Seven-Colored Dragon Boat, Azure Pearl Radiance

The crescent moon hung like a hook, and a few old crows, having picked clean the cold branches, refused to perch, their mournful cries echoing eerily in the night sky.

In the graveyard, two gaunt figures moved among the simple graves piled high with yellow earth. A boy in tattered clothes carried a girl of about the same age on his back. The girl's face was sallow, and though weakened by hunger and cold, only her eyes retained a spark of life. The boy carrying her looked worried, his hands carefully avoiding the wounds on her thigh, which had been bitten by wild dogs. Both were beggars from villages dozens of miles away. They begged along the roads during the day and scavenged for offerings at graves at night. In the Shu Region, it was customary to place steamed buns and pastries on graves on the day of burial. Some believed it was for the living soul to eat on its journey to the Yellow Springs, while others thought it was to appease nearby wandering spirits and wild ghosts, preventing them from troubling the deceased's soul.

"When things prosper, the common people suffer, all turning to dust. When they decline, the common people suffer, all turning to dust." Surrounded by countless desolate graves, the girl could only use her voice to bolster her courage. Though her face was pale, her voice was remarkably light and clear. She had occasionally heard people recite these lines and, with a flash of inspiration, began to sing them in her unique, soft tone. So young, caught in a chaotic world, she didn't understand grand pronouncements like "better to be a dog in peacetime than a human in chaos." She simply jumbled together lines from "Lishan Huai Gu" and Zhang Yanghao's "Shan Po Yang," which she'd overheard. Sung by her tender voice, it would surely have a unique poignancy for anyone who heard it with an attentive ear.

The boy, who had been carrying the girl for a long time, had his vision blurred by sweat. The chilling aura of ghosts that permeated the haphazard graves made his skin crawl, yet he dared not even pant heavily, doing his utmost to conceal his fear and exhaustion. But the girl, having spent every day with him and being naturally intelligent and perceptive, knew his feelings well. After gently wiping away his sweat, she looked at the graveyard before them and couldn't help but ask with a sigh, "Will we die too?"

"No," the boy forced a smile, trying to comfort her.

"The plays always say no one can escape death, and Grandpa Wu is dead too," the girl said sadly. She was a very bright child. While she couldn't learn the zither, chess, calligraphy, or painting like children from wealthy families, she could recite any poem after hearing it just once. The Grandpa Wu she mentioned was a fortune teller who had stayed with them for a while. Whenever he had free time, he would tell stories of immortals and strange occurrences, or teach the girl songs and verses, albeit with mixed-up lyrics. He had frozen to death one snowy night, instilling in the girl a deep-seated fear of death.

"Immortals don't die," the boy said, his lips dry and cracked, splitting open to reveal blood. He licked the blood away secretly. He had a set of pearly white teeth that stood in stark contrast to his dark, tanned face. He hugged the girl tighter and looked towards the dark, towering mountains in the distance. "Grandpa Wu said there are immortals in those mountains. When you're better, I'll take you to the mountains, and maybe we'll meet an immortal, and then we won't die."

Seeking immortality to escape death – these few words were simple to say but harder to achieve than traversing the treacherous Shu roads. Perhaps the old man had just spoken casually, to satisfy the curiosity of two children. For the poor, even those who sought immortality and practiced the Way were still unreachable, let alone the ethereal immortals and gods.

"Found it!" Suddenly, the boy's eyes lit up. After searching for offerings for most of the night, he finally spotted a bowl of pastries on a new grave. The bowl was broken, and the pastries were undoubtedly cold and hard, but to him, they were more precious than anything. He wasn't sure if the girl on his back could hold on any longer if they went hungry again.

He carefully set her down far from the new grave, found a stone, spread some dry grass on it for her to sit on, and then hobbled over. Old sayings warned that stealing food meant for the living soul was extremely inauspicious and would shorten one's lifespan. Though the boy had been an orphan since childhood and his character had been hardened by hardship, he still feared ghosts and gods. So, he kowtowed nine times on the grave, and then, as if it weren't enough, kowtowed another nine times. Only then did he take a steamed bun from the bowl. He turned to look at the girl and secretly took a barely visible bite from four or five of the buns, muttering to himself, "I took these buns. If demons and monsters want to find someone, they'll find me. I've bitten them, so they're mine. If my lifespan is shortened, it'll be mine alone."

He ran back to the girl, squatted down, and handed all the buns to her.

"There are four," the girl exclaimed joyfully.

She handed three back to the boy, keeping one for herself, her smile as bright as summer flowers. "I have a small appetite; one is enough for me. You eat two, and we'll save the last one for the road."

