"Virtue..."
"The five qi..."
"The Soul-Pacifying Method..."
Lin Jue's mind was a muddle. Recalling the events of the previous night, he felt as if they were half-real and half-illusion, like waking from a dream.
Lost in such thoughts, he slowly walked back into the ancestral hall.
It was the break of dawn, the sky not yet fully bright. Outside, the sky had turned a translucent blue and the eastern horizon was beginning to pale, but inside the ancestral hall darkness lingered, the ground still swallowed in shadow.
Not knowing what else to do, he glanced down at the floor. In the gloom, he could faintly make out scattered rubble and broken bricks, along with a few things the burly fellow from the night before seemed to have left behind. Yet the hall was already empty, with nothing he needed to take and no reason to linger. He did not look any closer; he simply tucked his bedding under his arm, picked up his Firewood Chopper and oil lamp, and headed outside.
His steps felt light and unsteady beneath him.
Leaving the ancestral hall, he walked along the alley outside. Not far past the lane's end, the door of a house suddenly swung open. A man stepped out, staring at him in astonishment.
"Well, I'll be! You really stayed the whole night?"
"..."
Lin Jue turned to look at the man, whom he did not recognize. After thinking for a moment, he realized this was probably someone the Wang Family had posted to keep watch and see if they truly made it through the night.
"Something like that..." he said.
"I'll take you to see the Old Patriarch!"
With that, the man reached out and took the things from Lin Jue's hands. Lin Jue let him take whatever he wanted.
"Follow me," the man said at last, and Lin Jue followed behind him.
With every stretch they walked, the sky grew a shade brighter.
By the time they returned to Old Master Wang's sprawling ancestral compound, the morning sun had risen in the east, spilling its light over the mountains.
Old Patriarch Wang had long been awake. He sat as before in the armchair in the main hall, sipping his morning tea as he watched them enter, listening to the man report on Lin Jue—confirming, more or less, that the youth had indeed spent the entire night in the ancestral hall.
Surprise flickered across Old Patriarch Wang's face. Holding his teacup, he looked at Lin Jue.
"You truly slept in there all night?"
"To answer you, Old Master: I never left."
Looking at the old patriarch and the spacious hall, Lin Jue finally began to gather his wits, slowly pulling himself free of that dreamlike, half-real daze.
'It truly feels like I'm still in a dream.'
"That fellow ran off in the middle of the night, yet you didn't?"
"I didn't..."
"I truly misjudged you!"
"..."
"Why do you look so drained? Did you stay awake the whole night, or were you bewitched by whatever was in that hall?" The old gentleman turned to a woman standing beside him. "Where are your manners with our guest? Pour him a cup of tea as well."
"Neither."
Lin Jue shook his head and answered truthfully.
"Then what was it?"
"It just feels... like a dream..."
"So then, you saw that thing last night?" Old Patriarch Wang asked, setting down his teacup.
"We crossed paths..." Lin Jue recalled the small silhouette he had seen that morning, as well as the figure from his dream last night—vague then, and by now entirely forgotten. He shook his head. "I never saw its true form."
"All who come are guests. Don't just stand there—sit down and tell me about last night in detail. Tell me how you passed the night."
"..."
If demons and ghosts truly existed in this world, this esteemed elder had likely seen a thing or two across his decades of life, which explained why he had not panicked upon learning that a spirit had taken up residence in his family's ancestral hall. Yet of the three people who had spent the night there in succession, the Old Master had not seen the creature at all—and given that old scholar's temperament, he had probably insisted upon leaving that no demon existed there in the first place. The butcher had simply slept straight through the night until daylight. In all likelihood, Old Patriarch Wang had no idea what kind of sacred or profane entity had come to his hall, nor what it looked like.
The woman brought Lin Jue a cup of tea. He offered his thanks and took a sip; a brisk bitterness, the fragrance of chrysanthemum, and a blend of rich flavors struck his palate at once, clearing his head considerably.
"You need worry no longer, Old Master. That presence departed early this morning. I expect your family's ancestral hall will be untroubled from here on."
"Departed?"
"Indeed."
"Oh? Why is that? Tell me in detail!"
"Last night, we..."
Lin Jue recounted everything, holding back nothing and telling it exactly as it had happened.
More and more people gradually gathered in the main hall—mostly favored or prominent younger members of the household, their eyes wide as they listened. A crowd formed outside the doorway as well, hands gripping the doorframe, every face alight with curiosity.
Lin Jue took his time, speaking with steady patience.
They pressed him with questions, but none interrupted him.
He found himself coaxed into ever finer detail.
There were only bated breaths, astonished stares, and at most a few scrutinizing glances, but not a single open word of doubt.
"By the time I finally woke, it was nearly dawn."
Having finished his earnest account, Lin Jue sat quietly in his seat.
Seated at the head of the room, Old Patriarch Wang fell silent, turning over in his mind the final words the monster had spoken to Lin Jue.
"..."
In the end, he said nothing more at first, merely lifting his teacup to take a sip. Then he looked at Lin Jue once again. "If that creature truly is gone, our Wang Family owes you our deepest thanks."
"It would not be right to put it that way," Lin Jue said after a moment's thought, speaking earnestly and candidly. "The reason that entity departed today is that the Old Master's bounty disturbed its peace first. After that, two difficult figures entered—the Old Master from the academy and the county town butcher—making it realize trouble would never cease. By the time it came to me, the pot was simply ready to boil over. It was not solely the work of my final spark."
"Heh heh..."
Old Patriarch Wang chuckled at his words, then asked, "How old are you this year?"
"I have only just reached fifteen."
"Remarkable, truly remarkable..."
