Spirits Had Their Ways, and Competition Was Fierce

"Boundless waters and marshes, spirits hidden in mystic depths. A spirit without a name, its form minute..."

Lu Xiu held a little bowl and gently sprinkled dewdrops onto the cracked, parched ground with his fingers.

Then he stared at the ground and continued chanting.

"Kan water as the road, Xun wind as the carriage. Clad in yellow, riding a colt, traveling a thousand li a day..."

The parched, scorched-red ground remained unchanged.

Even after he finished the final line, "By the decree of the Purple Sun True Lord," the ground remained unchanged.

Lu Xiu scratched his head and looked to Sun Chen for help.

Over a hundred times already, and it still didn't work!

Sun Chen hesitated, then condensed all he had to say into a single comforting remark. "The Heavenly Stone Sect belongs to the Jade Cauldron Dharma Lineage and excels in the Dao of Alchemy. From now on, focus on studying alchemy."

Child, you simply couldn't get the hang of spells. Better stick to memorizing pill formulas.

Beside him, Ao Ding held a stone bowl and played with a four-inch-tall little figure dressed in yellow. He slowly rubbed his index finger over the little fellow's belly, tickling the Qingji into peals of giggles.

The Thousand-Li Marsh Spirit Spell?

It was not difficult for Ao Ding.

Besides, he had a True Person teaching him carefully. That was far easier than puzzling things out alone back in the Seven Spirits Sect.

After just twelve recitations, Ao Ding had mastered it.

"Ao Ding, come here-we're getting ready to leave."

Sun Chen called out, and Ao Ding immediately came over, carrying the Marsh Sprite.

Looking at the little fellow in the bowl, Sun Chen smiled and took out a pill.

"Here, go back and fetch the others. As long as you can take us to Lingcheng County in White Mountain Commandery, this Cloud Marsh Jade-Quenching Chain-Form Pill is yours."

The pill was the size of a longan, scarlet throughout, with a rich fragrance and a pure current of marsh-water qi circulating within it.

At the sight, the little Qingji immediately pounced, hugging the pill and refusing to let go. Merely licking its surface let him sense its incomparably pure cloud-marsh essence.

Smiling, Sun Chen gently nudged him with a finger. The little fellow tumbled dizzily back into the stone bowl, his little yellow hat falling off his head.

"Go on, hurry and fetch the others-if you satisfy this humble Daoist, I can reward you with another pill afterward."

Hearing that, the little fellow put his hat back on and jumped from the stone bowl to the ground.

Pop!

A flash of yellow light, and the little fellow vanished.

Only after the little fellow disappeared did Ao Ding quietly relax his taut nerves.

Without his full effort to control it, Gang qi again burst from his body from time to time, seemingly beyond his control.

Sun Chen smiled without speaking, a hint of nostalgia in his eyes. When he had first entered the Mystic Gang Realm, he had been just like this boy. His master had instructed him to summon Marsh Sprites, and, worried he might accidentally hurt them, he had carefully controlled his strength at every moment. After three days of this, he had successfully entered the Mystic Gang Thoroughfare Realm.

Similar methods included holding a raw egg and using Gang qi from one's fingertips to break the shell without damaging the membrane, or even holding a bird's egg and making it hatch faster.

Back when Sun Chen broke through to the Jade Tower Realm, he had taken a raw egg and removed its shell, leaving only the liquid inside and the thin outer membrane. He had sat in meditation for five days, and when the Pill Sparrow hatched, he had entered the Jade Tower Communion Realm.

Sun Chen had always trained Ao Ding in the manner of an orthodox True Disciple, naturally reproducing his own past experiences exactly.

Before long, a broad swath of yellow light flashed across the ground with a series of pops. Twelve four-inch-tall figures in yellow clothes and hats appeared, riding little yellow horses. They also carried instruments such as suonas, bronze gongs, and large drums, and together pulled out a little yellow carriage.

"Wow-so well equipped?" Lu Xiu could not help exclaiming. "They're tiny, but they've brought absolutely everything."

