The Price

"Clang!"

The sound of metal striking stone rang out.

Sima Xiangru's fingers curled slightly, drawing a stirring, piercing note from a Scorched-Tail Zither.

Everyone felt a jolt in their minds, but his playing soon grew gentle.

As though descending from a high mountain onto level ground, then stepping into a stream, the sound of Sima Xiangru's zither became a series of lingering, ethereal echoes.

"Young man, please sit down!"

Dong Zhongshu listened to the zither with his eyes closed. Only when the music had grown melodious and gentle did he open them and look again at the casting medium.

"Do you know what you must face when a spell is cast to find someone?"

Seeing Zhang Xuezhou sit down properly, Dong Zhongshu asked the question.

"After Grand Commandant Zhou cast a Technique on me last time, I felt as though my body had been drained and bled dry." Zhang Xuezhou nodded. "But I have no way to refuse when you cast a Technique on me!"

"No way to refuse!"

Dong Zhongshu nodded slightly.

The person subjected to the Technique had no way to refuse, and neither did he, the one casting it.

The imperial court wanted Zou Bugui found, and they could only carry out the task.

"The Technique for finding someone must draw upon the Law Power you have cultivated, continuously extracting it from your body," Dong Zhongshu said. "Such forcible extraction can easily shake the foundations of your cultivation, or even cause your cultivation to regress!"

"It's that serious?"

"If being subjected to the Technique this time destroys your cultivation, you may come and attend my lectures afterward. Perhaps the damage can be repaired!"

"I never imagined those consequences before!"

As Dong Zhongshu spoke at length about the consequences, Zhang Xuezhou couldn't help drawing a sharp breath.

Zhang