“In all the history of the Latent Cultivation Temple, this was the greatest commotion caused by the opening of spiritual eyes, bar none.” Su Zhun walked into Chengjing Hall with his arms folded, looking fretful. “We may as well rename the Qiu courtyard the Gu courtyard¹, and the Hu courtyard next to it was also affected. Even the discipline hall has collapsed… Well, how is he?” 

Zhi Xiu put down Xi Ping’s wrist. “Better than expected.” 

Su Zhun said, “Not dead, not paralyzed, not maimed, and not an imbecile either?” 

“Have some higher hopes.” 

“Thank heaven and earth, he’s in one piece.” Su Zhun let out a big sigh of relief. “Good, we can hold him for ransom to make the family pay for damages.” 

Zhi Xiu added, “Only I’m afraid he’ll be down for some months.” 

Elder Su gave an “ah.” His first reaction was, “But what about his schoolwork?” 

“The schoolwork is no problem.” Zhi Xiu waved a hand. “Shijie, what do you think is going on with those spiritual bones of his?” 

“Spiritual bones?” Hearing this, Su Zhun’s white beard nearly curled. “What spiritual bones? Him? He has spiritual bones?!” 

Others sought for a hundred years to acquire a set of spiritual bones, and this brat had blinked his eyes and studied only two chapters of Detailed Account of Meridians; how could he have spiritual bones?

Su Zhun involuntarily looked at the princess. “Do you mean he has innate…”

“He doesn’t have innate spiritual bones, and the first-class spiritual sense was an error of judgment on Luo Qingshi’s part. This disciple’s inherent endowments are on the upper end of average,” Duanrui said. “Those spiritual bones aren’t his own.”

“Then-then whose are they?” 

“That evil cultivator surnamed Liang’s,” said Duanrui. “We received word from Heaven’s Design Pavilion. This evil cultivator had no more than an established foundation. He shouldn’t have had a primordial being. If my guess is correct, what possessed this disciple was a set of spiritual bones. When Xi Shiyong gained these spiritual bones, while he couldn’t use them for himself, his spiritual sense still took form in his senses.”

If anyone but Princess Duanrui had said this, Su Zhun definitely would have thought he was listening to a stupid ghost story. “How can bones possess someone?” 

“Precedent does in fact exist,” Zhi Xiu said, standing. “I investigated it in the inner sect. When the ancient gods and demons still existed, there was once a demonic god who legend says was a long-time enemy of the Southern Sage. This person’s cultivation path was extremely unusual. It is said that he passed through tribulations by ‘being smashed to pieces.’ With each boundary he crossed, his body had to die. This is known as the ‘way of death.’” 

Su Zhun felt that this was even more unbelievable than “a skeleton possessing someone.” “A dead man came back to life? And he could cross boundaries?” 

Unless you had ascended to the world above, then even if you were a master cultivator, you were in the end still human. 

When a human died, it was ashes to ashes, dust to dust. 

And the so-called “primordial being” wasn’t at all like the ghosts that the common people imagined, which could travel the world, freely haunting. The sturdiest primordial being could only survive snatching a body once. Otherwise, the cultivation sects would truly have become “ghost sects.” A primordial being still had to rely on a body. Even for an ascended spirit cultivator, when the body was destroyed, the absconding primordial being couldn’t withstand even the lightest tap from an open-eyed grade immortal tool. Once the body was destroyed, even if you succeeded in snatching another body, your progress along the immortal path would stop dead. You would have no way to take another step forward. 

“‘Death’ is a metaphor, not true death,” Zhi Xiu said. “In the incomplete manuscript I found, it says that this master of the way of death cultivated a special set of ‘hidden spiritual bones’ that could be concealed among all things in nature. His true body was those hidden bones. Each time his bones and flesh parted, it was like ‘shedding his skin.’ The perfectly preserved hidden bones would grow another body…until those hidden bones were captured by the Southern Sage, and this ‘undying’ master at last passed away.” 

“Never mind ancient stories. Many of the records are no different than ‘Nüwa Mends the Heavens’, even more fantastical than legends from the mortal world,” Su Zhun said. “Little shishu, what connection does this demonic god you’re talking about have with this child?” 

