"Pay you back?"
Sha Lifei rubbed his bald head, feigning bewilderment and playing dumb. "The Daoist must remember wrong. You're an esteemed master of the Xuanmen—how could old Sha ever dare owe you money?"
Wang Daoxuan was rendered speechless. "That spring, in Chang'an's Zuihua Brothel..."
"Oh—now I remember!"
Sha Lifei began lying through his teeth. "Have you forgotten? I was only treating you to drinks! You were the one who got drunk that day and insisted on calling the most famous dancing girl. I couldn't stop you no matter how hard I tried..."
"Is that so?"
"Of course it is! And I didn't abandon you, either. The truth is, a brother of the jianghu was in dire straits. Saving a life was an urgent matter of life and death, so I couldn't afford a single moment's delay. You know me—I've always been the most loyal..."
"Hahaha, forget it. Consider it this poor Daoist's treat to you."
"Look at you, Daoist... Next time! Next time it's on me!"
"Would you really?"
"Without a doubt! Who do you take me, Sha Lifei, for..."
Along the yellow-dirt official road, three riders galloped through the dust.
Perhaps because Li Yan was an unfamiliar face and wore a disguise, or perhaps because Meng Haicheng held too lowly a status to draw the Divine Fist Association's attention even if he suffered a loss, their departure from the city went without a hitch.
Sha Lifei was a slick jianghu loafer, while Wang Daoxuan possessed a sincere and honest heart. One could only wonder why two such completely mismatched people always had endless things to talk about.
The two chatted aimlessly as they rode, pulling topics from every direction.
Beside them, Li Yan remained silent, his mind weighed down with thought.
Dusk was fast approaching. Because he had lingered at Wang Daoxuan's home to make detailed inquiries, he had finally pieced together a rough understanding of the Xuanmen.
This world was far more complex than he had imagined.
For martial artists, cultivation progressed through realms such as clear jin, hidden jin, transformative jin, dan jin, gang jin, Xiantian, and Grandmaster. All of it depended on one's internal mastery, and with each step forward, the lethality of one's strikes spiked dramatically.
Cultivation in the Xuanmen, on the other hand, focused on spirit preservation.
The very first step was to visualize a deity and borrow their power, reaching the point where one could direct the divine soul and command divine abilities.
If he succeeded, he could suppress his nearly runaway divine ability.
Yet that was merely the beginning of Xuanmen cultivation.
Humans consumed the five grains, possessed seven emotions and six desires, and were beset by countless mortal troubles. Even if one visualized a deity, it constantly faced the risk of collapsing into ruin.
When that happened, one had to preserve the spirit and visualize all over again.
The solution was to build temples and erect palace halls.
Through a kind of ritual liturgy, one constructed a palace or pavilion within the sea of consciousness to house the visualized deity, granting it stability.
Only then was one considered truly initiated into the Xuanmen, an achievement known as 'one story of daoxing.'
The more formidable the visualized deity, the taller the pavilion constructed, and the deeper one's daoxing became.
Thus, whenever people of the Xuanmen spoke of some high-ranking master from an orthodox sect or magical lineage, they would describe the person's daoxing as being 'several stories high.'
Moreover, the martial path and the Xuanmen did not conflict. For instance, some masters of the Taixuan Orthodox Sect were also well-versed in Daoist martial arts. However, a person could not divide their mind, and with limited energy they could not excel at both, so grandmasters among them were exceedingly rare.
Some abandoned martial arts altogether. Wang Daoxuan, for example, had only a rough grasp of fists and kicks. He could manage a loafer or two, but against a true practitioner, he could only take a beating.
Yet whether for martial artists or Xuanmen practitioners, one key fact held true:
There was no so-called spiritual qi in this world!
No matter how profound one's cultivation, when death came calling, one died just the same.
What this world operated on were gang qi and sha qi, existing in countless varieties.
For instance, famous mountains and great rivers absorbed the essence of the sun and moon, condensing innate gang. Most were lands of picturesque scenery, where even beasts endowed with daoxing cultivated in seclusion.
Arts of spirit preservation or martial gang jin belonged to human acquired gang.
Statues in Daoist temples and shrines, formed from the condensed incense power of prayers and vows, were known as divine gang.
Formidable weapons and magical artifacts would also condense gang qi.
The other type was sha qi, to which all manner of demons, monsters, and ghosts were tied.
