Wishing to Forge a Bond with You

Stepping back onto the Cuiyun Corridor, the sights before him grew familiar, only now in the opposite direction from when he had come. Seeing it from another angle also had its own charm. Thus Song You still walked slowly, occasionally pausing to take in the roadside scenery.

That village shrine gradually came into view.

Song You approached it at a leisurely pace, but asked the Three Flower Cat walking silently beside him, "Three Flower Lady, would you be willing to travel the world with me?"

"Travel the world?"

"It means walking all the roads under heaven, watching sunrises and sunsets in different places, meeting different people and Yao, spirits, and monsters, eating the delicacies of every region, experiencing diverse customs and cultures, and seeing how people live thousands of miles away." Song You paused. "My master said this is what cultivation truly is."

"Aren't you taking me to see Wang Shangong?"

"If the Three Flower Lady is willing, I will speak with Wang Shangong myself." Song You paused again, still keeping his original pace as he walked, then thought for a moment. "Or the Three Flower Lady could travel with me for a while. Once the scent of incense and fire on you fades, you can find a mountain wilderness and be free and unfettered again, escaping the torment of confinement."

"Then can I go back to my little shrine?"

"Do you want to be caught again?"

"Hmm..."

The Three Flower Cat pondered for a moment, then continued asking, "If I go with you, how long will it take?"

"At least shorter than being locked up."

"Do you want me to catch mice for you?"

"No need for that."

"Then what do you want me to do by following you?"

"Nothing much. Just one thing: try not to speak in front of ordinary people."

"Nothing else?"

"Nothing else."

"Then why do you want me to follow you?"

"So I won't be lonely."

"I don't know what loneliness is."

"Being alone—that's loneliness."

"The Three Flower Lady has always been lonely. Loneliness is fine."

"Not being lonely is also fine."

"I don't know."

"So..."

"I'll go with you."

"Good."

Song You walked into the village shrine.

The Three Flower Cat stopped at the doorway, warily glancing left and right, then looked up at the tall, brightly painted statues inside the shrine. Compared to her own little clay cat, so small and humble, she felt a chill of fear in her heart. But seeing Song You go in, she hesitated briefly, then stepped over the threshold.

It was noon now, and no one was staying overnight in the shrine. Song You turned and closed the temple doors.

He looked around. On the altar were some incense sticks.

Likely left by wandering martial artists.

These wanderers knew that the lords of the shrine needed incense and fire, and since they were borrowing shelter and refuge here, relying on these lords, they would not only light a few sticks but often leave some incense on the altar for later visitors who might not have brought any, so they could offer a few sticks to the lords in turn.

Grass incense was cheap; what was valuable was people's reverence.

"Thank you."

Song You took three sticks, not forgetting to voice his thanks.

Holding the incense in both hands, he shook them in a circling motion. With just one circle, the incense lit on its own, blue smoke curling upward.

The Three Flower Cat on the ground stared wide-eyed.

"Please, Wang Shangong, come out and meet me."

Song You inserted the incense into the clay block and spoke respectfully.

The blue smoke rose without dispersing, gathering strand by strand in the air. Within the smoke, Wang Shangong appeared, clad in multicolored robes and radiant with divine light. Upon seeing Song You, he first bowed respectfully.

"Greetings, sir."

"Greetings, Lord Wang."

"Has sir completed his investigation?"

"I have."

"Is it that demon reborn?"

"Not at all." Song You said to him, "It was merely a cat that had become a spirit, ignorant and greedy for mortal incense and fire. By chance, someone offered it incense and prayed for mouse-catching, so it recklessly took over that shrine, feeding on the offerings. I have now brought it here."

"A licentious shrine and heretical worship—Heavenly Laws will not tolerate it." Wang Shangong said in a deep voice. "Thank you, sir, for bringing it here. I will now apprehend it and punish it according to the Heavenly Laws."

The Three Flower Cat shrank in fear, pressing herself against Song You's feet.

"How does the Heavenly Law punish this?"

