Ruining My Masterly Bearing

Master Kong was startled.

He had long known this cat was no ordinary creature—if it had not become a god, then it had become a spirit. When he had discussed matters with it this morning, it had fully understood human speech. But this was the first time he had heard it speak.

A cat had truly, unmistakably spoken.

Its words were clearly articulated, and its voice was pleasant to the ear.

Knowing something and seeing it for real were worlds apart.

Amid his surprise, Master Kong carefully savored those words. A touch of pride rose in his heart. Then, looking again at the eyeless wooden carving before him and this talking cat, he somehow sank into thought once more.

"Why does the Imperial Draftsman not carve in a pair of eyes?"

The young gentleman's words reached his ears.

"Why doesn't it have eyes?"

That clear, delicate voice moved Master Kong even more.

"Without painted eyes, it already possesses spirit and charm. Why add eyes?" Master Kong finally set down his carving knife.

"Without painted eyes, it already possesses spirit and charm. So why not add eyes?" Song You followed his words, though his voice was soft and his tone inquiring.

"..."

Master Kong remained silent for a long while before finally saying, "Sir and Three Flower Lady are no ordinary people. This old man will speak frankly with you."

He cupped his hands toward Song You, then cupped his hands toward the Three Flower Cat.

"Last night, I deceived you both. It is indeed true that wooden carvings can come to life—that happened when I was forty. Yet this old man is merely a craftsman. Though I possess this strange skill and it can bring me fame, such a craft goes against the harmony of Heaven. If used freely, with wooden men walking everywhere and wooden dogs barking wildly, I fear trouble would arise."

"So that is how it is."

Song You nodded faintly.

In truth, he had known last night.

But the old gentleman had treated him so warmly—serving mountain delicacies and chicken soup, offering him lodging, even saying he would give him a wooden carving. Having received such generous hospitality, once Song You realized the old gentleman did not wish to reveal the matter, how could he press him too much merely to broaden his knowledge and cultivation?

As for this morning, that was the affinity between Three Flower Lady and him.

"Besides, once people witness something strange, they will inevitably grow fearful of this old man and perhaps see me as a monster." Master Kong continued. After a brief pause, he could not help sighing. "Therefore, from then on, whenever something I carved possessed spiritual charm, I would never carve in the eyes. And if outsiders came from afar to visit, I would say it was merely a rumor grown into truth through repetition."

"Master's reasoning is sound."

Song You nodded, then paused. "However, there is one point on which Song disagrees."

"Please speak."

"It is true that Master is a craftsman, but there is no need to belittle yourself." Song You said to Master Kong, "Master's skill has already reached the divine. With such miraculous ability, you are no different from a divine man."

"Sir, mind your words! Three feet above one's head, gods are watching!"

"..."

Song You merely smiled.

If this old gentleman truly possessed such ability, then even as a mortal, among the gods of the Heavenly Palace and the Buddhas of the Western Heaven, how many could compare with him?

"Please, Master, paint in the eyes."

"Sir, do not be afraid."

"Master jests. Song, too, is an unusual man of the wilderness. I know that every wondrous art in this world reaches its pinnacle only through supreme talent and half a lifetime of effort." As Song You spoke, he cupped his hands. "Possessing such divine skill proves that Master has reached the very summit of this craft in the present age. Song feels only admiration and respect. How could fear arise in me?"

"Sir truly is an immortal."

Master Kong then took up his knife and carved in the eyes.

The wooden cat carving went from lifelike and brimming with spirit to coming alive right before their eyes.

There was nothing supernatural about the entire process. It was as though it had been alive from the start, and Master Kong had merely awakened it with his carving knife. Just like the earlier carving process—as Three Flower Lady had said—it was as if this vividly lifelike wooden cat had always been hidden within that piece of timber, and Master Kong had merely found it with his knife.

Even with Song You's cultivation, he could see nothing.

The moment the carving knife stopped, the wooden cat immediately became alive. It twisted its head and looked left and right. At first it was somewhat stiff, but it quickly moved freely. After looking over everyone in the room, it suddenly leaped down from the wooden stump and darted outside like lightning.

"It ran away!"

Three Flower Lady cried out in alarm.

"Quick, stop it!"

Master Kong shouted in panic as well.

Only Song You remained unhurried. He called in that direction:

"Please return."

The wooden cat stopped at once. Its back was turned toward them, but it twisted its head around to look.

When it saw that Song You was calling it, it turned around and slowly walked back, just as a real cat would upon hearing a familiar person call.

This cat had truly come alive.

Song You had already sensed its vitality, as well as its yearning for freedom.

In the few short breaths it took to walk back, parts of its body could even be seen gradually changing from wood into fur, strand by strand. Faintly discernible patches of different colors appeared, as though before long it would become a calico cat indistinguishable from a real one to the naked eye.

Song You reached out and stroked the wooden cat's head, feeling the texture of the wood beneath his palm. Watching the wooden cat wear an expression of enjoyment, its mouth open soundlessly, he merely fell into thought.

He was pondering a question he had considered for many years without finding an answer—

What kind of world was this, exactly?

An hour later.

The wooden cat was already no different from a real one. The naked eye could no longer distinguish it.

The cat looked seventy or eighty percent like Three Flower Lady. Presumably, even though Master Kong had carved it in Three Flower Lady's likeness, he had still put his own ideas into it. Apart from that seventy percent resemblance in appearance, there was almost nothing about this cat that resembled Three Flower Lady. Even its intense yearning for freedom had in fact been bestowed upon it by Master Kong.