Naturally, there was no inherent distinction of good or evil between gang qi and sha qi.
Applied toward righteousness, it was righteous; turned toward evil, it was wicked.
His Three Powers Demon-Suppressing Coins saber tassel, for example, was an evil-suppressing sha artifact.
All manner of magical arts, liturgies, and even feng shui were founded upon this principle.
What currently troubled Li Yan was how to preserve the spirit.
The methods of spirit preservation were similarly diverse. So long as one could visualize the god within one's heart, that would suffice. Yet it was not a matter of idle imagination, but an authentic reflection of what dwelt inside.
Through countless ages of exploration, the Xuanmen had developed an effective practice.
They would select young boys who had awakened the Yang Six Roots, having them chant Daoist scriptures from childhood and meditate each day, deeply engraving the enshrined patriarch or immortal into their minds so that spirit preservation followed as naturally as water carving a channel.
The doctrine Wang Daoxuan had imparted also possessed such a foundation.
The scripture he had passed along was titled the *True Scripture of Xixuan Dongming*, and the enshrined patriarch was that three-eyed, sword-bearing Daoist known as Heavenly Lord Chen of Xuanqi's Manifest Might.
According to the text, this patriarch hailed from the mysterious Xixuan Grotto-Heaven.
Over endless years, Xuanmen adepts had traversed every river and mountain to seek out every peak of innate gang across the Divine Land, handing them down as grotto-heavens and blessed lands.
Yet with the vast passage of time, while some could still be found, others had faded into legend.
Take this Xixuan Grotto-Heaven: some claimed it lay in Jinzhou, others placed it in Guanzhong, and still others swore it was on Mount Hua of the Western Peak. No one knew its true location, much less how to find its vital feng shui spiritual aperture.
Consequently, Wang Daoxuan suspected the legend was mostly fabricated.
Many magical lineages bestowed ringing titles and bizarre myths upon their patriarchs, which served both to broadcast the lineage's fame and to smooth the process of spirit preservation.
Li Yan's difficulty stemmed from precisely this.
Adults inherently carried complicated minds, and having memories of two lifetimes made it virtually impossible for him to believe unconditionally in the existence of some deity. Thus, only one path remained for him.
To visualize and preserve spirit by reflecting the god of his own true heart.
Li Yan had already formed a plan: he would take the idol within his dantian as the target of his visualization to achieve spirit preservation.
Yet that entity was far too mysterious, its perils utterly unknown.
Since it concerned the miraculous treasure prolonging his life, he could hardly consult anyone about it either.
Fortunately, spirit preservation required several days of purifying one's thoughts.
Li Yan decided to follow Wang Daoxuan into the Lu household first to uncover what had triggered the substitute idol's reaction, after which he would return to Fort Li to attempt spirit preservation.
***
When they returned to Gushui Village, dusk was already falling.
The wheat reapers in the surrounding fields were still hard at work, their skin baked dark by the sun and their backs soaked with sweat, yet their sickles never ceased swinging.
Cartload after cartload of wheat was hauled toward the threshing grounds.
They had to dry and store the grain in the barns as swiftly as possible to prevent sudden rain from ruining it.
Snatching grain from the dragon's jaws was a struggle as frantic as any battlefield.
As the three galloped past, the reapers could not even spare the time to look up.
On a stretch of open ground beside the wheat fields stood a simple canopy. Squire Lu, accompanied by two concubines, his steward, and guards, was gathered inside.
Rushing the summer harvest was a momentous event for any landowner.
Squire Lu came to supervise in person—first, to ensure the reapers did not slack off, and second, to dispense timely rewards so the year's harvest would prove abundant.
Yet his mind was plainly elsewhere, his gaze drifting toward the official road from time to time.
"Why haven't they arrived yet?"
Hearing the inquiry, cold sweat broke out on Steward Lu's forehead beside him. He hurriedly lowered his head and said, "Master instructed that this must not be publicized, so I could only search among these people. I heard that at the City God Temple in Xianyang, there are temple keepers from the Taixuan Orthodox Sect..."
Squire Lu's expression turned frigid at once. "How to handle this is my decision. Are you teaching me how to run my affairs?"
"Master speaks rightly."
Steward Lu dared not utter another word, silently cursing Sha Lifei in his heart.
