A black wolf as big as a hill?
A weasel that spoke human words?
Lu Sui froze briefly, then smiled in understanding.
"I knew it. What normal world would have a way to make someone fall unconscious and cough up blood without a sound, leaving them bedridden for half a year...
Sure enough, the Land Beyond the Pass wasn't painted in such ordinary colors!"
Beyond the pass lay many calamities; within it, many misfortunes.
From the sound of it, the words "calamity" and "misfortune" seemed to carry deeper meanings in this world.
"Xiaotang, tell me, what exactly are these demon calamities?"
Lu Sui blinked.
Xiaotang looked hesitant. The Lu household had strict rules. Wagging her tongue about strange things could get her punished.
"Looks like I'll have to sacrifice my looks."
Lu Sui adjusted his expression, caught Xiaotang's wrist, and began toying with her delicate fingers.
As a bedchamber maid, Xiaotang did not have to do rough work. Her hands were unlike those of the older serving women in the inner courtyard, covered in coarse calluses.
Her slender, jade-like fingers were as tender as scallion whites and felt lovely to the touch.
"It's just the two of us here. I promise I won't tell anyone else."
As Lu Sui played with her fingers, shyness rose across Xiaotang's oval face.
Although she was a bedchamber maid tasked with teaching him the ways of the flesh, and the older serving women had taught her all manner of intimate techniques early on,
the eldest young master was still young. Only after his coming-of-age ceremony at seventeen or eighteen would they be permitted to share a bed.
To this day, neither of them had crossed that line.
Besides, Xiaotang had been raised in the inner courtyard and rarely encountered other men.
With Lu Sui teasing her like this, her fair face immediately flushed crimson, and even her neck took on a vivid blush.
"Y-young master, the elders warned us not to chatter carelessly. Talking about these demons can draw unclean things..."
Xiaotang instinctively tried to withdraw her hand, but hesitated.
How could a maid dare go against her master's wishes?
Yet if she did not pull free, Lu Sui's restless hand deliberately stroked her with his fingertips, as though caressing fine porcelain.
It truly was enough to shame her to death!
"Promise me, and I'll let go."
Lu Sui smiled, his phoenix eyes tilting slightly upward as he watched the shy beauty beneath the dim yellow lamplight.
His unrestrained scrutiny tangled Xiaotang's heart like hemp. Her voice was as faint as a gnat's:
"You must keep your word, young master."
"Don't worry."
Lu Sui raised his hand and extended his little finger.
"Let's pinky swear."
The young master is treating me like a child!
A little annoyed, Xiaotang extended her finger in imitation and hooked it gently around his.
Then she smoothed the loose strands beside her temples, trying hard to calm her heartbeat.
"I heard the saying about the Land Beyond the Pass suffering calamities year after year from my father."
"These 'calamities' come in different sizes, depending on how far their effects reach. Father said that for hundreds of years, snowstorms, droughts, and floods struck the Land Beyond the Pass one after another. Only because the Grand Protectors of the Nine Ridges and Ten Mountains intervened have there been a few decades of peace..."
Human strength could suppress natural disasters?
Was this the power to "reach through heaven and earth" that Uncle Wen had spoken of?
A little heat stirred in Lu Sui's heart.
The pinnacle of martial arts was actually that ferocious!
It looked like he really had to learn martial arts!
"Seventy years ago, demon calamities ran rampant across the Land Beyond the Pass. All kinds of spirits and monsters kept springing up like crops in a fertilized field."
Xiaotang spoke slowly, recounting something she had experienced herself:
"The year Father took me fleeing from disaster, our escort wagons passed through Old Ridge. Heavy snow was falling, and wolves howled without stopping..."
"The escort leader was experienced. He said we'd run into a 'demon calamity' and hurriedly led everyone into formation, making a circle of torches."
"I lifted the wagon curtain to steal a look and saw a black wolf crouching on the mountain ridge. It was frighteningly huge, with green eyes like two lanterns!"
It felt novel to Lu Sui, like listening to ghost stories on the radio in the past.
"And afterward..."
"All right, you don't have to tell me the rest."
Lu Sui put away his teasing smile. He only wanted to know what demon calamities were actually like, not tear open Xiaotang's scars.
"Have some hot tea to settle yourself."
At some point, Lu Sui had poured a cup of tea. He pushed it in front of Xiaotang.
"Thank you, young master."
Xiaotang's eyes grew a little hot. She cupped the tea in both hands and took a sip.
Once she had recovered, she picked out some things she had heard and continued:
"The demon calamities beyond the pass come in all sorts of strange forms. Father also told me about weasels.
"If one wants to cultivate a human form, it has to block someone's path and 'beg for investiture,' borrowing that person's fortune.
"If you agree, you lose years of life and blessings. But if you refuse, you offend it.
