The Faint Yang Rises from Hai; Kan Water Comes from the Turtle

The vast Dream Marsh seemed to have no end.

The moment Chen Cuo entered, a thought carried him before the Ghost-Faced Mask.

The mask had changed little. Apart from the rings of Buddha Light around it, it looked just as it had before.

Strictly speaking, this Facial Mask was the original. The Inner Mask Chen Cuo visualized in his mind had been drawn from the one before him. Now, after several attempts at visualization and his earlier absorption of the character for "Envy," the Inner Mask in his mind had grown much clearer.

Having gained an initial grasp of visualization, Chen Cuo sensed something different when he looked at the mask in Dream Marsh again.

"Those countless whispers really are manifestations of Human Thought. But the thoughts haven't gathered here. It's more like a reflection—the moon in a well, an image rather than the thing itself. That makes the whereabouts of the real thing worth considering. It must be that Evil Ghost."

With that thought, he walked up beside the mask.

"If I want to master the Incense Offering Method, or suppress, drive out, even refine the Evil Ghost, I can't keep avoiding everything. Nor can I always seek shelter from others. I can't reveal Dream Marsh, after all. I'll have to investigate on my own..."

Chen Cuo had no intention of wasting time. He reached out, and a Clarity Pill formed from thin air and landed in his palm. He put it in his mouth.

He closed his eyes, regulated his breathing, and began to inhale and exhale.

Unlike outside, he had no flesh-and-blood body in Dream Marsh. Breathing seemed to have lost its effect, though it still did something to settle his mind. Together with the Clarity Pill, it soon left his thoughts clear and tranquil.

Then he extended a finger and touched the Facial Mask.

Silence!

Chen Cuo froze. Even the thoughts in his mind stopped short!

All of Dream Marsh fell still. The drifting mist and dust ceased moving.

But only for an instant. Everything returned to normal, and the clouds and mist drifted on.

Chen Cuo's expression was no longer frozen. It shifted again and again.

"So that's it. So that's it..."

He withdrew his finger.

"It seems it isn't time to put it on yet."

Then Chen Cuo turned and left.

"Still, I can borrow a thing or two from the way it conveyed its intent when I touched the Facial Mask."

At a thought, a table, chair, brush, and Mohism took shape. He sat down.

"First, I'll write down what I just understood, along with the tricks and insights I've gained these past few days. Right, I can copy a few Buddhist scriptures too. Thanks to the Clarity Pill, I can remember anything I read, but time is limited and I don't have enough paper. Next time, I'll tear off more sheets and bring them in. Time to write."

Outside Dream Marsh.

The door suddenly trembled, then creaked open.

A pig's head poked inside. Its nose twitched as it sniffed, and its little eyes darted about furtively. After looking around and finding no one in the room but Chen Cuo, who sat cross-legged on the bed, it grinned, tossed its head, pushed the door open with its snout, and trotted in with a bounce.

On its back, the little green turtle chirped twice more.

Little White Pig shook his head and chuckled. "That's him, that's the one! I can feel it—this man's wrapped in thick incense offerings, and he hasn't even gathered them in. What a feast! He looks like he's regulating his breathing, too. Heaven itself is helping me!"

"Chirp, chirp!"

"I know my limits. I won't take his life!"

As he spoke, Little White Pig's hooves pattered across the floor. He reached the bedside and drew a deep breath.

"Such pure incense offerings! They must've been stored up for more than ten years. Aged wine packs a punch! I've got to have them. Snort!" With that, he sat down on his haunches. "Once I enter this man's dream, I'll set up a temple and have him make offerings there. He'll hand over the incense offerings himself, and then I'll bring them out to share with you."

Little Turtle chirped and chirped, as though trying to stop him.

But Little White Pig had already tilted his head against the window frame and closed his eyes, the corner of his mouth lifting in a smile. A spark of his mind and True Spirit flew out wrapped in mist, heading straight for Chen Cuo's seven orifices.

Yet the instant it entered, it jolted and was cast back out. The mist dispersed!

Sunlight poured in through the door and window. The spark of mind and True Spirit began to burn, seething under the light!

Little White Pig's body shuddered. His four hooves flailed wildly, and his mouth opened, ready to let out a howl!

Little Turtle was startled. He snapped his head, tail, and limbs into his shell, rocked himself off Little White Pig's back, and landed on the floor. He stretched his head northward, gave a soft cry, and began to spin.

"Chirp, chirp!"

A trace of chill descended. The seething True Spirit dropped back into his body in an instant.

Little White Pig's eyes flew open. He gasped, then began to convulse!

In Dream Marsh.

Thud!

Chen Cuo heard a strange noise and frowned.

It felt as though something had struck a door and bounced off.

"Hm?"

Stirred by the thought, he set down his brush and vanished from Dream Marsh.

Back in the waking world, Chen Cuo opened his eyes. Hearing a slight disturbance beside the bed, he immediately flipped over and landed on the floor. Looking down, he saw a little white pig covering his head with his hooves and swaying from side to side.

Beside him was a palm-sized turtle, spinning with his shell against the floor.

"..."

Chen Cuo narrowed his eyes. A flash of bluish purple passed through them as he began to breathe in and out.