Zhi Xiu raised his eyes. “By coincidence, this legendary master of the way of death’s associated material was reincarnation wood. That is where reincarnation wood gets its name.” 

Su Zhun was stunned. 

Princess Duanrui said, nodding, “After I cut off the spiritual energy in the valley, that evil cultivator wanted to go through the reincarnation wood to absorb people’s energy and blood to fill his spiritual eyes. It’s clear he could in fact use the reincarnation wood to carry out ‘supernatural’ activity. The legend about the hidden bones isn’t unfounded.” 

“Xiao Pang says that over there they found the evil cultivator’s true body, and his bones aren’t spiritual bones. After only eight years, they’ve already rotted,” Zhi Xiu said. “It’s impossible that an established foundation cultivator wouldn’t have spiritual bones. So where did his spiritual bones go?” 

Su Zhun broke out in gooseflesh. “In other words, it’s likely that Liang Mianzhi…by some coincidence obtained a portion of this ancient demonic god’s hidden bones, and after merging them with his spiritual bones, he left his body like a primordial being? No wonder no one could spot a primordial being on that child. Body and soul were indeed one.” 

Hearing him say “Liang Mianzhi,” Zhi Xiu raised his eyebrows slightly. Then he said, “My guess is that body and soul being one also had to do with the life-swapping talisman of that young lady who performed the sacrifice at the Blissful Village. She must already have offered up everything she had in life and death to the reincarnation wood. Using the life-swapping talisman, she saved his life, but she also made him a target.” 

The princess asked, “I heard that this evil cultivator surnamed Liang was very attached to those whose spiritual image resembled his?” 

“Yes. There was a criminal brand on his spiritual image.” Zhi Xiu murmured to himself for a moment. “While I don’t know what his precise plans were, my guess is, he must have wanted to use some method to remove his criminal brand.” 

Su Zhun felt that his two hundred plus years of cultivation had all been for nothing. His mind was buzzing now. “Little shishu, what is a ‘criminal brand’ on the spiritual image?” 

“In the past, when Heaven’s Design Pavilion was first established, the outer sect system was incomplete. For the sake of defeating evil, many cultivators were recruited from among the common people. While these people were talented, they were often undisciplined. To prevent them from going astray, a master established the art of branding the spiritual image,” the princess said coolly. “This is an outmoded practice that was abolished over six hundred years ago. You young people have likely never heard of it. For the spiritual image brand, both sides must be willing, and afterwards, the one bearing the brand may never betray their master. This brand is like a person’s name and follows them their whole life. Even if their primordial being inhabits another body in the future, they will still be unable to cast it off.” 

Su Zhun’s scalp went numb. He blurted out, “As an official appointed by the court, why would he have such a thing? Who put it on him?” 

“Yes, I also want to know that,” Zhi Xiu said slowly. “It also puzzles me that this person seems to have obeyed the rules his whole life, so where could he have gotten the relics of an ancient demonic god…and how could he have concealed himself in Heaven’s Design Pavilion for eight years without the Azure Dragon Towers or the Sea of Stars having any reaction?” 

As he spoke, he lowered his gaze, and the other two’s eyes fell along with his on the unconscious Xi Ping. 

Su Zhun unconsciously lowered his voice. “The Bell of Tribulation left Liang Mianzhi’s…half set of ‘hidden bones’ in this child?” 

“He was wounded by the inscription before opening his spiritual eyes. To let the spiritual energy pass through his meridians, shijie fused his meridians and skeleton together… Luckily it wasn’t a ‘spiritual eye opening wound,’ or else no amount of spiritual energy could have repaired it. He would have been paralyzed for life. When the spiritual energy passed through his injured bones and sinews, they healed spontaneously. The evil cultivator’s remnants must have fused with his own bones.” 

As Zhi Xiu spoke, he snapped his fingers across empty space. Xi Ping’s fingers, swept by gentle spiritual energy, let out a twang like a qin string and cracked a coarse pottery teacup by the bed. “Though they haven’t fully developed yet, they are in fact spiritual bones.” 

Out of nowhere, the princess suddenly said, “If he were a girl, I would take him.” 