"Weasels hold grudges worse than anything. They can make sure you never have peace for the rest of your life."
"That's why almost every family in the settlements beyond the pass worships a household guardian immortal, to keep 'demon calamities' from troubling them.
"But you don't see that as much in the county town..."
Lu Sui wished he could grab a handful of sunflower seeds and crack them as he listened.
He suddenly asked:
"Then, if someone who practices martial arts runs into a demon calamity, does it help?"
"I've heard the escorts say that great masters in the martial world have such vigorous Qi and blood that ordinary demons can't get near them.
"Above them, supposedly there are also 'people of the mountains' who deal specifically with these things..."
Qi and blood like a furnace, keeping demons at bay?
Lu Sui grew thoughtful. Presumably, this was the path Uncle Wen followed.
If he practiced the Turtle-Snake Stance well, he should be able to nourish his Qi and blood too.
"Little turtle, you'll have to keep working hard!"
Lu Sui silently encouraged the little turtle lying inside the shrine.
"Oh, Sister Xiaotang..."
As they chatted, Xiaohuan happened to push the door open. Her round eyes darted between them.
Why was Sister Xiaotang's face so red?
And look at our young master, all comfortable and thoroughly satisfied...
Xiaohuan remembered what Aunt Zhou had said: once men were warm and well fed, their thoughts turned to lust.
"Young master, I'll take my leave."
Seeing this, Xiaotang rose with the food box in her arms and hurried away.
"Young master."
Xiaohuan hesitated, then finally could not help muttering:
"You've only just recovered. Your body can't stand that sort of exertion..."
Her voice grew quieter and quieter, until the last few words were as faint as a mosquito's hum.
This little brat certainly had an imagination!
Lu Sui froze for half a second, then raised his hand and flicked her forehead.
"Ow!"
"You're so young. What have you been stuffing your head with?"
Lu Sui said with a perfectly straight face:
"Xiaotang was just telling me about the spirits and monsters beyond the pass. Hey, want to hear?"
"No, no!"
Xiaohuan clapped both hands over her ears and shook her head like a rattle drum.
Aunt Zhou had said that talking about demons at night would attract unclean things!
"Let your imagination run wild again, and I'll tell you about them all night."
The young master's words made Xiaohuan shudder with fright.
"I was wrong! I'll go fetch your water, young master!"
With that, she fled the room.
The room fell quiet again.
The little maid really could not take a scare.
Lu Sui chuckled and took out the Qi circulation diagrams Dou Xiaowen had given him once more.
There were five postures in total: lying flat, sitting cross-legged, sleeping on one's side, standing against a wall...
Lu Sui opened a page at random. The little figure in the diagram sat cross-legged, its back slightly curved like a bow, both hands overlapping beneath its navel.
"My legs weren't working properly before, so I could only circulate Qi lying down. This time I'll try sitting."
Lu Sui climbed onto the bed and gritted his teeth as he crossed his legs.
His feet, no longer stiff, ached faintly, as though the great tendons were being stretched.
"This posture takes quite a bit of effort."
Lu Sui adjusted for a few breaths, pressed his tongue against his upper palate, and slowly breathed in and out.
Three inches below his navel, that thumb-thick strand of Qi began to move.
A warm current rose from his lower abdomen, passed through his chest, split into two streams along his arms, then circled back to his spine before finally gathering beneath his navel.
That was one complete circulation.
"Huh?"
Lu Sui opened his eyes.
How strange!
Wherever the Qi passed, his blood seemed to be pushed by an invisible hand, its flow involuntarily quickening.
After one complete circulation, his whole body was actually hot, his pores opened, and a thin sheen of sweat seeped out.
"This feels like downing a bowl of strong liquor in the bitterest winter weather. So warm, so refreshing!"
Lu Sui savored the sensation of circulating Qi while seated cross-legged.
Then he opened the booklet to compare.
Sure enough, a line of small writing stood beside the Qi circulation diagram.
-Qi is the commander of blood; blood is the mother of Qi.
"Where Qi travels, blood flows faster."
Lu Sui thought to himself:
Is this what they call "Qi and blood"?
[Seeing you gain your first understanding of the wonders of Qi and blood, the Turtle-Snake Stance was most pleased.] [Head high and chest out, guiding the Qi, completing another circulation...]
"Qi grows stronger, nourishes the sinews and bones, and fosters Qi and blood."
Understanding surfaced in Lu Sui's eyes. Was this the beginner's level of martial arts?
Calamities and turmoil frequently struck the Land Beyond the Pass, and demons roamed unchecked.
Qi and blood were a protective talisman!
"Little turtle."
Lu Sui closed his eyes and watched the little turtle crawl out of the shrine, stretch its neck, and raise its head in a breathing posture.
"Work some overtime tonight. Practice all five postures in the Qi circulation diagrams!"