Chương 130: Chapter 127

A sensation of triumph, disproportionate for what is, after all, a simple piece of paper, runs through me as I contemplate my first finished talisman on the table and, after hesitating barely an instant, I take it with care to hide it among the folds of my clothing, determined to keep it as a keepsake for being the first one I have managed to create successfully.

Then, because one thing is to achieve something once by fluke and quite another to be capable of repeating it, I take another paper disposed to verify that it was not pure luck. And I fail again, so I let out a sigh, not too surprised, and try once more. To no one's surprise, and least of all my own, I fail again, so I keep trying. Fortunately, on the fifth attempt I manage, at last, to get the Qi to enter the ink as it should and I manage to finish my second air-barrier talisman.

I look at it with a pride that this time I do allow myself to show, and almost instantly I decide that this second one I am going to keep for Lianhua. After all, if I am going to make air-barrier talismans, it is only fair that the first person to benefit from one should be the one who is going to need it most in case of emergency.

And it is then, while I leave the second talisman to one side and go to take another paper, that I suddenly notice a detail that makes me furrow my brow, which is that Lianhua has not returned. I make a quick calculation and realize that it has now been at least four or five hours since she left to notify my teachers, and that she should take so long over something she has done a thousand times before is not, by any means, normal.

The worry rises within me like a silent tide, but I decide that it is better to verify what is happening before I begin to think of the worst possibilities, especially due to the depressing conversation with my mother during breakfast. I react quickly and put the ink, the brush and what remains of the block of papers back into the box at full speed, together with the little pile of ashes that I gather with my hand as best I can, to then close it and leave it to one side of the desk.

Then I direct my attention toward the bolt and, with the Dragon's Grip, I draw it back again so that the door can be opened from outside once more. And, lastly, I take the little bell I use to call Lianhua and make it ring. I wait, but the time passes and no one comes. I furrow my brow and ring it again, this time with rather more insistence, shaking it until the tinkling becomes almost discourteous.

At last, after a while, the door opens and a handmaiden appears who, upon seeing me, bows, but it is not Lianhua, and that, instead of reassuring me, does nothing but confirm that something is out of the ordinary.

"Where is Lianhua?" I ask the handmaiden without further preamble. The girl replies to me with the careful voice of one who knows she is giving news that her listener perhaps will not feel like hearing.

"The Fei Yi Lianhua left the Pavilion quite some time ago now, Zhāohuán", she tells me.

"She went out hurriedly after receiving a message from the Shangshu." That makes me furrow my brow even more as I try to think of all the reasons for a message from the Shangshu, and moreover one that would make Lianhua leave so quickly. But no explanation occurs to me that leaves me entirely at ease, and even less one that explains why Lianhua has been out so many hours, but, without more information and with nothing I can do about it for the moment, I have no choice but to swallow my unease.

"Very well", I tell the handmaiden.

"You may withdraw." The handmaiden bows again and leaves, closing the door behind her. For a moment I consider going back to practicing with the talismans to distract myself, but I discard the idea almost immediately, because I know perfectly well that, with my head set on Lianhua and on what the Shangshu may want of her, I am not going to be capable of keeping the Qi stable enough not to turn the rest of the block into ashes.

So, instead of that, I call toward me the sewing box, which comes floating obediently to my hands, and I begin to keep comparing the different materials I have on hand while I think about which would be the best substitutes for what I want to do, and obviously, how to do it with the artisanal methods at my disposal. I am engrossed in that, with a piece of fabric in one hand and half a dozen impossible calculations in my head, when at last I hear some knocks at the door and Lianhua's voice on the other side.

"It's me, Zhāohuán Wen", she says.

"May we come in?" I notice immediately the plural that betrays without any doubt that she comes accompanied, so, after a quick glance to confirm that I already have stored away everything that could turn out to be compromising, I reply to her quickly. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

"Come in", I tell her.

"The door is open." The door opens and Lianhua enters, but her image leaves me disconcerted because she enters loaded with books up to her chin, with a pile so tall that it barely allows her to see over it. Behind her, as if that were not enough, come several more books floating in orderly fashion through the air, and behind those floating books, closing the procession, appears another handmaiden equally loaded with even more books.

I raise an eyebrow at the parade of books, and although I have never complained about having too many, this time the quantity seems to me, even to me, a touch excessive.

"And all those books?" I ask her, clearly intrigued. Lianhua advances a few steps toward the interior before replying.

"The Shangshu has handed them to me", she tells me.

"It is his response to the request to receive classes on the creation of formations and on enchantment." I begin to understand why she has taken so long.

"Continue", I encourage her.

"This seems to be the compromise he has found", Lianhua explains as she begins to deposit the books at different points of the study, because there are too many for them to fit on the table.

