With a few words, Ji Yin had decided where Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong would be staying for the next two days. Ling Zhang was okay with this, because staying here to help his grandfather for two days was his plan all along, but thinking about Yuwen Tong, Ling Zhang couldn’t help smiling inwardly. That guy definitely would feel aggrieved.
This might not be a bad idea, for he happened to need a break. These days Yuwen Tong had been snatching at every chance to do that thing with him, which had made him begin to wonder whether he was going to die of Shenkui (a culture bound syndrome native to China in which the individual suffers somatic symptoms with anxiety, believed to be caused by a loss of semen). It would be a terrible shame to die a death like that. He could also take advantage of this opportunity to figure out how to get on top of Yuwen Tong. Humph.
Thinking about this, Ling Zhang raised his head, turned around and instructed Wang Dashan, “Have someone deliver a message to them. Make sure they’re aware of my grandfather’s decision.”
Wang Dashan secretly snickered and answered, “Yes, Young Master.”
Ling Zhang accompanying Ji Yin had a walk around the manor. As this manor was being expanded by incorporating several next-door summer houses, it covered a vast area and a stroll around it would take a long time. Also, some walls separating this manor and the summer houses were being demolished, and it was inconvenient to go there.
Artisans could be seen bustling around everywhere. At the sight of Ling Zhang, all of them greeted him in the knowledge that he was also an owner of this manor.
Ling Zhang had Liu Yi and some others buy some melons, cool them in a well, cut them into slices and deliver them to the artisans. He also instructed a servant to cook some mung soup which helped relieve summer-heat, cool it in the well and proffer it to the artisans, so that they wouldn’t catch heatstroke. Servants had been instructed to do this daily until the revamp was over.
It wasn’t everyday these artisans met an employer so kind. They were all very happy and thanked him respectfully.
“Thank you for coming to help in such a hot weather. Each of you will get an extra ten-percent of the agreed remuneration as a bonus when the revamp is finished.” After saying this, Ling Zhang said to Ji Yin under his breath, “I’ll pay this extra money, Grandfather.”
Ji Yin didn’t try to stop him and happily nodded. “Okay. Do it your way.”
On hearing that they were getting extra pay, all artisans became even more excited and motivated and, naturally, worked harder, paying more attention to the details, trying to make everything perfect, and sure enough their work was different from that done by perfunctory craftsmen. The revamp of a building, no matter in terms of woodworking or tiling, entailed a lot of techniques unknown to outsiders. Some artisans who knew about some underhand methods, when they encountered a mean employer or a foe, would resort to dirty tricks and have them suffer losses without knowing how. Of course this kind of artisans were few in number. Most craftsmen were honest and moral, and always repaid kindness with kindness. Ling Zhang was kind to them because he was considerate enough to empathize with them. Laboring in such hot weather was a miserable thing to anybody. It didn’t really cost him much to make it easier for these artisans, who would work harder for him in return.
Before long, it was time to knock off, and all artisans returned to their temporary accommodation. Ling Zhang and Ji Yin also went to the courtyard house that Ji Yin would be staying in for the duration of the revamp project. The layout of it was not bad, and it was spacious, too. Beside it was a pond. At night, when breezes blew by, it was pretty cool.
Whitie the fox finally had enough fun out there and rushed back. Once he was in the house, he threw himself onto Ling Zhang, oblivious of the stains he was leaving on Ling Zhang’s clothes, crying softly as if trying to look cute, his black, beady eyes sparkling, rubbing himself against Ling Zhang in an effort to cotton to him.
“You got yourself dirty all over and now you came back to stain my clothes. You’re not behaving, Whitie.”
Ling Zhang resignedly let out a sigh, reached out a hand and gently hit Whitie’s head with his knuckles. Whitie instantly put on an aggrieved face, looked at Ling Zhang with his piteous, watery eyes, and softly whimpered at him.
“It’s no good playing pitiful. Now you’re not Whitie but Darkie.”
The fox was dusty from head to pad. Ling Zhang had no idea where he had been.
