Inside of Xianshi Inn’s basement, behind the closed door, a stream of orange and golden fire was shooting from Jianmen’s mouth and onto the little piece of rock on the altar. Just like so many times before, unintelligible, mumbled and unclean whispers filled the entire room, and Jianmen stayed unfazed as he continued to unleash the fire.

The last bit of essence from within the little piece of rock was being squeezed out of the rock and being burned away. Cracking sound was coming from the rock as the fire hit and scoured it like waves. And for the first time in this many days, the rock was starting to change in color.

The rock was dark black and occasionally one can see a shade of green under the light, and now, its surface started becoming grey and cracked up like a real piece of rock under high temperature fire. When the surface of the rock was completely covered in grey and racks, Jianmen stopped the orange and golden fire. His left hand and both his eyes glowed in orange and golden light, the next moment, he unleashed a palm strike onto the altar. A shadow palm entirely made of orange and golden energy shot through the air while shrinking in size and accurately landed on the rock.

A huge explosion erupted from the centre of the rock, a wave of orange and golden power washed through the whole basement. Dust raised from all surfaces of the room, and the side of the wall to which the altar was attached to also cracked. Jianmen was knocked back slightly, but he was able to maintain his composure. A very tiny droplet of transparent and yet shiny liquid slowly flew up from the altar. This droplet was shortly pulled down by an invisible force back to the altar, Jianmen’s left hand was extended forward, as he was the source of this invisible force.

The droplet started crystallizing as it was being pulled closer and closer to the altar, and eventually became a shiny crystal ball and rested quietly on the altar. It still shined warm and comforting white light from time to time, but its energy has been stabilized, balanced and contained.

This is the final stage of Jianmen’s work on that piece of rock - it took longer than Jianmen originally planned, as he found out that he greatly underestimated the potency of the karmic pollutant. This led him to endure more serious burns from the usage of the Laws of Karma besides taking more time. If he was correct about the inner workings of invoking karmic power in this world as an outsider, then the pain and cost he paid by cleansing karmic pollutants like this would gradually be repaid by the karmic flows of this universe. But it is hard to say in what form will the repayment come - more often than not it will be something unexpected and you can’t really ask for it, that’s not how it works.

Letting out a long exhale, Jianmen sat down on the floor, and with his trembling left arm and hand he picked up a piece of paper from a box he hid under the ground - the piece of paper just floated up from beneath as if the ground was water. The piece of paper had a drawing of a beautiful young woman on it - she was looking at the drawer, and had a string instrument in her hands, which shaped like a sword with a broad edge.

Jianmen held the piece of paper in front of him, a beam of silver light emitted from his forehead and focused on the piece of paper. A ball of silver energy appeared in front of him, then swiftly turned into a holographic image - of the beautiful young woman, playing the strange sword-shaped string instrument. On the side of the paper, there were three Chinese characters: 石雁語 (Shi Yanyu), name of the young woman, one of Jianmen’s fellow students from the clan.

There was no sound, just the young woman playing the instrument gracefully with an angelic smile. She seemed to be speaking something, but just like the music she played, there was no sound.

“What should I do, Yu’er?” Jianmen asked with a tired and slightly hoarse voice, “You used to know all about what to do with situations like this. Dealing with karmic pollutants and unclean beings with your special circles and arrays, running the logistics for our hostel for inter-galactic travellers, seeing through enemy schemes … training and advising the students.

“And now that I have MY students, guess what, they’re kinda like you. If you’re here, you’ll be the better one to teach them. Karma … is such a bitch. I want them to be great, but I don’t want your life for them… I tried my best to understand The Will, and still found no ways to revert this kind of … conscription. It’s such a bitch, it doesn’t even dare ask. It just points, nudges and pushes, like a manipulative coward.”

Jianmen sighed and stopped the projection of the holographic image as he sensed that Jason and Caroline were back. He placed the piece of paper on the ground, and the piece just sunk into the ground and was invisible shortly after.

Jianmen coughed again as he stood up, spitting blood and fire sparks. He was tired and in pain, but he felt greatly relieved that he was finally able to be done with the piece of rock.

The crystal ball was placed into a metal box hidden from under the altar, which held one other crystal ball within that had less than half its diameter. Jianmen took out the smaller crystal one and hid the box back under the altar.

“You’re back. How was the shoot?” Jianmen walked out of the basement and greeted both of his students.

“You know we can’t tell you anything.” Jason greeted Jianmen with a smile: “Didn’t miss dinner did we?”

“Ah, I thought I forgot something.” Jianmen scratched his head with frustration: “Sorry about that, let me prep now.”

“Umm Boss? We picked up a flower from the movie set. Can we plant it in your garden?” Caroline asked in an atypical nice and sweet voice: “Jason and I both have some pretty good feelings about it.”

“No place in that garden. But I reclaimed some new ground near it. That was meant for you so you can just try it there.” Jianmen answered from the kitchen: “Also, you can go into the basement starting from tomorrow. Let the room sit for a while.”

“What have you been doing in there anyway?” Jason asked, “Does that mean you can leave the inn now?”

“Technically yes. But I’ll need some rest before venturing out. It might take a few extra days. And you guys be careful while you are out there not listening to my advice.”

“Huh? What are you talking about Boss?” Jason chuckled nervously, he tried to find Caroline to back him up, but Caroline already went to the back of the inn.

“You guys working on the set wasn’t just about money wasn’t it? You had suspicion that the ghost you fought there had connections to Dr. Nguyen.”

“Ah, that… you know. We just had a hunch, but it turned out to be nothing. It’s not like we’re actively pursuing the leads like detectives or anything.”

A few minutes later, Caroline ran into the diner: “Hey Boss, Jason, I think you need to see this.”