"I wasn't trying to break my oath! All these years, I've wanted to return to Jidu Shrine and pray to the Water God again, but I couldn't find a way in. Jidu Shrine never appeared again!"
Fifth Master Yang, Meng Da, Meng Er, and the others who knew the story stared in shock. The third person to have entered Jidu Shrine-the little beggar from the rumors-was actually Lu Zhongqian!
Ninth Lady said softly, "Finished? Nothing else to say?"
Lu Zhongqian nodded. "F-finished. Your Reverence, please judge me fairly. It wasn't that I refused to build the temple or fashion a Golden Body."
Ninth Lady's expression turned cold as she rebuked him. "Do you take Jidu Shrine for your begging shack? Who cares about your temple or Golden Body?"
Her face was frosty as she continued, "Back then, you knocked that child unconscious and stole the pearl he'd found. Thinking you'd killed him, you fled outside the city to hide. Traveling in the middle of the night, you came across Jidu Shrine and wanted to take shelter inside. Is that right?"
Lu Zhongqian's face went deathly pale. "Yes."
Hearing this exchange, Fifth Master Yang could not help touching the back of his head...
He vaguely remembered something like that from his childhood. He had found a pearl the size of his thumb pad by the roadside, happily bragged about it to his friends, then headed home to give it to his family.
He had entered an alley... and remembered nothing after that. All he knew was that he had woken up at home, and the back of his head had hurt for nearly six months.
So... the man who blindsided me with a brick back then was Lu Zhongqian!
At that thought, Fifth Master Yang's gaze grew hostile.
But Ninth Lady had not finished. "You vowed to trade twenty years of your yang lifespan for wealth and success. Then the Treasure-Gathering Copper Coin fell from the Water God's hand. Is that right?"
Lu Zhongqian's face turned ashen. "Yes."
Ninth Lady said, "That lifetime of wealth and glory belonged to the child named Yang Xiaowu."
"You robbed him in the street. That was unrighteous.
"You sided with the Japanese. That was disloyal.
"You made a vow and failed to honor it. That was faithless.
"A disloyal, unrighteous, faithless man may no longer hold a treasure of our Water Palace!"
With a flick of her sword tip, Ninth Lady hooked the copper coin ornament hanging from Lu Zhongqian's waist and swept it into her hand.
"And incidentally, once those twenty years of yang lifespan are deducted, your total lifespan is only sixty-seven years."
At those words, Lu Zhongqian slumped to the ground. He had celebrated his sixty-sixth birthday just six months earlier...
"Yang Xiaowu, you were the one who should have entered Jidu Shrine back then. Fate led things astray. Is there anything you wish to say now?"
Fifth Master Yang froze for a moment, then laughed heartily. "Your Reverence, ever since I took up a peddler's carrying pole at twelve, I've swallowed every hardship I faced. Not once have I felt the need to voice any bitter complaints!"
"Perhaps this is a little disrespectful to the Water God, but I feel far better knowing I built this great business with my own hands than I would doing business with some treasure-gathering coin hanging from my belt!"
Ninth Lady nodded. "Good. Then his twenty years of life will be given to you!"
A warm, mystical light shone upon Fifth Master Yang and slowly sank into him.
Chapter 51: Admiration
Fifth Master Yang's bearing earned considerable admiration from the members of both commercial associations. As for Lu Zhongqian...
Even the people from the Fuxiang Commercial Association were beginning to look down on him.
Knocking Fifth Master Yang down with a brick when he was still a child and stealing his pearl... that alone did not quite warrant contempt. It merely showed that the man was ruthless, a rotten piece of work.
But refusing to honor his vow was just ridiculous.
When ordinary people went to a temple to pray for someone's recovery, they would at least return to burn three sticks of incense once the patient got better.
Master Lu knew perfectly well where his immense fortune had come from, yet he had shamelessly refused to build the promised temple.
And siding with the Japanese went without saying. Turning against his own people to favor outsiders was no way for a real man to behave.
Yet none of these Fuxiang Commercial Association guards stopped to consider that the rifles they held like precious treasures were all Japanese-made Golden Hook Rifles.
Nor had they objected to taking orders from a Japanese man when Togo told them to open fire.
Still, their contempt for Lu Zhongqian at this moment could not have been more genuine.
People were strange creatures indeed.
Everyone was satisfied now. Those who had wanted to show their mettle had done so, and those who had wanted to sneer had finished sneering. Some carried the injured, others carried the dead, and everyone tidied up and prepared to leave.
Ninth Lady stood where she was, watching them go, unable to hide the sadness on her face.
The Turtle Chancellor came over, climbed onto her shoulder, and said, "Well done, Chief Sacrificer."
"Huh? What?"
"I said you did well. In handling Yang and Lu, you showed something of the dignity a Chief Sacrificer should possess."
"Thank you for the praise, Chancellor."
Silence.
More silence.
The Turtle Chancellor spoke first. "Chief Sacrificer... what is it? Does watching your sweetheart leave make your heart ache?"