Looking at the cold, hard steamed buns the girl pressed into his hand, the boy felt as if he were holding the rarest delicacy in the world.

"Eat quickly," the girl said, taking small bites of her bun. Seeing the boy staring blankly, she chuckled.

The boy was also extremely hungry. Looking at the girl's smiling face, he deliberately took a big bite out of his steamed bun. Though he hadn't swallowed yet, his ravenous stomach already felt somewhat better. As he looked up, intending to smile back at the girl, his eyes suddenly widened.

He saw a seven-colored radiant light streaking across the sky from afar, looking like a meteor. In moments, it was much closer to their location. The closer it got, the brighter the seven-colored light became. Even the girl, with her back to the light, noticed. "What is that?" she asked, her voice filled with awe. Then, to her disbelief, she covered her mouth as both she and the boy saw that the seven-colored light was a seven-colored dragon boat flying through the air!

The dragon boat appeared to be carved from purple jade, emitting a soft purple glow. It was several dozen feet long. The dragon head at the prow held a red pearl the size of a fist in its mouth, and the body was inlaid with various colored gems, which were the source of the seven-colored light.

The magnificent seven-colored dragon boat tore through the sky!

The boy and girl had never witnessed such a sight, and for a moment, they couldn't even breathe.

But what stunned them even more was that standing on the seven-colored dragon boat were women. On the left stood a woman in a purple palace dress, a jade hairpin in her hair, her skin as white as snow. On the right stood another woman in a goose-yellow palace dress, a yellow flower sticker on her brow. Both were bright-eyed and beautiful, stunningly alluring.

Staring at the dragon boat that had appeared before them, the boy and girl were dumbfounded. "So, it's just two mountain children," the palace-dressed beauty on the left said, frowning as if she hadn't even seen them. "Senior Sister, let's go. He shouldn't be hiding in a place like this."

The woman in the goose-yellow attire nodded. "I also don't think he'd come near Shushan, but Master insisted we check here."

"Senior Sister, do you think that item is really that important? It's causing us to make such a fuss and deploy so many people to find it?" the woman in the purple palace dress asked.

"When have you ever seen Master so serious?" the woman in the goose-yellow attire replied. "Let's go, before the Shushan disciples see us and get entangled."

"Ah!" a startled cry escaped the girl. She wondered if she was dreaming, dreaming of dragon boat fairies. She unconsciously reached to rub her eyes but accidentally pulled at the wound on her leg, letting out a yelp.

"Hmm?" The two women on the seven-colored dragon boat, about to leave, simultaneously uttered a soft "Hmm?" Though the girl was emaciated, her bone structure was exceptionally refined, resembling the Nine-Chakra Xuan Nü, known for her high aptitude, as depicted in physiognomy charts. Exchanging a glance, their seven-colored dragon boat suddenly descended. "Little sister, would you be willing to come with us?"

"Come with you?" The girl's innate nature took over, and after exclaiming with immense joy, she looked at the two women and asked, "Are you two sisters really so beautiful? And your clothes are beautiful too. Are you goddesses?"

The two women in palace attire smiled slightly. "We'll take you to a wonderful place. In the future, you'll become as beautiful as us and wear beautiful clothes like ours."

"Really?!" The girl was about to jump with excitement, but then she seemed to remember something and pointed to the boy beside her. "Will he come with us too?"

"Him?" The two women glanced at the boy, then simultaneously shook their heads. "His aptitude is too poor; we can't take him."

"Then I'm not going either," the girl said, stunned. She immediately became anxious and looked at the boy beside her, tears welling up in her eyes. "You idiot. Hurry up and agree to them," the boy said, his mind buzzing when he heard they couldn't take him. But when he heard the girl say she wouldn't go, he became more anxious than she was. For the first time in his life, he berated the girl.

The girl was about to refuse again, but the woman in the purple palace dress, growing impatient, flicked her sleeve. "Let's go!" The girl felt as if she were flying through the clouds. When she came to her senses, she found herself on the dragon boat high in the sky. The boy below was as small as an ant, barely visible. "Let me down," the girl cried out in distress. The woman in the purple attire ignored her, but the woman in the goose-yellow attire seemed a little reluctant and comforted her, "Little sister, don't be sad. When you're older, you can come back and pick him up yourself."

In the boy's sight, the light of the seven-colored dragon boat flew further and further away, finally disappearing.

"His aptitude is too poor; we can't take him... His aptitude is too poor; we can't take him..." The voices of the women in palace attire echoed repeatedly in the boy's mind. Although his personality had been tempered to be exceptionally resilient, he was, after all, just a twelve or thirteen-year-old child from the wilderness. The dragon boat and the women in palace attire were even more real than the fairies he had imagined. His hopes dashed, abandoned with disdain, and not even given a chance to say a few more words, he thought of all the times he and the girl had relied on each other. He thought he would never see her again. Seeing the cold, hard steamed buns in his hand, sorrow overwhelmed the boy, and he couldn't help but cry out loud.

