Chapter 6: Section 6: Return

Chen Er Dangjia's mother died early; his old man was a Total Banner at Dinghai Rear Garrison. Chen Huoding was an only son — true to his name, his nature blazed like a fierce fire, and he was singularly fond of brawling with others.

On his deathbed, his old man begged the Hundred-Household Officer for a favor, and Chen Huoding was slotted into a Banner vacancy. The day he took up the post, he brought a gang of brothers out drinking to celebrate, and ended up crossing the Second Young Master of the Deputy Battalion Commander's household. A single taunt of "Three-Inch Nail" ignited him into a towering rage; fired up on liquor, he drew his knife and hacked away, and then it was escape — from Zhedong all the way to Zhexi. That was how Chen Erye fled up the mountain, turning from sea bandit into mountain outlaw.

Once Chen Huoding reached Pingfeng Stronghold, he realized he'd found his Organization. Every day he flourished blades and spears, every few days there was someone to hack at, wine and meat in abundance — truly, he was so content he forgot home. As soon as Zhou Tong took over, he threw himself into internal talent scouting. Chen Huoding's martial skill was outstanding, his character straightforward, and everyone respected him, so he was directly promoted to Second-in-Command.

And so Cao Chuan settled in at Pingfeng Stronghold. The next day he moved into a hut at the highest point of the stronghold, calling it the "Quiet Chamber." Old Lü even made a point of arranging for Zhao Si to live right at Cao Chuan's feet, to make attending to him convenient.

These two days, aside from eating and drinking, Cao Chuan began inadvertently "leaking" some details about the West Kunlun Realm. There were two reasons: first, to fill in the gaps in his own story; second, and more importantly, he wanted to subtly convey one premise — if a Shangqing Sect disciple met with mishap during a trial, their Primordial Spirit would return to the sect, and the one who struck them would have their soul harvested across space by the Sect, suffering all manner of unspeakable torments.

In short, it was the routine found in basically all the idle books he'd read.

Couldn't be helped — although these ancients seemed fairly respectful toward him at the moment, he was afraid. If he didn't think of some way to hoodwink these superstitious ancients, what if one day he got turned into Board Knife Noodles?

At high noon three days later, Cao Chuan, full of food and drink, rose to his full height from his seat, cupped his hands, and said: "This poor Daoist has found it difficult to enter meditation these past days; the spiritual qi in this place is also insufficient. Now that the sun hangs overhead, I shall return to my room and attempt it once more. Everyone, carry on your chat — I shall see myself off."

Hearing this, everyone hurriedly rose to see him off. As he was leaving, Cao Chuan further instructed: "Should my practice go poorly, this poor Daoist can emerge from seclusion by evening and chat freely with you gentlemen then. If I am able to enter stable meditation, then I know not when I shall emerge — one or two days, three or five days, all are ordinary. No food or water will be needed, nor sweeping or cleaning. Everyone, simply wait quietly."

When Zhou Tong and the others heard that Cao Zhenren was going to practice Inedia, they were full of admiration and assured him to cultivate in peace, swearing that within a hundred paces of the True Man, neither man nor beast would be found, and so on and so forth.

Cao Chuan hurried back to his room, shut the door and windows tight, and looked down at the ring. Three days had passed since his Crossing Over, and the snake in the black mirror surface had finally connected into a full circle again. A certain person's eyebrows bloomed with smiles as he began grinning foolishly, pulling over the two blocks of stone and the coarse porcelain bowl from the table, then rubbing the white mirror surface and stowing everything inside.

Through practice these past few days, he could now freely manipulate the ring to store and retrieve items. As long as an object was smaller than the ring's space, a wave of his hand could now pull it into the ring, provided it was within two meters.

There was also a major discovery — the two seal stones tossed into the corner of Lü Accountant's bookshelf.

The seal stones were unfinished, only roughly ground into bar shapes. Two blocks of vivid red stone, with only a very small portion being a bluish-jade color. They felt fine and smooth to the touch, icy-cold and slippery in the hand.