“Tell me – did you get into some hole?” queried Ling Zhang, looking down at him.
Whitie swished his fluffy tail, wrapped it around Ling Zhang’s wrist, and innocently whimpered at him again as though saying, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m a good boy. Go easy on me.”
Amused, Ling Zhang curled the corners of his mouth in spite of himself. Sharp-eyed Whitie noticed it and immediately got excited, raising his head high and crying.
Ling Zhang shook his head. “Be good. I’ll give you a bath in a while.”
Ji Yin caught sight of Whitie in Ling Zhang’s arms and observed, “This little white fox looks pretty intelligent.”
Talking about Whitie, Ling Zhang recalled that he needed to ask about the changes in him. “There’s something I’d been meaning to ask you about but forgot, Grandfather. Does the mental cultivation method of internal energy of the Millennium Pavilion bring changes to… the cultivator’s body? I’ve noticed that apart from Whitie and Snowflake, all other animals don’t fear me as well.”
Ling Zhang told Ji Yin about the squirrel jumping to his shoulder, the horses in the racecourse, as well as he and Yuwen Tong testing it on some animals on the hill that day. Then he added, “The moment Yuwen Tong approached them, they get scared and immediately fled.”
Gratified, Ji Yin inclined his head, looking at Ling Zhang with glinting eyes. “The Force of Blood in you is indeed very powerful.”
‘I knew it.’ Ling Zhang, who had got a shrewd idea of the reason, was not surprised to hear Ji Yin mention the Force of Blood. And then Ji Yin continued to explain it.
“Phoenixes are ancient miraculous birds. Their blood holds enormous power, and naturally other animals succumb to it after sensing it. The Force of Blood of the Phoenix Clan coursing in us is very thin – there’s barely any of it left, actually. Only by following the mental cultivation method of internal energy handed down from generation to generation in our clan could we strengthen the Force of Blood which is so thin that it is barely detectable, but even in the Millennium Pavilion, the clan leader is the only one to whom all animals submit themselves at the sight of him. You have only reached the second layer of the cultivation method, but the Force of Blood in you has already begun to have influence on animals. Zhang’er, your Force of Blood is stronger than I expected previously.”
Ji Yin stared at Ling Zhang, a hint of bewilderment in his eyes. He wondered why the Force of Blood in Ling Zhang was so powerful when it should be very weak. But no matter what, this was definitely something to rejoice at!
It was only after hearing Ji Yin’s explanation that Ling Zhang came to know that the Force of Blood in him was stronger than it was in other clansmen. Of course the suggestion of confusion in Ji Yin’s eyes hadn’t escaped his notice. As the reason was unknown to even Ji Yin, he certainly didn’t stand a chance of figuring it out.
Thinking about this, he felt it rather strange that in his last incarnation, he had died before Ji Yin could find him, and at that time his blood hadn’t struck him as special in any way.
At this moment, Ji Yin suddenly added, “Outsiders have many speculations about descendants of the Phoenix Clan, and rumors were even wilder when the Xia ruled this land, but none of those are reliable.”
Ling Zhang bobbed his head. “I heard this from my uncle – it is said that in the past foreseers could foretell everything, that descendants of the Phoenix Clan could rise from the dead, which is the very reason why my father left home and tried to find the Millennium Pavilion to have my mother resurrected…”
As Ling Zhang said this, a flash of inspiration rapidly crossed his mind, but he failed to grasp it. He kept feeling that he was on the verge of coming to understand something.
Ji Yin, who hadn’t noticed the fleeting change of Ling Zhang’s countenance, said, “Actually that’s not entirely false…”
Ling Zhang was astonished. “That’s true?”
Ji Yin replied, “The reason why the imperial household of the Xia made us their servants in the first place was because of a prodigy in our clan. The Force of Blood in him was extremely powerful – several times more powerful than yours, actually. After he made great achievement in his cultivation of internal energy, elevating the Force of Blood in him to the highest possible level, he acquired the ability to foretell the development of everything. It was with the help of this particular ability that the first emperor of the Xia managed to establish the empire. There’s never been a second clan member who wields that kind of power. The most powerful ones of us could merely control animals, as the current clan leader does.”
