As Li Qingfeng had predicted, the testing lasted for four full days.
In the end, five individuals were selected.
Their ages varied greatly, the oldest was twenty and the youngest only nine.
Liu Chuang was among the younger ones.
It was also said that three more were found unqualified, bringing the total including ng Zhen to four.
As for who told him this, it was naturally the last two of the group of five friends.
After the testing concluded, the remaining two invited Li Qingfeng once again to the Music Pavilion.
“What a pity you didn’t co, Qingfeng. It was lively beyond words.”
“Even more festive than the imperial examis!”
“Such a display of worldly emotions, everything you could imagine,” Yang Lingu sighed.
Indeed, for those few days, the testing grounds were a microcosm of the human experience: so wept tears of joy, others fainted in excitent. There were howls of grief, tears of frustration, curses hurled at the heavens, desperate pleading, and those left in a state of utter despair…
Every shade of emotion was laid bare.
This test, ostensibly to asure spiritual roots and one’s affinity with immortality, was just as much a portrait of the myriad responses of mortals.
So defied fate.
So accepted it.
So refused to believe in fate altogether.
Most, however, had never held out much hope. And since they weren’t among the unqualified, life simply went on, unaffected.
What surprised Li Qingfeng was that ng Zhen didn’t show up.
He assud the boy was still reeling from the blow of having spiritual roots but being unable to cultivate.
Li Qingfeng couldn’t help but count himself fortunate. He, too, had five-roots and understood all too well what the immortal master ant by "false roots."
With a false root, every step on the path of cultivation was a stumbling block. Without a heaven-defying opportunity, one could forget about even reaching the late stages of Qi Refining.
If it weren’t for encountering the Immortal’s corpse, gaining both a cultivation technique and the soul banner artifact, he wouldn’t have held much hope either.
Even so, though ng Zhen didn’t show up, Li Qingfeng asked, “What about Brother ng?”
He had a cultivation thod now. No matter if it was orthodox or demonic, it was still a way forward.
“ng Zhen’s been acting all secretive lately. I heard the governor’s office has been taking in those abandoned by the immortals, people with spiritual roots but no qualifications. No one knows what he’s doing now.”
Life had to go on, but without Liu Chuang and ng Zhen, the usual literary gatherings were no more.
Liu Chuang was always the one to arrange them and bring everyone together.
They hadn’t realized before just how much they relied on him. Now that he was gone in search of immortality, the distance between them and the others beca painfully apparent.
Without a mutual connection to bind them, the ties between friends naturally began to fray.
Li Qingfeng didn’t dwell on it too much. Sotis, even with people you’ve known for years, a certain distance naturally grows, like an unfamiliarity that can’t quite be bridged.
When everyone was together, it didn’t seem like a problem. But once the key person was gone, the cracks beca glaring.
Perhaps it was just as well. With no one to disturb him, he could focus on cultivating the Dao.
If the talent was poor, then work harder.
There was no concept of ti inside the soul banner.
No sun, no moon like being in a prison.
Thankfully, Tu Shanjun could still practice martial arts every day.
He also revisited the knowledge he’d had before crossing worlds, reciting the ¹Dao De Jing and chanting the Heart Sutra.
Those were the only two scriptures he had ever morized.
The Dao De Jing was for posturing, and so was the Heart Sutra.
He’d never imagined he’d end up in a world of cultivation. If he had known, he would’ve morized more Daoist texts.
Tu Shanjun found it a pity that he hadn't studied the classics of his old world more seriously.
Teaching Li Qingfeng in dreams beca one of his few remaining pleasures.
Two more months passed.
Li Qingfeng was still at the first layer of Qi Refining.
But his spiritual power had grown.
His martial prowess had beco more refined, and with the nightly training against ghosts in the dream realm, his combat skills had improved dramatically.
Tu Shanjun asked him not to slack in the real world either.
He was to train by day and refine techniques by night until muscle mory was ingrained.
Li Qingfeng gripped the soul banner tightly and infused it with his spiritual power.
As though gazing inward, he saw the landscape within the soul banner.
Gray fog stretched endlessly, sky and earth indistinguishable. Vicious spirits sward together, resembling the gates of hell itself.
The ghosts didn’t look particularly terrifying, save for a few stronger ones.
The white-faced ghost he often sparred with was among the powerful few.
At the center of the horde sat the main ghost in ditation.
As his spiritual energy surged, Tu Shanjun sensed he could now move.
He stepped out of the banner and into the real world.
The study was elegantly traditional with shelves of books, so ancient, so newly bound, lined behind him.
