Shelter Beneath a Great Tree

Zhang Laifu went into the city. The journey was grueling: he had run too hard yesterday, and today his legs were so weak and sore he could barely put any strength into them.

The Old Helmsman had let Zhang Laifu leave because he had used Yin Qi on him again. Zhang Laifu had not hesitated before heading straight for Li Yunsheng.

When Zhang Laifu reached Pearl Street, Li Yunsheng was nowhere to be seen. He asked around, but everyone said Li Yunsheng set up his stall every day. No one knew what had happened today.

The young man selling steamed cakes seemed to have something to say, but he kept his mouth shut.

Zhang Laifu asked, "How much for a steamed cake?"

"Five coins each."

Zhang Laifu handed the young man five large coins but took only one cake.

"Sir, that's far too much money..."

"Keep the change. Do you know where Doctor Li is?"

The cake seller lowered his voice. "Doctor Li was going to set up his stall this morning, but when he stepped outside, he felt something was wrong and went back in to rest..."

At that, Zhang Laifu figured Li Yunsheng must be ill.

The cake seller lowered his head as though he still had more to say.

Zhang Laifu took out another five large coins. "I'll buy another cake."

The young man glanced around. Once he was sure no one was paying attention, he told Zhang Laifu, "Someone came to Doctor Li's house. I think it was someone from his Trade Guild."

Li Yunsheng sat in the inner room, holding a Talisman Paper against his face.

Outside the door stood a man with a hammer in his left hand and a saw in his right. "Come out, Doctor Li! Everyone in the trade knows that a remedy loses half its power when you use it on yourself!"

Li Yunsheng laughed. "Zhu Laoshan, what do you mean, 'the trade'? You're a shipwright. Since when were we in the same trade?"

Zhu Laoshan gave a laugh. "Is running your mouth any use? What does it matter if you get the last word? Looks like you still don't know what real pain feels like. I'll ask you again: the incense hall meets at noon. Are you coming or not?"

Li Yunsheng hung two Talisman Papers in the window. "I told the hall master over drinks yesterday. I can't make time today, so I won't be there."

Zhu Laoshan set down his hammer and gripped the saw with both hands. "Then tell me when you can make time."

Li Yunsheng picked up a steelyard, gripping its beam in his right hand and its weight in his left. "If it's to set up my stall and do business, I have time every day. Anything else is another matter."

"You won't drink the wine of respect, so you'll drink the wine of punishment!" Zhu Laoshan thrust his saw beneath the window and began sawing at empty air.

Huff! Huff!

After seven or eight strokes, the enormous, glowing skeleton of a ship smashed through the wall and into the room. It was about to crush Li Yunsheng.

Li Yunsheng hauled hard on the weight with his left hand and raised the steelyard beam.

The beam caught the ship's skeleton in midair, stopping it just short of Li Yunsheng.

Zhu Laoshan laughed. "That's a fine Fierce Artifact you've got, Doctor Li. It'd be a shame to break it. Better put it away."

Li Yunsheng gritted his teeth. "If it broke that easily, would it still be a Fierce Artifact?"

"What a stubborn mouth!" Zhu Laoshan pulled out a hammer, swung it in a great arc, and struck the ground. It was as though a thousand jun of force had been added to the ship's skeleton. The steelyard beam nearly snapped.

Li Yunsheng held tight to the weight. All five fingers of his left hand were bleeding.

Several neighbors poked their heads out from behind walls and doorways to watch.

Zhu Laoshan shouted, "What are you looking at? Want a look at my hammer or my saw?"

The onlookers fled in fright. Zhu Laoshan raised his hammer again. "Li Yunsheng, are you going to the incense hall or not?"

Different trades were as different as mountains. In a contest of strength, Li Yunsheng could never match Zhu Laoshan, especially while poisoned.

He knew Zhu Laoshan's next blow would snap the steelyard beam. One more after that, and even if Li Yunsheng did not die on the spot, he would be crippled.

Zhu Laoshan spat. "The hall master invited you twice. He's given you more respect than you deserve, and you've thrown it right back in his face!"

With that, Zhu Laoshan swung his iron hammer down with all his might.

Bang!

The sound was far louder than before. Li Yunsheng had already given up hope, but the force that reached the steelyard beam was surprisingly weak. He held it off with ease.

