The cultivator Deng Ping cleaned the blood off his sword, weary and sore from fatigue.
“At last,” he cried, tears rolling down his face. “At long last, the 9 Yin Treasured Jade Block! Grandfather, your legacy you had left to me, cruelly stolen by brigands of the Yellow Fox Sect… I have braved thousands of li, climbed over mountains of corpses, at long last, it has returned through blood and tribulation to your grandson’s hands!”
Deng Ping wiped the tears and snot from his face and turned to his dark-haired companion standing beside him gratefully, brandishing the 9 Yin Jade Treasured Block with pride.
“We did it, Yin Na! With your help, I have avenged grandfather’s death and recovered his treasure!”
“Deng Ping,” said Yin Na, covered in blood, with an expression of cold disinterest and aloofness. “That’s a brick.”
“Ah, but not just any brick!” said Deng Ping happily. “At first glance, it is just a glorified, enchanted slab of stone. But in actuality, it possesses many secret powers and abilities which have enabled my grandfather to grow the former great Blue Lotus sect into what it was, and even become an Immortal!”
“Oh?” Yin Na said. “What kind of secrets?”
“Hohoho,” laughed Deng Ping. “For the reason they’re called ‘secrets,’ I obviously cannot tell you, brother Yin Na!”
The cultivator named Yin Na stared back without a reply, and gave no indication of having been impressed at all.
“Tch,” Deng Ping clicked his tongue exasperatedly. He felt the need to impress his stoic companion, after having asked for his assistance in killing an entire enemy rival sect together with him.
“Okay, but since you have traveled thousands of li with me and have suffered hardship together so that I could fulfill my filial quest, I can tell you some of its enchantments…”
“Hm?” Yin Na’s eyes flickered slightly beneath his dark bangs.
“Aha, got him now!” thought Deng Ping.
“Well, for starters, this ‘mere brick’ is impossible to destroy. It is made out of the hardest material under the four Heavens, Earth Jade.”
The dark-haired cultivator gave a cold snort. “Hmph, are you going to chuck your grandfather’s treasure at an enemy until you knock them out cold? There are plenty of enchanted hardened materials and treasure gear in the world, and most are in more useful shapes, such as a projectile or shield.”
“Tch!” Deng Ping did not allow himself to be flustered. “You are thinking too small, Yin Na. But, of course, to rudely toss grandfather’s treasure as a weapon to be thrown or to refine it into protective gear would indeed, be a waste. Ah, but if I told you anymore, I would be saying too much!”
Yin Na turned away before saying with a noncommittal air: “Hmm, sure.”
“...” Deng Ping did not feel satisfied with his companion’s response. “Hmph! I need to put my companion in his place.”
“But I can tell you one last thing. As all cultivators know, luck is an intangible, but real thing in this world. Without giving too much away, whoever possesses this brick on their person is carrying luck in its most physical form.”
“So the Yellow Fox sect placed the brick in the center of their sect because according to Feng Shui, it would give their sect luck?” Yin Na said, his back still turned. “Then our arrival must have been the end of that ‘good luck,’ eh?”
“Ugh!” Deng Ping was beginning to get visibly frustrated. “No, that’s because it’s obviously far more complicated than it just being a bestower of good luck! It’s…” then he caught himself. “Oh no, I already said too much.”
“Okay,” said Yin Na curtly, completely dismissing the conversation. Even though it was a cold, lifeless “okay,” it contained traces of arrogance and condescension!
“Why you…” Deng Ping grit his teeth.
Night time…
“...and that’s why this ‘mere brick’ is actually a useful secret ingredient during the alchemy refining process!”
It was night time already, even the flies have gone to sleep after a day of feasting on the corpses of the Yellow Fox Sect members. Yet Yin Na looked completely unbothered by the stench.
“Hmph, Deng Ping, I’m disappointed in you. I agreed to spend the valuable time I could have spent cultivating to help you avenge your grandfather and acquire the treasure he left as your inheritance, with only knowledge of the treasure’s abilities as payment for my curiosity. If this brick really had half of the abilities you’ve just listed for me, why did the Yellow Sect just let it gather dust in their Sect treasure podium? My guess is- like you yourself, they have not figured out the true ability or usage of this brick. I’ve had the impression that you’ve been lying to me all night about the capabilities of this treasure in an effort to impress me.”
Deng Ping was absolutely stunned at Yin Na’s response! Not only that, but he was exhausted from the day’s events of killing and fighting and talking all evening, and on top of this, his companion was now making him lose face by calling him a liar? He was about to cough blood in anger!
“Well then!” Deng Ping said. “I did not drag my Dao brother this far to avenge my grandfather and then indulge my benefactor with lies. Fine, this is the true secret of the Nine Yin treasured Jade Brick: listen well, for no mortal under Heaven outside of the Deng family has ever learned of its true power!”
Yin Na “...” (gets closer).
“Aside from the amazing enchantments on the material of this Jade, it is nothing compared to what is within its essence. The real reason the Jade Slab has brought my grandfather endless luck is because it contains the soul of the previous Immortal cultivator who had inherited it.”
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Oh?” Yin Na looked faintly interested for the first time that night! “And who was this Immortal cultivator?”
Deng Ping smiled, as he mentally prepared for the killing blow. “Demon King Mao!”
“...” Yin Na did not reply for a long time. “And what did Demon King Mao do, talk to him?”
“Precisely!” Deng Ping said with triumph.
