noffsinger Chapter 10 The Human Heart is Like a Ghost Realm
Chapter 10 The Human Heart is Like a Ghost Realm
Sifang Town, in Baihua Lane.
"Brother Xiaoya, there are still a few days until the end of the month. Are you perhaps a little short on cash again and looking to borrow some money?"
Although lending money is a matter of friendship and repaying it is a matter of duty, Li Ya did not demand any special treatment from Wang Wu, but the friendship they had formed since childhood, playing in the mud together, was still there.
Even if calculated according to market interest rates, it would be blameless, but the interest rate set by this scoundrel is 10% or 20% higher.
With the legal agreement in place, Li Ya had no intention of pursuing the matter further.
"Fifth Brother, I appreciate your kindness, but if I continue to lend you money, I'm afraid my entire body will belong to you."
"I've come today to settle the debt. Fifth Brother, please do the math."
Wang Wu's smile gradually faded, and his eyes were fixed on the two of them.
"Brother Xiaoya, are you joking?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the sycophants around him stopped what they were doing and stared at him intently.
"This is not funny. Since Fifth Brother is unwilling to calculate, I will calculate it for him. It is 1,500 taels of red copper coins, 300 taels of interest, and 18 taels of moon toad coins."
After saying that, Li Ya took a bag out of his pocket, put it on the table, and pushed it in front of Wang Wu.
Wang Wu casually opened the bag and glanced at it. His smile grew even colder. He deliberately weighed the bag in his hand, and the moon toad coins made a crisp clinking sound.
"Hmph!" Wang Wu snorted coldly.
"Eighteen taels? Brother Xiaoya, you must have miscalculated. I calculated it to be twenty taels!"
"What! Did you bring along a gigolo just to try and renege on your debt?"
Even though they had already anticipated that Wang Wu would deliberately cause trouble, they were still furious when they heard this. Senior Brother Lingji also felt a surge of anger upon hearing this.
Li Yaqiang suppressed his anger and said calmly, "Fifth Brother, I'll call you Fifth Brother one last time. Take the eighteen taels and return the contract to me."
"We can still maintain a decent relationship. If we insist on tearing off the mask, we'll become enemies in the future. As the saying goes, it's better to resolve a feud than to make one."
"Hahaha! Decent?" Wang Wu sneered and shoved the cloth bag back.
"You talk to me about dignity? My dignity is right here. What about yours?"
"I'm putting it this way today: twenty taels, not a penny less."
As soon as he finished speaking, the cultivator supported by Wang Wu slowly walked out of the house.
"Where Xiaoya's dignity lies is none of your business, but your dignity is probably in jeopardy."
Senior Brother Lingji's voice was like thunder. He suddenly released the true energy accumulated in his dantian. His green robe swelled up, and the true energy swept out like a long dragon.
The cultivator felt a gust of wind rushing towards his face, as if waves were crashing against the shore, and before he could even step out of the threshold, he was sent flying back.
A series of sounds of chaos suddenly came from inside the house.
Yunfu Sect has its own ironclad rules that cultivators are not allowed to attack mortals, and besides, there are sect disciples who have invested in Wang Wu.
Lingji unleashed all his anger on the rogue cultivator.
Wang Wu was stunned on the spot.
"Take the money, and hand over the legal deed!"
A burst of true energy swept up the cloth bag on the table and threw it at Wang Wu, hitting him in the face.
Wang Wu felt as if the heavens had been overturned. The cultivator he supported was a rogue cultivator, yet he had already reached the fourth level of Qi Refining, and he had been defeated so decisively.
He hurriedly picked up the cloth bag from the ground, personally retrieved the legal decree, and wore a fawning expression.
"My lord, Wang Wu deserves to die. He's blind and ignorant; he was born without any good eyesight..."
As he spoke, he slapped himself a few times, and his face visibly swelled up.
"Please forgive me, Immortal Master. I'll immediately set up a feast for over a dozen tables to apologize to Brother Xiaoya..."
"No need! Brother Xiaoya, let's go!"
