Refining Lunar Essence

"The County Commandant has returned."

Zhang San waited anxiously outside Su Che's bedroom. The past few days had been especially difficult for him.

There had been many reasons, but altogether, there were three main matters.

First, the young page who seemed to be the County Commandant's favorite had vanished without a trace. Zhang San felt he could hardly account for it to County Commandant Su.

Second, after County Commandant Su fell out with Magistrate Jiang and Registrar Tian, Zhang San's own position in the yamen had become rather awkward as well.

After County Commandant Su disappeared, it became even worse. Quite a few bold yamen runners had prepared to trample on him, hoping to curry favor with Magistrate Jiang and Registrar Tian.

But Zhang San had always been rather tough, so he naturally pushed them all back.

Still, his days had truly not been easy.

Until today, when the clouds finally parted and the sun shone through.

Lord Shi Chibao, the Judicial Inspector Thousand-Household from Ci Prefecture, had arrived in Shanyin County. The first thing he did was seek out County Commandant Su for a talk. Unable to find him, he summoned Zhang San instead and questioned him with a genial expression.

That alone made those people in the yamen who had been setting little stumbling blocks change their faces entirely.

It gave Third Master a chance to vent his resentment.

Now that County Commandant Su had returned, his own backer was back in place. It was truly joy upon joy.

At the sight of his benefactor, Zhang San's brows rose with delight.

"Reporting to you, sir, that page of yours vanished the moment he went out. This humble one has already sent my brothers everywhere to ask around..."

Su Che glanced at Zhang San.

"No need to ask. I arranged for him to handle another matter."

Zhang San answered with a respectful yes, though his heart felt somewhat desolate. In the end, as a newcomer, he was still not as handy as an old hand one was used to employing.

"Lord Shi of the Judicial Inspector Thousand-Household has arrived in Shanyin. By custom, you should pay him a visit. But Lord Shi has said that it will not be too late to see him after you have recovered."

"Go report to Lord Shi. Tell him I have just met with my teacher and am somewhat fatigued. I dare not visit my superior today, lest my bearing prove improper. I will call upon him tomorrow."

Since transmigrating, Su Che had never felt such urgency as he did today.

Words such as cultivation and immortality had never been so close to him.

Suppressing the restlessness in his heart, Su Che shut his doors to visitors. He declined the summons from Judicial Inspector Thousand-Household Shi Chibao, saying outright that he had received his teacher's orders and had to place cultivation above all else.

With the honored gods of the Yellow Heaven Sect invoked, what could the Imperial Demon Hunters say?

He then slowly arranged his room and waited quietly for nightfall.

His foremost task now was to cultivate the Secret Register of the Yin Heaven of Zhoujue and pass the hurdle of the yin spirit leaving the body.

Su Che naturally had to make some preparations.

The sword once used by the great hero of Jiangnan was placed back in the Sword Case, to serve as protection during his cultivation.

Su Che took out an incense burner and lit aloeswood incense within it.

Incense could reach the hidden realms and honor the gods. Using aloeswood incense to nourish the soul was the safest method.

Naturally, he could not do without the cup bearing the four words "Mighty Reverence, Self-Mastery."

Whether he would one day transform like dragon and serpent—whether a dragon soaring through the nine heavens or a snake slipping into the wild grass—would likely depend on where this treasure answered its purpose.

Finally, there was Qingqiu. Using the paper figure, she had long been seated outside, waiting for Su Che to begin his art.

Once everything had been arranged, Su Che sat cross-legged upon the bed.

The sun returned to Yu Abyss; the moon rose amid gathering clouds.

Su Che carefully regulated his breath, focusing his mind upon the talisman register within his sea of consciousness.

This secret register spun quietly within his consciousness. Its entire body was golden, its patterns intricate and profound, containing the essence of the Dao. It was by no means a vessel upon which talismans could be borne in any writing of the mortal world.

It was true script of Dao essence, pointing directly to the source of the Great Dao. It could perhaps be called a "Heavenly Book."

The register slowly revolved, producing a vortex-like suction. Su Che felt his body suddenly grow light.

Heaven and earth were no longer heaven and earth.

Su Che raised his eyes and saw himself sitting cross-legged, both eyes tightly shut.

His breathing was rather heavy, as though he had fallen asleep.