Zhi Xiu understood her, hesitated for a long time, then sighed and said, “Fine. I’ll take him back to Flying Jade Peak.” 

Su Zhun turned to him, gaping, as if he had heard the calendar block say it was going to rain blood.

“Good.” The princess nodded. “Then I’ll leave.” 

Su Zhun quickly shut his mouth and stood up to salute her. When Princess Duanrui had vanished into thin air, he turned impatiently to Zhi Xiu. “Jingzhai, are you really taking a disciple?” 

“After I reported the evil cultivator’s name on the cliff above the Sea of Stars, shizun immediately sent word to the Dignitary of Rites and the Dignitary of Rule Elders and gave me the Bell of Tribulation. This is clearly no minor storm,” Zhi Xiu said rather heavily. “This little devil obtained this half set of hidden bones by coincidence and reached the consummate open-eyed stage in a single step—that’s not a good thing. As my disciple, he may not make anything of himself, but at least if he encounters those with unlawful intentions, he won’t be bullied too badly.” 

Su Zhun dryly said, “Little shishu, in all fairness, I feel that you ought to discipline your disciple properly so that he doesn’t bully others too badly.” 

Zhi Xiu laughed good-naturedly and gently put Xi Ping’s hand back under the quilt. Then he said, “I just heard you call Liang Chen by his courtesy name. What, were you friends?” 

For some reason, perhaps because of the brand on his spiritual image or because of the hidden bones, there was a fog over Liang Chen’s history. Even Zhi Xiu couldn’t divine it. 

Hearing this, Su Zhun looked at him strangely for a long time. “Jingzhai, I think you must actually be cultivating the way of clarity… You don’t remember? Two hundred years ago?” 

“Who can remember things that happened two hundred years ago?” said Zhi Xiu. 

Su Zhun: “…” 

“You…you… Fine.” Elder Su pulled up a chair and sat down, sighing. “It was back when Southern He had fought its way to the foot of the capital’s walls.

“All the able-bodied men sixteen and over went into battle then. Once, the two of us went past a team of temporary guards. I saw that there was a scrawny kid who seemed like he shouldn’t be there. You snatched him up and questioned him, and it turned that he was a little bean not yet fourteen years old. You told the kid to run along and play and not cause trouble. The child cried and said he had come to Jinping to visit a sick family member, who’d died just as he arrived. After the funeral, he’d wanted to return. He didn’t want to be trapped in the city. But he’d heard that his home back in Ning’an had been crushed by Southern He’s iron heel, and things boded poorly for his whole family. The child was left with no one and nothing to rely on, not knowing what he could do. You took pity on him and kept him with you as a personal guard to run errands and pass messages and so on… Anyway, it wasn’t clear whether he was guarding you or you were guarding him. That child was Liang Chen. You don’t remember at all?” 

Zhi Xiu blankly gave an “ah.” 

With Lancang’s masters surrounding the city and the Dragon Vein leaping, no one knowing when he might die, and him busy and fretting day and night, how could he have remembered all these trifles? 

“And then what? How did he enter cultivation?” 

“You could say it was knocked into him in battle. That battle was so bitter, even you…” Su Zhun paused, then continued: “To resist the invasion, we used too many immortal tools. Not a single child was born within thirty li of Jinping the year after, never mind what happened to the soldiers stationed next to the immortal tools. Afterwards, the immortal mountain allocated a special batch of elixirs to treat the wounds of the survivors. The majority of them took the elixir and were all right, but a dozen of them had their turning point because of this and unexpectedly opened their spiritual eyes. They had performed a service to the nation, so though they weren’t part of a righteous sect, of course they couldn’t be considered evil cultivators. But opening their spiritual eyes by means of that kind of elixir was too harmful to their conditions. None of that group of people had the aptitude to enter Heaven’s Design Pavilion. Later they were all sent to the Mining Office. Liang Mianzhi retired eight years ago due to an illness following an injury sustained in the course of his work. That’s why he returned to Jinping and went into seclusion.” 

After hearing this, Zhi Xiu nodded. “I see. The Mining Office is constantly stationed in Southern He. It seems that the problem likely arose from the Land of Turmoil.” 

Su Zhun looked at him, on the point of speaking. 

