Zhang Laifu went into the city. The journey was grueling; he had sprinted so hard yesterday that his legs were sore and limp today, completely devoid of strength.
The reason Lao Duozi had been willing to let Zhang Laifu leave was that he had inflicted yin energy on him again. Without hesitation, Zhang Laifu went straight to find Li Yunsheng.
Upon reaching Zhuzi Street, Zhang Laifu did not see Li Yunsheng. He asked around, and everyone said Li Yunsheng set up his stall every single day, so no one knew what had happened today.
A young man selling steamed cakes seemed to have something to say, yet hesitated to speak.
Zhang Laifu asked, "How much for a steamed cake?"
"Five wen apiece."
Zhang Laifu handed the young man five dazi, but took only one steamed cake.
"Mister, it doesn't cost this much..."
"Keep the change. Do you know where Dr. Li is?"
The pancake vendor lowered his voice. "This morning, Dr. Li originally planned to set up his stall, but once he stepped out his front door, he felt unwell and went back inside to rest..."
Zhang Laifu figured Li Yunsheng must have fallen ill.
The vendor kept his head lowered, looking as though he had not finished speaking.
Zhang Laifu produced another five dazi. "I'll take another cake."
The young vendor glanced around, making sure no one was paying attention to him, then continued in a low whisper, "Someone came to Dr. Li's house. Seemed to be folks from their guild."
...
Li Yunsheng sat in his inner room, holding a talisman paper plastered across his face.
Outside the door, a man holding a hammer in his left hand and a saw in his right called out, "Dr. Li, come on out! Everyone in our line knows that whatever measures you use on yourself only work half as well!"
Li Yunsheng chuckled. "I say, Zhu Laoshan, what do you mean 'our line'? You're a shipwright. Who's in the same trade as you?"
Zhu Laoshan let out a dry laugh. "What's the point of running your mouth? Even if you talk yourself happy, what good does it do? I reckon you still don't know what suffering is. I'll ask you one more time: at noon today, we're holding the incense ceremony. Are you going or not?"
Li Yunsheng hung two talisman papers on the window. "I told the hall master at the banquet table yesterday that I couldn't spare the time today, so I can't go."
Zhu Laoshan set down the hammer and took up the saw with both hands. "Then why don't you tell me, what day can you spare the time?"
Li Yunsheng picked up a steelyard, gripping the rod in his right hand and the weight in his left. "If it's setting up my stall to do business, I have time every day. Anything else is hard to say."
"Refusing a toast only to drink a forfeit!" Zhu Laoshan thrust his saw toward the base of the window and began sawing at the empty air.
*Hmph! Hmph!*
After seven or eight strokes, the massive skeleton of a ship, enveloped in a halo of light, smashed through the wall and crashed into the room, on the verge of crushing Li Yunsheng.
Li Yunsheng raised his steelyard, pulling hard on the weight with his left hand to lever the rod upward.
The steelyard rod caught the ship skeleton in midair, just barely keeping it from falling onto him.
Zhu Laoshan smirked. "Dr. Li, that's quite a nice fierce vessel you have there. It'd be a shame if it got crushed. You'd better put it away."
Li Yunsheng gritted his teeth and shot back, "If it could be crushed that easily, would it still be called a fierce vessel?"
"Stubborn tongue!" Zhu Laoshan pulled out a hammer, swung it in a full arc, and slammed it into the ground. A crushing weight seemed to bear down on the ship skeleton, nearly snapping the steelyard rod in two.
Li Yunsheng gripped the weight tightly, all five fingers of his left hand bleeding profusely.
Several neighbors peeked around walls and through doorways, craning their necks to watch the spectacle.
Zhu Laoshan barked, "What are you looking at? You want a taste of the hammer or the saw?"
The onlookers fled in terror. Zhu Laoshan raised the hammer once more. "Li Yunsheng, are you going to the incense hall or not?"
Different trades were separated like distant mountains! When it came to brute strength, Li Yunsheng was no match for Zhu Laoshan, not to mention that he was poisoned.
He knew full well that one more blow from Zhu Laoshan would shatter his steelyard rod. And with one hammer strike after that, even if Li Yunsheng didn't die on the spot, he would be crippled for life.
Zhu Laoshan spat. "The hall master invited you twice out of respect, yet you insist on throwing it back in his face!"
With that, Zhu Laoshan swung the iron hammer and brought it down with all his might.