Carpenters held a relatively high status among craftsmen. Their work brushed against art, earning them the admiration of scholars and refined gentlemen, which elevated them a little further. Yet in this age, when all was said and done, they were still only craftsmen.

Coupled with all manner of other restraints—such as worldly judgment and one's own moral conscience—Master Kong possessed godlike skill, yet could not wield it as he pleased.

Perhaps he, too, wished to have a world of his own.

For that very reason, after considering it again and again, Song You did not take the cat back with him. He had originally intended to send it back to Fulong Temple to keep his master company, but abandoned that idea as well. Behind the bamboo hut, he simply released it into the mountains and forest.

"Go seek your own world."

Song You bade the cat farewell in a soft voice.

Master Kong stood behind him, staring after it in a daze, without the slightest inclination to stop it or any trace of reluctance.

Song You seemed to hear the voice in his heart.

Your freedom is my freedom.

Only after watching it walk away and enter the forest as it wished did he turn around and cup his hands to Master Kong again. "The wonders I have seen and heard today surpass anything in my life. This journey has not merely been worthwhile; it has also greatly benefited my own cultivation. I thank you here, Master. Please accept this bow from Song."

One man unhurriedly bowed deeply.

The other snapped out of his daze and hurriedly moved to support him.

"I have troubled you for a whole day and received your generous hospitality, for which I am ashamed. Now that I am satisfied, it is time for Song to return." Song You paused. "As for that cat, Master need not worry. I have already made up for the spiritual charm it lacked. Even if another expert came, one whose cultivation was no weaker than mine and who was skilled in this art, they would no longer be able to tell that it had once been a piece of wood."

Master Kong was instantly stunned upon hearing this.

Song You only smiled and cupped his hands once more.

"Farewell."

And so he left with the cat, never looking back.

He had only arrived yesterday, and now he was already on the road home. Yet though this journey had been short, it had been wondrous beyond measure.

If one asked where that wonder lay, it could not be put into words.

Song You himself remained lost in thought all along the way.

He was still pondering that same question.

There were countless paths of cultivation, yet the Great Dao led to the same destination by different roads. In the end, it was nothing more than glimpsing and touching the true essence of this world. Just as every successive abbot of Fulong Temple had possessed different abilities, even cultivating entirely different methods, only one thing had remained the same through every generation: descending the mountain.

Why descend the mountain?

To see famous mountains and great rivers; to seek strange people and extraordinary happenings; to eat, drink, and make merry; to subdue demons and eliminate evil; to witness peace and tranquility; to lament the bitterness of common lives; to observe the world.

By the time he reached Yi Capital, night had already fallen.

Song You entered through the northern City Gate. On the way, he ate a bowl of dough-drop noodles. Passing a pork shop, he saw that some odds and ends remained, so he spent a few more coins to buy Three Flower Lady a small piece of pork diaphragm. People of Yi Capital did not much care for the stuff, so it sold cheaply, but Three Flower Lady liked it quite well.

When he returned to the little courtyard, he once again stayed awake through the night.

He did not do anything else. He merely felt a faint stir within his heart, so he sat cross-legged beneath the Yellow Plum Tree in the courtyard, sensing the spiritual charm of heaven and earth. Following the thoughts in his mind, he tried to catch those intangible, illusory things.

Without realizing it, an entire night had passed.

When Song You opened his eyes, it was already early the next morning.

He raised his head to look at the sky and paused briefly.

"The autumnal equinox, then."

Equinox meant an equal division.

At the autumnal equinox, day and night were nearly equal in length across the world. Yin and yang were equally strong and equally weak; the spiritual charm of the world was harmonized, reaching a perfect balance. It was an exceptionally mysterious season.

Last night, Song You had indeed caught a trace of that wonder between heaven and earth, along with that harmonized and mysterious spiritual charm.

Turning his head, he saw—

A Three Flower Cat sitting primly before the bedroom threshold. It wore no particular expression, merely staring straight at him. Who knew how long it had been watching, or what it had been thinking?

Was it puzzled by his behavior?

"Three Flower Lady."

Song You thought of this and beckoned to it.

The Three Flower Cat immediately seemed to come back to life. It rose to its feet, lowered its front half, raised its rear, opened its mouth and stuck out its tongue, stretching luxuriously before finally padding toward him at an unhurried pace.

"What is it?"

Three Flower Cat asked lazily, her voice exceptionally pleasant.

"Did Three Flower Lady sleep well last night?"

"Three Flower Lady did not sleep last night."

"Why did you not sleep?"

"Why did you not sleep?"

"I did not wish to sleep."

"I wanted to see when you would sleep."

"So that was it."

Song You smiled and nodded. Then he raised his hand and spread it open, and at once a wisp of spiritual energy floated above his palm. It was a pure grass-yellow, like a shooting star, yet held a mystery within it—mysterious beyond measure.

"Would Three Flower Lady be willing to take human form?"

"Three Flower Lady's cultivation is insufficient. She cannot yet take human form."

"Does Three Flower Lady wish to take human form?"

"Three Flower Lady does."

"Then I shall grant Three Flower Lady a small stroke of fortune. Please do not dodge, Three Flower Lady. Feel it carefully."

With a casual wave, the shooting-star-like spiritual essence in Song You's hand flew through the air toward Three Flower Cat. It was clearly visible even in broad daylight. At night, it surely would have been even more beautiful.

"Three Flower Lady, do not dodg—

"Eh! What is going on?

"It dodged by itself!!"

Three Flower Cat unexpectedly sprang to the side, while the shooting star curved after her in relentless pursuit. In the end, it still sank into the center of her brow.

Song You wore a helpless expression.