Chương 90: Chapter 88

I look at the three objects laid out on the table, and for an instant curiosity threatens to take over and make me start bombarding Master Mu with questions. But I hold back, since it's certain that the pause she's making is only to create a dramatic moment, so I simply wait with my hands on my lap and an expression I hope conveys patience rather than the impatience I actually feel. And sure enough, after a brief instant of dramatic wait, Master Mu places her hand on the book and looks at me.

"As I told you at the time, I had intended to teach you the method for making talisman paper", she tells me in a tone that, though professional, carries a hint of something resembling regret.

"I won't be able to do so in person, but this book contains the complete method." Her fingers tap softly on the book's cover to emphasize her words.

"I have no doubt that if you study it and follow the steps it contains, you'll be able to learn it", she adds with a confidence that, coming from her, is a significant compliment. But then her expression changes, and the lightness accompanying her until a moment ago vanishes, replaced by something more serious.

"I hope you'll keep it safely stored", she tells me, and her voice takes on a gravity that instinctively straightens my spine.

"And that you won't let anyone read it." Here she pauses just long enough for me to absorb her words.

"It contains secrets that, in theory, you shouldn't know yet, as I already told you", she says, and the way she says it makes me recall the conversation we had and the promise I made her. So I meet her gaze with all the seriousness I can muster, because this isn't something that calls for ambiguity or modesty.

"Don't worry, Master Mu", I tell her in a tone that leaves no room for doubt.

"I'll keep it safely stored at all times and maintain the secret as I already promised." And as I say it, my mind is already sketching the plan. I'll read it so I can remember it, which is what I actually need, and afterward I'll tell Lianhua to keep it in the storage pouch, pulling it out only if there's some illustration I need to consult directly.

Master Mu looks at me for a moment, as though evaluating the firmness of my words, and then nods with a brief movement that nonetheless seems to indicate she is satisfied. Next her finger moves to touch the jade token, and before I have time to ask, she begins to speak.

"To explain what this token is", she tells me, and her tone takes on the cadence of someone about to reveal something she doesn't usually share easily.

"First I have to tell you something about myself." I look at her with renewed attention, because Master Mu talking about herself is such a rare event that it deserves my full concentration.

"I work for the Tower of the Five Dragons", she tells me matter-of-factly.

"It's an organization dedicated to commerce that has branches on all five continents and that, among other things, makes dealings with numerous empires, sects, and other organizations." I blink once as I process what she's just said, and in my mind the pieces fit together with an almost audible click. Master Mu doesn't belong to a sect, and nor is she the wandering master hired for a job that my imagination had constructed from scraps of information.

She is, for lack of a better term, an employee of what in my former world would have been a multinational. An organization that operates on an intercontinental scale and handles dealings with empires and sects alike. Suddenly many things make more sense. The merchandise caravan, the auction, her level of resources, and the way she moves through the world as though every place were simply another office. Oblivious to the realization taking place inside my head, Master Mu continues her explanation.

"The token is a kind of credential", she tells me while gesturing toward it.

"It's in your name, and if by any chance you one day find yourself at one of our branches, presenting it will guarantee you the best possible treatment in any dealings you have with them." And I immediately realize it's a VIP membership. Because that's exactly what it is, a preferred-customer card for a commercial organization that operates on a global scale. The comparison is so clear in my mind that I almost laugh, but I hold it in because it's neither the moment nor the situation for that.

And when Master Mu finishes her explanation, I ask her the most obvious question.

"Where would the nearest branch of the Tower of the Five Dragons be?" I ask her. My question makes Master Mu smile with an amusement that lights up her eyes.

"This Empire has no branch", she replies, and the answer, though disappointing, doesn't entirely surprise me.

"The nearest one is in the city of Sanjiang, which lies beyond the borders of the Empire." Before I can process the geographical information, Master Mu continues in a tone that softens slightly.

"I don't know whether you'll ever be able to leave the Imperial Palace, or even the Empire", she tells me, and her words, though delivered gently, touch on a reality I don't like to imagine.

"But I'm giving you the token in case it turns out to be useful someday. Having it is always better than not having it." And here her smile reappears, this time with a glint I recognize as that of someone who has something more to add.

"Besides", she tells me in a tone that recovers some of her usual lightness.

"In another ten or fifteen years, when another shipment from my organization arrives with materials and another auction is organized, if you present that token to the person in charge of the shipment, you'll be able to obtain a few benefits that no one else will have." The understanding of what she's saying hits me almost at once, since in ten years, with the cultivation level I should have by then, knowing in advance what objects are going to be auctioned would be an incalculable advantage.

