Si Teng (Rattan) – CH 085

Chapter 85

Qin Fang’s home was quite close to the center of the compound. Yan Furui was jogging along, and as he passed a nearby house, he inadvertently tilted his head to look. The house had glass curtain walls, which roughly reflected the image of passersby. In that moment, Yan Furui noticed that Master Cang Hong seemed to raise his head.

This made Yan Furui overjoyed. “Abbot Cang Hong, are you awake?”

No one paid any attention to him. Yan Furui twisted his neck to see: Abbot Cang Hong was still unconscious, his head drooping against his shoulder, still looking as if he was dying.

Perhaps it was his own imagination, Yan Furui sighed, and his worry returned. Elderly people were not immune to collisions. He would discuss this with Wang Qiankun when he got home. Perhaps it would be safer to send him to the hospital.

Since this concerned his Grand Master, Wang Qiankun was so eager that he didn’t even close the door, standing by the entrance, ready to greet him at any moment. Yan Furui, seeing him from afar, was furious. He pulled out his phone and called Wang Qiankun, lashing out at him. “Who told you to come out? Didn’t I tell you Bai Ying was nearby? You’ve been exposed in just three minutes. Would the real Miss Si Teng be standing at the door, looking around?”

As he spoke, he lifted the Master Cang Hong, who was sliding down his back.

Wang Qiankun was also furious. “Miss Si Teng’s method doesn’t seem reliable to me. How can I pretend to be her? Bai Ying is no fool. She’ll see through me whether I stand by the door or not.”

Yan Furui then threatened him. “Are you going in or not? If not, do you believe I’ll throw your Grand Master out here? I’ll throw him out, I really will!”

The stalemate lasted about half a minute before Wang Qiankun compromised.

***

But after entering the house, Wang Qiankun was not so cooperative. While carefully helping his master lie down on the sofa, he complained to Yan Furui, saying that he thought Miss Si Teng’s idea would not work. It was simply like the army was not moving and the food was moldy. Bai Ying had not even been seen. He had almost lost his life wearing high heels, and now even his master had been hit, all because of that broken lamp! If anything happened to the master, he would not let it go!

Yan Furui was furious. Pointing at the door leading to the small backyard garden, he threatened, “Say it again! I tell you, if I get angry, I’ll do anything. Do you believe me? I’ll tell Miss Si Teng and have her activate the Killing Vine on both you and your master.”

In short: Yan Furui was furious, and the consequences were serious.

Wang Qiankun cursed him, “Traitor!”

Yan Furui slanted his eyes and sat down on the sofa, deliberately shaking his legs a few times, showing no fear of being scolded. Wang Qiankun had no choice but to think that caring for the Grand Master was more important. He quickly dug out the first aid kit from Qin Fang’s room, took out gauze and alcohol, and wiped Abbot Cang Hong’s wound.

Yan Furui, sitting next to him, grew bored. Wang Qiankun was busy caring for Abbot Cang Hong, and it was boring for him to just sit there…

His eyes fell on Abbot Cang Hong’s luggage bag: Yeah, how could he have forgotten the Eight-Trigram Yellow Clay Lamp?

***

Yan Furui excitedly went to the small garden to pick vines. Thinking of the ghost stories he’d heard before, he realized this vine might be Miss Si Teng’s finger or arm, and he couldn’t cut it. He picked and chose, pretending to be admiring the flowers. He quickly selected the thinnest one, plucked off a section about an inch long, and ran back home like a flash.

Entering the house, he rummaged through the drawers again, searching for a lighter. His running in and out made so much noise that Wang Qiankun couldn’t help but glare at him. Yan Furui was already unhappy because of their previous “bad relationship,” and now that he dared to roll his eyes, he became even more unhappy, thinking to himself, I will never light such a rare lamp for you to see.

He tucked the lamp into his arms and headed for the study. When he entered and saw the open window, he suddenly felt that there were eyes with ulterior motives around him. After thinking for a while, he had an idea: “Yes, I should go to Qin Fang’s room.”

The study, kitchen, and even the living room all had windows that opened to the outside, but Qin Fang’s room was different. Firstly, it was originally a bedroom, so it was quite private. Secondly, after Qin Fang was injured, Miss Si Teng had taken care of him, and Qin Fang was relying on that last breath to survive. He didn’t want to open the window casually to let in any outside air…

As Yan Furui turned back and passed the living room, Wang Qiankun stopped what he was doing and asked suspiciously, “What did you just take from my Grand Master’s bag?”

Yan Furui replied angrily, “Nothing!”

***

He had originally intended to bolt the door when he entered, but turning back, seeing Wang Qiankun’s intense gaze, he changed his mind and deliberately left it ajar. He said nonchalantly, “Let me see Qin Fang.”