He knew better than anyone that beneath this Squire Lu's kindly, generous exterior lay a ruthless and merciless hand once angered.
Even the two concubines beside him wore terrified looks, their frames trembling faintly.
Right then, the sound of hooves echoed in the distance.
Seeing Sha Lifei and the other two return, Steward Lu exhaled in relief. He hurried forward, ordering the servants to take the horses and feed them, then leaned in close to Sha Lifei and hissed under his breath, "What took you so long?"
It was Li Yan who had wasted time, but how could Sha Lifei dare blab? He grinned and spouted nonsense: "Daoist Wang is a busy and important man! Countless people are eager to hire him. Why, just today a wealthy magnate from Chang'an came calling! If not for the face of yours truly, Sha Lifei..."
Beside them, Wang Daoxuan could bear it no longer. He stepped forward and spoke up: "Immeasurable longevity and blessings. This poor Daoist was delayed by personal matters; I hope Patron will not take offense."
Though Wang Daoxuan's abilities were modest, his gaze was clear and upright, naturally inspiring goodwill at first sight.
Steward Lu was no exception and said at once, "Not at all, not at all! The Daoist has had a wearisome journey."
With that, he guided them toward the canopy.
Squire Lu had already risen. After trading polite greetings, he raised a hand and said, "Daoist Wang has come from afar. I have prepared wine and food. Please."
"Many thanks, Patron Lu."
Wang Daoxuan nodded slightly and followed Squire Lu forward.
Li Yan and Sha Lifei were about to follow when Steward Lu blocked them with an outstretched arm, whispering, "What are you two trailing along for? Come with me to the side courtyard to eat."
Before Sha Lifei could say a word, Wang Daoxuan turned from ahead and said with a faint smile, "Squire Lu, Patron Sha must accompany me up the mountain to survey the ground, while this young friend Li has already entered the Xuanmen and counts as my junior brother. Might they...?"
This was the excuse they had settled on along the road.
All of them were seasoned in the jianghu, their minds sharp and guarded. The job at the Lu estate had an odd feel to it no matter how one looked at it; having two more companions meant they could watch out for one another.
Squire Lu hesitated briefly. "Very well."
With that, he led the group into the Lu family estate.
The compound's perimeter walls were imposing. From outside, one could see little beyond the tops of trees and upper stories of pavilions, but stepping inside revealed a world of its own.
With four grand courtyards forming the central axis, the complex was flanked by study courtyards, flower courtyards, hired-labor courtyards, and peripheral courtyards, all connected by narrow alleys and adorned with exquisite brick and wood carvings.
Even the arrangement of flowerpots along the paths showed deliberate care.
Sha Lifei's eyes were already dazzled. Filled with envy, he clicked his tongue. "Truly worthy of Squire Lu. A mansion like this—even if an old thief from the Rong faction slipped in, he'd wander until his head spun."
Hearing this, a burly man built like an iron tower scowled and sneered, "With us here, not even a mouse from the Rong faction could dream of sneaking in!"
This man was Zhao Cheng, the senior disciple of the Zhao Family Fist and the leader of the guards.
Those in the guazi trade earned their bread through such vigilance, so hearing such loose talk naturally rubbed him the wrong way.
Sha Lifei chuckled. "Just running my mouth—no offense intended, none at all."
As they spoke, the party passed through gate after gate and entered a side courtyard beneath a horizontal plaque inscribed with the characters 'Lanfang.' Servants were already bustling inside, and the fragrant steam of food and wine drifted through the air.
Squire Lu said, "Gentlemen, this is the Lanfang Courtyard, reserved for our guests. I have prepared a banquet to welcome you all."
Upon the table sat eight cold dishes and eight hot, eight meat and eight vegetarian.
They were not lavishly rare: the cold dishes included tossed pig ears, seasoned cowpeas, tossed cucumbers, spinach with glass noodles, and spiced beef; the hot dishes featured fried ribbonfish, braised prawns, braised pork belly, steamed sea bass, and more.
Yet such spreads were typically reserved for wealthy households hosting major affairs.
Sha Lifei was already drooling with hunger, but Wang Daoxuan remained composed. He raised a hand and said, "There is no rush, Squire Lu. This poor Daoist may have come, but I am not certain I dare eat this meal."
"Why not first tell us: what exactly has happened within your estate?"
"I fear this is not merely a matter of choosing a plot of land..."
Chapter 23