The Grandmaster Read My Bones-and Saw a Ghost

Chapter 12: Grandmaster Palm-Reading, Seeing Ghosts

"Sigh, it's a long story." Lin Xuanshu leaned against the head of the bed, smiled bitterly, and shook his head.

"Yesterday you said I had a disaster of bloody violence, and I didn't take it to heart. As a result, that very night I ran into a major calamity at the Blackwater Pool. If Master hadn't arrived in time, I'm afraid this life of mine would have been left right there."

With that, his expression turned solemn, and he cupped his fists toward Li Xiang. "I must thank Fellow Daoist for warning us that there was a great fiend at the Blackwater Pool, which gave us a sliver of preparation; otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable."

"Just a coincidence, the good fails to come true while the bad does." Li Xiang waved his hand, casting his gaze toward the middle-aged Daoist.

Lin Xuanshu hurriedly introduced, "Fellow Daoist Li, this is my master."

"Master, this is the very Fellow Daoist Li I mentioned to you—the one who foresaw the tribulation for my junior brother and me at the Blackwater Ancient Town and warned your disciple."

Upon hearing this, the middle-aged Daoist finally turned his head and sized up Li Xiang with a serious gaze.

That pair of eyes was as deep as a pool, capable of piercing straight into a person's heart.

Li Xiang felt a chill run all over his body, as though all his secrets were about to be seen through.

The middle-aged Daoist took a look, a trace of doubt flashing in his eyes.

There was not the slightest fluctuation of a Profession Mark on this young man, and his vital energy was merely more robust than that of an ordinary person, still within the mortal realm and not having stepped onto the path as his disciple had claimed.

Could it be he was simply good raw material naturally suited for eating the profession's rice bowl?

"I am Lin Shouzhen." Lin Shouzhen stood up, nodded slightly toward Li Xiang as a greeting, and said, "Many thanks to the little friend for speaking up earlier to warn my unworthy disciple."

Just as Li Xiang was about to speak, a passenger in the upper berth poked his head out.

This was a fat merchant wearing a silk mandarin jacket who had been eavesdropping on the conversation below, and at this moment he looked extremely excited. "Ah, I knew I looked at you and thought you familiar! Could you be that renowned ghost-catching grandmaster from Maoshan, Daoist Lin Shouzhen?"

Lin Shouzhen glanced at him indifferently and didn't speak.

The fat merchant became even more enthusiastic and flipped himself down from the bed; that plump physique made the iron-frame bed emit a groan.

"I am Qian Dacai, who deals in the medicinal herb business. Three years ago in Renjia Town, I had the fortune of laying eyes on your senior self once when you were setting up an altar to perform rites. How imposing you were then, tsk tsk tsk!"

With a flattering look on his face, he fished a delicate silver cigarette case from his bosom, popped open the lid, and handed it to Lin Shouzhen.

"Daoist Lin, what a pleasure, what a pleasure! Come, care for a smoke? This is authentic Great Britain goods, foreign tobacco—packs a strong punch and really satisfies!"

A row of rolled cigarettes was neatly arranged inside the cigarette case, exuding an enticing aroma of tobacco.

Lin Shouzhen glanced at the foreign cigarette, his brows slightly furrowed as his straight eyebrows almost merged together.

"Many thanks, this poor priest does not smoke." Lin Shouzhen flicked his sleeve, his voice cold and hard. "Smoking harms the lungs and disturbs the mind; it is better for the lay practitioner to smoke as little as possible."

Qian Dacai's hand froze in mid-air, looking somewhat awkward, but he quickly recovered his full face of smiles. "Yes, yes, yes, the grandmaster is right! I only do this for socializing; normally I don't smoke, truly I don't."

He sheepishly withdrew the cigarette case, not daring to throw a tantrum, and could only retreat to his own berth. That pair of small eyes continued to roll around on Lin Shouzhen, obviously wishing to find an opportunity to cozy up once more.

Li Xiang watched from the side, gaining a few more insights into the personality of this Daoist Lin Shouzhen in his heart.

Right at this moment, the cabin door was pushed open once again.

Lin Xuanguang strode in aggressively, his face still carrying the excitement from having just chewed someone out.

