White Tigress Read Online Free

doing find your way back to the middle path."
    He felt his jaw go slack in astonishment. She couldn't possibly mean what she was saying. "You cannot expect me to teach her to become immortal?" He twisted, looking at the ghost devil, as whites were often called. "These ghost souls do not have enough substance to become immortal."
    Shi Po shrugged. "Perhaps not. But try. And in so trying, find peace on your pillow again."
    Ru Shan shook his head, struck dumb by the thought of such a task. He? Teach a white woman what few of his own countrymen understood? It wasn't possible.
    "Kui Yu tells me some of them can be quite smart in their own limited way," Shi Po commented, referring to her husband.
    "Then let me teach one he knows. A man."
    "As if you need more yang, Ru Shan," she sneered. "No, a man would only exacerbate the imbalances in your body. You need a white woman, and a water one at that." She gestured disdainfully at the girl.
    "But I cannot teach her the ways of the tigress. Only a woman can reveal those secrets."
    "You know enough," she interrupted. "And I can advise you as needed. She will not need to learn the higher rituals. She will not be capable of it, and she is not the point." Shi Po stepped closer, her spicy perfume mixing imperfectly with the scents of the house, pushing Ru Shan's mind into further turmoil. "You are the point, Ru Shan, the arrow that must be directed. She is merely the bow that will launch you into Heaven."
    He understood her words, saw the purpose in them. And yet, Ru Shan still could not accept them. "I cannot come here every day. Nor can I be sure that she will remain un-contaminated in this house." He glanced back toward the door, knowing well that the proprietress would happily sell and resell the white girl's "purity" to any man willing to believe the lies. In truth, once the evening opium pipes began, he doubted he could ensure his own safety, much less a helpless white girl's. Even breathing the air would be a risk.
    "Very true," Shi Po agreed. There was a hint of regret in her tone. At the mournful sound, Ru Shan began to hope that he had escaped this most unwelcome task. But then she lifted her chin, resolution clear in her stance. "You will have to buy her."
    "What?" He exploded, his horror overcoming his restraint. "The cost of it... her price..." The thought boggled his mind. He had nothing in his store to equal the price of this one white girl. Indeed, she would cost as much as a year's income, if not more. "I cannot afford her. Not since..." Not since that night two years ago.
    "You must borrow the money."
    "No!" The very idea revolted him.
    "Then you have abandoned the Tao and all the gains you have made these last nine years. You will never become an Immortal. Even your status as a jade dragon will disappear."
    He felt his jaw tighten at the thought, the heat in his belly rising with his temper. Nearly a decade of study, of diligent effort and constant attention, all would disappear? Because he would not sacrifice his family to his goals? Not possible!
    But one look at Shi Po, and he could see she would not change her mind. Ru Shan's name would be stricken from the records, his gains of the last nine years wiped away.
    And yet, he could not do it. He could not risk his family's future. Not even if it meant forfeiting everything he had worked for since he'd first met Shi Po so long ago.
    He bowed his head, accepting his fate. "I cannot get a loan, Shi Po. Any moneylender would expect collateral, and I have only two things to offer—the Cheng store and the Cheng home." He straightened his spine. "I will not risk my family's home or livelihood."
    Shi Po sighed as if she had expected such an answer. Then she continued speaking, her voice low and relentless.
    "Your life is already at risk, Ru Shan, and your family home is the least of it. Do you discount the torments you suffer now? Do not think they will abate. Having once known the peace of the Tao, you will find eternal torment