Eternal madness

Chapter 31: Leaning against a big tree to enjoy the shade

Zhang Laifu went to the city, and the journey was arduous. He had run too hard yesterday, and today his legs were sore and weak that he had no strength left.

The old leader was willing to let Zhang Laifu out because he had used Yin energy on Zhang Laifu again. Zhang Laifu did not hesitate and went directly to find Li Yunsheng.

When Zhang Laifu arrived at Zhuzi Street, he didn't see Li Yunsheng. He asked around and the people there said that Li Yunsheng set up his stall every day and they didn't know what had happened to him today.

The young man selling steamed buns seemed to have something to say, but he hesitated to speak.

Zhang Laifu asked, "How much is a steamed bun?"

"Five coins each."

Zhang Laifu gave the young man five coins, but only took one steamed bun.

"Sir, this amount of money is unnecessary..."

"Keep the change. Do you know where Dr. Li is?"

The pancake vendor lowered his voice and said, "This morning, Dr. Li was planning to set up his stall, but as soon as he stepped out of his house, he felt unwell and went back to rest..."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Laifu realized that Li Yunsheng must be ill.

The pancake vendor lowered his head, as if he had something left to say.

Zhang Laifu took out five more coins: "Buy another steamed bun."

The pancake vendor looked around to make sure no one was paying attention to him, then said to Zhang Laifu, "Someone from Dr. Li's family has come; they seem to be from their guild."

……

Li Yunsheng sat in the inner room, holding a talisman in his hand and sticking it to his face.

A man stood outside the door, holding a hammer in his left hand and a saw in his right, and shouted, "Dr. Li, come out! We all know in this line of work that any treatment used on yourself will have its effectiveness halved!"

Li Yunsheng laughed: "Hey Zhu Laoshan, what do you mean by 'our line of work'? You're a shipwright, who's in the same line of work as you?"

Zhu Laoshan chuckled: "Is it fun to talk? Even if you feel good with your words, what good will it do? I think you still don't know what it means to be in pain. I'll ask you one more time, the incense ceremony is being held at noon today, are you going or not?"

Li Yunsheng hung two talismans on the window: "I told the hall master at the dinner table yesterday that I don't have time to go today."

Zhu Laoshan put down the hammer and picked up the saw with both hands: "Then tell me, when can you free up some time?"

Li Yunsheng picked up a scale, gripping the scale beam with his right hand and the weight with his left: "If I were to set up a stall to do business, I would have time every day, but it's hard to say about other things."

"If you won't listen to reason, you'll have to suffer the consequences!" Zhu Laoshan stretched the saw under the window and started sawing at the air.

Hum! Hum!
After seven or eight saw cuts, a huge ship skeleton, glowing with light, crashed through the wall and into the house, about to smash into Li Yunsheng.

Li Yunsheng held the steelyard in his hand, pulled hard on the weight with his left hand, and lifted the steelyard up.

The scale beam caught the ship's frame in mid-air, just in time to prevent it from falling on Li Yunsheng.

Zhu Laoshan laughed: "Dr. Li, your weapon is quite good. It would be a shame to break it. You should put it away."

Li Yunsheng gritted his teeth and replied, "If it were so easily broken, would it still be considered a powerful weapon?"

"What a stubborn mouth!" Zhu Laoshan took out a hammer, swung it around, and smashed it on the ground. It seemed as if a thousand pounds of force had been added to the ship's frame, almost breaking the scale beam.

Li Yunsheng gripped the weight tightly, and all five fingers on his left hand bled.

Several neighbors stood by the wall and at their doorways, craning their necks to watch the spectacle.

Zhu Laoshan shouted, "What are you looking at? Do you want to see a hammer or a saw?"

The onlookers all ran away in fright, and Zhu Laoshan raised his hammer again: "Li Yunsheng, are you going to the incense hall or not?"

"Every profession is like a mountain to climb!" In terms of physical strength, Li Yunsheng could never be a match for Zhu Laoshan, especially since he was also poisoned.

He knew in his heart that if Zhu Laoshan smashed it again, he could break his scale rod. If he hit it again, even if Li Yunsheng didn't settle the score on the spot, he would be crippled.

Zhu Laoshan spat: "The hall master invited you twice, which is really giving you face. You're just being unreasonable!"