"If it has never harmed anyone, never drained human essence or blood, then a century of imprisonment, or a century of servitude. If it has performed good deeds, the sentence is halved at discretion."

Song You lowered his head to glance at the cat, conveying with his eyes the meaning of "See, I didn't lie to you," before speaking again to Wang Shangong: "Yet I have heard that absorbing incense and fire is instinct for spirits, and I have also heard the principle that ignorance absolves guilt. I see this cat demon is a first-time offender—ignorant, and the incense it has absorbed is pitifully little. Moreover, I observe it has never harmed anyone; instead, it has diligently helped the local people by eliminating rats and protecting their grain. It has done no wrong and bears no ill heart. To trap it for a century over this would be truly unjust."

"Then what does the gentleman mean to suggest..."

"Better to let me keep it by my side, to teach and reform it properly."

"This..."

"Lord Wang is kind-hearted; please show leniency."

"But the Heavenly Laws are thus..."

"Law is never beyond human sentiment, and the Heavenly Laws are not without their own injustices."

"The gentleman should watch his words."

"I beg Lord Wang's favor."

"I am also in a difficult position..."

"I am not asking Lord Wang to refrain from reporting upward, nor to lie and say the cat demon that took over the shrine has been eliminated. Lord Wang need only report truthfully that the cat demon occupying the shrine was taken away by a Taoist priest." Song You paused, then cupped his hands to Wang Shangong once more. "My name is Song You, courtesy name Menglai, disciple of Daoist Duoxing of Fulong Temple on Yinshan Mountain. Please remember this, Lord Wang."

"Fulong Temple of Yinshan Mountain..."

Wang Shangong's eyes went wide in that moment.

This place was barely over a hundred li from Yinshan Mountain, and though Fulong Temple had few people, its reputation was great—he had naturally heard of it.

After thinking for a long while, he could only let out a sigh, cupped his hands to Song You, and vanished into the green smoke.

"Hm?"

The Three Flower Cat snapped out of its startled daze, looking left and right as if searching for the vanished Wang Shangong. Finding nothing, it turned its gaze back to Song You:

"Is he gone?"

"He's gone."

"Is it settled?"

"It's settled."

"Then let's get out of here quickly."

The Three Flower Cat twisted around and bolted for the exit, only stopping at the doorway after crossing the threshold to look back at Song You, who had yet to move.

Song You, however, looked at it with confusion.

"Why the hurry?"

"I'm uncomfortable here."

"Feeling inferior?"

"What's 'inferior'?"

"It means... never mind, let's go."

Song You also rose and stepped out of the temple gate.

The Three Flower Cat followed behind with quick little steps, then looked up to ask:

"What's 'reform'?"

"It means influencing you, bringing about good changes in you."

"How do you influence?"

"Slowly influence."

"How do you change?"

"If we talk too much, we'll get very thirsty on the road."

"How do you change?"

"Slowly change."

"Where are we going?"

"First back to your little shrine, to destroy your clay statue and sever its connection to you."

"Then where?"

"Yi Capital."

"What for in Yi Capital?"

"Three Flower Lady is quite a curious one..."

"What for in Yi Capital?"

"I haven't decided yet."

"Then decide quickly."

"I'll do my best."

Having just been freed from a lonely journey, Song You hadn't expected to immediately be met with a question-ridden little one.

"Then I ask the Three Flower Lady to take good care of me."

For no clear reason, his state of mind had shifted.

One person and one cat returned to the ruined temple.

By the time they arrived, it was already mid-afternoon again. The round trip had consumed another full day. But that was how this era was—everything moved slowly, and a few dozen miles of mountain paths could easily waste away an entire day's light.

Someone had come to burn incense again.

It was homemade incense, its ingredients different from those in his own temple. The scent was fresh and seemed to have mosquito-repelling properties. Song You rather liked it.

A loach had been added to the offering table.

The Three Flower Cat leaped onto the divine platform in a flash, leaned in to sniff the three sticks of incense, then forced herself to stop. She looked at the small loach on the offering table, her face showing reluctance, before turning her head toward Song You at the doorway. "Taoist priest, that person from yesterday offered me incense, but I haven't gone to catch their mice yet. And there's today's person too. Can I go to their houses tonight and catch the mice?"

