Mysterious Heart Awakens the Spirit

Xuan Ya nodded slightly, saying no more, her gaze falling back upon the sparkling surface of the sea: “Since it is nothing serious, you two may go to the tidal flats and gather some fish, shrimp, crabs, and shells.

They will serve as provisions for our evening gathering.”

“Alright, Master!” Gantang, as if granted a great amnesty, bounded toward the edge of the waves.

“This disciple obeys.” Lu Qiancha also bowed in acknowledgment, though she let out a long sigh of relief in her heart.

The two of them immediately split up.

Lu Qiancha strolled to the water’s edge, a spiritual light flickering within her deep blue eyes as her spiritual sense spread out like quicksilver flowing across the ground, silently sweeping over the soft sand.

Soon, she had locked onto a few green-shelled flower crabs that had been stranded by the tide and were frantically scrabbling at the sand, as well as several exquisitely patterned conch shells.

She bent down and reached out, her paw just touching the cold, ridged surface of a shell—

“…in…”

An extremely faint echo, as if from the deep sea, like the sonic trace left by a bursting bubble, suddenly vibrated beside her ear.

“Hm?”

Lu Qiancha’s movement froze.

Beneath her disguise, the pupils of her true form’s deep blue eyes instantly contracted to the size of a needlepoint.

Her surging spiritual sense, like an invisible ripple, abruptly swept out in all directions.

Wherever it passed, birds flocked in the sky, insects hid themselves away, and the sea breeze murmured as it swirled the fine sand…

There was not a single abnormal aura or fluctuation.

‘Could it be an auditory hallucination?’

Her brows furrowed in suspicion, and she gave her head a little shake, though the small wolf ears beneath her illusion remained pricked in alert.

Then, Lu Qiancha casually picked up another shell.

“Please… come… to the…”

The voice sounded again, closer and clearer than before!

It was as if the speaker were right beside her, the words like fine sand pouring into her ear.

“?!”

Lu Qiancha shot upright, her gaze sweeping her surroundings as sharply as a falcon’s, but there was still nothing there.

There was only the rushing sound of waves washing over the sand and, in the distance, the faint, cheerful laughter of Gantang catching crabs.

Her heart began to beat a little faster.

She stared at the conch in her hand as a sense of eeriness crept up her spine.

Tentatively, she bent down again to pick up another seashell—

“I invite Your Excellency to the woods for a talk.”

This time, the words were coherent and clear, spoken as if right next to her ear, carrying a trace of aged, peaceful respect.

“Who?!”

Lu Qiancha’s sharp cry was like a clap of thunder on the quiet beach.

She subconsciously tightened her grip on the seashell in her hand.

Her piercing gaze instantly shot toward the direction indicated by the voice—the patch of dark green trees separating the beach from the forest.

Not far away, Xuan Ya, who had been focused on turning over rocks to find crabs, looked up abruptly at the sound.

Her figure flickered, arriving like the wind to land at Lu Qiancha’s side.

She held her jade-handled horsetail whisk protectively before her, her cold eyes scanning the area.

“Qiancha! What has alarmed you?”

“Master!” Lu Qiancha took a deep breath, trying to calm the tremor in her voice.

“Did you happen to hear a voice just now?”

“A voice?”

A hint of surprise flashed in Xuan Ya’s eyes.

She focused her senses for a moment, but there was only the sound of the wind and tide.

“What voice? Could it be that someone is using a secret art to transmit their voice to you?”

Lu Qiancha was silent for a moment, then slowly shook her head.

“No, perhaps this disciple simply misheard.”

Xuan Ya studied her slightly pale face and knitted brows, the last trace of doubt in her eyes melting into concern.

“Never mind.
You truly do not look well.
Since the change in environment has affected you, you should not tax your mind further.
Return to your tent at once to rest and meditate.
Do not force yourself.”

“…This disciple will take her leave.” Lu Qiancha bowed her head in assent and turned to walk slowly away.

However, the moment her figure was completely hidden in the shadows of the tent area, Lu Qiancha’s pace abruptly changed.

Her figure blurred, wind gathering at her feet as she shot toward the deep, verdant forest on the opposite side of the coast.

She dodged gnarled vines and stepped across a thick layer of pine needles and humus.

Mixed in with the clean, sharp scent of vegetation was an extremely faint, yet unmissable, smell of incense.

Following the trail for less than half a li, a quaint little temple suddenly appeared, resting quietly before Lu Qiancha’s eyes.

The temple was not large, no more than two zhang high and about five or six paces wide.

It was constructed entirely from a type of grayish-blue stone, fitted together so perfectly it seemed a single, seamless whole.

The roof was covered with heavy, vermilion ceramic tiles, and two similarly vermilion, mottled doors stood wide open.

Before the stone steps of the temple, several small, blackish-green stone crabs stood guard on either side like sentinels, not even scattering at Lu Qiancha’s approach.

Inside the hall stood a blue earthen platform, upon which sat a statue of a deity in a yellow robe.

