Though His Ambition Could No Longer Carry Him a Thousand Miles, He Still Refused to Fade into Obscurity

Chu Tianshu slept until late afternoon. Only then did he sit down in the restaurant's main hall to eat, yawning.

Since he had been at the town head's home the previous noon, the chicken and duck the restaurant had prepared for him had been left untouched. Served cold and sliced, they had a distinctive flavor, and with a pot of hot water, they were enough to whet the appetite.

But he had only practiced for the morning yesterday, so he was not especially hungry. He ate at a leisurely pace, looking at the street, his mouth, mind, and eyes each occupied with something different.

His mouth chewed slowly, his eyes stared blankly, and his mind dwelled on his dreams.

It feels like I'm getting more adept at exercising with them in my dreams, but when will I finally clear the whole thing for real?

There were fewer people on the street than usual. Presumably, many were still resting at home, and even those who had forced themselves out to set up stalls looked tired from lack of sleep.

But when they talked about last night's opera, their weary faces lit up with excitement again.

Chu Tianshu came back to his senses. Looking diagonally through the entrance, he saw them gesturing as they talked. Remembering the night before, he could not help feeling much the same.

It had been like watching a boxing manual accompanied by music, making it easier to find endless fascination in it.

Even someone who knew little about appreciating music might suddenly notice a line or two of singing that matched the flavor of the "boxing manual." They could not help remembering the words and wanting to hum along.

"Still thinking about yesterday's opera?"

Shopkeeper Ma sat down across the table and poured himself half a bowl of hot water, his face still drowsy from sleep.

He blew across the water, letting the steam curl up from the bowl and wash over his face. He seemed to find it comfortable, and spoke slowly.

"In The Eastern Capital: A Dream of Splendor, a man of the Song recorded that after the Qixi Festival, performances of the zaju Rescues His Mother Mulian were staged until the fifteenth, drawing twice the usual crowds. I've heard that during the Kangxi reign of the former Qing dynasty, the imperial family also loved grand operas like that. They'd put them on for seven days straight, with the major troupes working in shifts around the clock."

"Unfortunately, we don't have that kind of good fortune. We can't listen to seven straight days of masterful singing. Getting to listen all night yesterday, then hearing it a second time on the seventh day, is good enough."

Chu Tianshu smiled. "If they sang at night for seven days straight, I wouldn't be happy with a schedule that turned day and night upside down either."

Shopkeeper Ma teased him, "An old man needs to take care of himself, but you're young, and your kung fu is highly accomplished. Are you that careful too?"

"Highly accomplished..."

Remembering what had happened yesterday, Chu Tianshu asked, "Has that Adjutant Zhou already mastered one path and truly reached the realm of Dragon Coils Around the Body?"

Shopkeeper Ma hesitated. "Judging by the force of your fight, and the fact that he could still handle it with ease, there's an eighty or ninety percent chance he's mastered Dragon Coils Around the Body. But I'm afraid he has ulterior motives. You'd better be more wary of him."

"I thought there was something off about him too."

Chu Tianshu's eyes brightened slightly. "But judging by his attitude, since he has some hidden aim, he should still be able to tolerate it if I just go to him for practice."

Shopkeeper Ma said in surprise, "You want to practice with him?"

Chu Tianshu smiled. "Yes. I feel like I'm only a little way from Dragon Coils Around the Body myself."

"With someone like him right there, ready at hand, sparring with him a few more times is bound to do me a world of good."

Shopkeeper Ma wore a complicated expression. He picked up his hot water and took a sip. "Since you don't want to be easily drawn over to his side, it's better to have as little to do with that kind of person as possible. If you want practice, you can go to Old Zhong."

Chu Tianshu smiled. "You can tell from Master Zhong's build that Dragon Coils Around the Body isn't his main path, can't you? Our approaches are different, so sparring at this stage certainly wouldn't be as suitable."

Just then, Zhong Jinqiu arrived, stepping over the threshold.

"If you want to spar, we can."

