They continued their hike after their brief interlude where Yundong had shown her a couple of those cool mudras . They still had quite some distance to travel before reaching the school, but Su Chan didn’t find the journey boring at all . Mostly because Yundong had been regaling her with interesting stories about the things he had experienced during their time apart . But still, she didn’t think anything else he told her could top that story about how he had fallen on his gonads . That story was hilarious .

  Su Chan giggled again .

  Yundong paused in his story about his battle against some bald man who could breathe fire .

  A second later, Su Chan felt a light pinch on her waist .

  "Kya!"

  "You were laughing about that again, weren’t you?"

  Su Chan blinked up at him innocently . "About what?"

  Yundong narrowed his eyes at her . "You know what . "

  "Hehehe……" Su Chan beamed at him . "Did you check if your……" Su Chan let her eyes wander lower before looking back up at his face . "……you know, is okay?"

  Yundong shrugged . "Why should I check?" Then, he smirked . "Isn’t that your job?"

  Blushing, Su Chan gaped at him for a few seconds . "Perv!" She smacked his arm gently . Yundong chuckled and draped his arm around her shoulders before guiding them forward once again .

  When Su Chan saw a huge rock perched on the side of the path, she tugged Yundong’s sleeve and pulled him to a stop .

  "Yundong……" Su Chan pointed at the rock . "Do you know that that rock leads to—"

  "The secret vault of the Fox Zen School . "

  Su Chan whipped her head to the side and gaped at him . Once again, her beloved had surprised her—he had been doing that a lot lately .

  Yundong was smiling down at her . "That’s actually how I got into the school . "

  "B- But how did you……" Su Chan placed a finger on her chin . "Did Zi Yuan jiějie tell you?"

  "Nah…… I don’t think she knew about the vault . "

  Su Chan frowned . "Then how?"

  Surely, it couldn’t have been dumb luck? Or could it?

  Su Chan stole a glance at Yundong .

  Yundong chuckled . "You probably won’t believe this, but it was actually Lin Youfa who told me about it . "

  "Lin You—" Su Chan gaped at Yundong . But how on earth could Lin Youfa possibly know about the side trail?

  "Hard to believe, I know . " A wistful look formed on Yundong’s face . "But it’s true . " He sighed . "He had some kind of map . " Yundong shot Su Chan a look . "No idea where he got it from though . "

  In hindsight, she wasn’t surprised that there was a map .

  "A lot of people have tried to get into the vault . Some of them might’ve figured out how to unlock the side trail . " Not that it mattered . It was impossible for any of them to enter the vault from the outside unless the Fan of Seven Treasures did it for them .

  They moved past the rock and took the main trail .

  "He came to steal the treasures from the vault, didn’t he?" Su Chan said flatly .

  It made sense . He had a map .

  "Yeah . "

  "Did he…… succeed?" Su Chan glanced sideways at Yundong . "Did he manage to steal anything?"

  "No . " Yundong’s voice sounded a little strange .

  "Where is he now? Is he still here?"

  "Yes . " Yundong glanced at her briefly . "But he’s dead . "

  Su Chan fell behind a step . A second later, she caught up to Yundong again . "What happened?"

  Yundong stepped over the trunk of a fallen tree . Su Chan floated over it and stared down at Yundong, awaiting his explanation . She could tell that there was a story there .

  "He tried to attack me . " Yundong gave her a wry smile . "So the Fan of Seven Treasures took care of him . "

  Speaking of which……

  "Yundong……"

  "Hmm?"

  "Where is the Fan of Seven Treasures?" Su Chan gave him a quick once-over . "Shouldn’t you be carrying it around at all times?"

  Smiling, Yundong reached into his pocket and pulled out a colorful pouch, which she recognized as a spirit pouch . "It’s in here . "

  Yundong shoved the pouch back into his pocket .

  "Did Grandmaster Liu gave that to you?" Su Chan asked, suddenly remembering the kind old man who gave her the paper crane .

  "No . " Yundong smiled . "Cao Yi did . She—" Yundong suddenly stopped talking, his eyes sharp and alert .

  "Beloved?"

  Yundong pointed at something behind Su Chan .

  Su Chan twisted her body in midair and followed Yundong’s gaze: dead bodies .

  Su Chan floated towards the corpses and then hovered above them . Something about those battered faces seemed familiar .

  Then it hit her .

  "The harpies," she mumbled .

  "Do you know these women?" Yundong’s voice sounded behind her .

  Su Chan nodded . "They were Gu-shībó’s disciples . "

  "I see," Yundong said in knowing tone . "The runaways . "

  Confused, Su Chan turned her head to face Yundong . "Runaways?"

