Lamplight shone on Xiaotang's face, casting a faint blush over her pretty oval features.
But at that moment, Lu Sui had little inclination to admire a beauty.
He lowered his eyes and pondered seriously:
"I've absorbed a wisp of Calamity Qi, and the hundred-year-old tortoise shell and old snake's blood are ready. All that's left is 'circulating Qi and Blood through all four limbs.'"
The Turtle-Snake Stance was not far from transforming into the Panwu Great Strength True Art.
This would be his first time cultivating a common-grade martial art into a precious-grade one!
Something to look forward to!
"As luck would have it, Master Tan from the Hundred Victories Martial Arts School, whom my bargain father arranged for me, specializes in leg techniques.
"If I can learn some genuine skills from him, channeling my Qi and Blood through both feet shouldn't be difficult."
Lu Sui let out a long breath. His brow relaxed, and his expression grew easy.
Luckily, Lu Yulin had stepped in to lay a trap and ease his burden.
Otherwise, with that vile couple versed in Suppression Arts and Gu watching him, he really would not have dared go out casually, let alone head to a martial arts school to hang up a curtain and enroll.
The Lu residence retained plenty of expert Attendants. Outstanding martial artists like Dou Xiaowen and Master Chai would carry considerable weight in martial circles.
Unfortunately, both had come up through unorthodox paths. Uncle Wen had started halfway through life, thanks to an opportunity he had found while adventuring through Shaqing Pass;
Chai Sanjin went without saying. Supposedly, he had encountered an extraordinary person in his youth and only then managed, by luck, to embark on this path.
Ultimately, they could not compare to the head instructors who opened schools in martial circles, whose solid, methodical training followed a traceable path and was easier to teach through words and example.
Besides, Lu Sui recalled Uncle Wen's and Lu Yulin's attitudes.
Neither seemed to want him taking the path of external body-hardening arts?
"Repeated blood exchanges and condensing internal force, is it? Give me six months or a year to develop, and I'll beat you until you're scrabbling for your teeth!"
Lu Sui put aside his stray thoughts and looked up at Xiaotang.
"Put them in the storeroom for now and keep them safe. They'll be useful later."
"Yes, young master."
Xiaotang lowered her eyes, her long lashes trembling as though she had a terribly guilty conscience.
Seeing her like this, Lu Sui felt amused.
"Xiaotang, aren't you usually quite lively? Why so reserved today?"
Xiaotang's voice was as faint as a mosquito's whine, like a child who had done something wrong.
"This servant shouldn't have taken it upon herself while you were practicing..."
Halfway through, she wished she could bury her head in her chest.
"All right, I don't blame you."
Lu Sui could not resist teasing her and drawled:
"Next time you want to teach your young master about 'the affairs of men and women,' remember to pick the right moment. I've always been eager to learn, with no objection to meat or vegetables. I'm quite curious about matters between the sheets, and I'm just waiting for you, my teacher, to demonstrate in person."
At those words, Xiaotang's creamy-white neck instantly flushed a light pink.
Usually so demure, she stamped her foot in embarrassment and annoyance.
"Young master!"
Then she hastily bowed and withdrew from the room, carrying the brocade boxes containing the tortoise shell and snake's blood.
Once again, she had retreated in disarray!
"Tsk, she really can't take teasing."
Lu Sui shook his head with a smile, picked up the book with the yellowed cover, and began studying it intently.
"Yuniang herself probably doesn't even know that the unorthodox arts she learned are called the Complete Record of the High Shaman's Ghost Capturing."
A fragmentary text was, by definition, incomplete.
The Complete Record of the High Shaman's Ghost Capturing, classified under the [Magic] category, contained few unorthodox arts in total.
There were roughly four or five, three of which were "Gu-rearing arts," involving selecting venomous insects and unusual species to refine into Gu.
The Transferred Affection Gu that had ensnared Luo Dongsheng was one of them.
The others were the Heavenly Fragrance Gu and the Sound-Concealing Gu.
