劍問蒼天 - 第187章 鬼道 - 清風書屋

Xiaowan was startled and took a step back.

Mr. Gui was silent a moment, his gaze resting on Xiaowan's face again, and he saw great hesitation there, her delicate features creased now and then with a frown. He said no more, but reached into his robe and tossed Xiaowan a black-bound scroll, half a finger thick and blank on its cover. Xiaowan caught it by reflex and looked up at him in astonishment.

Mr. Ghost said mildly, "What is recorded in this book is some of the insights I have gained from half a lifetime of cultivating the ghost path. Among them are many methods of artifact refinement, and I am confident that in all the world there is no one to be named alongside me. Whether you study it or not is entirely up to you." With that, he turned and made to leave.

Xiao Wan watched his retreating back and instinctively called out, "Senior, wait."

Mr. Ghost's body paused, and he stopped. "What is it?"

Xiao Wan choked up for a moment, and only after a long while said, "I—I still do not know your name, Senior."

Mr. Ghost stood with his back to her, utterly still, and after a long time said mildly, "I am passing the arts to you, not asking you to remember me. Take good care of yourself."

With that, he rose and again made to go. Xiao Wan's face grew anxious, and suddenly she said loudly, "This—this... You saved my life and passed the Daoist arts to me. I must—must at least call you Master, must I not?"

Mr. Ghost's body shook violently, as though that one cry from the young, delicate woman behind him struck him more fiercely than five thunders splitting the sky. But his cultivation ran deep after all, and he soon regained his calm. Slowly he turned around, his face masked in black gauze so that none could see his expression, yet from his glittering eyes anyone could tell the uncommon agitation in his heart at that moment.

"You call me Master?"

Xiao Wan blushed, and instead grew somewhat embarrassed, stammering, "This... this was my own idea. If—if you are unwilling, Senior, I..."

Mr. Ghost cut in suddenly, "Enough. Say no more."

Xiao Wan started, and looked up to see Mr. Ghost gazing deeply at her. He nodded, reached once more into his robes, took out some things, and held them before her, saying, "For the sake of your calling me Master once, I shall give you these."

Xiao Wan looked down and saw a stack of seven dark, triangular, plate-like objects, each about an inch and a half across, their edges smooth, their material unrecognizable—like iron yet not iron. Xiao Wan hesitated a moment, glanced at Mr. Ghost, and seeing his eyes rather softened, reached out and took them. Looking closely, she saw that each triangular piece had a small hole at its tip, threaded with dark red silk cord binding them together. On each piece, front and back, were different mysterious dark red patterns—some like raging flames, some like beasts roaring—no two alike. Taking them in hand, she felt them icy cold to the touch, and at the same time faintly tinged with the smell of blood.

Behind her, Zhou Yixuan had sharp eyes, and at a glance recognized these triangular pieces as the very things Mr. Ghost had used to save Xiao Wan.

Mr. Ghost said mildly, "These are called 'Blood Jade Bone Shards,' a supreme treasure of the ghost path. They have the wondrous effect of drawing out the ghost path's strange arts. A cultivation originally of the fifth layer, with this treasure, can at least exert the power of the seventh; and one of better talent may draw out the efficacy of the tenth."

Xiao Wan was both startled and delighted, nodding again and again, while Zhou Yixuan in the distance shook his head vigorously.