Cultivation Retirement Plan (BL)

bgm: lightly

Joyous Spirit was in an uproar by the time the three cultivators landed on the roof of a building across the street. A crowd had gathered in the streets below, whispering and pointing at something on the abandoned second floor. It looked as if a storm had swept through there, leaving chairs and tables overturned, plates of food spilled or untouched, and a general mess on the ground.

“You were sitting at that spot when I found you,” Su Shimeng pointed out a table. From their angle, it looked abandoned like the rest.

“There’s nobody there now,” Nan Wuyue observed.

“But the crowd hasn’t dispersed,” Mo Yixuan glanced at the people in the streets. “Let’s take a closer look.”

Instead of leaping straight across to the balcony opposite, however, he ran along the edge of the roof until he was lined up with the corner of Joyous Spirit and took off from there. This would ensure any excess qi he used on landing wouldn’t be in range of sensitive jade pieces as well as avoid the crowd below. Despite this, it was impossible to mask the sight of his all-white robes, which quickly sent a titter of cries and screams in the gathered mob.

Su Shimeng could even see the town guards coming from a distance away. “I’ll deal with them,” he told Nan Wuyue as he backtracked towards the street. As an IRS disciple, he had required training in diplomacy with the Lower Realms, even if he liked to be brash with his interpersonal relations.

Nan Wuyue naturally tailed after Mo Yixuan. Master and disciple ran along the roof before swinging themselves into the second floor. Both of them were keeping a tight rein on their qi as they landed in the wineshop. It didn’t take long for Mo Yixuan to spot Old Song’s body crumpled up beneath the table. Nan Wuyue hurried forward and dragged the corpse out into the open, where Mo Yixuan did another scan with his spiritual sense.

As expected, the heart was missing once again.

“Shizun, I see a jade piece on the table,” Nan Wuyue said.

“Keep an eye on it but don’t touch,” Mo Yixuan replied, still studying the latest victim. “Check around for other clues.” Part of him marveled at the fact that this almost felt routine now. 

The first body had been a nasty shock, but it almost felt unreal with how clean the insides had been. The second was equally unpleasant because it belonged to a child, but there had been too much going on with the angry crowd for him to process anything but the most important details. Now he was here with Old Song, a man he’d talked and drunk with just hours ago, and Mo Yixuan felt…

...nothing.

There was a trace of pity for the man who’d died so soon—and so close before proposing to his beloved. There was also some horror and revulsion over the fact that he deteriorated so quickly. But there was so much disconnect between the lively, swarthy speaker and this hollowed husk of a man that Mo Yixuan’s brain was having problems connecting the two together.

He decided to ignore it and focus more on the investigation. His prior examinations had all fixated on the heart, but now he realized that there was a faint trace of heat still lingering around the chest area that the rest of the body lacked. It was as if all the essence of the living had concentrated there in the last few moments before the host expired.

Did all the yang essence flow into the heart before it was harvested? 

All living things possessed a balance of both yin and yang in their bodies. Today was the Ghost Festival when ghosts were strongest. Could the Jade Ghost be seizing this chance to collect her fill of yang essence? He’d heard legends of ghosts regaining human form by supplementing their lack of yang. But there were two issues with that theory. 

With the exception of Ye Zhi, all of the victims so far had died around noon. That was far too bright for any ghost to move about harvesting energy. Two, there was nothing concretely tying the Jade Ghost with these dead men beyond that strange, bloodthirsty scent. Old Song had seen a ghost baby, Ye Zhi heard a crying child, and the little boy had his accident after following a “big sister” in yellow robes. Although the first two might be one ghost, the last was definitely different. 

If ghosts couldn’t shapeshift, they naturally wouldn’t be able to change their clothing either. The Jade Ghost had been wearing pink robes on the night they clashed. None of the three descriptions matched, while the other victims on their list had only heard or felt things without seeing anything concrete.

Just how many spirits were they dealing with in the end? 

Then there was Su Shiyu. He was a human carrying the same scent as the corrupted jade and had tried to drive them away when they came to help. It later turned out that he simply didn’t think the issue serious enough to call for aid, but was that plausible? His wife Bai Tingyao obviously thought otherwise and even made a minor fuss in the Middle Realms. With her push, they had started the investigation anew.