"Hmph, I didn't expect the so-called prestigious sects, who claim to lead the righteous path of the world, to behave like bandits," a sinister voice suddenly sounded in the boy's ear. "But don't worry, it's a blessing for the little girl to be chosen by them; others would beg for such an opportunity."

The voice came from a desolate grave nearby. The boy, who had been crying loudly, shivered violently.

The grave was dilapidated and collapsed, revealing half of a coffin. With a "creak," a gray-white hand suddenly emerged from the old coffin.

With a "thump," the coffin lid was lifted, and a person sat up. He had a hooked nose, narrow eyes, and a deathly pale face devoid of any blood. His pupils seemed to lack irises, being entirely gray-white. A blood-red crimson robe enveloped his entire body.

"Oh?" Seeing that the boy, though still tear-streaked, had stopped crying and wasn't fleeing in terror as he'd expected, the person in the coffin, clad in the crimson robe, turned his gray-white eyes and looked at the boy. "What? You're not afraid of me?"

"No," the boy shook his head.

"Why aren't you afraid? Aren't you afraid of ghosts?" the person in the coffin asked the raggedly dressed boy curiously.

"You have a shadow; ghosts don't have shadows."

"En?" He glanced down at his faint shadow in the darkness and then scrutinized the raggedly dressed little beggar. The person in the coffin snorted, "I didn't expect your innate aptitude to be so poor, yet you're quite brave."

Hearing the person in the coffin say his aptitude was poor, the boy trembled again and couldn't help but look in the direction the seven-colored dragon boat had disappeared.

"Little one," the person in the coffin said with a smile, seeing the boy's pained and heartbroken expression. "Judging by your appearance, you haven't eaten your fill for many days, have you?"

The boy nodded. If he hadn't been starving for days, he wouldn't even have the strength to run. Coupled with the girl's disappearance, sorrow had overcome him. Even if he had realized the person sitting up in the coffin wasn't a ghost, the sight of someone clad entirely in red with a pale face would have made him turn and flee long ago, not stay here.

"Then, would you like to never suffer the hardship of hunger and cold again? Never have to come to these desolate graves to eat such things, or perhaps, be able to come and go freely like them? And see that little girl again?" The person in the coffin's gray-white pupils flickered. As he spoke, he pointed a finger, and a spider-silk-like red light shot out, hitting the cold, hard steamed bun in the boy's hand. The boy felt a burning sensation in his palm, and in his stupor, the bun turned into scorched powder and drifted away from his hand.

For a little beggar who might not even eat a full meal for days, nothing was more tempting than eating his fill every day. Moreover, there was a soul-stirring thing in this world called power. The women in palace attire who could ride the seven-colored dragon boat through the wind were exactly the embodiment of the power of immortals he had imagined. The boy, who had been ignored and dismissed, now saw this person in the coffin display such power. Now, this person in the coffin claimed he could help him come and go freely like them and see the girl again. The boy was both afraid and surprised. For a moment, he stared at the eerie, red-robed figure, his thin body trembling slightly, unable to speak.

The person in the coffin, who had easily created an effect of "a village hidden behind another village," showed no surprise at the boy's reaction, a faint curve appearing at the corner of his mouth. "The Buddha said that if one has not cultivated good karma in a past life, they will suffer hunger and cold in this life. But do you believe I can help you escape this sea of suffering from worldly ties?"

The boy looked at the person in the coffin. Everything from the appearance of the seven-colored dragon boat until now was inexplicably bizarre and strange to him. Not particularly intelligent to begin with, after a long pause, he couldn't help but ask, "Who... who are you? Why are you inside a coffin?"

"Most people in the world are blinded by illusory things. Who I am, and why I am in a coffin, what does it matter?" The person in the coffin glanced at the boy, still sitting motionless in the dilapidated coffin, and extended his right hand, palm open. The boy unconsciously followed his gaze. Within a few feet, the space suddenly lit up. A bead the size of a thumbnail pulsed with light, emitting waves of azure blue radiance from the person's hand. Upon closer inspection, the smooth, round bead seemed to have ripples constantly forming within it, while its jade-like surface occasionally flashed with a faint red glow.

Looking at the boy, whose gaunt figure was elongated by the light of the bead in his hand, the person in the coffin said calmly, "As long as you eat this bead, you will never suffer hunger or cold again. All things in the world are governed by karma. I am here, you are here; this is destiny. As long as you agree to one thing, I will give you this bead."