Chapter 2 — The Fourfold Spirit Marrow Enters the Body

Granny Zhu seized his hand and bustled him eagerly back into the village, grinning. "Enough gawking—come on, hurry! Today is your great day! Village Head! Old Ma! Come out, all of you!"

Fires blazed to life in the village. The Village Head was carried out once more on a stretcher, and said in a grave voice, "Have all four spirits been found?"

"All found."

One-armed Old Ma dragged in a serpent several zhang long, its scales the color of jade-green, still alive and reeking of rank fish. Old Ma pinched its vital spot with his single hand, and it could not stir.

The mute blacksmith hauled in a great bird, taller than the mute himself, its wings and feet bound fast. As it struggled, sparks of fire flew from its feathers with a crackling pop—a fearsome sight.

The blind elder brought a giant tortoise larger than a tabletop. No one knew how many years it had lived; its shell had taken on a golden hue. Its four limbs were drawn into the shell, but now and then it would stealthily poke out a claw, and Shen Mu saw that beneath the claw water vapor gathered, as if it could lift the golden tortoise and ride the mist to freedom.

But the blind elder had run a fishhook through its nostrils, and it could not escape.

"Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise—though we cannot obtain the blood of these four true spirits, we can substitute the green serpent, the iron-boned tiger, the thunder bird, and the golden tortoise, and refine a measure of spirit blood. That will be enough."

The Village Head nodded to the village butcher. The butcher grinned, braced both hands on the ground, and dragged himself forward. He was a man with only his upper half; everything below the waist had been severed, the wound clean and even.

Four vats were set before the green serpent, the tiger, the thunder bird, and the golden tortoise. With one stroke each, the butcher bled the beasts. Before long, the four quarry had drained of blood.

"The alchemist," said the Village Head.

The village alchemist stepped forward. He had no face—the skin seemed to have been sliced from it, and with it his nose, and half his mouth, upper and lower lip. He was the most hideous and terrifying man in the village, yet to Shen Mu, Grandpa Alchemist was the kindest person there.

The alchemist came forward and produced four strange red leaves, each bearing a snow-white insect egg. He dropped one leaf into each vat, and the eggs split open; silkworm larvae clung to the leaves and drank the blood.

These larvae grew the moment they met the air. The more blood they drank, the larger they swelled, and soon the blood in all four vats was drained dry, leaving in each a single fat, enormous worm.

The alchemist seized a handful of white crystalline powder, like salt, and scattered it into the vats. Shen Mu watched the four fat worms shrink at astonishing speed, and could not help but click his tongue in wonder.

After a moment, the alchemist picked up the four worms, each now no bigger than a palm. He took out four white porcelain cups, gripped one worm, and squeezed hard. The worm squeaked, and from its mouth flowed a cupful of blood plasma, translucent and amber-bright as crystal.

The alchemist did the same with the other three, squeezing the blood from their bellies, and set the four cups before Shen Mu. He shook his head. "They are not true spirit beasts, after all. This little is all the spirit blood that can be refined."

"Mu'er, the human body harbors seven great treasuries: the Spirit Fetus, the Five Luminaries, the Six Harmonies, the Seven Stars, Heaven and Man, Life and Death, and the Spirit Bridge. These seven treasuries are sealed from birth, like buried treasure locked away—and so they are called the seven divine storehouses."

The Village Head's voice carried a certain majesty. In the firelight his face flickered bright and dark. "The seven divine storehouses lie sealed, and the martial artist must open them himself. The barrier that blocks the opening of a storehouse is called a Wall—the Spirit Fetus Wall, the Five Luminaries Wall, the Six Harmonies Wall, the Seven Stars Wall, the Heaven and Man Wall, the Life and Death Wall, the Spirit Bridge Wall. The process of breaking through these seven walls is called Wall-Breaking."

One-armed Old Ma stroked Shen Mu's head gently and smiled. "If the wall cannot be broken, there can be no cultivation. Some are favored by heaven—born with the Spirit Fetus Wall already broken, their spirit-soul storehouse open from birth. Such a constitution is called a Spirit Body, heaven-blessed from the start, a natural-born cultivator. Those with Spirit Bodies possess talent beyond ordinary folk by incalculable degrees, and cultivate with half the effort for twice the result. The Spirit Fetus has four attributes, and so there are four kinds of Spirit Body: the Azure Dragon Spirit Body, the White Tiger Spirit Body, the Vermilion Bird Spirit Body, the Black Tortoise Spirit Body. To test whether one is a Spirit Body, you need the spirit marrow of these four emblems."

The alchemist said, "If you are an Azure Dragon Spirit Body, then after drinking the Azure Dragon spirit blood, the Azure Dragon qi will be aroused. Old Ma is an Azure Dragon Spirit Body."

One-armed Old Ma undid his clothes and stood bare-chested before Shen Mu, then turned his back to him and gave a low shout.

At once Shen Mu saw a wisp of azure qi rise on Old Ma's back, running from the tailbone straight to the base of the skull. The azure qi gradually changed, becoming an Azure Dragon, every scale and whisker rendered in finest detail. One dragon claw extended to Old Ma's single arm, and two more claws coiled about his legs.

"This is the Azure Dragon Spirit Body."

One-armed Old Ma put his clothes back on. "Old Granny Si is a White Tiger Spirit Body."

Granny Zhu shot him a glare. "This old woman is not about to strip down to give you old ghosts a cheap thrill. I will manifest it with qi for Shen Mu to see."

Her body gave a slight shudder, and from behind her came the faint roar of a tiger. A white tiger, twelve feet long with piercing eyes, loomed dimly into being at her back.

"Everyone in this village is a Spirit Body. Once, we had our glory. But now we are nothing but a pack of old, broken-down men and women."

Granny Zhu said, "We crippled old wrecks have nothing to give you but these four cups of fourfold spirit marrow—the material to awaken a Spirit Body. If you are a White Tiger Spirit Body, drinking the White Tiger spirit blood will rouse the White Tiger qi in your Spirit Fetus. If a Vermilion Bird Spirit Body, the Vermilion Bird spirit blood will stir the Vermilion Bird qi in your Spirit Fetus to life. And the same for the Black Tortoise Spirit Body."

"Drink."

The Village Head, Granny Zhu, and the rest all turned to look at Shen Mu in unison, their faces full of expectation.

Shen Mu's heart pounded. He had followed the alchemist in gathering herbs and refining medicines, and had been made to swallow no end of strange concoctions—but none so strange as this.

He lifted one white porcelain cup. The spirit blood within was scalding hot—a cup of Vermilion Bird spirit blood. Shen Mu drained it in one gulp, and felt a line of fire run down his throat to every limb and bone, so that in a daze he seemed to feel a roaring blaze kindled inside him, burning until his very blood seemed about to boil.

After a moment, the burning sensation faded.

"Mute, is he a Vermilion Bird Spirit Body?" asked the Village Head.

The mute blacksmith shook his head.

The Village Head said, "Shen Mu, continue."

Shen Mu pressed his lips to the second white porcelain cup. It held White Tiger spirit blood. Drinking it was like drinking molten copper and iron mixed with slag—astringent, stinging. Once it entered his body, a piercing pain spread through him. Before long, the stinging faded.

"Not a White Tiger Spirit Body." Granny Zhu shook her head, somewhat disappointed.