“What is it?” Zhi Xiu said. “Is there something wrong?” 

There was absolutely no problem. General Zhi’s train of thought was clear. It never strayed from the point. 

Su Zhun, looking at his face, which showed that he remembered absolutely nothing, finally shook his head—

Afterwards… Hearing that General Zhi was seriously ill, Liang Chen had gone all around the south seeking medical advice and medicines. When he found something he believed would be useful, he would send it to Heaven’s Design Pavilion and ask Su Zhun and the others to have a look… Of course none of it was any good. He had only stopped when he learned that Zhi Xiu had been taken in by Xuanyin Mountain. 

From then on, Liang Chen had resolved to work hard to cultivate so in the future he could enter Heaven’s Design Pavilion and offer his life for the people like the hero he worshipped. “Walkers in the mortal world” who rendered outstanding service would be registered with the sect, so perhaps he could see General Zhi again and tell him in person that he had lived up to his patronage. 

But when your spiritual eyes had opened through elixirs, the damage would stay with you for the rest of your life. Su Zhun couldn’t stand extinguishing the boy’s aspirations, so when calling on his old friend, he had mentioned him to Zhi Xiu. General Zhi had given a casual encouraging “exert yourself,” letting Su Zhun send those words to the boy far away beyond the southern border. 

Henceforth, Liang Chen had had a courtesy name—“Mianzhi².” 

But when they’d met again, the message had vanished, along with that person’s airy memories, and the solemn boy, just like his courtesy name, had been forgotten…in the vague depths of time. 

Fair enough. It had been two hundred years, and he had changed beyond recognition. It wasn’t General Zhi’s fault his memory was so poor. 

Zhi Xiu quickly turned his attention away and instructed, “Oh, right, Mingyi, don’t forget to have Xiao Pang tell the child’s family he’s all right.” 

“I will, I’ll go now.” Su Zhun swallowed his sighs. “You’re so considerate, little shishu.” 

“Thank you for going out of your way, Exalted.” Prince Zhuang politely escorted out Pang Jian, who had come to report on Xi Ping’s well-being. He also gave Pang Jian the Yao family’s transversal fish and a small bag of blue jade. “If I may be so bold as to ask, could I trouble you to return this greenware fish to Lord Yao?” 

Pang Jian was a slick customer. He understood at once and said smoothly, “Well, of course it was Heaven’s Design Pavilion that borrowed it, why should Your Highness spend money to compensate them…? In that case, I’ll be bold enough to thank you in Lord Yao’s place.” 

Once the formalities were out of the way, Pang Jian put the blue jade into the transversal fish’s brocade box and left carrying it, not saying a word about Prince Zhuang privately changing his inscriptions or employing a cultivator—a prince of the second rank had money and certainly wouldn’t let a subordinate of his pilfer “heaven’s order,” which was full of impurities. Even if he were keeping an established foundation or ascended spirit cultivator around, he wouldn’t harm others. There were no unauthorized inscriptions, and it was on his own head if the roof came down; anyway, the courtyard of the prince’s manor was deep. If it got smashed up, it wouldn’t affect his neighbors—Lao Pang was a commoner; he wasn’t about to get involved in whatever schemes these nobles got up to. 

Prince Zhuang saw Pang Jian out and heard someone behind him say, “Pang Wenchang is an old fox.” 

There was a brocade box on the edge of the desk in the south study. The lid of the box opened on its own. Inside was a layer of dazzling white spirit stones. There was a paper pressed between the priceless stones, almost matching the color of the spiritual stones. 

“Why are you coming out again?” Prince Zhuang drove off the inquisitive black cat, then put the cover back on the box. “Curl up.” 

Bai Ling’s voice came from the box: “Your Highness, Liang Chen’s inscription that I broke in the general commander’s residence was a ‘gold-inlaid inscription.’ He and his reincarnation wood did indeed have an air of the Impassable Sea.” 

Prince Zhuang raised his eyebrows. “What did I say? The Impassable Sea truly was the start of the fork in the road.” 

“Pang Wenchang said that Liang was ambushed on the road while delivering spiritual stones eight years ago.” Bai Ling spoke a little faster. “Wasn’t that just when…” 

“Shh.” Prince Zhuang knocked on the lid of the box. “Take care of yourself, don’t worry about it.” 

