Chapter 11: The Grain of Sand for the Wicked Ghost in the Pond

To test a method, it was best to choose a deserted place.

Chen Changsheng walked around the alley but couldn’t find a suitable spot anywhere. Seeing the sun about to set, he started to worry.

Then he turned his head and saw a courtyard sealed with a notice.

He paused, lifting his gaze to see the courtyard inside was utterly dilapidated, as if uninhabited for a long time.

“This is a good place.”

He went forward and knocked on the door latch.

“Hello? Anyone here?”

“Is anyone there?”

Getting no answer, he felt reassured.

He glanced at the wall, took two steps back, gripped the top of the wall with both hands, pushed off with his feet, and flipped inside.

Upon entering the courtyard, Chen Changsheng realized it was even more run-down than he had imagined.

Weeds choked the yard, sprouting even from cracks in the eaves. The house itself was draped with spiderwebs.

Off to one side of the yard, there seemed to be a fishpond with a large boulder in the center. But it held no water; it was completely dry.

Chen Changsheng didn’t mind. He found a spot with fewer weeds, sat cross-legged, laid out the page he had copied describing the Qi Refining Method, and began to read.

“Eyes not straying, spirit returning to the heart, this is the root of stillness. Divine Refinement can be divided into four steps: gathering the mind, guarding the one, stopping thoughts, entering stillness…”

Chen Changsheng read further. He found the content somewhat similar to what he knew in his previous life.

Refining the spirit, refining the qi, and refining the essence belonged to the acquired stage.

Following the Heavenly Dao meant establishing a foundation, encompassing the three practical skills of refining spirit, refining qi, and refining essence – still belonging to the acquired. Defying heaven was a superior immortal art, levels beyond Returning the Elixir, including the transformative work of essence becoming qi, qi becoming spirit, spirit returning to emptiness, and emptiness merging with the Dao – this belonged to the innate stage.

“Qi Refinement, Divine Refinement, Essence Refinement… which one should I try first?”

Chen Changsheng thought for a moment. Since he was about to die soon and would be left with only his thoughts afterwards, he might as well start with Divine Refinement. Perhaps during his “dead” time, he could still cultivate.

Deciding to act, he sat cross-legged as described in the method.

He pinched his fingers into certain positions – left hand above, right hand below; left thumb pressing the middle fingertip, right thumb pressing the root of the left ring finger. After a moment calming his mind, he drew back his spirit light, focused on a spot at the tip of his nose, waiting for it to become a blank whiteness. Then he closed his eyes and focused upwards towards the “Upper Sun and Moon Celestial Point” – the spot where his two eyes and his “Heaven’s Eye” formed a triangular opening. He used only light intention.

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Chen Changsheng’s thoughts quieted down.

He connected his spirit, circulating the mental art.

Yet, almost instantly, a vortex of qi emerged at Chen Changsheng’s celestial point. Gradually, his mind seemed to touch something.

He slowly forgot himself, as if drifting into emptiness.

Chen Changsheng’s eyes snapped open.

He looked at himself in disbelief.

“I…”

“I succeeded?”

Chen Changsheng sat stunned for a moment.

So easily?

That couldn’t be right!

Such a method should have been very hard to grasp. But on his first try, he had succeeded?

“Could it be… I’m a genius?”

Chen Changsheng frowned. That seemed the only explanation.

He tried again.

Just as he thought, in moments he forgot himself and entered that empty void state once more.

He lost all sense of his physical body.

“Wait!” Chen Changsheng suddenly realized.

He knew this feeling far too well!

“This is pretty much the same state I’m in after I ‘die’!”

He could hear nothing, feel nothing of his body, only the voice within his own mind.

“Ah, I see now.”

Chen Changsheng smacked his lips lightly, finally understanding.

He wasn’t a genius.

It was just that this feeling of entering the forgetting void was so familiar to him that it came easily.

As for why he couldn’t refine his spirit while “dead” before, Chen Changsheng guessed it might be because he lacked the mental art to support it.

However, what he didn’t know was that in the blink of an eye spent on Divine Refinement, the sun at the edge of the sky had already set.

The last rays of twilight vanished.

Chen Changsheng, sitting cross-legged in the ruined courtyard, seemed to shimmer. Just like last time, his body dissolved into grains of sand and scattered away.

It all happened in the blink of an eye.

He had “died” again.

…

After Chen Changsheng ‘died.’

Gradually, he emerged from the state of Divine Refinement.

When he couldn’t open his eyes or feel his physical body, he knew the time had come again.

“The twentieth time…”

This was his twentieth death.

“I wonder if cultivating will make me wake up sooner… or maybe live a little longer.”

Thinking this way, Chen Changsheng felt there might be a chance.

And so, he sank back into Divine Refinement once more, waiting for the next time he would awaken.

Cultivation was his last resort.

If even this couldn’t solve the Mayfly Curse, he really didn’t know what else to try.

…

At the very moment Chen Changsheng’s body dissolved.

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One grain of the sand from his dissolving form was tugged away by an unseen force, unable to scatter with the wind.

This force came from the dry pond in the ruined courtyard.

The grain of sand fell into the pond and slowly moved to a spot beneath the large boulder.

Under that boulder, a mass of black energy swirled. The stone was like a sealing object, pressing down on the dark mass, preventing its escape.

“Groan…”

A faint groan came from beneath the stone.

The evil spirit seemed excited by gaining this one grain of sand. Immediately, a stream of power started trickling out from the sand, nourishing the spirit and causing its energy to steadily grow.

But the trapped evil spirit found that the sand’s power was too immense, forcing it to absorb it only little by little.

Though slow, it was better than nothing.

…

Night fell, and Autumn Moon Market slowly settled into quiet.

Midnight arrived.

A group of Yin Attendants appeared in the dilapidated courtyard.

The Old City God stood before the dried-up pond, looking at the stone crushing the wicked ghost.

He raised a hand, and the stone emitted a pulse of golden light – the power of Merit incense, specifically lethal to evil spirits and demons.

Observing the solid seal, the Old City God nodded in satisfaction. “There should be no major issue.”

Hong Sancai said, “This subordinate checked three times, dare not miss a single thing.”

“You grow more efficient by the day.”

The Old City God remarked. “The previous Yin Ghost Envoy wasn’t nearly this meticulous.”

Hong Sancai said humbly, “You flatter me, Lord City God.”

“To earn Mr. Chen’s recognition, you must have exceptional qualities.”

The Old City God turned. “Though the seal is reinforced, the Day Patrol must visit this place more often in the coming days. Make sure this evil ghost gets no opportunity.”

“By your command!”

“Hmm.”

The Old City God nodded. “Now, back to the temple.”

The group of Yin Attendants and Patrolling Wanderers followed the City God back to the City God Temple.

The ruined courtyard fell quiet once more.

But under the huge stone, a tiny point of light suddenly flickered – it was that one grain of sand from Chen Changsheng.

“Hsss…”

The imprisoned evil ghost let out a bone-chilling laugh.

With the help of this precious grain…

Soon enough, the day would come when it would break the seal!