Pride 2

Jiuzhangji.

Although he had vaguely anticipated it, when he actually heard the person before him say this name, Fu Sang still froze for a moment.

The founding ancestor of spirit masters had taken only three personal disciples in his entire life. They were named Qiyueban, Bashengzhou, and Jiuzhangji.

The three disciples had each inherited one of the three paths of the spirit masters. For instance, Qiyueban and Bashengzhou were the old ancestors who held the highest positions in the Nether Path and Spirit Path, second only to the founding ancestor. As for why Jiuzhangji was not mentioned, it was because the “Heart Path” he inherited was somewhat special.

Every spirit master knew that spirit masters had three paths: the Nether Path guided ghosts across, the Spirit Path guided demons across, and the Heart Path guided people across.

At first glance, the things the Nether Path and Spirit Path had to deal with seemed considerably more dangerous than those of the Heart Path. But in fact, the Heart Path was the one with the highest entry threshold and the most difficult path to enter.

For this very reason, the Heart Path wD lost after Jiuzhangji. Thus, by the present day, whenever people mentioned spirit masters, everyone only acknowledged the Nether Path and Spirit Path. As for the long-lost lineage of the Heart Path, they tacitly chose to ignore it.

Fu Sang had read an introduction to the Heart Path in the Chronicles of Spirit Masters. What was written there was more or less the same as what Jiuzhangji had just described.

Just as Jiuzhangji had said, his duty was to show departed souls the way and send them toward a new life.

This sounded somewhat similar to the Nether Path, but in reality, the two systems were completely different.

Both involved souls of the dead who remained in the human world and refused to leave. Underworld spirits were people who had died tragic deaths and transformed into ghosts through negative emotions and resentment. The “souls” described by the Heart Path, however, became spirits through positive emotions and obsessions.

The difference was that, strictly speaking, underworld spirits had already become a different level of existence, while the essence of these souls remained “human.”

People experience many things throughout their lives, so naturally, they accumulate countless regrets and attachments. It was impossible to leave the world without a single thing holding them back.

Unspoken love, sunlight they had never seen, strawberry cake they had never eaten, even their attachment to home, every smile and frown of their beloved, or major events in their children’s lives… All of these could become clouds of mist that prevented souls from departing after death.

The happiness and joy of this lifetime bound them, obstructing their steps as they tried to leave and holding them back, making it difficult for them to let go of everything and start over. They could only wander among the clouds and mist day after day, unable to find release.

What Heart Path spirit masters had to do was sense these lost souls, light their way through the mist, untie their emotional knots and regrets, and guide them onto the right path.

Just as the threshold for the Nether Path was being able to see underworld spirits, and the threshold for the Spirit Path was having the ability to cross between the inner and outer worlds and fight demons, the Heart Path also had its own threshold: the “road.”

A “road” that only the dead could find.

But even the dead could be obstructed by the clouds and mist. How could the living cross over everything they possessed and reach that road without any attachments?

Therefore, to become a Heart Path spirit master, one needed not only the ability to sense souls but also to ensure that one was completely clean, without any attachments, regrets, feelings, or even emotions. Only then could one avoid being blocked by the clouds and mist and become a qualified guide.

Unfortunately, anyone who was human would have the seven emotions, six desires, greed, anger, delusion, and delusions of the mind. Almost no one could achieve true “purity” in a human body. In the several thousand years of the spirit masters’ history, only the founding ancestor and Jiuzhangji had managed it.

“Jiuzhangji from the Chronicles of Spirit Masters?”

Perhaps he still found it unbelievable, so Fu Sang asked for confirmation again.

“Mm.” Jiuzhangji nodded. “The inheritor of the Heart Path, Jiuzhangji.”

Fu Sang sneered. “It’s been several thousand years, and you’re still alive? That’s a really long life.”

Hearing this, Jiuzhangji curved his lips very slightly.

“So are you.”

“?” Fu Sang didn’t quite understand what he meant.

But clearly, Jiuzhangji had no intention of explaining.

He simply looked at Fu Sang and said,

“Come under my umbrella.”