  Yundong gestured at the dead bodies . "They were the runaways . " He lowered his hand, then held Su Chan’s gaze . "Cao Yi told me that your Gu shībó’s disciples fled the school before the assault began . "

  Su Chan turned her gaze to the dead bodies . "Must not have run far then . "

  Yundong hummed .

  Su Chan lowered herself to the ground, then bent down to examine the corpse closest to her . These women were practically half-naked—their robes had been ripped apart . Splattered across their bodies were various physical wounds—cuts, bruises, and the like . The corpse Su Chan was examining looked to be in worse shape compared to the others . The poor woman’s chest was completely bashed in . It was like her upper torso was flattened by some kind of round object . Su Chan sent a silent prayer to Buddha and straightened herself . She stepped around the corpse and moved towards another corpse, which was lying face down . She crouched down and flipped the corpse over .

  "Beloved, look at this . "

  Yundong shuffled over and crouched down beside her . "What is it?"

  "Look at this pattern . " Su Chan pointed at the stripes plastered all over woman’s torso . "I think it came from a melon hammer . "

  Yundong suddenly tensed up beside her . After that, she heard a low growl .

  She turned her head and immediately noticed the scowl on Yundong’s face . "Beloved?"

  "Kuang Tianping," he said coldly .

  Su Chan frowned . Kuang who?

  "The Golden Hammer of the Donghai Sect," Yundong added, disdain coloring his tone .

  They shared a brief glance before Yundong continued, "One of the Great Six’s Cultivators . " There was a pause . "He was there when I was defending the school . He was also the only one I saw wielding a pair of melon hammers . " Yundong shook his head . "This is most likely his doing . "

  "He will pay," Su Chan said without taking her eyes off the corpses .

  "He already did . "

  Su Chan lifted her gaze from the corpses and glanced at Yundong .

  "I killed him," Yundong said emotionlessly . "But his Yin Spirit got away before I could destroy it . "

  Su Chan sighed . Hopefully his Yin Spirit would die out before he managed to possess someone else’s body .

  Su Chan rose to her feet . "We should bury them . " Even though these harpies were rude and crass when alive, even though they had disrespected Master, they still deserved a proper burial . Lives were still lives .

  "I agree," Yundong said, rising to his feet as well .

  They worked silently together, Yundong digging the earth with Qi Kinesis while Su Chan did the same using a talisman she’d found in Master’s drawer . It was a clever Earth spell of Master’s invention that would allow its user to carve out a hole on the ground . The shape of the hole could be anything of the caster’s choosing . There were five corpses in total, but Su Chan only had one talisman; so she buried one while Yundong took care of the other four .

  After saying a few prayers, and adding a few makeshift gravestones, they continued their journey along the main trail .

  "Chan’er . "

  "Hmm?"

  "I’ve been meaning to ask……" Yundong shot her a brief glance . "How do talismans work?"

  Su Chan stopped floating and stared at him in surprise . "Zi Yuan jiějie hasn’t taught you spellcasting yet?"

  Yundong shook his head . "There wasn’t enough time . " He paused and held her gaze for a moment . "I started preparing for my divine punishment as soon as the Fan of Seven Treasures acknowledged me as its owner . "

  "The Reckoning," Su Chan whispered . All of a sudden, images of a glowing Fan of Treasures dancing around Yundong came to mind .

  "Yeah . "

  That must’ve been a sight to behold . Too bad she couldn’t be there to see it for herself .

  "And you came straight here after you survived your divine punishment . "

  "Yeah . "

  "Hmm……" Su Chan floated around in circles . Seconds later, she lowered herself to the ground . "What’s your current understanding of spellcasting, beloved?"

  A thoughtful look formed on Yundong’s face . "Well…… I know it’s different from the mudras . Buddhist magic is different, right?" Yundong raised his brows .

  Su Chan affirmed with several quick nods .

  The thoughtful look returned to Yundong’s face again . "I think it’s got something to do with the flow of spiritual energy . "

  "Mm-hmm!"

  "Also, I’ve noticed that some Cultivators have to form a series of hand signs in order to cast spells . " Yundong paused to look at her . "That’s pretty much all I know . "

  "Your first hunch is correct, beloved . " Su Chan smiled at him . "The key to spellcasting lies in the flow of spiritual energy . " Su Chan turned away to face the front, knowing that she was about to repeat the exact words Master had told her all those years ago . "Different flow patterns of spiritual energy will result in different spells . There are other factors involved as well, such as the amount of spiritual energy expended . Even the timing of spiritual energy release matters . " Su Chan glanced at Yundong . "That’s why there are so many spells out there . "

  Yundong nodded . "Because these parameters can all be altered to produce variations . "

  Su Chan bobbed her head up and down . "Mm!"

