Heaven-Subduing Scripture

Evening, at the Zhenyang Daoist Temple.

Zhang Qianyang looked at his somewhat downcast disciple and smiled. ”What — earned three hundred gold today, and still not happy?”

Li Daoxuan said without thinking, ”It is mostly because of Hui’er—!

Suddenly he came to himself and looked at his master in surprise. ”Master… how do you know it was three hundred gold?”

He had only just returned, and seen his master drying herbs; he had not yet told his master of the Huang residence.

Zhang Qianyang chuckled. ”Your master came back last night; seeing you not returned, I heard you were at the Huang residence, so I hid nearby and watched a while.”

Li Daoxuan’s heart jumped — surely the master had not also learned he let Hui’er kill the Huang couple?

This was his greatest worry; his master, of Mount Longhu’s orthodox line, might well disapprove of such ghost-abetting.

Sure enough, Zhang Qianyang’s smile withdrew; his gaze turned sword-like, fixing Li Daoxuan.

”Did not think you so decisive in killing.”

Li Daoxuan lowered his head, about to explain.

Yet Zhang Qianyang clapped his shoulder and laughed heartily. ”Worthy of being my Zhang Qianyang’s disciple — the very image of my own youth!”

So saying he teased, ”Were it not that your master never broke his chastity, I’d suspect you were my son.”

Li Daoxuan started. ”Master… you truly do not blame me?”

Zhang Qianyang took a drink. ”Sometimes a living man is worse than a ghost; such people, your master in his day killed no few!”

He said to Li Daoxuan with weight, ”A cultivator must not slaughter the innocent — but that is not to say, seeing the wicked, one stands aside. Sometimes man’s harm outweighs a ghost’s!”

”You yourself said it: a Daoist is one who acts for Heaven’s way. Since so, why hesitate and regret?”

This speech opened Li Daoxuan like a clogged spring; a knot in his heart loosed, and he smiled again.

”Moreover, your master did not do nothing. That ghost you called… Hui’er — I spent a favor to send her soul-recommendation to the Lady in Green, for rebirth.”

Li Daoxuan’s spirit shook; joyful, he said, ”Master, is it true?”

Zhang Qianyang smiled. ”Much credit is yours. In the end you spared no mana reciting the Taishang Salvation Sutra, dissolving her grievance and opening her wit, letting her see some of the world’s goodness — so she at last chose rebirth.”

Hearing this, an ineffable gladness welled in Li Daoxuan; this joy was stronger even than when he gained an immortal artifact from the Heaven-Subduing Demon Scripture.

The story’s author publishes on NovelPhoenix, and this chapter was taken from that publication without approval.

”Ah master, who is the Lady in Green?”

Zhang Qianyang’s expression grew grave; he said sternly, ”This lady’s true name is not to be spoken — or she would sense us discussing her; should she be angered, your master might not protect even you.”

Li Daoxuan was much astonished; that merely speaking a name could be sensed — such power was surely that of god or immortal.

It was his first time seeing his master so grave.

”You need only know she is a deity. After the immortals and Buddhas vanished, the underworld fell to chaos and a host of ghosts escaped to plague the mortal realm — that was the time of the Wu Hu ravaging the Hua; truly ’white bones laid bare in the fields, no rooster heard for a thousand li’!”

”Later the Lady in Green acted: in a single day she subdued the ghost-host and drove them back to hell. At last she founded the Blue Netherworld, standing with the Hungry-Belly Ghost King’s Yellow Springs Realm and the Black Mountain Old Demon’s City of Wrongful Death — three legs of a tripod, splitting the yin realm equally.”

The Lady in Green, the Hungry-Belly Ghost King, and the all-too-familiar Black Mountain Old Demon — plainly, after the heavens’ gods and Buddhas all vanished, these three were the foremost powers, having carved up the underworld.

”Master, then what cultivation has the Lady in Green?”

Zhang Qianyang thought. ”She became a god through incense; from the early Han to now, near a thousand years, unbroken incense and countless faithful; her Way is unfathomable — she has likely attained the ghost-immortal fruit.”

Ghost-immortal…

Li Daoxuan inwardly startled; this should be the fourth realm of cultivation — Tribulation-Ascension!

”Your master in his early years received the Lady in Green’s guidance, and shares some incense-friendship with her, which let me send Hui’er’s soul-recommendation to the Blue Netherworld; the Lady, for your master’s sake, will surely arrange her a good rebirth.”

Li Daoxuan looked at his master with odd eyes — such a figure as the Lady in Green, friends with his master?

What a treasure of a master!

Li Daoxuan then showed his master the small bronze mirror Hui’er left; the master fiddled with it a while, then returned it.

”Tsk, tsk — your fortune is good, lad. This is a high-grade artifact, named the Demon-Revealing Mirror: it reveals the true forms of demons and monsters, most restraining of transformation arts; it can also shoot mirror-golden-light, with some damage to demons.”

Li Daoxuan’s heart leapt; he took the small mirror and shone it at the umbrella in the corner.

What the mirror showed was not an umbrella, but Chen Ziyu in her wedding dress, gazing coldly at him.

Li Daoxuan laughed awkwardly. ”Ha-ha, Sister Yu, don’t mistake — I was only testing.”

He moved the mirror away, poured mana in, and shone it at a stone outside the courtyard.

The next moment a golden light shot from the mirror.

Bang!

The stone split into pieces.

Li Daoxuan showed a satisfied smile — good, good; both attack and illusion-breaking; a fine treasure!

Seeing Li Daoxuan’s delighted look, Zhang Qianyang gave a cold snort. ”Merely an artifact — such petty delight!”

”You must remember: no matter how fine the treasure, it cannot match your own cultivation. We cultivators must prize our own foundation; never lose the Way for small gain!”

He feared his disciple would lean too on artifacts and loosen the cultivating heart.

He in truth knew his disciple bore many secrets — that gourd that could hold a serpent corpse, and that Fish-Intestine Sword…

But Zhang Qianyang did not pry; what cultivator has no secrets?

In his youth he too had strange encounters and many secrets, yet the old master never asked a word.

As a master, so long as the disciple walks not the crooked path, he would not take the initiative to probe.

Li Daoxuan’s heart turned solemn; he knew the master’s warning not baseless — these days, gaining treasures one after another, he had indeed grown complacent.

In fact, his cultivation was not even at early Bingu.

”Master, rest easy — your disciple understands.”

Zhang Qianyang nodded; his stern face changed, and he smiled. ”Your master sees the turbid qi in you is wholly gone: you may take that Longhu Golden Elixir.”

Li Daoxuan’s eyes lit. ”Then excellent!”

He had awaited this day long; taking the Longhu Golden Elixir would add ten years of cultivation and burst open the lower dantian!

Zhang Qianyang nodded and smiled. ”Cultivation prizes a single surge of spirit; sooner the day than a chosen one — tonight, then. Your master will guard you, and help you break the Huangting, and formally step upon the cultivation’s gate!”