Chapter 157: The Decision

Leaving Kindling Hall, Pan Yunzhou walked down the stone steps in silence and made his way back to the Alpine Lake area.

By now the sun had already set in the west, its last traces of light scattered over the lake, still locked under ice and piled with snow. At a glance, the scene felt bleak and cold.

Pan Yunzhou stood gazing for a while, then made his way to the dining hall in a distracted daze.

He was about to pick his dishes as usual when a sudden impulse seized him. He dug a leftover silver ingot from his pouch and handed it to one of the dining hall workers.

"Bring me a jar of rose dew, a small jar of Guangning Shaodaozi, and also steamed ribs with taro, seven-spice roasted chicken, fish-head stewed with tofu..."

He ordered a heap of dishes.

At the Brightnight Sect, every disciple received their standard daily meals at no cost. But eating better, drinking wine, or ordering extra dishes required paying out of pocket.

The dishes and wine Pan Yunzhou had ordered covered an entire square table. He unclipped his saber and set it aside, then stared blankly at what lay before him for a full five minutes.

He reached out and tore a drumstick from the seven-spice roasted chicken, pulling so hard the juices ran freely, exposing the various spices packed inside the cavity.

He bit down, and the savory, fragrant skin and meat burst across his palate along with the juices. The taste suddenly stirred up memories of his early days out in the world—sleeping in the wild, living on dried rations and preserved fruit. Once, a traveling companion had bought a chicken, wrapped it in mud, and roasted it in a pit. There were no spices, only strong liquor to cut the gamey smell and coarse salt rubbed into the skin, yet he had wolfed it down and felt it was the most delicious thing he had ever tasted.

As the memories welled up, Pan Yunzhou took another big bite of the drumstick, then picked up his already-poured bowl of Guangning Shaodaozi and drained it in one long pull.

The strong liquor turned to fire, burning from his throat all the way down to his stomach, and reminded him that he was, in fact, still alive.

Pan Yunzhou sometimes ate like a blitz, sometimes chewing slowly while staring blankly into the distance.

By the time he had finished both jars of wine and cleared the dishes, it was already late.

He began to pace around Alpine Lake, round after round.

He walked until the warmth of the wine had dissolved into the cold of the night before returning to his quarters.

He lived on the second floor of a small building that held four rooms in total. Pan Yunzhou’s was the innermost one.

He took off his outer jacket, lay down on the bed, and tried to sleep. But no matter how he tossed and turned, he could not fall asleep.

The night stretched on and on as the wind wailed outside. The more anxious Pan Yunzhou became, the more he suffered, and the less he could relax. Sleep evaded him.

His lips were dry, almost cracked.

He let out a long sigh, sat up, drained a bowl of cold tea, then threw on his jacket without his saber, walked out of the room, went down the stairs, and returned to the shore of Alpine Lake.

At night, Alpine Lake’s ice reflected the stars, flickering with tiny points of light. It was still and gentle.

Pan Yunzhou stared blankly at it. First he grew gradually calm, then the thoughts came rushing back and he felt as though he were inside a furnace. Then he slowly settled again. This repeated, without end.

Suddenly he noticed the darkness had lightened considerably. The horizon showed a blush of red, and from somewhere nearby came a clamor of voices, men and women mixed together.

"It reeks!"

"Stay away from me!"

"Watch your step."

"..."

The entry-level disciples remaining on the mountain were picking up their night-soil buckets to begin their morning training.

For all their complaints, their faces were filled with a hope that was plain to see.

No sooner had that group gone than the newest initiates emerged from their quarters at the sound of the night watchman’s drum and headed for their respective training grounds.

They shivered in the cold, their breath puffing white. Every face was young.

Pan Yunzhou watched quietly. The tension in his face gradually softened.

Before his eyes, the first ray of sunlight pierced through the clouds and fell upon the mountains.

Before long, he spotted Ding Songyan heading toward the Dipper-Mansion Training Ground with a steamed bun in his mouth.

Pan Yunzhou went to meet him, a smile on his face. He spoke slowly and clearly.

"Junior Brother Ding, I am willing."

......

"Installing the viscera today?" Having just made his decision, Pan Yunzhou had not expected to be dragged by Junior Brother Ding straight to the rear of Kindling Hall.

What kind of situation is handing over the art the day before yesterday, completing it yesterday, and beginning the installation today?

Isn’t there supposed to be time spent gathering materials and constructing the alien viscera?

Isn’t there supposed to be an assessment of his temperament and physical condition?

Isn’t he supposed to go into seclusion for a few days to settle his mind?

