After Chen Ping'an carried his basket ashore, he headed toward Green Ox's Back. He did not know whether it was an illusion, but the young man felt that the stream's water level seemed to have dropped a little.
When he neared the blue-green cliff, he suddenly stopped. He could clearly see quite a few people standing there, every feature of their faces almost visible down to the finest detail. It was not because the starlight was dazzling, but because a snow-white elk stood atop Green Ox's Back. Its entire body was crystalline, emanating wisps of white radiance like waterweed swaying with the current in the stream.
The white elk lowered its head, while a little girl in a bright red padded jacket stood on tiptoe and reached out to stroke its antlers.
Beyond them stood a young man and woman in Daoist robes. Perhaps because they were illuminated by the white elk's glow, their skin was fairer than snow and translucent as crystal. To make an analogy, if the townsfolk were clay figures shaped from mud, then these two Outsider Taoist Priests were exquisite porcelain fired in a kiln—a true difference between heaven and earth.
The style of their Daoist robes somewhat resembled that of Daoist Master Lu, who ran the fortune-telling stall, though many details differed. Their Daoist crowns were the most different. Daoist Master Lu wore a Lotus Crown, while the crowns atop these two heads were shaped like fish tails.
The straw-sandaled youth stared blankly. The man and woman standing beside the white elk seemed like figures who had stepped out of a painting of immortals, as if they might drift away and ascend at the next instant, plucking stars and seizing the moon as easily as turning over a hand.
The other two stood a little farther away. Chen Ping'an recognized one of them: she was the green-clothed girl, daughter of Master Ruan, the swordsmith. This time, she was not carrying a bundle full of food. In one hand, she held a small embroidered handkerchief with only several delicate, adorable pastries on it. With her head lowered, she looked very hesitant, seemingly unable to decide where to begin. The person beside her was around thirty, with a longsword on his back and a strange ornament hanging from his waist.
At the same time Chen Ping'an saw them, nearly everyone noticed the straw-sandaled youth's abrupt appearance. The young Daoist nun seemed somewhat surprised. She bent down and rubbed the little girl in the red padded jacket on the head, pointing in Chen Ping'an's direction as she whispered to her. The little girl pricked up her ears to listen to Immortal Sister's questions. She opened her eyes wide and stared intently. Once she vaguely recognized Chen Ping'an, she began pouring out words like beans tumbling from a bamboo tube, presumably explaining Chen Ping'an's identity and background to the white elk's owner, Immortal Sister.
At that moment, Chen Ping'an also recognized the eight- or nine-year-old girl. The first time he had met her was before he went to the Dragon Kiln to fire porcelain. He had encountered a little girl with Ram Horn Braids in Mud Bottle Alley. Though she had been very young, she ran incredibly fast, holding a paper kite in her hand. Her two slender legs were like skinny bamboo poles, yet she ran like the wind, leaving a particularly deep impression on Chen Ping'an. Later, he saw her sporadically a few more times. Once, the little girl had lain over the mouth of Iron Lock Well and secretly tossed stones inside. Chen Ping'an had accidentally caught her in the act of mischief. Frightened, she immediately ran away, only remembering after more than a dozen steps that she had left her tanghulu on the well's edge. Unable to resist her craving, she ran back to Iron Lock Well. But she was too rushed going back and forth, and with a slap, she sprawled face-first onto the ground. After getting up, she snatched the tanghulu, then suddenly halted, opened her mouth, and pulled out a tooth that was hanging by a thread. She tucked it into her pocket. Without crying or making a fuss, she took off running again without another word.
The sight had left Chen Ping'an in a cold sweat. The last time he saw her was at that ruined place of broken statues overgrown with wild grass. It had been one autumn dusk last year. After Chen Ping'an left the Dragon Kiln and returned to town, he wandered around and happened to see her busily catching crickets, rolling, jumping, and pouncing all over the grass. When she saw Chen Ping'an, she had clearly recognized him as well, and once again fled away like a gust of wind.
