Heaven-Subduing Scripture

Xuanzang went to cook; Master Sanle watched Li Daoxuan with a smile and, palms together, said, ”Amitabha — many thanks, little friend, for gifting Xuanzang the sword.”

An upper-grade artifact already counts as precious; and more, though this sword was made by mortals, it held the potential to become a treasure — all the rarer.

Li Daoxuan hurried, ”I have not yet thanked the master for saving my life last night; but for you, I fear I would not have lived to attend the Lady’s feast.”

Master Sanle said free and easy, ”A small matter, no need to—”

”Master, I have placed one hundred taels of silver in the merit box; not much, but a token of this poor Daoist’s regard — pray do not refuse!”

Master Sanle coughed, scarce believing his ears.

How much?

One hundred taels!

He eyed Li Daoxuan; he had not seen that this plainly-dressed young Daoist was a man of means.

He took Li Daoxuan’s hand with a smile. ”Ah, worthy nephew, you are too polite; your master and I are old friends, sworn friends in life and death — saving you was only right!”

The charm of silver indeed; in Master Sanle’s mouth Li Daoxuan had gone from little friend to worthy nephew.

”Hiss — worthy nephew, wait a moment; this poor monk’s belly suddenly aches — I must to the privy!”

Watching Master Sanle’s bouncing figure, Li Daoxuan’s face darkened — why would a bellyache make one smile so happily?

And — were you not headed to the privy? What are you doing running into the Buddha hall?

Master Sanle ran into the Buddha hall, thud locked the door behind him, then hugged the merit box and poured out the white silver, gazing with shining eyes and fondling it lovingly.

As if it were not silver, but a beauty’s skin.

The Sakyamuni statue lowered its brows and watched him quiet, a faint smile at its lips.

…

Li Daoxuan shook his head and smiled, thinking Master Sanle truly strange — with heaven-reaching power, getting silver would be no difficulty at all, yet he dwells in the red dust, braving wind and dew, never using magic for his own profit.

And yet he shows such greed — truly contradictory…

Suddenly Li Daoxuan felt the oil-paper umbrella on his back stir slightly; a glint of joy showed in his eyes.

Sister Yu was about to wake!

Li Daoxuan hurried to his room, closed the doors and windows, shut out the sunlight, then opened the oil-paper umbrella.

The next moment a wedding dress drifted; the room’s temperature dropped swiftly, with gusts of yin-wind.

Chen Ziyu floated quiet in the air, long hair to her waist, face of peerless beauty, cold and lovely of air; if not illusion, Li Daoxuan felt her body had grown a little more solid.

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It seemed the water-essence’s benefit to the soul was great.

”Sister Yu, you are awake!”

Li Daoxuan laughed and would have stepped forward.

Just then Chen Ziyu lifted her eyes and suddenly extended a slender jade hand, which plunged into Li Daoxuan’s chest and gripped his beating heart.

Li Daoxuan’s mouth fell open, pupils dilated, his body trembling; that feeling of having his heart gripped was simply too terrifying.

He could not understand why Sister Yu would do this to him.

”Sister… Yu…”

Chen Ziyu was expressionless; those cold eyes were full of gravity; her nails swiftly grew long and pierced Li Daoxuan’s heart, then her fingers too thrust in.

Li Daoxuan could no longer speak; he was cold through, body stiff, could not breathe, even his sight began to blur.

Suddenly Chen Ziyu withdrew her hand.

Li Daoxuan gulped air, as a drowning man at last breathing; his pupils were full of after-fear.

A bloodied hand reached before his eyes, upon it a faint-golden hair.

The wedding dress dripped blood, flowing out a few small characters.

Weasel…

Li Daoxuan’s heart chilled; a cold shot to his brow.

There was a weasel’s hair in his heart — since when?

Worthy of a great demon who had lived eight hundred years; he had still been caught — had not Sister Yu suddenly awakened this object-extracting power, he might this time have been in grave danger!

”Sister Yu, many thanks!”

Li Daoxuan smiled bitterly. ”But let us agree — next time such a thing happens, warn me first; just now you near scared me to death.”

Chen Ziyu nodded; if not illusion, Li Daoxuan seemed to see a trace of apology in her eyes?

”Sister Yu, this ability of yours is fierce — used for surgery it would be perfect!”

Li Daoxuan looked at his chest; not a scar upon it — hard to believe he had just undergone an ”open-chest operation.”

This ability is in truth formidable, not something ordinary ghosts and gods could master.

In the Strange Tales of Liaozhai a like tale is told — a mortal befriended Judge Lu of the underworld and, complaining of his own dullness, Judge Lu swapped him a new heart.

Thence he was clear and wise, never forgetting what he read, his study as if aided by gods.

The ability Sister Yu newly gained is rather like Judge Lu’s heart-swapping art — it can reach the organs, dig out hearts and change heads, and withdraw without leaving a mark.

It can save a man at death’s door, and kill without a trace!

Chen Ziyu knit her brows slightly, seeming to ponder what Li Daoxuan meant by ”surgery.”

Just then Li Daoxuan reached into his bosom and took out a delicate, translucent green jade hairpin, faintly glowing with treasure-light.

This hairpin was splendid of form, and long worn by a ghost-immortal, it bore a ghost-immortal’s clear-qi — most alluring to common ghosts.

The moment it appeared, it fixed Chen Ziyu’s gaze.

Li Daoxuan could see a trace of longing in her eyes.

”Sister Yu — a gift for you.”

Li Daoxuan smiled and handed her the hairpin.

Chen Ziyu parted her red lips, dazed at the hairpin; she could feel it was a most precious treasure.

Even more precious than that water-essence!

She hesitated, even was somewhat… at a loss.

In her scant memory, she had either been toyed with and beaten at will by a stepmother, or been casually married off by her father to a beggar, as a plague-ward tool to ”rush-joy” — until she met Li Daoxuan did she learn that between people, it could be different.

Yet she always kept a measure of caution — an instinctive reflex.

She was unaccustomed to anyone being so good to her.

Li Daoxuan saw her frozen there and thought her shy; he laughed. ”Sister Yu, this hairpin is plainly a woman’s — a grown man like me cannot go about wearing a jade hairpin!”

So saying he set it on his own head; truly awkward, absurd to the point of laughter.

The corner of Chen Ziyu’s lips showed a faint smile.

The wedding dress dripped blood, revealing a line of small characters.

Protect-Dao… add ten years…

Li Daoxuan paused, understanding Sister Yu’s meaning; before, the master and she had agreed she would protect his Dao ten years, in return for Longhu’s ghost-cultivation method.

Now it seemed Sister Yu meant to add another ten years.

Truly a cold and pure yet simple female ghost; fortunate she met him — had it been another, she might be sold and still counting the coins.

Li Daoxuan had meant to refuse, but on second thought — with Sister Yu’s temper, if he refused she surely would not take the Jade Escape-Heavens Hairpin.

Enough — he would in time surely find the finest ghost-cultivation method, to make Sister Yu a ghost-immortal like the Lady in Green!

”Good — then for the next twenty years, I shall trouble Sister Yu to look after me.”

Seeing Li Daoxuan agree, Chen Ziyu was expressionless, but within she quietly breathed relief.

She gripped the hairpin, her gaze a little dazed, plainly most fond of it.

Li Daoxuan turned his gaze to that faint-golden hair, his look growing grave.

”Sister Yu — it is time we left Yuzhang City.”

”Perhaps… we must stake our lives.”