"I was thinking, yesterday down the mountain, those merchants all called us True Persons. Then I wondered, could we cultivate into the 'True Persons' they spoke of in this lifetime?"
"That's merely an honorific they use for us."
"I know."
"Junior Sister, you have extraordinary talent. Why worry that you won't attain the truth? Besides, as long as you work hard, perhaps when you reach the end of your life and look back, you'll find that your destination wasn't where you originally imagined."
"Then where is it?"
"Halfway along the road, in the places you've already passed."
"!"
Junior Sister froze, then looked up at him.
By then, the two had reached the mountain. The newly built steps ended there, and ahead lay the old, rugged path. The rock wall beside it was steep and rough, but with both hands and feet, one could still climb to the summit.
Lin Jue stopped there for a moment.
"Junior Sister, I'm going to the summit."
"I'll keep repairing the path!"
They looked at each other, then went their separate ways.
Junior Sister had already repaired the path all the way to the peak.
She was bent over the mountain, slicing through the rock with her hands and tossing the large stones down the cliff. Then she smoothed the rock again and again with her palms. When the mountain wind blew, the summit was covered in white sand.
The place was dangerous, and it always made people worry she might fall.
Looking up, one could see strange peaks and oddly shaped rocks. Lin Jue was meditating and cultivating right at the top, with the little Fox sitting beside him, its fur tossing wildly in the wind.
Cloud Crane Taoist had said that although they cultivated the Yin Yang Spiritual Law, and it seemed