Later, Chen Ping'an heard from Gu Can that this older girl, who was filthy all day long, looked like an untamed wild girl with no one to discipline her, but she was actually from the Li family of Fulu Street, and not one of their servants or maidservants. Yet for some reason, she simply liked wandering about by herself, and her family did not stop her. When Gu Can spoke of her, he was filled with pride and contempt. He said that despite how fast she ran, she was actually stupid. Once, the two of them had happened to catch fish in the stream together. That idiot spent an entire afternoon and caught only one crab—not a single Stone Flatfish. And the reason she managed to catch that big crab was that its claw had clamped viciously onto her finger. Gu Can had told this story in Chen Ping'an's room, laughing so hard that he clutched his stomach and rolled around on the little wooden bed. He said she was truly stupid. She had even deliberately raised her hand to show him off, as though catching one crab were something incredible. The key was that she had clearly been on the verge of tears from the crab claw's pinch.
The handsome young Daoist priest glanced at the white elk and smiled at the young Daoist nun. "Senior Sister He, I told you to be more careful and not spoil it too much. It has only been less than ten days, and it is merely an Illusion Technique—it does not even hinder its freedom. Yet you refused to listen. Now ordinary mortals have caught it red-handed. What are we to do?"
After hearing the little girl's introduction, the Daoist nun with a beauty capable of toppling cities smiled. "Let nature take its course."
The young Daoist priest frowned. He looked again, then examined Chen Ping'an closely for a moment. He truly could not see anything extraordinary in the straw-sandaled youth carrying the basket. Their sect's skill in reading faces and observing qi, seeking dragons and locating acupoints, might not have been peerless across the continent, but they were certainly highly proficient at it. Since this Daoist priest had been able to represent his sect in retrieving the suppressive object here, and was responsible for safely bringing back that Mountain Suppressing Treasure before eventually presenting it to the High Sect, he was naturally no ordinary fish in a pond. Thus, after failing to see much unusual about the youth, he lost any thought of recruiting him into their mountain gate. The young Daoist priest was highly skilled at reading faces and did not believe he had misjudged him.
Their sect was one of the Three Daoist Sects of East Treasure Bottle Continent, and the foremost sect of the continent's Dao Lineage, exalted beyond measure. This time, he and Senior Sister He had left the mountain together. As compensation, each had been given one precious quota to recruit a true disciple for the sect. That disciple would also become each of their personal apprentices. He had no desire to squander such an opportunity carelessly and had to treat it with caution.
Everyone in the sect knew that Senior Sister He valued Cultivating the Heart. Thus, her lightly spoken words, "Let nature take its course," very likely meant that she had entertained the thought of taking a disciple.
He and He Xiaoliang were known as the Golden Boy and Jade Maiden of East Treasure Bottle Continent, the favored children of heaven among the continent's Daoists. Even mortal kings had to receive them with courtesy, and the gravity of that etiquette did not lose out to what was accorded to a True Lord of a great kingdom.
Because among the entire continent, they were the cultivation geniuses most likely to Ascend to Upper Five Realms.
When the young Daoist nun took the little girl's hand and led her down Green Ox's Back, the spiritual white elk following behind them, not only was the young Daoist priest, her fellow sect junior brother, utterly bewildered, but the Military Strategist Master wearing a tiger tally at his waist and carrying a longsword on his back also revealed a look of surprise.
As Chen Ping'an watched the young Daoist nun approach slowly, his head began to ache. The young man truly did not want to deal with these immortals from elsewhere.
Because Chen Ping'an knew that their simple likes, dislikes, joys, and anger could determine his life and death, honor and disgrace.
And Chen Ping'an knew that his luck had never been particularly good, which made him even more afraid of provoking them.
Still, Chen Ping'an was not about to flee in panic because of this. On the contrary, he symbolically walked forward a short distance. In the eyes of others, that was at least proper.
The white elk slightly quickened its pace and trotted over. It circled the straw-sandaled youth once, then lowered its head and nuzzled the impoverished youth of its own accord.
The white elk returned to its mistress's side. She gently stroked its back, and the next moment, it transformed into the form of a horse.
Pointing at a deer and calling it a horse.