Isn’t this too fast?

So fast it feels like a con, afraid the target might change his mind...

Ding Songyan ticked off his fingers.

"The viscera-installation method was completed yesterday. The corresponding alien viscera come from the Celestial Stars Scripture, and the sect has all the required materials on hand. Constructing the first one, the Azure Dragon, is fairly straightforward; it takes half an hour at most. And the fact that you were able to make this decision at all means your temperament poses no problem whatsoever.

"With everything ready, there’s no reason to wait. Today it is!"

"But..." Pan Yunzhou tried to push back.

He had made his decision, but he still needed to settle himself mentally and get into the right frame of mind.

At the very least, he ought to eat what he wanted to eat, drink what he wanted to drink, and do what he wanted to do.

"No buts, strike while the iron is hot. The first surge carries you; the second falters; the third gives out," Ding Songyan spoke at a rapid clip.

In the spacious room, furnished with a bed and a table, lit by many lamps and candles, Hu Chengzong was already constructing the Azure Dragon viscera.

A small length of spring-reviving deadwood served as the base, onto which the star constellation corresponding to the Azure Dragon had been inscribed with cerulean jade powder and other materials. At the dragon’s horns, eyes, and tail, four alien apertures needed to be forged from special materials.

The Myriad Stars Canon and the Celestial Stars Scripture were not identical in this regard; the Celestial Stars Scripture’s Azure Dragon viscera required only three alien apertures.

Pan Yunzhou watched with his heart pounding. Just then, Ding Songyan finished preparing a bowl of dark medicinal broth and brought it over.

Thinking of how Pan Yunzhou was the eldest of his generation in the Pan family, Ding Songyan was reminded of the famous joke about Wu Dalang being served his fatal medicine. He chuckled softly,

"Eldest son, time for your medicine."

"What medicine?" Pan Yunzhou blurted out.

"Numbing powder." Ding Songyan said with a half-smile. "Drink it in one go, wake up, and it’ll all be over. No need to feel anxious, no need to be afraid."

Though it felt like Junior Brother Ding was trying to trick him, Pan Yunzhou thought it over briefly, then took the bowl of numbing powder and drained it in one go.

Hesitation before battle was natural enough. But once the die was cast, there was nothing left to waver over!

Before long, having made no effort to resist with his true qi, Pan Yunzhou sank into a deep sleep and lay back on the white-draped wooden bed.

Once Hu Chengzong had finished preparing the Azure Dragon viscera, he lit all the lamps and candles and began treating the various thin blades with his true qi.

What followed looked no different from open abdominal surgery for the spectating Ding Songyan. The Azure Dragon viscera was placed near the spleen, its roots connecting to the corresponding flesh layer by layer.

Throughout the process, Hu Chengzong also used his Candleflame True Qi to protect Pan Yunzhou’s heart meridian and ancestral aperture against any mishap.

Sterilizing with true qi, steady hands, sharp eyes, a thorough grasp of the body’s structure... Master Granduncle Hu is practically half a surgical specialist. Only half because he knows nothing except aperture-forging and viscera-installation. The sect has other people for treating disciples’ external and internal injuries... Ding Songyan assisted Hu Chengzong dutifully.

Once the cultivation-teaching Elder had finished installing the Azure Dragon viscera, Ding Songyan placed his right hand on Pan Yunzhou’s shoulder.

His Star-Sequence True Qi flowed into Pan Yunzhou’s meridians, guiding Pan Yunzhou’s own true qi into the Azure Dragon viscera to travel slowly along the star constellation pathways that had been inscribed on it.

Ding Songyan felt Pan Yunzhou’s body rejecting the alien viscera. But as the true qi continued circling along its fixed path and passed repeatedly through the four alien apertures on the Azure Dragon, the two gradually merged into one.

With the guidance complete, Ding Songyan could at last disperse his Star-Sequence True Qi and return to Presence-Absence Myriad Forms Qi.

To help Pan Yunzhou install the viscera, he had kept his apertures in the corresponding state after generating Star-Sequence True Qi the previous time, so as to avoid having to use the Celestial Heart imprint to divide his mind again.

That needed to be used sparingly!

Seeing that Pan Yunzhou was stable, Hu Chengzong went about closing up the abdomen with practiced hands.

......

The darkness slowly turned red, then dissolved away into light.

Pan Yunzhou forced his eyes open and saw Master Granduncle Hu and Junior Brother Ding standing beside him.

