Passing the Flame

A month later, the rock wall behind the mountain was sealed off for three whole days.

For the next three days, no one except Liu Jin and Zuo Ruotong was allowed to approach within a hundred paces of the back mountain. Lu Jin and Li Muxuan took turns guarding the mountain pass; Lu Jin stood guard during the day, and Li Muxuan took over at night.

Lu Jin was quiet while on guard duty, occasionally meditating and breathing exercises. Every now and then, he would look up at the direction of the back mountain and then continue meditating.

The scene was quite lively when Li Muxuan was on guard duty. He sat alone on the ground, reviewing all the battle records of his senior brother and master, starting from the fight with Zhang Zhiwei in the wilderness at the Lu family's birthday banquet, and continuing all the way to the few blows he had taken during their last sparring session. He firmly believed that as long as he reviewed the battles enough times, he would eventually find a way to break the deadlock.

On the evening of the third day, Zuo Ruotong came out from the back mountain.

His appearance hadn't changed. The moon-white Taoist robe was still the same moon-white robe, his long hair was still casually loose behind his head, and he still walked so lightly that it was almost silent. But what Liu Jin saw was not his appearance.

In Liu Jin's eyes, Zuo Ruotong was like a piece of crystal that had been repeatedly fired countless times, finally completing the final process. It wasn't that she became brighter, but that she became more stable. The clarity she had before was dynamic, maintained only through constant refinement and polishing; the clarity she had now was static, an essential clarity that didn't require any external force to maintain.

Zuo Ruotong walked to the entrance of the mountain path and looked at Lu Jin and Li Muxuan, who were guarding the roadside.

"Master," Li Muxuan was the first to rush forward, "You've broken through?"

"You've broken through." Zuo Ruotong reached out and rubbed his head. This time, the force was lighter than ever before, but Li Muxuan felt that the hand was more stable than before, so stable that it was almost weightless.

"The third level of the Reverse Life Triple Stage," Zuo Ruotong withdrew her hand and looked down the mountain. "The path that the ancestors of all generations have pondered for three hundred years without completing has been completed today. Although it was done with the help of outsiders, at least it's finished."

Lu Jin stood to the side and bowed deeply. Zuo Ruotong nodded to him, then turned to Liu Jin, who was standing in front of the stone wall.

"How do you plan to repay the favor to the Zhuge family?"

"A spark. This disciple is preparing to depart soon."

Zuo Ruotong nodded and said nothing more.

Zhuge Ming sat in his main room, two cups of tea before him. One was for Liu Jin, and the other for himself. The statue of Zhuge Liang was still the same statue, the bamboo slips on the bookshelf were still the same bamboo slips, and even the faint sandalwood scent in the air remained unchanged. The only thing that had changed was Zhuge Ming's expression. Last time they met, he had a helpless, stern face the entire time, but this time he smiled from beginning to end.

"The Fire-Swallowing Taoist," he read aloud, sipped his tea, and repeated it again. "A good title."

"If you'd like, senior brother, you can choose one too."

"No. Naming a name isn't difficult; the challenge is getting everyone to recognize it." Zhuge Ming put down his teacup and said seriously, "Tell me, what did you bring?"

Liu Jin opened his palm, and a wisp of pale blue flame rose from it. Unlike the flame he gave Zuo Ruotong, this flame was more solid and burned continuously in reality.

"One Samadhi Flame Seed. I have adjusted it to suit the characteristics of the Zhuge family's cultivation method. This flame seed itself can serve as a catalyst for your family's disciples to ignite the Samadhi True Fire. If someone has enough talent in the future, they can use it to start the fire. Even if no one can ignite it, it can be nurtured in your family's ancestral hall, slowly permeating and enhancing the fire nature of future generations of disciples."

Zhuge Ming reached out and carefully caught the wisp of flame. The moment the flame landed in his palm, he trembled slightly—not from the burning sensation, but from a resonance. He had cultivated the Qimen spiritual arts his entire life, and for the first time, he felt that the fire wasn't burning, but rather responding to his soul.

"This is far more valuable than a favor." He clasped his hands together, storing the fire within his inner world, and looked up at Liu Jin. "If you ever need the Zhuge family's help in the future, have someone bring your fire."

Liu Jin smiled, cupped his hands in farewell, and took his leave.

There weren't many people on the official road. The autumn sun shone brightly, and the rice paddies along the roadside had already been harvested, leaving only neat rows of rice stubble standing in the fields. In the distance, someone was burning straw, the white smoke rising straight into the sky, slanted into a line by the wind. The scene was so peaceful that it made one want to doze off.

Liu Jin slowed his pace. He was savoring this rare moment of leisure. From the time he transmigrated several years ago until now, his nerves had been on edge the entire time. Breaking through barriers, strategizing, calculating, preparing—he dared not make a single wrong step. Now, he had broken through the third level, passed on the cultivation technique, repaid the favor, and uncovered the secret of his cheat ability. It seemed like everything was done. No, there was still one thing.

He stopped in his tracks.

The official road curved ahead, and at the end of the bend stood a man in his thirties, dressed in a faded gray cloth robe. He was of average height and build, with an unremarkable face; he would be easily lost in a crowd. Yet he stood casually in the middle of the road, hands tucked into his sleeves, as if waiting for an old friend. The wide, flat road seemed to be completely blocked by him.

Liu Jin looked at him, and he looked at Liu Jin.

"What brings you to my road?"

"I have long admired the name of the Fire-Swallowing Daoist and have come to pay my respects." The man's voice was unhurried, with a peculiar rhythm, as if every word was to the point, yet also as if every word was just spoken casually. "I am Quanxing, Wugensheng."

Looking at the ordinary-looking man in front of him, Liu Jin didn't think, "Finally here," but rather, he thought something more realistic: You're even more of a passerby than someone drawn in a comic book.

Of course, he didn't say those words aloud. He simply shifted the bamboo box from his left shoulder to his right and looked it over again. Wu Gensheng, the leader of the Quanxing Sect, the most mysterious character in the original Under One Person novel, the head of the Thirty-Six Thieves, the catalyst for the Jia Shen Rebellion, and a man described by the Old Master as "incomprehensible." At this moment, he stood in front of him with his hands tucked in his pockets, his posture as casual as someone waiting for a neighbor to return from the market at the village entrance.

"I came specifically to see you," Liu Jin repeated those four words, "and you've finished reading?"

"I haven't seen enough yet." Wugensheng smiled, his smile devoid of hostility or probing, only displaying a pure interest born from curiosity. "Since leaving the Zhuge family, you've walked three miles, each step landing on the smoothest part of the official road. It wasn't a deliberate choice; your body automatically found the most energy-efficient route. This shows that you have completely mastered the control of your Qi."

"You've been squatting for three miles?"

"It doesn't count as squatting. I walked along the field ridges, which are closer than the main road."

Liu Jin remained silent for a moment. The leader of Quanxing Sect ignored that pile of stuff and came to watch a disciple of Sanyi Sect walk, and even figured out something about it. However, he didn't say anything, but simply put the bamboo box by the roadside and sat down on the ridge of the field.

Wugensheng sat down opposite him, his cross-legged posture even more comfortable than Wugensheng's, as if he had sat on the paddy field ridges countless times in his life. Occasionally, farmers carrying loads would pass by on the official road, glancing curiously at the two young men sitting by the roadside before continuing on their way. In the distance, white smoke from burning straw still drifted into the sky, the autumn sun shining brightly.

"Tell me," Liu Jin began, "why did you come to find me?"