Ninth Lady looked a little uncomfortable, but for once she was not bashful. Her cheeks merely reddened slightly. "Will I truly never be able to leave for the rest of my life?"
The Turtle Chancellor said, "More or less."
Ninth Lady turned to look at the chancellor. "More... or less?"
The Turtle Chancellor said, "I explained it clearly. You can't leave because Jidu Shrine is short one Numinous Treasure. All you need to do is find a replacement, isn't it?"
Joy appeared on Ninth Lady's face. "Where can I find a Numinous Treasure?"
The Turtle Chancellor gestured with a jut of the mouth. "There's one right outside the shrine... that Malevolent Flood Dragon's corpse. Throw it into the Grand Formation. All those Demon Beast bits and pieces should at least let you go out for a little over half a month."
Ninth Lady looked disappointed. "Only half a month?"
The Turtle Chancellor rolled both eyes. "Half a month is plenty. Enough for you and Cui Jiuyang to have a lingering farewell."
Ninth Lady murmured, "True. He has to leave eventually. He said before that he wanted to travel the world."
The Turtle Chancellor said confidently, "In all my years, I've never misjudged anyone. That boy has a great future ahead of him."
"And what good would a great future do?"
"So... perhaps one day he'll find some Numinous Treasure and bring it back to free you from Jidu Shrine?"
Ninth Lady suddenly perked up. "Could he?"
The Turtle Chancellor smiled. "All I can say is... you have good taste."
"Hurry now. Activate the magic formation and use the retrieval formula to draw that Malevolent Flood Dragon's corpse into the Grand Formation.
"And don't spend this entire half month meeting your sweetheart. You need to study formations!
"Have that boy teach you. He knows a thing or two about them!
"If the Chief Sacrificer doesn't understand formations, what will become of the Jishui Water Palace's reputation?"
Whether Ninth Lady had even heard those last few remarks was anyone's guess. Watching her rush toward the door, the Turtle Chancellor smiled and shook that old head.
Ah, to be young.
By the time they emerged from Jidu Shrine, the downpour had stopped.
Lu Zhongqian walked ahead, his face ashen, while the Fortune and Auspice guards carried the two dead men behind him.
That was how people were.
When he had not known the date of his death, even knowing he had long since pledged twenty years of his life had not made him feel he was going to die. He had clung to his power over the commercial association and refused to let go.
But now that he knew he had only six months left, he fretted as though he would die tomorrow.
The sprightly little old man had wilted. His back no longer stood straight, his waist had lost its strength, and even his steps had grown loose and shuffling.
The Shengdelong guards had lashed rifles and clothing together into stretchers to carry Cui Jiuyang and Old Man Xiang.
Fifth Master Yang had not spoken another word to Lu Zhongqian. It was not because he bore a grudge over that childhood blow with a brick, but because he despised, from the bottom of his heart, this association chairman who had once been his rival in business.
The two groups parted ways beside Lake Taibai and headed to their respective homes.
Though the rain had stopped, Lake Taibai had not receded at all. The water still reached almost to the city walls, but fortunately, it probably would not rise any further.
Old Man Xiang had no family, so Fifth Master Yang volunteered to arrange his funeral.
Fifth Master Yang was a man who got things done. He thought ahead to every rite, every incense stick, candle, and necessary item, and all the monks and Daoist priests. He even assigned a dependable old hand from the association to oversee everything. The funeral was set for three days later.
Ninth Lady stayed in a room at the association hall, tending to the unconscious Cui Jiuyang without even undressing to rest.
Fifth Master Yang knew, of course, that Ninth Lady was now little different from a living immortal, quite apart from the twenty years of life she had added to his own.
At least twenty Shengdelong maids waited outside the room, ready to serve at any moment.
But whether wiping Cui Jiuyang's face and body or feeding him water a spoonful at a time, Ninth Lady never left anything to the maids. She carefully did it all herself.
Sometimes the maids standing outside heard Ninth Lady talking to herself in the room.
Her words were too indistinct for them to make out.
They only whispered among themselves in private: for such a beautiful young woman to care so tenderly for an unconscious man, what love she must have in her heart...
Two days passed, and Cui Jiuyang opened his eyes.
He felt not as though he had awakened from sleep, but as though he had died and come back to life.
The pain of his injuries was gone... and moreover, he was firmly established in the ultimate unity realm. The entire world seemed much clearer to him.
For instance, Ninth Lady was asleep with her head resting on the nearby tea table, and this time he could sense the contours of her figure much more clearly than before.
There was no one else in the room, though a whole flock of young women stood outside... what were they all doing out there?
He sat up, and the quilt slid off him... only then did he realize he was wearing nothing.
Ninth Lady stirred awake just then. Seeing that Cui Jiuyang was awake, she sprang up in delight and hurried over. "You're awake! How do you feel? Are you uncomfortable anywhere?"
As she spoke, her eyes began to redden again.
Cui Jiuyang nodded. "Ninth Lady, I'm not uncomfortable anywhere. How long was I unconscious?"
Ninth Lady quickly got up to pour water, using the moment to compose herself before turning back. "One day less than last time. Two days and two nights."
Before you continue