Yet at the same time, Su Shiyu didn’t try to hinder their work and was fully cooperative now. Or was he simply pulling the strings while allowing them to run around like headless chickens? Then there was Old Madam Su, another potential source rendered mute by her coma. When Su Shimeng visited her this morning, she had been resting well but completely unresponsive. According to Bai Tingyao, this happened occasionally in Julys of the past, but never past a day. Su Shimeng himself hadn’t known the fact until now as he only visited home around the holidays. Perhaps there was something significantly sinister about this particular Ghost Month.

His thoughts next moved to the jades. As a semiprecious stone, jade was traditionally believed to enhance yang energy. A cultivator’s qi was inherently living too, so it didn’t make sense that a single touch could cause the stone to crumble. It was either tampered with beforehand or put through its paces—perhaps even overloaded?—with yang essence.

Mo Yixuan shook his head. They were still missing pieces of the puzzle. Successive thefts of yang energy, a demonic ghost, the blackened jade...what was this all for and why? Who needed all that energy? Why were they acting so openly now?

Either they didn’t know...or they just didn’t care.

By the time Mo Yixuan ran through his thoughts, Su Shimeng had climbed the stairs of the shop to join them. He too, zeroed in on the jade sitting on the table with a frown. 

“It looks like the one Ye Zhi had,” Su Shimeng muttered.

“The little boy held one like it too,” Nan Wuyue added. “Is it a habit for the townspeople to carry around these round cuts of jade?”

“I’m not sure. But I know big bro gifts them to workers and business partners all the time,” Su Shimeng said. “They get one at New Year’s annually for luck. This one isn’t carved with lucky phrases like those though, so it must be something different.”

“What are the chances he gives them out more than once a year?” Mo Yixuan asked.

“That’s possible,” Su Shimeng nodded. “After all the ghost business, he probably distributed another batch to calm everyone down. I can ask.” His expression turned ugly. “I heard that’s what he did when the rumors about my mother being a jinx got out of hand, too.”

“We’ll have to figure out a way to examine the jade in detail,” Mo Yixuan said. “For now, let’s store it safely.”

“Shizun, I have something that will work,” Nan Wuyue piped out. Every disciple of inner rank or higher in Star Pavilion Sect had a storage ring of their own. From it he took out a small wooden box. “This container can store items while sealing out qi.” It was a standard-issue container for qi-sensitive objects, also part of the inner disciple starter pack.

“That’ll do,” Mo Yixuan nodded. He approached the table and carefully picked up the jade by the hems of the embroidered handkerchief it was resting on before plopping it into the box. Nan Wuyue then shut the lid and put it away.

“I’ve already talked with the town patrol,” Su Shimeng began when they were done. “They can help us track down the other victims and deal with any...aftermaths.”

“Good idea,” Mo Yixuan agreed. 

The next hour was spent with the trio traveling around town to retrace all the names on their list. At the end they collected all the victims’ jades to be stored in Nan Wuyue’s box, just in case. Three more victims had also been added to the list, making for a total of six out of twelve dead.

Mo Yixuan asked, “But the patrol hasn’t reported anyone else?”

“Not that we know of yet, no,” Su Shimeng shook his head. He’d sent a member with a letter to Su Manor requesting for a list of all workers so they could find more potential victims.  

The trio had regrouped at Joyous Spirit to gather their thoughts. By now the body of Old Song had been carried away and the streets cleared of all spectators, leaving only a few stubborn stragglers dawdling about. Naturally, the wineshop itself had closed for business while a few brave employees went to tidy up the second floor. Su Shimeng found them a seat at one of the tables while Nan Wuyue got the tea from a nervous waiter downstairs.

“Let’s talk about some commonalities,” Su Shimeng summarized . “The victims are all male at the age of 45 or younger, related to the Su Manor either as workers, partners, through families of the above, and carrying jade at the time of death. I confirmed they were indeed more ‘lucky jades’ handed out by Su Manor.”

“What about Ye Zhi’s piece?” Nan Wuyue asked.

Su Shimeng grimaced. “As it turned out, my brother got it as a gift for him after hearing about his ruined jade deposits.”

“Who delivered it?” Mo Yixuan pressed.

“Just a regular servant,” Su Shimeng said. “He’s still alive and kicking.”

“Where were these lucky jades mined from?”

