Chapter 377 - A Monk and a Golden Hand

Chapter 377: Chapter 377 - A Monk and a Golden Hand

The monk descended from the ridge, and the golden hand came down through the branches beside him.

It stopped a few feet above the clearing, its fingers still closed around the soul.

Su Bai kept two of his Natal Needles pointed toward it while the man descended into the clearing.

Lu Canghai had mentioned a monastery near Nanhe Kingdom. Su Bai had planned to ask about it once their work was done. Seeing a monk in the woods at this hour made him wonder if the monastery was closer than he’d thought.

He tried to trace the power sustaining the golden hand, but there was no circulation he could recognize as spiritual cultivation.

When the monk stepped down from the last stretch of rock, however, Su Bai felt something in the way his weight settled through his legs.

Even from a few paces away, Su Bai could only tell that the monk was a powerful body cultivator. But then, he couldn’t judge what realm the man had reached.

The monk stopped beside the woman with the gathering basket. He bowed his head, and the light above him picked out three faint scars on his shaved scalp.

For a little while, he stood looking at the basket strap across her shoulder. Then he straightened and took in the rest of the clearing.

"One of them’s still breathing," Han Yuelin called from near the unfinished formation. He knelt beside the man who had reached for a talisman and moved it well out of reach with the tip of his sword. "Junior Brother Qin, could you help me turn him over?"

Qin Baoshan went to help. Liu Meng asked them to mind the lines while she checked the villagers, and Ji Ruyue took up a position from which she could watch the fallen demonic cultivators and the captive soul.

Su Bai waited until they were in place before lowering his needles a little.

The monk’s gaze came to rest on him. It lingered on the place where the shadow palm had struck, and Su Bai realized the man must have seen at least that much of the fight.

He was about to greet him when gold spread through the monk’s eyes.

Su Bai held his needles where they were, watching the monk look from her to the others and then back to him.

Whatever the man had expected to find, he took a quick step forward when he saw Su Bai. He stopped almost at once and turned his face slightly aside. The gold faded as he blinked.

Su Bai waited. The monk glanced at him again with ordinary eyes, then brought his palms together. The great hand beside him remained closed.

"Forgive me for staring. I am called Jingyuan."

"Su Bai." He returned the greeting. Up close, Jingyuan looked middle-aged, younger than Su Bai would have expected of such a powerful body cultivator. "Did you see something wrong, Senior?"

"I saw you take that palm strike, Benefactor Su." Jingyuan glanced at his side again. "Few could have stayed on their feet. I could tell you had a Vajra Body, though I did not recognize it."

"Have you seen one like mine before, Senior?"

"No. I would be interested to hear how you came by such a Vajra Body, though this monk has no wish to pry into your cultivation."

That was fair. Su Bai couldn’t have explained his tempering without giving away a good deal more than he wanted to. He looked up at the golden hand. There was hardly any gray light between its fingers now, yet he could still sense the soul inside, waiting.

"I couldn’t tell how you made that, Senior," he said. "Did you project it from your body?"

Jingyuan raised one palm. The great hand turned with it, carrying the soul as easily as a man might turn over a stone to see what was underneath.

"Once you reach the Spirit Body Realm, the spirituality you’ve cultivated in your flesh can take shape beyond it. That’s what lets me touch a soul with this hand. You’ll be able to learn the principle yourself when you advance past Vajra."

Su Bai studied the fingers. Their movements were so precise that it was hard to think of the hand as something Jingyuan had sent out of his body.

"Is that the realm you’re in now?"

"I’ve reached True Body. The flesh and spirit answer one another more readily at this stage." Jingyuan lowered his palm. "Who teaches you body cultivation, Benefactor Su?"

"My master has guided me where he can. Much of the tempering I’ve had to work out for myself."

"I see. I was considering asking you to become my disciple." The disappointment on Jingyuan’s face was plain enough to catch Su Bai off guard. "You’ve taken your body farther than most people would manage on their own. I would have liked to see what you made of our practice."

Su Bai had heard cultivators speak of body tempering as a way to live longer or endure what the pursuit of the Dao demanded of them. He wondered what a monk would teach a disciple to do with that same strength.

"What would I be learning if I took you up on it?" he asked.

"At first? How to sit still when everything hurts."

Jingyuan looked at him with the same seriousness with which he had explained the golden hand.

"Pain can teach you a great deal about what governs your mind. In time, you may understand what keeps you bound to suffering and rebirth. Strength makes that inquiry possible for some of us. Awakening is what gives the practice its purpose."

Su Bai managed to keep a straight face. Sitting still while everything hurt sounded remarkably close to how he already spent his time.

Explaining why he sometimes wished it would hurt more would probably spoil Jingyuan’s opinion of his aptitude.

"I’m staying with my master," he said, cupping his hands, "but I’d be glad to visit your monastery. He mentioned there was one near the kingdom, and I’d hoped to make the trip when we had time."

"Come as a guest, then." Jingyuan brightened at once. "I would still like to hear how you train. You may find something useful in the way we do it, too."

Su Bai smiled. Lu Canghai had warned him to mind his manners around the monks.

He was beginning to wonder what his master had done to make that advice necessary.

By then, Liu Meng had reached the end of the row of bodies. She came back slowly, retracing her steps so she wouldn’t disturb the lines near the trees. Qin Baoshan made room for her beside Su Bai.

"Senior," she said, "did someone from the village send for you?"

"No, benefactor. Our abbot divined a calamity in this part of Nanhe and sent me to look for its cause. I had been searching the woods when the barrier came down. Until then, I’d seen nothing of this clearing."

Liu Meng looked toward the captive soul. "Did Senior Abbot know what you were looking for?"

"He told me to seek out what had come here from beyond our world." Jingyuan followed her gaze. "The thing I caught is the first I’ve been able to lay hands on."

Su Bai looked up at the golden fist.

He had heard one of the possessed men speak as though there were others behind him, and he had seen enough of their formations to suspect where those people might have come from.

This was the first time he had heard anyone outside his own investigation reach the same conclusion.