Liu Liu suddenly turned around. He saw a burly man stumbling through the door, muttering excitedly, “I’ve got it, I’ve got it!”
“What do you have? Speak clearly!” Liu Liu saw the young man was actually his nephew, Tuzhuer, who was always fond of gambling and mischief, never walking the righteous path. However, protected by the family’s might, no one dared to challenge him. This time, surprisingly, this good-for-nothing had actually located the trail of those strangers.
Tuzhuer steadied himself and grinned at Liu Liu, saying, “This time I’ve done something commendable, Uncle Liu. How will you reward me?”
Liu Liu frowned, “Cut the theatrics. If you truly did something worthwhile, of course you’ll be rewarded! Now tell me what happened!”
Tuzhuer chuckled with a few obsequious nods. Seeing Liu Liu’s impatience, he quickly leaned in and relayed his findings.
It turned out the young man had heard about the search for three strangers who had stayed at a local inn. He had taken the initiative to ask around among his gambling buddies. These gamblers came from various villages, mostly disreputable characters, but often privy to all sorts of rumors.
One of them mentioned a relative in Shijia Village, over ten miles away. Two days ago, the relative had told a story: the young master of the Shi estate had been gravely ill, near death, but then some mysterious figures had appeared and miraculously cured him. The entire Shi family had then left with these people, supposedly to attain immortality.
Such village tales were often exaggerated many times over, becoming increasingly bizarre, and usually only treated as jokes. But while the speaker meant nothing by it, the listener took it to heart. Tuzhuer immediately thought of Liu Liu’s search for strangers and became suspicious.
However, the boy had his wits about him. Knowing such rumors could not be taken at face value, he took the other young man and someone from the sect, secretly heading to Shijia Village to investigate thoroughly. Coincidentally, the neighbor of the relative worked regularly as a vegetable supplier to the Shi estate. He described in detail how four people had arrived— an old Taoist and some younger men. Tuzhuer immediately concluded these were the very people the sect leader was seeking, and hurried back to report.
“Where are they? Where in the city are they now?” Liu Liu initially showed delight at Tuzhuer’s news, but his brows gradually furrowed as he listened, finally interrupting the boastful youth with a cold question.
Tuzhuer shivered, no longer daring to brag, and replied honestly, “They left seven days ago, and no one knows where they went.”
“You don’t know!” Liu Liu suddenly felt a surge of anger burning through his skull. He suppressed his voice to roar, “What reward are you talking about if you don’t know? Find people now! Surround Shijia Village, by whatever means necessary, and dig out their whereabouts! What are you waiting for? Go!”
The room fell silent again. Liu Liu slumped back into his seat, staring blankly at the flickering flame of the solitary lamp, lost in thought. After a long while, he let out a deep sigh, tapped his head, stood up, casually picked up the teacup on the table, took a sip, and only then realized the tea had long gone cold, causing him to frown.
With a long sigh, he placed the cold teacup back on the table and stood with his hands behind his back, pacing back and forth in the room. His mind remained restless. Ever since he had received guidance and begun this endeavor, the benefits had been unquestionable, and he had taken pride in his ability to navigate between opposing forces. Yet this time, he had been pushed into a situation where neither side could be effectively managed. Reflecting further on the sect’s brutal methods for dealing with disobedient members, Liu Liu felt a bitter taste in his mouth. The cold tea he had just swallowed seemed to churn in his stomach, making him nauseous and nearly causing him to vomit.
After all, the Fragrant Sect was no longer a place where he could call the shots. Though he had enjoyed outward splendor in recent years, the hardships behind the scenes were known to no one. In contrast, his own good-for-nothing elder brother spent his days pretending to be a deity, having a grand time. Just a couple of days ago, he had gone so far as to stir up trouble in a harbor area. Did he not realize that there were many people in this world beyond their small-time operations?
Watching his lonely shadow being stretched and distorted by the flickering lamp light on the wall, Liu Liu sighed again. He himself was just like that shadow, directionless and unstable.
Wasn’t he himself merely a shadow of others, completely dependent on them? He had originally thought… ah, well, if things really didn’t work out, perhaps he should consider the secret escape route he had prepared years ago.
Liu Liu, lost in thought, was suddenly startled by a crackling sound from the lamp. He looked up, alarmed to find that the shadow cast on the wall had suddenly become blurred, gradually expanding and fading until it covered the entire wall, then dissipating entirely into nothingness.
His heart suddenly tightened with alarm, and he immediately understood what had happened. Liu Liu’s heart felt as if it had been gripped by something, causing him intense pain and making his mouth involuntarily twitch. However, years of experience had given him some composure. Without hesitation, he suppressed the urge to flee, forced himself to remain calm, and slowly turned around. The flame of the oil lamp had somehow grown to a foot in length, shining as brightly as sunlight, almost unbearable to look at, and exuding a faint aura of coldness and desolation.