Lin Bai also looked at these Marsh Sprites in wonder.

Was this the means of immortals?

How marvelous.

This journey to save Father had really broadened my horizons! Once I got back, I could brag to my brothers.

The little fellow from earlier led a white-bearded Qingji Marsh Sprite before the four of them, gesturing and squeaking.

Ao Ding looked puzzled. Even after studying them carefully for a long while, he could not understand these little spirits' gestures.

Sun Chen, however, nodded repeatedly.

"Oh. You think my payment is generous, so you want to give us honored-guest treatment, taking us by carriage while playing music and beating gongs and drums along the way? That's fine-but we're in a hurry. It's two thousand li, so don't hold us up."

The white-bearded Qingji nodded repeatedly and made another series of gestures.

Seeing that Sun Chen could understand the Qingji, Ao Ding grew puzzled. Qingji shouldn't be particularly common spirits, should they? Even if they were, would Senior have learned their language with nothing better to do? And these Qingji could understand the human language Senior spoke... they seemed able to understand us too...

He moved his eyepatch aside and examined the Qingji with his left eye.

Wisps of formless watery light emanated from their bodies, resonating with the Great Dao True Nature within Sun Chen as they squeaked.

Looking closely, what resonated with Sun Chen seemed to be the true nature within the Qingji.

"Oh—Senior Sun Chen can't understand Qingji speech either. Is he communicating through the Great Dao True Nature?"

Innate true nature lay buried within every living being. Since the Qingji Marsh Sprites had come into being, they too were members of the sentient multitude, and naturally possessed true nature.

"If it's resonance between true natures... then..."

Ao Ding gently touched the Xuanjia Spirit Staff to the point between his brows.

Naturally, he had not yet thoroughly comprehended true nature and could not see what the true nature deep within his soul looked like. But he could imitate the Marsh Sprites, releasing his True Heaven Golden Gang and attempting to bring it into harmony with their marsh-water spirit light.

Sun Chen sensed this and glanced at Ao Ding's repeated attempts, but did not interrupt.

Mm, the Shared-Knowledge Spirit Voice Spell.

While cultivating, Guangfa Sect disciples would always comprehend this spell without a teacher.

It was a spell that used resonance between their respective Mysterious Gang and magical power to let them understand one another's intentions without words.

It was also a required subject in the Guangfa Sect's immortal examination.

Before long, Ao Ding could sense the Qingji's thoughts.

Those thoughts were even automatically transformed into human speech by the spell, an aged voice echoing beside his ear. "Rest assured, great immortal. We'll bring twelve extra earth colts. We'll drive in relays along the way. It won't take a full day; half a day will suffice. Just get in and rest. We'll also prepare fruit and juice for the journey."

Not far away, two Qingji emerged carrying a large, succulent peach overhead. With little knives, they cut off pieces of flesh and squeezed out the juice...

Ao Ding could not help marveling. Such meticulous service, such simple, honest spirits.

Sun Chen agreed with a smile and beckoned Ao Ding and the other two toward the yellow-canopied carriage.

As they walked, the four gradually shrank, just as they had when entering the Jiaxia Kingdom. By the time they reached the yellow-canopied carriage, they had become the same size as the little Qingji.

The four boarded, and the Qingji brought them sliced fruit and juice, then checked whether they were seated securely.

"Prepare to depart-"

Riding a yellow colt, the white-bearded elder circled the yellow-canopied carriage three times to inspect it, then shouted to the procession.

In an instant, the twelve little Qingji straightened their clothes and hats and formed a ceremonial procession in six pairs.

The leading pair carried a lantern and a suona to clear the way.

The next pair bore bows and spears, serving as advance guards.

The third pair carried a bronze gong and beat a large drum, taking their places before the yellow-canopied carriage.

The fourth pair used colts to pull the carriage, driving it onward.

The fifth pair stood in attendance beside the carriage, holding banners high.

The sixth pair brought up the rear, looking back with every step.