"Yes, Senior Brother!"
The two did not linger; they only wanted to leave.
As he reached the door, Li Ya turned around.
"Wang Wu..."
"I am here."
Seeing Wang Wu's expression, she lost the will to continue speaking.
Seeing that it was still early, the two began to stroll around Sifang Town.
"Brother Xiaoya, what were you trying to say just now?"
Hearing Senior Brother Lingji ask this question, Li Ya nodded with a wry smile.
"Can you tell me about it?"
"Of course!" Li Ya exhaled a deep breath.
"I'm a bit confused and want to get to the bottom of this. Wang Wu and I grew up together since childhood, and I just can't understand why he would do this."
"Perhaps this is just human nature!"
……
"Snapped!"
Wang Wu smashed the empty wine jar to pieces.
"A jinx who brings death to parents, a brat who hasn't even grown his hair yet, but he's already become a seduce, hooked up with a pretty boy, and his tail is wagging in the sky."
Wang Wu was disheveled, his eyes were bloodshot, and the ground was covered with smashed wine jars.
He suddenly picked up the candlestick, but was startled by the flickering candlelight and put it down heavily.
At this moment, a woman with a very worldly air came out from the inner room. Seeing the mess on the ground, she couldn't help but cover her mouth.
"Sir, what's wrong...?"
"Come here!" Wang Wu interrupted her abruptly. "I'm really angry right now!"
Wang Wu grabbed the back of her neck with one hand, and she, knowing what was good for her, immediately coiled up her black hair and slowly squatted down.
After a cup of tea's time had passed, Wang Wu let out a heavy sigh of relief, at which point a sound of dry heaving came from below.
Just as everything was finished, a shout came from outside.
"Fifth Master, Gou'er has found out! He's found out!"
A henchman named Gou'er tumbled and crawled into the house.
"explain…"
"Fifth Master, Li Ya used some means to exchange the shell field for the medicinal herb field. On his second day there, he helped the manager solve a big problem and was rewarded with a ninth-grade martial arts manual, which has spread far and wide."
"Hmph!" Wang Wu sneered, "Do you think I don't know him? He's just a show-off. How could he possibly have any real skills? He must have taken some crooked path. And who's this fifth-level Qi Refining cultivator who came with him?"
"I heard he's the nephew of the person in charge of that medicinal herb field, a blood relative."
Wang Wu slammed his hand on the table.
"Are we really going to swallow this insult like this? I'm so angry!"
Seeing that Wang Wu was about to go berserk again, Gou'er quickly stepped forward to persuade him.
"Sir, we can't do anything to them for now. Don't anger the manager; it's not worth it."
"But I accidentally learned that Li Ya has a close friend in Beitian. Why don't we take our anger out on him first? There's plenty of time in the future."
Wang Wu's face was contorted with rage as he stared at the dog.
"Doggy, you always have the most mischievous ideas, do you already have a plan?"
"Master, several servants in Beitian have borrowed money from us. We can't do anything to Lingbei, but we can let them trip him up and delay his work. We don't need to lift a finger; the foreman will take care of it for us."
"Hahaha!" Wang Wu patted Gou'er's shoulder a few times: "My good Gou'er, I'm leaving this to you. If you do a good job, you can go wherever you want to play in Baihua Lane."
"Thank you, Fifth Master!"
As the dog thanked them, its eyes kept glancing at the woman next to Wang Wu, and it kept bowing, as if trying to hide something.
The laughter of the two men was filled with undisguised malice. The sound reached the courtyard, but was enveloped and dissipated by Yingying's melodious voice from Baihua Lane.
……
The "Yunfu Breathing Techniques in Brief" is the simplest, which is both its disadvantage and its advantage, and it can be used to connect with other advanced techniques.
Switching to the "Azure Mist Condensing Wood Nourishing Essence Technique" requires little preparation.
This ninth-grade cultivation technique is best suited for absorbing the spiritual energy of plants. After taking a Qi Gathering Pill, I began to cultivate according to the technique.