The same advantage my half-brothers tried desperately to obtain and that Master Mu gave to me when I attended the auction. I lean toward Master Mu as far as my seated position allows, and when I speak, I make sure every word carries the sincerity I feel.

"Thank you so much, Master Mu", I tell her.

"Truly." Master Mu hears my words and, with a gesture of her hand that I already know well, dismisses the matter with the elegance of someone who doesn't need to be thanked.

"It costs me nothing to give you the token", she tells me lightly.

"And its usefulness, in truth, is limited." But then her smile widens in a way that puts me on alert, because that is the smile of someone who has saved the best for last. Her finger touches the little box with the earrings, and looking at them more closely I see each one has what appears to be a small pearl set in a simple but elegant design.

"But the real gift of the three", she tells me in a tone that leaves no doubt that what's coming is important.

"Is this one." I look at the earrings more carefully, and I have to admit they are beautiful. Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

"They're very beautiful, but…", I begin, and then I stop. The pause lasts only an instant, but in that instant something clicks into place in my mind. Master Mu wouldn't give me mere earrings as compensation, not after a book with secrets I shouldn't know and a token from an intercontinental organization.

"Are they some kind of artifact with special properties?" I ask her, and as I do I see Master Mu's smile widen with the satisfaction of a teacher whose student has just given the correct answer.

"Indeed", she confirms.

"As you've correctly deduced, the earrings have a very specific function." Her finger withdraws from the box with the earrings and she turns serious now, as though what she's about to explain requires her complete attention.

"They begin to function when someone puts them on, and they only work for ten years", she tells me.

"After which, they stop working." I nod as I listen, waiting for the important part.

"The earrings are configured so that if someone probes the wearer, during the first year they appear to be in the Tempering of Bones and Tendons stage", she begins explaining clearly and without ambiguity. My eyes widen slightly as I hear her, because I quickly realize the earrings are some kind of disguise or camouflage artifact specifically designed for cultivation.

"Then, during the second year, the effect increases so the wearer appears to be in the Tempering of the Nerves", she continues.

"In the third year, it rises to the Tempering of the Entrails, so it appears the wearer has just entered the Gate Opening stage." Here she pauses briefly before proceeding.

"It has only one more increase, at seven years of use, where it will make others believe the wearer has opened the Yang Gate", she tells me.

"And the effect will last until the ten years have passed and the earrings finally stop working." Then Master Mu raises a finger in a gesture I recognize as her signal of warning.

"Though I must caution you", she adds.

"If the one probing is someone sufficiently strong, for example, someone capable of detecting whether a person has formed a Dantian, they can ignore the effect of the earrings and realize the wearer's true cultivation level." I look at the earrings with a mixture of interest and confusion, because the effect is undeniably impressive, but there is something that doesn't quite fit.

"The effect is very interesting", I tell her frankly.

"But what good is something with those properties for me?" Master Mu laughs lightly, and the sound has that musical quality I've always found unjustly elegant.

"You haven't paid enough attention to my words", she tells me in a tone that, in anyone else, might sound condescending, but that from her simply sounds amused.

"Because if you had, you would have realized what I mean." And then, before I can respond, she extends a hand and reaches out a finger to touch my chest in a deliberate gesture.

"The gift of the earrings comes accompanied by something more", she tells me, and all the amusement in her voice vanishes, replaced by something that closely resembles solemnity.

"And that is telling you that you have already formed your Dantian." And for me, upon hearing those words, the world stops. Or at least that is what it seems, because for an instant that stretches into infinity, my mind goes completely blank.

"You no longer need to hold back in your cultivation", Master Mu continues, and her finger withdraws from my chest while her gaze holds me with an intensity that admits no reply.

"You can finish Body Tempering whenever you wish. And if you use the earrings, no one will realize." The disbelief strikes me like a wave, and when I finally find my voice, it sounds exactly the way I feel.

"How do you know?" I ask her, and my tone fails to hide my surprise.

"And how is it possible I have it formed before the age at which I'm supposed to be able to have it?" Master Mu listens to me patiently, and the smile that appears on her face has the warmth of someone who has been waiting for this conversation.

"As I said before", she replies.

"If you have a high enough cultivation level, you can probe people to tell whether they have formed a Dantian or not." And here she pauses briefly once more before continuing.

"Doing so has its risks and is considered impolite", she tells me in a tone that mixes explanation with confession.

"But doing it to young children is considered normal in many places." The implicit admission that she has probed me without my knowledge should bother me, but right now I'm too busy processing the first revelation to concern myself with etiquette.

"As for the age", she continues, and her tone recovers the cadence of the teacher I know so well.

"The formation of the protodantian and the Dantian is not something fixed. It varies both by location and its Qi density and by the aptitude of the person." She looks toward the window, in the same direction from which we would see the pillar of the Wave of Qi if it were visible from there.