“The Su Clan’s mines, obviously,” Su Shimeng said, “I even managed to narrow down the mining dates and locations—nothing weird there and they’re nowhere near the place where Ye Zhi’s section turned foul.”

“If we assume it was the ghost or other factors that corrupted the jade in the first place, it wouldn’t matter where they were harvested from,” Mo Yixuan reasoned. “Actually—Nan Wuyue, get me one of the pieces from a living victim.”

Nan Wuyue had carefully divided up the jade in his box between the victims who’d died and the ones who were still living. Now he carefully gave his master one of the survivor’s jades before sealing up the container again. 

Satisfied, Mo Yixuan placed the jade in his palm and channeled a stream of qi into the stone before Su Shimeng could protest. This time the jade didn’t crumble and turn black, but it did shudder before fracturing in a few places.

Su Shimeng immediately picked up a corner that had broken off to study it closely. “This...it’s not fake, but why is it so weak?!”

After all, his family sold the same jade to cultivator sects in the Middle Realms for their disciples’ jade slips and other things. It would be ridiculous if they broke after a single use!

“In Star Pavilion Sect we have disciples sending messages with jade slips,” Nan Wuyue observed. “They’ve never broken when we channeled qi into them.”

“The quality didn’t decrease, but the quantity of use increased,” Mo Yixuan tapped his fingers on the table. “The structural integrity of the stone wore down over time.”

“Hah?” Su Shimeng looked lost.

“As my disciple said, jade can be used to channel energy,” Mo Yixuan went on. “For humans, it’s good for enhancing their inherent yang energy. But suppose you try to channel too much at once, or continuously as a conduit—wouldn’t the jade break down over time? Even the jade slips at the sect need to be replaced eventually.”

“So you’re saying these jades broke down from an overload of energy?” Su Shimeng looked doubtful. “How much could a human hold?”

“Didn’t you say the living have plenty of yang essence?” Mo Yixuan prod. “Think about it. The dead victims were completely sucked dry and their jade stones broke at a mere touch of qi. If they were used to gather a lot of energy in a very short time, it’s possible they wouldn’t be able to take it, right?”

“It’s true that the living have strong yang essence...but wait, that little boy died right in front of Nan Wuyue!” Su Shimeng’s head whipped towards him, “Did you see anyone harvest the energy while you were there?’

“A crowd gathered right after he died and blocked my way,” Nan Wuyue shook his head. “There would’ve been chances for anyone to take the energy from the jade before I noticed.”

“Don’t forget about the missing hearts,” Mo Yixuan added. “If they can take that without so much as disturbing the skin, I don’t see why they can’t just draw out energy from the jade remotely too.”

“We need to find out more about this ghost,” Su Shimeng rose to his feet. “Let’s go to the jade mines already!”

—

It was late afternoon by the time they reached Ye Zhi’s section of mines, but the summer months ensured that the sun was still high in the sky. A bolder worker showed them the way to the underground tunnels that held the ruined deposits: dark and crumbled, long past any recognition as jade. They hadn’t been disturbed because Ye Zhi had thought it unlucky to touch the stuff. 

“It doesn’t smell as strong as I thought,” Mo Yixuan observed after they entered the cave. The bloodthirsty scent that he and Nan Wuyue had come to associate with the pink-robed ghost was faint and faded here.

“It might have worn down over time,” Su Shimeng sniffed thoughtfully.

“Or the scent isn’t part of the jade itself, but from the spirit who came in contact with it,” Mo Yixuan reasoned again.

They looked around a bit but didn’t find any clues and so moved to the abandoned shaft a few caves down where Old Song and the others had first ran into the abandoned baby ghost. As the man described, there was a small cave-in that led to a shallow chamber underground. But after the trio jumped down, Su Shimeng visibly hesitated.

“What’s wrong?” Mo Yixuan glanced at him.

In response, Su Shimeng clutched at his robes. Minutes later, he pulled out a necklace from inside his collar—a round jade pendant.

“I felt this reacting,” Su Shimeng muttered.

Mo Yixuan’s gaze swept over the accessory. “Is that from the jade mines?” he guessed.

Su Shimeng nodded. “Remember when my brother told you the story of his history with the Jade Ghost? He met it while trying to find a band of qi-infused jade to make me this protective pendant.”

“And now it’s reacting to something in this cavern?” Mo Yixuan arched his eyebrows.

