Volume Three: Dream of Three Lifetimes Beneath the Moon - The Maiden Lived Alone, Without a Lover

"Was she really that beautiful?"

Hearing Xing Yan make her sound so extraordinary, Ling Yier felt rather doubtful. In truth, she was quite proud of her own looks. Though few people praised her beauty to her face, she was, after all, a young maiden. Whenever no one was around, she would often toy with her sash beside water as smooth and clear as a mirror, admiring her reflection. And every time she finished appraising herself, she decided she was rather pretty. Hee~

Just moments ago, this girl, who usually had only herself to admire and cherish her beauty, had finally heard the boy praise her to her face beside the water. Her heart was still steeped in sweetness. Yet now he had used such extravagant words as "mountains paled before her brows, and waters lost their radiance before her eyes" to describe another girl. Really-was she that extraordinary?

Ling Yier spoke her mind freely and knew little of worldly etiquette. Since she felt unconvinced, she simply said so, without considering whether it was appropriate to argue over women's looks before a young man she barely knew.

"Ahem, ahem~"

At Ling Yier's unconvinced question, Xing Yan immediately caught on. Unlike her, he was not so innocent of the world; he had spent years making his way through Raozhou's streets. It suddenly occurred to him that praising another woman's beauty so freely before this girl might have been rather inappropriate.

It's enough that I think Ju Ying is beautiful. Why tell anyone else? Especially another girl.

Having realized this, Xing Yan rather regretted his careless words. He quickly coughed twice and brushed the subject aside:

"Heh~ That's just my own opinion, anyway. Oh, right-I forgot to ask your name, fairy maiden."

"Never mind all this fairy maiden nonsense. You can call me..."

At this point, Ling Yier abruptly stopped, a faint blush rising over her lovely face. It was not because Xing Yan had called her a fairy maiden-people often addressed her that way. Her shy hesitation came from knowing that unmarried daughters of prominent households were generally not supposed to tell unfamiliar men their names so readily. When Ju Ying had told Xing Yan her name shortly after they met, there had been another, hidden reason behind it.

Apparently, in his haste to cover up one verbal blunder, Xing Yan had forgotten another taboo.

"Heh~"

Xing Yan now realized it too. He was just about to withdraw his question when the girl opposite him spoke:

"...My personal name is Lingyi. Even if I don't tell you, my grandfather, who always takes your side, will tell you anyway."

The girl who had been blushing a moment earlier promptly found herself a suitable excuse.

"Everyone at home calls me Ling Yier. I'll allow you to call me that too~"

Though her words sounded imperious, her voice had grown somewhat softer.

"Hehe, we've known each other this long, and only today do I learn your name! Ling Yier... It's a lovely name, just right for a fairy maiden of the waters like you."

As they spoke, the dishes they had ordered arrived in a flowing stream. Both picked up their chopsticks, and for a while neither spoke.

When the steaming Fine-Rice-Crumb Tangyuan arrived, Xing Yan hurriedly stopped Ling Yier as she lifted one toward her mouth. He told her not to rush, but to take small bites and swallow slowly. Otherwise, biting hastily into a piping-hot dumpling straight from the pot might scald her little lips.

"Hee~ Who knew all your talents lay in eating!"

Hearing how knowledgeable Xing Yan sounded, Ling Yier could not resist teasing him. Still, the girl seemed to take his advice to heart and no longer ate so hurriedly.

After eating a dumpling or two, Ling Yier said through a mouthful:

"Mmm... Delicious... These little dough balls just melt in your mouth! I never knew Lakeview Tower had anything this tasty. Mm, I'll have to come here often!"

Seeing Ling Yier enjoy her food made Xing Yan happy too.

Heh~ I never noticed before, but this girl is actually quite adorable!

With that thought, Xing Yan suddenly felt like teasing her:

"Say, Ling Yier, don't be so busy eating. There's something serious I need to tell you."

"What is it?"

Ling Yier, who had been busy eating, looked up at Xing Yan.

"Your grandfather, the Lord of the Clouds, once told me something. I think I ought to let you know."

"Hmm?"

Seeing how solemn the boy looked, Ling Yier put down her chopsticks.