The young Daoist nun looked at Chen Ping'an, sighed softly, and said something with a smile. Then she lowered her head to look at the little girl in the red padded jacket.
The little girl explained in the town's dialect, timidly saying, "Sister He said, 'You are someone who cherishes his blessings. It is a pity that our affinity is shallow, and we cannot become Fellow Daoists.'"
The youth was rendered speechless because he had no idea what he could say without being impolite.
With a basket on his back, straw sandals on his feet, and his trouser legs rolled up, the youth looked especially comical.
The Daoist nun asked with a smile, "So you already know the wondrous uses of these stones? Chen Ping'an, do not worry. I was merely asking in passing."
The little girl repeated the explanation word for word, speaking quickly in a crisp voice.
Chen Ping'an hesitated before nodding. "A Daoist Master once reminded me that I could often come to the stream to pick up stones, catch fish, and such."
Although Chen Ping'an had a favorable impression of the young Daoist nun, he remained cautious and did not even reveal Daoist Master Lu's surname. Besides, the one who had truly revealed heavenly secrets and pointed out the great value of Snake Gallstones had been Ning Yao.
The Daoist nun smiled. "You know our Junior Uncle Lu as well?"
Chen Ping'an froze.
The Daoist nun smiled knowingly and gave a rough explanation. "Strictly speaking, Junior Uncle Lu is not of the same sect as us. It is only that Daoist Master Lu visited our sect many years ago, associated with one of our martial uncles as an equal, and stayed for many years. We juniors became familiar with him, so naturally, we grew accustomed to calling him 'Junior Uncle.'"
Chen Ping'an grinned, his guard completely gone.
The straw-sandaled youth held Daoist Master Lu in gratitude and would never forget him for the rest of his life.
Remembering something, he bent down and set aside his basket. He picked up one of the stones that had caught his eye at first sight. It was as large as an egg, gleaming green and clear as ice, entirely unlike the other Snake Gallstones. He handed it to the young Daoist nun, whose bearing was like a secluded orchid, and asked, "Daoist Master, if you see Daoist Master Lu in the future, could you help me give this stone to him?"
After hearing the little girl's explanation, she considered it briefly, accepted the stone, and said slowly, "Before coming here, I happened to meet Junior Uncle as he was leaving. He was going to Nanjian Kingdom to attend an important ceremony of a Dao Lineage sect. It is difficult to say when we will next meet. But as long as I see Junior Uncle Lu, I will certainly pass it along for you."
Listening to the little girl's words, Chen Ping'an smiled brightly and bowed to thank this young Daoist nun, who had left him with such a good impression.
When judging whether strangers were good or bad, the youth had always trusted his instincts.
It was like his feelings toward Fu Nanhua and Cai Jinjian, and like his feelings toward Daoist Master Lu and Miss Ning.
Chen Ping'an took out another Snake Gallstone and handed it to her again.
This Daoist nun, acclaimed among the younger generation of East Treasure Bottle Continent as having "the greatest fortune of opportunities," did not refuse. Smiling, she accepted it and did not forget to thank him.
The little girl in the red padded jacket twisted the corners of her clothes in both hands and said quietly, "I want one too."
Chen Ping'an smiled, turned around, and went to pick out a stone for her from the basket.
The little girl ran to his side and said cautiously, "I want a bigger one. Is that all right?"
Chen Ping'an smiled. "As long as you can carry it, I will give you the biggest one. But it is not close from here to town, and then back home. Besides, I think the big ones in this basket are not as good as the small ones."
She thought about it, resting both hands on the basket's rim. "All right, then I will choose a small, pretty one."
Chen Ping'an selected a little lotus-pink stone for her. It was moist and lovely. The little girl held it in her palm, very satisfied.
She suddenly tilted her head, bared her teeth, pointed at them, then gave Chen Ping'an a smug, giggling smile.
She was probably showing off that her teeth had grown back in.
Chen Ping'an said happily, "Next time, let us go catch crickets together."
The little girl's eyes lit up, but they soon dimmed again. She nodded with a forced smile.