Zhong Jinqiu held a jar in his arms. "Soon, your approach and mine may have something in common too."

Shopkeeper Ma stood up, a trace of excitement on his face. "It's here."

Zhong Jinqiu patted the jar. "Right in here."

"Good, good."

Although there was no one else in the hall, Shopkeeper Ma still got up and shut the restaurant's main doors. In a low voice, he said, "Little Chu, come with us."

He picked up the pot of hot water and turned toward the courtyard.

Chu Tianshu found their behavior a little unusual. Puzzled, he thought for a moment, then followed.

Shopkeeper Ma entered a side storeroom filled with boxes, bamboo steamers, iron pots, and sundry items.

He felt around in a corner, then lifted a large, thick wooden board, revealing a cellar beneath it.

The two old men went down the steps. Chu Tianshu leaned forward for a look and saw that it appeared to be a place for storing wine.

There were tables and barrels, and numerous wine jars sealed with red cloth and clay were stacked along the bases of all four walls.

Only after going down did he find that the air in the cellar was surprisingly fresh. After a few wooden slats were removed from the wall, there was also light from an unknown source.

"This connects to the wall of the storeroom above and runs straight to the roof. There are vents, as well as hollow passages fitted with lenses. Light refracted repeatedly through several lenses is enough to illuminate the wine cellar."

After offering that explanation, Shopkeeper Ma reached out and tugged a ring on the wall. The wooden board overhead closed.

Zhong Jinqiu put the jar on the table, removed the lid, and took a pair of bamboo chopsticks to rummage inside.

Chu Tianshu could now see that it was jarred pork.

Large chunks of pork were deep-fried until their fat had rendered out. Then the meat was placed in a jar and covered with hot oil.

Once the oil cooled and solidified, it turned as white as jade. Sealed inside, the meat could be stored for a long time. When it was time to eat, one could dig out a piece and prepare it in many ways, its aroma filling the air.

But Zhong Jinqiu dug an oilpaper package out of the jar and tossed it into the pot of hot water. Once the lard on its surface had melted away, he used the chopsticks to take it out and set it on the table.

In his hand, the bamboo chopsticks were like sharp blades. With one stroke, they cut through all four or five layers of oilpaper, revealing what was inside.

It was a piece of yellow jade the size of an infant's fist.

Chu Tianshu asked curiously, "What is this?"

Zhong Jinqiu was brief. "Spirit Yang Gallbladder."

Chu Tianshu recalled a treasure described in a medical book.

A wild bear that lived a hundred years would shed its skin and be reborn, its fur as white as snow. Facing the wind, it gazed at the sun. Its gallbladder was where all the Yang Qi in its body gathered, and was called "Spirit Yang."

From its name to its appearance, the yellow jade before him matched the medical book's description. Perhaps its effects were the same too.

Moved, Chu Tianshu asked, "Is this the kind of Spirit Yang Gallbladder that can keep an old practitioner alive and preserve his body, letting him pass away peacefully in meditation?"

As long as they had not transcended the mortal world, whether they practiced spirit communication or martial arts, they all faced one grave concern as they approached the natural end of their lives.

In the old days, some called it "dissipation of cultivation." The process could last anywhere from seven days to a month, with mental power erupting uncontrollably or the body swelling and shrinking. It was extremely painful.

It was said to happen because practitioners could more easily touch the essence of life. In their youth, they interfered with their vital essence too frequently while in the Aperture Opening state. When they grew old and neared the natural end of their lives, they could no longer maintain that degree of control, and problems arose.

Because of this, some schools of cultivation had even devised methods specifically to sense their own lifespans.

Two or three months in advance, they would realize that their natural end was near and deliberately reduce their own cultivation. By cutting it down until it could no longer flare up, they could avoid the pain of dissipation.

Chu Tianshu's grandfather had used this very method, applying a set of needles to himself in advance.

But personally cutting away the cultivation one had spent most of a lifetime building, even if it spared the body pain, inevitably brought a crushing sorrow to the heart, along with a lingering air of sickness.