"Heavenly Fragrance Gu: men and women alike may rear it. Feed it essence blood and wear it upon the body. It releases a subtle fragrance capable of beguiling others;
"Sound-Concealing Gu: take nine kinds of insects, including grain weevils, aphids, woodworms, and ants... Rear them for a hundred days and refine them into one Gu. Cut open the flesh and place it within to nourish it. It conceals sound and breath, unnoticed by gods or ghosts."
Lu Sui frowned. No wonder witchcraft and Gu were regarded as "unorthodox arts," excluded from the orthodox ranks.
Almost all these sinister methods of rearing insects and refining Gu consumed essence blood and damaged one's vitality.
"Looks like my earlier assessment was right. A bona fide 'rookie spellcaster,' with a barren skill tree-nowhere near worthy of being called a 'mage.'"
Lu Sui turned a few pages and continued reading the two remaining "shamanic curses."
"Making a straw effigy falls under 'form-borrowing arts.' It requires hair, nails, blood, or clothing. At the time when heaven's and earth's Yin and Yang intersect, worship the effigy for seven to nine days. Its potency depends on the medium used.
"There is also a 'hexing art,' but parts are missing. None of the 'spirit hex,' 'sound hex,' 'medicine hex,' or 'flying-head hex' have been passed down. Only the 'Five Poisons Hex' remains."
After roughly reading through the fragment of the Complete Record of the High Shaman's Ghost Capturing, Lu Sui's wariness toward unorthodox arts diminished slightly.
These methods were certainly sinister and difficult to guard against, capable of terrifying effects such as killing invisibly and bewitching souls to control minds.
But their casting requirements were rather demanding, and anyone who understood them could break them all too easily.
"Black dog's blood, rooster-comb blood, a virgin boy's urine, peach wood, and even a martial artist's essence blood can all break evil and dispel Baleful Intent. They're only good for fooling ordinary people."
Lu Sui felt somewhat disappointed. He had imagined [Magic] to mean a path to immortality, dining on wind and drinking rosy clouds, soaring through the heavens and burrowing through the earth.
Instead, his joy had been for nothing. It was all bloody, sinister, unorthodox trickery.
On the final page, it even explicitly stated that if a practitioner of Witchcraft and Gu Art died suddenly, a successor could remove their spine, grind it into powder, brew a jar of blood wine, and drink it to master the arts immediately.
"Once you get involved in these arts, you can't find peace even in death. Reading without touching them is the right choice."
Lu Sui felt his hair stand on end. This was hardly different from eating people.
"Come to think of it, that Yu fellow's senior sister and lover, and my bargain father, both mentioned 'overturning altars and razing temples.' Add Great-Great-Grandfather's story to that-perhaps there really are orthodox methods of cultivating immortality?"
Setting down the Complete Record of the High Shaman's Ghost Capturing, Lu Sui's thoughts drifted toward the Nine Ridges and Ten Mountains beyond Shaqing Pass.
The various legends and prominent figures of the Land Beyond the Pass were all connected to that place.
"Everyone says that once you make it through Shaqing Pass, you're no longer ordinary... But I don't see anything particularly special about Uncle Wen. He doesn't look like he's cultivated immortality."
Lu Sui muttered inwardly, his gaze turning outside.
Just how many mysterious places that stirred people's yearning lay in the boundless Land Beyond the Pass?
The night was thick as ink.
Outside Changle County's seat, at the mortuary.
The elderly night watchman held up a lantern and peered outside.
He had just heard several barks and worried that wild dogs might be gathering nearby, ready to drag away the corpses stored in the mortuary and gnaw on them.
"How strange. There were clearly dogs barking..."
Suddenly, silver light flashed, and the watchman's muttering cut off abruptly.
The lantern fell, rolled twice, and its candle flame was extinguished by the wind.
In the darkness, a figure in close-fitting gray clothes slipped into the mortuary.
The newcomer wore a wolf mask, his arms folded around a long saber held against his chest as his gaze swept his surroundings.
His eyes were especially horrifying, a stark, dead fish-belly white.
"They say that once you make it through Shaqing Pass, you're no longer ordinary. Your senior sister had at least lit incense. She was an insider preparing to pay homage to a mountain."
