Chapter 002: Wu Mian

Guangren appears to be advising the grand master Xu Fu, yet his gaze is coldly fixed on the Taoist chief still lying on the ground. Xu Fu understands his intentions; after the First Emperor unified the realm, he issued a decree stating that anyone who claims to be a subject of a fallen state would be treated as a rebel. To self-identify as a person of Wu would incur the penalty of extermination of one's clan.

The little sorcerer... Xu Fu let out a light snort, ignoring the chief sorcerer. He continued speaking to the little sorcerer, saying: "What makes you say that what just happened was an illusion?"

Hearing the accent of the young sorcerer Mian, which carried the soft tones of Wu dialect, Xu Fu smiled faintly and looked at him again, saying: "Are you from Wu?" Mian merely nodded, and before he could speak, the Grand Master Guangren, standing behind Xu Fu, stepped forward and respectfully said in Xu Fu's ear: "Grand Master, please be cautious with your words. Wu has been a fallen state for a hundred years; now the world is unified under the Qin, and there is no longer a distinction between Wu people and Chu people"

Unfortunately, Xu Fu seemed as if he had not seen him at all; he continued to watch the young magician with great interest and repeated what he had just said: "Speak, on what basis do you claim that what just occurred was an illusion?"

These four individuals serve as protectors for the prayer and sacrificial rites, each assigned to guard one of the four cardinal directions of the preaching venue. Just as the four were about to part ways upon exiting the venue and return to their respective positions as guardians, the eldest among them, a man in his forties, suddenly said: "The master has misjudged the person..."

At this moment, Li Si no longer possessed the slightest dignity of a chancellor; he struggled to crawl on the ground and, after much effort, managed to rise and performed a grand salute to Xu Fu. This was still due to his momentary loss of voice from shock, which prevented him from opening his mouth to apologize to the Grand Master. However, Xu Fu's face appeared somewhat desolate, and after letting out a faint sigh, he uttered a disjointed remark: "Your Majesty cannot be without a chancellor for even a day." After saying this, he waved his hand to call over his two disciples: "The chancellor is slightly unwell; you two will accompany the chancellor's retinue back to Xianyang. You must take care of the chancellor along the way and must not be negligent in the slightest..."

There was another matter that surprised Xu Fu slightly; this servant was actually wearing a jade talisman that indicated his identity as a sorcerer. However, the quality of this jade talisman was so poor that it would be more accurate to call it a stone talisman.

The escapee, the chief sorcerer, immediately bowed and said: "I humbly follow the teachings of the Grand Master, and it is a great fortune of mine, accumulated over nine lifetimes, to witness the Grand Master crossing the sea in search of the elixir of immortality for Your Majesty. When I return to Xianyang, I will certainly report to Your Majesty..."

Guangxiao spoke while scanning the faces of the other three individuals one by one. After observing their expressions for a moment, he said: "As tomorrow marks the auspicious day for the Grand Master to set sail, may I ask which of you three senior brothers and sisters has been entrusted with the Grand Master's teachings?"

Guangxiao glanced at the woman and spoke with a hint of playful tone: "Senior Sister Guangti, at that young age of the little sorcerer, could you also see through such trivial skills?"

Mian? Xu Fu slightly furrowed his brows, but in an instant, he understood the meaning of this single-character name. The chief of the Taoist priests had just introduced the young Taoist, mentioning his background as a palace servant. According to the laws of the Great Qin, slaves have no family names. Mian is his name

Before the Lord Steward could finish speaking, Xu Fu, already impatient, waved his hand and addressed the crowd at the temple: "We are now to begin the prayers for His Majesty. Wu Mian, you stay behind to cleanse the altar... everyone else, please withdraw."

The chief of the sorcerers once again rushed forward to reprimand the young sorcerer, saying: "In front of the grand master, how dare you..." However, this time he was not allowed to continue his insolence. Xu Fu extended his finger and pointed vaguely at the chief sorcerer, who then fell backward. He struggled to get back up, but it felt as though a thousand-pound boulder was pressing down on him. No matter how hard the chief struggled, he could not move an inch. Xu Fu extended his finger and pointed vaguely at the chief sorcerer, who then fell backward. He struggled to get back up, but it felt as though a thousand-pound boulder was pressing down on him. No matter how hard the chief struggled, he could not move an inch.

Xiao Fangshi was taken aback for a moment; he did not understand what Xu Fu was trying to do. After hesitating for a moment, he still said: "Mian... I am called Mian."

Xu Fu let out a cold snort, ignoring his eldest disciple, and continued to speak to the young Taoist: "Since you have entered the path of the Taoist, you have already shed your status as a slave. There has never been a Taoist without a name. I will give you a surname; from today on, you shall be called Wu Mian—Taoist Wu Mian." After saying this, Xu Fu turned to glance at the Taoist steward on the ground, and with a flick of his finger, the immense pressure weighing down on the steward vanished without a trace.

In a state of extreme terror, the chief sorcerer wanted to plead for mercy from Xu Fu, but the words were stuck in his throat, unable to be uttered. At that moment, he could only repeatedly bow his head to the ground, hoping to receive the compassion of the great master.

The elderly man named Guangxiao chuckled nonchalantly and said, "Brother Guangren, I am different from you. Master Dafang has long stated that I am temporarily following the path of the Taoist. Sooner or later, I will turn to another teaching. What you dare not say, I will say it for you; it is nothing significant."