Fu Sang glanced up at the dark-red oil-paper umbrella, then walked over.

After confirming that he was completely beneath the umbrella, Jiuzhangji made a gesture inviting him to proceed, and the two of them entered the ethereal clouds and mist together.

With a creak, the door of the general store slowly closed behind them. Fu Sang subconsciously glanced back, only to find that the general store was no longer there. His entire world had already been enveloped by soft, cloudlike mist. He could not see where he had come from or find the way ahead.

“Stay close to me.” Jiuzhangji reminded him gently, then explained,

“The place I’m taking you is called the Moon-Crossing Bridge. It is a bridge Master built for the countless helpless souls, so they can find the only direction in the clouds and mist. My task is to lead them onto the bridge and accompany them through the final stretch of their journey.”

“Living people cannot step onto the Moon-Crossing Bridge because it belongs only to souls. But this paper umbrella can conceal our auras, making the bridge believe that we no longer belong to the human world and allowing us to travel along it for a while. So stay close to me and do not leave the umbrella’s range. If the Moon-Crossing Bridge detects your aura, it will not give you the answers.”

It was unclear whether Fu Sang had listened to any of this. His focus had shifted slightly.

“You still count as a living person?”

Jiuzhangji smiled. “Of course.”

“How many years have you been alive?”

“Several thousand years, I suppose. I’ve already lost count.”

In Fu Sang’s eyes, the world before him seemed to consist only of layers upon layers of ethereal mist. But in Jiuzhangji’s eyes, everything appeared exceptionally clear. He could even warn Fu Sang,

“There are steps two paces ahead. Nine in total. Be careful.”

Fu Sang raised an eyebrow slightly, refusing to believe him. He took two steps forward himself, then did not lift his foot for the third step. Sure enough, his toes touched a hard stone step.

He then acted as though nothing had happened, silently lifted his foot a little higher, and climbed the steps one by one.

Seeing this, Jiuzhangji beside him seemed to let out a very faint laugh.

The reason it “seemed” was that when Fu Sang turned to look at him, there was no extra expression on his face.

Jiuzhangji continued,

“When you cross the Moon-Crossing Bridge, you will experience the joys and sorrows you have gone through in this life all over again. This is what people commonly call the ‘life flashing before one’s eyes.’”

Fu Sang noticed his choice of words.

“One lifetime?”

“Yes, only this lifetime.”

Jiuzhangji nodded.

“From everything being reset and starting over, to life reaching its end and karma being settled, from birth to death…that is one lifetime. Our Heart Path’s definition of a ‘lifetime’ is the same as that of your Nether Path.”

After climbing all nine steps, Jiuzhangji stopped and raised a hand to stop Fu Sang as well, signaling him to wait.

Then, holding the umbrella in one hand, he reached his other hand into the clouds and mist, as though searching for something within them. As he did so, he asked Fu Sang,

“Do you know where this lifetime of yours began?”

“?” Fu Sang raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know. From the time I can remember, I’ve always been beside an old man named Zhuge Lin.”

“In other words, you don’t know where you came from or who your parents were? What about your name? Who gave you the name Fu Sang?”

Jiuzhangji asked a very good question.

But Fu Sang wasn’t particularly willing to discuss these things with other people.

“Is it necessary to ask so much?”

“It is necessary, Fu Sang. Please tell me.”

Jiuzhangji’s tone was mild, and his manner was not overbearing, yet there was an air of unquestionable authority.

Fu Sang pursed his lips.

“I once had a copper pendant that I carried with me. They said I’d had it with me since birth. The two characters for Fu Sang were engraved on it. Nobody gave me a name. They simply used those two characters to address me.”

“What happened to the pendant?”

“I melted it down.”

He had melted it down and made it into the five copper rings on the ghost-blood whip.

Unfortunately, the ghost had escaped, and the ghost-blood whip was destroyed as well.

Nothing remained.

Jiuzhangji didn’t say anything. He only nodded thoughtfully.

It was not until he withdrew his hand that a tiny point of light appeared in his pale palm.

He gathered the little point of light into his palm and asked,

“Are you ready? We can begin crossing the bridge.”