His yin spirit had left his body just like that.

Incense smoke curled upward, and he drifted above it, moving east with a thought, then west with another.

Su Che reached out, wanting to open the Sword Case beside him with both hands.

Yet even after exhausting all his strength, he could not move it in the slightest.

It seemed my cultivation was still insufficient. In Daoist cultivation, even the ninth-rank qi consumption realm could allow the yin spirit to leave the body. But to generate strength and truly affect reality, one still had to reach the seventh-rank night roaming realm.

With that thought, Su Che drilled through the doorway. Suddenly, a chill like steel blades surged in from all around, bringing pain as though it meant to slice him into a thousand pieces.

It felt as if he had fallen from the high skies, and an inexplicable sense of helplessness rose within his heart.

Incense offerings could calm the spirit. Once he passed through the door and left the protection of the incense offerings, such danger was inevitable.

Su Che understood at once why the ninth rank of the Daoist School was Qi Consumption rather than spirit departure.

It was because the fleshly body had to serve as the foundation. One first had to gather the essence of heaven and earth and strengthen the soul. Only once the soul was powerful enough could it leave the body. Otherwise, it was no different from suicide.

As the thought arose, the talisman register produced a strange force and firmly suppressed his soul.

Su Che steadied himself and floated upward.

With every level he rose, the chill surging in from all around grew fiercer.

"No wonder ghosts all hide beneath the earth. Ascending into the air truly becomes harder with every level."

After testing his yin spirit, Su Che carefully gathered his breath and circulated the methods within the Secret Register of the Yin Heaven of Zhoujue.

The bright moon hung high overhead. Threads of Lunar Essence descended from the vast cosmos like an endless drizzle.

Among the stars, starlight also streamed down in wisps, like gates ascending to heaven, urging Su Che to follow the light upward.

Come up, come up. So long as he followed this radiance upward, he could become an immortal patriarch and roam the great void.

In an instant, countless immortal boys and jade maidens appeared, holding incense as they knelt in worship. It turned out that he was the Grand Unity Azure Florescence Emperor descending into the mortal world. Now that his tribulation had ended, he was to return to Tusita Palace.

In the blink of an eye, immeasurable asuras and evil ghosts surged forth and bowed before him, declaring that the Palace of the Yin Heaven of Zhoujue atop Northeastern Mount Fengdu Luo had long stood vacant, waiting only for him to ascend the throne as foremost among the six Devil Masters.

In another instant, heavenly maidens danced through the air. A multitude of nuns bared their shoulders and bodies, prostrating themselves across the ground as they declared that the Bright King had returned today. The one hundred twenty-nine thousand six hundred Bright Consorts had waited long enough, inviting the Bright King to join them in exploring the wondrous realm of joy and expounding the wondrous Dharma of ultimate bliss.

From within the Northern Dipper, a star transmitted a vast and boundless intent, like the ringing of a bell.

From the darkness rose a deity clad in black robes and golden armor, whose features were unmistakably his own: crimson hair, washed feet, three heads and six arms, wielding an axe, bow, arrows, sword, bell, halberd, and rope.

Within its eyes burned boundless wrath.

A flash of insight came to Su Che, and he softly called out.

"With steadfast heart, I take refuge and pay homage: Celestial Marshal of the Northern Pole, great-skulled giant beast, Ninefold Baleful Youth."

The true meaning of Daoist School visualization of deities was to borrow the principles contained within their forms during cultivation, suppressing every kind of heart-devil and receiving supreme divine powers.

Had he not cultivated the Secret Register of the Yin Heaven of Zhoujue, he would likely have fallen into heart-devils just now, exhausted his vital essence, and become a ghost among men.

Su Che calmly visualized the form of the Celestial Marshal of the Northern Pole, circulating the wondrous methods of the Secret Register of the Yin Heaven of Zhoujue to draw in the essence of Lunar Essence. Thus he labored through the entire night.

Within his yin spirit, two talisman registers slowly formed. Counting the one he had possessed from the start, there were exactly three.

"Dao gave birth to one, one gave birth to two, two gave birth to three, and three gave birth to all things. To condense two secret registers in a single night is a fine omen indeed."

"Hehe, Su Che, you were truly formidable this night."

The little fox had protected Su Che through the night and naturally saw how he cultivated.