Cultivation Retirement Plan (BL)

bgm: moonlit haze, spring waves

Although the two had decided to stake out the ancestral hall that night, there were still preparations to do beforehand. First was setting up a protective ward around Old Madame Su’s quarters to alert them in case anything untoward approached the building. As the likes of ghosts and demons all carried traces of yin energy, it was enough to make a ward infused with bright yang energy to keep them back.

Next was the issue of weapons. Nan Wuyue did well enough with his training sword—it was all he could handle at his current third level Foundation Establishment rank—but Mo Yixuan was still missing his own sword. He had asked Ouyang Che about it, who informed him that higher level cultivators were simply capable of assimilating the blades into their own qi to summon and retract at will. That was all well and good in theory, but after a few failed attempts to call out his own weapon, Mo Yixuan had simply settled for borrowing one of the sturdier swords in the training hall. Although it couldn’t take the full extent of his sword qi, it would be enough to deal with most enemies. 

At any rate, if they ran into a foe that forced Mo Yixuan to use his full strength, he’d have more things to worry about than inferior sword alloys—like fleeing for his life.

Master and disciple reached the ancestral hall just in time to see Ting’er withdrawing with an empty tray.

“Good evening, Sir Daoists,” she greeted them with a small bow.

Mo Yixuan looked beyond her to see an altar table filled with fresh incense and food offerings for the memorial tablets resting above. “Isn’t it a little early to give offerings to the ancestors?”

“Daoist Mo may not know, but here in the south it’s tradition to start honoring the Ghost Festival one day early,” Ting’er replied earnestly. “They say it wards off bad luck ahead of time.”

“If that’s the case, why not do it nightly?” Mo Yixuan asked. After all, the entirety of July was known as Ghost Month, when the gates of the Netherworld opened to release the hungry ghosts into the human world.

Ting’er giggled softly. “Daoist Mo must be joking! If we held a feast for the ghosts everyday, they’d never leave our house alone!”

“I see,” Mo Yixuan nodded to himself while the servant girl walked off. He then approached the hall and stopped by the entrance, offering his simple respects with both hands. Above them, a row of red lanterns glowed merrily in the dark, acting as beacons to guide the spirits to their meals.

“Shizun, do you believe in ghosts?” Nan Wuyue asked suddenly from his side.

Mo Yixuan only looked askance at him. “You live in a world where humans can cultivate as demons or demi-immortals, and you’re asking me this?”

“So shizun does believe in them?”

“Don’t you?” Mo Yixuan asked back.

Nan Wuyue hesitated before replying. “I’m not sure. The three realms are all places that exist in this plane, but I’ve only heard of the Netherworld in legends. If it isn’t something we can see or touch, how can we be sure it’s really there?”

The three realms Nan Wuyue referred to were the Lower, Middle, and Higher Realms. Of the trio, the Higher Realms had long been sealed thousands of years ago when the last of the gods and immortals ascended to their plane. The Middle Realm was a description of cultivation strength, not a physical location, and included both the celestial and demonic cultivation sects. The former resided in a series of floating peaks and continents in the sky while the latter preferred the pits and darker depths of Earth among the humans. Speaking of humans—they made up the majority of the Lower Realms and lived on the ground co-existing side-by-side with various Yao, or plant and animal spirits who had acquired enlightenment through cultivation.

Mo Yixuan only arched his brows. “Have you ever seen 1,000 taels of gold? Or the color of the wind in the air?”

“No?” Nan Wuyue blinked at him.

“But you know they exist,” Mo Yixuan went on. “Then why shouldn’t ghosts and souls, who can’t be seen or touched but still affect our world in tangible ways, count as nonexistent? Doesn’t it make sense for something invisible to hail from an invisible realm as well?”

“Then shizun,” Nan Wuyue said quickly, “What about the other you? Is he in the underworld now?”

The other Mo Yixuan… If his soul didn’t switch places with me, did it dissipate in the Qi Refining Pool? Either path would spell death. Of course, there’s a chance he’s still lurking in here somewhere. But there’s no way for me to find that out.

“That’s a question you should ask King Yama, not me,” Mo Yixuan reasoned.

“I would if I could,” Nan Wuyue creased his brows. 

Mo Yixuan only found it amusing that Nan Wuyue would think about it so seriously. “Whether or not he’s gone, you have your own path to walk now. There’s no need to take him with you.”

As Nan Wuyue continued his way in life, so would he meander his way towards death. The two of them were ultimately parallel travelers with different final destinations.

“Maybe that’s why I can’t accept it,” Nan Wuyue said.