What was there to prepare for?

Fu Sang couldn’t be bothered to answer. He simply took a step forward. Seeing him move, Jiuzhangji followed with the paper umbrella, continuing the previous topic as they walked.

“But in my view, the starting point of this lifetime of yours isn’t here.”

“?” Fu Sang frowned and instinctively wanted to turn around to look at him.

But the next moment, his consciousness dispersed like the clouds and mist before his eyes. Unfamiliar memories flooded into his vision, and he saw a desolate city.

At the same time, Jiuzhangji’s voice drifted beside his ears.

“Your starting point was a small city in Lingbei a thousand years ago, called Monan. Your name was Su Li. The Su Li for ‘tracing back,’ and the Li for ‘parting.’”

Fu Sang had no time to refute his words.

Because in the next instant, like a sudden dream, he arrived in the city called Monan. Life in the city slowly unfolded like a painting, and unfamiliar scenes leaped into his mind one after another.

“Your father came from a distinguished background, and your family was a well-known prominent clan in the area. Your mother was a famous beauty in Lingbei. Not only was she breathtakingly beautiful, but she was also proficient in poetry, music, calligraphy, painting, and all the other refined arts. You were once surrounded by countless blessings and expectations. Unfortunately, you don’t remember these things very clearly, because when you were five years old, Monan was massacred by bandits from the mountains. The bandits were cruel. They took every life in the city and left no survivors. You only escaped this disaster because your parents hid you in an underground passage.”

“Monan was quiet and remote. At first, no one even discovered that such a calamity had befallen the little city. Thus, no one discovered you in the cellar, either.”

“You only remembered your parents’ final words to you. They told you not to make a sound or come out, no matter what you heard or saw. So you remained curled up in the dark, damp cellar, living alongside snakes, insects, rats, and mice.”

“Three days after the bandits left, hunger drove you to crawl out from underground. You searched everywhere for food to fill your stomach. It was then that you saw the countless corpses in Monan, as well as the countless ‘people’ wandering through the city.”

“You found it strange. Those people were clearly lying on the ground, so why were they swaying before your eyes? You even found your own father among them. They were covered in wounds and wandered aimlessly through the city. You couldn’t communicate with them or understand what they were doing. Although there were so many people around you, no one paid you any attention. You could only live alone in this bustling city.”

“Fortunately, your family had stored quite a lot of food, enough to keep you alive for a while. But the city’s water sources had been contaminated with blood. The water you drank always carried a nauseating, rusty taste.”

“You weren’t actually afraid of those corpses, nor were you afraid of those ‘people’ who couldn’t communicate with you and had no need to eat, drink, or sleep. Although everyone in the city was dead, you had never thought of leaving, because it was your home.”

“Every day, you continued to read and practice calligraphy as usual. At night, you slept beside your mother’s corpse. But a problem soon arose, because the corpses began to give off a foul smell.”

“The stench was unbearable, so you abandoned your mother’s corpse and moved back into the cellar. But that was no use, either.”

“The smell of the corpses followed you like a shadow, clinging to you constantly. Your father’s ghost also remained by your side, watching you.”

“You lived in this rotting city, reading during the day and looking up at the starry sky at night, wondering when you would rot away along with the corpses around you.”

“Later, you gradually grew accustomed to this life. Neither the ghosts nor the smell could affect you in the slightest anymore. On the contrary, the ghosts that had originally been blurry became increasingly clear in your eyes. You could even communicate with them in simple ways and have them do small things for you. You thought this was probably because you had also died at some point without your realizing it, had become one of them, and could live with them forever.”

“You don’t know how long you lived like this. You had no concept of time, nor did you deliberately count the nights and days.”

“When the food spoiled, you could no longer eat it, so you stopped eating. When the water began to taste even stranger, you stopped drinking it. Because of this, you discovered that not eating or drinking seemed to have little effect on you. You could still continue living.”

“You thought you would remain in this dead little city forever, living alongside the dead, until one day, Monan welcomed a second living person besides you.”

“When that person entered the city, you were sitting on a rooftop reading a book, because the ground was already covered with pus formed from the corpses, leaving you nowhere to step.”

