Whoosh—

A fierce wind swept through the forest, sending the trees swaying wildly. The green leaves covering the thatched cottage rustled noisily. The Toad Daoist held a piece of broken flatbread, his two short legs stretched taut as he stood on tiptoe atop his webbed feet, leaning against the window lattice to look outside. His cheeks bulged as he slowly chewed the crumbs.

“What is so wrong with this old man’s sacrificial art? Why insist on owing someone else a favor, and go to such great lengths?”

Inside the fenced courtyard, Yuwen Tuo, Li Sui’an, and Qu Yuanfeng had their hair whipped about by the wind. Raising their sleeves to shield their faces, all three instinctively shrank into the corner by the wall to escape the gale.

Through the gaps in the swaying fence, several streams of spiritual qi outside dragged long tails as they circled and drifted around the formation. Lu Liangsheng flipped his hand seal upward, and the wandering spiritual qi surged once more into the Yin-Yang Formation, nourishing Honglian, easing her searing pain, and offsetting part of the daoist arts the Daoist had specifically cultivated to restrain ghosts.

Emerald Heart Dream Nourishment: using spiritual essence to nourish vegetation and living beings, preventing their decline, extending their lives, and allowing them to live anew in defiance of Heaven’s will.

This technique also had some effect when used on humans and livestock, though it could not achieve the same perfect results as it did with plants. Using it to nourish a yin body was likewise limited, yet it was the only method Lu Liangsheng currently considered suitable.

“Honglian, hold on!”

He gritted his teeth and forced out the words. Within the formation, Honglian, enduring the formation’s scorching power, had her hair disheveled, revealing a ghostly green, sinister face. She had reverted to the appearance she bore when she had died with grievous injustice. Her eyes were fixed unblinkingly upon Lu Liangsheng and the Daoist maintaining the formation before her.

“The evil soul has emerged!” Sun Yingxian met the Rakshasa evil soul’s gaze and could not help shivering.

On the opposite side of the formation, hearing those words, Yang Su tightened both hands around the ritual spike. One rune after another lit up across its surface as he pressed it against the ghostly yin qi that had already been drawn behind Honglian’s back.

His robe flared as he stepped forward. The instant the sharp tip of the ritual spike pierced in, he shouted:

“Daoist Sun, suppress her souls! The greater the chaos, the better!”

Only when the three immortal souls and seven corporeal spirits were thrown into disorder could the evil soul be singled out from among them. The reversal of yin and yang within his Human Puppet Art was like fishing in muddy waters—taking advantage of that brief moment of chaos to strip Honglian’s Rakshasa evil soul away on its own.

Over there, Sun Yingxian’s arms, locked in a hand seal, tensed rigidly. His eyes widened as fine blood vessels spread across them. Clenching his teeth so tightly that strands of saliva stretched from the corners of his mouth, he suddenly threw it wide open.

His hand seal shifted.

The talisman papers placed at the eight corners of the ground shot into the air with a whoosh. The Daoist bit the tip of his index finger and flicked a bead of blood toward the formation. The instant it touched the apricot-yellow barrier of light…

The eight talismans burst into flames with a boom.

“Urgh—Aaaahhh—”

Within the formation, Honglian’s soul convulsed violently, letting out an incomparably shrill scream. Even the air seemed to warp beneath the daylight, ripples spreading outward. Behind the fenced courtyard, the three youths clapped their hands over their ears, their eardrums buzzing from the shock.

At that moment, her three immortal souls and seven corporeal spirits all became indistinct, dispersing in every direction. The magical artifact in Yang Su’s hand glowed with a dim radiance. With a push of his palm, it shot directly into one of the blurred souls. He clenched his grip and yanked backward. The spike’s tip dragged a humanoid figure out of it, wrenching it free as it flew backward, struggling in midair and letting out piercing screams.

“Get in!”

Yang Su roared. With a pull and a shove, he pointed the spike toward the painted skin laid out on the ground. His spiritual power surged as he drove Honglian’s extracted evil soul into it.

The shriveled painted skin lying on the ground gradually swelled as the humanoid figure struggled inside, as though being inflated. Wisps of black yin qi spread across the painted face.

“Still trying to resist?!”

Yang Su’s magic power pressed down upon the painted skin. Out of the corner of his eye, however, he glanced toward Lu Liangsheng, who was withdrawing his magic power and regulating his breathing. His gaze narrowed.

