Chapter 40: A Gruff Awakening and a Strict New Path

A deathly silence enveloped the surroundings. The cloyingly sweet, nauseating scent had vanished. In its place lingered the earthy, metallic tang of disturbed soil and a faint, acrid smell of scorching.

Lu Hongzhuang’s eyelids fluttered, then slowly, with considerable effort, she opened her eyes. She found herself sprawled on the cold ground, encircled by a faint, crimson formation that still emanated residual warmth, completely enveloping her. She recognized the blood-red runes immediately; they were unmistakably Su Qinghan’s work.

Lu Hongzhuang abruptly sat upright, her head still feeling disoriented and heavy. Scanning her surroundings, she noted that the village remained as dilapidated as ever, yet all the eerie mud figures had vanished without a trace.

Only a few piles of black ash and scattered, crushed mud now marred the streets.

Her gaze finally landed on the solitary wheelchair not far away. The wheelchair was empty. Su Qinghan was gone. A chilling dread instantly surged from the soles of Lu Hongzhuang’s feet, rocketing straight to the crown of her head.

Scrambling out of the formation, she rushed to the wheelchair, half-crawling, half-stumbling. Beside the wheelchair, the ground was a chaotic mess, as if something had violently ploughed through it.

A distinct drag mark stretched from there, leading directly to the dilapidated Earth God Temple in the village corner.

The temple door lay shattered into splinters. A horrifying realization exploded in Lu Hongzhuang’s mind.

‘Su Qinghan… the one who couldn’t stand, whose legs were incapacitated… she went alone to confront that terrifying underground monster, all to save my unconscious self.’

‘How did she get there? Did she crawl? And where is she now?’

Overwhelming guilt and terror, like two invisible hands, clamped down on Lu Hongzhuang’s throat, stealing her breath.

‘It was my fault. I insisted on fishing with explosives, ruining Su Qinghan’s talismans.’

‘I was useless, unable to resist a mere sleeping incense, becoming nothing but a burden.’

‘Now, Su Qinghan’s fate is unknown, all because she risked her life to save a burden like me!’

Lu Hongzhuang’s body swayed. She reached out, gripping the cold push handles of the wheelchair so tightly that her knuckles turned white with strain. Burying her face in the wheelchair’s backrest, her shoulders began to tremble violently. Suppressed, tearful sobs echoed with chilling clarity in the deathly silent village.

“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…”

Just as she was drowning in her boundless remorse, a faint yet familiar voice, tinged with impatience, drifted up from the ground near her feet.

“What are you crying for? Is it a funeral? This Daoist hasn’t kicked the bucket yet. Can you lend a hand first?”

Lu Hongzhuang’s sobs abruptly ceased. Her entire body froze. Slowly, inch by agonizing inch, she lowered her head.

In the moonlight, not far away, Su Qinghan was sprawled face down on the ground in an utterly undignified posture, her white robes caked with mud and grass, her hair a dishevelled mess. With considerable effort, she lifted her head and rolled her eyes at Lu Hongzhuang.

The next second, Lu Hongzhuang forgot everything else, lunged forward, dropped to her knees with a thud, and wrapped her arms tightly around Su Qinghan, pulling her fiercely into an embrace!

“You’re alright… you’re truly alright! Thank heavens!”

Her voice trembled with the euphoria of rediscovery and lingering fear, her arms tightening further, as if she wished to meld the person in her embrace into her very bones.

Su Qinghan was so tightly squeezed by the sudden bear hug that she nearly choked.

“Cough, cough! Alright, alright! You’re going to strangle me!”

She felt as though she’d been ensnared by a giant octopus, completely uncomfortable.

Hearing her protest, Lu Hongzhuang snapped out of her daze and quickly released her hold, yet remained kneeling beside her, her reddened eyes fixed intently on Su Qinghan, as if terrified she might vanish again.

“How… how did you defeat that thing? And your legs…” Lu Hongzhuang’s voice still trembled. “And back in Qing Shi Town, you also went out alone… How exactly do you move around?”

Su Qinghan shot her an exasperated glance, struggling to sit up, only to find her legs still utterly useless. She simply gave up, sprawling on the ground in resignation.

“I crawled, what else could I do?”

Su Qinghan replied languidly, a mischievous smirk playing on her lips.

“Let me tell you, if you hadn’t woken up, I would have crawled back out of that underground cavern.”

“Then, on your fair, long legs, I would’ve used my own blood to scrawl a massive character for ‘misery,’ just so you could experience what it truly means to be utterly helpless, with no one to answer your cries.”

Listening to her irreverent words, Lu Hongzhuang felt a mix of tears and laughter welling up, eventually settling for an exasperated smack on Su Qinghan’s arm.