*Bang!*
This crash was far louder than the last, and Li Yunsheng sank into despair. Yet judging by the force transferred through the steelyard rod, the impact was remarkably weak, and he withstood it with ease.
What was going on? Had Zhu Laoshan held back?
Li Yunsheng rose slightly and glanced out the window.
Zhu Laoshan lay collapsed on the ground, bleeding from his nose and mouth.
In the middle of the courtyard stood Zhang Laifu, holding a battered drum.
Li Yunsheng stared blankly for a moment, then beamed with joy. "A great tree provides good shade!"
Zhang Laifu looked down at Zhu Laoshan with concern. "Is he hurt?"
Li Yunsheng shook his head. "He's a second-tier master craftsman. It shouldn't be anything serious."
"So it's nothing serious." Zhang Laifu picked up the hammer from the ground and brought it down squarely onto Zhu Laoshan's skull.
Zhu Laoshan convulsed for a moment. Li Yunsheng took a closer look. "Now it's serious."
"Can't be. Looks fine to me." Zhang Laifu struck him on the head with the hammer once more.
Zhu Laoshan could no longer sustain his craft technique. The ship skeleton in the wall vanished, though a gaping hole still remained.
Such staggering destructive power startled Zhang Laifu. "What was that thing just now?"
"That's a shipwright's signature technique: Keel Follows the Tide. A ship's frame is what shipwrights call a keel. Using their craft, they can conjure a tide to summon the keel.
"When the tide rises, the keel surges forward, enough to bring down my house.
"When the tide falls, the keel drops with it, enough to crush me into mincemeat."
Zhang Laifu marveled, "What an incredible craft! His skill must be higher than yours, right?"
"Brother Laifu, when walking the martial world, one doesn't casually inquire about another's craft. But you saved my life, so there's no harm in telling you—though we have to deal with Zhu Laoshan first."
Zhang Laifu raised the hammer and asked, "Is he Zhu Laoshan?"
"Don't use the hammer just yet. Let's handle him another way." Li Yunsheng took out a talisman paper and stuffed it into Zhu Laoshan's mouth.
Zhu Laoshan gritted his teeth, refusing to swallow it.
Li Yunsheng brought over a bowl of water and urged him gently, "Old Zhu, hurry up and eat the talisman."
"In your dreams!" Zhu Laoshan sneered.
Zhang Laifu hefted the hammer and offered his own advice: "You'd better eat it."
"Right away!" Zhu Laoshan craned his neck and gulped it down with an audible swallow.
Li Yunsheng began chanting an incantation:
"A talisman swallowed into the core,
To heed all commands forevermore.
Cross me one word, your bowels shall tear,
Cross me twice, agony past despair.
Old Zhu, do you know what bowel-tearing pain feels like?"
Zhu Laoshan shook his head slightly.
Li Yunsheng produced another talisman paper and ignited it before Zhu Laoshan's eyes.
Zhu Laoshan's belly twisted in knife-like agony, and he writhed across the ground in torment.
Once the talisman burned to ash, the abdominal pain eased slightly. Li Yunsheng asked Zhu Laoshan again, "Now do you know what bowel-tearing pain means?"
Zhu Laoshan nodded repeatedly.
Li Yunsheng asked further, "Do you want to know what agony past despair feels like?"
Zhu Laoshan trembled from head to toe, begging for mercy over and over.
Li Yunsheng was fairly satisfied with Zhu Laoshan's attitude. "Now listen closely. I have three things for you to do.
"First, go back and report to Hall Master Lan Chunming. Tell him Li Yunsheng refuses to join the branch, that no amount of persuasion works, and that he shouldn't trouble me anymore. Can you make that clear?"
"Yes!" Zhu Laoshan answered loudly.
Li Yunsheng continued, "Second, the one who injured you today was me; it had nothing to do with anyone else. If you get the story wrong, you lose your life. Understand?"
"Yes!" Zhu Laoshan replied just as loudly.
"Third, take the initiative to tell Lan Chunming that as of today, you are quitting the Zhuyou branch's guild. No matter how he tries to keep you, you must leave. Can you do that?"
"Pluck incense?" Zhu Laoshan shuddered. "That... that's going to be hard."
Plucking incense meant leaving the gang.
In Wansheng Prefecture, there were numerous guilds and gangs. Most had initiation ceremonies; while their rituals varied, they all involved consecrating an incense hall, and the ritual for leaving was plucking incense.