So it was you who took Yuwen Tuo away. Whether you meant to or not, you made me lose face before my elder brother.

The thought flashed through his mind. As he sealed away the evil soul, he deliberately withdrew about twenty percent of his spiritual power.

The wind gradually died down, and the wildly swaying branches and leaves around them came to a standstill. The Daoist hurriedly withdrew his Daoist arts. Within the Yin-Yang Eight Trigrams Formation, the blurred ghostly figure gathered together once more before suddenly collapsing to her knees in exhaustion.

“Honglian!”

Lu Liangsheng ran over. Looking at the woman surrounded by a faint veil of yin qi, he reached out to embrace her, but his hand passed straight through her body.

“Young Master… I’m fine.”

Having lost one soul, Honglian had become so weak that she could no longer manifest the solid yin body she once possessed. Kneeling there, her black hair slipped aside, revealing her lovely face as she looked up at the man before her with a faint smile.

“It feels as though there’s no longer any desire to commit evil left in my heart.”

“Don’t move.”

Lu Liangsheng walked over and picked up the umbrella from the ground, opening it above her head. Honglian transformed into a wisp of green smoke and drifted inside. A moment later, the wandering clouds that had obscured the sunlight dispersed, and brilliant rays once again shone upon the cliff, casting mottled shadows of branches that swayed across the ground.

“Daoist Lu!” Yang Su folded the painted skin and handed it over. “Be sure to keep it safe. As for the remaining matter of building a shrine and offering sacrifices, I presume you won’t need my assistance?”

“Lu Liangsheng thanks Duke Qinghe for your timely aid.”

Having spoken, he cupped his hands and bowed. Lu Liangsheng returned the painted skin to the cottage, unfurled the painting, and used his spiritual power to guide Honglian back into it. Then he lit a stick of sandalwood incense, placed it in the incense burner, and set it beneath the scroll.

“Hey, hey, this Daoist also helped out a great deal. Seems someone has forgotten.”

While folding up the Yin-Yang Formation diagram, the Daoist stood on tiptoe and peeked into the cottage, prompting the three youths in the courtyard to chuckle quietly. Seeing his master emerge, Li Sui’an hurriedly tugged at the other two before they returned to the desk and silently recited the classics.

As Lu Liangsheng walked past the three of them, he smiled and cupped his hands toward Sun Yingxian in salute as well.

Sun Yingxian stuffed the rolled-up formation diagram into his cloth bag, grinning as he repeatedly waved his hand.

“Forget it, forget it. The two of us are too familiar with each other. Having you bow to me just feels awkward.”

The two joked for a while before Lu Liangsheng invited Yang Su, who had been standing by watching, to join them. Sunlight poured through the drifting mist as the three walked beneath an ancient pine. A stone table, stone stools, and wine appeared before them. With the sea of clouds among the mountains and the endless ridgelines as their companions, they sat drinking wine, laughing, and discussing the Dao.

The Toad Daoist, lying at the window, snorted and jumped down from the desk with his webbed feet tucked behind his back.

“Such a delightful view, and you don’t even think to invite your master.”

Muttering to himself, he climbed onto the bed with his short little legs, snorted heavily once more, lifted the small quilt, crawled underneath it, and covered himself. Before long, soft snores could be heard.

As the sunlight gradually slanted westward, Yang Su, who had been chatting, laughing, and discussing the Dao with Lu Liangsheng and the Daoist, suddenly set down his wine cup and rose to his feet.

“It is rare to find two fellow Daoists with whom I get along so well that I nearly forgot Prince Jin is still in the village. It is already getting late, and I must return to Fushui County. I’m afraid I must take my leave today!”

“Since His Highness is here, I won’t keep you any longer. I’ll see Duke Qinghe off.”

“This Daoist will sit a while longer, so I won’t be seeing you off.”

Leaving Sun Yingxian behind, Lu Liangsheng and Yang Su walked together past the thatched cottage. Seeing the three youths fidgeting restlessly in their seats, their patience clearly exhausted for the day, Lu Liangsheng waved his hand, dismissing them down the mountain.

“Off you go, off you go! Once we’re down the mountain, I’ll show you a flying sword routine.”

Li Sui’an hurriedly urged Yuwen Tuo and Qu Yuanfeng along. After the three respectfully saluted their master and Yang Su, who were strolling over, they dashed toward the mountain path.

“Of those three youths, two were taken in during the great drought in Heliang Prefecture.”