The room was silent, the curtains tightly drawn. The dimness was blinding. Fearing the surroundings might be affecting his mood, Yan Furui felt extremely depressed the moment he stepped inside. Seeing Qin Fang lying lifeless, he felt a little uncomfortable. Suddenly, he thought of Wafang. Qin Fang at least had Miss Si Teng as his guarantor, so he still had a chance of survival. But Wafang, unfortunately…

He sat down dejectedly on the edge of the bed and said to Qin Fang, “You’re fine; you have Miss Si Teng’s protection. But Wafang, sadly, just had a bad fate.”

He added, “But it’s better for you to lie down. You’ve been so nervous these past two days, so scared. That Bai Ying…”

He subconsciously lowered his voice an octave, but was startled by the sudden strangeness of his tone. “That Bai Ying, maybe… is nearby…”

After finishing his words, he paused for a moment, feeling the tedium of talking to such an insensible person. Wang Qiankun’s voice drifted faintly through the doorway. He must have been on the phone with his fellow disciples on Wudang Mountain. His voice was anxious. “He said he was hit and had some scrapes on his skin, but no major injuries. But who knows? The Grand Master is old, so he might be hospitalized in Hangzhou. A few fellow disciples can come and take care of him…”

Yan Furui sighed, pulled out the Eight-Trigram Yellow Clay Lamp from his pocket, and lit it.

It was exactly as the legend had said. The red-yellow flame was straight and rigid, like a back that couldn’t bend when patted, and it was also stiff as if it had been strangled by a rope and pulled up hard, without any bending.

Yan Furui’s heart pounded as he slowly brought the thin vine branch closer. A crackling sound accompanied the rising white smoke, a faint, strange smell emanating from it. All the discomfort quickly dissipated. The flame flickered twice, then, before Yan Furui’s very eyes, clearly and distinctly, split into two strands.

One strand remained entwined with the tip of the vine, while the other unexpectedly bent and pointed outward.

Yan Furui held his breath in excitement. He squinted his eyes to see which direction was east or west.

No matter what, he moved the vine a little further outward, and the pulse flame also moved outward along with the extension of the vine like heated sugar threads, but the other pulse always pointed in the direction of the outside. Yan Furui turned around on the spot and faced away. The pulse flame seemed to have a spirit. After a pause, it bent and turned by itself, as meticulous as a compass.

Amazing! Absolutely amazing! Yan Furui was so excited, but with no one to share his excitement with, he frantically reached out to Qin Fang, “Hey, hey, Qin Fang, look!”

Qin Fang didn’t respond, but the half-closed door suddenly flew open, and Wang Qiankun poked his head in.

“Hey, let me tell you…”

Yan Furui was so startled by his sudden move that the lamp in his hand slipped out of his grasp. His head was pounding, and he kept thinking to himself, “This lamp is so precious! I can’t let it break!” Almost as soon as the lamp slipped, he threw himself to the ground…

Everything happened so suddenly and so quickly that Wang Qiankun had no idea what was happening. It seemed to him that the moment the door opened, Yan Furui had fallen to the ground, slapping his hands on the ground like he was dusting off a quilt…

Wang Qiankun was baffled. “Hey, let me tell you…”

Yan Furui was furious. “What are you doing coming in here for no reason?”

Strangely, he had a point. Wang Qiankun was also annoyed. “Do you think I can’t smell it outside? You were clearly burning something! Tell me, were you burning that lamp? Was my master…”

“Shut up!”

Shut up? What did that mean? Wang Qiankun was about to ask more when he noticed something was off about Yan Furui’s face, his lips pale. He simply asked, “Are you burning something? Why are you so nervous?”

Yan Furui froze for a second or two, then came straight over, pushed Wang Qiankun aside, and opened the door wide. From this angle, he could see the Master Cang Hong sprawled sideways on the sofa, his eyes closed and his breath barely fading.

Wang Qiankun, feeling nervous, couldn’t help but lower his voice. “What’s wrong with you?”

Yan Furui remained silent, looking down at the extinguished Eight-Trigram yellow clay lamp that had tumbled to the side of the bed. His hands, hanging by his side, trembled slightly.

He was certain he wasn’t mistaken, even if only for a moment: when he fell, the flame of the Eight-Trigram yellow clay lamp hadn’t yet gone out. At the moment he hit the ground, one strand of the flame clung tenaciously to the vine branch he held in his hand, but the other strand…

The other strand of the flame was slanting upward.

At first, he found it strange. If it were pointing straight up, he could suspect Bai Ying was hiding on the roof. But if it were pointing diagonally, the angle wouldn’t be that steep. If the line extended to infinity, it would mean reaching the sky. Could Bai Ying be in heaven? But the first time, the Eight-Trigram yellow clay lamp had clearly pointed outward in a normal direction.

Then, a chilling thought suddenly struck him. To confirm his position, he opened the door a little, peered outside, and then looked back at where he had fallen.

If you draw a diagonal line from the point where he fell, at the angle pointed by the Eight-Trigram Yellow Clay Lamp, the other point it indicated to would be exactly where the sofa was.

And lying on the sofa was the person he had painstakingly carried back… Wang Qiankun’s Grand Master, Abbot Cang Hong of Baiyun Temple on Wudang Mountain.