“Interesting… really interesting.” in the diner, Jianmen started pacing in front of the dining table at which they usually eat lunch, after hearing Jason and Caroline retell their experience from the Prime Royals Hotel, “... bad, but interesting.”

 

Since Uncle Bu was resting in Jason’s room, they were not worried that the topic and content of their discussion would be overheard. Also this was a time where almost no one would be checking in or out, even Dave who was still taking over Jianmen’s shifts had nothing to do and was playing with his phone at the reception’s desk.

 

“Why is it interesting?” Caroline waited a bit, but seeing Jianmen was still pacing so she couldn’t help but ask.

 

“Ah, sorry.” Jianmen drew back his smile and sat down, “Bad habits - curiosity got the better of me. Make no mistake, this is bad. For you, for Uncle Bu, for all the people living in San Francisco. It could be really bad.”

 

“How bad is it? The black hand markings disappeared, that’s a good sign right?” Jason asked worriedly.

 

“That’s good. You guys did good in the hotel. ” Jianmen opened the fridge and took out a clay bottle of homemade rice wine: “The body you found in the wall. If I am not mistaken, is the medium of some dark arts. A kind of necromancy, if you will.”

 

“... God! Are you saying that my uncle was cursed?”

 

“Not necessarily.” Jianmen poured himself a cup of rice wine and drank it up: “I haven’t seen it so I can’t say for sure. But at least it is a kind of marking that requires control. My theory is when you defeated that giant meat spider in the limbo, you basically injured whoever put the markings enough so it had to cut the ties to the markings. The markings were not powerful enough to stand on their own, so they dissipated naturally.”

 

“Ok, that’s good. That’s really really good.” Jason seemed really relieved by the answeed.

 

“Thank yourselves. ” Jianmen took another drink: “Okay, here is a task for you: try to figure out the roots of this. You are much more worldly than I am so I’ll leave the investigation to you. I can help you but you will be the ones seeing it through.”

 

“Why?” Caroline asked.

 

“It still has the ability to hurt people. You guys injured it, but it is still out there.” Jianmen poured the third drink, but the cup was taken by Caroline and she drank it up, “And I am a little tied up here. Not just because of the arm. I still need to deal with the remnants of that monster and I can’t leave the inn for a few days. Maybe even weeks.”

 

“Okay. Whatever.” Caroline slid Jianmen’s cup back, sighed and laid back on her chair: “How are you going to help us?”

 

“Well, first I am going to teach you the basics of fighting in limbo, the usage of basic sigils, and then I will try to prepare for your first Xuanli cultivation session. That’s going to be tonight, take the afternoon off but be sure to come back before 9.” Jianmen poured himself yet another cup: “And, uh, as part of my apology, Dave here will cover your shifts instead of mine. I will also need you to start carrying wine on you.”

 

“What? I can’t do that!” Jason complained.

 

--------------------------------------------------------

 

While Jason accompanied Uncle Bu to the airport and Caroline took a break to hang out with some of her friends, Jianmen went into the basement. Before he got started with what he was planning to do in the basement, he did another round of quick divination - he had to make sure that whatever was lurking in the halls of the Prime Royals Hotel was no longer a threat to his students.

 

And the result was relieving - there was indication of some distant risk and even danger, but no immediate threat.

 

The small piece of rock that he found in the tunnels after annihilating the mutated monster was placed on the altar, with two open paper sigils placed beneath it in a cross. Jianmen stepped in front of the altar, gave out a long exhale, and started conjuring up his Xuanli with his left hand.

 

“DOH!” Jianmen uttered a mantra with no real common meaning, a beam of orange and golden energy shot out from his middle and index fingers onto the piece of rock.

 

Sound waves of both low and high pitch started emerging from the piece of rock on the altar. At the same time, the paper sigils under it also started burning. 

 

After being blasted by the energy beam for a few seconds, an almost inaudible and unintelligible whisper filled the room. The whisper was no mere sound, it seemed also able to transmit through mind - Jianmen was prepared, so the whisper did not impact him at all.

 

When the paper sigils were almost burnt up, a cracking sound came from the rock, a gush of black smoke jetted from a small crack on its surface.

 

“KAH!” uttering another mantra, Jianmen stopped the energy beam from his fingers, and turned his left hand into claw shape, the blacksmoke  was quickly contained within an invisible sphere container.

 

Golden flames shot out between Jianmen’s lips as he blew, the black smoke started turning into white vapor and grey ash as the flames ate away at it. The whispers that roamed the room became weaker, yet louder and more chaotic, as if the person or thing that was whispering was under stress.

 

After a while, the black smoke stopped flowing out from the piece of rock. And before long, Jianmen’s breath of fire burnt all the smoke into white vapor and grey ashes.

 

Taking out two additional paper sigils to replace the ones that were under the rock, Jianmen then folded the rock with the paper sigils and stored it inside a special metal container with charms and enchanted symbols on its surface and interior, then hid the whole container under the altar.

 

Just when Jianmen went out the basement, he coughed once again. This time what came out of his throat was not blood or phlegm, but fire sparks. 

 

After a long sigh, Jianmen went back to the diner, and poured himself a cup of rice wine. 

 

“Hey, Mr. Yu?” Dave came into the diner and called Jianmen nervously.

 

“What’s up Dave?” feeling the calming effect of the rice wine down his throat, Jianmen asked.

 

“I … I know that you paid me extra to take care of Jason and Caroline’s shifts instead of yours, but I have a conflict in schedule next Tuesday.” Dave chuckled nervously as he spoke: “I wonder if I could change to a different shift.”

 

“Sure, just switch it with one of my shifts.” Jianmen nodded as he chugged down the whole bottle of rice wine.

 

“Um, also, Mr. Yu, I have another question.”

 

“Shoot.”

 

“Do you really know Josephine Wong? THE Josephine Wong?”