As they walked slowly down the mountain trail, Lu Liangsheng spoke of the origins of his three disciples. Being an open and forthright man, he also recounted the twists and turns behind it all in a lighthearted manner.

“That youth with one brown eye and one blue eye is called Yuwen Tuo. He’s proud and arrogant. A great monk picked him up and sent him to the Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple, but he looked down on the smaller temples, believing they weren’t worthy of him. After being passed around, he eventually ended up with me. Even after arriving here, he behaved the same way. I had to discipline him a little before he finally became much more restrained. The one running in front is called Li Sui’an…”

As the scholar spoke, Yang Su’s expression froze. The words that followed buzzed indistinctly in his ears.

Ah… I’ve been too rash.

So this is how it is. I had been wondering how Lu Liangsheng knew of my plans, but it turns out there was an entirely different reason.

I’ve wrongly accused him.

Should I tell him what I did just now?

Yang Su’s hand tightened, digging into his own thigh.

No… I can’t say it. If I do, won’t that make it obvious that I judged a gentleman with the heart of a petty man? That would be utterly humiliating.

Hmm, I only intended to play a little trick on him. It doesn’t really count as tampering. With Daoist Lu’s cultivation, it shouldn’t be enough to trouble him… Yes, I’d better keep quiet about it for now.

“Duke Qinghe?”

Hearing Lu Liangsheng call out to him, Yang Su came back to his senses. Stroking his beard, he smiled. “I was just thinking of something and lost myself in thought for a moment. I must have made a fool of myself before Daoist Lu.”

“It’s of no consequence.”

Lu Liangsheng paid it no mind. With a gesture of invitation, the two continued down the mountain and returned to the village. Yang Guang, who had been waiting there for some time, hurried forward, intending to continue persuading Lu Liangsheng, but Yang Su stopped him. Afterward, they bid their farewells, for the purpose of their journey south remained the conquest of the entire Chen Dynasty.

“One who holds the world in his heart must not be confined to a single corner.”

After leaving Lu Village, Yang Su admonished the still-inexperienced prince. Yang Guang pursed his lips and looked back at the outline of the mountain village gradually receding into the distance.

“I understand all that, but why did Duke Qinghe stop me from speaking time and time again?”

Amid the rhythmic clatter of hoofbeats, Yang Su stroked the tip of his beard, his gaze drifting toward an old donkey grazing on the mountainside beside the road.

“It was precisely to keep Your Highness from finishing what you wished to say. If Lu Liangsheng were to reject you again and again, there would be no opportunity left to invite him out of seclusion in the future. Better to leave those words for the next meeting. If that still doesn’t work, save them for the one after that. Given enough time, even if words fail, Your Highness’s sincerity will surely move him. Even if he never leaves the mountain, you will still have forged a good relationship with him. In the future, would you still need to worry that he would refuse to help you?”

Yang Guang blinked. Already sharp by nature, he immediately understood the meaning behind those words. Cupping his hands toward Duke Qinghe, who rode half a horse-length behind him, he glanced once more in the direction of Lu Village before raising his whip and cracking it through the air.

“Then we’ll first finish conquering the Chen Dynasty. When I have the chance, I’ll come again. Hyah!”

With a snap of the reins, Yang Guang spurred his horse ahead. Behind him, the guards galloped after him, kicking up a long trail of dust as they rode toward Fushui County.

As daylight gradually faded, after eating supper at home and testing his three disciples on their studies, Lu Liangsheng carried a bowl of food up Mount Qixia. The Toad Daoist, who had long been waiting for his meal, spread his webbed feet and scrambled onto the desk in great haste. Tying on his apron, he picked up his chopsticks, sat atop a book, and watched as the dishes were placed before him.

Tap, tap, tap.

The tips of his chopsticks rapidly scraped against the bottom of the bowl.

The Toad Daoist stuffed his cheeks as he chewed, pointing his chopsticks into the bowl.

“Next time, get your master a bigger bowl. And, and… put in a little more salt. It’s still lacking a bit of flavor.”

After watching his master shovel down mouthful after mouthful of food for a while, Lu Liangsheng turned to look at the painting hanging on the wall. Wisps of faint green smoke rose from the ink painting of the beauty, and the woman within spoke softly.

“Young Master…”

“What is it?”

From within the painting, Nie Honglian’s voice came weakly.

“Honglian wants to go home and have a look.”