“It was a cloudy day. The sky seemed ready to rain, and even the air carried a damp smell.”

“That person stood on the main street of Monan, looking up at you. He noticed you and was surprised. He even asked whether you were willing to leave with him.”

“You weren’t willing at first. But after you watched that person clear the corpses from the city and saw the familiar people leave one by one, you changed your mind.”

“So you went with him to a very distant place, a mountain shrouded in clouds and mist.”

As Jiuzhangji calmly narrated the story, the scene before Fu Sang’s eyes finally ceased to be Monan, with its corpses covering the ground.

Although he had always refused to acknowledge that he and Su Li were the same person, he could not deny that he felt a faint, subtle sense of familiarity with all the memories he was receiving.

Including Monan.

And this mountain, too.

The man who took him back was very tall. He wore a cloud-white Taoist robe and walked as though he carried the wind with him. His long hair swayed behind him as he moved, giving him an exceptionally carefree and dashing appearance. But Fu Sang could never clearly see his face.

Perhaps it was because Su Li was too small at the time, or perhaps because, in these fragments of memory, the man was either carrying him on his back or standing with the light behind him.

“You’re a child of the Zhuge family of Lingbei? I did have a brief encounter with your ancestor, Master Wen Yun.”

The man held his fingers together as though calculating something.

Su Li often saw fortune-tellers pretending to be blind and swindling people in the city make this same gesture.

Su Li waited for him. While waiting, his attention quietly wandered elsewhere.

He looked around at the surroundings.

He saw that the room contained many exquisite yet strange furnishings and ornaments.

This man lived alone in a very large house on the mountaintop. It was even more imposing than the city lord’s residence in Monan City.

After an unknown amount of time, the man finally finished calculating and spoke again in a mysterious, cryptic manner.

“You and I are destined to have a fated connection, and I have always respected Heaven’s choices.”

Su Li listened without feeling much of anything. He only asked, “What did Heaven tell you?”

“Heaven told me that you are the person destined for me. So, child… are you willing to become my disciple?”

“Become your disciple?” Although Su Li’s voice was childish, it could not conceal his indifference.

“To learn to write and read articles?”

The man seemed amused by him and waved his hand.

“No, I don’t teach those things.”

After a pause, he continued, “You spent over half a month in Monan City among all those corpses and ghosts, yet your mind was not affected in the slightest. I can tell that you have an affinity for this path. This is an opportunity Heaven has bestowed upon you, and I will teach you how to grasp it firmly.”

Su Li probably agreed.

After all, he had no other choice.

The man then left in a good mood. A while later, he returned with another person.

It was a young man whose appearance was so beautiful he seemed inhuman. He poured a cup of tea and handed it to Su Li, then led him to a prayer cushion and told him to kneel before that man.

“Come, offer Master tea.”

Su Li did as he was told. His movements were not quite proper, but it did not matter, because his master did not care at all.

His master was scalded by the tea Su Li offered him and grimaced in pain. After taking one sip, he set the teacup aside and formally introduced himself.

“I haven’t taken many disciples. Including you, there are only three. My sect doesn’t follow those stupid rules. Just do as you please in your daily life. There’s no need to restrain or suppress yourself. My approach to teaching disciples is to let their nature run free. I allow you to be arrogant, domineering, haughty, conceited, and look down on everyone, because you are my disciple. You have that right.”

“Of course, you can also choose not to respect your elders or disregard the brotherly bond toward your fellow disciples. If you have the ability, I would even welcome you killing me one day and taking my place… I’ve gone off-topic. Let me introduce everyone first. Come, this is your eldest senior brother, whose title is Jiuzhangji. The second is Bashengzhou, but who knows where he’s run off to these past two days? You won’t be able to meet him for now. As for you…”

His master lazily leaned back in his chair, lightly tapping his knee with a folding fan. After calculating and pondering for a long time, he suddenly flicked the fan open with a swish and waved it.

“Zhuge Suli, born on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, the Ghost Festival, and destined to have ties with the dead in this life. I hereby bestow upon you the title…”

“Qiyueban.”