Chapter 9: Encountering the Spirits of the Three Realms
“Everyone, step back, step back—”
A middle-aged physician was hurriedly dragged inside, one hand gripping a medicine box tightly.
“Doctor Luo, please come quickly to see our matriarch.”
Madam Lu had already been given some pills earlier by the household servants. Doctor Luo, now middle-aged himself, was summoned in haste and took a few moments to catch his breath.
Resting his finger on her wrist, he furrowed his brow and inquired further about her condition. Upon learning she had been upset by the family’s descendants, his expression darkened slightly as he glanced at Lu Dai.
Lu Peizheng stood respectfully beside the elder, bowing slightly.
He looked toward the physician, his lips pressed tight, silently hoping the doctor could heal his grandmother.
The doctor pressed on a certain acupoint beneath her ribs, then pulled out a needle pack, while the Lu family servants formed a protective circle around Madam Lu to administer the acupuncture.
With the physician’s arrival, the household naturally prioritized the matriarch’s health.
The guests gathered together, standing in the courtyard, watching the doctor’s back as he performed the acupuncture, while Lu family servants busied themselves running to and fro preparing herbs.
Their eyes also occasionally drifted to the three Taoist apprentices.
Various thoughts lingered in their minds.
After the matriarch’s treatment, the doctor gave instructions to the servants. Only then did Yuan Danqiu speak.
“Just now, the child spoke of breath turning to flame. Might Your Excellency demonstrate this for us here?” Yuan Danqiu’s gaze fixed intently on the elder, his tone respectful.
The elder slightly raised his chin.
“It seems you will not relent unless I show you once today.”
Lu Sheng beside them grew somewhat nervous.
“Taoist master, there’s no need for such rigor. With just a hundred and fifty strings of cash, I and my classmates can gather together…”
The elder smiled faintly.
“Let them see it then. What harm in that?”
“Please, everyone.”
“Let us observe—”
The courtyard in the county town was spacious. The Lu family servants moved Madam Lu’s chair further back. The guests all respectfully stepped aside, standing together.
Jiang She and Li Bai stood beneath a large locust tree.
Meng Haoran and Yuan Danqiu stepped back a few paces, standing by the tree, waiting for the elder to breathe out the flame. Li Bai, feeling a surge of mischief, lightly tapped Meng Haoran and Yuan Danqiu on the backs.
He wanted to see if the spell cast on him was effective—that outsiders could not see him or Master Jiang.
Now, could he still touch people?
Both Meng Haoran and Yuan Danqiu felt the taps and turned their heads to look.
But behind them was only an old locust tree, a few dry leaves on the ground, ants busily carrying food.
No one was there.
Was it a dream?
Or perhaps...
Yuan Danqiu examined carefully and confirmed no one was present. Sharing a glance with Meng Haoran, he looked up at the lush locust tree and said, “Perhaps the cicadas above have urinated.”
“Most likely,” Meng Haoran nodded.
They did not probe further, turning back to focus on the elder’s demonstration.
Upon hearing “cicada urine,” Li Bai’s sly smile froze.
Jiang She couldn’t help but chuckle.
Li Bai pretended to gaze at the chanting child in the distance, watching the elder stand with hands concealed, blue sleeves fluttering in the wind. He ignored Jiang She’s earlier laughter and asked the question that had been on his mind.
“Jiang, did you notice something odd earlier? Why do you say it is wise for these people not to befriend the magistrate’s envoy?”
Jiang She stifled his smile. Since Li Bai asked seriously, he refrained from teasing.
He thought for a moment.
“Please close your eyes.”
“Eh?”
He instructed Li Bai to shut his eyes.
Using his finger to gently part the eyelid, he revealed the spirits of the three realms.
Li Bai felt a faint warmth but did not understand the magic; he thought there was a fly on his eyelid that someone had brushed away. When he opened his eyes, a hanged ghost dangled from the locust tree, its face pale blue and tongue long—startling him.
“This...!”
He was momentarily speechless.
In a heartbeat, his vision cleared.