"Well, your grandfather told me that when I see him, I shouldn't keep calling him 'elder.' He said it sounded far too distant."

"Then what does he want you to call him?"

"Big brother."

"Huh?"

"Ah! Drop dead!"

Realizing Xing Yan was trying to claim seniority over her, Ling Yier gave a sharp little cry, snatched up the chopsticks before her, and made as if to jab him.

But her face was wreathed in smiles, and although she held the chopsticks in midair, she never thrust them forward. She merely chided:

"All you know how to do is bully me!"

Amid such laughter and banter, the two ate and chatted at ease.

After teasing Ling Yier that once, Xing Yan made no more jokes at her expense. Instead, he repeatedly praised her wondrous invisibility spell and the light-footed skill that let her dance over the waves, which had truly opened his eyes.

After hearing this several times, Ling Yier began to think little of it:

"You're very impressive yourself~ Grandfather said you actually played the whole of the Water Dragon's Chant. I still can't do that even now! Oh, right-I forgot to ask. How did you manage it?"

"Uh~"

Now it was Xing Yan's turn to be at a loss. He could hardly tell her outright about the "Great Splendor Dao Power" he cultivated-that was merely the name he had given it. Even now, he had no idea what that strange, flowing-water-like power really was.

Scratching his head, Xing Yan came up with an explanation that seemed easier to accept-or so he thought:

"Well, on top of Horseshoe Mountain by my home, there was a rock shaped like a bed. It wasn't any ordinary rock. Whenever I leaned against it, a wondrous power flowed into me. With that divine power, I managed to play the Water Dragon's Chant that night!"

"...You're making that up! How could there be a rock like that?"

Ever since Xing Yan had played that joke on her, Ling Yier kept feeling that he was teasing her.

At the girl's disbelief, Xing Yan could only give an honest, sheepish smile and say nothing more.

Yet after only a little while, the girl who had been full of doubts could not help asking:

"Did you really have a rock like that at home? I'd like to go see it and find out whether you're lying to me~"

"Uh... Unfortunately, when I played the Water Dragon's Chant that time, thunder and lightning suddenly broke out for some reason. A thunderbolt came down without warning and shattered the rock behind me. That was a close call!"

Even now, Xing Yan felt a lingering chill, for he had recalled that night of thunder and lightning, and the eerie sight of fierce beasts surrounding him.

"What a pity..."

The girl murmured those words and said no more.

Apparently, she had believed Xing Yan after all.

"Oh, right. Are you really not taking the flute back today? When should I return it?"

"Ah! Xing Yan, you're such a nag~"

Ling Yier seemed a little displeased:

"Anyway, that rock is gone now, and I can't play the Water Dragon's Chant. Just keep it for me for now. Whenever I want it, I'll come ask you for it!"

Strictly speaking, the girl's reasoning did not quite hold together. But Xing Yan was no wooden blockhead. By now, he could tell that Ling Yier sincerely wanted him to use the Jade Flute, so he stopped insisting.

"I'm not like you. Last time, I only asked you to play a few more tunes, and you..."

Ling Yier recalled what had happened at the Flower Moon House. This girl, who had always been pampered, suddenly felt terribly wronged and could not help complaining.

Once that night came up, Xing Yan could only keep his mouth shut and bury himself in his food, pretending not to understand.

To prove that she had treated the boy with the utmost kindness, the girl continued:

"Actually, people call me Snow Flute Lingyi. I'm very famous!"

"Huh? Then that Snow Flute... must mean Divine Snow? Now that you've given it to me, doesn't the name no longer fit?"

"Hmph~ That's why I say you're stingy. Look at me-I've just shared half of my world-famous title with you!"

"Ah~ Thank you!"

Though he thanked her aloud, he had his doubts:

Uh... Is this Snow Flute Lingyi really so famous? I'm often out and about around Poyang County. How come I've never heard of her?

Time passed quickly. It felt as though hardly any time had gone by, yet most of the food on the table had already been eaten.

"Hehe, there's still some left. Hurry and eat. I ought to head home soon," Xing Yan said.

"Hm?"

Ling Yier had finally begun enjoying their conversation, only to hear Xing Yan say he was leaving. Feeling rather disappointed, she fell silent.