"He is not going to provide you with any master but, in exchange, he has handed you all the books you could come to need to study on your own. His argument is that, until you open your first gate, it is not appropriate to assign you a master, so with these books you can go advancing alone until then, at which moment he will provide you with one."

While she tells me how the Shangshu has dodged my request, she goes distributing the volumes with care around the room and then makes a discreet sign to the handmaiden, who places hers exactly where Lianhua indicates before bowing in a reverence and leaving the study discreetly, closing the door behind her.

As soon as the handmaiden disappears I stay a moment contemplating the books, which now cover a good part of the surfaces of the room, then I look at the door, and, with a gesture I normally would not even bother to make, I make the bolt draw itself with the Dragon's Grip. Then I turn toward Lianhua, since it is clear that I have to change some things.

"It is about time I reorganized my schedule", I tell her.

"Because, the way things are, I am no longer going to have time for everything. I have to cultivate in a fragmented way to give time for the Qi of the formation room to replenish, practice the Myriad of Hands and the Dragon's Grip, manufacture talismans and, on top of that, find time to develop my own ideas. And now I have to add to the list reading all of this about formations and enchantments." I make a gesture that encompasses the small library that has invaded my study.

"And, probably, when I finish reading them, I will have to set about practicing on my own, without any master to guide me", I continue.

"Because, to obtain one by the official route, just as the Shangshu has put it, I would have to wait several years, since due to Master Mu's earrings my opening of the Yang gate will not become visible until seven years of using them. So, if I wait for the moment when I can openly say that I have opened my first gate, I will have wasted years of study." Lianhua listens to all that with her usual attention, and when I finish, she nods slowly.

I let out a sigh and make the decision I had already been considering for some time, but which with this latest event is clearly the only path I have ahead of me.

"Lianhua", I tell her.

"Notify the Shangshu that I am abandoning my official classes." Lianhua looks at me, and for once she lets a hint of doubt cross her face.

"Are you sure it is a good idea to do that, Zhāohuán Wen?" she asks me.

"I am", I reply without hesitating.

"And you know it as well as I do. It has been a long time since those classes became more of a review than anything else. I no longer learn anything new in any of them, I simply repeat what I already know so that it is on record that I attend. And since I have no intention of dedicating myself seriously to any of those disciplines, the most sensible thing is to stop making me and the teachers waste our time." Lianhua weighs my words an instant, and then throws at me the only reminder that occurs to her.

"One of those teachers is Guifei Xiang", she points out.

"I will deal with my mother myself", I reply to her shrugging my shoulders.

"When I lay out the facts to her just as they are, I very much doubt she will object. Knowing her, the most probable thing is that she will even agree that it is absurd to keep pretending." Lianhua limits herself to nodding with no further comment, so I consider the matter settled. And then, just at that moment, I remember, so I take from the top of the table the second air-barrier talisman I managed to create and hold it out to Lianhua.

"Here", I tell her.

"It is the second talisman I have managed to make successfully this morning. It is for you." Lianhua takes it with care, holds it with care and examines it for a moment with that meticulous attention with which she looks at everything, and then lifts her gaze toward me.

"I congratulate you, Zhāohuán Wen", she tells me, and in her voice there is a nuance I recognize as sincere approval.

"To create a functional talisman in a single morning is a not inconsiderable achievement."

"It's not such a big deal", I reply, downplaying it, although inside her congratulation comforts me more than I would admit out loud.

"To obtain those two talismans I have burned an enormous quantity of talisman papers, so, if in the future I don't manage a better success rate, soon we will find ourselves without funds again." Lianhua does not respond to that, but I would swear that one of the corners of her lips rises a scarce millimeter.

"Don't worry, Zhāohuán Wen", she tells me.

"With what I can get from selling one of these talismans, one can buy enough paper and ink for you to make another dozen attempts." I had not yet seriously asked Lianhua about the specific prices for buying the materials and selling the talismans, but the fact that she assures me that as long as I maintain a minimum of successes I can keep sustaining the cycle is enough for me.

"I am glad you tell me that", I tell Lianhua.

"In doing so you have taken a weight off my shoulders." And after those words, at last, I direct my gaze toward the books that have colonized my study.

"And now, to rest a bit from so much talisman creation, I think I am going to begin reading something about formations", I tell her. I quickly run my gaze over the titles of the volumes I have nearest, discarding quite a few that, by the name alone, are clearly books for people with advanced knowledge of formations. But my gaze finally stops on one in particular.

I make a small gesture toward it, and the book rises obediently and floats up to my hands while I think, with a smile I cannot avoid, that to start from scratch there is probably nothing better than a book whose title is, more or less, the equivalent of "Formations for Dummies."