Long passages of obscure sentences became exceptionally clear under the analysis of Ling Shu, along with the annotations left by Uncle Xie.
After repeatedly analyzing the situation, Li Ya finally understood its true meaning.
"The green mist is pure and not turbid, gentle and not fierce; it grows around trees and exists alongside spirits..."
"Nourish the liver qi with herbs and green mist, and let the liver wood generate and condense a trace of wood nature..."
Li Ya swallowed a Qi-gathering pill, closed his eyes lightly, and gently pressed the tip of his tongue against the roof of his mouth.
Listen attentively to the sound of the trees swaying in the wind outside the main building, and contemplate the distant mountains and shallow forests, with thin mist and green haze swirling around.
Ancient trees swayed in the wind, and Li Ya's breathing changed accordingly.
Gather a wisp of green wood energy, let it enter through your mouth and nose, and let it settle at the Tanzhong acupoint. Hold for three breaths, then exhale briefly and inhale deeply.
The method of pausing for three breaths was described in the Ling Shu, but neither the original text nor Uncle Xie mentioned it.
Three breaths later, the azure mist had grown strong and entered the liver meridian.
Then draw upon the true energy within the Qi Sea as fuel to continuously strengthen this wisp of azure Qi.
Then, the Azure Mist Wood Qi rose and was refined into a wisp of Azure Mist True Qi.
"Ding-dong!"
Like a clear spring dripping into water, or the wind stirring up the forest, the true qi of the azure mist is refined and falls into the sea of qi.
"It's done!"
Li Ya was overjoyed. Unlike the refined true qi in "A Brief Guide to Eating Qi in Yunfu", this wisp of Qinglan true qi contained wood element.
"With this Azure Mist True Qi, the speed of opening up many acupoints can be increased by 50%."
Li Ya opened his eyes, raised his right hand, and light green true energy swirled around his fingers.
"The Azure Mist True Qi can regulate the physical body with remarkable effects. Compared to those unranked cultivation techniques, it can also nourish the internal organs."
According to what Senior Brother Lingji said today, although Yunfu Sect mainly cultivates wood magic, it is not without other attribute-based cultivation methods.
The "Golden Edge Body-Sharpening Classic" can sharpen the lung metal.
The "Qinglan Ningmu Yangyuan Jue" can strengthen the liver wood element.
The "Hanxi Zangyuan Pian" can replenish kidney water.
The "Xiao Yang Huo Pei Qi Lu" can cultivate the heart fire.
The "Chuntu Zangxi Yangxing Method" can strengthen the spleen and earth element.
According to the Taoist teachings of the previous life, the five elements generate and rotate in turn, and can be considered as one.
"Wood generates fire, and the liver stores blood to nourish the heart."
"Fire generates earth, and the heart's yang energy warms the spleen's earth element."
"Earth generates metal, and the spleen transforms and transports the essence of water and grain to nourish the lungs."
"Metal generates water, and the lungs descend and assist the kidneys in receiving qi."
"Water nourishes wood, and kidney essence nourishes liver yin."
"If I were to cultivate all five methods simultaneously, wouldn't that be...?"
"Haha, Li Ya, you've become arrogant!"
Li Ya couldn't help but laugh at himself. The Yunfu Sect only had three Foundation Establishment cultivators, and this was the result of decades or even centuries of support from the entire Yunfu Sect.
"Practicing the five methods simultaneously requires resources that cannot be satisfied simply by using five times the amount."
Despite his complaints about the difficulties, Li Ya still harbored some hope. The Ling Shu Jade Slip could break through the barriers in cultivation techniques, and the Ling Shu Grotto-heaven could open up spiritual fields, transforming them into resources for cultivation. It might not be impossible to cultivate all five methods simultaneously.
But that's a matter for later. Right now, the most important thing is to become an outer disciple and get rid of this menial servant status.
No matter how outstanding a servant is, he is still a servant. After killing someone, he can pay a fine to the sect and be exempted from punishment.
Only by becoming a disciple of the sect and having one's name recorded in the Ancestral Hall can one be considered a member of the Yunfu Sect.