Before Li Bai’s eyes appeared flickering ghostly shadows, bizarre and eerie. Faces of blue-skinned demons wandered about the courtyard. A thin veil of azure light surrounded the premises, likely the protective blessing of the Lushan deity.
“Remarkable…”
Li Bai was dumbfounded.
But Jiang She tugged him gently, urging him to look toward the elder.
...
In the distance,
As the elder exhaled, the breath truly turned into flame.
A slender flame flared up, then was blown into ashes by the wind.
Blue smoke rose straight upward.
Spectators—guests, physicians, apprentices, servants—all gasped in surprise, exchanging astonished looks.
Before the flame extinguished,
Their faces flushed with excitement, eyes filled with wonder. As the blaze illuminated the courtyard, a vermilion glow suffused the air. Guests and servants were struck with awe, voices praising in succession.
“Truly a master!”
“Taoist, please accept my respectful bow!”
“To think such profound magic exists in the world! The Taoist’s cultivation is deep—amazing, amazing! We hold you in highest esteem...”
“Lu family is indeed blessed...”
Even Yuan Danqiu, who had opposed before, showed surprise.
Li Bai’s eyes widened as he looked again and again.
Yet he did not understand what the guests praised, nor did his friend Danqiu, who was similarly amazed watching the elder stand with covered hands.
Suddenly, he recalled the earlier “breath turning to flame” trick.
Where had it gone?
“This is...”
“Probably a deception,” Jiang She said. “Tricking Lu Sheng is not entirely false; with this concealment technique, it can still be called a form of magic.”
“No wonder the Lushan god’s exorcism failed—it was human treachery.”
It was a trickster’s illusion.
Using sorcery to deceive.
The mountain god can drive away evil spirits and knows ghosts and gods, but not the human heart.
Naturally, such spells are powerless.
No matter how many incantations are uttered, they cannot change a heart bent on fraud and greed.
Li Bai’s gaze was strange as he and Jiang She stood together, watching from afar the “Taoist” breathing out flames, the child disciples guarding, while the crowd marveled with reverence.
The guests praised endlessly, and the servants all held their breath, eyes wide, joining in admiration.
The apprentice preparing medicine glanced up, tilting his head. He had just been burned by the firewood and hissed, but still watched intently, murmuring:
“There really are immortals in this world...”
Hearing this, Li Bai felt a peculiar sense of satisfaction welling in his heart.
Even the ghostly apparitions in the courtyard seemed less terrifying.
“So it’s like this...”
“Just so...”
He glanced at his friend Yuan Danqiu’s astonished face and felt a wave of amusement.
When the elder stood upright again and the “breath turning to flame” ended, the courtyard fell quiet for a moment. The guests remained immersed in the spectacle of the “immortal arts” they had witnessed.
Jiang She rose.
Circling past the hanged ghost on the locust tree, he said to Li Bai:
“Let’s go. It’s our turn to act.”
To resolve the matter entrusted by the old Lushan deity.
Li Bai ducked his head, nervously passing by the hanged ghost, mischievously pressing the ghost’s long tongue against Yuan Danqiu’s neck.
He followed Jiang She upward.
Composing himself, adjusting his robes and cap, for he was about to appear before others with Master Jiang. Naturally, he must carry himself with grace.
Yuan Danqiu felt a chill at his neck and touched behind his back.
Still no one was there.
This Lu family was indeed uncanny.
He frowned, stepping aside a pace and pulling Meng Haoran a few steps away.
Looking again at the elder and the two children in the courtyard, Yuan Danqiu muttered:
“Is he really a Taoist master?”
“How could a true Taoist behave like this?”
Before he finished, a familiar voice rang out.
“Mister, do not engage in such deceit!”
“I know a reclusive master willing to compete in magic with you. How about it?”
About ten feet from the elder,
Suddenly, two figures appeared from ground to sky.
The evening was late; the golden sun was setting in the west, dragging its last rays across the clouds. Bathed in the dusk’s amber light, all present watched as the two figures walked calmly forward, gradually becoming solid.
Their steps were leisurely, ethereal, transcendent.
Like immortals.