What was going on? Had Zhu Laoshan held back?

Li Yunsheng rose slightly and glanced out the window.

Zhu Laoshan lay on the ground, blood running from his nose and mouth.

Zhang Laifu stood in the courtyard holding a battered drum.

Li Yunsheng stared for a moment, then said with delight, "It's good to have a great tree to shelter beneath!"

Zhang Laifu looked down at Zhu Laoshan with concern. "Is he hurt?"

Li Yunsheng shook his head. "He's a second-level master craftsman. He should be fine."

"Oh, he's fine." Zhang Laifu picked up the hammer and brought it down on Zhu Laoshan's skull.

Zhu Laoshan twitched for a while. Li Yunsheng examined him more closely. "Now he's not fine."

"Really? He looks all right to me." Zhang Laifu struck his head with the hammer again.

Zhu Laoshan could no longer sustain his special technique. The ship's skeleton vanished from the wall, though it left an enormous hole behind.

The astonishing destruction startled Zhang Laifu. "What was that thing?"

"That's a shipwright's special technique, Dragon Bone with the Tide. Shipwrights call a ship's frame its dragon bone. With their craft, they can create a tide and summon that frame.

"When the tide rises, the dragon bone surges forward. That's how it knocked down my wall.

"When the tide falls, the dragon bone drops with it. It could have crushed me into meat paste."

Zhang Laifu marveled. "What an incredible technique! His craft must be above yours, right?"

"Brother Laifu, when you roam the jianghu, you can't casually ask about another person's craft. But you saved my life, so I can tell you. First, though, we have to deal with Zhu Laoshan."

Zhang Laifu lifted the hammer. "You mean Zhu Laoshan?"

"Not with the hammer. Let's deal with him another way." Li Yunsheng took a talisman and stuffed it into Zhu Laoshan's mouth.

Zhu Laoshan clenched his teeth, refusing to swallow it.

Li Yunsheng held out a bowl of water. "Old Zhu, come on. Swallow the talisman."

"In your dreams!" Zhu Laoshan sneered.

Zhang Laifu raised the hammer. "You should swallow it."

"All right!" Zhu Laoshan stretched out his neck and gulped down the Talisman Paper.

Li Yunsheng began to chant the Incantation. "A Talisman Paper enters your belly; whether sitting, lying, walking, or still, you obey my command. Defy me once, and pain will tear your guts apart. Defy me twice, and you'll wish you were dead. Old Zhu, do you know what gut-tearing pain feels like?"

Zhu Laoshan shook his head slightly.

Li Yunsheng took out another Talisman Paper and lit it in front of Zhu Laoshan.

Pain twisted through Zhu Laoshan's belly like a knife. He rolled across the ground.

When the talisman burned out, the pain eased a little. Li Yunsheng asked, "Now do you know what it means to have your guts torn apart?"

Zhu Laoshan nodded repeatedly.

Li Yunsheng asked, "Would you like to know what it means to wish you were dead?"

Zhu Laoshan trembled all over and begged for mercy.

Li Yunsheng seemed satisfied with Zhu Laoshan's attitude. "Listen carefully. I have three things for you to do.

"First, go back and report to Hall Master Lan Chunming. Tell him Li Yunsheng refuses to join the hall, and no amount of persuasion will change his mind. Tell him to stop making things difficult for me. Can you make that clear?"

"Yes!" Zhu Laoshan answered loudly.

Li Yunsheng continued, "Second, I was the one who injured you today. No one else was involved. If you get that wrong, you'll lose your life. Understand?"

"Yes!" Zhu Laoshan answered just as loudly.

"Third, tell Lan Chunming of your own accord that, starting today, you're leaving the Zhu You Practice Trade Guild. No matter how hard Lan Chunming tries to keep you, you must leave. Can you do that?"

"Pull my incense stick?" Zhu Laoshan shuddered. "That's not going to be easy."

Pulling one's incense stick meant leaving a guild.

Wansheng Province had many Trade Guilds. Most had initiation ceremonies. The ceremonies varied, but all involved setting up an incense hall. To leave was to pull one's incense stick.

The problem was that many Trade Guilds did not allow members to leave at all.

