, it would still be good if they could use this opportunity to attain Fourth Grade or even Fifth Grade.
One step further, and one could gain longevity and see for ages, set out from the Northern Sea at dawn and reach Cangwu by dusk, roam free between heaven and earth, watch worldly affairs shift like white clouds and pale dogs, and laugh and curse amid the red dust. Such was an Earthbound True Immortal.
Even if one failed, one could still enjoy human wealth and glory in peace, enter and depart attended by the eight ministers, eat from nine cauldrons, turn one's hand to make clouds and flip it to make rain, leaving others to sigh, "A true man should be like this."
"You haven't manifested facial features because you haven't reached Seventh Grade?"
Su Che suddenly realized something.
Little Fox was not all that much stronger than he was.
He himself was at the great completion of Tenth Grade and had just entered Ninth Grade, while Little Fox had just entered Eighth Grade.
What was this supposed to be, a rookie chicken paired with a rookie dog?
"Sigh, how should I put this?" Little Fox hesitated. "As long as that person isn't in the Sixth Grade Realm, if I get serious, I should be able to kill her."
How overbearing.
If those words had merely been, "I can kill him," then in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, they would probably have been lines for second-tier famous generals like Gan Xingba and Zhang Junyi.
But with the addition of "if I get serious"—tsk—that gave it the bearing of Second Master Guan: "Pour the wine and wait; I shall return at once," "A head stuck on a pole for sale," and "mere clay chickens and porcelain dogs."
"What if they're Sixth Grade?"
Su Che was genuinely curious just how powerful this fox was.
"If they're Sixth Grade, then fight my ass. Of course I'd hide," Little Fox said with great seriousness, though she currently had no mouth on her face.
A true man could bend and stretch. This was indeed the bearing of the strong.
"Miss Qing, I was foolish before and offended you in many ways."
Su Che recalled how he had tied Little Fox up with a rope provided through friendly support from the Yellow Heaven Sect, and he was quite worried that she might later take "serious" revenge.
"Ah, it's fine, it's fine. Those who do not know are not to blame. Just prepare a gift and apologize."
"Understood, understood. It will certainly be generous."
"Young Master Su truly is clever as ice and snow. This humble one likes you."
Beneath the bright moon, within a narrow alley, upon blue bricks.
A delicate-looking bookboy watched Su Che approach from afar, a smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.
"Young master, taking a female ghost out on a night walk is quite romantic. It would be a little frightening if ordinary people saw her, though."
Su Che looked at the bookboy who had accompanied him all the way from Jiankang to Shanyin and let out a long breath of stale air.
"Sir, you have worked hard accompanying me all this way."
The bookboy wore a baffled expression.
"What are you saying, young master? I don't quite understand. You haven't done anything to me, so what hardship have I had?"
Su Che looked at the bookboy. "I have heard that the gentlemen of White Deer Grotto hold the salvation of all under heaven in their hearts, uphold the Four Sayings of Hengqu, and vow to establish the heart for heaven and earth, establish life for the common people, carry on the lost teachings of the sages of old, and open an age of great peace for ten thousand generations. Among the four great academies, you are the most unyielding, preferring to dwell in uprightness rather than gain through crookedness. Yet all along this journey, sir has bent your intentions to flatter me, while I repeatedly tested you. I have truly offended you in many ways."
"Hahahahahahahahaha..."
The bookboy seemed to have heard something immensely amusing, and tears rolled from his eye sockets.
"Su Che, you know what the Four Sayings of Hengqu are too?"
There were too many typos. I apologize to everyone. My punishment is three chapters, to be paid in full over the two weekend days.
Thank you all for your tolerance and support. Many thanks.