“At a time like this, and you’re still joking!”

“I wasn’t joking.”

The smile faded from Su Qinghan’s face. She looked at Lu Hongzhuang, her expression turning serious.

“Lu Hongzhuang, you are too weak.”

“Your martial arts might suffice against corporeal demons, but when faced with malevolent spirits like tonight’s, what difference does your Coalescing Aura realm cultivation make? It’s nothing more than an ornament.”

Lu Hongzhuang’s face paled. Her lips parted, yet no rebuttal formed. It was undeniably true.

“This time, I was lucky; I had enough trump cards. But what about next time? Or the time after that?” Su Qinghan’s voice was soft, yet every word struck Lu Hongzhuang’s heart. “I can’t always rely on a dead weight who only hinders me and faints at critical moments, can I?”

“I…” Lu Hongzhuang lowered her head in shame.

“Therefore,” Su Qinghan declared, enunciating each word distinctly, “starting today, I will put you through rigorous training!”

“This Daoist will personally teach you some real skills! That way, you won’t cause me trouble again!”

By a clear river, alongside the official road leading to the capital.

Su Qinghan sat in her wheelchair, retrieving a blank yellow paper talisman and a cinnabar brush from her precious satchel.

“Watch closely,” she instructed Lu Hongzhuang, who stood nearby. With a flick of her wrist, the brush danced across the paper like a dragon soaring through clouds. In mere breaths, an intricate and profound rune sprang to life on the paper.

She tossed the talisman towards the riverbank.

“Chì!”

The thin yellow paper talisman spontaneously ignited in mid-air, transforming into a streak of light that vanished into the open ground by the river. The next instant, the scene in that area began to twist and blur, finally coalescing into a dense white mist that completely enveloped a small section of the riverbank, making it impossible to discern anything within from the outside.

“An Illusion Veil, one of the most fundamental techniques among talismans.”

Su Qinghan tossed the brush and the remaining yellow paper to Lu Hongzhuang.

“It can be used to conceal forms and create illusions. You’ll start by practicing the most basic Spirit Gathering Talisman. Once you can draw ten of them in a single breath, then you can learn this.”

Having said that, she propelled her wheelchair and disappeared into the white mist. Soon, the rustle of clothes being shed and the gentle splashing of water emanated from within.

Lu Hongzhuang remained rooted to the spot, the brush and yellow paper in her hands, her cheeks feeling strangely warm. She took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. Spreading out a sheet of yellow paper, she mimicked Su Qinghan’s movements, beginning to copy the simplest Spirit Gathering Talisman.

The rune for the Spirit Gathering Talisman was not complex, comprising only a few strokes. However, drawing talismans demanded a seamless, single-minded flow, injecting one’s spiritual energy into the brush tip to resonate with the ambient spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

Lu Hongzhuang held her breath and made the first stroke. Yet, her heart refused to settle. Her mind was a chaotic mess. Involuntarily, she recalled the hallucinations she’d experienced in Mud Head Village after inhaling the sleeping incense.

‘In that disordered dream… it was as if Su Qinghan had pounced on me… and I was uttering things like “No… not there… stop…” I even remembered grasping her hand, telling her to calm down…’

A sudden flush enveloped Lu Hongzhuang’s cheeks, burning fiercely. ‘What on earth was I thinking, those absurd things, back then!’

Her concentration shattered, her wrist twitched, and the cinnabar brush tip left a glaring red blotch on the yellow paper. The first attempt: a failure.

Frustrated, Lu Hongzhuang crumpled the ruined talisman paper into a ball, tossed it aside, and spread out a fresh sheet.

She closed her eyes, shaking her head vigorously, attempting to dislodge those mortifying images. Yet, the harder she tried to forget, the more vivid the scenes became. Even the faint scent of Su Qinghan, a delicate blend of herbs and a maiden’s natural fragrance, seemed to linger at her nostrils.

She then recalled the embrace from that night. ‘The body in her arms had been so soft, so slender, carrying a hint of sickly coolness…’

Lu Hongzhuang’s eyes snapped open, her heart pounding like a drum. She realized her mind had wandered again.

“Damn it!” she cursed under her breath, and once more, picked up the brush. But this time, her hand trembled even more violently.

Just then, from behind the white mist, Su Qinghan’s voice drifted out, laced with a hint of languor.

“Hey, idiot, how’s the drawing coming along? Have you managed to finish even one?”

Lu Hongzhuang jumped as if a cat had its tail stepped on, and the brush in her hand clattered to the ground. She fumbled to pick up the brush, staring at yet another ruined talisman paper, her face flushed crimson, unable to even speak properly.

“Alm-almost! It’ll be done in a moment!”

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