Song You looked at her for a long moment, then nodded.

"Can I eat the loach?"

"Eat it if you want. It's your last meal anyway. Remember, from now on, you cannot accept anyone else's offerings, and you cannot absorb any more incense and fire." Song You watched the three-colored cat before him. Because she had been absorbing incense and fire, she had already gained some abilities of the Divine Path—for instance, she could know who lit each stick of incense and who gave each offering, and could use that to find them. "Absorbing incense and fire will unknowingly lead you onto the Divine Path. Once you're on it, you'll be inseparable from it. The day you have no more incense and fire, you'll weaken and even perish. Moreover, the Heavenly Palace True Gods will see you as an Evil God."

"I know, I know."

The Three Flower Cat lay down on the divine platform, listless. She couldn't bear to part with her temple, her clay statue, or her incense and fire—all of which she had painstakingly built up over years of catching mice, day after day.

At times like this, she especially missed her old little shrine.

That little shrine, though small—only half the height of this Taoist priest—had been more than enough for a cat. It couldn't block the wind, but it kept off the rain, and tucked under a big tree, it wasn't easy for people to find. Thinking back now, it had been a cozy little nest.

The Three Flower Cat grew even more dispirited.

Once night fell, she went out.

Later, some wanderers came to stay the night, bringing red incense bought from town. Even though the temple only housed a clay cat statue, they respectfully lit three sticks, said some of the flowery words wanderers liked to say, greeted Song You, and then settled down on the other side of the ruined temple.

Song You sat in meditation all night, sensing the mountain's spiritual energy.

The stars turned across the sky; the curtains of the human world hung low.

He didn't know when the Three Flower Cat returned, but when he opened his eyes the next morning and saw her, she looked tired. When he asked why, she said those two households were at opposite ends—one at the farthest side, the other at the farthest side, and she wasn't sure which was which.

"Eat, then we'll go."

Song You said to the Three Flower Cat, holding a steamed cake as he ate. The Three Flower Cat had eaten plenty of mice the night before and was still full.

The wanderers nearby had also woken up.

Among them was a well-dressed young man with a follower. Perhaps seeing Song You in a Taoist robe and looking young, he had the intention of making friends. Carrying some dried meat he'd brought, he walked over and said to Song You, "Young Mister, are you also a lover of cats?"

"I suppose so."

"I am too. But someone like you, traveling far with a cat in tow—that's rare."

"Yes."

"Eating only steamed cakes won't do. I have some dried pork from my hometown. Would you like to try some?"

"I appreciate the thought."

"No need to be polite. We're all wanderers; meeting is fate. Let's consider ourselves old acquaintances."

"Thank you."

Song You shook his head with a smile.

The young man, unlike other face-conscious wanderers who would take offense at a refusal, just smiled and turned to share the meat with other wanderers he'd met the night before. A few flattering words exchanged, and they were already calling each other brothers and chatting merrily, as if they'd known each other for ages.

These wanderers had seen much and heard all kinds of gossip, even if much of it was exaggerated. Song You enjoyed listening to them boast and talk.

Soon, the steamed cakes were finished.

"Let's go."

Song You said, then stood up and walked outside.

The Three Flower Cat followed behind him without being told.

The group of wanderers stared at them. Only after they had left did they start whispering among themselves.

"This Young Mister is really interesting, traveling far with a cat. And that cat is interesting too—it actually follows him. My cat won't even let me touch it."

"Come to think of it, the statue in this temple is also a cat."

"Yeah..."

Everyone turned back to look at the clay statue on the divine platform.

Just then, as if it couldn't bear their gaze, the statue suddenly sprouted several cracks. The cracks spread rapidly, growing more and more numerous and larger, until in the blink of an eye they covered the entire statue. Then, with a crash, it shattered into countless fragments.

By the time they hit the ground, they had already turned to dust.