Chapter 107: Negotiation with Stone Taisui
Page 1/3
Master Huma gazed at the extinguished light within the meditation chamber, listening intently to the muffled groans and labored breaths that persisted. He sighed with regret, “Brother, why did you allow her into that room?”
Ji Ming, sharing the same disappointment, replied, “Who could have foreseen that she had concealed strength and managed to escape? It would have been better anywhere else, but of all places, it had to be Master Fawen’s meditation chamber.”
Master Huma glanced at Ji Ming but said no more.
Ji Ming knew the master would be suspicious, but his own cultivation was newly attained; he dared not break his precepts by recklessly expending his essence.
Moreover, he had just acquired a spiritual crane egg, which he quickly sold. He was not shameless enough to stoop that low—certainly not for someone like Huma.
Ji Ming pointed toward Fawen’s chamber and inquired, “Brother deliberately arranged for that blue-eyed woman to be placed in this courtyard—is there some particular strategy behind it?”
Huma’s expression grew somewhat proud as he answered.
“That fox temptress has long set her sights on Fawen. Her lewd nature is plain to see. Had I placed her elsewhere, she would never have stayed the night; but put her here, and she would be loath to leave.”
He sighed deeply, looking at Ji Ming with a hint of frustration, as if chiding him for failing to grasp the situation, “After all that effort, we didn’t even get a drop of warm soup.”
Master Huma could see what was happening, and naturally Ji Ming could as well. His deliberate allowance of the woman’s escape might well be intended to let her confuse Fawen’s mind.
Yet, who expected her to be so decisive—just escaping one den of wolves, only to throw herself into the “tiger’s lair.”
Still, this suited Ji Ming’s plans. With her near Fawen, he would have a chance to act as an intermediary, establishing his footing within the circle of Xiaoxi Mountain.
“Brother, you haven’t gained nothing.”
Ji Ming pointed at the meditation chamber. “I think that blue-eyed woman has a grand scheme. Now that she has succeeded in getting close, I will broker peace between your two families so that we can all share in the wealth around Fawen.”
“Do you think that will work?” Huma asked skeptically.
“Certainly,” Ji Ming assured him.
Though he held only about sixty percent confidence, in front of the master he put on full certainty. After all, he had not harmed that woman; in some sense, she was still a benefactor.
Master Huma swept his gaze over Ji Ming. His fleshy face showed a faint trace of menace. Looking again at Fawen’s meditation chamber, it was as if half of his own meat had been taken away.
Ji Ming instinctively clenched the White Bone Heart Pearl inside his sleeve. He sensed the master’s malice and knew he was likely being resented in the process.
“All right,” Master Huma said, wincing as he took out two boxes—one of talisman coins, one of pearl beads—and said, “These are gifts for apology. Brother, please help broker peace.”
“Of course. Rest assured.”
Ji Ming drew the two boxes from the master’s hand.
That night, back at his lodgings, Ji Ming opened the boxes. One contained small, irregular pearl beads that made his brow furrow, accustomed as he was to fine pearls.
The other contained talisman coins—he counted three hundred in total.
Given that a set of armor horse talismans (ten sheets) cost sixty coins, and a spiritless magic item ranged from four to eight hundred coins, three hundred coins plus a box of mediocre pearl beads represented a considerable expense for an outsider.
Page 2/3
Ji Ming also produced the one hundred talisman coins and six lustrous pearl beads gifted by Fawen as his so-called tuition fee.
A careful count revealed at least ten outsiders practicing left-hand sorcery in the hall, meaning Fawen had distributed at least a thousand talisman coins and nearly a hundred fine pearls.
Good heavens. Huma winced even parting with three hundred coins, yet Fawen had already spent a thousand coins and was likely to continue lavishing them. One wonders what family fortune he had to draw upon.
No wonder that blue-eyed woman risked escape just to perform those acts of bodily offering.
As the saying goes, “A horse won’t fatten without night grass; a man won’t grow rich without sudden windfalls.” If she and Fawen could reconcile, perhaps these apology gifts could be spared.
Sitting upon the couch, Ji Ming entered meditation. Three qi spheres hovered in a line above his head, slowly ascending. Within his body, essence circulated ceaselessly along the Ren and Du meridians front and back.
With each cycle, the three qi spheres above his head grew stronger and more solid.
To refine even a trace of vital energy and reach the second level of Qi Refinement, one must persistently cultivate the small circulation of the Ren and Du meridians daily, patiently polishing one’s skill to perfection.
By midnight, a pearl bead in his claw had lost its luster, showing that the spiritual energy within had been fully absorbed as nourishment for his circulation practice.