“Immortal Master… Is it you?” A mixture of surprise and joy appeared on Liu Liu’s face, which soon changed to one of sorrow and grievance. Slowly kneeling to the ground, he deeply lowered his head and said in a low voice, “Your humble servant has committed a grave error. Although the altar construction you entrusted me with is already 60 to 70 percent complete, one section remains unfinished…”
“Of course, it’s me. What, are you afraid to see me?” Surprisingly, the flickering candlelight emitted a voice, old and hollow.
“Your humble servant has performed poorly. Please, Immortal Master, grant me more time…” Liu Liu was drenched in sweat, speaking with a tone of entreaty.
“The altar? Over these years, you’ve always had various excuses… Let’s set this matter aside for now. What about that tripod?” The candlelight gradually dimmed, slowly returning to its original normal state, and Liu Liu’s small and lonely figure once again flickered into view on the wall.
When the candlelight asked about the tripod, Liu Liu’s heart lurched, his mind going blank, momentarily unsure how to react. He swallowed hard, feeling as if he could hear his own thunderous breathing ringing in his ears, his beginning-to-react mind buzzing.
“The tripod… the tripod, it’s true that your humble servant didn’t see it clearly. I’m still looking for it, still looking…” Liu Liu mumbled, barely aware of what he was actually saying.
“Looking? Hmph, don’t try to play dead just yet. Tell me everything from beginning to end.” The flickering candlelight said.
Upon hearing the candlelight’s words, a sudden clarity lit up Liu Liu’s mind: since the other party still needed him to explain the ins and outs, it meant he hadn’t fully grasped the entire situation. If that was the case, then inevitably, he would still have to rely on him to handle all matters, and his life was temporarily safe.
With his life temporarily out of danger, Liu Liu suddenly felt much more spirited. He quickly cleared his throat and recounted the entire story of the lost tripod.
“Shijia Village…” After Liu Liu finished speaking, the candlelight repeated the name, then snorted, “That place is only about ten miles away. After all this time, have you still not achieved any results? Could it be that your people all walked there?”
“Immortal Master, please understand,” Liu Liu’s tongue now seemed much more nimble, “Because we had to avoid the villagers, we couldn’t use our usual magic openly, as it might alarm them, so the two guardians didn’t allow us to use it outside. I also had to avoid those two guardians, and naturally dared not use the techniques you taught me recklessly…”
“Hmph!” The candlelight interrupted Liu Liu again, letting out a cold snort, “In these extraordinary times, what are you thinking? With the tripod lost, not only you, but even those two so-called guardians, will not escape unscathed! Which direction is Shijia Village in? Let me see for myself.”
At this moment, in Shijia Village, a group of Fragrant Sect members were frowning and in low spirits. Despite exhausting every soft and hard method, no one could clarify where the Shi estate family and those strangers had gone.
“Open your eyes wide!” Standing in the middle of the crowd, Tuzhuer’s face was full of excitement, several fire sores on his face glowing under the torchlight, “Dig three feet into the ground if you have to, but find those people for me!”
While everyone was searching high and low in the Shi estate, no one noticed a tiny flame flickering into existence in a room of the side courtyard. It drifted around for a few circles, then suddenly let out a sound, as if in surprise and confusion, “Huh?”
Then, the flame settled quietly in the center of the room, drifting around for a few moments, its tip gradually pointing towards the southeast.
After that, the flame suddenly vanished, leaving the dark room once again in deathly silence.
That night, Mei Qing was spared from receiving the Huayan sect teachings by Master Ku, and instead sat alone in his room, quietly feeling the nourishment of moonlight and stars.
Suddenly, a feeling both familiar and alarming spread throughout his entire body. Mei Qing abruptly opened his eyes and looked around. The Shi estate was as quiet as usual, with no sign of disturbance. Even Zhang Shisan and Master Ku showed no signs of anything unusual.
Mei Qing gently rubbed his temples, thinking perhaps he was just a bit tired from days of cultivation. However, his heart could not calm down. After thinking for a while, he gathered his thoughts, extended his spiritual sense, and instantly covered the entire Shi estate.
His spiritual sense quickly made contact with several familiar presences. Zhang Shisan and Master Ku responded with a brief touch, while only Bi Zhen asked what was wrong. When he learned that Bi Zhen had been in meditation all along without any anomaly, Mei Qing hesitated for a moment, said goodnight, ended his practice, stood up, opened the door, and stepped into the courtyard.
The cold autumn night wind quickly cleared his slightly muddled mind. His confusion had not lessened, but his gaze, seemingly of its own accord, turned toward the southeast.
Numerous tree shadows and buildings blocked his view, but something seemed to guide his sight, piercing through space to catch the desolate figure at the Fishbone Temple’s ridge.
“That group of people is in a village forty miles to the southeast, the very place where I instructed you to build an altar that remains unfinished,” said the old and hollow voice emanating from the flame at that moment, while Liu Men knelt before an oil lamp in a house in Changchun Dian, tens of miles away, listening intently. “Go find those two guardians now and figure out a way to bring those people here. Remember, one of them is a young man, and under no circumstances should you harm him. As for how to proceed, I will contact you myself.”
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