Xing Yan found this odd. He did not understand why the girl who had been so animated a moment earlier had suddenly grown so quiet.

While he was still puzzling over it, the girl before him spoke softly:

"Xing Yan, did you know that besides the divine Water Dragon's Chant, there's another piece called the Wind and Water Invocation?"

"Hm? The Wind and Water Invocation? What's that?"

At the news that there was another piece besides the wondrous Water Dragon's Chant, Xing Yan immediately grew excited.

"I've only just learned to play it. Hand me the Jade Flute, and I'll play it for you."

"All right." Xing Yan promptly passed the Jade Flute to Ling Yier.

Ling Yier's expression was now quite solemn. Stroking the Jade Flute's pale-green body, she spoke slowly, as though to herself:

"Divine Snow, a flute of heaven."

With that, Ling Yier stood and leaned beside the diamond-latticed window. Facing the vast expanse of water, moonlight, and sky outside, she raised the frosty flute to her pearl-like lips and breathed out, fragrant as orchids...

A strand of soft flute music began to echo gently through the clear, lonely expanse of autumn water and sky. Within the pure, lingering melody, there seemed to lie a strange rhythm.

By then, nearly all the other patrons at Lakeview Tower had left. Only the two of them remained, so there was no fear of disturbing anyone with this quiet tune.

This girl... is lovely both in motion and at rest~

Xing Yan gazed at the slender, graceful girl standing by the window and quietly listened to her play.

After listening for a while, Xing Yan happened to glance outside and discovered, to his astonishment, that clouds were gradually gathering in the formerly almost cloudless sky, following the rising and falling notes of the Jade Flute at her lips. At first, they were only wisps and drifting patches. Then more and more gathered, slowly congealing into a heavy cloud layer. The moon, whose clear light had shone for a thousand miles, had long since vanished behind those thick, ink-black clouds.

A little later, Xing Yan heard the patter of autumn rain at last. Soft as cotton threads, the rain traced little ripples across the vast, rolling surface of Poyang Lake.

As they drifted, a few windblown strands of rain floated beneath the eaves and settled on the dark hair of the girl by the window. They lent her a hazy sheen, making her seem like the misty autumn rain itself-like fog, like sorrow...

While Xing Yan stared spellbound at the white-clad girl, who seemed as insubstantial as smoke or a dream, she suddenly stopped playing, turned, and said to him with a light laugh:

"Still want to leave now? It's raining outside~"

In the candlelight, Xing Yan finally saw clearly that a trace of triumph lay on Ling Yier's face.

At this sight, Xing Yan smiled wryly and thought:

This girl really is mischievous. If she didn't want me to leave just yet, couldn't she simply have said so?

Ling Yier handed the Jade Flute back to Xing Yan, sat down again, and spoke with a radiant smile:

"Don't just sit there without saying anything, like a silly goose. Tell me, what did you think of my Wind and Water Invocation? Would you like to learn it?"

Hearing this, Xing Yan suddenly remembered that possibility and hurriedly answered again and again:

"Yes, yes!"

"Heh~ If you really want to learn, first you have to call this princess 'Master'!"

Huh? Princess? Did I hear that right?

Xing Yan wondered about it. But at this crucial moment, when he had a chance to learn the tune, he was in no hurry to sidetrack the conversation with that question.

Xing Yan took a close look at Ling Yier and saw her pretty face brimming with a sly smile. He understood at once that she was still thinking about his earlier teasing and meant to get her own back.

"Master!"

For Xing Yan, if he could learn that marvelous tune that summoned wind and rain, what did calling her Master once matter? Even a hundred or a thousand times would be nothing! This boy from the streets did not fuss over such things. The word "Master" all but leaped from his mouth, loud and crisp.

"Yes! My good disciple~ Very obedient! The tune goes-"

Ling Yier was about to recite the score for Xing Yan as promised, but suddenly stopped. After a pause, she continued:

"Never mind. Your memory must be terrible, and there's a lot to this score. Even if I told you, you wouldn't remember it. Next time, I'll bring the scorebook and lend it to you to study and practice!"

"That works too!"

