[Lady Cui's Obsession!]
It turned out that although Lady Cui was dead, her obsession had remained with the Little Fox.
The Little Fox had swallowed her whole—a demon eating a human. But if one examined this part of the story closely, was the one eating the human... truly the demon?
Perhaps for Lady Cui, ending up in the Little Fox's belly during the final moments of her life was, in fact, a form of release.
A mass of flesh and blood upon arrival, a mass of flesh and blood upon departure.
What joy is there in life? What is there to fear in death?
Better to come and go naked and free than to live a life of filth and misery.
Inside the Grass Washing Room, Song Ciwan finished dealing with the Fox Demon's body and began cleaning the Demonic Leaking Pot.
The Sutra of Sitting and Forgetting circulated silently within her. Through the Little Fox's perspective, she had clearly seen the life of this Little Demon, yet what she comprehended felt like the vicissitudes of the mortal world.
All things contain the Dao; the mortal world, too, has its Dao!
The Sutra of Sitting and Forgetting was a dual cultivation of life and spirit; one must cultivate not only True Qi, but also a true heart.
Sages of old had achieved Enlightenment in a single day, ascending to become Immortals on the spot. Although Song Ciwan could not reach such heights, she was clearly moved at this very moment.
The medicinal power accumulated from the Strengthening Pill she had taken earlier dissipated completely at this moment, then was swept up into the True Qi cluster within her Dantian.
Refining Essence and Transforming Qi, with Qi condensing into liquid—this was the Qi Transformation Stage.
Song Ciwan leaped through a tier in a single breakthrough. The deity in the Mud Ball Palace between her brows trembled, and her Spiritual Acupoints showed faint signs of opening.
Yet not a hint of this showed on her face; in fact, her expression was numb. She was just like everyone else in the Grass Washing Room. After all, when you've seen too many dead bodies, and you never know if you'll be next, the worry and fear eventually give way to numbness.
As she scrubbed the Demonic Leaking Pot, the Heaven and Earth Scale appeared again.
[The suffering of time, the resentment of human nature. Resentment: one jin and three taels. Can be sold.]
Oh—
A vision appeared as well, but this one was fragmented and hazy.
What was it? A dark, endless night; the sound of a water clock dripping without end; infinite shadows. Someone was swaying, someone was crying, someone was letting out a bloodcurdling howl...
"I can't go on! My whole family is starving to death."
"Husband, we can't afford to support your younger brother's studies anymore! Our son hasn't had a bite of food in three days!"
"Just die! Why don't you just die? Everyone just die..."
CLANG! The leaking pot overturned, and everything fell silent.
A cold sweat seemed to break out on Song Ciwan's back. Looking at the leaking pot before her, she saw that after the grass washing, the hideous veins on its body seemed to have dimmed slightly. It felt thoroughly cold to the touch.
Song Ciwan's heart felt as if it had been washed clean, too. A chill slowly welled up within it, leaving it pristine and cold.
'In the small city of Su Yang, it seemed there were demon fiends everywhere. Was the power of demon fiends in this world so great that Heaven's will favored them?'
'No,' she thought. 'It's that the human heart harbors demons. It's this world that forces people to become them.'
...
At youshi [5-7 PM], Song Ciwan got off work. She went to the market again, this time intentionally buying a few things they didn't usually have at home.
They weren't expensive, just some cheap odds and ends, mainly to take back and test the versatility of the Heaven and Earth Scale.
At the eastern corner of the market, Old Chen was still selling his tofu pudding, but Mo the Crooked was nowhere to be seen. Other people were telling stories, mostly tales of common swordsmen and heroes. Listening to them was a good way to deepen her understanding of this world.
Song Ciwan then overheard someone mention, "Old Liu's family on Qianming Street, the one that runs the cloth shop—his son is incredible! He trained hard in a martial arts school since he was young, went through Skin Refining, Tendon Refining, and Bone Refining, and entered the Organ Refining Stage last year. And in the recent assessment, he even got into the Demon Slayer Guard!"
"Hiss... the Demon Slayer Guard? You get an Official Position right away, right? The Ninth-grade Captain one?"
"That's right, an Official Position! From now on, he's different from us poor sods. The Liu Family is about to soar..."
