"The County Commandant has returned."
Zhang San had been waiting anxiously outside Su Che's bedroom. The past few days had been especially difficult for him.
There were many reasons for it, but in summary, there were three.
First, the young bookboy who seemed to be the County Commandant's favorite had vanished without a trace. Zhang San felt he had no way to answer to County Commandant Su.
Second, after County Commandant Su had fallen 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 been preparing to step on him, hoping to curry favor with Magistrate Jiang and Registrar Tian.
But Zhang San had hard bones to begin with, and naturally, he had pushed them all back.
Still, his days had truly not been easy.
Not until today had the clouds finally parted and the sun emerged.
Lord Shi Chibao, the Judicial Inspectorate Commander 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 kindly expression.
That alone made all those people in the yamen who had been throwing stumbling blocks in his path put on entirely different faces.
It allowed Third Master Zhang to vent a great breath of resentment.
Now that County Commandant Su had returned, his own backer was back in place. It was truly joy upon joy.
Seeing his benefactor, Zhang San's brows rose with delight.
"Reporting to you, sir, your bookboy vanished as soon as he left the house. This humble one has already sent the 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 obediently, though he felt somewhat forlorn inside. In the end, a newcomer like him was still not as handy as an old servant one was accustomed to using.
"Lord Shi of the Judicial Inspectorate Office has arrived in Shanyin. By custom, you should pay him a visit. However, 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 conduct be improper. I will go pay my respects tomorrow."
Since transmigrating, Su Che had never felt such urgency as he did today.
Cultivation. Longevity. Those words had never been so close to him.
Suppressing the impatience in his heart, Su Che shut his doors to visitors. He declined the summons of Judicial Inspectorate Commander Shi Chibao outright, saying that he had received his master's command and must place cultivation above all else.
With the honored gods of the Yellow Heaven Sect brought forth, what could the Imperial Demon Hunters say?
Then he slowly arranged his chambers and waited quietly for nightfall.
His foremost priority now was to cultivate the Secret Register of the Yin Heaven of Zhoujue and pass the hurdle of his Yin Spirit leaving the body.
Su Che naturally had to make preparations.
The sword once used by the Jiangnan Hero was placed back inside the Sword Case, to serve as protection.
Su Che then took out an incense burner and lit agarwood incense within it.
Incense could reach the hidden realms and honor the gods. Nourishing one's soul with the power of agarwood was the most reliable method.
And naturally, he could not do without the cup bearing the four words "Weiyang Self-Control."
Whether he would later transform like dragon and serpent—whether the dragon would soar through the nine heavens, or the snake would slip into the wild grass—would likely depend on where this treasure proved useful.
Finally, there was Qingqiu. Using the paper figurine, she had long been sitting quietly outside, waiting for Su Che to work his art.
Once everything was arranged, Su Che sat cross-legged upon the bed.
The sun returned to Yu Abyss, and the moon rose amid gathering clouds.
Su Che carefully settled his breath, focusing his mind upon the talisman within his sea of consciousness.
This secret register slowly revolved within his mind. Its entire body was golden, covered in intricate patterns and containing Dao Resonance. It was absolutely not a vessel for talismans formed from any written language of this world.
It was true script of Dao Resonance that pointed directly to the source of the Great Dao, perhaps worthy of being called a "Heavenly Book."
As the Mystic Talisman slowly turned, it produced a vortex-like suction. Su Che felt his body grow light.
Heaven and earth were no longer heaven and earth.
When Su Che lifted his eyes, he saw himself sitting cross-legged with his 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 at a thought and west at another.
Su Che reached out, wanting to use both hands to open the Sword Case before him.
Yet no matter how hard he tried, he could not move it in the slightest.
"Apparently, my cultivation is still insufficient. In Daoist cultivation, one can leave the body with the Yin Spirit even at Ninth Grade Qi Consumption. But to gain strength and truly affect reality, one must reach Seventh Grade Night Roaming."
Thinking this, Su Che slipped through the door. Suddenly, a chill like steel blades surged in from all directions, bringing pain as though he were being sliced into a thousand pieces.
It felt as though he were falling from a great height, and an inexplicable sense of helplessness arose in his heart.
Incense could calm the spirit. Once he passed outside and lost the incense's protection, such danger was inevitable.
Su Che understood at once why Ninth Grade in the Daoist School was called Qi Consumption rather than Spirit Departure.
It was because the physical body had to be taken as the foundation. One first gathered the essence of heaven and earth to strengthen the soul. Only once the soul was powerful enough could it leave the body. Otherwise, it was no different from suicide.
As that thought arose, the Mystic Talisman generated a strange power that firmly stabilized his soul.
Su Che steadied himself and floated upward.
With every layer he rose, the chill flooding in from all around grew fiercer.
"No wonder ghosts all hide underground. Ascending into the air truly grows harder with every level."
After testing his Yin Spirit, Su Che carefully gathered his qi and operated the methods within the Secret Register of the Yin Heaven of Zhoujue.
The bright moon hung overhead. Threads of lunar essence fell 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 rise toward the light.
Come up, come up. So long as he followed this light upward, he could become an immortal and a patriarch, roaming the Grand Void.
In an instant, countless immortal youths and jade maidens appeared, holding incense as they knelt in worship. It turned out that he was the Grand Unity Azure Florescence Emperor descended into the mortal world. Now that his tribulation was complete, he was to return to Tusita Palace.
With another flicker of vision, 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, awaiting only his ascension to the throne as foremost among the six Devil Masters.
In the next instant, celestial beings danced through the air. A host of nuns bared their shoulders and bodies, prostrating themselves across the ground. They declared that the Bright King had returned to his position today, that one hundred and twenty-nine thousand six hundred Bright Consorts had waited for a long time, and invited the Bright King to join them in comprehending the wondrous realm of joy and expounding the wondrous Dharma of ultimate bliss.
From within the Big Dipper, a star transmitted an immense presence, like the ringing of a bell.
From the darkness rose a deity clad in black robes and golden armor, whose face was unmistakably his own. With red hair and bare feet, he possessed three heads and six arms, holding an axe, bow and arrows, sword, bell, halberd, and rope.
Within his eyes burned boundless wrath.
Blessed with sudden understanding, Su Che softly called out.
"I devote my heart and life in reverent homage: Celestial Marshal of the Northern Pole, giant-skulled beast, Ninefold Baleful Youth."
The true meaning of Daoist Spirit Visualization was to use the principles contained within divine images during cultivation to suppress all manner of Heart Demons and receive supreme divine powers.
Had he not cultivated the Secret Register of the Yin Heaven of Zhoujue, he would likely have fallen into a Heart Demon just now, exhausted his essence and qi, and become a ghost among men.
Su Che calmed his heart and visualized the form of the Celestial Marshal of the Northern Pole. He operated the wondrous methods of the Secret Register of the Yin Heaven of Zhoujue and drew down the essence of the Lunar Essence, laboring through the entire night.
Within his Yin Spirit, two Mystic Talismans slowly formed. Including the one he had possessed from the start, there were exactly three.
"The Dao gave birth to one; one gave birth to two; two gave birth to three; three gave birth to all things. Forming two secret registers in a single night is quite an auspicious beginning."
"Hehe, Su Che, you were truly impressive this night."
Little Fox had guarded Su Che through the night, so she naturally saw how he cultivated.