Old Patriarch Wang nodded repeatedly, then paused in thought.
"For today, we shall take it that you haven't lied, that the creature didn't deceive you, and that it has truly departed for good. In any case, the greatest credit belongs to you.
"Since even a demon knew to respect your filial devotion to your uncle, our Wang Family holds a reputation in these parts, and we certainly cannot show less decency than a monster. What is more, our villages are neighbors. Given the hardship your family faces, if we have the means to spare, it is only right and proper that we lend a helping hand.
"Here is what we will do. The two of you stayed the night, but only you did not flee halfway through. I shall give you the other share of the bounty as well, as a reward. Furthermore, our Wang Family will take care of your uncle's medical expenses.
"What do you say to that?"
Having listened to the exchange between Lin Jue and the monster in the ancestral hall, Old Patriarch Wang had, at some point, shed his aloof demeanor and come to regard Lin Jue with genuine respect. Now, he even tilted his head, looking to him for approval.
"My deepest thanks to you, Old Master."
Lin Jue hurriedly rose to his feet and bowed.
Modesty had its place, and honesty had its place, but this was an offer he could not refuse.
Old Patriarch Wang looked him up and down. The more he looked and the more he thought, the more extraordinary the youth seemed. "Exchange his reward for twenty taels in silver ingots," he instructed, "so it is easier for him to carry."
"Thank you, Old Master."
"Do not rush off just yet. Our Wang Family has prepared a fine feast in your honor. You must eat before you leave."
"I am deeply grateful for the kind thought, but I must decline. Having stayed out the entire night, my family must be beside themselves with worry. What is more, my uncle lies bedridden at home, suffering greatly, while my aunt and cousin exhaust themselves caring for him, scrimping and pinching every bite. How could I dare feast on fine food and wine here at the Old Master's table?"
Lin Jue declined at once.
"Good, very good."
Old Patriarch Wang smiled warmly, waving a hand. "Then have the wine and provisions packed up properly, and have them sent to his home later."
"Then it would be disrespectful to decline..."
"If you ever need help in the future, do not hesitate to come to our door."
"Many thanks, Old Master."
Lin Jue had nothing more to say, able only to offer his thanks again and again.
After a dizzying, dreamlike night, three blocks of Cinched-Waist Honeycomb Silver now rested against his chest, ten taels each, with the extra block intended for purchasing medicine. They weighed heavily in his embrace, tugging at the coarse fabric of his clothes. Bathed in the bright morning light as he stepped through the gates of the Wang Family estate, Lin Jue felt an indescribable sense of newfound wealth.
Walking with light, floating steps, he made his way back to Shu Village. The surreal awe born of last night's experience was not washed away by the satisfaction of having gained wealth; rather, as time passed, it grew richer, feeling stranger and more marvelous with every step.
A sense of unreality lingered over him, as though he had stepped into another lifetime.
Entering the village, he passed by the Lower Bridge Pavilion. As he rounded the corner, he saw the village elder and the flock of children once again.
Perhaps because he had barely slept the previous night, perhaps because contending with demonic magic had drained so much of his spirit, or perhaps because seeing this unfamiliar side of the world had worn him thin, Lin Jue stopped in his tracks without realizing it. Leaning against a wall, he stared blankly in that direction.
The village elder was still telling tales of immortals and ghosts.
The children were still listening with rapt attention.
The story drifted into Lin Jue's ears, and all at once, every tale he had ever heard surged back to take hold of his mind.
Foxes and monsters, good and evil, spirits and gods.
Daoist cultivation and mystic arts, immortals and eternal life.
A single Golden Core ascends to heaven;
A single wicked deed falls to earth.
Half-true and half-false, seeming real yet like an illusion, living only upon the tongues of men.
The flavor in such tales was truly hard to capture in mere words; that elusive charm could perhaps only be felt with the heart. It was neither earth-shattering nor rigorously reasoned, yet it was bizarre and romantic, evocative and deeply moving.
Lin Jue stood there helplessly, listening in a daze, yet his mind could not stop turning over that one question—
'Just what kind of world is this?'
'If monsters walk the earth, are there ghosts as well? And if there are ghosts, are there also immortals and Buddhas, and the cultivation of Daoist arts? Are there the three thousand worlds spoken of by the Buddhists, and the unfettered longevity promised by the Daoists?'
'How, then, should I seek them?'
'Where, after all, lies this path of immortality and long life?'
'And where should I search for this so-called Soul-Pacifying Method?'
...
He did not know quite how he made it home. He saw his aunt, went in to see his uncle, briefly explained what had happened the previous night, and showed them the thirty taels of silver. Amid his aunt's anxious fretting and exhortations, he finally retreated to his room.
The room was crude and simple, yet it was a place where his heart could rest.
He had just lain down, his mind drifting in reverie even as drowsiness clouded his head, when he suddenly sensed that something was amiss.
Turning his head to look—
An Ancient Book had appeared beside him at some point unknown.
It bore no title.
It was an unfamiliar book.
Lin Jue froze for a moment. Suddenly, he remembered that when he had risen this morning, stepped outside, and returned to the ancestral hall, he had seemed to glimpse something shaped like a book in the dark—square and neat. But it had been too dim to see clearly then, and assuming it had probably been left behind by that burly fellow from the night before, his head groggy and swarming with thoughts, he had paid it no mind, taking only his bedding, his Firewood Chopper, and his oil lamp before departing.
He could not tell whether this was the very same thing.
Lin Jue could not help but pick it up.
"Rustle..."
Flipping through it casually, he found the pages entirely blank.
Only the very first page bore any writing.
Upon it was written: Qi Exhalation
A method commonly employed by spirits, demons, and deities.