Chapter 13: Dark Clouds Gather in the North

The monk chased after Gu Yi, but suddenly, everything changed.

A buzzing sound erupted as light flared throughout the courtyard. Dozens of spirit talismans activated at once. The change was so abrupt, and with more than a dozen binding talismans, his arms and legs were instantly ensnared. Golden spiritual energy wove into threads; the more he struggled, the tighter they became.

Gu Yi, meanwhile, grabbed Zhi Hua and, with a playful swing, leapt up and landed smoothly.

“Damn it! You tricked me!”

“Who tricked you? I told you there was a spirit-binding formation here. So, how does stepping on mushrooms feel?”

Zhi Hua, enjoying the show, chimed in, “Master, you’re so clever!”

The pale-faced youth, who had been planning to slip away, immediately scurried over to kneel before them when he saw the monster had won. “My lord! This man is Ma Yuan! He’s been lurking around Little Garden Mountain for the past year, fond of women, wine, and meat. But because he’s bald, most people don’t know of his vices!”

Gu Yi was speechless. This fence-sitter would change sides with hardly a breeze.

“Enough chatter. Go find some rope.”

“Yes, right away!”

Ma Yuan seethed. “How infuriating! To think that with all my cultivation, I fell for the likes of you—a lowlife, a trickster, and a monster! If you have any guts, untie me!”

“Untie you?” Gu Yi could not help but laugh. “Did you lose your wits along with your hair?”

Ma Yuan was incensed. “Don’t you dare mention my hair again!”

“Oh, all right. But I am curious—how did you end up bald?”

Gu Yi tied him up tightly to a chair, running his hand over the slippery scalp and giving it a friendly slap whenever he felt annoyed.

“That pale-faced boy says you love wine, meat, and women. Is that true?”

The fat, bald monk still had some backbone left; though captured, he refused to admit defeat and remained as haughty as ever. “And what if I do? Everyone has their preferences! You might rule the heavens and the earth, but you can’t control what I eat, drink, or where I spend my nights!”

Gu Yi chuckled. “Ma Yuan, I imagine you know all the best places to eat, drink, and have fun in Luyang, don’t you?”

“Of course! I’m from Luyang myself. Its splendor is beyond the imagination of people from small towns like yours!”

Gu Yi nodded. “I won’t try to control you. In fact, I’ll watch you eat, drink, and visit brothels.”

Ma Yuan gaped. “Are you mad?!”

Gu Yi pulled up a stool and sat in front of him, arms crossed, pondering how best to deal with this fellow.

“If you have something to say, say it. If you want to kill me, just do it! But you, a mere mortal, consorting with a fox spirit, will surely come to a bad end! After all, humans and demons walk different paths. Why not let me go? I’ll slay the demon and claim the reward, then we can feast together in the finest inn in the city. Wouldn’t that be grand?”

Gu Yi stood up and smacked his bald head. “Dream on. Do you ever think about anything besides food?”

Ma Yuan was truly angry now. “Either kill me or let me go, but stop hitting my head! If I get free, I’ll shave your head myself!”

Gu Yi couldn’t help but laugh. This fellow was amusing—even in his rage, he didn’t threaten murder, just a reciprocal shaving.

“What will you do with him, Master?” Zhi Hua asked.

Ma Yuan turned away, putting on a brave face as though heading to his doom.

“I’ve made up my mind,” Gu Yi replied.

Though Ma Yuan averted his gaze, his beady eyes slowly slid back, clearly invested in his fate.

“First, I need to make sure he obeys me.”

Ma Yuan burst out laughing. “I’d rather die than be humiliated! I am a cultivator from Lixin, trained at the Luyang Academy of Immortals. Why would I obey a mere mortal like you? Delusional!”

For someone driven by desire, control was all too easy.

Gu Yi took a small black vial from his robe. “Zhi Hua, I once told you that for spirit beasts, the greatest obstacle to forging a resolute heart is desire. Some, finding the ordeal too painful, cripple themselves to bypass it. It brings later troubles, but spares them torment for a while.”

Zhi Hua was puzzled. “What do you mean, Master?”

“As the saying goes, cut the root to end all trouble. If heat is too much to bear, why not simply avoid the disaster altogether?”

Glancing at the fat bald monk, Gu Yi watched him swallow nervously, his face tense and pale.

“Don’t worry, medicine is kinder than a blade—no pain.”

Zhi Hua was delighted, her little fists clenched, mouth agape. “Is there really such a thing? Hurry, let him take it! I want to see what happens next!”

Ma Yuan cursed her in his heart. Vile little fox spirit!

“Good. Hold him with your spiritual energy, make sure his mouth stays open.”

Ma Yuan finally cracked. “No, no, no, brother, I was just hot-tempered before—there’s no need for this. I still want to dote on my sweet little sisters, please don’t! And anyway, even if I take it, there’s no guarantee I’ll obey you, right?”

“To get a stubborn duck to yield, you must have struck a sore spot.” Gu Yi tossed a pill into his own mouth. “It’s just a common spirit pill.”

Zhi Hua burst into laughter again, making Ma Yuan even angrier. “You cunning brat! Do you dare give your name?”

Gu Yi stopped joking, formed a mudra with his hand, and spiritual energy began to gather. “Little Yiyi taught me this out of boredom… Ma Yuan, was it? I’m going to seal the spirit channel to your kidneys for now. Obey me, and I’ll lift it. Disobey, and it’s farewell to your precious sisters.”

Ma Yuan’s eyes widened in horror, every fiber of his being screaming ‘no.’