The Demon Slayer Guard required a minimum of the Organ Refining Stage to join, and new recruits were immediately granted a Ninth Grade Official Position. One shouldn't look down on the Ninth Grade; no matter how low, it was still an official rank. Officials were distinct from clerks, and even more so from commoners. From that point on, their world would be completely different!
Song Ciwan listened quietly from the side, secretly calculating in her mind. 'Just what is the level of a Demon-slaying Captain at the Organ Refining Stage? How strong are they?'
Honestly, without seeing one in person, it was hard to get a concrete idea.
The cultivation systems of this world were rich and varied, and common people were always hearing something new.
The paths that circulated among the common folk could be roughly divided into four categories: first, practicing Martial Arts; second, pursuing scholarship; third, Cultivating Immortality; and fourth, Buddhist Cultivation.
Those who practiced Martial Arts tempered their bodies and refined their Qi and Blood. Once their Qi and Blood took form, they were considered top-tier experts in the eyes of mortals, possessing the capital to fight against demon fiends. This was the peak that a Martial Artist of the Postnatal Realm could reach: the Organ Refining Stage!
As for Postnatal Returning to Innate, that was a completely different realm, something ordinary people had no contact with and would find difficult to understand.
Besides the most common path of Martial Arts, Scholars trained in Talent.
This Talent, however, was not like Qi and Blood—it had no form or trace and could not be grasped. Talent required a chance flash of Spiritual Light, and "chance"... well, that made it rather ethereal and difficult to pin down.
Most Scholars had no strength to speak of, but if they had a flash of Spiritual Light and generated Talent, then the stories of reciting poetry to stop enemies, transforming Talent into weapons, and conjuring armies with a stroke of a brush could all become reality.
As for the specific realms of Talent, or whether it had any sort of level division? Don't ask. If you asked, the answer was "I don't know."
It was something ordinary people had no access to, so Song Ciwan currently had no way of learning about it either.
As for Cultivating Immortality, that was even more ethereal than scholarship.
In the tales of Seeking Immortality that circulated among the common folk, it was said that to cultivate, one needed at least an inch of Immortal Bone.
Where did Immortal Bone come from? Likewise, no one knew.
Seeking Immortals relied on encounter; finding Immortals relied on fate. Those without the karmic connection should not even try.
The Buddhist Sect followed a similar logic. Ordinary Buddhist Temples could be seen everywhere, and there were many Monks, but most of those Monks actually practiced Martial Arts. Those were Martial Monks.
As for true Buddhist Cultivators, Mages, they were difficult for ordinary people to encounter or find.
Perhaps they weren't truly rare, but due to the insular nature of their circles, ordinary people simply couldn't see or find them.
For someone like Song Ciwan, who had relied on the Heaven and Earth Scale to reach the beginner level of Cultivating Immortality in just a few short days... it had to be said, such an opportunity was hard to come by in this world.
Unfortunately, she possessed Magical Power but no Attack Techniques. After comparing everything she knew, Song Ciwan still had no idea what the difference in combat power was between a Cultivator at the Energy-Introducing Realm and a Martial Artist at the Organ Refining Stage.
'Alright, no more dawdling. Time to go home and open my blind boxes!'
'I hope I get something that can boost my combat power this time. This world is too dangerous.'
In Jishan Square, time in the Song Family's small courtyard seemed unchanged. The Big White Goose was as enthusiastic and comforting as ever. Song Ciwan washed her hands, lit incense, and opened her blind boxes.
[You have sold one jin and seven taels of Demon Fiend Malice. You have received two hundred years of Lifespan.]
[You have sold one tael and three maces of Fox Demon Enchantment Essence. You have received the Side Door Taoist Skill, Void Illusion Demon Sword.]
[You have sold Lady Cui's obsession—human desires, the suffering of hateful unions, the sorrow of parting from loved ones... three jin and four taels. You have received the Puppetry Technique, Substitution.]
[You have sold the suffering of time and the resentment of human nature—one jin and three taels of Resentment. You have received the Side Door Taoist Skill, Escape into the Night.]
Streams of information flooded her mind as all sorts of Strange Techniques blossomed in the sea of her heart.
A smile appeared on Song Ciwan's face. The Big White Goose, not knowing why she was smiling, just flapped its wings, honking a song to accompany her.
Song Ciwan: "Haha, haha, hahaha..."