“Mm—hm?” Mo Yixuan looked down. Nan Wuyue’s words had fit his thoughts so well that he didn’t realize the boy had spoken out loud. “Accept what?”

“That he’s gone and you’re here,” Nan Wuyue went on. “I was born with nothing. Until I was granted the chance to cultivate at Star Pavilion Sect, ‘nothing’ was all I knew. Everything I wanted to have, I took with my own hands. That’s the only way it feels real and why I can’t let him go just yet. How do I know he won’t return like how you suddenly appeared one day?”

If that day really comes, it’ll be his problem, not mine, Mo Yixuan mused. Out loud he said, “Then do what you set out to do: get stronger. When he’s no longer a threat, you won’t have to worry about him.”

“The last thing I’ll do is worry about that man,” Nan Wuyue’s expression instantly soured. 

Mo Yixuan only clicked his tongue at the heated statement. “Temper, temper.”

Nan Wuyue instantly ducked his head. “Yes, shizun.”

You’re so docile half the time I can’t even tell what you’re thinking. Mo Yixuan had mixed emotions. That was how he’d underestimated Nan Wuyue last time. But it was true that tigers who tucked in their claws were easier to deal with than those who brandished them, so he wasn’t going to call out Nan Wuyue’s act. 

“Let’s get ready,” he said briskly.

—

The ancestral hall was a building located in the rearmost corner of the manor grounds in a small enclosed courtyard. Besides the incense burners and their joss sticks on the altar table, there was also a huge incense holder made of stone standing in the courtyard that was filled with incense as long as Mo Yixuan’s forearm and two fingers wide.

As there were no seats, Mo Yixuan and Nan Wuyue simply took to the roofs. The moon was bright and full above them in preparation for Ghost Festival day and the weather pleasantly warm. There was enough space between them to fit two people, one because Nan Wuyue respected his master’s boundaries and two because Mo Yixuan had actively kept his distance.

The skies were clear to begin with, but clouds soon began to creep across the skies. At the stroke of midnight, a sudden wind blustered through the courtyard, flickering the candles and incense burning within the hall. Both Mo Yixuan and Nan Wuyue rose to their feet, swords at the ready.

“High traces of yin energy,” Mo Yixuan observed.

“There’s a demonic tint to that wind,” Nan Wuyue said at the same time, then added, “I’ve ran into a couple demons in the Lower Realm before.” He meant five years later in his previous life when he first stepped foot into the demon realm, but Mo Yixuan only assumed he was talking about his childhood. 

Master and disciple exchanged looks before Mo Yixuan moved first, bringing his blade through the 23rd mansion, Ghost. A curtain of red-tinged sword qi surrounded them both at the same time the world grew sharper in focus and hue. As one of the houses under Song of the Vermillion Bird, Ghost and its related skills were all focused on subterfuge and illusions. With this, they would perceive the environment in greater clarity while dulling their presence to enemy parties.

One after another, master and disciple leapt to the courtyard and ducked behind the giant stone incense burner. Mo Yixuan peered inside the hall and could vaguely make out a black, pulsing cloud-like mass floating in the center of the hall.

“That's a strange ghost…” Nan Wuyue muttered to himself.

“Shh,” Mo Yixuan shushed him and drew on more internal energy to focus his vision. Abruptly, the black cloud seemed to take on a vaguely human shape about the size of a teenager, though its features were impossibly blurred. As Mo Yixuan watched, the creature seemed to shuffle on its knees before...bending forward?

‘Is it paying respects?’ This time, Nan Wuyue transmitted the message directly to Mo Yixuan’s ears. ‘Why would a ghost need to pray?’

Mo Yixuan considered it. ‘The Su Clan has been treating it like family all these years. Maybe now the ghost believes in it too.’

Nan Wuyue’s expression was full of doubt. ‘Shizun, we should eliminate it before it causes any more trouble.’

‘Wait,’ Mo Yixuan channeled. ‘I don’t sense any hostility.’

‘That doesn’t prove anything.’ Ghosts were ghosts. They didn’t belong in the human world to begin with.

Mo Yixuan was about to reply when the corner of his eye caught the mass of black suddenly tense. He raised his blade to block a tendril of black as it lashed towards them. A sharp hissing noise rose as soon as the mass made contact with the metal.

Beyond them, the human-like figure remained kneeling on the ground in prayer. The sudden attack had thinned the dark aura around it, revealing a pale, slim form within the mass. When a second attack flew towards Nan Wuyue moments later, the cloud thinned further, allowing Mo Yixuan to make out the ghostly figure of a teenage girl within.

