Chapter Forty-Nine: Insufficient Mastery

The Flaming Sun Sword! The Heavenly Fire Spit!

There’s even the phrase “a mouthful of blazing phlegm”… all used to describe this particular ‘art’.

For this is the simplest ‘art’ a Yin-walker can master once they ignite the celestial flame and gain incense-cultivated power. It requires no deliberate study—just a little experimentation, and it comes naturally.

In Li Chao’s Ghost Encounters, this is the most frequently employed technique; whenever he meets a weaker wandering spirit, a single spit is enough to subdue it, often with miraculous effect.

Chen Yushu, having witnessed it many times, managed to perform it smoothly after a little trial and error.

“This sensation is truly marvelous. Although it doesn’t greatly increase my physical strength, once this celestial fire is lit, every subsequent cultivation session feeds this flame, allowing me to accumulate power along the incense path. Each spark is a stick of incense— the more vigorous the flame, the deeper my cultivation.”

Previously, Chen Yushu had only read about these things in books. Now, comparing them with his own experience, his understanding deepened greatly.

“Unfortunately, no little ghost has shown up for me to try it on. Otherwise, I could see how effective my Flaming Sun Sword really is. It should at least be much stronger than the boy’s urine I splashed on that vengeful ghost before.”

With a sigh, Chen Yushu couldn’t help but recall the scene when he faced that evil spirit. A splash of urine from a bamboo tube only made it retreat temporarily—barely harming it. Even if he’d had black dog’s blood or rooster’s comb blood on him, he doubted it would have done much more. Had Sister Qiao’er not intervened, things would have gotten truly troublesome.

Now, having mastered the first art of the Yin-walkers, he naturally wanted to test it.

“Right. Now that I have the power of a single stick of incense—though I’ve just entered this level—according to Sister Qiao’er, I can begin practicing the technique to subdue ghosts: the Suppressing Yin Formula.”

He’d seen its power with his own eyes—at a single invocation, the vengeful ghost was pressed flat to the ground, utterly immobilized. Of course, that owed much to Sister Qiao’er’s deep cultivation and formidable strength, but the technique’s effectiveness was unquestionable.

With that thought, he eagerly took out the paper inscribed with the three ‘arts’.

“The Suppressing Yin Formula is a method that amplifies your own celestial fire power through a sequence of mudras, allowing you to forcibly subdue spirits…”

Chen Yushu began to study the lines of script once more, silently pondering their meaning.

Reading +1

Having reached the Insightful Reading stage, he excelled at interpreting and comprehending the essence within written words. Furthermore, Liu Qiao’er had written the instructions in a concise and straightforward manner, so he quickly grasped how to perform this ‘art’ successfully.

Without hesitation, he willed his incense-cultivated energy into motion, forming the prescribed hand seals.

Instantly, he felt a distinct surge of power rushing to his hands, making them burn with heat.

First seal, second seal… but when he reached the third, he felt a sudden depletion; the celestial fire flickered, dimming alarmingly.

Startled, Chen Yushu stopped at once.

Though he halted the mudras, the power he had expended was not restored.

His vision swam with darkness and his mind was gripped by exhaustion.

“I’ve overdrawn my strength—my cultivation isn’t enough.”

Bitterly, Chen Yushu recognized the cause. He’d barely just broken through, possessing only a sliver of power. A single Flaming Sun Sword cost him a tenth or two of his reserves. This Suppressing Yin Formula, on the other hand, demanded far more: just a few mudras had drained him dry before he could even complete the art.

Pale-faced and utterly spent, Chen Yushu dragged himself to bed, closed his eyes, and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

He awoke the next day, already halfway to noon.

Upon leaving his room, he found that Liu Qiao’er was gone, with only a note left on the table:

“Farewell—don’t worry about me!”

“Yesterday, I really was reckless,” he murmured, rubbing his still-dizzy head. He wasn’t surprised by Liu Qiao’er’s departure—she’d said herself she wouldn’t stay long.

Composing himself, he washed up swiftly, shut the door, and hurried straight to the Liu family’s pharmacy.

He hadn’t forgotten his role as an apprentice decoctionist.

Running all the way, he managed to arrive before roll call.

But as soon as he entered, he sensed that something was off in the atmosphere.

“Brother Xu, what’s happened?” Chen Yushu sidled up to Xu San and asked in a low voice.

“One of the shop hands just came in with news. A batch of our medicinal goods was robbed. Several of the escorts were killed, and even Master Qian, who led the group, was wounded. The manager and Supervisor Zhou have already rushed to the scene. This is no small matter,” Xu San replied quietly.

“Do we know who did it?” Chen Yushu asked in surprise.

“They say it was the Water Curtain Ravine bandits,” Xu San answered.

Chen Yushu fell silent and simply nodded. This wasn’t something he could get involved in, nor did it directly concern him, but since it happened so close, he naturally paid attention.

Soon, the manager and Supervisor Zhou returned, accompanied by Qian Qian and several other shop hands.

Many of these men were former apprentices at the pharmacy; as they grew older, those who failed to master medicine and didn’t want to leave stayed on, taking over tasks such as escorting shipments and ensuring the pharmacy’s safety.

After all, the Liu family pharmacy offered good benefits.

Having practiced martial arts from youth, most were quite capable—at least at the External Refinement level, with a few reaching the Internal Refinement realm. In Jianghuan Town, that made them experts; many local gang members couldn’t match them.

Yet now, every one of them was injured.

The worst-off bore three deep knife wounds, each cut to the flesh—a pitiful sight.

But if the Liu family pharmacy lacked anything, it certainly wasn’t medicine or healers.

Physicians Liu and Jiao worked together to stabilize the wounded in short order.

Naturally, Chen Yushu and the others got busy as well—caring for the injured, preparing and boiling medicines…

Through this, Chen Yushu learned more details.

It turned out that Qian Qian and the others had been escorting a shipment from Qian Family Village. This village, famous in the area for its rare medicinal herbs, lay at the foot of Tianyuan Mountain—a place of treacherous terrain and abundant resources. Every year, two or three rare medicinal plants would be discovered and harvested, and the yield of other precious herbs was astonishing.

Nearly every resident was a herbalist, and the Liu family pharmacy maintained a collection point there, sending people every ten days or so to bring back supplies.

This time was no different—until disaster struck.