Inner Landscape

"Ow! The pain is killing this old man! Which damned bastard ambushed this Celestial Master with Palm Thunder?!"

With a mortified yelp, the Old Celestial Master, who had been lying on the meditation cushion, suddenly clutched his smoking chest and began rolling on the floor. His wretched state bore a certain resemblance to Zhang Xuan after the devastating blow to his philtrum.

Jiang Jiu, who had transformed into a "Lightning Lord" and was blasting away with gusto, immediately hid both hands behind his back, lowered his eyes, and silently took two steps back.

Seeing their master stir at last, the disciples' faces filled with surprise and joy.

"Master, you're awake!"

"Master, are you all right?"

Zhang Xuan quietly wiped the cold sweat from his forehead as well.

He had told Jiang Jiu to do it purely on the principle of treating a dead horse as though it were still alive. Seeing that the blood on the Old Celestial Master's body had yet to dry, he had inferred that the poison had taken effect only recently. A bold, outlandish idea had then popped into his head—if someone was near death, could stimulating their heart with a powerful electric current bring back a last flicker of life?

He had no idea why such an absurd notion had occurred to him. He had simply told Jiang Jiu to try it. Surely the outcome couldn't be any worse than things already were?

Against all expectations, he had actually bought the old geezer more time!

Supported by Jian San, the Old Celestial Master stood and surveyed the room before finally resting his gaze on Zhang Xuan.

"The rest of you stay here. Sixth, come with your master."

"Ah, well..." Zhang Xuan involuntarily stepped back.

Seeing his expression, the old Celestial Master frowned. "What are you afraid of? Do you think your master will eat you? Come along."

With that, he turned and walked toward an inner chamber off to one side of the main hall.

Zhang Xuan's heart hammered. Master, would you please take a look in a mirror? Your forehead has gone black, and you're bleeding from all seven orifices. In this gloomy hall full of memorial tablets, even the King of Hell would have to offer you incense first!

After hesitating briefly, Zhang Xuan steeled himself and followed. From what Jiang Jiu had said earlier, he was, at least, the successor the Old Celestial Master had raised from childhood. Surely the old geezer wouldn't hurt him...

Surely?

Compared with the Old Celestial Master, he feared the fellow disciples in the main hall more. Everyone was smiling, yet every one of them gave him the uncanny impression that they weren't human. It was as though each wore a mask of human skin, and the only thing smiling happily—was that layer of skin.

The inner chamber was small, with only an old elmwood bed and a low table. Overall, it was much like Zhang Xuan's room, seemingly a side chamber where the Old Celestial Master usually rested.

The only difference was the altar in one corner, on which stood a stone statue half a person's height. It was roughly carved; all he could make out was a Daoist figure carrying a sword on his back and gazing up at the sky.

These were ordinary furnishings, yet for some reason, they gave Zhang Xuan a sense of decay and oppression.

"Sixth, come here and kneel."

Being called Sixth over and over, then being told to kneel as well, did stir some resistance in Zhang Xuan.

A true man's knees are worth their weight in gold!

But when he turned and saw the old geezer's face bleeding from all seven orifices, Zhang Xuan lost his nerve. Well, if there's gold down there, it's only right to kneel and pick it up!

The Old Celestial Master seemed oblivious to Zhang Xuan's thoughts. He continued on his own. "Do you know who this stone statue depicts?"

When Zhang Xuan remained silent for a long moment, the Old Celestial Master sighed. "I'll give you a hint. Our Celestial Master's Mansion lineage of the Way of Great Peace was founded in the Third Year of Jingde, six hundred and eighteen years ago. Our founding patriarch's surname was Zhang, and his given name was Fan..."

In a flash of inspiration, Zhang Xuan hurried to answer. "I know! The statue must depict the founder of our Celestial Master's Mansion, the first Celestial Master, Zhang Fan?"

