Siblings Enter the World

The Little Saintess's expression remained calm. She bowed to the Third Elder. "Third Elder, you have just returned from a long journey and suffered greatly from the hardships of the road. Let this disciple see this young master home."

Lin Su's heart lurched. No, Master, don't agree to this! If you did, her "farewell" would definitely become something completely different. She might just knead me flat...

But the Third Elder had already nodded. "Very well... then I shall trouble you, Saintess!"

The Little Saintess turned to Lin Su. "Young Master Lin, board the boat. Your little sister will see you off!"

Lin Su's scalp prickled, but he had no choice. He boarded her Silver Boat with a stiff upper lip. The Silver Boat shot into the sky, carrying Lin Su and Xiao Yao onto their journey home.

White clouds drifted past his ears, and in the blink of an eye, Cloud Stream Sect had vanished from sight.

Lin Su looked toward the Little Saintess at the prow. A whole heap of arguments had already been brewing in his mind—upright ones, crooked ones, evil ones. In any case, he had resolved to spin a great lie and survive the disaster before him first...

The Little Saintess spoke before he could. "You violated sect rules. My sister dragged you from Dao Seeking Pavilion and made you bear a burden too heavy to bear. You deserved it. But you did cure my vile affliction; that is also a fact. Today, I am seeing you off with all sincerity!"

What?

Lin Su was utterly taken aback. She was not here to knead him flat? She really was sincerely seeing him off?

You had not discussed this with your sister?

Well, that made sense. She was a Saintess raised under feudal propriety, after all. Who would have the nerve to keep harping on sensitive places with someone else?

His entire body relaxed at once. "Saintess, you truly are... truly a woman of principles!"

"Of course!" The Little Saintess smiled faintly. "When acting in the Jianghu, one must repay kindness and avenge grievances with swift satisfaction. Whoever offends this young lady, I will pursue them to the ends of the earth and never let them go. But whoever has shown this young lady kindness, I will repay kindness with kindness."

What?

Leaving did not mean it was over? She might still come after him to settle the score someday?

The part of Lin Su that had just relaxed tightened again. He forced a smile. "Saintess, you jest. With your heavenly beauty and broad heart, how could you be someone who repays every tiny grievance? Besides, your recovery from this vile affliction was also thanks to your broad heart."

The Saintess was slightly stunned. "What do you mean?"

Lin Su said, "Your vile affliction is called Thousand Knots. It begins in obsession and ends in letting go. Should it recur in the future, you need only release your fixation and keep a Clear Mind. At most, it will be cured in four days."

After hearing his explanation, the Saintess was deeply grateful.

And deeply relieved as well.

Fortunately, she had harbored Good Thoughts and seen him off today. Otherwise, how would she have learned the true solution to Thousand Knots?

The elders had always said that Good Thoughts brought good recompense. Truly, they had not deceived her!

She could never have imagined that this "true solution" had been drawn out by a single sentence from her.

Lin Su was somewhat afraid that when she got "that thing" next month, she would pursue him to the ends of the earth in vengeance over every slight. Better give her a preventive warning first—once that thing came, she had to first reflect on herself, then let go of her obsession with making trouble for Lin Mouren. Most miraculous of all, this "vile affliction" really would heal in four days!

Still, Lin Su had his limits. "Let go of fixation, keep a Clear Mind" was good medicine for anyone. It cured illness when one was ill and kept body and mind healthy when one was not. It would not exactly fool the Little Saintess into becoming crippled...

The atmosphere along the way was quite pleasant. Blue skies, white clouds, spring winds stretching for ten thousand miles... Moved by the scenery, Lin Su dearly wished to recite a few poems and sing a verse about white clouds floating in the blue sky, with who knew what running beneath them. Fortunately, he had not forgotten the "tragic" life story of the Little Saintess before him. He strangled the urge to recite and sing, lest he provoke her with the Literary Way.

After an unknown length of time, the Silver Boat descended from the heavens. A great river came into view, and an ancient city lay beneath them.

"We have arrived at Haining City, Qu Prefecture!" The Saintess landed the Silver Boat outside the city. "If fate permits, we shall meet again in the Jianghu!"

"Could we really meet again someday?" Lin Su muttered.

