Rewinding time to just before noon, during the first torrential downpour...
On the wooden veranda of Four-Eyed Daoist's cottage:
"I wonder how Martial Junior and the others are doing?"
Watching the sudden deluge, Four-Eyed Daoist stood beneath the eaves, feeling increasingly unsettled, as though some dreadful disaster were about to unfold.
"Hmm? Where's Jiale? Did that boy go to sleep?"
Trying to distract himself, Four-Eyed Daoist furrowed his brow and muttered under his breath, shouting toward Jiale's room with utter annoyance, "Sleep, sleep, sleep—all you know is sleeping! Did you mop the floor? Did you wash the dishes? Did you bring in the laundry... Dammit, the clothes really are outside!"
Seeing the laundry on the nearby clothesline thoroughly drenched by the rain, Four-Eyed Daoist didn't bother waking the sleeping youth. He merely dashed out into the storm to haul in their wet clothes.
Meanwhile, inside the house, in Jiale's room:
Still clutching the rag he used for mopping, Jiale was sprawled ungracefully across the floor in a half-asleep daze, mumbling to himself.
"I... can't sleep... Must buy... golden coffin... Must... save money... Buy a bronze-cornered golden coffin for Master..."
As he mumbled, his squinting eyes fluttered rapidly open and shut.
Then, shutting his eyes, he chuckled foolishly. "Hehe, Junior Brother Ah Xiu, you gave me way too much... Don't give me so much... I didn't help you that... much..."
After trailing off on "much," soft snores drifted from Jiale's nose. Yet his mouth kept muttering.
"Such a gorgeous coffin... I definitely have to buy one for Master... Right, I need to buy Master a coffin..."
Suddenly, Jiale shot upright. The sleepiness vanished from his face as he yelled, "I'm buying a coffin!"
His voice wasn't particularly loud, but Four-Eyed Daoist—who had just brought the wet clothes into the living room—heard it loud and clear. His eyes widened, and he began rolling up his sleeves, ready to shower Jiale with some tough love.
Just then, Jiale sprinted out, glancing out the window as he ran. "Master, Junior Brother Ah Xiu told me to give you this!"
Jiale held out a brocade pouch. Frowning, Four-Eyed Daoist snatched it and pulled it open. Just as he drew out a slightly greasy slip of paper—
*Whoosh!*
A sudden, fierce gust of wind tore the paper from Four-Eyed Daoist's fingers, sending it drifting toward the door. Both men lunged instinctively to catch it.
Tripping over each other in the scramble, they collapsed onto the veranda with a chorus of groans. The slip of paper fluttered through the air at an uncanny angle and landed smack in the middle of a puddle on the ground.
Just as Jiale's eyes went wide, dreading that disaster had struck and his money was lost, Four-Eyed Daoist scrambled up, his eyes lighting up as he crouched down and picked the oil-sheened paper from the water.
What greeted his gaze was paper coated in camellia oil, bearing eight somewhat blurry characters:
*"Morgue, set up the altar to pray for rain, hurry!"*
Looking up at the rain that was showing signs of easing, and then at the sky that showed no sign of clearing—still shrouded in oppressive black clouds—and recalling the bizarre gust just now, Four-Eyed Daoist's expression shifted drastically.
"Jiale, let's go!"
With that, Four-Eyed Daoist dashed straight toward the morgue. Though Jiale didn't quite grasp what was going on, he hurriedly followed.
Within seconds, as Four-Eyed Daoist and his apprentice neared the morgue, they spotted Master Yixiu and Qingqing jogging from the other direction.
Priest and monk spoke in unison:
"Ah Xiu? Pray for rain?"
"Hurry!"
Years of mutual understanding made both Four-Eyed Daoist and Master Yixiu tense simultaneously. Without missing a beat, their feet moved like the wind as they rushed into the morgue.
As the wooden doors were shoved open by the pair, the ritual altar—lashed tightly in place with hemp rope—instantly came into view.
Catching up behind them, Jiale blinked in surprise, turning to Qingqing. "Huh? Qingqing, did Ah Xiu promise you money too?"
"Huh? There's money for helping him?"
Qingqing knit her delicate brows. Jiale froze, then shook his head frantically, stammering that it was nothing. Meanwhile, Four-Eyed Daoist and Master Yixiu had already sprung into action.
Though altars differed between Daoist and Buddhist traditions, just as men differed from women, Master Yixiu knew how to adapt. Taking positions on the left and right:
One formed a sword finger to kindle the ritual candle, while the other pinched the wick to summon radiance. The moment both ritual candles flared to life, both men formed hand seals and chanted incantations:
"Five Thearchs and Five Dragons, Xun Wind soaring high; Lord Thunder wields the drum, Mother Lightning holds the blade. Divine Lords of the Rivers, Patriarchs of the Four Seas, by the Maoshan talisman's decree, swiftly summon dense clouds! Steam forth dark mists, blanket a thousand peaks; let sweet rain pour forth to nourish fields and crops. Disobey or tarry, and thunderbolts shall shatter your traces. Urgently as the Three Mao True Lords, by the ordinance of the Five Thunders!"
"Namo to the Buddhas of the Ten Directions and the Dragon Kings of the seas. Pity the sentient beings of Jambudvipa whose lands are scorched and dry. May benevolent clouds arise, showering pure rain to nourish the five grains, eliminate drought and disaster, and bring peace, joy, and freedom from suffering to all beings!"