Not long after the gray-clad man with the wolf mask and white eyes entered the mortuary, a grating, raucous voice drifted in.
Flap, flap!
It was actually a crow, beating its wings before landing on a roof beam!
A crow speaking human words in a mortuary outside the city in the dead of night-enough to frighten the life out of anyone!
"The rules of the Nine Ridges and Ten Mountains are there for all to see. Only disciples who have paid homage to a mountain can establish an altar. Without an altar, these arts face too many restrictions. Once the other party catches wind of them, things become difficult."
The gray-clad man's voice was low, carrying what seemed like a trace of grief.
"If anyone's to blame, it's Lu Yulin for being too scheming and ruthless! Luo Youxian was his sworn brother who'd faced life and death with him. He'd even taken a blade for him and saved his life, yet without another word, he made him a scapegoat! Then he framed Luo Dongsheng..."
The crow cackled twice and sneered.
"I'd say you were simply too stupid. The Lu family's vicious tiger didn't earn his reputation for nothing. He showed a little weakness, and you swallowed the bait!"
The gray-clad man remained silent, but inwardly cursed:
"You're all talk! You've fought Lu Yulin for all these years, and I've never seen you get the better of him!"
The mortuary abruptly fell deathly silent, broken only by the occasional distant bark.
"What do you intend to do next? Your senior sister failed and was captured. She's still soaking in a cesspit. If you go rescue her, you'll surely meet the same end."
The crow rolled its bright red eyes and asked in a harsh voice:
"Will you be ill-fated lovebirds and die alongside your senior sister, or become a homeless cur and slink back to Shaqing Pass?"
The gray-clad man shook his head.
"Senior Sister loves beauty above all else. Now her shoulder blades have been pierced, she's been thrown into a foul cesspit, and she can't even kill herself. Sooner or later, she won't be able to endure it.
"I've brought her hair and essence blood. Cast a curse to kill her and give her a quick end."
With that, he took a red cloth bundle from his robes and gently placed it on a thin wooden coffin propped up beside him.
The crow froze, seemingly unable to process his words.
Only after a long while did it let out an ugly, shrill laugh.
"Yu Tianci, I'd say your vicious heart is no less black than Lu Yulin's! Qiu Yu is your longtime lover! You can bear to take her life?!"
The gray-clad man's tone was flat.
"Master protected Senior Sister too well. She's never suffered much hardship. That she's lasted a full day in the cesspit is already because her love for me runs deep.
"In another half day at most, she's bound to confess."
He raised his head to look at the crow, his clouded white eyes filled with indifference.
"A person of your standing wouldn't know what a cesspit is like. Feces and urine pile up inside, murky and viscous, with maggots burrowing everywhere. Senior Sister bathes three times a day. How could she endure it?
"So even if she reveals my secrets, I won't blame her in the slightest. It's only human nature."
The crow sneered.
"After all that talk, you're just afraid your senior sister will expose you. You practice martial arts and sorcery alike. Once Lu Yulin learns your lineage and background, your positions in light and shadow will reverse, and you'll be even more passive."
The gray-clad man was not angered. Tenderness seeped into his voice.
"I only want to free Senior Sister from her suffering."
"Kekekeke..."
The crow laughed mockingly a few times. Seeing the gray-clad man remain unmoved, it seemed to lose interest.
Then it said:
"After killing Qiu Yu, do you intend to divert the trouble elsewhere and kill with a borrowed blade by going to Shaqing Pass for reinforcements? That's a poor strategy.
"The Nine Ridges and Ten Mountains established Shaqing Pass as a boundary to keep out Calamity Qi.
"Lu Yulin has never lit incense, much less paid homage to a mountain and entered the fold. According to the rules..."
The crow stopped there, but its meaning was plain.
Calling in help would not work against Lu Yulin!
"Of course I intend to keep fighting the Lu family."
The gray-clad man removed his wolf mask and grinned.
"When I lit incense and entered the fold, Master invited Master Pei of the Illuminating Yin Pavilion to cast a divination and read my fate.