After saying that, Zhu Laoshan swung the iron hammer and smashed it down with all his might.

boom!
This sound was much louder than the previous one, and Li Yunsheng was in despair. However, judging from the force on the scale, the power of this blow was very limited, and he easily withstood it.

What's going on? Did Zhu Laoshan hold back?
Li Yunsheng stood up slightly and glanced out the window.

Zhu Laoshan collapsed to the ground, bleeding from his mouth and nose.

Zhang Laifu stood in the courtyard, holding a broken drum.

Li Yunsheng was stunned for a moment, then said happily, "It's good to have a big tree to lean on!"

Zhang Laifu looked at Zhu Laoshan on the ground with concern: "Is he injured?"

Li Yunsheng shook his head and said, "He is the head chef on the second floor, so he should be fine."

"It turns out he wasn't seriously injured." Zhang Laifu picked up a hammer from the ground and smashed it into Zhu Laoshan's head.

Zhu Laoshan convulsed for a moment, and Li Yunsheng observed him carefully again: "Now he's in serious trouble."

"No way, he seems fine to me." Zhang Laifu hit him on the head again with a hammer.

Zhu Laoshan was no longer able to maintain his unique skill; the ship skeleton on the wall disappeared, but a large hole remained.

The astonishing destructive power surprised Zhang Laifu: "What was that just now?"

"This is a shipwright's specialty. The keel follows the tide. The skeleton of a ship is called the keel by shipwrights. They can use their skills to create a tide and summon the keel."

When the tide comes in, the keel rushes forward and could knock my house down.

The tide is going out, and the keel is falling with it, enough to smash me into a pulp.

Zhang Laifu exclaimed, "What amazing skill! His technique must be superior to yours, right?"

“Brother Laifu, when you're traveling the world, you can't just ask about other people's skills, but you saved my life, so I might as well tell you, but we have to deal with Zhu Laoshan first.” Zhang Laifu picked up the hammer and asked, “Is Zhu Laoshan him?”

"Don't use the hammer yet, let's try another way to deal with it." Li Yunsheng took a talisman and stuffed it into Zhu Laoshan's mouth.

Zhu Laoshan gritted his teeth, refusing to swallow the talisman.

Li Yunsheng, holding a bowl of water, urged, "Old Zhu, hurry up and eat the talisman."

"You're dreaming!" Zhu Laoshan sneered.

Zhang Laifu picked up the hammer and advised, "You should eat it."

"No problem!" Zhu Laoshan stretched his neck and swallowed the talisman with a gulp.

Li Yunsheng chanted an incantation: "A talisman enters my belly, obeying my commands in sitting, lying, walking, and stillness. One word against me brings excruciating pain, two words against me bring unbearable suffering. Old Zhu, do you know what excruciating pain is?"

Zhu Laoshan shook his head slightly.

Li Yunsheng took out another talisman and lit it in front of Zhu Laoshan.

Zhu Laoshan was in excruciating abdominal pain, writhing on the ground in agony.

After the talisman burned out and the abdominal pain subsided slightly, Li Yunsheng asked Zhu Laoshan, "Now you know what a broken heart means?"

Zhu Laoshan nodded repeatedly.

Li Yunsheng then asked, "Do you want to know what it means to be in unbearable pain?"

Zhu Laoshan was so frightened that he trembled all over and begged for mercy repeatedly.

Li Yunsheng was fairly satisfied with Zhu Laoshan's attitude: "Now listen carefully, I have three things for you to do."

The first thing you need to do is go back and tell the head of the gang, Lan Chunming, that Li Yunsheng doesn't want to join the gang and nothing we do can persuade him to do. He should tell us not to make things difficult for him anymore. Is that clear enough?

"Yes!" Zhu Laoshan answered loudly.

Li Yunsheng continued, "The second thing is that I was the one who injured you today, and it has nothing to do with anyone else. If you say the wrong thing, you'll be dead. Do you understand?"

"Yes!" Zhu Laoshan answered loudly.

"The third thing is that you take the initiative to tell Lan Chunming that from today onwards, you will withdraw from the Zhuyouke sect. No matter how Lan Chunming tries to persuade you to stay, you must leave. Can you do that?"

"Pulling out the incense?" Zhu Laoshan shuddered. "That's going to be difficult."

"拔香" means to withdraw from the group.

Wan Sheng Zhou has many guilds, most of which have initiation ceremonies. The initiation ceremonies are unique to each guild, but they all involve setting up an incense altar. The ceremony for leaving a guild is simply removing the incense sticks.