"Of course. Perhaps you can seek out that eminent Buddhist monk and ask why your Dao Gate cannot be opened. Once you break through that gate, you and the disciples of Cloud Stream will naturally meet again somewhere along the path of cultivation..."

The Silver Boat pierced the air and vanished without a trace in a single flash.

Lin Su stared blankly at Xiao Yao. "We've finally set foot in the mortal world. Xiao Yao, what do you want most?"

Xiao Yao licked her lips. "A bag of sugar beans!"

Lin Su shot her a look. "Look at those ambitions of yours... Dare to ask for something bigger?"

"...Two bags of sugar beans!"

Lin Su burst into laughter and took her hand. "Let's go! We'll head home first, then search the entire city for sugar beans for you..."

Haining Prefecture was a prefecture within Quzhou, with counties beneath it. By Modern Society standards, it was a prefecture-level city.

Naturally, this era had no towering buildings of steel and concrete, no streams of traffic and horses. Yet its pavilions and towers were exquisite, its sights boundless. Lin Su looked at the carved beams and painted rafters lining both sides of the street, at passersby dressed either in silks and satins or in clothes that barely covered them, and listened to the calls from the restaurants—"Sir, walk safely," "Sir, please come in"—with no small measure of curiosity.

Books said that the Feudal Society had sparse populations, nowhere near the population density of Modern Society, but that did not apply to this world.

A mere prefectural city had already unfolded the bustling prosperity of Great Song's Bianliang that Lin Su had imagined.

Yet he also knew this was not Great Song. This world was far stranger and more mysterious.

Even within the city, hints had begun to show. For instance, he saw several unusual mounts, resembling wolves and horses alike. And upon the Yangtze, as far as the eye could see, someone strode over the waves. That person did not look like a Cultivator, but rather like a scholar.

Xiao Yao had been wiping drool all along. She started when she smelled the fragrance from restaurants, and she wiped again whenever they passed fruit stalls. Lin Su knew she was hungry. He was hungry too. The Little Saintess did not much partake in Mortal Worldly Affairs, and she had prepared no food aboard her Silver Boat. After more than ten hours, the siblings entering the world had both become so hungry their chests clung to their backs—but they had no money.

They had finally swindled half a jar of silver, only for the Third Elder to give it all away. They did not have a single copper coin on them.

So Lin Su could only comfort her. Little girl, bear with it for now. Once we get home, my family is a marquis's estate. What food could we possibly lack? I'll make you a grand feast—roast chicken, grilled lamb ribs, the whole lot. Whole ones!

The little girl's drool poured down in streams.

Lin Su led her to the front of a cloth shop. The old man inside raised his eyes. "Young master, are you looking to have some clothes made?"

"Shopkeeper, may I ask where the Marquis of Dingnan's Estate is?"

But the old man's expression turned strange, his brow furrowing slightly. "Young master is not from around here, is he?"

"...Why would the shopkeeper ask that?" Lin Su frowned as well.

The old man said, "Because all locals know that the Marquis of Dingnan's Estate committed an offense. There is no Marquis of Dingnan's Estate anymore..."

What? Lin Su's face changed drastically!

Xiao Yao's face changed as well!

"What happened? Shopkeeper, please tell me..."

The shopkeeper looked around. Seeing that no one was paying attention, he lowered his voice and spoke...

Three months ago, the Marquis of Dingnan committed an offense and was executed by imperial decree. The title of Marquis of Dingnan had also been stripped away. His family fortune and fief had all been confiscated. The maids and servants scattered like monkeys when the tree fell. There was no Marquis of Dingnan's Estate left in this world. Fortunately, His Majesty was merciful and left their old residence to the widow and orphan. There, it is over that way...

At that moment, Lin Su felt somewhat lost, along with an indescribable sorrow.

The home he had finally found had already been shattered, its people gone.

He had traveled ten thousand miles to return, only to find nothing like what he had imagined.

Though he was not of this world and had no psychological connection to the Marquis of Dingnan's Estate, he still felt an emptiness in his heart. It was difficult to understand, yet all too real...

A sensation came from Lin Su's hand. Xiao Yao gripped it tightly. "Brother, don't be sad. Xiao Yao is with you..."