But if one swallowed a Spirit Yang Gallbladder, it was said one could live several months longer and would not have to suffer the dissipation of cultivation even at death.

"That's the Spirit Yang Gallbladder."

Shopkeeper Ma sighed. "Back then, there was a village where children were often carried off by bears. We passed through and asked for lodging. Filled with righteous indignation, we tracked a bear deep into the mountains and killed it. Who knew it was the offspring of a hundred-year-old bear?"

"We killed the young one, and the old one came. After one hell of a bitter fight, we finally killed it and obtained this rare treasure."

Zhong Jinqiu said, "All these years, only the two of us have known this secret. Even my wife and son... My wife never cultivated, and my son is a disappointment. He can't use it, so I never told him about it either."

As he spoke, a look of melancholy crossed his face. Amid the sadness was a trace of old anger that flashed past and vanished.

Shopkeeper Ma hurriedly changed the subject. "Little Chu, although you're a divine physician, it seems you don't know about another use for this Spirit Yang Gallbladder?"

"Besides being taken by elderly people whose bodies are failing, it's also a great tonic for boxers pursuing Eating Makes an Immortal."

Shopkeeper Ma stroked the short beard on his chin, looking a little pleased with himself. "You say you follow the path of Dragon Coils Around the Body, but you can't fool me."

"Judging by how much you eat, you must have practiced two boxing arts. The other one follows the path of Eating Makes an Immortal!"

"Young man, you've bitten off more than you can chew. Your attainment in Eating Makes an Immortal is far behind your Dragon Coils Around the Body now, isn't it?"

Although the reasoning was not quite right, the conclusion was correct.

Gluttonous Tongbei originally trained only the stomach and intestines, but when it came to the muscles, it trained all four limbs. After the second round of deduction and refinement added a stance-training method specifically for sinew strength to the boxing manual, the tempering and development of the internal organs had fallen even further behind.

Chu Tianshu could see what they meant, but was not quite sure. "Are you two... thinking of giving me the Spirit Yang Gallbladder?"

"Is that so strange?"

Shopkeeper Ma said, "In times like these, who can guarantee they'll live to the natural end of their life? If we keep holding on to this thing, it might be buried and forgotten one day, wasted for nothing."

"We risked our lives to get it. How can we just let it return to dust?"

"And you're young, spirited, courageous, and full of potential. You've fought alongside me, and you're worthy of this treasure."

Zhong Jinqiu crossed his arms and said, "I don't mind either way. There aren't many things in this world I care about. If Old Ma is willing to give it to you, I'm willing to help him."

Shopkeeper Ma laughed again. "Let me tell you one more honest truth. Watching you, kid, cultivating both magic and martial arts and advancing by leaps and bounds, with a good heart besides..."

"It feels as though Heaven has sent the person we wanted to become when we were young right before my old eyes."

"So, if you can grow stronger, then grow stronger still-as strong as you can!"

Chu Tianshu suddenly understood what was in Shopkeeper Ma's gaze.

It was not like a wholly selfless gift, nor even like an elder's affection for a junior.

It was simply... a refusal to fade into obscurity!

The traces most people left in their lives were no more than dust motes in the age they lived in. The more turbulent the age they came through, the more they felt as though they had left nothing behind in their lives.

The old steed lay in its stable, its spirit diminished, its ambition no longer able to carry it a thousand miles. Yet still, it could not accept it.

In the last few days of his life, his grandfather had looked at him that way too, but he could not have said what Shopkeeper Ma had.

What could he have said to a child trapped in nightmares since he was little?

If he could see Chu Tianshu now, he probably would not need so much affection or so much gentleness. He would simply give him a hard shove forward.

Go on, take more for yourself and stride ahead! Even if you plunge headfirst into the turbid waves, you can still make a bigger splash!

Chu Tianshu was silent for a while.

"Refusing to fade into obscurity isn't something only old people do."

He smiled. "Thank you. I won't let you down for giving me this gallbladder!"