“Please stop shouting,” said Yin Na. “I’m not deaf.”
“WHO ARE YOU?” shouted Deng Tai Fan’s voice. “HOW DO YOU KNOW THE PASSWORD? WHERE IS MY GRANDSON?”
“I am Yin Na,” said Yin Na, enduring the geezer’s loud questioning. “The sworn brother and friend of Deng Ping, your grandson. As for how I know the password…”
“LET ME BEHOLD YOUR FACE!”
Yin Na clicked his tongue. This voice was unmistakably old geezer-like, it was obnoxiously loud as if it belonged to a grandpa who died deaf!
Yin Na looked at the Jade block in his hands, and saw no visual differences in it whatsoever. He turned it futilely for something resembling an eye.
“How do I show you?”
“INFUSE THE JADE WITH YOUR QI.”
“Very well,” Yin Na concentrated and imbued some of his qi into the Jade, until it glowed brightly like hot metal.
“THIS IS THE GROUND. THESE ARE YOUR FEET.”
Yin Na snorted internally. How was he supposed to know he was orienting the brick towards the floor? He turned the Jade Block towards his face.
“YOU ARE PRETTY HANDSOME, BUT WHY ARE YOU COVERED IN BLOOD? I DON’T LIKE THE DEMONIC AIR SURROUNDING YOU. HARUMPH! WHERE IS MY GRANDSON?”
Yin Na blinked twice. Then his face contorted in an expression of pain and agony.
“Oh, great Deng…” he said. “Brother Deng Ping is…he is…”
He let the block slowly turn towards the corpse of Deng Ping on the floor, who was lying on top of the body of a Yellow Fox Sect member.
“GRANDSON!!!” Yin Na felt no physical pain in his eardrums, so much as great annoyance at Deng Tai Fan’s loud grieving cries.
“My grandson, my grandson… how did this happen?” Deng Tai Fan’s voice had gone meek. “How did Deng Ping die?”
“He was celebrating,” said Yin Na. “After we had slaughtered every Yellow Fox Sect member, one Yellow Fox cultivator awoke from the cusp of death and stabbed your grandson from behind through the heart with the last ounce of his strength. It happened so abruptly, I simply could not do anything except kill the Yellow Fox cultivator, of course.”
“...”
“My grandson, did he trust you?”
“Yes,” said Yin Na without hesitation. “Why else would he tell me the password? He told me the hour before we assaulted the Yellow Fox sect that should he perish, he would tell me the password in the slim chance he would perish in his quest.”
Yin Na let fall a single tear down his cheek.
“Alas, cruel Heaven, he evidently has!”
“NOOOOOOOfdsackzjxvbncfdasfdasfasdfdsfdsafffxabf”
Yin Na waited for the time it took an incense stick to burn, as Deng Tai Fan wept noisily in his head.
“I have one favor to ask of you, Yin Na. Please bury my grandson lavishly and hold a funeral with all his friends and acquaintances at Spring Wind village, where he was raised.”
“Absolutely,” said Yin Na. “Except…there’s just one problem.”
“WHAT?” said the voice.
“I am a cultivator who spends all his time cultivating, I have very little in riches or reputation. My spirit stones in my void ring are…rather pitiful.”
“HARUMPH! AND WHAT DO YOU SUGGEST?”
“To ask his friends and acquaintances would be facetious. The former Blue Lotus sect which you built up have scattered far and wide. But perhaps I ask his closest relatives, maybe a niece or nephew or cousin who is willing to… contribute their share?”
“I OUTLIVED ALL MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS, AND KILLED THEM BEFORE THEY COULD HAVE OFFSPRING. DENG PING SHOULD HAVE NO DIRECT FAMILY MEMBERS. YOU ARE HIS CLOSEST FRIEND, YOU DID NOT KNOW THIS?”
“I beg your forgiveness, Great Deng,” said Yin Na in an obsequious tone. “Forgive my brazen-ness, but Deng Ping was a secretive man in life, he was always reserved and quiet, and never told me about this fact.”