Chen Ping'an shouldered his basket, bade the young Daoist nun farewell, waved to the little girl, and jogged back to town by himself.
Though both were called immortals, this young Daoist nun was in a league far beyond Cai Jinjian of Cloud Mist Mountain, as different as immortal family's Gold Essence was from ordinary gold.
She led the little girl and white elk back to Green Ox's Back. The young Daoist priest withdrew his gaze from the straw-sandaled youth's receding figure and delivered his final verdict. "Shallow affinity means meager blessings. Naturally, he is not fit for great use."
There were as many Daoist sects in East Treasure Bottle Continent as hairs on an ox. Every thirty years, they selected a pair known as the "Golden Boy and Jade Maiden." He and Senior Sister He Xiaoliang were the innate Taoist Companions of this generation. Yet something astonishing had occurred. The Golden Boy's aptitude did not fall short of those before him, but that Jade Maiden's fortune of opportunities was so good it was outrageous. At her birth, the white elk—one of the auspicious signs—had voluntarily emerged from the mountain wilds and great marshes, come to her side, and acknowledged her as its mistress. After she embarked upon the great path of cultivation, it seemed she had never encountered a single setback, her path smooth with favorable winds all the way. Some had even claimed that she would not encounter her first bottleneck until after she Ascended to Upper Five Realms.
She neither agreed nor disagreed with her junior brother's contempt for the straw-sandaled youth, merely smiling it away.
At that moment, a short youth came from the deep pool near the Covered Bridge all the way to the puddle beneath Green Ox's Back. He held only a single Snake Gallstone, yet like the white elk earlier, it blazed with brilliance in the night.
The dull-witted youth stood atop a rock protruding from the water, holding the stone as if he were an Immortal holding up heaven and earth, carrying a miniature full moon in his hand.
The two blue and red fish raised by the young Daoist priest did not enter the water. They only swam slowly above the stream.
If Chen Ping'an had seen this youth, he would have known that he was Granny Ma's grandson from Apricot Blossom Alley.
The youth had been dull-witted since childhood and had been rejected by his parents when he was very young. Granny Ma had raised her grandson herself. The youth did not fit in with others and often climbed onto the roof alone to watch the clouds.
From childhood to adulthood, the youth who took Granny Ma's surname, Ma, had been bullied until in the end, people felt that even stepping on him would dirty their shoes. This pitiful child seemed to have smiled only at Zhi Gui, the maidservant of Mud Bottle Alley.
That was why Granny Ma bore such a particular grudge against that maidservant. She believed Zhi Gui was a shameless vixen who must have taken the initiative to seduce her precious grandson.
The young Daoist nun walked over to the man carrying the longsword and asked, "Is there truly no room to negotiate regarding Ma Kuxuan?"
The man's voice was cold. "If your Junior Uncle Lu truly wants to take this child as his Founding Disciple, why does he not come himself? So what if his reputation is resounding? He has never fought me. Why should I yield him this child? If he refuses to accept it, he can come find me at Zhenwu Mountain. If he wins, he can take this child away."
The young Daoist priest smiled. "It merely means making our Junior Uncle travel one extra time. Why make things so difficult?"
His words concealed needles within silk.
The man with the sword and tally narrowed his eyes. "Oh?"
The young Daoist nun was somewhat annoyed. She glanced at her fellow sect junior brother. The young Daoist priest laughed heartily and did not continue to pit needle against awl with the man. He merely looked up on his own and said, "The moonlight is beautiful tonight."
She felt rather helpless.
Whenever it involved that Junior Uncle of their sect, let alone her and her junior brother, probably every young Daoist priest on the continent shared in his glory.
By the Covered Bridge, beneath the steps, stood a barefoot monk. His face was square, and he carried an air of tenacity and fortitude.
This ascetic monk did not raise his head to look at the golden-lettered plaque. Instead, he looked at the ground where Song Jixin had earlier planted incense. With his palms pressed together, he lowered his head and said compassionately, "Amitabha."