"As an example, in the most central parts of the central continent, the age for forming the protodantian is usually three years", she tells me, still contemplating the window.

"And I have even known people who already had their protodantian formed at birth." I listen to her words, process them, and understand them. But my mind is no longer really paying much attention, it's in an entirely different place. Now my mind can only think about the fact that I already have the Dantian, which means I can already finish Body Tempering, which in turn means I can begin to open my first Gate. And that means that when I do I'll finally be able to learn the Force Gr….

Dragon's Grip, I correct myself mentally. It has an official name and I need to get used to using it. Suddenly a snap of fingers sounds right in front of my face, and the sound pulls me out of my thoughts about Jedi and Sith with all the delicacy of a bucket of cold water. I blink and see Master Mu with her hand still raised, watching me with an expression that combines amusement with something that could be understanding.

"I imagine what I've just told you must be a shock", she tells me, and her tone is softer than usual.

"But I have one last thing to tell you." I swallow hard and nod with the seriousness the moment requires, setting aside all my other thoughts for another day.

"You must put the earrings on before you begin changing your cultivation level", she tells me, and every word leaves her mouth with the clarity of an instruction that admits no error.

"And once you start using them, never, under any circumstances, must you take them off." Her gaze hardens slightly, as though to ensure that what comes next is seared into my memory.

"If you remove them, they will stop working", she tells me.

"And even if you put them back on, they will no longer camouflage your cultivation level." The gravity of her words settles over me with a weight that, far from frightening me, fills me with a determination I didn't know I could feel with such intensity. I lean toward Master Mu, and this time the bow is the deepest my condition allows while seated. It is not a bow of courtesy or protocol, but one that springs from a gratitude so genuine that words, for once, feel insufficient.

"I am deeply grateful to you", I tell her, and my voice, though controlled, carries a weight I hope she can hear.

"Both for the gift and for what you have revealed to me." Master Mu makes that gesture with her hand I know so well again, that elegant movement that says what she has done or said is of no importance to her.

"The earrings are a small trinket I had lying around unused", she tells me in a carefree tone that doesn't fool me for a moment.

"And giving them to you has cost me no effort." I look at her firmly and with a seriousness that I hope matches what I need.

"Perhaps for you it meant nothing", I tell her, making sure every word carries the weight it deserves.

"But for me it is something that will change my life." Master Mu looks at me, and the smile that appears on her face upon hearing my words is different from all the others I've seen from her before. It is not the amused smile, nor the superior smile, nor the satisfied-teacher smile. It is simply a warm smile, without adornment or pretense.

"Then that is everything", she tells me after a moment.

"And the sooner you begin your journey, the sooner you will reach your destination, since you have a long road ahead." And then, in a gesture I absolutely did not expect, she reaches out her hand, places it on my head, and ruffles my hair in a gesture that reminds me too much of how I do the same to Xia.

Master Mu, the Great Master of talismans who terrorizes the masters of the Hall of Ten Thousand Talismans and who makes my brothers prefer to bother me rather than her, is ruffling my hair as though I were a small child. Which, technically, is what I am, but that doesn't stop the gesture from producing a mixture of indignation and something warm I'd rather not analyze too closely.

"Take care", she tells me as she withdraws her hand, and without another word, she turns and heads for the door. I watch her walk away, still processing the last few seconds, when I realize there is something I need to know before she leaves.

"Master Mu", I call out before she reaches the door.

"May I ask you two quick questions as one last favor?" She stops and turns to look at me with an expression that says she is not at all surprised that I still have questions.

"Ask them", she tells me simply.

"Will I see you again?" I ask her first, and then, mustering a courage I didn't know I needed for the second, I add "And if it's not an intrusive question, what is your cultivation level?" Upon hearing my questions, Master Mu smiles, and this time the smile is that of someone for whom the questions just asked of her are not exactly a surprise.

"Cultivators have very long lives", she tells me in a tone that blends melancholy with hope.

"And if the heavens will it, perhaps, somewhere, we may cross paths again." She pauses just long enough for the first answer to settle before continuing.

"As for your second question", she tells me, and her smile takes on a mischievous tinge.

"Every woman must have her little secrets." I nearly roll my eyes at that answer, but then Master Mu adds something more.

"But what I can tell you", she says, and her tone turns deliberately casual, as though what she was about to reveal were nothing out of the ordinary.

"Is that in order to be able to tell whether someone has formed their protodantian or their Dantian, one must have completed the Refinement of the Elemental Body." And before I can process the enormity of what she's just said, Master Mu turns and leaves the study without looking back, leaving me and Lianhua to pick ourselves up from the revelation she's just dropped.