After seeing Chief Physician Ou off, Lang Jiuchuan instructed Fuqi and Jian Lan to take half of the commission they had received and send it to the charity hall. She then entered the Small Nine Pagoda to nourish her soul and cultivate.

This was the first time she had attempted using the combined arts of Buddhism and Daoism to deal with a vengeful spirit. First she had tried to use the Vajra Divine Incantation to guide it toward salvation and reform — but it had failed. Only then did she fall back on the Daoist methods she was more proficient in.

She had simply not yet fully comprehended the Dharma methods of the Luole Dhama Master. That was why she hadn’t been able to deal with that vengeful spirit more cleanly. It was only because she was using them for the first time and was unfamiliar.

If one is inadequate, one must practice more.

Before the Luole Dharma Master’s consciousness faded away, he had left behind those very words. She ought to see them through to the end.

The moment she entered the Small Nine Pagoda, she lost herself entirely — comprehending methods and Dao — and began channeling the merit and vow-power she had accumulated since returning to the mortal world from her divine soul, guiding it bit by bit into her four limbs and the hundred bones and the five organs and six viscera, expanding her meridians and nourishing them.

Blended with the cultivation techniques of both Buddhism and Daoism, the meridians and divine soul that had been nourished in this way would become more resilient, healthy, and powerful.

Wooden Fish watched Lang Jiuchuan, who was emanating golden light from her entire body, and nearly went blind from the radiance. If she were at full power, would she not simply be able to ascend to heaven?

The better she recovered, the more of a catastrophe it would be for certain people.

Wooden Fish considered striking a blow in mourning for those certain people — but reconsidering, felt they weren’t worth the effort, and let it go.

At the same time, in the Imperial Astronomical Bureau, a newly arrived Spiritual Terrace Attendant was watching the trajectory of the stars, one hand gripping a charcoal pencil and frantically recording on paper. The movements of the celestial sphere were shifting with extraordinary speed. He was writing, when suddenly his hand stopped. He stared fixedly at the heavens, at the star patterns that were undergoing uncanny and relentless changes, his eyes growing more and more painful, his face paler and paler.

Abruptly his entire body began to tremble, his eyes filling with terror, his spiritual terrace wracked with violent agony. He spat out a mouthful of blood and fell backward.

As his consciousness dimmed and dissolved, the ever-shifting star trajectories remained there in his eyes.

The nation’s fortune was weakening.

……

When Lang Jiuchuan emerged from the Small Nine Pagoda, Jian Lan and the others all paused for a moment, startled. She was still herself — and yet somehow something felt subtly different.

She was still slender and frail in appearance, her complexion lacking the rosy flush of girls raised with abundant blood and vital energy. But she was no longer that ghostly pale she had been before — like someone on the verge of breathing her last at any moment. Instead, her face was a cool and lustrous white, her skin luminous. And those phoenix eyes of hers had grown even darker, brighter, clearer, and more filled with spirit — so intense that one did not dare to look at them directly.

Fuqi studied her for a moment and said, “This cultivation session yielded considerable results.”

He was not an ordinary person like Jian Lan or Nanny Song — he was a supernatural entity who cultivated the Ghost Path. For someone like Lang Jiuchuan who had entered the Dao, whether she was powerful or not was something he could perceive acutely, for it inspired a sense of involuntary wariness within him.

Her strength had grown.

Lang Jiuchuan stretched her limbs and said with mild regret, “A pity I couldn’t obtain suitable sinews and bones.”

If she could have restored the severed sinews in her limbs, she would have recovered far better. The thought was admittedly a little unkind, but she still found herself hoping that people desperate enough to trade what they had for their lives would appear soon. She had too many hard battles ahead — she needed to grow stronger.

Fuqi said, “The timing simply hasn’t come yet.”

Lang Jiuchuan smiled. Indeed — the timing had not come yet. And come to think of it, since her return to the mortal world, only a few short months had passed — not even half a year. She could not rush. Expecting everything to fall into place all at once was not the kind of fortune that would ever land in her lap.

“Come with me, and help set up the array formations around this property.” Now that she had recovered, it was naturally time to work — and it would also allow her to prepare for performing the gold needle cataract procedure on Zeng Jichuan and accumulate another store of merit and incense power.

Lang Jiuchuan had Fuqi gather the prepared materials for the formations while she herself dissolved vermillion cinnabar to paint the talismans.