I’m not dead... don’t seem to have gone crazy either... Pan Yunzhou was about to speak when he heard Junior Brother Ding say, "Circulate your true qi along the pathways recorded in the Myriad Stars Canon and make the Azure Dragon viscera your own."

Pan Yunzhou immediately realized his situation. Having undergone viscera installation twice before, he set aside the impulse to feel relieved and recalled the contents of the Myriad Stars Canon, guiding his true qi into circulation with practiced ease.

This time, he could feel with absolute clarity that his body had gained a new organ.

Time passed. When Pan Yunzhou opened his eyes again, he had a firm enough sense of his own condition.

No deviation, no being stuck without progress, and certainly no sudden death or madness...

He couldn’t be certain whether this would let him become a Grandmaster in the future. But at least—at least he could keep walking forward in the Great Proliferation Realm...

The Pan family could keep walking forward too...

"Master Granduncle Hu, Junior Brother Ding, a great debt of gratitude cannot be put into words..." Pan Yunzhou said, his voice weak.

His eyes quickly blurred, as though veiled in mist.

"It is the sect you should thank." Ding Songyan smiled slightly. "Without the sacrifices of the founding generations, completing the art would never have been possible. Without my master’s resolve, none of this could have been set in motion."

Pan Yunzhou gave a gentle nod, his expression deeply solemn.

After a few moments, he searched through his clothes and produced a stack of banknotes, passing them to Hu Chengzong with some difficulty.

"Master Granduncle Hu, this is 3,000 taels. I have only just joined the sect and have not accumulated any merit, yet I have had my viscera installed ahead of others. I feel genuinely ashamed. Please accept this as some small compensation."

The Brightnight Sect charged its disciples nothing for aperture-forging and viscera-installation, though it did assess each disciple’s temperament and physical condition first.

Disciples who passed the assessment still had to wait in line if materials were limited, queuing by contribution to the sect and personal talent. Those who didn’t want to wait could source the materials themselves at their own expense.

Aperture-forging typically required two types of materials, never more than three, and unless something extremely rare was involved, the cost was not prohibitive. By Ding Songyan’s estimate, setting aside the two alien apertures that required special materials, the other alien apertures in the Celestial Stars Scripture averaged about 50 taels each.

That didn’t account for the cultivation-teaching Elders’ efforts. Unaffiliated cultivators seeking to forge apertures not only had to obtain the corresponding methods but also gather the materials themselves and spend considerably to find a trustworthy physician to assist them.

For viscera-installation, excluding the White Tiger, which required the Seven Metals, the other three averaged 300 taels each. The White Tiger depended on which materials were ultimately chosen, ranging from 1,000 to 3,000 taels.

Because the sect charged nothing for aperture-forging and viscera-installation, the Brightnight Sect required that disciples who collected relevant materials they didn’t personally need and had no pressing financial hardship to turn them over to the sect.

Ding Songyan did not stop Hu Chengzong from accepting the banknotes. He only smiled and said, "That’s nearly enough to cover all the remaining alien viscera. And truthfully, your Myriad Stars Canon has also helped complete our own arts."

"That’s as it should be." Pan Yunzhou said, his face pale. "If we’re calculating, what would it be worth to have the sect complete the Myriad Stars Canon for me?"

Well said. Debts of loyalty and friendship can never be measured with money... Ding Songyan silently approved.

Hu Chengzong then produced a small bottle of medicine and handed it to Pan Yunzhou.

"Jade Balm Scar Dispersal Powder. Apply twice daily, once in the morning and once at night. It will clear the scarring."

......

Several days later, in the afternoon.

Zheng Zhuxi and her mother returned to Alpine Lake Town.

"I have some matters to handle in town. Take this medicinal pill to Songyan." Tao Wenshu handed her daughter a white porcelain bottle.

Zheng Zhuxi had no wish to linger in Alpine Lake Town herself. She left most of her luggage at the house on Mountainview Lane, shouldered a smaller pack, deployed the Waxing Moon Phantom Form, and ran towards the mountain gate.

She had just reached the boundary marker when she suddenly spotted a familiar silhouette.

Ding Songyan, dressed in his usual black tight-fitting outfit and carrying Frostshade, stood waiting under a pine tree with a smile.

"What are you doing here?" Zheng Zhuxi came forward quickly, both surprised and delighted.

"I’m waiting for you," Ding Songyan replied leisurely.

Zheng Zhuxi was a little puzzled.

"How did you know I’d be returning today?"

Ding Songyan smiled.

"My senior sister always keeps her word. Since you said you’d be back in fifteen days, fifteen days it is."

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