For a moment, gongs and drums sounded together, everything in impeccable order.

Only...

The lantern was like a soybean, the suona like a blade of glowworm grass, the banners like leaves...

However orderly the honor guard, combined with their stature, it had the comical air of children wearing oversized coats, making it hard not to laugh.

"Depart!"

At the elder's cry, the honor guard raced toward White Mountain Commandery.

Lin Bai looked at the peach flesh carefully cut into bite-sized pieces on the fruit platter before him, picked up a wooden pick, and cautiously began eating.

Mm... it tasted much like the fruit I usually ate.

Lu Xiu leaned over the edge of the carriage to look outside.

The wind rushed past, and mountains, forests, waters, and marshes flashed backward too quickly to make out.

Ao Ding leaned against the other side, chatting with the Qingji Marsh Sprite riding alongside as a guard.

"I see you've prepared everything so thoroughly. How did you come up with it?"

"We had no choice. Business is bad these days. The great immortals hardly hire us anymore, so we have to improve our service to compete in the trade," the Qingji replied fretfully as he rode.

"Compete? With other spirits?"

"More or less. These days, there are too many spirits who can fly through the heavens and burrow through the earth. Life keeps getting harder for Marsh Sprites like us who travel a thousand li a day. And many great immortals raise their own spirit-beast mounts, so they don't hire us at all."

Without employment, there were no immortal pills or spirit medicines, making cultivation exceedingly difficult.

"Then haven't you thought of expanding into other trades? For example-" Ao Ding looked at the Qingji playing the suona ahead and smiled. "You could try weddings and funerals. Help mountain and forest spirits arrange marriages, or handle funerals and deliver notices, things like that?"

The Qingji shook his head repeatedly. "No, no. If we cross into another trade and steal their business, those fox vixens will beat us up-they're far stronger than we are."

Sun Chen smiled from beside him. "As the saying goes, humans have human ways, ghosts have ghostly ways, and demons have demonic ways... While obeying the Four Sects' Jade Laws, the demon spirits and other spirits within the four sects' territories in the Central Wasteland also yearn for the mortal world, so they imitate it and dabble in all sorts of trades. Qingji chiefly handle carriage transport, receiving and seeing off travelers; fox spirits oversee weddings and marriages; wolf demons handle debt collection and pursuing criminals; monkey demons brew wine and sell drinks... Within a given area, the spirits have generally divided the work among themselves. Stealing business means violent fights. Quite often, cultivators from the famous mountains and cave abodes in each region have to step in and mediate."

The Qingji nodded repeatedly. "Exactly. Those fox vixens please people with their looks, utterly shameless! Who knows what benefits they've received from all those great immortals? We can't beat them-Fourth Grandfather often advises us that we'd be better off doing less business and keeping our lives. In any case, we live amid dry land and marshes and rarely associate with other spirits."

Fourth Grandfather?

Puzzled, Ao Ding was about to ask when he saw Sun Chen cast him a glance.

Their eyes merely met, yet through the Shared-Knowledge Spirit Voice Spell, Ao Ding heard a private message from Sun Chen.

"Fourth Grandfather Qing is a True Person of the Qingji Marsh Sprite lineage who attained the Dao, and a guardian True Person of the Golden Court Sect. Long ago, a senior of the Golden Court Sect helped him attain the Dao, making him an ancestral figure among the Qingji of the Central Wasteland. He was also the one who passed down the Thousand-Li Marsh Spirit Spell, hoping that serving immortals would allow younger Qingji to attain the Dao. But although the Qingji Society is united, it falls far short of the fox immortal lineage. Fox immortals are seductive, and who knows how many have married into immortal sects as concubines. Their lineage has at least a double-digit number of True Persons! Even ordinary True Persons are unwilling to provoke their two leading grandfathers and three grandmothers—they have powerful figures behind them."

After listening for a while to tales of the Central Wasteland's demons, Ao Ding suddenly had a thought and asked the Qingji, "Are there spirits around here running businesses like takeaway food delivery or delivering goods?"