Wisps of incense smoke drifted up from before the platform.

Lu Qiancha stopped thirty feet from the temple.

A shimmer of light flashed from the statue, and out stepped an old man, six feet tall, dressed in a yellow robe and holding a crooked wooden staff.

“Xiao Shi, the Earth God of the Little Stone Sea, pays his respects to the Mountain God of the Peach Blossom Spring.”

The old man gave Lu Qiancha a slight bow.

His voice was aged yet resonant, the very same one that had spoken to her from the sea.

Lu Qiancha was not surprised to hear him reveal her identity.

After all, proper deities had marks of office, and she could sense his identity as well.

Her mark of office was a Mountain God Talismanic Edict, while his was an Earth God Talismanic Edict.

“Venerable God, you are too courteous.” Lu Qiancha’s eyes were clear as she returned the bow, neither servile nor arrogant.

“May I ask for what reason the Venerable God used the seashells as a guide to summon me here?”

“Hehe,” Venerable Xiao Shi stroked the white beard on his chest, his smile warm.

“Today, auspicious birds chirped from the eaves of my shrine, a most fortuitous sign.
This old one made a quick calculation and found that a blessed colleague had set foot in this domain.
Overjoyed, I could not help but take the liberty of extending an invitation.
Firstly, to fulfill the duties of a host, and secondly, to celebrate our meeting.
Your Excellency, Mountain God, I only hope you do not blame this old one for his presumptuousness.”

“I would not dare.
To be able to view the Venerable God’s temple is a fortune of my own.”

Lu Qiancha’s eyes shifted slightly.

Though she wore a smile, her heart was quite vigilant, and she began to silently circulate her spiritual energy.

After speaking, Lu Qiancha glanced around, her gaze settling on the incense burning before the Earth God’s statue.

She asked with some confusion, “This place is uninhabited.

May I ask why the Venerable God’s temple still enjoys such abundant incense offerings, with smoke perpetually rising?”

“Oh,”

A flicker of genuine surprise crossed Venerable Xiao Shi’s face.

“Can it be that the Mountain God does not know of the Art of Spiritual Awakening?”

“This junior god is of shallow knowledge.
I do not know what this Art of Spiritual Awakening is.
I would be grateful if the Venerable God could enlighten me.”

Lu Qiancha asked, her curiosity piqued.

“Hehehe, this art is an ancient one,”

Venerable Xiao Shi stroked his long beard, his smile widening as his wooden staff began to glow faintly.

“The so-called ‘enlightenment’ is to use spiritual energy as a conduit to spark a sliver of wisdom in ignorant creatures.
The so-called ‘awakening of spirit’ is to use incense as a foundation to grant them intelligence and understanding, so that they may offer a wisp of pious incense faith before a god.”

As if to prove his words, Venerable Xiao Shi said no more.

He gently pointed his wooden staff from a distance at a stone crab on the steps below, which was raising its claws toward the sky.

“Duo!”

A wisp of incense smoke, glittering with fine golden motes and mixed with a thread of pure, azure immortal power from his fingertip, instantly sank into the stone crab’s body.

“Crack…”

The stone crab froze as if held by an invisible force, and a faint grinding sound came from its carapace.

It stood rigid for several breaths.

Then, abruptly, it lowered its raised claws.

Like a person, it prostrated itself on the ground with a “plop.”

Its soybean-sized eyes began to gleam with a faint spiritual light.

With extreme clumsiness, yet with immense piety, it used its segmented black claws to kowtow heavily three times in the direction of the Earth God’s statue.

Lu Qiancha saw it clearly: a wisp of incense-borne faith power, originating from the stone crab, flew into the Earth God’s statue.

“This…” The shock in Lu Qiancha’s eyes was unconcealable, and a powerful stirring rose in her heart.

She took a deep breath to suppress her excitement and gave Venerable Xiao Shi a solemn bow, adopting an even more humble posture, her tone carrying an unprecedented earnestness.

“This art is miraculous and divine, and the Venerable God’s cultivation is unfathomable.
This junior god is completely ignorant in this dao.
I boldly request that the Venerable God teach me this art.
Whatever you may require, be it spirit stones or precious materials, I will offer all I have.”

“Mountain God, you speak too gravely.” Venerable Xiao Shi quickly stepped aside to avoid half the bow, smiling like a kindly neighborhood elder.
“This old one is but a god who guards this small corner.
How could I covet such worldly things?
Relations between colleagues value sincerity above all.
It is merely a single art.
Gifting it to a fellow Daoist is a blessing for all of us on this path.”

With that, he gently tapped his crooked wooden staff on the ground.

Om.

A beam of light, condensed as a needle and circulating with earthy yellow divine script, shot from the tip of the staff and instantly entered the space between Lu Qiancha’s brows.

Lu Qiancha’s body trembled slightly as a vast and profound stream of information spread through her sea of consciousness.

It was a wondrous divine art of enlightenment known as the “Profound Heart Enlightenment Art.”

The art was clear, its workings profound, with not a single part obscured or restricted.