“Deng Ping, your grandfather was either drunk or a liar when he told you this. Even for Immortals, what kind of magic could have bound someone’s soul and will into an inanimate object? The Ancestral Demon King was a Venerable Immortal from another era. You expect me to believe that even if his soul really was alive in a brick, he’d willingly offer his insight and experience of thousands of years to an outsider like your grandfather?”
Yin Na’s logic was full of holes that could easily be countered were Deng Ping fresh and not exhausted. However, at his grandfather being called a liar, Deng Ping coughed blood!
“You-!
“Yes, in fact, the Demon King DID talk to my grandfather! You see, the soul within the brick had to choose its owner. When my grandfather acquired it in the bowels of Dark Shadow mountain, he had freed the brick which contained the conscious soul of the Demon King from centuries of inactivity and boredom, whose will was still preserved in the brick. Since that fateful day, the very Demon King from legend within the block would share its wisdom with my grandfather, whose advice has enabled him to bring back techniques lost from antiquity and a myriad of other things.”
Deng Ping directed his grief towards a slain Yellow Fox Sect member on the ground, kicking its head. “Until he was eventually murdered by a Yellow Fox Sect Immortal, who placed his treasure for safeguarding here!”
“But these fools could not figure it out, simply because the souls within the block refuse to cooperate with them. My grandfather told me the Demon King had hinted that the previous users of the brick were all contained within the brick, so it would make sense that my grandfather’s soul would be reluctant to give aid to his murderers.”
Deng Feng looked sadly with emotion at the moon. “But, whether I meet grandfather or the Demon King…we shall see who, once I activate the brick!”
Deng Ping expected at any second to be rebuked harshly by his companion, but was shocked to suddenly turn to see that Yin Na was smiling at him for the first time he’d known him!
“Very good, Deng Ping,” said Yin Na approvingly. It was a genuinely warm, kind smile, that would have caused the most masculine heart to flutter in confusion! “Your strong will and filial piety in avenging your grandfather have moved me.”
Deng Ping was moved to tears.
“Brother Meng!”
“Brother Deng,” said Yin Na. “I am sure that you will be able to speak with your grandfather again.”
This was also the first time Yin Na called him “brother!”
“Doubt my words no longer, brother Yin Na.” said Deng Ping with emotion, “We are brothers for life. I shall let you see firsthand, that it’s now my turn, to receive the brick’s blessing!”
Deng Ping raised the Nine Yin Treasured Jade Block theatrically to the full moon.
“All I need to do is touch it and say the four-digit password: 7, 4, 5…”
Splat!
Deng Ping’s tongue tasted blood, as he saw his own heart being punctured with a cold blade through his chest.
“H-how?” Deng Ping turned weakly, his mouth full of blood. “Why…Yin Na?”
The Jade Block fell from his hands, whereupon Yin Na caught it soundlessly in his free palm, as his other hand twisted the sword free.
“Finally,” said Yin Na.
Then he watched coldly as Deng Ping fell lifelessly to the ground on top of the same Yellow Fox Sect member he was kicking earlier.
When Yin Na was a child…
Yin Na’s father was walking with him in a Jade bamboo forest. The father floated on a cloud, his feet never touching the ground, while Yin Na’s soft little bare feet felt the grass and earth.
“The world is constructed of the Dao, it permeates everything. They say it is many things, and that it cannot be known, but I will tell you right now, Yin Na, our Dao is the way of Benefits. Benefits make up this world, everything in this world are benefits. With this in mind, answer me this, Yin Na.
“What is human life, Yin Na?”
Yin Na answered without hesitation:
“Benefits on two legs.”
A cute little fluffy purple budgie bird landed on Yin Na’s father’s shoulder. Stretching his robe with an expression of benevolence, Yin Na’s father let the bird hop onto the crook of his arm.
“Okay. And what is the similarity between a single Spirit Stone and the life of this bird?”
With a bright look in his eye, Yin Na shouted the answer:
“Both can be stolen. In short, they are both benefits!”
The father’s grin stretched from ear to ear. He was immensely proud!
Yin Na’s father slowly cupped his palms over the bird, causing it to croon in affection. Suddenly, the bird squawked in an expression of avian pain and fright, before being helplessly set aflame in the cultivator’s hands.
In a time shorter than it would take for an incense stick to burn, the bird was refined into a lump of spirit stone.
“Like this bird, if you gain peoples’ trust and have them within the palm of your hand, you can convert them into benefits.”
The father tossed the spirit stone to Yin Na, who caught the stone with a cold expression of indifference on his six year old face. Yet, behind his murky grey pupils hid a profound understanding of his father’s words.
Back in the present…
Yin Na looked at the Nine Yin treasured Jade Block within his hands.
“I doubt I need to make it face the moon or anything like that,” thought Yin Na. “Now, what was the password? Guess it won’t hurt to try.”
“7, 4, 5, 1.”
…Nothing happened.
“7, 4, 5, 2.”
“7, 4, 5, 3.”
“7, 4, 5, 4.”
“7, 4, 5, 5.”
“Hmm,” Yin Na actually felt a little concern. “What if Deng Ping got the first three digits wrong? What if the final ‘digit’ is not a number, but a word?”
“7, 4, 5, 6.”
At the utterance of “6,” Yin Na’s ears were assaulted by a large scream.
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
Yin Na scanned his surroundings in alarm for enemy cultivators, but realized the voice was inside his head.
“Demon King Mao?” probed Yin Na. “Or… Deng Tai Fan?”
“YOU! YOU ARE NOT MY GRANDSON! WHO ARE YOU?”