Chapter 93: Ascension, the Art of Concealing One’s Form

"The third disciple?"

"You know perfectly well!"

Old Ape had once said that the master’s third disciple was fiery by nature and consumed by vengeance, and that was why the master had never taught her any truly formidable means. Ji Ming could therefore identify her at a glance.

The girl clearly knew the basis of his deduction, which was why her reply had been so chilly.

Ji Ming had no interest in her story, but he was very interested in her art of concealment. In his present condition, he should have some method of hiding his traces and a technique of escape.

Alas, neither was an ordinary thing. For a cultivator, even one of them could become a trump card.

With his sleeves gathered around him, Ji Ming studied the scarlet-clad girl before him.

He was glad that he had been cautious. Even inside the Sealed Earth Altar, he had never once reached a hand from his sleeve. Otherwise, she would have been the first outsider to see the six-fingered hollow within him.

At the thought, Ji Ming’s heart grew a shade colder, though his face still wore a smile.

He meant to smooth things over for her, to give her a way down from the height she stood on, so that the two sides could speak of their trade in a more agreeable mood. Thus he said, "I had long heard that Miss Mu possessed exceptional talent. You must have come today to test my progress in cultivation, which is why you acted this way."

"Where did you hear that I had exceptional talent?"

The girl asked it bluntly.

Ji Ming could tell she was not being deliberately contrary. She was genuinely curious.

"Wei Wulan," Ji Ming said without hesitation.

"I know him. He’s always hanging around my senior sister Su Su and me, always saying he wants to help me cultivate and train, when in truth he is only trying to curry favor."

As she spoke, the girl Mu Ru looked at Ji Ming and said, "You’re different. You may flatter the master too, but you truly are cultivating, and through bitter hardship at that."

Seeing the conversation drift further and further off course, Ji Ming coughed and said, "Let us talk about your art of concealment."

Mu Ru tucked her sword back at her waist and took out a small scroll.

"This is the Sea Mirage Great Method, an extraordinary art passed down within the Three Mountains."

"The Three Mountains?"

Ji Ming touched his forehead and said, "What is called pure yang after the end of yin, a body beyond the body, shedding substance to rise into immortality, transcending the mundane to become sacred, refusing the dust of the mortal world and returning to the Three Mountains—such a one is called an immortal.

"The Three Mountains you mention must be the Three Mountains where the immortals dwell, the domain of the Three Heavens."

"You know a thing or two," Mu Ru said with a nod. "This extraordinary art was created by one of the immortals of the Three Mountains and later spread through the Middle Lands."

"Then you..."

Ji Ming did not look pleased. He had long since passed the stage where the sight of a treasure sent him jumping for joy, his mind filled with thoughts of claiming it for himself.

After many trials, he had already learned that true treasures all had a past, a source, and countless karmic entanglements. To seize them foolishly and hold them in one’s hands was only to invite disaster.

"Rest assured."

Seeing that Ji Ming did not rush headlong into the trade, Mu Ru immediately felt that this young boy was unusually steady, far beyond herself in that regard. Her tone softened somewhat as well.

"This art came into my family’s hands by accident from my forebears. Its origin can withstand scrutiny. After you cultivate it, there will be no trouble."

Those words only made Ji Ming more suspicious. He had always been a meticulous man, and where cultivation was concerned, he demanded even greater caution and thoroughness.

"Miss Mu, this sort of thing cannot be brushed aside with a single phrase like 'acquired by accident.'

"And to speak bluntly, you are not a golden-core figure with the master’s kind of weight behind your words. Why should I trust your claim so readily?"

Once he said that, it almost sounded as though Mu Ru were the one begging Ji Ming for favor. Ji Ming quickly realized this, and was about to add something to smooth it over, when he heard her say, "That is fair."

"I do not mind revealing a family shame. My father and ancestors were all famed great bandits from Vermilion Bear Continent, and because of their reputation for robbing the rich to aid the poor, they were fortunate enough to become disciples under an itinerant immortal."

"This extraordinary art is one of that immortal’s legacies. Its origins can be traced without issue."

Since Mu Ru had said as much, Ji Ming believed her to some degree. If he pressed further, it would start to look ungrateful, especially since his own artifact-refining method was hardly clean.