“No surplus grain left at the landlord’s house!” Ji Ming sighed. His pearl bead reserves were indeed running low. If he took the old Taoist’s feather powder, the backlash from his demonic training would worsen.
He understood the difficulties ahead in his countercurrent cultivation, but that had to wait until after the Daoist exam and his success in Qi Refinement. Now was still too soon.
In the following days, Ji Ming found no chance to speak with the blue-eyed woman.
According to the monks serving in that courtyard, Fawen and the woman practiced yin-yang together but had not even left the bed.
When Ji Ming finally saw her, it was the day before the crucial exam. Many of Fawen’s “instructors,” including Master Huma, came to persuade the painfully thin Fawen out of the meditation chamber.
No one wished to play the villain, but they feared this “spendthrift monk” would exhaust himself on the couch.
Standing by Fawen’s side, the woman bore the air of the lady of the house. For such a demeanor, Huma and the others chose to turn a blind eye.
That day, Ji Ming finally found the opportunity to speak with her.
“Aren’t you supposed to return something to me?” he began.
Her opening words halted Ji Ming’s conversation, but fortunately, she did not truly want the spiritual crane egg.
The woman was clever; she knew that if she angered the Poison-Handed Boy representing Master Huma and others, her climbing close to Fawen would be jeopardized.
Even if she planned to turn hostile and keep this spendthrift monk to herself, now was not the time.
She was tough in spirit, dressed plainly, her face frosty and aloof. “Tell Master Huma and the others I will cooperate, but how much benefit we get from Fawen depends on our own merits.”
Ji Ming laughed aloud, a strange sound that puzzled the woman, unsure what amused him.
“Do you not consider the future?” Ji Ming spoke frankly. “If this matter spreads within the Four Sorrow Clouds Monastery, how will you face it?
“While we seek only small gains, your transgressions would cause a cultivator who also practices Buddhism to break precepts and ruin their cultivation.”
Her face paled. How could she not worry? Unlike her afflicted master and husband, Fawen was watched over by his own master!
Perhaps no one noticed now, but once they did, she would be in deep trouble.
Her mind was a tangle of emotions, resenting Fawen’s dual cultivation of Buddhism and why he had to study under the Four Sorrow Clouds Monastery, bound by such strict rules.
“Can you protect me?”
“I cannot, but Xuan Jing, who resides in another courtyard, can.”
“Senior Brother Crane View, Xuan Jing Daoist?”
Clearly, the woman doubted that the Poison-Handed Boy, Shilong, had such connections, but his confident assurance did not seem false.
“The exam is tomorrow. You’re also a Daoist resident of the other courtyard. Come and see for yourself.”
Seeing Shilong’s certainty, she was reluctantly convinced. She softened her frosty expression somewhat and asked, “What does Shilong Daoist want me to do?”
“I want to know what Fawen has said.”
“Words?” The woman hesitated, then smiled. “Fawen and I have said many things; you might not like to hear them.”
“Even the dirty jokes and curses you exchanged in bed—I can hear every word, and I must.”
With that, Ji Ming extended a claw from his sleeve. A circular light sprang onto it, shining directly on the woman, causing her heart to flutter.
“Tell me now—what has he said?”
Under the light, the woman felt as if her heart were gripped by a hand, struggling to breathe. Now she fully believed Shilong’s words.
An ordinary outsider could never possess such a magic tool. No wonder he showed no interest in her possessions.
She strained to recall the words spoken during their intimate exchanges but naturally refrained from repeating the flirtatious remarks.
“Taishui!” she said urgently. “Fawen said that in the other courtyard, besides searching for someone, his main goal is to find the Stone Taishui in the lower reaches of the Nanpan River.”
Ji Ming was surprised, thinking that this Stone Taishui was even more important than finding a celestial being like himself.
“Why seek the Stone Taishui?”
“Fawen said this Stone Taishui is not naturally formed but originates from the ancient city ruins ‘Yin’ built upon the Five Sacred Mountains and Four Rivers.
“It takes many strange forms and is adept at transformation, possessing innate spiritual energy.
“Those that are red resemble coral; white like animal fat; black like lacquer; blue like emerald feathers; yellow like purple gold—all radiant and clear as solid ice.
“If one has reached the Foundation Establishment’s middle level with perfected cultivation, consuming the Stone Taishui will make the Golden Core within easy reach.”
Hearing this, Ji Ming could not help but reflect, “Su Luozi, could it be that my role as a celestial being obstructing your path is destined to be fulfilled here?”