Yin Na had not known Ding Ping more than a year, but he made a gamble with this statement.
“HMMM, YOU ARE RIGHT…” the voice agreed sadly. “Very well, I have established a few emergency ‘trust fund’ pools across the land, which I originally intended to reveal to Deng Ping. I can tell you the location of one of them for the purpose of spending all of it on Deng Ping’s funeral…”
Yin Na waited with bated breath, excitement welling in his heart, but on the exterior he was a mourning, sympathetic “friend.”
“Okay.” said the voice. “Yin Na. Since I had no other grandsons or family member, and you were my grandson’s closest and most trusted friend and Dao brother, I shall accept you as the owner of the Nine Yin Treasured Jade Block.”
Yin Na tried to bow while still gripping the block with both hands, all the while realizing how absurd the action looked.
“Disciple is ready to call you master and his second father!”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“VERY WELL.” The voice seemed to have recovered. “WHAT WILL YOU DO NEXT IN YOUR CULTIVATION JOURNEY? WHAT IS YOUR CULTIVATION LEVEL?”
“After burying your grandson with all the splendor reserved for an emperor, I will listen to your advice on how to progress from a humble Ensoulment level cultivator to a Nascent soul!”
“Harumph! I OBSERVE A MAN BY HIS ACTIONS.”
“Yes, but sir, the ‘trust fund?’”
“OH, GO TO THE LOCAL BEAR YAO GUAI CAVE BY SPRING WIND VILLAGE.”
“Thank you!” Yin Na said ingratiatingly. Then his eyes narrowed.
“I have just a few more questions, regarding the brick you’re trapped in.”
“EH? WHAT QUESTIONS?”
“Well then,” Yin Na rapidly resumed smiling and taking on a subservient tone of voice. “Brother Deng Ping has mentioned that there were many enchantments on your…celestial prison. Is it true that dropping you within a pill cauldron seconds before a pill concocting process will ensure a 99% success rate of a legendary pill outcome?”
“ABSOLUTELY!” said the voice. “WHY WOULD MY GRANDSON LIE TO YOU?”
“I see…” said Yin Na quietly, almost at a whisper.
“HOWEVER,” said the voice. “The usage of the Jade Block will vary for certain recipes. In my past life, the Demon King Mao told me the timing for every individual elixir and potion so that everything I refined or created was flawless.”
“How propitious!” Yin Na flattered. “Truly, the wisdom of the Demon King was magnanimous, and the efforts and learning of Great Deng even more so to be able to carry out all of that ancient insight and wisdom! Hmm, in order to save you time and trouble, master Deng, would you mind reciting all those particular instances now?”
“Harumph!” the voice snorted. “I doubt a disciple would be able to remember them anyway, on the spot. Over time, you will need to inject your qi into me again and again in order to activate my awareness and ask for my advice again, right?”
“Of course!” Yin Na assured with a tone of utmost sincerity.
“Well, for starters,” said the voice. “Since you are a mere Foundation cultivator, you will probably be looking to conduct a Nascent soul pill.”
“Yes,” said Yin Na, restraining his inner excitement and delight.
“Any cultivator worth his spirit stones understands that the recipe needed to create an Foundation pill requires any water element ingredient, a weed that grows in the Southern region, and one tier 3 alchemy ingredient in order to increase the percentage of success for the pill to actually form out of the furnace.
However, instead of wasting valuable time and resources as a cultivator on procuring those rare tier 3 ingredients, you can simply throw the Jade Block into the flames of the furnace about 30 seconds before the pill results come out.”
“Does master feel any pain upon being thrown into fire of a pill furnace?” said Yin Na with concern.
“I am only a Will of my past self,” said the voice. “Free of the pain from my corporeal body. There is nothing that injecting your qi into me cannot heal.”
“Yes, and you said to use the Jade Block within thirty seconds,” said Yin Na. “Hmm, what happens if I throw in the Jade Block a few seconds too late? Or too early?”
“What stupid questions!” said the voice. “The pill recipe will obviously fail.”
