Chapter 18 — Soup

In the quiet chamber, Zuo Yan sat cross-legged in meditation.

He was cultivating the Embryonic Breath Divine Refinement for all he was worth—the damned Embryonic Breath Divine Refinement!

The damned Pu demon!

He cursed the freak countless times over. Last night it had gone berserk and been brutally suppressed; his divine consciousness had taken another grievous wound and been left battered beyond recognition by the Pu demon. The result of a consciousness beaten beyond recognition was a pain that bored into the marrow—so now, without the Pu demon even needing to prod him, he still had to cultivate the Embryonic Breath Divine Refinement with all his might.

Now that he had calmed down, Zuo Yan felt like weeping but had no tears. That night, he never should have gone to the spirit field. At the mere thought of the Pu demon, that bone-deep chill and uncanny strangeness crept over him as if a venomous snake were slowly slithering up his trouser leg, and an involuntary dread spread through his whole body.

Last night's suppression had also driven home to him the unbridgeable gulf between their strengths.

A powerful, freakish madman!

Zuo Yan could already foresee that his future would be pitch-black.

The fellow had harbored ill intent from the very start. From the black sea at the beginning, to the sword intent, to his injured consciousness, and then to the Embryonic Breath Divine Refinement—step by step, laying his plans, until Zuo Yan had become a lamb awaiting slaughter beneath his claws, without so much as a struggle.

Poor fool that he was, he had thought there was merely an ill-tempered neighbor living inside—never imagining it was an evil demon.

If before he had only suspected, now he was one hundred percent certain that Pu was a demon; apart from a demon, who else could be so evil?

Waking faintly, as though chaos were first parting, Zuo Yan opened his eyes and softly exhaled the breath that had been circulating within his body.

The breath was long and drawn-out; when exhaled, it condensed fine as an arrow.

Zuo Huan felt somewhat reassured. The Embryonic Breath Divine Refinement was truly wondrous—the pain in his consciousness diminished considerably. Moreover, he could distinctly sense his consciousness gradually stabilizing. Last night the Pu demon had merely flicked a finger, and Zuo Jin's consciousness had nearly been scattered to nothing.

He did not know where the Embryonic Breath Divine Refinement had come from; its language was obscure and hard to understand, and its syntax was as far removed from the jade slip he had bought as east from west. Only with great effort had he barely managed to read the first section.

He had never considered asking the Pu demon. Lessons written in blood and tears had taught him that anyone hoping to take advantage of that fellow was just waiting to be cheated to death.

The first section was titled "The Chapter of Settling the Spirit," and it discoursed on how to enter meditation, calm the spirit, and steady the consciousness.

This was precisely what Zuo Yan needed most at present. After repeated injuries, his consciousness was nearly in fragments; if he did not repair it now, he was very likely to descend into madness. As for the "one breath" the Pu demon had spoken of, it meant completing one full embryonic breath.

The embryonic breath was the core and most fundamental method of cultivation in the Embryonic Breath Divine Refinement, and also a method of breathing and respiration that Zuo Xuan had never even heard of. It was said to originate from the breathing of humans while still in the womb: it did not use the mouth or nose, but required every pore and orifice of the whole body, transforming qi into threads and drawing it in bit by bit, dispersing it throughout the body. These hundreds of tiny air currents circulated within the body and gathered, then were expelled again through the mouth and nose.

The pores and acupoints over the human body were like the stars of the cosmos, beyond counting: the mouth and nose were the largest, the body's acupoints next, and most numerous of all were those minute, invisible pores spread across the whole body.

Zuo Yan was very curious how the senior who had founded this set of mental techniques had ever hit upon such an inconceivable method. Truly, like attracts like—the mental technique the Pu demon, that freakish madman, had tossed out was just as freakish as he was.

He still had no way to complete a single full embryonic breath.

Pu Yi's words had been no idle threat; the Embryonic Breath Divine Refinement recorded it plainly. These past few days he had in fact still been breathing through mouth and nose—whatever else, he had to stabilize his consciousness first. If his consciousness remained unstable, the intermittent stabbing pain alone would be enough to cost Zuo Yan his little life.

But once Zuo Yan's consciousness had stabilized a little, he would have to face a problem: how to complete one embryonic breath. One breath was the mark of entry into the Embryonic Breath Divine Refinement.

The three-month deadline hung over his heart like a shadow.

He thought of the mad light that had shone in the Pu demon's eyes when he spoke of torture. Zuo Yan was certain that if he truly failed to reach the one-breath stage within three months and faced blood surging backward through his vessels, the Pu demon would be standing by, savoring with relish the spectacle of his agony.

What a wretched life!

Zuo Yan ground his teeth and cursed that she-male over and over in his heart, seething with fury.

Suddenly, a piece of news from the sound-jade beside him caught his attention.

"Following last month's rise in the price of spirit grain, the price of spirit grain has risen again this month. Demand for high-grade spirit grain has surged greatly, which has also driven up the price of low-grade spirit grain…"

He gave a start—spirit grain prices were rising! This was undoubtedly the best news he had heard in days.

The Pu demon suddenly popped out: "A very interesting thing."

Zuo Yan was dumbstruck; it took him a long while to react, and then he pointed at the Pu demon, sputtering incoherently: "You—you—you—how can you come out?"

The Pu demon blinked his deep crimson right eye: "I—I—I—why can't I come out?"

"Aren't you only able to exist in the sea of consciousness?" Zuo Yan asked foolishly.

"Who told you that?" the Pu demon asked, turning his face with a look of puzzlement.

Zuo Yan was speechless, but in his heart he could not help lamenting: it seemed he did not even have his last bargaining chip anymore. So the fellow really could move house…

The Pu demon listened for a while, then yawned: "Mm, looks like there's going to be a war."

"A war?" Zuo Yi was baffled.

The Pu demon did not explain. He casually scooped the sound-jade into his hand and said lightly: "I'll be taking this." Before the words had faded, he and the sound-jade had vanished.

"You dead she-male!" Zuo Jin's roar echoed through the empty courtyard.

Just then, he suddenly heard someone knocking at the door.

Zuo Huan wondered who it could be. Ordinarily no one ever came running to his place. He hurried over and opened the door, and there stood Xiaoguo, looking utterly pitiful outside.

She held a clay jar in her hands. At the sight of Zuo Yan, her body at once shrank back, and she called out timidly: "Senior Brother."

"What is it this time?" Zuo Kan could not muster a kind tone for this little nuisance. He did not know why, but every time he saw that timid look on Xiaoguo's face, he could never control his tone.

"No, no!" Xiaoguo shook her head like a rattle-drum and hurried to explain: "Xiaoguo has come to bring Senior Brother something. Last time Senior Brother helped Xiaoguo, and Xiaoguo has not yet thanked Senior Brother."

As she spoke, her little mouth puckered, mist rose in her eyes, and she whimpered tearfully: "Xiaoguo doesn't have any spirit crystals…"