"Master, Senior Brother, you guys didn't see it—just now in the dining room, those bookworms who had drank a little foreign ink and didn't know the immensity of heaven and earth were left speechless by my retorts!"

As he spoke, he picked up the teapot on the table and took a fierce gulp. "Talking about science and democracy, throwing away even their own ancestors! I simply couldn't swallow my anger, so I taught them a lesson!"

Lin Xuanshu helplessly looked at his junior brother. "Xuanguang, when traveling out and about, speak less of verbal disputes and rights and wrongs."

"I'm not looking for trouble, I'm reasoning!" Lin Xuanguang wiped his mouth, turned his head, and ran straight into Li Xiang, who was making his bed.

"Pfft—"

Lin Xuanguang almost spat out a mouthful of tea.

He widened his eyes and pointed at Li Xiang. "How come you're here too?!"

Why was this fortune-teller like an unshakeable ghost!

Li Xiang patted his pillow flat, turned around, and asked with an innocent expression, "I bought a ticket, why can't I be here? Not only am I here, but I also saw what you said in the dining room."

Lin Xuanguang was choked for a moment and muttered, "I'm saying it's too much of a coincidence on this ship... Hey, were you in the dining room just now too? Why didn't you even say hello when you saw me?"

"I saw you were busy and didn't dare to disturb you." Li Xiang smiled.

Lin Xuanguang immediately looked somewhat smug, raising an eyebrow. "How about it? Were those few lines I said just now exceptionally rousing?"

"Indeed rousing." Li Xiang nodded, speaking the honest truth.

"Xuanguang, show some respect."

Lin Xuanshu had finished drinking the medicinal soup handed over by Lin Shouzhen, and his pale complexion had grown slightly ruddier.

He leaned against the head of the bed, looking at Li Xiang. "Earlier it was too hurried, and I never got to ask: is Fellow Daoist Li heading to Linjiang County this time to settle down there?"

"Consider it so."

Li Xiang sat on his own berth, casually speaking while tidying up his luggage. "I want to go to Linjiang County to see if I can find a martial arts hall and learn some skills for self-preservation."

As he spoke, he sighed, putting on an appearance of being forced by circumstances. "In this day and age, relying solely on glib talk for fortune-telling sometimes can't preserve one's life. This time, seeing those fellows from the Yellow Dog Gang pulling out knives and guns, my heart truly isn't at ease."

This was the honest truth, and also the path Li Xiang had paved for himself.

"Learning martial arts?" Upon hearing this, Lin Xuanshu was slightly startled, then carefully sized Li Xiang up before finally shaking his head.

"Fellow Daoist, pardon my bluntness, but martial arts emphasize a child prodigy skill. It's best to temper bones and muscles from a young age. I take it the fellow Daoist is of age?"

"Neither more nor less, exactly twenty," Li Xiang replied.

Adulthood in the Great Xin Dynasty wasn't eighteen as in his past life, but twenty, the age of capping.

"At this age, the bones are already set and the meridians have solidified." Lin Xuanshu didn't like to speak falsehoods.

"Starting to martial arts only now, with your natural bone structure already fixed, at most you can train for health and fitness. If you want to enter the fold, cultivate physical force and Qi, or even reach that realm of entering the Dao through martial arts, I'm afraid it's as difficult as ascending to heaven."

Saying this, Lin Xuanshu glanced at Li Xiang. Seeming somewhat reluctant to crush the other man's enthusiasm, he still lowered his voice and spoke the unwritten rule tacitly understood by people in the pugilistic world.

"Besides, if fellow Daoist is counting on learning genuine things in the martial arts halls of Linjiang County, you'll likely be disappointed."

"Oh? How do you mean?" Li Xiang appropriately revealed a trace of puzzlement.

"There's a saying in the pugilistic world: Teach the fists, withhold the skill, grow old and find the cupboard bare."

Lin Xuanshu sighed and explained, "In these chaotic times, those martial artists who open halls and take in disciples mostly only teach flashy routines for health and fitness, or external hard and heavy bridges.

As for true 'genuine transmissions' and 'secret techniques', those are the foundation upon which various clans and sects establish themselves and make their living. They are trump-card treasures."