Li Qingfeng’s face paled visibly, sign of depleted spiritual power.
Before Tu Shanjun could take in his surroundings, his form dissolved into black smoke and was pulled back into the soul banner.
“Five breaths.”
Li Qingfeng smiled. His spiritual power had doubled, enough to summon the main soul for five full breaths.
From the initial two breaths to now five.
His dantian held ten strands of spiritual power, each as fine as a hair.
He was still far from reaching the second layer of Qi Refining.
One strand was Qi Refining first layer. Ten strands was still first layer.
Another two months passed.
A long-absent Yang Lingu ca to visit.
He was in a hurry.
Once seated, he only frowned, saying nothing.
“Brother Yang?”
Li Qingfeng called out, snapping Yang Lingu out of his daze.
“Wubao, warm Brother Yang’s tea.”
Wubao quickly replaced the cold tea with a fresh, steaming bowl.
Yang Lingu hurriedly apologized, “Brother Qingfeng, forgive . I truly don’t know… how to say this.”
“You’re being too polite. Speak freely.”
“ng Zhen…may already be dead.”
Words shocking enough to freeze the air.
As the sentence landed, a sharp gleam flashed through Li Qingfeng’s eyes.
“Yang, that’s a horrible joke,” Li Qingfeng said gravely. Even if they’d grown sowhat distant, ng Zhen was still a friend.
That kind of joke was no laughing matter.
Yang Lingu’s voice trembled with grief. “I would never jest about such a thing, Brother Qingfeng.”
As he spoke, he retrieved a ssenger pigeon from his robe. White-feathered, red-beaked. He opened the letter box tied to its leg, it was empty.
“ng Zhen and I were very close. We shared everything.”
“Three months ago, he told the governor was providing cultivation techniques to those with spiritual roots.”
“He even managed to sense spiritual energy and beca a Qi Refiner.”
“But this past month, he grew more and more difficult to contact. Our last exchange was seven days ago.”
“He rushed to et and said the technique had issues.”
“He also said the governor’s n were watching them closely, not allowing anyone to leave.”
“Before we parted, he told : if the pigeon returns with no ssage… it ans he’s likely been silenced.”
By the ti Yang Lingu finished, Li Qingfeng’s face was clouded with severity.
There’s sothing terribly wrong with the governor’s office.
Even Tu Shanjun, upon hearing this, had the sa thought.
The re fact they were recruiting the “rejected” spiritual root holders made their intentions suspect.
Now that ng Zhen had vanished, the governor’s office was the pri suspect.
“I don’t know what else I can do,” Yang Lingu sighed deeply.
A month ago, Liu Chuang had hosted a farewell banquet for the three of them. ng Zhen didn’t show up.
Liu Chuang had already left with the immortal master. His family had the most influence.
Now that he’d gone, no one else could help.
Yang Lingu had turned to the last of their five, but that man didn’t think it was serious. He suggested ng Zhen might just be in secluded cultivation.
Yang couldn’t go to ng Zhen’s family with this either. If he told them such news, they might beat him out of the house.
With nowhere else to turn, he ca to Li Qingfeng.
He didn’t expect Qingfeng to solve it but soone else needed to know. If he were to die too, the secret would be lost.
More importantly, bearing this burden alone was becoming unbearable. Every step he took felt like walking on a cliff’s edge.
He needed soone to help him think things through.
He needed to confirm ng Zhen’s fate quickly.
“Qingfeng, your family runs several businesses. You must know soone close to the governor’s advisors,” Yang Lingu said, hope shining in his eyes.
Just then, Li Qingfeng’s gaze swept over him.
Gone was the high-spirited Yang of the past. In his place stood a haggard man, weighed down by worry.
“I’ll find soone to ask,” Li Qingfeng finally said.
Yang Lingu thanked him sincerely, though he didn’t hold much hope.
Li Qingfeng gripped the soul banner tightly, watching Yang’s retreating figure.
It had been two months. He now had ten more strands of spiritual power, enough to let the main soul roam for ten breaths.
Enough to unleash Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts once.
Most ordinary people were no match for him.
Even those so-called first-class or innate martial experts would be torn apart by the main soul’s fury.
Tu Shanjun’s expression didn’t change.
It seed Li Qingfeng had already decided to investigate the governor’s office.
He had no words to dissuade him.
Could he really persuade him to stop investigating, to ignore his friend’s life and death?
Tu Shanjun couldn’t do it.
So things must be done, even if one is still weak.
(Chapter End)
¹ Dao De Jing, a classic Chinese text by the sage Laozi.
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