The problem is that many guilds simply do not allow members to leave.

Zhu Laoshan dared not back out: "Master Li, please don't make things difficult for me. If I dare to pull out the incense stick, Lan Chunming will definitely take my life."

Li Yunsheng shook his head slightly: "Lan Chunming is a reasonable person. If he drives you to your death, how will he recruit talent from other industries in the future?"
But I'm not exactly a reasonable person. If you don't pull the incense sticks, I'll definitely kill you. I'll make sure you die right here in the temple tonight, you believe me?

Zhu Laoshan remained silent.

Li Yunsheng lit another talisman, and Zhu Laoshan convulsed in pain, repeatedly shouting, "I believe, I'll pull out the incense!"

The talisman was still burning. Li Yunsheng watched Zhu Laoshan struggle quietly. Once the ashes had dissipated, Zhu Laoshan became obedient and moved about without question. Li Yunsheng's word was law.

After seeing Zhu Laoshan off, Li Yunsheng lit three incense sticks and recounted the whole story.

Yesterday, Lan Chunming, the leader of the gang, invited Li Yunsheng to dinner. Li Yunsheng had no choice but to go, but when he got home, he found that he had been poisoned.

The poison was difficult to cure. Lan Chunming timed it perfectly, sending Zhu Laoshan to force Li Yunsheng to join the gang. Poisoned, Li Yunsheng was no match for Zhu Laoshan. If Zhang Laifu hadn't come to his rescue, Li Yunsheng would have almost lost his life.

"Brother Laifu, to my shame, if I hadn't been poisoned, Zhu Laoshan would really be no match for me. My skills are a level above his."

Zhang Laifu looked at the broken wall, then thought about Zhu Laoshan's special skills: "He's a shipwright, why would he join the Zhuyouke guild?"

"Because this is Heishakou, there are too many shipwrights here." Li Yunsheng poured Zhang Laifu a cup of tea, then ate a talisman himself to detoxify while explaining the reason to Zhang Laifu.

"Heishakou is the confluence of the Heisha River and the Canghan River, and it is also one of the famous ports in Wansheng Prefecture. The shipbuilding industry here is very developed, and shipwrights from all over the country gather in Heishakou. The shipwrights' guild naturally became the largest guild in Heishakou."

Big shops bully their customers. The shipwrights' guild is full of talented people. A master craftsman like Zhu Laoshan would certainly not have a high status in the guild.

If he honestly relied on his skills to make a living, whether he owned his own shipyard or worked for others, he could live a prosperous life.

But this man was lazy and had a gambling addiction, so he couldn't get by in the shipwright's guild and wanted to find another way out.

The Zhu You sect had few members, so the guild couldn't grow much. Lan Chunming, ambitious and wanting to expand his sect, recruited talent from other sects. Zhu Laoshan thus joined the Zhu You sect and became a "red stick" (a low-ranking official).

The "red sticks" are thugs, which is easy to understand, but the process is a bit strange. Zhang Laifu asked, "Isn't it against the rules for the Zhuyou Gang to recruit the Shipwright Gang?"

Li Yunsheng nodded: "This is considered poaching someone else's employee, which is something that can't be done in the light of day. So I can use the Zhu Laoshan matter to threaten Lan Chunming and make him stop pressuring me."

Brother Laifu, how's things going on your end? Did you shake off those two bandits?

Zhang Laifu shook his head and said, "I couldn't shake them off. They were both craftsmen. I lured them into the old house, where the old ghost inside killed them."

Li Yunsheng's expression was solemn: "The evil spirit in the Lin family's old house is indeed well-deserved of its reputation."

“Brother Yunsheng, you are right. He can’t see, and he can’t hear most of the time. He has almost no normal sensory abilities.”

So I just don't understand this. When you were treating me, you chanted so many incantations, how exactly did you drive the ghost away? Ghosts shouldn't understand those incantations at all.

Li Yunsheng pondered for a moment and said, "Ghosts can't understand it, but you can."

Zhang Laifu asked, puzzled, "What's the use of me understanding it?"

Li Yunsheng pursed his lips: "Because the incantations of the Zhuyou School are meant to be spoken to people."

PS: The beggar wasn't wrong to say that the Zhu You Ke (a branch of the Zhu You school) couldn't catch ghosts.

(End of this chapter)