Ling Zhang was flabbergasted. It turned out that those statements were true.
And the leader of the Millennium Pavilion was actually capable of controlling all animals?
“As for rising from the dead… it’s really just a myth. There aren’t any records about it even in the Millennium Pavilion. A real phoenix definitely can do that, but those mythical birds disappeared a long, long time ago. They only exist in tales now. After all, humans are humans, not mythical beasts. How could anybody actually rise from the dead?”
Ji Yin had a somewhat regretful look on his face while saying this. The one Ling Zhaowu wanted to resurrect was his daughter. If this kind of miracle were possible, he would do anything to make it happen, but the fact was that it was but a legend, impossible to achieve.
After hearing this, Ling Zhang felt somewhat weird. Of course he also felt it ridiculous to try to bring someone back from the dead, but inexplicably, his own rebirth occurred to him. Did it have anything to do with the phoenix’ ability to rise from the ashes, by any chance?
Ling Zhang’s heart raced at this thought, his arms involuntarily pressing Whitie tighter against him. Feeling pain, Whitie confusedly raised his head and let out a howl, which made Ling Zhang jerk out of his trance.
After his mind came back to the present, tension and excitement quickly ebbed away in Ling Zhang. Even his grandfather had said that it was impossible. Maybe this had nothing to do with a phoenix’s ability to rise from the ashes, and was just a coincidence?
Ji Yin noticed that there was something not quite right about his grandson’s mood. Believing that he was feeling disappointed about not being able to resurrect his mother, Ji Yin reached out a hand and clapped Ling Zhang on the shoulder, “Don’t think too much.”
Ling Zhang nodded, calming himself down but beginning to take this matter seriously. Maybe he’d found the reason why he’d been reborn.
Whitie let out another growl, urging his master to take him to the bathroom.
Ling Zhang lowered his head and stroked Whitie. “All right. I’ll take you to have a bath right away.”
Whitie happily let out a cry and wrapped his fluffy tail around Ling Zhang’s waist again, making his palm wet with sweat.
At night, Ling Zhang moved into the room next to Ji Yin’s. Wang Dashan and other security guards voluntarily took over the security of the courtyard house and other duties. Seeing their well-trained demeanor and good teamwork, Ji Yin inclined his head.
“These security guards of yours are not bad. I think they’d be able to perform more important tasks after I give them some training.”
Ling Zhang was very happy to hear this. “Thank you, Grandfather.”
“The Trap-and-Kill Formation you taught them mainly focuses on defense. It’s about time they learned some formations with more anti-personnel force.”
Sure enough Ling Zhang would like to see his security guards growing more powerful. He himself had started cultivating internal energy and would become more and more stronger. Only by keeping improving their kung fu would his security guards be able to keep pace with him.
But Ling Zhang was somewhat worried that it might fluster Wang Dashan and the others to have them start learning other martial formations when they hadn’t even mastered the Trap-and-Kill Formation yet.
But Ji Yin said, “There’s no need to worry about that. In fact, all martial formations are interlinked, which means every formation could be changed into any of a variety of other formations. The Trap-and-Kill Formation is mainly a defensive formation. With some changes, it could be turned into an extremely offensive one. Your security guards have laid a very solid foundation and they’ll have no problem whatsoever adjusting themselves to the changes.”
“How about I have them perform the formation tomorrow morning to let you have a look, Grandfather?”
Ling Zhang was in no hurry, planning to let Ji Yin see his security guards’ grounding first the next morning before he made a decision.
Naturally, Ji Yin agreed, feeling that his grandson was poised, intelligent, had great comprehension and would definitely become somebody in the future, gratification spontaneously deepening inside him.
Meanwhile, in another residence.
Yuwen Tong’s face briefly went set at the message. He’d been away from Ling Zhang’s side for just a while, and the price was having to wait two days to see him again?
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