Gu Yi calmly inscribed a delicate spirit rune on his lower abdomen. It hurt, but Ma Yuan endured it in silence, forcing Gu Yi to press even harder just to make sure the seal was effective.

At last, Ma Yuan’s face flushed with pain, and he couldn’t avoid coughing.

“Will that do?” Zhi Hua’s eyes shone with envy. “Master, I want one too!”

“You’re all perverts!” Ma Yuan squeezed his eyes shut. This day was truly cursed. Just listen to the absurd things they were saying.

He looked down at the rune now embedded in his flesh. “You’re a sly one. You think a few runes can fool me? I don’t believe there’s such a thing.”

“Time will tell.”

Gu Yi had learned rune writing from a monster, and with real spirit runes, once enacted, they could not easily be undone.

…

The next day.

The sky was clear, not a cloud in sight. A gentle breeze drifted through the courtyard, rustling the locust tree in the northeast corner. Gu Yi sat in the center, pen poised over paper, focused.

The serene scene was shattered by a sudden bang as the door was flung open.

Gu Yi smiled. “So, have you tried it? How does it feel?”

Ma Yuan hurried up, sword pointed at him. “I’m a reasonable man. Remove that rune, and I won’t harm you. You can’t beat me!”

“You point a sword at me and talk about reason?”

Gu Yi ignored the bluster, and as his brush moved, spiritual energy in the courtyard stirred, the tip of his pen glowing faintly.

Ma Yuan was stunned. Incredible! Someone could actually write such beautiful, wondrous runes!

“Runes aren’t techniques or formations. They’re special patterns that resonate with the world. Did you know that bees’ hives are perfect hexagons? All things have spirit. The stroke of a brush can startle ghosts and gods. Isn’t rune writing fascinating?”

Gu Yi set his pen down, and the restless energy settled into calm.

Ma Yuan, entranced, couldn’t help but cry out when the demonstration ended. “Don’t stop now…”

Stop? That was precisely the point.

“Runes aren’t hard. Even non-cultivators can learn. But each rune is the creator’s private property and not easily shared. Each method yields different effects. My spirit-binding rune… you can’t see that one.”

He’d recently warned Canlian that his wound rune was especially effective, and not all methods could compare.

Ma Yuan snorted. “So what if I saw? Can I really steal your technique with a single glance?”

“You never know. That’s how I learned—one glance was enough.”

“Braggart.”

Learning at a glance was only theoretically possible, Ma Yuan had reason to doubt. Gu Yi had no intention of arguing, instead asking, “So, have you decided? I need a favor from you. Do it well, and I’ll remove the rune.”

Ma Yuan circled the table, eyeing Gu Yi. “Who are you, really? Why so mysterious? You know so much about cultivation, but have no spiritual power. Are you a fallen cultivator? I’ve seen runes before, but never anyone who could move spiritual energy with only a brush, no cultivation, and risk their life with a little demon. There’s nothing normal about you.”

“If you want to know more, help me. You’ll have plenty of time to study me.”

“Who taught you to write runes?”

“You’ll need to get used to not asking me so many questions.”

After a few moments, Ma Yuan made up his mind, plopping onto the stone table. “I was angry at first and thought of using force to make you remove the rune. But I’m not ruthless. Why not let me remove it myself? As for helping, Ma Yuan is a man of honor—a little favor is nothing!”

“You remove it yourself?” Gu Yi honestly wasn’t looking down on him, but by the time he figured it out, he’d probably be past his prime.

Ma Yuan grinned slyly. “Just teach me how to write it. If I learn, I can remove it myself.”

So that was it—no wonder his attitude had improved.

“Fine, trying to be clever, eh? Want to learn my binding rune?”

He knew quality when he saw it; one look at Gu Yi’s technique and he was hooked.

Though he had tricked Ma Yuan a few times, this truth he spoke: many cultivators could create their own runes, and some basic methods were common knowledge, like wound runes, though less effective. Only the masterpieces of true experts were revered—like the difference between the peerless Nine Swords and ordinary swordsmanship.

Because of their rarity, such exquisite runes were never freely shared.

Ma Yuan tossed his sword aside, shamelessly asking, “With my talent, how long would it take me to master your binding rune?”

“When did I say I’d teach you?”

Ma Yuan shamelessly persisted. “No rush, no rush. Tell me, what’s the favor?”

He was thinking: Once I learn his rune and remove the seal, I’ll be free. What can he do then?

Gu Yi had his own plan. “It’s simple. Come with me to Luyang, then help me look for someone in those less savory corners of society.”

“Find someone? That’s all?”

“Emm…” Gu Yi remembered the four swordsmen from the other day. Though they’d stayed behind, others might be sent. So finding someone was secondary—the real challenge was reaching Luyang safely. Still, he nodded. “Yes, it’s that simple. No danger!”

“Good! I’ll help you!”

Ma Yuan burst out laughing.

Gu Yi laughed along.

Just then, Zhi Hua ran in from outside. “Master! Master! There’s a huge mass of dark clouds in the distance—the sky’s turning black!”

Her face was full of terror, sweat beading on her delicate nose.

“Dark clouds? Where?”

Surrounded by mountains, you couldn’t see far without climbing. Gu Yi followed Zhi Hua’s pointing finger, leapt onto the roof, and saw dark clouds spreading rapidly across the sky to the north. No lightning, no rain, but an overwhelming, ominous power was bearing down!

“What is this…” Standing high, Gu Yi frowned.

Zhi Hua was trembling, stammering, her instincts quaking though she didn’t know why.

Ma Yuan raised one eyebrow in mocking, “Clouds blot out the sun—looks like a downpour’s coming?”

“Idiot.”