"Master Pei stated with absolute certainty that the Yu family's 'Owl God Fate' would last no further than my generation. If I still failed to feed it its fill, our allotted fortune would run out completely.
"Master Pei also said the same held true for the Lu family. By the fifth generation, they would either produce a qilin or raise a weak seedling.
"As the saying goes, wealth lasts no more than three generations, and nobility no more than five. That's precisely what it means."
Master Pei of the Illuminating Yin Pavilion?
He was a renowned expert.
A formidable figure reputed to see past lives and judge life and death.
The crow grew solemn with respect, putting away its hateful, nose-in-the-air manner.
"Master Pei's final instruction was that if the 'Owl God' in my fate went unfed, I would surely perish beneath a qilin's fangs."
The gray-clad man said coldly:
"That sickly Lu Sui is undoubtedly the 'weak seedling' raised by the Lu family.
"If no strong figure emerges in five generations, it means the Lu family will decline sooner or later. This is a good opportunity for revenge.
"If I pull my head in like a turtle, the 'Owl God' in my fate will surely turn on me.
"And those words, 'perish beneath a qilin's fangs,' refer to Lu Yulin.
"By that reckoning, only one of us can live! Retreat is absolutely impossible!"
Crack!
Outside the mortuary, a silver serpent of lightning coursed through the dark clouds, its blazing white light piercing the night sky.
The crow fell unusually quiet, seemingly pondering, seemingly thinking.
After a long while, it asked hoarsely:
"You spent half a year plotting, using a Suppression Art to curse Lu Yulin's son into infirmity, then setting your sights on Luo Dongsheng and bewitching him.
"Finally, you had me ask for eight thousand taels and source goods from Yihe Workshop. You went to all that trouble to lay a trap, only for Lu Yulin to see through it easily and turn the tables.
"Yu Tianci, do you still have any trump cards to play against Lu Yulin in another round?"
The gray-clad man answered without hesitation:
"Three things: the Yu family's Gold-Inlaid Saber, the Black Flood Dragon Armor, and this life of mine!"
The crow bared its teeth, seemingly disdainful.
The gray-clad man ignored it and continued:
"After Lu Ping'an ruined my ancestor, he tried every possible means to find a way to break the curses. In the end, he made it through Shaqing Pass and survived nine deaths for one chance at life to obtain a treasured saber and armor. They suppressed the two great curses: begging for generations, with wealth bringing calamity; and establishing a home or business bringing ruin and death to the family. These are what I rely on!"
"Besides, I learned a great deal from this clash with Lu Yulin. I'm not the only one who wants the other dead. Doesn't he think day and night about eliminating me, ending all future trouble, and preserving the Lu family's wealth and status?"
"Big Boss, it all depends on whether you're willing to let Lu Yulin stand a head above you for the rest of your life, or take a gamble, put your money on me, and win the whole pot!"
The crow pecked lightly at the roof beam, shook its wings twice, and fixed its blood-red eyes on the man in gray, giving a strange laugh.
"What a silver tongue! I'll count those eight thousand taels of silver as money thrown into the water just to hear the splash! Heh heh, Yu Tianci, don't forget that nasty curse on the Yu Family: 'Once into your twenties, meet six and die a violent death.' You're heading straight for twenty-six now. Better hurry!"
Flap, flap!
The crow spread its wings and took flight, circled twice above the gray-robed man's head, then swooped down and snatched up the red cloth bundle resting on the coffin.
A moment later, the man in gray walked out of the coffin house, stepping over the old night watchman's corpse.
Across the ink-black night sky, lightning flashed, followed by thunder.
Then rain came pouring down!
"The Lu Family will produce a qilin in its fifth generation. Good thing you're the fourth, Lu Yulin! You can't preserve the Lu Family's fortune and prosperity!"
The man in gray raised a hand and put on his wolf mask, hiding his vicious face crisscrossed with scars.
Humming a rustic little tune, he walked farther and farther away.
"Thunder over the mountain ridges, rain over the knobby hills~
The wind at Shaqing Pass blows clean through my wolfskin coat~
Ai~ ya~
The blade won't return to its sheath till it's tasted blood, and it ain't over till the man stops breathing~"