Looking at the three who remained silent, Guangxiao chuckled and continued, "I fear that the young Taoist is currently receiving the teachings of the Grand Master in the temple. In a few years, as long as the Grand Master has not returned from his voyage, you will have to regard him as the next Grand Master."

"Shut up." Xu Fu cast a mildly reproachful glance at the chief alchemist, then turned his attention back to the young servant. After observing him closely for a few moments, he noted that the servant was not very old, appearing to be in his twenties. In Xu Fu's eyes, this age was merely that of a child. Although the servant had a handsome appearance, there was a hint of a harsh demeanor reflected in his brows.

As soon as this person spoke, the other three simultaneously halted their movements, their gazes all fixed on him. The four of them fell silent, and the atmosphere became so still that even their own heartbeats could be heard. After a while, Guang Ren glanced at this person and then coldly said: "Guang Xiao, do not speak recklessly; the intentions of the Grand Master are not for us to presume upon."

The young sorcerer glanced at the chief steward, who was still struggling on the ground, his gaze somewhat disdainful, an attitude that was certainly not appropriate for addressing a superior. Shifting his focus from the chief steward to the grand sorcerer, the young sorcerer looked up at Xu Fu and then somewhat absentmindedly said: "There is nothing particularly special; the grand sorcerer merely enchanted Li... the Grand Chancellor and our senses, wine is still just a cup of wine, there are no fire snakes or heart-excavation or anything like that. The grand sorcerer made some gestures, and the Grand Chancellor was bewitched, merely responsible for cooperating."

Xu Fu glanced at the young sorcerer with a smile that was neither fully a smile nor a frown, and he did not continue the previous topic. Instead, he asked him: "What is your name?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the atmosphere fell into silence. The three elderly individuals, each with their own thoughts, were reluctant to express their innermost concerns. Suddenly, another white-haired man in his mid-twenties laughed heartily, clapping his hands and saying to Guangxiao, "What a remarkable strategy! No wonder the Grand Master said that if you, Guangxiao, had abandoned the path of the strategist and focused solely on the art of alliances, there would have been no opportunity for Su Qin and Zhang Yi to rise. Perhaps the current situation of the Qin Dynasty unifying the world would have been altered as well"

Xu Fu looked at the servant and said, "Are you also a practitioner of the Way?" The servant raised his head to glance at Xu Fu, and before he could respond, the chief practitioner interjected in a most inappropriate manner, saying, "He was originally a palace slave, but because his ancestors were practitioners of the Way, I have lifted his status as a slave and brought him to my place to serve as a minor practitioner for testing medicines."

How bold! Before Xu Fu could speak, the chief alchemist beside him was already terrified, his face ashen. The servant was one of his people; even if Xu Fu was magnanimous and did not want to stoop to the level of a servant, it was inevitable that he would vent his anger on this chief alchemist. A grand master who did not even regard the Chancellor Li Si with any respect would find it effortless to eliminate such a minor figure.

Xu Fu shook his head at the sight of the chief alchemist wagging his tail in a plea for mercy, then turned to glance at his disciples and said: "What about you? What do you think?" Except for the three disciples behind him, the disciples on both sides almost spoke in unison: "The great master’s magical arts are profound and are indeed a shocking and extraordinary divine skill..."

Amidst the praises and accolades in this area, a peculiar voice suddenly emerged: "I thought it was some remarkable divine skill; no matter how exquisite the technique, it is still just an illusion." The remark was somewhat harsh, making it all the more jarring. In an instant, everyone's gaze converged upon him.

After dismissing Li Si, the chief sorcerer, who had been kneeling on the ground, crawled a few steps and knelt before Xu Fu once again, humbly saying: "The great master possesses divine magical arts, such spells are truly unprecedented and unheard of. With the great master present, Your Majesty need not seek elixirs from overseas. The great master is indeed a living deity of our time..."

As soon as the Grand Master spoke these words, everyone in the Daoist temple, including Wu Mian, displayed expressions of confusion. Xu Fu had many disciples, and it seemed unreasonable for a low-ranking minor practitioner to be assigned the task of guarding the altar. However, since the Grand Master had spoken, they dared not disobey. Thus, they could only file out of the main hall of the lecture hall, with the last to emerge being the eldest disciple Guang Ren and three other elderly men and women.

After the words of the little sorcerer were spoken, a profound silence enveloped the lecture hall, with nearly all eyes fixed upon Xu Fu's face. Having witnessed the previous example set by the chief sorcerer, no one dared to act recklessly in front of the grand sorcerer; everyone was waiting for Xu Fu's response

The speaker, Xu Fu, was not known to him; he was a menial worker who followed the chief of the alchemists and was responsible for carrying the bamboo slips. Just a moment ago, he had been somewhat surprised to see Xu Fu pour out sweet wine that resembled a nine-tiered exquisite pagoda, but as the fire serpent emerged from thin air and Li Si's heart was extracted, the expression on this menial worker's face began to gradually turn disdainful.

"You will stay here tonight." Xu Fu looked at the Taoist steward who dared not rise and was still crawling on the ground, and said, "Tomorrow is the auspicious day for me to lead the ship across the sea to seek the elixir of immortality for Emperor Qin. You will leave some people here to witness the ceremony, and when the ship sets sail into the sea, you will return to the Emperor's side to take care of His Majesty's medicinal pills and meals."

At this moment, the white-haired woman, who had remained silent, turned to look in the direction of Xu Fu and Wu Mian, and said softly: "Such a level of illusion is merely a trivial skill; to claim it as part of the Dao lineage is nothing but child's play..."