Cao Chuan had determined on the spot that these two stones were likely what later generations would famously call Chicken-blood Stone. The reason — he had seen this kind of seal stone at Li Douzhan's place, and had witnessed with his own eyes Li Douzhan using glue to splice and polish them; the finished product closely resembled the two stones in his hands.

Given that Lü Accountant certainly had no means of obtaining chemical glue or polymer plastics, Cao Zhenren concluded that these two stones were the genuine article.

He had already planned it all out: if he could return to the modern world today, he would have Li Douzhan offload the stones.

If the ring could not send him back, then he would honestly stay put in this Ming Dynasty, open the door at night and go out to eat — after all, he hadn't nailed his words shut just now.

Great Immortal Cao muttered the names of every immortal and Buddha, his eyes solemn yet gleaming with gold light, as the thumb of his right hand slowly rubbed the black mirror surface.

Without a sound, a certain person appeared in the deserted mountain wilderness. Seeing the backpack he had abandoned days ago at his feet and the Rubble all around, Cao Chuan was too moved to speak — the ring had really brought him back!

He yanked a bottle of mineral water from the backpack, laughing maniacally as he splashed water everywhere. Once it was empty, he flung the bottle aside, then pulled out all kinds of snacks from the backpack and began hurling them about. A madman cavorted wildly in this empty and deserted mountain, scattering trash everywhere, until everything was thrown. Only then did he plop down on the ground, panting heavily, and reached out to place the items from the ring before him.

Seeing the seal stones and the porcelain bowl before him, and then looking at the gold thread in the black ring face — now broken into a gap — Cao Chuan understood everything. He kissed the ring fiercely, slung the backpack over his shoulder, and began his descent.

This descent was far quicker than the climb up had been. Fire in his chest, wind beneath his feet, light blazing in his eyes — before long, Cao had dashed out of the scenic area. At the park entrance, he splurged grandly, hiring an Alto with an air of extravagance to race back to Hangzhou. Past three in the afternoon, nearly back at Li Douzhan's doorstep, Cao Chuan pulled out his phone, saw it barely had a sliver of battery left, and hurriedly dialed.

The call connected the instant it rang. Li Douzhan opened his mouth and cursed: "So you're not dead after all, huh? Disappeared for how many days now? Phone wouldn't go through either. I was just thinking of hiring a couple guys tomorrow to go drag Qiantang for you."

Cao Chuan grinned. Even the concern between brothers came with this much character. He quickly asked Li Douzhan: "Are you at the house?"

"What time is it? Haven't closed up the stall yet."

"Close up at top speed and come back. There's something good."

"You scamming your old man? What good thing could you possibly have?"

"You cheap bastard! Close up right now, get back here quick — you really need me to curse you out, don't you?"

"Fine, fine, fine, closing up now. Your treat tonight — you've cost me today's business, bro."

Hanging up the phone, the Alto drove all the way to the door. Cao Chuan went inside, cleared off a table, placed the two stones and the porcelain bowl on it, then sprawled on the sofa, arranged his pose, and waited for Li Douzhan to return.

Not long after, he heard the electronic voice outside the window: "Caution, reversing." Two more minutes later, the door banged open. Li Douzhan strode in, dragging a large bag, slammed the door shut, and was about to start cursing — but before he could open his mouth, his attention was seized by the several objects on the table.

He dropped the bag in his hand, bounded to the table in two strides, planted both hands on his thighs, rump raised high, expression bizarre, staring at the seal stones on the table. Several minutes later, he gently picked one up, walked over to the window to catch the light, and began scrutinizing it in fine detail.

"What are you still gawking at over there? They're all genuine. You call yourself a professional — don't you have any damn clue in your head?"

The satisfaction in Cao Chuan's heart was exquisite — it felt so damn good! He knew absolutely nothing about appraising antiques, but it didn't matter, because these stones really had been brought by him from the Ming Dynasty. If he didn't seize this chance to flex, his old self wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.