  "Wow . I see . "

  "Talismans are usually created for complicated spells where a lot of hand signs are required . "

  "Like the Five Thunders Spell . "

  Su Chan bobbed her head . "The drawings on talismans basically do the same thing as hand signs . "

  "They guide the flow of spiritual energy," Yundong said .

  "Yep!"

  "Makes sense . " Yundong paused in thought . "A spell can be cast much faster through the use of talismans because the hand signs can be omitted . "

  Su Chan shook her head . "Some talismans require hand signs too . "

  Yundong stared at her .

  "Some talismans can be activated with Qi alone . " Su Chan smiled at Yundong . "Like the one I gave you last time . "

  Yundong nodded . "The Five Thunders Spell . "

  "Yep! Those are called Qi-Activated talismans . "

  "So they are a special kind of talisman then?"

  "Yup . And they are very rare too . " A sudden tightness formed in Su Chan’s chest . She lowered her gaze and stared at the ground for a moment . "Master told me that Qi-Activated talismans are very difficult to draw……" She could feel Yundong’s concerned gaze on her right then, so she turned her head and forced out a smile . "Anyway . Like I said, those talismans are special . Normal talismans can only be activated by expending a small amount of the user’s spiritual energy and then performing one or two hand signs . "

  "I see . " Recognition shone in Yundong’s eyes . "The activation of talismans is itself a spell . That’s why it needs its own hand signs . "

  "Yup!"

  "So, with talismans, you can replace the long sequence of hand signs needed for the actual spell with one or two simple ones . " Yundong chuckled . "Smart . "

  Su Chan beamed . "First, you take out the talisman . Then, you perform the right hand signs . After that, all you need to do is channel your Zhenqi into the talisman and ta-da! A spell!" Su Chan wiggled her fingers a few times .

  Yundong laughed and ruffled her hair .

  "Talismans aren’t perfect though . " Su Chan lowered her hand . "They can only be used once . And obviously, you have to draw them beforehand . " Su Chan wrinkled her nose . "Drawing them is no easy task . Even the common ones require a lot of skill to draw . " Su Chan shook her head . "One wrong symbol……"

  "And the spell wouldn’t work . "

  Su Chan nodded . "Master is very good at it . " Su Chan glanced at Yundong . "Talisman Lore . "

  Yundong smiled . "I don’t find that surprising at all . She’s a genius after all . "

  "Mm . " Su Chan lowered her gaze to the ground .

  "Hey . " Yundong nudged her . "We’re gonna get her back, okay?"

  Su Chan lifted her gaze and gave him a weak smile .

  "We’re not alone in this . " Yundong patted her head . "Zi Yuan and Ruan Hongling are on our side . " Yundong smiled . "And we’ve still got Cao Yi and your other shībó’s, haven’t we?"

  Su Chan’s heart lightened a bit .

  "Oh, hey . Why don’t you tell me more about your mist spell?" Yundong’s tone sounded curious . "It’s called Shadow Mist, right?"

  Su Chan smiled . "Yep!"

  "How does it work?"

  "It’s actually a spell from the Water Element . We first manipulate the water vapor in the air with our spiritual energy to form the mist, and then we integrate our physical bodies into the mist . Our Yin Spirit then can control and shape the mist however we want . "

  "I see……"

  "Yundong, do you know that fox spirits—"

  "Are born with Yin Spirits? Yeah, I know . "

  Su Chan did a double take . Wait, he knew about that . Hmm . Zi Yuan jiějie must have told him that .

  "Oh . "

  They walked for a while in silence until Yundong broke the silence with a long, contented sigh . Piqued, Su Chan looked towards Yundong .

  Yundong was smiling . "I’ve missed this, you know?"

  "Hmm?"

  "I mean what we’re doing right now . " Yundong’s smile widened . "I’ve really missed this . "

  "Oh . "

  "Yeah . It reminds me of the time when you first taught me about Cultivation . "

  "There isn’t much I can teach you now, Yundong . " Su Chan smiled . "Honestly, you can learn so much more from Zi Yuan jiějie or……"

  Or Master .

  Yundong patted her head . "Even so, I couldn’t have gotten here without your early guidance, Chan’er . "

  There was a grateful smile on Yundong’s face when she turned to look at him .

  "So, thank you . "

  Su Chan smiled and—


  She stopped walking and pointed at the temple in front of them .

  "Well . " Yundong stopped beside her . "Looks like we’re here . "

  Su Chan lowered her hand and sighed . Hopefully, she would receive a warmer welcome this time .