Chapter 294 — The Origin of the Soul

"I was just measuring the water flow and got some mud on me. I ask the master of this house to forgive it."

Shen Mu looked over this young gentleman on the boat, and felt at once that he was no mortal man. He could not help sighing inwardly that a man could be so handsome after all, and said, "May I ask, senior brother, where you have come from?"

"Upper Heaven."

Xu Shenghua looked Shen Mu over. The youth was plainly of simple stuff, his gaze clear, seemingly without a trace of impurity — and yet there clung to him a wild, unbridled air. "And where does senior brother come from?"

Shen Mu thought a moment. He had never heard of a place called Upper Heaven; no doubt it was one more hidden holy land. "I come from Yincan Village."

Xu Shenghua had never heard the name either. He set Yincan Village down in his heart and wondered, "Could it be some hidden holy land?"

"Just now I saw senior brother wave his hand and bring forth dozens of strands of primal energy — very strange indeed. It seemed you had woven them out of sword, quite unlike the ordinary way of refining qi into strands. I could not help staring."

Xu Shenghua opened a packet of tea and began to brew. The four girls boiled the water, and they waited quietly a while; only when the boiling water had cooled a little did he drop the leaves in.

Xu Shenghua put the lid on the pot and said, "Your swordsmanship is extraordinary. Those dozens of strands of primal energy fell into the river just now, and stood perfectly upright on the riverbed. Each strand came to rest on a grain of sand, and not one pressed its grain down the least fraction, nor floated up the least fraction. The current runs so swift, yet it did not shift your strands a hair. Such control is truly admirable. Your attainments in the arts of calculation must be very high — have you studied the sword arts of the Daoist Sect?"

Shen Mu was startled. "Senior brother has keen eyes. I have indeed studied the Fourteen Chapters of the Daoist Sword. Primal energy strands are very hard to control — they have no weight, and to stand them upright and vertical truly takes calculation. I use geomagnetic primal-force computation; only so can I hold them motionless."

Xu Shenghua let the tea steep, then lifted the pot and poured for Shen Mu. "To control so many strands at once, exerting not a thread of force — that too is a great discipline, subtle to the last degree. So fine a control, and your swordsmanship must be high as well. If you turned that mastery of primal energy to the command of a sword, your swordsmanship would surely be terrible to behold. I imagine only the Daoist Sect's Fourteen Chapters of the Daoist Sword would demand sword control so delicate. And your strands are unusual besides — woven of sword qi. A strand of primal energy that is itself a sword art."

"The primal energy strand is the Sword-Coiling Form, created by the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping."

Shen Mu was startled again. He praised him: "You are a rare one. This is the first time I have met anyone like you, who can see through my primal energy strands at a glance. Many who have fallen to my hand never realize it. You are quite remarkable. No doubt Upper Heaven is remarkable too."

Xu Shenghua laughed. "I caught it by luck. It is Yincan Village that is truly remarkable, to have taught a disciple like you. Come, taste my Upper Heaven's Qingming tea."

Shen Mu breathed in the fragrance from the cup and took a sip. At first it was somewhat bitter, but at once a sweetness welled up from deep in his palate, unending, and made his mouth water.

The brewed leaves of the Qingming tea were a fine sight too — each one like a Maojian tip, like a sparrow's tongue, suspended in the middle of the liquor, some drifting up, some sinking down.

Shen Mu praised it: "Good tea. Might you spare me some?"

Xu Shenghua hesitated. "The Qingming I brought with me this journey is not much..."

Shen Mu laughed. "Another day I will treat you to wine!"

Xu Shenghua's eyes lit up. He brought out his own tea packet and gave Shen Mu half. "Then it is settled! When I have finished my business, where shall I find you?"

Shen Mu accepted the packet. "The capital. I serve there as a Court Counselor. When you reach the capital, go straight to the Imperial Academy and ask for me."

"Good. When I am done, I will come to the capital of Jingping and find you for a drink."

The two raised tea in place of wine and drank to each other. The cups met with a clink. Shen Mu and Xu Shenghua were calm and composed — and yet their sleeves suddenly billowed, and a howling wind rushed out from behind them into the distance.

The river surface broke into sudden thunder. The water burst open again and again, and the surging waves joined into two straight lines, blasting upstream and downstream. Dozens of reports rang out before all fell still again.

The four girls on the boat took fright. Shen Mu and Xu Shenghua had been talking so amicably — how had they suddenly traded a blow?

A flicker of surprise crossed Shen Mu's face. He gave Xu Shenghua a deep look. Xu Shenghua was somewhat surprised as well. He lifted his cup to his lips.

Their tea finished, Xu Shenghua took the seven-stringed qin from Qingying and plucked it unhurriedly. The notes were slow, carrying a lofty mood, as though a god beyond the nine heavens were writing his heart in music — or perhaps offering an invitation, inviting a guest to be received beyond the heavens.

Shen Mu listened a while, then praised: "Truly a lofty mood, leapt free of the dust. It is only that I am within the dusty world, and cannot leap out of it."

Ling Yuxiu called from the riverbank: "Cowherd! Come over here, quickly!"

"Coming!"

Shen Mu called back over his shoulder, rose, and said apologetically, "I have a great many worldly matters. I will trouble you no longer — I still have the waterworks to see to."

Xu Shenghua rose to see him off. "The trifles of the red dust will only disturb your heart. Better to come to Upper Heaven for quiet."

Shen Mu leapt down from the boat and laughed. "You are too carefree. I could never live such an idle life — I like to be busy." (Hmm—) "Remember to come find me in the capital. I owe you a drink!"

Xu Shenghua nodded. The painted boat drifted on, down the river.

Aboard, Qingying came to the tea table and was about to clear the cups when Xu Shenghua said, "Do not touch them yet."

Qingying was puzzled, and hastily withdrew her hand.

Of the two cups on the table, one was the cup Shen Mu had drunk from and one Xu Shenghua's. Half a cup of water still remained in Shen Mu's; Xu Shenghua's was empty.

Xu Shenghua said to Yu Liu, "Raise the jade bottle. Guard the tea table — do not let our boat be damaged."

Yu Liu hastily stirred her primal energy. The jade bottle she held flew up and turned over, mouth downward.

A screen of light poured out of the bottle and covered the tea table.

Xu Shenghua breathed upon the table. The two cups burst apart with a crack. Xu Shenghua's cup shattered to powder, countless fragments shooting in all directions, and the blast shook the tea table into dust. But the half-cup of tea in Shen Mu's cup suddenly turned to a beam of light that split the cup cleanly down the middle into two halves — it did not shatter.

"A master."

Xu Shenghua had Yu Liu put away the jade bottle and examined the fragments of the two cups. His face was grave. "This youth is about my age, yet his cultivation is a shade stronger than mine. Remarkable indeed. These divine-fruit men of the Central Land are not to be made light of!"

He and Shen Mu had clinked cups, and taken the chance to trade a blow. In the clash of primal energy each had hidden his own divine power in that single contact. Xu Shenghua's primal energy had been pressed down a shade by Shen Mu's, and the force that came from Shen Mu's side was of the utmost hardness and fierceness, and so his cup had been shattered to powder.