Little White Pig noticed the movement and went still. He raised his head and met Chen Cuo's gaze. After a breath of silence, he sprang off the floor, scooped up the spinning Little Turtle with a hoof, tossed him onto his back, and bolted for the door!

Like an arrow loosed from the string!

Something's wrong!

Chen Cuo put all his strength into chasing him!

"Hm?"

Only when he broke into a full sprint did he realize how smoothly strength flowed through his body. At a thought, power rose from his waist and abdomen, ran down both legs, and burst from the soles of his feet. He leaped through the air and landed outside the door ahead of Little White Pig!

Little White Pig jumped in fright and stopped short, skidding several feet before trying to turn!

But Chen Cuo twisted at the waist and brought a foot down, pinning Little White Pig in place. He could only thrash beneath it.

"Oink! Oink! Oink!" Little White Pig howled a few times, then gradually gave up struggling.

Chen Cuo paid him no mind. Instead, he raised both hands and stared at them in a daze.

"This must be the effect of the Nameless Breathing Technique. It's only been a few days, and I can move like this? I'm not just stronger and faster—I can control that strength exactly as I please!"

Then his gaze shifted to Little White Pig beneath his foot. He studied him for a long while before reaching down to pick him up. He caught Little Turtle as he slid off and returned to the room.

The Clarity Pill Chen Cuo had taken in Dream Marsh was still working. His thoughts were clear and his five senses keen, so he had naturally noticed something strange about Little White Pig. In this world, Divine Ability manifested, Buddha Light and Daoist arts existed, and Human Thought could even give rise to ghosts. Mountain spirits and other strange creatures did not seem impossible.

If so, these two had slipped past the Monk and sneaked into his room. They likely meant him harm. He had to stay on guard.

But...

How could he test them?

What if this really was an ordinary pig?

"But surely a monastery wouldn't let a piglet wander around? Besides, how did this pig get here? And the door..." He glanced at the wide-open door. "There was that strange noise in Dream Marsh, too."

With that in mind, he drew a deep breath and stared at the pig, considering how to investigate. Should he try the little trick he had grasped when he touched the Facial Mask?

What he did not know was that Little White Pig's failed attempt to enter the dream had damaged his mind and left his will unsteady. He had then failed to escape. Now Chen Cuo held him without speaking, staring with an ever graver expression. Little White Pig's nerves were stretched taut. He remembered his terror in the butcher's house and the screams of his "own kind."

"So be it." Chen Cuo made up his mind at last. He was about to try the method he had just learned, but as soon as he set Little White Pig down, the pig spoke first.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Little White Pig spoke in a human voice. Seeing Chen Cuo's astonishment, he understood a little more and changed tack. "Don't get cocky! I—I was testing you just now! Seeing whether you had any spiritual aptitude, whether you could... whether you could offer us a little incense. Snort, snort!"

"..."

He talked!

Well, so that's what he is!

Chen Cuo's expression turned odd. He took a deep breath, cleared his throat, and grew solemn.

"You know about incense offerings too?"

"Of course I do! Snort!" Little White Pig breathed a little easier, and his mind began working again. "I was passing through and had no wish to stay, but I saw you had some spiritual aptitude. That's why I stopped—to offer you a pointer or two."

"You want to offer me pointers?" A thought struck Chen Cuo. He narrowed his eyes and said deliberately, "What a lot of hot air. You're just a pig demon. Other than serving as emergency rations, what can you do?"

Little White Pig flew into a rage. "Don't look down on me! I spent over a hundred years consuming incense offerings with the Temple Dragon King. I established a temple within my five viscera and became a deity in the flesh! And you compare me to some petty demon!"

Chen Cuo's eyes lit up, but he gave nothing away.

"Chirp, chirp!" Little Turtle suddenly called out.

Little White Pig turned his head and snorted. "Don't try to stop me. Today I'm going to show this brat what I can do!"

"Oh? You're a deity?" Doubt appeared on Chen Cuo's face. "Then how was I able to catch you so easily?"

"Heh, mortal." Little White Pig shook his head. "Divinity lies within, not without. I seek the Dao, not petty tricks. I've simply never learned those trifling spells. Otherwise, how could you have caught me? Snort!"

The more Chen Cuo listened, the stranger Little White Pig sounded. Yet when he considered those words, he found something worth pondering in them. If the pig was telling the truth, then...

He set Little White Pig and Little Turtle down, thoughtfully placing the turtle on the pig's head, then cupped his hands. "My apologies. I was presumptuous."

"Snort!" Little White Pig raised his head, letting Little Turtle slide down his back. Little Turtle chirped twice.

Little White Pig scoffed. "What are you afraid of? He's just a mortal who's had a little luck. Now that he knows who we are, won't he start making offerings to us? Those Incense offerings of his..." He broke off abruptly.

Chen Cuo had been listening closely. He smiled. "You two... you two..." He searched for a suitable form of address but came up empty. Two demons? Two esteemed immortals? He simply skipped it.

"It's rare to meet beings like you. I do have a few questions I'd like to ask..."

Before he could finish, footsteps sounded in the courtyard.

"My Lord! My Lord! Good news! There's good news! You won't have to act yourself. Someone has already written a rebuttal of Lu Le!"