The problem was, many guilds didn't allow anyone to leave at all.
Zhu Laoshan dared not leave. "Master Li, please don't make things impossible for me. If I dare to pluck incense, Lan Chunming will definitely take my life."
Li Yunsheng shook his head faintly. "Lan Chunming is a reasonable man. If he drives you to death, how could he recruit talent from other trades in the future?
"I, on the other hand, am not so reasonable. If you don't pluck incense, I will certainly kill you—I'll have you drop dead in the hall branch tonight. Believe me?"
Zhu Laoshan said nothing.
Li Yunsheng lit another talisman paper. Zhu Laoshan convulsed in agonizing spasms, screaming frantically, "I believe you! I'll pluck incense! I'll pluck it!"
While the talisman was still burning, Li Yunsheng watched Zhu Laoshan struggle in silence. When the ashes settled, Zhu Laoshan was thoroughly obedient, yielding to Li Yunsheng's every word.
Having sent Zhu Laoshan off, Li Yunsheng lit three sticks of incense and recounted everything that had happened.
Yesterday, Hall Master Lan Chunming had invited Li Yunsheng to dinner. Left with no choice, Li Yunsheng had gone, only to discover upon returning home that he was poisoned.
The poison was difficult to purge. Lan Chunming had calculated the timing precisely, sending Zhu Laoshan to his doorstep to force Li Yunsheng to join the guild. Weakened by the poison, Li Yunsheng couldn't hold off Zhu Laoshan; if not for Zhang Laifu coming to his rescue, Li Yunsheng would have lost his life.
"Brother Laifu, I'm ashamed to admit it, but had I not been poisoned, Zhu Laoshan wouldn't have been a match for me at all. My craft is a tier above his."
Zhang Laifu looked at the broken wall, then thought back to Zhu Laoshan's signature technique. "He's a shipwright, so why would he join the Zhuyou branch's guild?"
"Because this is Heishakou, and there are far too many shipwrights." Li Yunsheng poured a cup of tea for Zhang Laifu, then swallowed a talisman paper himself. Purging the poison as he spoke, he explained the circumstances to Zhang Laifu.
"Heishakou sits at the confluence of the Heisha River and the Canghan River, making it one of Wansheng Prefecture's famous ports. Shipbuilding is remarkably developed here, drawing boatbuilders from all over, so the Shipwright Gang naturally became the foremost guild in Heishakou.
"A dominant shop bullies the patron, and with so much talent packed into the Shipwright Gang, a master craftsman like Zhu Laoshan wouldn't hold much status within the gang.
"Had he honestly made a living through his craft, whether by opening his own shipyard or working for others, he could have lived a life of plenty.
"Yet he is gluttonous and lazy, saddled with a gambling addiction. Finding no purchase in the Shipwright Gang, he sought another way out.
"The Zhuyou branch has few practitioners, so its guild never amounted to much. But Lan Chunming is ambitious and wanted to expand his hall branch, so he began recruiting talent from other trades. That was how Zhu Laoshan joined the Zhuyou Gang as a red pole."
A "red pole" was an enforcer; that was easy enough to understand, but the arrangement felt strange. Zhang Laifu asked, "Doesn't the Zhuyou Gang courting people from the Shipwright Gang break the rules?"
Li Yunsheng nodded. "Poaching another guild's foundation is something that cannot see the light of day. That's why I can use Zhu Laoshan to threaten Lan Chunming and keep him from pressing me further.
"Brother Laifu, how did things go on your end? Did you shake off those two bandits?"
Zhang Laifu shook his head. "I couldn't shake them. Both of them were craftsmen. I lured them into the old manor, and the old ghost inside killed them."
Li Yunsheng's expression turned solemn. "The evil spirit of the Lin old manor truly lives up to its reputation."
"Brother Yunsheng, you were right. He can't see, and most of the time he can't hear. He barely has any normal perception at all.
"That's why I couldn't make sense of this: when you treated me before and chanted all those incantations, how exactly did you drive the ghost away? A ghost shouldn't be able to understand those incantations at all."
Li Yunsheng pondered for a moment. "The ghost can't understand them, but you can."
Zhang Laifu was baffled. "What good does it do if I understand them?"
Li Yunsheng pursed his lips. "Because the incantations of the Zhuyou branch are meant for the living."
Chapter 29