As he spoke, he sat by the desk, picked up a qin, and put it on his knees. “I’ve done all that duty and humanity could ask of me in not attracting Heaven’s Design Pavilion’s notice to that place. The rest of it…is someone else’s problem.” 

Inside the brocade box, Bai Ling heard him pluck out a tune with his own hands. It was full of rustic charm, but a little jarring; even the cat got irritated and ran off after listening for a while. 

It really didn’t seem like Prince Zhuang’s style. 

“Your Highness, is this the song the Viscount played eight years ago?” 

“Yes.” Prince Zhuang held down the strings. There was a faint smile at the corners of his eyes. “I don’t know what shady person he learned it from. The lyrics are even more absurd. He filled my ears up with elopements with inferiors in that childish voice, so the first thing I had to do when I crawled back to the mortal world was to write a letter to his father to complain…

“Xiao Bai, thank you.” 

“I can’t accept that praise. I was the Viscount’s own luck.” 

The “lucky” Xi Ping stayed in bed for half a year. 

He was occasionally woken by pain and would hear the sound of whistling, always the tunes he was usually modifying. Sometimes he would also hear a girl’s voice chattering on, telling how her shifu and her companions had all been captured by blue-clothesers, how she had been alarmed, but fortunately the Grand Duke had blessed and protected her, how she was still buying Golden Tray lottery tickets but still never won…and some other trifles. 

Only when Jinping’s midwinter lay over the southern outskirts and a freezing rain was pattering down did Xi Ping finally stick together his scattered consciousness. 

For a time, he couldn’t remember whether he was dead or alive. He only saw that A-Xiang was working while calling out to him in her mind. He couldn’t resist putting in a word: “Are you kidding me? How can you still believe in that thing?” 

A-Xiang’s hand was nearly crushed by the machinery. She quickly stood up and looked all around in shock. 

“Stop looking, it’s the wood, that piece of wood.” 

A-Xiang’s heart began to beat wildly. Dazed, she found an excuse and slipped out of the factory. She squeezed the reincarnation wood. “Tai Sui?” 

“You’re Tai Sui, your whole family’s…” The voice from the reincarnation wood stopped for a moment, as if remembering that A-Xiang’s whole family was dead. He stiffly changed the subject. “Let me ask you, where are those goblins?” 

“They were all caught by blue-clothesers. Thanks to your blessing and protection, Tai Sui, I…” 

“Tai Sui” interrupted her: “Don’t worry, you helped me out, too. We’re even.” 

A-Xiang: “…” 

No, wait, how could this Grand Duke keep accounts with his believers?

A pained groan came from the reincarnation wood. A-Xiang was surprised. “Tai Sui?” 

“I said don’t call me Tai Sui, I’m not that old roundworm.” The voice in the reincarnation wood cursed for a few sentences. “Hey, listen, couldn’t you get anywhere making vows at the Southern Sage’s big temple? Is that why you blindly believed in some knock-off god? He sold you out, and you still swore a blood oath and were all in a rush to be his meal. What’s the matter with you?” 

A-Xiang finally noticed something was wrong. “Who…who are you?” 

“I’ll tell you what’s been going on, listen carefully. When I’m finished, I advise you to burn that lousy piece of wood at once. Otherwise, as soon as you call for ‘Tai Sui,’ I’ll be able to see you. You’re not a little girl anymore, don’t you think that’s inappropriate?” 

Next, before A-Xiang could refuse, the slightly weak voice in the reincarnation wood methodically told the whole story from the beginning: from how the girl A-Xiang had woken the greedy evil cultivator with her blood, to how the evil god had looked on indifferently from the shadows, guiding her into offering up body and soul as sacrifice…

A-Xiang’s lips trembled. Leaning back against the wall, she slowly squatted down. 

In the immortal mountains, Xi Ping finished overturning his “sole believer”’s faith and suddenly seemed to be able to feel his own body. 

He was pleasantly surprised and had no more time for A-Xiang. He took a deep breath. Unusually plentiful spiritual energy poured at once into his lungs. 

Xi Ping suddenly opened his eyes.