Naturally, Xing Yan agreed wholeheartedly. He told himself that from now on, he would have to take great care to please this fairy maiden. If he upset her, this ever-mischievous, unfathomable girl might swallow her promise and grow fat on it. That would be disastrous!

"Oh, right. There really is something I don't understand. Please enlighten me, Master."

Xing Yan brought out the manners he used with his teacher, Old Scholar Ji, and spoke with great respect, as though he truly faced a learned senior instructor.

"Speak, my good disciple."

Ling Yier assumed an air of venerable authority, apparently quite at ease with her new title of teacher.

"Why can simply playing a tune summon wind and rain, or even bring down heavenly thunder?"

"Well, that-"

Glancing at Xing Yan, who was craning his neck and listening intently, Ling Yier unconsciously drew out her words:

"You've certainly asked the right person~"

After putting on that display, Ling Yier gave him a serious answer:

"The five tones produced by this flute correspond to the attributes of the five phases: Gong is earth, Shang is metal, Jue is wood, Zhi is fire, and Yu is water. If you arrange Gong, Shang, Jue, Zhi, Yu according to a particular method, then play them on Divine Snow, a jade flute that is no ordinary object to begin with, it has the same effect as using Dao Power to support an incantation and cast a spell. Exactly why that happens, I can't explain either."

"I heard that the Water Dragon's Chant was passed down by my grandfather's grandfather. It's been so many, many years that I can't even count them. But my grandfather wrote the Wind and Water Invocation especially for me, because I couldn't play the Water Dragon's Chant."

At this, Ling Yier made a face, while inwardly thinking that her grandfather really did dote on her.

Within her family, the Wind and Water Invocation actually had another name: Thoughts of Yi. Yet for some reason, Ling Yier suddenly found that name rather embarrassing and could not bring herself to say it before this boy.

After hearing Ling Yier's explanation, Xing Yan understood some of it, but not all. Though much remained unclear, he at least had a rough idea of how it worked.

Although Xing Yan's expression appeared no different from usual, deep within he felt a profound shock. It was unlike anything he had ever experienced-even the eerie thunder and lightning on Horseshoe Mountain that night had not stirred his heart as intensely as this.

At last, the boy understood that everything he had experienced before had not been mere coincidence, as he had once believed. These spells that summoned wind and rain, thunder and lightning, truly existed in this world!

What excited him most was that, judging by Ling Yier's words, all these wondrous, mysterious spells seemed to follow principles that could be understood!

Those words from "Master" Ling Yier were like a dazzling flash of lightning before the bewildered boy. They suddenly opened a radiant doorway for him, offering a glimpse of a magnificent vista he had never before dared imagine!

After finishing her explanation, Ling Yier noticed that the boy before her had inexplicably fallen into a daze. She was about to wave a hand before his eyes when the boy, who had been as motionless as a wooden chicken, suddenly sprang up and shouted toward the stairs:

"Waiter! Bring up a jar of wine!"

Then, his face flushed with excitement, the boy bowed deeply to Ling Yier, who had no idea what had happened, and said sincerely:

"Thank you for your instruction, Master! Please accept my bow. Let your disciple treat you to some wine as a small token of gratitude!"

Hearing Xing Yan's words, Ling Yier was about to explain that she could not drink much. But suddenly, she did not want to spoil his excitement. Swallowing her refusal, she said gently:

"Hee~ It was only a little thing. You needn't be so polite!"

When the waiter brought up the little wine jar, Xing Yan first poured a cup for Ling Yier. Apparently worried that the girl could not hold her liquor, he did not fill it to the brim. Then he filled his own cup completely, and the two began exchanging toasts.

Back home, Xing Yan had often drunk homemade Pinecone Wine and had developed some capacity for drink. The wines of the time were all mild and mellow rather than fiery, making it fairly difficult to become drunk-hence the exaggerated saying about "a thousand cups without falling." Still, after drinking five or six cups in quick succession without stopping, Xing Yan's delicate face began to show a fair measure of drunkenness.

Ling Yier had no intention of teasing him now. She merely took shallow sips herself and occasionally urged Xing Yan not to drink so quickly.