The short youth came ashore and arrived at Green Ox's Back. He looked at the two young Daoist priests who seemed ready to float away as immortals, then at the unsmiling man carrying the sword. Finally, he fixed his gaze fiercely on the latter, who wore the tiger tally, and gnashed his teeth. "I do not want to learn any path to immortality. Can you teach me how to kill people?!"
The man laughed arrogantly. "My Military Strategist sword cultivators have been the foremost in killing power beneath heaven since ancient times!"
The young Daoist priest returned the favor, smiling. "Oh?"
The young Daoist nun shook her head. Knowing the overall situation had been decided, she felt she had failed Junior Uncle Lu's trust and was filled with guilt.
For a time, atop Green Ox's Back beside the stream, swords were drawn and bows bent, the atmosphere grave.
The Li family's little girl in the red padded jacket hurriedly hid behind Immortal Sister.
The green-clothed girl had just eaten the last pastry. Her mood was already terrible, and she snapped irritably, "If you have the ability, go fight my father!"
The man, who had a deep connection with the girl and her father, no longer kept a stern face. He smiled and asked, "How would I fight him?"
The young Daoist priest teased, "Ruan Xiu, that is rather bullying, is it not? Your father is the next Sage, succeeding Mr. Qi. He is like the master of this world."
The green-clothed girl pursed her lips and said nothing.
The monk approached slowly and climbed onto Green Ox's Back.
The young Daoist nun said, "Your Buddhist Thunder Sound Pagoda, our Daoist Celestial Master Seal, a small sword mound of the Military Strategists, and of course the Confucians' Mountain Jade Tablet. The four suppressive objects left behind by the earliest four Sages—setting aside how the Confucians scheme and struggle among themselves, just speaking of the three of us, though we are each retrieving ours with proper cause, would it not be somewhat inappropriate to do so without even informing Mr. Qi?"
The monk said nothing.
The young Daoist priest said worriedly, "It is indeed somewhat lacking in human feeling, but orders from above cannot be defied. Senior Sister, you should not add feet to a snake."
That Military Strategist sneered. "I did not come here to cozy up to anyone."
Back in town, Chen Ping'an returned to the alley where Liu Xianyang's home stood, only to find Mr. Qi waiting at the entrance.
The youth hurried over. Before he could ask anything, Qi Jingchun handed him two personal seals and said with a smile, "Chen Ping'an, these are not gifts for nothing. I have a favor to ask of you. If Cliff Academy encounters trouble in the future, I hope you can help as much as your strength allows. Of course, you need not deliberately inquire after the academy's affairs."
The youth said only one word. "All right!"
Qi Jingchun nodded and said earnestly, "Remember what I told you before: 'The gentleman does not save.' Those were words from the bottom of my heart, not a test of human nature."
The youth grinned. "Sir, I cannot promise that."
Qi Jingchun seemed about to speak, but in the end, he said nothing and turned to leave.
He had originally wanted to say that if Cliff Academy truly faced a great crisis in the future, and Chen Ping'an regretted it, there would be no need for guilt. He could simply pretend he had seen and heard nothing. There was no need to force himself.
Yet for some reason, deep within his heart, Qi Jingchun harbored a faint trace of hope, one that even he himself could not understand no matter how much he pondered it.
After thinking it over and over, the Mountain Lord of Cliff Academy reached only one answer. It was simply because the youth before him was named Chen Ping'an. He seemed unlike everyone else.
If you entrusted him with something, no matter how difficult it was, even if he knew that the youth would still be unable to accomplish it after exhausting every ounce of strength, you could nevertheless be truly certain of one thing: as long as he agreed, he would definitely do it. If ten portions of strength were insufficient, he would still grit his teeth and use twelve.
That was something that put people at ease.
This was something Qi Jingchun had sought bitterly for many years without obtaining. This scholar, who had voluntarily requested exile here, had once felt that every corner of heaven and earth was foreign soil.
Just as Qi Jingchun was about to turn away, the youth, still carrying his basket, hurriedly and with great difficulty clasped his hands and bowed.
In the alley, the Confucian Sage returned the youth's bow with meticulous formality.
Before you continue