“Hmm,” Yin Na nodded, with a dubious expression on his face. “Very well. This is most enlightening, great Deng. I feel as if my knowledge of pill concocting has leaped by bounds that I would not be able to achieve by myself in twenty years!”
“Hmph!”
The voice seemed pleased, and was not adept at hiding its satisfaction. “Of course, without me, you’d be stuck wasting your spirit stones and catering to less-than-stellar alchemists for all your pill recipes.”
“Yes, you are right, I would be helpless and at the mercy of my own ignorance,” said Yin Na. “Just to prepare for the future, would you mind telling me the recipe very quickly for a…Nascent soul pill?”
“How arrogant!” said the voice. “You haven’t even demonstrated your capabilities at making Ensoulment pills, and you already want to greedily covet the recipe for a higher-level pill?”
“I am someone who enjoys learning information in preparation for the future. But in actual truth, I merely wish to save master great Deng time for when I become a Nascent cultivator. If I forget the recipe, I will never bother great Deng again!”
“...You are not bothering me,” said the voice. “Seeing as you’re so eager to learn, what’s the harm in divulging the secret of a mere Nascent soul pill?
“Now, listen…”
Many hours later…
“...and that’s how you assure a 99% successful recipe for a Golden Immortal pill!”
“This is astounding,” said Yin Na, eyes all aglitter. “Great Deng, your wisdom is profound!”
“Harumph,” said the voice. “Of course it is. Now, a little more qi, disciple. My vision has long faded, I can only see your calloused palms on the surface of the block now.”
“Disciple begs your forgiveness, great Deng. I spent my time asking only questions about alchemy, now I would like to learn more about you. How limited is your perception within the block now that I’ve injected qi into the block? How far can you see, and how long can you continue…seeing?”
“I can see about 3 meters, but beyond that everything is foggy and blurry,” replied the voice. “I require substantial essence to be able to maintain visual perception in this world, and after a while my vision fades and is no better than the eyes of an insect.”
“Tch!” Yin Na’s face took on an ugly expression. “It’s going to consume a lot of my qi to enable this old geezer to see, huh?”
“I see, poor master!” Yin Na lamented, while infusing his qi into the brick. “Trapped in the Celestial Block, however magical it may be. Do I have to utter the password every time in order to activate your consciousness?”
“Yes,” said the voice. “If you let go of me for ten breaths span of time, you will have to utter the password again to wake me up.”
“I just have one more question. Brother Deng said to me before he died that you implied to him that the Jade Block imprisoned the souls of the previous users, meaning that when you found the Jade Block it didn’t just contain the Demon King Mao but the souls he encountered in it, also?”
“That is…” the voice appeared hesitant. “A question I cannot answer right now.”
Yin Na’s eyes flashed relentlessly beneath his bangs.
“Is Demon King Mao still within there?”
“Hey, why did you stop infusing your qi? And he is,” said the voice. “But he is… unavailable.”
“Interesting,” thought Yin Na. “And how can we possibly attempt communication with him, if it indeed is possible to contact him?”
“NO!” shouted the voice, a little too shrilly. “IT IS NOT!”
“Hmmm, how interesting!” Yin Na thought to himself. “It appears that the souls of the Demon King Mao and Deng Tai Fan are not exactly allies in death, while they’re sharing the same prison. It would be too risky for me to probe any further with questions.”
“Understood, great Deng,” said Yin Na, as he activated the void ring on his finger which functioned as an inventory. “I will proceed to go back to Spring Wind village immediately to prepare brother Deng’s funeral as I promised.”
“Hey, what are you doing?” said the voice. “Won’t you keep injecting your qi so that I can maintain awareness and give you advice for the journey?”
Yin Na gave a sigh of regret: “Alas, I am a mere Foundation cultivator and don’t have enough essence to keep on expending, it is all my own weakness and ignorance to blame! I shall only be able to call upon you when I have cultivated my essence fully again!”
The voice of the brick angrily faded away as Yin Na threw it into the void ring.