Zhu Laoshan did not dare leave. "Master Li, don't put me in this position. If I pull my incense stick, Lan Chunming will kill me."

Li Yunsheng shook his head slightly. "Lan Chunming is a reasonable man. If he drives you to your death, how will he recruit talent from other Trade Circles in the future?"

"But I'm not a very reasonable man. If you don't pull your incense stick, I will kill you. I'll make sure you die at the hall tonight. Do you believe me?"

Zhu Laoshan said nothing.

Li Yunsheng lit another Talisman Paper. Zhu Laoshan convulsed in pain and cried out again and again, "I believe you! I'll pull my incense stick!"

The Talisman Paper was still burning. Li Yunsheng quietly watched Zhu Laoshan struggle. By the time its ashes had scattered, Zhu Laoshan was obedient. Whether he walked, sat, or lay down, Li Yunsheng's word was final.

After sending Zhu Laoshan away, Li Yunsheng lit three sticks of incense and explained what had happened.

Yesterday, Trade Guild Hall Master Lan Chunming had invited Li Yunsheng to a meal. Li Yunsheng had gone because he had no choice, only to discover after returning home that he had been poisoned.

The poison was hard to cure. Lan Chunming had timed it so Zhu Laoshan would arrive and force Li Yunsheng to join. Poisoned as he was, Li Yunsheng could not withstand Zhu Laoshan. If Zhang Laifu had not come to save him, he would nearly have lost his life.

"Brother Laifu, I'm ashamed to say it, but if I hadn't been poisoned, Zhu Laoshan wouldn't have been my match. My craft is a level above his."

Zhang Laifu looked at the broken wall, then thought of Zhu Laoshan's technique. "He's a shipwright. Why would he join the Zhu You Practice Trade Guild?"

"Because this is Heishakou, and there are too many shipwrights here." Li Yunsheng poured Zhang Laifu a cup of tea. He swallowed a Talisman Paper himself, explaining as he worked to purge the poison.

"Heishakou stands where the Black Sand River meets the Vast Han River. It's also one of Wansheng Province's renowned ports. Shipbuilding thrives here, and ship workers from all over gather in Heishakou. Naturally, the Shipwright Guild became the largest Trade Guild in town."

"When a shop grows big, it starts bullying its customers. The Shipwright Guild is full of talent, so a Master Craftsman like Zhu Laoshan wouldn't rank very high within it."

"If he'd been willing to earn an honest living with his craft, he could have lived comfortably, whether he opened his own shipyard or worked for someone else.

"But he's lazy and gluttonous, and he has a gambling habit. He couldn't get anywhere in the Shipwright Guild, so he looked for another way forward."

"The Zhu You Practice has few practitioners, and its Trade Guild has never amounted to much. Lan Chunming is ambitious, though, and wants to build up his hall. He recruits talent from other Trade Circles. That's how Zhu Laoshan joined the Zhu You Guild and became an enforcer."

An enforcer was a hired fighter. That part was easy to understand, but the arrangement struck Zhang Laifu as odd. "Isn't the Zhu You Guild breaking the rules by recruiting someone from the Shipwright Guild?"

Li Yunsheng nodded. "It's poaching from another guild, something they can't do in the open. So I can use Zhu Laoshan's case to threaten Lan Chunming and make him stop pressuring me."

"Brother Laifu, how did things go on your end? Did you shake off those two bandits?"

Zhang Laifu shook his head. "No. They were both craftsmen. I led them into the old residence, and the old ghost inside killed them."

Li Yunsheng's expression turned grave. "The evil spirit of the Lin Family Old Residence truly lives up to its reputation."

"Brother Yunsheng, you were right. It can't see, and most of the time it can't hear. It has almost none of the usual senses.

"That's why I don't understand something. When you treated me, you chanted so many Incantations. How did you drive the ghost away? It shouldn't have been able to understand those Incantations at all."

Li Yunsheng considered this for a moment. "The ghost couldn't understand them, but you could."

Zhang Laifu was puzzled. "What good did that do?"

Li Yunsheng pursed his lips. "Because the chants of the Zhu You Practice are meant for people to hear."

P.S. The beggar wasn't wrong when he said the Zhu You Practice couldn't catch ghosts.