But Xing Yan was so happy that he scarcely heeded the girl's advice. As his drinking grew more spirited, the mellow wine rose to his head. In an instant, images flashed through his mind: the wave-treading fairy maiden singing softly and dancing gracefully, the dreamlike beloved as ethereal as an immortal, the wind and rain filling the sky over Poyang Lake, the thunder and lightning atop Horseshoe Mountain, the Jadeite Flute, the Elmwood Demon, the Nameless Sword, the Water Dragon's Chant, and all those years of bowing his head to earn food and clothing. Everything from his past-the joy, the sorrow, the bitterness-flashed before his hazy, drunken eyes like a revolving lantern.

In that instant, all the hard knots lodged in the heart of this street boy, who had always lived cautiously and deferentially, seemed to melt beneath the wine in his cup. Xing Yan felt an inexplicable surge of weathered sorrow and heroic fervor rush straight to his head. Suddenly rising with his cup in hand, he faced the endless autumn rain outside the window, tapped out a rhythm with his chopsticks, and sang in a long, flowing voice:

Once I invited the bright moon to drink in a lofty tower

A beauty in crimson graced my wine

Drunkenly striking a golden bowl

Staggering with the wind, I sang of late autumn

The heavens stretched on and on

My heart drifted on and on

Jests and dream-murmurs turned strangely tender

In my cup, the shadow of her tresses

In my dreams, a magnolia boat

Where could a clear soul linger on this cold night?

Within Chrysanthemum Lane

In a bamboo tower amid mist and rain

His song finished, he turned to look at Lingyi. Having listened to his poem of irregular lines, she was gazing at him in a trance, without so much as a blink.

Through Xing Yan's drunken, hazy eyes, the girl before him beneath the lamplight seemed to have the lips and nose of an immortal, her brows and eyes as lovely as a painting. A surge of exhilaration welled up within him. The youth looked out the window again at the lake's mist-veiled waters beneath the fine autumn rain, and raised his voice in song:

"Ten thousand chrysanthemums, ah, the autumn wind was cold; I climbed the tower to behold the view, ah, light streamed over the water. A beauty sang, ah, her melody rose, deep and distant; cold fragrance whirled, ah, phoenixes and cranes circled in flight. Lightly, lightly I rose, ah, to roam the realm of heaven; I gazed above and below upon the vast earth, ah, the moon was white and the mist gray. One breath of peerless purity, ah, a thousand years stretched boundless! ..."

That mournful, lonely song was like the cry of an ancient dragon within its cavern, echoing long over the lake's vast expanse of mist-lit waves.

When Xing Yan finished singing and turned back, he lost his balance and collapsed in a drunken heap upon the low table before Ling Yier.

At the sudden sight of him falling, Ling Yier, who had just been lost in Xing Yan's soul-stirring song, found herself at a loss.

Fingering her sash, Lingyi pondered for a long while before seeming to make up her mind. She called over a waiter and settled the bill, then struggled to help the deeply drunken youth to his feet. With great care, she made her way down the stairs and out of the lakeside tavern, staggering onward along the embankment.

Though fine rain still fell steadily from the sky, strangely, not a single thread of rain entered the space several feet around them. Whenever the windblown strands of rain drew near, they drifted to either side as though parting flowers and brushing aside willows, never touching either of them.

After walking for a while, they reached a secluded spot. Ling Yier cautiously looked around and, finding everything quiet with no one in sight, propped Xing Yan against a crooked willow beside the lake.

She straightened the clothes and coiffure Xing Yan had rumpled, then bowed her head and silently recited an incantation. A moment later, when she had finished, Lingyi pointed a finger, slender as a scallion shoot and fairer than jade, at the still-befuddled Xing Yan—and a soft, clear radiance immediately rose from the youth slumped crookedly against the willow.

Seeing that the spell had taken effect, Ling Yier stepped forward and once again rested Xing Yan against her shoulder. Supporting his arm, she walked to the lakeshore, where the murmur of the waves was fine as a thread.

She steadied the drunken youth beside her, then pushed off the embankment with both feet and, taking Xing Yan with her, leaped lightly into the lake.

Upon landing in the lake, the two paused for only a moment before sinking together beneath the water...

Rain struck the level lake, silent and still.

For a single instant, a small eddy stirred upon that cold, lonely autumn lake, and then it fell silent as before.