When Ji Ming had written down that treasure art, he had even considered inventing a backstory for it. Yet the girl had not asked a single question. That slightly eased the earlier ill feeling between them.

And when he finally received the extraordinary art and read through it briefly, he understood why Mu Ru had not inquired after his own method of artifact refinement.

This Sea Mirage Great Method required a medicinal core called Voidflower, and its main ingredient was mirage vapor. Such material was like a rare heavenly treasure or earthly marvel; to obtain it, one could only rely on luck.

Ji Ming looked at the girl and thought that if she could practice it successfully, she must have mirage vapor on hand.

Before he could ask, Mu Ru pointed at the extraordinary art in his hands and said, "Across the world, there are only two ancient sources that can produce mirage vapor: the ancient giant clam, the Great Oyster, and the dragonkin beast, the Mirage Dragon.

"My Li family has been able to cultivate this art for generations because our ancestors passed down a sea clam.

"It is a descendant of the Great Oyster. Though its bloodline is thin and the mirage vapor it exudes cannot compare to that of the Great Oyster, it is enough for me to cultivate this Sea Mirage Great Method."

Ji Ming immediately understood the hidden meaning in her words.

The little bit of mirage vapor from the ancestral sea clam was enough to cultivate the secret art, but the arts that followed, climbing step by step upward, could clearly not be attained by relying on a single sea clam alone.

Still, what did Mu Ru mean by saying this so proactively? Was she trying to hold him in check with it?

Mu Ru was evidently not as scheming as Ji Ming had imagined. She said directly, "I can lend you the Sea Mirage Great Method for your cultivation, but I have one condition."

"Helping you take revenge?"

Ji Ming asked uncertainly.

Mu Ru’s gaze sharpened, her eyes like a sword thrusting at him, and she sneered, "So even the outsider guests of the Fire Ruins Cave like to discuss my little private matters."

Ji Ming felt a little embarrassed and said, "I only... happened to hear a bit."

"My revenge is my own affair. I will absolutely not place it in anyone else’s hands. What I need is the dead yin demonic aura in your possession, to refine my Hidden Yin Water-Thunder Pill."

Ji Ming understood at once.

So that was the catch—she had been waiting for him here all along.

He was willing to part with the dead yin demonic aura. That thing could be obtained again after a few more fasting rites and the slaying of a few more yin fiends.

"Deal."

Mu Ru was exceedingly straightforward. Once Ji Ming agreed, she led him to the garden where she lived.

There, the greatest expanse of land was occupied by a pool of water, and beneath that water lay the great sea clam. Its shell was as large as an entire house.

With each opening and closing of the clam’s two massive shells, the whole pool shuddered.

"It is very old," Mu Ru said, looking at the clam. Then she added, "Older than my master."

"As long as it can still be used."

He would focus only on two things from here on: reverse cultivating the Crane-Controlling art, and the Sea Mirage Great Method.

Now that the Three Flowers had gathered and the hour of reverse cultivation was near, he ought to send his penitential letter down into the river at the foot of the mountain in the capital, so that the river’s earth deity could notify Old Taoist Flying Goose.

He had once intended to take a full year to achieve the divine flower, but after deciphering the talisman diagram, he achieved it in a single breakthrough.

He could not tell whether this was due to the talents of this world’s chosen by heaven, or his own long accumulation finally erupting at once. Most likely, it was both.

He only hoped this news would strengthen the old Taoist’s faith in him, so the man would stop thinking day and night about testing his Dao heart.

After studying the sea clam for a while in Mu Ru’s garden, Ji Ming had the two youngsters invite Wei Wulan from the building, intending to discuss the method of reverse cultivation for secret arts.

Wei Wulan was an old hand at reverse cultivation. It could never hurt to hear his thoughts. Once reverse cultivation began, there would be no easy road back.

"Golden Boy! Golden Boy!"

Before Wei Wulan could be fetched, Old Ape had already come rushing over, his hairy face alight with joy, none of his usual composure to be seen.

Ji Ming’s heart moved. He still remembered that whole bit Wei Wulan had once said about clout. Could it be that some immortal being had come to visit, and he would be summoned to attend at their side?

Old Ape rushed up to Ji Ming, his face flushed red, and said, "Wonderful news, wonderful news. You are about to ascend to the heavens."