The incantations rose.
The incantations quickened.
The incantations reached their climax.
The Buddhist sat cross-legged while the Daoist paced the Big Dipper constellation. The former chanted ancient Sanskrit verses—*para-samgate*—while the latter waved his ritual banner to summon wind and rain. In an instant, rumbling peals of thunder cracked across the sky.
*Crash! Swish—*
The storm that had just begun to subside broke out anew, descending in a torrential deluge. Four-Eyed Daoist and Master Yixiu exchanged a glance, exhaling sighs of relief as they halted their rain prayer and turned to look out the window.
"Jiale, go fetch the gear, quick!"
"Qingqing, go fetch the ritual implements, quick!"
"???" ×2
*Since when did you two get so in sync?*
Jiale and Qingqing exchanged bewildered looks. In the next breath, they saw Four-Eyed Daoist shoot the monk an irritated glare.
"Stinky monk, why are you copying me? And who told you to take the left side just now? Don't you know the rules? This is my morgue!"
"Amitabha..." Master Yixiu chuckled amiably.
Jiale and Qingqing nodded inwardly. *Ah, that's more like it.*
***
Rewinding time to ten minutes after Daoist Qianhe's group had fled Gaoshulin...
The woods of Gaoshulin were now in utter ruin.
Wherever one looked, trees were snapped in half or scarred with scorched sword strikes. For a radius of a hundred meters, the undergrowth was withered and dead.
Not only had the vegetation yellowed and died, but every tree around—large and small alike—bore stark cracks along its bark.
And along those split trunks were jagged, pitch-black claw marks that gave off a foul stench.
The air was thick with the tang of iron rust and a sharp, ozone freshness—though it was not a scent an ordinary person would want to breathe.
After all, this particular "blessing" was so potent that a few deep breaths would bring on symptoms of radiation sickness, including bleeding gums and red rashes on the skin.
[Name: Liu Xiu]
[Age: 18]
[Realm: Hundred-Day Foundation Building (95/100)]
[Thunder Seed: Five Viscera and Five Thunders (1/5)]
[Affiliation: Maoshan Sect]
[Immortal Aspect: Jade-Green Eyes and Square Pupils (50%), No Shadow at Noon (90%), Ice-Skin Jade-Bones (Completed)]
[Cultivation Methods: Body-as-Furnace Celestial Circuit Mercury-Cooking and Stone-Refining Formula (Minor Accomplishment), Kun-Earth Elixir-Bearing Transformation Method (Minor Accomplishment), Three-Light Primordial Magnetism Body-Refining Art (First Layer, Minor Accomplishment), Profound Abyss Weapon-Condensing Water Method (Minor Accomplishment), Golden Light Divine Incantation (Minor Accomplishment)...]
[Health: 10%]
"What a terrifying imperial-clan jiangshi. It almost killed me. You got lucky running away this time—don't let me catch you again!"
Having dispelled the Emperor Armor, Liu Xiu let out an unhappy snort. Once he was certain the imperial-clan jiangshi had run far away, he leaped from the tree beneath his feet to another.
After watching for a while to ensure the jiangshi had truly fled and wasn't lurking in the shadows to ambush him, he gauged the height. Hesitating a moment, he dropped down branch by branch, making his way carefully to the ground.
There was no helping it—his health bar was critically low!
Besides, he had no idea how to do a water-bucket landing trick!
*Not bad. After this battle, my overall strength has shot up, and I even finished condensing the Gui Water thunder seed...*
Liu Xiu marveled inwardly. Of course, the downside was that he had nearly lost his life, with his full health whittled down to a meager ten percent.
He dismissed the Golden Light Divine Incantation, which had just broken through from the entry level to Minor Accomplishment.
With the incantation gone, the makeshift attribute panel projected before his eyes vanished as well. Circulating his now Minor-Accomplishment Profound Abyss Weapon-Condensing Water Method to heal his injuries, he walked over toward the bronze-cornered golden coffin.
Arriving beside the coffin in a few strides, Liu Xiu inspected the lining exposed to the air and twitched his nose, sniffing.
Catching the distinct aroma of alchemical metals and minerals, he curled his lip thoughtfully. *Well, well. So it really did refine alchemical gold pills and corpse poison together. No wonder this imperial-clan jiangshi's hide was so tough...*
He thought this because he and the jiangshi were evenly matched—six of one, half a dozen of the other. He had his half-jin of lead and mercury, while it possessed eight liang of medicinal gold!
People might find the term "medicinal gold" unfamiliar.
Yet no one was unfamiliar with regular gold!
Indeed, medicinal gold was simply gold!
In Liu Xiu's view, this imperial-clan jiangshi hadn't just consumed metallic and mineral elixirs; it had refined gold into elixir pills to ingest.
The reason went back to what Daoist Qianhe had mentioned: *"That fellow cultivator said this prince becoming a jiangshi was entirely his own doing."*
Combining that statement with the fact that Vice Minister Wu had also been consuming metallic and mineral elixirs, it stood to reason that the imperial-clan jiangshi had taken them as well.
After all, if even a servant like Vice Minister Wu could afford them, there was no reason an imperial prince couldn't!
Chapter 52