Dharma Master Realm
"Jia Le~ Lin Yu~ you two little brats, get out here! I'll break your legs!"
Outside the Grandmaster's house, the Grandmaster and Qingqing were desperately holding Four Eyes back, preventing him from going inside.
"Four Eyes, calm down! You'll beat the children to death!"
The Grandmaster strained with all his might to hold Four Eyes back.
Four Eyes was clutching a wooden club as thick as an arm, his eyes blazing as he charged toward the house.
"What do we do? Master's really angry this time." Jia Le peeked out from inside, then crouched down, clutching his head in fright.
"Hmph! If you two have the guts, hide in that stinking monk's house for the rest of your lives."
Seeing that he couldn't force his way in, Four Eyes left them with that threat and went home to lie in wait. He refused to believe the two of them wouldn't come back.
Before long, the Grandmaster came inside, holding his injured head.
"You two should go and apologize to your master tonight. Ow!"
While he had been holding Four Eyes back, that old bastard had taken a sneaky shot at him.
"Master, are you all right?" Qingqing worriedly examined the Grandmaster's head.
"Grandmaster, I'm really sorry. We dragged you into this too." Seeing the injury on the Grandmaster's head, Jia Le lowered his own head in guilt.
"I'm fine. What's a little injury like this? I've had much worse when I was up against your master."
The Grandmaster waved a hand dismissively.
"But I suggest you go and apologize to your master tonight. He's your master, after all. You can't hide from him forever."
The two exchanged glances. Jia Le knew his master's temper; when he struck, he struck for real. But Lin Yu was only eight, and Jia Le worried that their master might hurt him.
If Lin Yu had heard Jia Le's thoughts, he would only have said, You're overthinking it. He can't treasure me enough as it is. If he hurts me, Uncle Nine will hurt him.
"Yes, we'll go tonight."
The two also knew the Grandmaster was right. They couldn't hide from their master and martial uncle forever; the relationship between master and disciple was very important.
The sun went down.
"Master, I made dinner. Would you like to try it?" Jia Le and Lin Yu knelt respectfully outside Four Eyes' room.
Four Eyes pushed the door open and, when he saw the food on the table, his expression softened a little.
"At least you two know what's good for you." Four Eyes walked around them and over to the table.
"Have you two eaten?"
Just as the two were wondering how Four Eyes would scold them, he spoke.
Lin Yu and Jia Le exchanged a glance and shook their heads.
"Then come and eat."
Surprise flashed across both their faces. Was this...
Was there really no punishment at all?
"Oh, oh, thank you, Master." Jia Le hurriedly pulled Lin Yu over to eat.
"Martial Uncle, I'm sorry. Actually, I accidentally lost control while practicing a spell, and that's how I destroyed your customer. It wasn't Senior Brother Jia Le's fault."
At that moment, Lin Yu sincerely admitted his mistake and apologized to Four Eyes.
"Mm."
But Four Eyes merely grunted and said nothing else.
The two exchanged helpless glances, unsure what Four Eyes meant.
Before long, they finished their silent meal.
As Four Eyes put down his chopsticks, both their hearts jumped.
It had been like the calm before a storm. The two waited nervously to see what Four Eyes would do.
"Show me the spell you were practicing."
But Four Eyes only spoke calmly.
Lin Yu hurriedly took the copy of the Heaven and Earth Spirit Imbuing Technique he had been reading from his robes and handed it to Four Eyes.
When Four Eyes saw which spell it was, he breathed a sigh of relief.
"Next time you practice a spell, remember to have an elder with you."
Four Eyes returned the spell to Lin Yu and gave him that reminder.
That morning, Four Eyes had checked his other customers and discovered that, aside from the one that was gone, the others all bore burn marks to varying degrees.
Four Eyes had worried that Lin Yu might hurt himself practicing some powerful spell.
"Master, you're not angry anymore?"
Seeing Four Eyes' expression, Jia Le ventured to ask.
"When did I ever say I was angry? Hm?!" Four Eyes glared at Jia Le and shot back.
"But you were carrying such a thick club during the day. You scared me to death."
Jia Le was an honest fellow, so he answered whatever Four Eyes asked.
"If I hadn't done that, would that stinking monk have let me hit him those few times?!" Four Eyes said smugly.
"Wow~ Master, that was really rotten of you."
Now that Jia Le knew his master wasn't angry, his mouth ran unchecked.
"You brat, I haven't even settled the score with you, and here you are talking about your master!"
Four Eyes raised his hand and smacked him on the head.
After all that commotion, the three relaxed, and after some more horseplay, they prepared to go to sleep.
"Martial Uncle, I wanted to ask, why is it that when my master uses it, the ritual implements give off golden light, but mine don't react at all?"
Seeing his chance, Lin Yu asked the question that had been troubling him.
"Let me see the ritual implement you imbued with spirit."
Four Eyes thought for a moment and decided to take a look before drawing a conclusion.
"Here it is."
Lin Yu took out the Bagua mirror and handed it to Four Eyes.
Four Eyes took it and carefully examined it with his spiritual sense.
A trace of shock flashed through his eyes, and he glanced at Lin Yu in disbelief.
He could still sense a trace of the sun's power inside it.
"It's fine. You used it correctly."
Four Eyes returned the Bagua mirror to Lin Yu.
Perhaps seeing the puzzlement in Lin Yu's eyes, Four Eyes explained, "The reason you see different effects when other people use it
"is that none of them can perfectly imbue the force of heaven and earth into a ritual implement.
"When the force of heaven and earth is perfectly imbued, a Dharma treasure's brilliance is held within, and it shows nothing unusual. Only when it encounters evil will it unleash its power."
After he finished speaking, Four Eyes glanced at Lin Yu as though he were looking at a monster.
He had heard Uncle Nine talk about how gifted Lin Yu was, but he had simply listened without taking it seriously.
After all, who couldn't brag? He could boast about how amazing Jia Le was too.
Now that he had seen Lin Yu's talent with his own eyes, Four Eyes was speechless.
He had recognized at a glance that the spell came from his study, yet Lin Yu had only just gotten hold of it and could already use it perfectly.
"Thank you for explaining, Martial Uncle."
Reassured that nothing was wrong, Lin Yu returned to the guest room, intending to cultivate for a while before going to sleep.
Four Eyes watched Lin Yu's retreating figure for a while, then sat silently on the floor, staring blankly at the stars outside the window.
Lin Yu's talent was already beyond what a mortal could attain.
Four Eyes' eyes reddened with envy that Uncle Nine had managed to take in such a disciple.
"Whew~ Martial Uncle's place really is a land blessed by feng shui. Cultivation is so fast here."
After cultivating for a while, Lin Yu let out a satisfied breath. Cultivating here was much faster than at the mortuary.
The spiritual Qi here was at least two to three times as abundant as at the mortuary.
After only a few hours, Lin Yu felt the spiritual power in his body reach saturation. He had already been close to the next realm.
Now he could already sense it.
But the Dharma Master realm was different from the preceding realms. At this realm, one first had to condense one's own Yin Spirit.
Being able to send one's Yin Spirit out of the body meant that one had officially entered the Dharma Master realm.
This was also the realm most cultivators dreamed of reaching. After all, sending out a Yin Spirit wasn't something one could do just because one wanted to.
If one's Yin Spirit was too weak, a reckless breakthrough into this realm could, with the slightest lapse, leave it scattered by a passing gust of wind.
Once the Yin Spirit scattered, one's soul would be destroyed. Since ancient times, many had forced a breakthrough into this realm only to suffer that fate.