“Qi-infused jade aren’t like regular deposits,” Su Shimeng went on dazedly. “If it’s jade harvested from the same vein, they’ll react to each other like this. Which means...my brother must have gotten his jade from deposits in this area.”

“Su Shiyu said a gust of wind guided him to the location,” Mo Yixuan narrowed his eyes. “A breeze that turned out to be the Jade Ghost. Don’t tell me, the abandoned baby Old Song saw was that very same ghost?”

“They don’t look anything alike!” Su Shimeng shook his head.

“What are the chances there are two ghosts haunting the same place?” Nan Wuyue pointed out. “Isn’t that too much of a coincidence?”

“It’s not impossible,” Su Shimeng muttered, but he didn’t seem convinced either. Still clutching the jade, he strode around the walls of the cave before stopping at a certain section near the back. Hesitantly, he raised a hand and brushed at the wall, cursing when it eventually revealed a band of sparkling qi-infused jade underneath. “It’s the same band of jade after all…”

He stumbled back and suddenly stepped on something hard.

—

“Miss Ting’er!” Old Li sat up from his seat on the carriage, waving at the servant girl as she rounded the street into the alley. “There you are at last!”

The petite girl only smiled as she carried a large-looking box wrapped securely in a strongly perfumed brocade cloth. “Sorry to keep you waiting, Old Li. I was held up by all the commotion in town.”

Old Li gave a shudder. “Not just that, but terrible rumors! Stories of spirits snatching souls and whatnot. Have you finished your errands? We should head back quickly.”

“Yes, yes,” Ting’er laughed, but deftly skirted out of the way when the old man tried to help her with her box. “I’ll hold onto this, Old Li. It’s very important!”

Old Li obliged, but he did lift the curtains to the carriage so Ting’er could step inside without tripping over her pretty yellow dress. The strong perfume of peonies and medicinal herbs wafted past him as Ting’er moved to her seat. “More medicine for the Old Madam, then?” he asked.

“Oh no,” Ting’er laughed softly. “This time it’s a special package for my Master. It’s been a long time coming, but I’m sure he’ll be pleased!”

“Tsk! Aren’t you a favored lass,” Old Li marveled. 

Ting’er had only been here for a year, but she was running tasks for both Lady Bai and Sir Su now? If she wasn’t so capable and easy to get along with, he was sure the other servant girls would be burning with jealousy. “Well then, keep that parcel safe! I’ll drive slowly to make the trip smooth.”

He cracked his whip and the horse leading the carriage began to trot out of the alley. Seated inside, Ting’er hugged the box and smiled in contentment.

—

{extra}

Ruyi: Time for a trivia game! Let’s have our characters play Guess What’s In that Box!
Mo Yixuan: It’s the [redacted], isn’t it.
Ruyi: What did you say? I couldn’t read that.
Nan Wuyue: Shizun thinks it’s [redacted].
Su Shimeng: What the heck’s a “redacted”?
Ruyi: That’s for us to know and you to guess, duh!
Su Shimeng: Why am I guessing too? Aren’t I on the same side as those guys?
Nan Wuyue: I don’t know, are you?
Su Shimeng: E-eh?!
Nan Wuyue: Right now we can’t trust anyone, a Su most of all.
Su Shimeng: That’s—hey, that’s blatant discrimination! I’m not even home for half the yea—
Ruyi: Shush, cannon fodder. You’ve reached your quota of speaking lines for this extra.
Su Shimeng, muted: M-mmph!!
Shi Feng, clearing his throat: Aren’t you asking the wrong question?
Shi Feng: Rather than what’s in the box, why not think about who it’s for and why they need it?
Mo Yixuan, bitterly: With the way things are set up, we’re still playing a one-sided guessing game with suspects and motives.
Mo Yixuan: Also, when are you coming back into the story?
Shi Feng: Does Ah-Xuan miss me?
Mo Yixuan: I just figured you’d be able to solve this deus ex machina style. Then we can all go home…
Shi Feng: Ah-Xuan, distance makes the heart grow fonder…
Nan Wuyue: Will you stop flirting with my master every chance you get?
Shi Feng: Will you stop assuming the worst of my intentions every time?
Mo Yixuan: He has a bad habit of doing that.
Nan Wuyue: Shizun…! I’m trying to improve, I really am! I… *inserts puppy eyes here*
Mo Yixuan: *long sigh*

—