The Old Celestial Master stared at Zhang Xuan for several seconds, then shook his head. "Wrong. Although the first Celestial Master established the Celestial Master's Mansion, the one who truly brought it to greatness, and even created the Celestial Master's Ordination, was actually our second patriarch, Zhang Xuan!"

Zhang Xuan started. "Zhang Xuan?"

Could I be the reincarnation of that dazzlingly gifted second patriarch? That would explain why the Old Celestial Master had raised me as his successor from childhood!

Ha! I knew I wasn't an ordinary man!

Just as Zhang Xuan began inventing a whole jumble of elaborate backstories, the Old Celestial Master's mouth twitched. "He has nothing whatsoever to do with you, brat. The second patriarch's Xuan was the character meaning 'mysterious.'"

"I... didn't say anything."

"My dear disciple, that face of yours, twisted with excitement... has said more than enough."

Ignoring the deeply embarrassed Zhang Xuan, the Old Celestial Master gazed at the stone statue with world-weary eyes. "Do you know why your master is telling you all this?"

Zhang Xuan thought for a moment before answering uncertainly, "You're trying to tell me that without a few tricks up your sleeve, even if you're the founder, you won't get a statue or receive offerings?"

Seeing the astonishment on the Old Celestial Master's face, Zhang Xuan gave an awkward laugh. "Ha, I was just talking nonsense..."

"No, you're absolutely right."

Zhang Xuan: "???"

An extraordinary light suddenly shone in the Old Celestial Master's aged eyes. "What has allowed our Celestial Master's Mansion to be honored as the foremost orthodox sect throughout the Four Kingdoms of the Way of Great Peace? Isn't it precisely these Unfathomable Daoist Arts of mine?"

"The foremost orthodox sect? Unfathomable Daoist Arts?" Zhang Xuan opened his mouth and obligingly put on a shocked expression, but inwardly, he didn't believe a single word of the old man's boasting.

The Celestial Master's Mansion was so desolate, and it had even been built beside a mass graveyard. How did it look anything like "the foremost orthodox sect"? Besides, if the old man were really that powerful, someone wouldn't have—poisoned him into collapse in his own mansion.

Ignoring the suspicion in his disciple's eyes, the Old Celestial Master suddenly grew solemn. "Enough. That ends our idle chatter. Your master has little time left. I shall now formally pass on to you the supreme divine ability of our Celestial Master's Mansion—the Celestial Master's Ordination!"

The Old Celestial Master was plainly saying something, but Zhang Xuan hadn't taken in a single word...

For at that moment, it was as though lightning had struck his mind. He seemed to remember something vitally important, and he gave a violent shudder...

"Poisoned him into collapse"... Poisoned?!!

That's right. He had woken up after being poisoned, so why was the old man completely ignoring the fact that he had nearly died of poison, and instead racing against time to pass on the Celestial Master's Ordination?

None of his fellow disciples had brought it up. Even the Old Celestial Master himself hadn't mentioned it!

Everyone behaved so naturally, as though the Old Celestial Master hadn't been dying of poison at all, but had merely been taking a short nap on his meditation cushion.

So naturally that even he had nearly forgotten about it...

No, I haven't nearly forgotten. It's as though some sort of power is continually concealing what happened to the Old Celestial Master!

Uncanny!

For a moment, Zhang Xuan felt a chill run down his spine. Cold sweat silently soaked his clothes.

"Master, why were you poisoned? And the others all said you took poison to kill yourself. How could that possibly be true?!" He was just about to voice those questions when a movement from the Old Celestial Master interrupted him...

A large, withered hand silently pressed down on Zhang Xuan's head.

The palm felt icy, without a trace of warmth. At its first touch, Zhang Xuan had the fleeting impression that it wasn't a hand at all, but a cold, venomous snake.

Before Zhang Xuan could speak, a vast, majestic voice rang out!

[Inner Landscape]

Zhang Xuan felt his mind cloud over, followed by a shudder from the depths of his soul. Then he lost consciousness.