“Shizun, the black energy carries traces of demonic qi!” Nan Wuyue said while parrying strikes with Azure Dragon steps. 

“It’s acting separately from the ghost,” Mo Yixuan realized. “They’re two independent entities.” 

A sudden thought came to him as he quick-stepped forward to stab at the ghost’s back. Instantly, a wave of demonic qi gathered in front of his sword and clashed against the tip, making him feel as if he’d stabbed into solid rock. The next second the black mass converged like a liquid to tower over his head before exploding into tiny black flying missiles. 

Mo Yixuan quickly backed away, though a few stray attacks managed to nick the ends of his sleeves and singe them black. He switched to Tortoise Steps and deflected the rest with well-timed bladework, buying Nan Wuyue some time to make it to his side.

“Does it matter?!” his disciple demanded. “One or two, they’re both our enemies!”

There were three ways to kill a ghost: expose it to sunlight or a close equivalent like pure yang energy, rip its spirit to shreds with a high cultivation base, or send it peacefully onto the next world with a Daoist or Buddhist blessing after purifying its soul. The first and third methods could ensure the spirit passed on peacefully to the Netherworld, but the second would completely destroy the soul and render it unable to reincarnate.

Mo Yixuan and Nan Wuyue had already talked over their plan: if the ghost was truly harmless, they’d send it on to the next realm. If it was actually a demonic spirit here to wreck havoc, they’d destroy it on sight. Instead, fate had laughed and given them something that was neither one nor the other, but both elements hopelessly entwined.

Possessed? No, that’s not it. It’s more like the demonic qi has a will of its own, defending the ghost and attacking us.

Originally, their preparations had included setting up an array around the ancestral hall to trap the ghost. One would bless and one would kill. But now…

“Shizun, which one?” Nan Wuyue asked. For him the kill switch was the obvious choice, but he would defer to his master’s preferences.

We can’t kill the ghost yet. We still have unresolved questions.

Mo Yixuan’s response was to toss a talisman in the air.  “Yang Formation, Life Gate!” As he spoke, the yellow paper and its symbols quickly pasted itself on the roof of the ancestral hall before its writing pulsed, sending a minor shockwave through the building. The ghost girl swayed on her knees before reaching out an arm to steady herself while the black aura around her swelled and lunged towards the ceiling in rage.

Nan Wuyue was already running forward while aiming his sword at the air. 26th mansion, Extended Net. Under the cover of clouds, a fine mesh of stars seemed to sparkle into being and descend towards the Earth in a scattered dance. Their trailing tails of lights quickly criss-crossed to form a network of lines in the sky that solidified to a net just wide enough to cover the ancestral hall. As Nan Wuyue slashed his sword towards the ground, the net fell from the heavens in response.

Meanwhile, Mo Yixuan had met the black mass at the entrance to fight it head-on, his blade and body twisting between the flailing tendrils of smoke-like wisps. It felt like pushing back a cloud of cotton; fortunately, both his speed and slashes were enough to prevent the thing and its endless number of arms from advancing. When Mo Yixuan saw the glittering net of stars falling towards his head, he channeled an extra burst of sword qi into his next attack to shove the demonic mass back towards the altar before slipping past the boundaries of the descending web.

Seconds before the net touched the ground, a terrifying force suddenly came flying at Nan Wuyue with intent to kill! Mo Yixuan reacted first, stepping behind his concentrated disciple to meet the threat head-on.

Clang!

His weapon clashed with a different blade that flipped backwards and through the air, sailing over their heads to the roof of the ancestral hall behind them. 

“Who’s there?!” Nan Wuyue demanded as Mo Yixuan turned in time to see a figure land on top of his disciple’s carefully woven net. The flying sword that Mo Yixuan deflected landed neatly in his waiting hand before he flipped his wrist, stabbing its tip directly into the gossamer canopy of stars!

“The Judge decrees this formation Null and Void!”

A violent shudder spread from the point of impact to send ripples throughout the net. Such a quick move forced Mo Yixuan to act fast; he slammed his palm into Nan Wuyue’s back to channel qi seconds before the backlash of his array being attacked hit them full on.

Boom!

The qi from both sides met in a burst of hot air that sent Mo Yixuan’s hair and robes fluttering in the wind. His hand on Nan Wuyue’s back prevented the boy from staggering backwards, but his disciple still choked and coughed up a mouthful of blood. His Extended Net shook and held steady, but didn’t advance: there was now a one foot gap between it and the ground.

The newest intruder to the scene had interrupted their seal array!

—