He pointed to the Peachwood Sword on his back, his gesture laden with meaning: "Just like my Maoshan's True Explanation of Talismanic Seals, outsiders cannot peer into it unless they are inner-chamber true-transmission disciples. The martial path is the same. Without ties or relations, not being direct blood kin, why on earth would people teach you the methods of wielding force?

You must understand, relying solely on paying that bit of tuition at a martial arts hall won't train you into a true grandmaster."

After listening, Li Xiang held a different calculation in his heart.

For an ordinary person, these words would undoubtedly spell a death sentence.

Without a master to lead one through the door, without true transmission manuals, one truly can only train into a fake showpiece.

Yet he was different.

His Book of a Hundred Trades had no need whatsoever for so-called secret manuals and true transmissions.

As long as he accumulated experience through basic practice, once the level arrived, talent would manifest itself and abilities would come naturally.

Whether martial arts halls taught genuine things was unimportant; what mattered was being able to enter this circle and having the chance to unlock related professions.

Thinking thus in his heart, Li Xiang wore an optimistic expression on the surface, saying half-jokingly, "Who can say for sure? What if my bone structure is a one-in-ten-thousand martial arts prodigy, only I hadn't been discovered before?

As for true transmissions, perhaps some old grandmaster will take a fancy to me and make an exception."

"That is indeed a possibility." Lin Xuanshu nodded without refuting it, though a trace of disapproval remained deep within his eyes.

Having walked the pugilistic world for many years, he had seen far too many people wishing to take up martial arts midway, most of whom ended up with nothing in the end.

"Hey? That's easy!"

Lin Xuanguang, who had been unable to wedge a word in all along, suddenly brightened and slapped his palm against his thigh.

"My master is a top-tier bone-reading expert. You're a mule or a horse... ahem, I mean, whether you're that one-in-ten-thousand martial arts prodigy, just let my master read your bones and we'll know at a glance."

The more Lin Xuanguang spoke, the better he felt the idea was. He turned to look at Lin Shouzhen with a fawning expression.

"Master, why don't you read Brother Li's bones? He gave us a warning back at Blackwater Ancient Town, and we still haven't repaid that favor. Won't you trouble yourself to size him up?"

At this, he looked at Li Xiang again, saying, "Brother Li, don't disbelieve it. My master's skill of Bone-Penetrating Qi Sight is absolute top-tier in the pugilistic world.

If you truly aren't cut out for it, you'd better cut off the thought early. That'll save you from throwing silver dollars into the bottomless pit of a martial arts hall, ending up covered in injuries and rejoicing over nothing."

Hearing his disciple's words, Lin Shouzhen felt he must definitely warn this little rascal in the future that he was forbidden from dropping his master's name when stepping out.

Pity it was too late now, so he could only say, "Xuanguang's phrasing is crude, but the reasoning holds. On the path of martial arts, blind practice is the greatest taboo. If you trust me, this poor Daoist will read them for you."

Li Xiang felt a slight ripple in his heart.

For a grandmaster of a orthodox Xuanmen sect to personally read bones and offer commentary, this was indeed a rare opportunity.

Li Xiang stood up and cupped his fists toward Lin Shouzhen. "Then I shall shamelessly beg Daoist Lin to size me up."

"Very well."

Lin Shouzhen slightly rolled up his sleeve cuffs, revealing a section of wrist more tender than that of an eighteen-year-old maiden.

He truly lived up to being a genuine grandmaster, with master-level self-preservation skills.

Lin Shouzhen beckoned. "Little friend, come over."

"Troubling the Daoist."

Li Xiang walked to Lin Shouzhen's bed and turned around, presenting his back.

The air in the room seemed to grow somewhat quieter. Even the fat merchant held his breath, craning his neck and looking over, wanting to see how this "immortal figure" went about reading someone's bones.

A warm and dry large hand gently rested upon the Dazhui acupoint at the back of Li Xiang's neck.

"Relax, do not circulate Qi."

Lin Shouzhen's voice sounded by his ear.

Immediately following, that hand traveled downward along Li Xiang's spinal vertebrae, one segment at a time.

