Chapter 30: Showdown

“No one in the coffin?”

“Truly no one,” Jiao Tu said. “I opened it and looked. There are no robes, no funerary objects. Old Master Liu isn't dead; perhaps he is still within the Liu Family Estate.”

The Liu Family Estate sat atop Dragon Gate Mountain south of Luocheng, spanning hundreds of acres. People in Luocheng often joked that if a woman from an ordinary family married behind the high walls and grey tiles of the Liu family, she would likely never walk out again, dying old within them.

Jiao Tu pulled off Chen Ji's blindfold, and the three of them sat on the ground atop Mount Zhuangyuan. “Speak up, what do we do now?”

Yun Yang hesitated for a long time. “The Liu family actually dares to defy the heavens by using that old man's fake death to pressure the Secret Intelligence Bureau? Does that mean the entire Liu family, from top to bottom, is complicit in colluding with the enemy just like Liu Shiyu?”

Jiao Tu raised her arms to tie up her hair bun. “The Liu family has operated in the Central Plains for a long time, controlling eighty percent of the land and officials. Even the Imperial Court has to watch their expressions when collecting grain and taxes. Great families like the Liu, Xu, Hu, Chen, Qi, and Yang clans have long since placed their family interests above those of the state. It is not strange for them to collude with the enemy.”

“But His Majesty's Wan Sui Army is right on the border of Yuzhou. How do they dare?” Yun Yang asked in astonishment.

Jiao Tu pondered for a moment. “What if the Prince of Jing's manor is in league with the Liu family? I will send a carrier pigeon immediately to pass the news to the Grand Chancellor. This is no longer something you or I can decide; troops must be mobilized!”

“Right, mobilize troops to surround the Liu residence immediately!”

Chen Ji interrupted, “My lords...”

Yun Yang's eyes lit up. “What, do you have a new idea? Speak up, kid, you're full of tricks!”

Chen Ji said, “I must trouble the two lords to settle my remuneration. Lord Jiao Tu's fifty taels from last time haven't been paid yet. The total is one hundred and fifty taels.”

Jiao Tu's face darkened. “All you think about is money, money, money.”

Chen Ji was in desperate need of money. He roughly estimated the ice flows within his body; he feared he would need more than ten ginseng roots to resolve it this time. There were still many ice flows left to collect in the Luocheng Prison; going back and forth like this would likely cost him thousands of taels to stop.

His cultivation path was far too expensive!

He said with a smile, “My lords, the mere fact that I discovered the coffin was empty is already a monumental achievement. I am sure the Grand Chancellor will be very pleased. Compared to that, what is a mere hundred taels?”

Reluctantly, Jiao Tu removed a sandalwood bracelet from her wrist. “Here. This is a Buddhist 通宝 (Tongbao). You can go to Tuoluo Temple to collect one hundred taels.”

Chen Ji froze. He examined the bracelet and saw that every single bead was covered in dense, tiny characters, making one's eyes dizzy.

“This can be used to get money?” he asked curiously.

“Never seen a Buddhist Tongbao?” Jiao Tu explained. “The beads contain their own Buddhist secret codes. Take it to their Xiangji Kitchen, and someone will naturally give you the money according to the code. They can read it.”

Chen Ji became even more curious. “If I were to carve an identical bracelet myself, could I also exchange it for money?”

Jiao Tu chuckled. “I advise you to abandon that thought. Many people in the martial world have tried to scheme against the Buddhist sect, and in the end, they were all 'transferred' to the afterlife.”

Beside her, Yun Yang produced five small silver ingots. “Here.”

Chen Ji's smile was sincere. “Thank you for your patronage. I have been out too long today; I must trouble you both to send me back first. As for how to handle the Liu family matter, it is beyond my involvement.”

His savings stood at two hundred taels of silver, zero, and one hundred and seventy-three copper coins.

That was not counting the fifty taels under his bed.

...

...

It wasn't until the hour of the Ox at midnight that the carriage finally dropped Chen Ji off at the entrance of the Taiping Medical Clinic.

Yun Yang and Jiao Tu had just suffered a financial loss, which had even dampened the joy of their achievement. Without a single word of pleasantry, they drove off.

As the carriage receded, Wuyun jumped from the roof into his arms. “I've already memorized the location of the prison... Ah, you're so cold.”

“I drew too many ice flows in the prison. Did you see Jiao Tu's cultivation path?” Chen Ji walked toward the clinic, holding copper coins in his left hand and embracing Wuyun with his right.

“I saw it. An Yin Spirit burst out from between her eyebrows—it was intense!” Wuyun said.

Chen Ji pushed open the clinic doors, but at the very moment he opened them—at the three-quarter mark of the hour of the Ox—the ice flows arrived as scheduled.

It was as if this were a special moment; the dormant ice flows always surged up at this time, relentless and unyielding.

Chen Ji struggled toward the medicine cabinet. A medicine peddler had visited this morning, so his master should have replenished the new ginseng.

However, before he could even reach the cabinet, he found it difficult to move even an inch.

Chen Ji gasped, “Wuyun... ginseng.”

Inside the clinic, Wuyun jumped out of Chen Ji's arms, skillfully leaped onto the medicine cabinet, pulled open a drawer, and brought back the new ginseng in her mouth to touch Chen Ji.

With a clatter, the ginseng transformed into ten transparent beads that fell to the floor and bounced. Wuyun chased the beads, hopping around and swallowing them one by one.

The molten flow fed back, instantly igniting the Taiyi acupoints on the left and right sides outside his dantian!