She had experienced the pain of losing family. After her home was gone, the world had been as cold as an ice cellar to her. Only after her brother appeared did she smell spring flowers again and see the rainbow hues of sunlight. But now, something had happened to her brother's home too. She did not know how to comfort him. She could only take his hand and tell him: Brother, don't cry. Xiao Yao is here...

Her brother did not cry, but she began shedding tears first.

Lin Su gently wiped away her tears. "Let's go home!"

They passed through the bustling streets. Ahead stood a great courtyard, backed by mountains and neighboring the Ten Thousand Mile Yangtze River to the left. No matter how one looked at it, it had once been a flourishing place. Yet weeds grew thickly before the gate, and a stray dog foraged alone, perfectly painting the decay of a marquis's estate in a single instant.

Accompanied by the mournful creak of turning hinges, Lin Su stepped into the former Marquis of Dingnan's Estate—the home of this body.

There was no one in the empty front courtyard. Not a single person. Only wildly growing weeds concealed the glory of days past.

Upon entering the rear courtyard, a maid emerged from the main hall. The instant her gaze fell upon Lin Su's face, she let out an earth-shaking cry. "Third Young Master... Madam, the Third Young Master has returned!"

A loud clatter came from within the main hall behind her, as if something had been knocked over. Soon, a woman of around forty or fifty, supported by a young man in his twenties, came out from inside. The moment she saw Lin Su, she became agitated. A sickly flush suddenly appeared on her pale, haggard face, and hot tears streamed from her eyes. She rushed forward several steps and seized both Lin Su's hands. Sobbing, she said, "San Lang, you've finally returned. Your mother feared that this illness would take me from you, that I would never see you one last time..."

Feeling her surging emotions and the warmth from her hands, ripples quietly spread through Lin Su's heart. If he had kept a diary, perhaps he would have written this:

On the eighty-third day since I crossed into this world, I returned to the home of this body's former owner.

The marquis's estate had declined so thoroughly that not a shred of hope remained. Everyone seemed to have reached the end of the road.

In theory, I have no connection whatsoever to the Marquis of Dingnan's Estate. Yet perhaps bloodlines possess some mysterious pull. I could clearly feel a mother's deep love and the affection between siblings.

A boat that sails ten thousand miles will eventually find its way home. This drifting boat of mine had returned to port!

The maid Xiao Tao brought over thin porridge, so clear one could see the bottom of the bowl, along with two corn buns, yellow and hard. In Lin Su's former world, even dogs would probably refuse to eat them. Yet Lin Su and Xiao Yao ate in great mouthfuls. Throughout the meal, Mother kept clutching his lapel, as though afraid that the moment she loosened her grip, he would run away.

After the meal, Second Brother softly said beside them, "Mother, now that Third Brother has returned, you can rest easy. Your son will write another Qi Guiding Text for you, to help Mother recover soon."

"Second Lang, you must not overwork yourself either..."

"Rest assured, Mother. Your son can still hold on!"

He took out a sheet of golden paper and opened an ink box. A strange, delicate fragrance filled the room. Second Brother lowered his brush onto the golden paper and wrote a text...

"The qi of heaven and earth, the majesty of the Literary Way; man stands by his bones, qi enters the human body..."

Golden light spread through the room, while the sunset beyond the window dimmed, as though the setting sun itself had melted into those words.

Second Brother's face gradually turned pale, and he wrote with incomparable difficulty. It seemed that every character falling onto the golden paper was devouring his strength. Halfway through the text, the golden light flickered, and even his brush tip began to tremble. When the final stroke fell, Second Brother's body swayed as though he might collapse.

Xiao Tao unfastened the buttons at Mother's neck. Her neck was densely covered in writing: "The qi of heaven and earth, the majesty of the Literary Way..." Layer upon layer, some characters dark with a faint reddish tinge, others pale enough to be nearly gone.

The new text was affixed to Mother's neck. The words on the golden paper vanished completely and transferred to her neck. Mother's pale face turned flushed. She exhaled softly and slowly closed her eyes.

Lin Su watched in utter amazement. This was Literary Way Power? It could even cure illness?

Second Brother slowly straightened. "Third Brother, Mother has fallen asleep. Come with me to the ancestral hall and offer Father an incense stick."

When Father had been beheaded, Lin Su had been at Cloud Stream Sect and had not even received the news. Now that he had returned home, he naturally ought to offer Father an incense stick.