Drizzle veiled the lake, slanting down in fine, scattered drops that dampened the faces of passersby. The crowds only grew, wandering through the hazy, beautiful scenery.
Where willow branches drooped over the bank, Meng Qi crouched by the water in a blue robe and scholar's cap, washing his hands as he studied the throng of tourists. Behind him, Gu Xiaosang stood prettily beside a branch in a simple white dress, holding a red umbrella over them both. Nearby, incense curled from a Daoist Temple, where people worshipped the Heavenly Venerable Su Meng, who had divided himself into three with One Qi Transforms into Three Pure Ones.
"Let's go." Meng Qi rose at his leisure and walked away with his hands behind his back, utterly composed.
Gu Xiaosang rested the red umbrella on her shoulder, dimples faintly showing as she asked on purpose, "Where are we going?"
"Just wandering around, to experience the Mortal World. Staying too long beyond the clouds makes it easy to lose sight of one's original heart." As he spoke, Meng Qi brushed shoulders with several tourists. None of them knew a Heavenly Venerable had passed by. "There's nothing wrong with standing above the world. But thinking you can only stand above it is clinging to delusion. You can walk the path of severing emotion and nature, but thinking that you can only do so is clinging to delusion as well."
Gu Xiaosang smiled behind her lips, her eyes glimmering. "As far as I'm concerned, the Mortal World—with all its men and women, old and young—doesn't weigh on my heart. Helping them wouldn't bore me, and destroying them wouldn't make me hesitate. I just don't want the Old Mother I spent half my life resisting to become another Gold Emperor."
Her words were as unfathomable as mountains