One benefit of having increased in power was that she could paint talismans more quickly, and they carried more spiritual energy. She painted several formation talismans in succession and, seeing the cinnabar still wet, went on to paint some peace and protection talismans as well, along with a few illness-cleansing talismanic seals. Wearing such talismans would ward off pathogenic influences, and when combined with Daoist cultivation methods and physical training, longevity and good health would be within reach.

Once the talismans were complete, she began setting up the Five Elements Feng Shui Eight Trigrams formation for the property — employing the theory of the Supreme Ultimate and Yin and Yang generating the Two Principles to stimulate the flow and circulation of vital energy, allowing the Five Elements energy to circulate and settle throughout the dwelling, thereby achieving the effect of capturing wind and gathering vital energy.

This was the great formation of the property. The materials had been prepared long in advance; the jade talismans were ones she had engraved herself using a talisman brush as a carving blade to inscribe formation-pattern symbols, deliberately seasoned and cultivated, so their spiritual energy was richer than that of unengraved materials.

Some of the materials had been turned up from within Fuqi’s pile of treasures — old objects with accumulated years and spiritual energy.

Lang Jiuchuan had already surveyed the formation positions beforehand. With Fuqi carrying the materials, she handled the placement herself — darting up and down — and after burying the most crucial formation talisman at the formation’s center, she clasped her hands in seal-form, recited the formation incantation, and began pacing the Daoist ritual steps to activate the formation.

Fuqi watched from the side as she paced through the ritual steps. He saw a current of pale golden spiritual energy swirl up around her entire body. His ghost-cultivator eyes reddened involuntarily, and he clenched his fists.

He would need to work harder as well. He had heard from A’Piao that when the Ghost Path was truly cultivated to its fullest, reaching a state of existence like that of a ghost immortal, one could shed the paper body and walk freely among the mortal world at will.

A’Piao’s eyes had been shining when he said that. There was clearly someone close to him who had achieved such a thing, and A’Piao too was pressing forward toward that goal.

As for the long, long years of cultivation that would be required — what of it? To cultivate the Dao is to forget the passage of time. It is a great and boundless path without end.

Though the path is long, if one walks, one will arrive.

Fuqi suddenly heard a low hum, like a reverberant sound from deep within the air. He narrowed his eyes — and could actually perceive the vital energy within the property beginning to circulate, spiraling and refusing to disperse.

The formation was complete!

Lang Jiuchuan lowered her posture. There was a faint sheen of perspiration on her brow, and her complexion had grown slightly wan — but not the faintest trace of fatigue showed in her manner. She smiled and said, “The great formation is done. Now for the smaller ones. General, for the room where you keep your ancestral tablet, I’ll set up a Yin-gathering formation — that way you can also cultivate more easily on ordinary days. Though, only you yourself will be able to draw near.”

Fuqi said, “I can also go out to the deep mountains beyond the city. The Yin energy is heavier there. I can even spar with Shopkeeper Piao.”

“Mm. In the future we can go together — each of us taking what we need. But having a Yin formation here is also convenient for nourishing your Yin spirit. In that case — I’ll also set up an illusion-obscuring method in that room of yours, to make it difficult for ordinary people to enter, so they won’t be disturbed by the Yin energy within.” Lang Jiuchuan said as she did. First she went to his room, personally lit a soul incense stick and offered it up, then began setting up the formation.

The soul incense she offered carried its own vow-power. The corners of Fuqi’s lips curved upward. He would have to think about whether there were any ownerless treasures still out there, and find a way to bring them back and keep the child pleased.

To coordinate with the Five Elements Feng Shui formation outside, Lang Jiuchuan considered briefly, then repainted a Nine Yin talisman. Using Yin wood and other relevant materials, she laid out a Nine Yin formation — a step up from an ordinary Yin formation.

Once that formation was done, she moved without pause to begin setting up her own daily quarters, followed by the private consultation room for receiving guests. Only when all of this was finished did she finally let out a long exhale.

From this point forward, this would be her home territory.

With the formations active — and not just Fuqi, but even Jian Lan and Nanny Song felt their minds clear and their spirits refreshed, as though the accumulated stagnation in their hearts had been swept away.

Fuqi’s brow gave a sudden twitch. He stepped out of the shop and saw a servant dressed in the livery of the Marquis Kaiping estate standing at the shop’s entrance and peering around. Seeing Fuqi, the servant hurried forward and explained his errand.

A guest had arrived at the estate. The Marquis requested that the young lady return to the estate to receive the visitor.

(Author’s note: My state isn’t right, so the pacing isn’t right either. Reflecting on it and adjusting…)