"A play for ghosts?" Li Huowang's heart skipped a beat. Just from the name, I know it can't be anything good.
"Actually, it's nothing much. We just go to the Ancestral Temple and perform an opera in front of the ancestral tablets."
"If that's all, why doesn't Band Leader Lv do it himself?" Li Huowang shot back. This is obviously not that simple.
"Oh, come on! It's my first time too, you know? I'm a little nervous, so I wanted to invite you, a true expert, to hold down the fort. We can only do this deal in peace if you're there, right?"
"Band Leader Lv, that's a favor I really can't help with." I normally avoid this stuff like the plague, so why would I willingly jump into trouble now?
Sure, it's possible nothing will happen, but I'm not about to gamble on it. He and I are traveling companions at most. It's not worth risking my life to help him. If he really doesn't want to keep being my guide because of this, then so be it. We can just part ways. I can always ask around in the village. With so many people, I'm sure someone knows the way.
"Hey, hey! Little Daoist Master, don't be so hasty! I haven't finished! What if we split the payment for this gig fifty-fifty?"
As soon as money was mentioned, Top Scholar Lv gestured animatedly. "I didn't want to take the job at first either, but this isn't just petty cash! Master Hu is very generous—he gave a full ten taels of patterned Silver!"
"One tael of Silver is a thousand Copper Coins. Ten taels of patterned Silver is ten thousand Copper Coins! My dear Little Daoist Master! Ten taels of Silver! You may want to achieve Daoist Cultivation and become an immortal, but you still have to eat before you ascend, right?"
Li Huowang froze. He glanced at the two bags of dried sweet potatoes beside him. He really did need Silver right now.
It wasn't just for food, either. He anticipated spending a fair amount of money once he reached Jianye. In a world made of people, you can barely take a step without money.
"Little Daoist Master, I'm begging you, please? If that's not enough, how about a sixty-forty split, with you getting the sixty? It's not easy to earn this much money these days!" Top Scholar Lv whined, circling Li Huowang as he continued to plead his case.
If the expert didn't come, he really wouldn't dare take the job. After all, all the money in the world is useless if you're not alive to spend it.
Li Huowang suddenly turned to Top Scholar Lv. "Is there a blacksmith in this village?"
"Huh?"
With Top Scholar Lv leading the way, Li Huowang was brought to the only blacksmith shop on Wuli Hill.
"What do you want made?" the shirtless, burly blacksmith asked gruffly, eyeing the Daoist Robe Li Huowang was wearing.
"I'm not forging anything new, just getting something repaired. It can't be hammered, and it can't be melted. Can you restore this?" Li Huowang asked, pulling out the copper bell.
If I can get this fixed and summon Old Master You, then this money might really be attainable. Otherwise, this Silver will be too hot to handle.
"Can't be hammered and can't be melted? What kind of ridiculous request is that?" The blacksmith took the copper bell, gave it a little shake, and then picked up two iron pincers. "Here, give me a hand."
The long pincers reached easily into the bell's crumpled sides. Both men gritted their teeth and heaved, but the bell didn't budge—just as Li Huowang had expected.
"Hah! That's odd. What kind of copper is this thing made of? How is it so hard?" The curious blacksmith bent his knuckles to tap on it, but Li Huowang stopped him.
Staring at the pincers gripping the walls of the bell, Li Huowang thought for a moment before taking a palm-sized Gourd from his waist, pouring out an Elixir, and popping it into his mouth.
It was one of the Elixirs Master Danyang had rewarded him with. He had used one to save Yang Na in the psychiatric hospital and another when he killed Master Danyang. After eating this one, he only had two left.
BUZZ. A surge of heat instantly erupted from his Dantian, flooding his entire body.
He took a deep breath, grabbed a pincer in each hand, and pulled with all his might.
"Two of us couldn't move it, and you think you alone can—" The blacksmith's words were cut off by a groaning screech as the flattened copper bell steadily returned to its original form.
By the time the blacksmith's jaw had dropped to its lowest point, the copper bell was fully restored.
"Heh, that's nothing. Let me tell you, the Little Daoist Master's cultivation is profound," Top Scholar Lv boasted to the blacksmith, as if Li Huowang was all-powerful and nothing he did was surprising.
Li Huowang left the village and returned to the forest alone.
Gazing at the copper bell in his hand, he began to shake it with a heart full of anticipation.
As the bell chimed, the familiar dizzying, world-spinning sensation immediately returned. This time, Li Huowang didn't stop. He gritted his teeth and shook it even harder.
He felt everything around him begin to rotate. The lines of the surrounding tree branches started to twist and detach from their original positions, gradually coalescing into a new form.
It's working! Li Huowang's heart pounded in his chest.
Accompanied by the piercing ring of the bell, the long-absent Old Master You reappeared before him, though this time there was only one.
Old Master You looked like a tangled, high-frequency shivering mass, pieced together from strange, twisted lines. Its body had no fixed shape.
Li Huowang couldn't stare for long; he felt that if he looked too hard, he might cause it to dissipate.
He was about to speak when a thought struck him. He bent down, dug up a lump of wet mud, and stuffed it into his mouth.
The taste was awful, but he forced himself to speak through it.
His voice emerged as a bizarre, melodic tune. He had been trying to ask if Old Master You could understand him. *"Nua'thae... vi'rae... m'shea?"*
Regardless of what Li Huowang had said, Old Master You actually responded. *"D'huul zhii."*
Li Huowang was wild with joy. With Old Master You's help, my power will increase immensely!
He leaned forward and asked the most crucial question. *"Rue'neng... yahn... bi'khi... chae?"*
Old Master You remained motionless, its response slow but firm. *"Ae'ji. Qi'shou... u'nao... ba'jue."*
Li Huowang's frown deepened. *"L'eh'nah... nie?"*
*"Ae'ji. Qi'shou... u'nao... ba'jue."*
When Old Master You simply repeated its previous statement, Li Huowang sighed inwardly. Of course. There's no such thing as a free lunch. Driving Old Master You had a price.
And that price was none other than a person's Yangshou—each summoning cost three months of life.
When Li Huowang tried to ask if Master Danyang had made the same kind of exchange, Old Master You fell silent.
The ringing of the bell gradually faded. Clutching his splitting headache, Li Huowang rested for a long while before heading back to Wuli Hill.
"Little Daoist Master, what's with your..." Top Scholar Lv trailed off, eyeing Li Huowang's mud-filled mouth.
"I'll take the job you mentioned," Li Huowang said, gripping the copper bell tightly in his hand.
"Ah! That's wonderful! I'll go inform Master Hu right away!" Hearing this, Top Scholar Lv was overcome with joy.