The fingertips weren't lightly caressing, but carried a penetrating force, as though wishing to pierce through skin and flesh to directly pinch Li Xiang's bones.

"Click."

Lin Shouzhen's fingers pinched gently upon Li Xiang's spinal joints, producing a crisp sound.

Li Xiang only felt a stream of heat instantly spread along his spine throughout his entire body, tingling and numb, without the pain he had imagined.

"The great vertebra is full, and the vital energy and blood are acceptable."

While feeling, Lin Shouzhen calmly reviewed, "The spine is upright and centered, without lateral curvature."

The palm continued downward, sliding across the back to reach the waist.

"The major tendons here are indeed quite resilient." Lin Shouzhen's voice carried a trace of surprise, "The young friend is a bit older, but he has the advantage that his skin and flesh are tight and not loose. If he is willing to put in hard work, it is not entirely without hope."

The palm finally stopped at Li Xiang's tailbone, gently patting it.

"It is a pity that he started late. If he had been guided by a famous master since childhood, he would have been expected to become an expert in the path of martial arts. As for now, he has at most entered the threshold, and even mastering it thoroughly will be difficult."

Li Xiang was stunned inwardly. Was this being said about him?

The few professions unlocked by the Book of a Hundred Trades also did not have the characteristics and abilities to improve his physique. Could it be that this body originally possessed talent?

Yet the original owner was a sickly weakling.

Hearing Master speak this way, Lin Xuanshu also felt it was a pity for Li Xiang, though upon a second thought, if he himself had not been picked up by Master and brought back to Maoshan, it was uncertain whether he could even have survived.

Lin Xuanguan exclaimed in surprise, "I didn't expect Brother Li's innate constitution to actually be quite good."

Li Xiang tidied his clothes, turned around, and bowed to Lin Shouzhen once more. "Thank you for your guidance, Daoist. I still want to go and try, to bring closure to the Obsessive Thought in my heart."

Subsequently, Li Xiang changed the subject. "That's right, Daoist Xuanshu, when you and your companions go to Linjiang County this time, could it be to catch ghosts?"

As soon as this question was raised, the atmosphere in the room suddenly became somewhat strange.

The three master and disciples, Lin Shouzhen, Lin Xuanshu, and Lin Xuanguan, exchanged glances, their expressions somewhat unnatural.

Especially Lin Xuanshu, on whose pale face a trace of guilt flashed.

Surely they could not tell an outsider that it was because he and his junior fellow apprentice had managed to lose their own patriarch's coffin, which had not only been sold to a Warlord, but was also about to be shipped to Tianjin to be sliced up and studied?

If this word got out, Maoshan would lose all its face, and how could they ever mix in the pugilistic world again?

"Cough, cough..."

Lin Xuanshu awkwardly coughed twice, his gaze drifting. "That... you could say that. There are some... um, some personal matters to handle."

Knowing that continuing to ask would be impolite, Li Xiang immediately changed the topic to idle chatter until bedtime.

The night grew deeper, and the mist over the Blackwater River grew thicker, to the point where one could hardly see their own hand in front of their face.

The kerosene lamp inside the cabin had already gone out, leaving only the sound of the waves outside beating against the hull, producing a monotonous and dull sound.

Inside cabin Yi-3, the sounds of snoring rose and fell in succession.

"Thud."

Suddenly, an extremely soft, muffled sound came over.

The sound was not loud, but it was exceptionally clear in the quiet of midnight.

Startled awake, Li Xiang opened his eyes and perceived that the sound was coming from the adjacent porthole.

"Thud, thud."

Two more sounds followed.

This sound did not resemble waves crashing; rather, it was more like someone outside gently tapping the glass with their knuckles.

This was the second-floor cabin, and outside was the turbulent Blackwater River. Where could a person possibly come from?

Li Xiang swallowed a mouthful of saliva. His professional instinct kept him from immediately screaming, and instead, he slowly turned his head to look toward the circular porthole.

Outside the window was pitch black. Borrowing the extremely faint light reflecting off the water, Li Xiang saw a face.

It was not a human face, but a face covered in dense, fine scales pressed against the glass, staring fixedly into the interior of the cabin.