Exhausted, Chen Ji leaned against the counter and patted Wuyun's head. “Thank you.”

Wuyun lifted her head. “Don't thank me from now on... What if your master finds the ginseng is gone?”

Chen Ji said with difficulty, “I have to buy a new one to replace it quickly before he notices.”

Wuyun pondered for a moment. “How about I go beat up that fat white cat again to balance your books for you?”

Chen Ji felt a surge of respect. "...Good idea!"

At that moment, Old Man Yao's flat voice came from behind him: "I sent you to deliver medicine, and you've been gone from morning until night."

Chen Ji instinctively turned around, blocking the medicine cabinet drawer behind him that hadn't had time to close. “Master? How do you walk without making a sound?”

Never mind Chen Ji; even Wuyun hadn't noticed the other man's approach!

Old Man Yao stood in the main hall of the clinic with his hands behind his back, his face full of mockery. "So you do know how to come back? Why are you standing there like a statue? Come here!"

Chen Ji didn't dare move, because the drawer behind him was still open!

Just as he was frantically thinking of a way to respond, he saw Wuyun jump from his arms, run to Old Man Yao, and leap up.

Old Man Yao froze for a moment and instinctively reached out to catch Wuyun. The small, furry black cat meowed in his hands, blinking her golden vertical pupils.

Old Man Yao fell silent for a long time before finally pulling Wuyun into his arms. Stroking her furry head, he sneered at Chen Ji, "She is much more sensible than you... Come, Wuyun, Grandpa will take you to eat some pastries."

Chen Ji: "Huh?"

Because of Wuyun's antics, Old Man Yao had actually forgotten to scold him.

Taking advantage of Old Man Yao turning around, Chen Ji hurriedly closed the medicine cabinet drawer gently.

Just as he closed it, he heard Old Man Yao's light voice: "What are you still hiding? Go buy a new one for me tomorrow. Keep a close eye on the ledger; not even a single root can be missing."

Embarrassed, Chen Ji followed him to the backyard and changed the subject. "Master, where are the two senior brothers?"

Old Man Yao said indifferently, "She Dengke's third brother is hosting a salon for a wealthy family, so She Dengke took Liu Quxing along to listen to the opera. They'll be back tomorrow morning. He was supposed to bring you along, but you were too slow to return."

He brought the purple wooden box out from the room again. The first drawer contained pastries, and the second contained candied fruits.

Wuyun hadn't eaten all day and stuffed her mouth full.

Chen Ji merely glanced into the drawer and was immediately glared at by Old Man Yao.

"If you want to eat, go to the kitchen and make it yourself," Old Man Yao said coldly.

"Oh."

Chen Ji took a multigrain pancake from the kitchen and asked while chewing, "Master, does the time of the three-quarter mark of the hour of the Ox have any special meaning?"

While feeding Wuyun pastries, Old Man Yao frowned in thought. "The three-quarter mark of the hour of the Ox... is the hour you were born."

"Huh?" Chen Ji was stunned. Was the reason the ice flows surged at this time because the three-quarter mark of the hour of the Ox was his birth hour?

Strange. Could it be that the grand consciousness within the battlefield had to wait for the moment of his birth to attempt a possession?

After much hesitation, Chen Ji finally asked candidly, "Master, what is a 'Practitioner' (Xingguan)?"

Old Man Yao glanced at him. "Why should I tell you? You can sell intelligence for money, yet you want free information from me?"

As soon as he spoke, Wuyun stopped eating the pastries and simply nudged Old Man Yao's palm with her furry head.

Seeing this, Old Man Yao said irritably, "You little thing looks well-behaved, but you're quite calculating."

He said slowly, "A 'Practitioner' is the general term for those who cultivate. There are countless cultivation paths, and people do all sorts of things."

Chen Ji was puzzled. "Why don't the common people know of their existence?"

Old Man Yao stroked Wuyun's head and said, "It's just that most people don't know. Most Practitioners must hide their cultivation paths, otherwise, they will be coveted by their peers."

"Why?"

"Because the 'Dao' that every cultivation path seeks is like a bowl of water. There is only so much water in the bowl. If too many people divide it, everyone gets less. And if you want to walk that final path to heaven, you must drink that bowl of water alone. Not even one extra person can share it."

Chen Ji was stunned. Conservation of energy?

Only now did he realize why Yun Yang had said that on the path of cultivation, there is only life and death. Under such a Heavenly Dao, those practicing the same path were natural enemies.

Chen Ji asked calmly, "Then, Master, are you a Practitioner..."

Old Man Yao smiled and actually beckoned toward the sky. Suddenly, the sound of flapping wings echoed through the night, and a massive crow descended!

Chen Ji stood up abruptly. So this crow belonged to his Master!

When he was being harassed by the ice flows, and when he was investigating the case at Liu Shiyu's house, the crow had been there!

"Master, you knew everything," Chen Ji said hesitantly.

"So what if I knew, and so what if I didn't," Old Man Yao said, gently stroking the crow's wings. The crow looked at Chen Ji and opened its beak in a silent laugh, as if mocking his ignorance of the world.

This crow of his Master's was just as acerbic as his Master.

At that moment, the crow looked at Wuyun, who was bowing her head to eat, then looked at Old Man Yao, letting out a series of "caw caw caw" sounds.

Old Man Yao said to it patiently, "Meet your new friend."

The next second, the crow looked at Chen Ji, then looked at Old Man Yao.

Old Man Yao continued patiently, "He is not yet."

Chen Ji: "..."

(End of Chapter)