Specific circumstances called for specific analysis

Mount Hua's main peak.

Two white clouds drifted leisurely along the precipitous ridge.

Chen Wei stood on the cloud to the left, his eyes half closed as his spiritual sense swept back and forth through the cracks in the sheer cliffs.

On the cloud to the right, Ma Muzhi's head bobbed like a young pupil dozing in a mortal village school. His body swayed with the rise and fall of the cloud, looking ready to tumble off at any moment.

The two Immortal Officials were looking for grass.

It was called dust spirit grass.

The assignment Hou Zong had mentioned was this: their superior, True Immortal Ye Xun, had recently been feeling unwell, and the Mount Hua region abounded in dust spirit grass, which was particularly effective at nourishing an immortal body and strengthening its foundations. So he had sent them down to the mortal realm to find some.

He had spoken with all the warmth of a devoted colleague.

Once the task was done, the one carrying the brewed immortal herb to Immortal Lord Ye Xun's residence to inquire after his health-offering flowers borrowed from someone else-would certainly be Hou Zong.

Naturally, the ones running errands and doing the hard labor, braving the astral winds to search for herbs below, were the Loose Immortals under him who had no backing whatsoever.

Chen Wei withdrew his spiritual sense, brought his cloud to a halt in midair, and turned to speak. "Brother Ma, there isn't so much as a weed on the cliff below."

The sound startled Ma Muzhi awake.

He rubbed the corners of his eyes, stopped his cloud as well, and let out a long yawn. "No grass is no grass. We'll just keep looking. A hundred years, two hundred years-consider it sightseeing on Mount Hua. Lord Hou only told us to find the grass, after all. He never said when we had to report back, did he?"

His words were rough, but his reasoning was sound.

He certainly had a clear-eyed view of things.

On their way here, Ma Muzhi had spilled his entire story to Chen Wei. He had originally worked at the Imperial Stables, then pulled some strings and slipped Hou Zong thirty years' worth of merit to secure this herb-gathering assignment in the mortal realm.

Gathering herbs was merely a pretext.

What mattered was holding a position on the Bright Hall's staff.

Within the Heavenly Court's immortal hierarchy, anyone connected to the Bright Hall—even an unranked, errand-running Loose Immortal—could speak with a little more swagger outside than someone serving elsewhere.

Ma Muzhi wanted a peaceful life, coasting along until the Primordial Heaven grew barren and earth grew old.

Chen Wei, however, had no desire to squander his years in the mortal realm. After two hundred years of painstaking study among mortals, he had finally comprehended the Dao and ascended in broad daylight. If he spent every day rummaging through mountain valleys below for medicinal herbs, how was he any different from a mortal herb-gathering boy?

One day, he would shed his Loose Immortal body, attain the Dao fruit of a heavenly immortal, and engrave his name in the Immortal Register's golden book.

Only by becoming a true immortal who could summon wind and rain, hold the chess pieces and make his moves, would he do justice to everything he had learned.

Whoosh-

High in the Nine Heavens, a fierce wind suddenly rose.

Boundless rosy light blossomed across the sky, a thousand streams of auspicious color scattering the dense mist that shrouded Mount Hua year-round.

Melodious celestial music drew nearer from afar, bells and drums sounding together amid waves of sacred chanting.

Chen Wei raised his head.

An immense ceremonial procession stretching for dozens of miles slowly descended from the vault of heaven. The Eight-Treasure Phoenix Carriage led the way, pearls and merfolk silk hanging from its frame. On either side, immortal maidens scattered flowers from baskets, while golden-armored strongmen cleared the path with halberds.

Wherever the procession passed, spiritual energy surged into an ocean.

The train stretched on and on, magnificent beyond measure.

The vanguard divine generals clearing the way had already passed Mount Hua's main peak, while the attendant immortals at the rear, carrying fly whisks and jade ruyi scepters, had yet to emerge from the clouds.

The astral winds stirred up by the carriage roared downward.

The white cloud beneath Chen Wei's feet was blown into tatters and nearly dispersed. He immediately circulated his power and cast the Wind-Averting Spell, barely steadying himself before he could fall face-first into the dirt.

Ma Muzhi stared after the departing carriage, envy written all over his face. "Now that's how an immortal should live! Brother Qingquan, when do you think we'll manage to get ourselves a display like that?"

"What? You want to be the Great Heavenly Venerable's niece too?" Chen Wei gave Ma Muzhi a sidelong glance.

Ma Muzhi chuckled, showing not the slightest trace of immortal dignity. "If his venerable self were willing, what would be wrong with calling him Uncle?"

Chen Wei could not be bothered to answer. He lowered his cloud again and continued searching the cliff face.

The carriage that had flown overhead belonged to Third Holy Mother Yang Chan of Mount Hua.

Chen Wei had spent three months copying Jade Slip records in the Bright Hall and knew the Heavenly Court's regulations by heart.

Under the Heavenly Laws, mountain gods and earth gods in the mortal realm were ninth-rank immortal officials at most. Mount Hua was one of the Five Great Mountains, a region of paramount importance, so its rank rose three grades-but even then, sixth rank was the absolute limit.

The rules governing a sixth-rank immortal official's travels were exceedingly strict.

A display like this, with strongmen clearing the way and immortal maidens scattering flowers, was beyond not only a sixth-rank official; even a Star Lord of the celestial palace might not enjoy such grandeur.

Overstepping her station?

The gods and buddhas filling the heavens had laid down rules finer and more numerous than the hairs on an ox.

But when serving in the Heavenly Court, there was always an exception to everything.

Specific circumstances called for specific analysis.

Analyze the uncle backing the Third Holy Mother, then analyze her elder brother, True Lord Erlang.

Think it through carefully.

An extravagant carriage and a few immortal maidens scattering petals were not merely free of any overstepping-they could even count as keeping a low profile.

Any other immortal in her position would long since have dismantled the Southern Heavenly Gate and treated it as a private back garden to stroll through.

Everything made sense now!

Chen Wei drew out the little herb hoe he had filched from the Immortal Works Bureau, chipped apart the cliff face, and dug out a stalk of dust spirit grass.

Seeing this, Ma Muzhi's eyes darted about, and he steered his tattered cloud closer.

"Brother Chen, since we're already here, just hunting for medicinal herbs is rather dull."

"The Third Holy Mother Temple is not far ahead, and its incense offerings are flourishing. Why don't we go take a look together?"

Chen Wei tucked the herb hoe into his belt, his gaze calm. "What for?"

"To try our luck at an immortal opportunity!" Ma Muzhi said eagerly. "Her Ladyship the Holy Mother is compassionate. If she takes a liking to us and casually grants us some assignment or opportunity, it could be worth hundreds of years of bitter cultivation slogging away at the Bright Hall!"

Chen Wei looked Ma Muzhi up and down, his tone teasing. "What, you want to become one of her sisters?"

Ma Muzhi was not annoyed. He said breezily, "Brother Chen, you can't put it that way. The Heavenly Court's duties are as vast as a sea of mist. Even if you and I worked without sleep or rest, spending lifetime after lifetime on them, we'd never finish."

"The way of being an immortal is all about knowing when to tighten up and when to relax."

"There are as many gods and buddhas in heaven as hairs on an ox. Do they really need two little immortal clerks like us to work ourselves to the bone? If we spare ourselves the toil, the pillars of the Hall of Divine Majesty will still glitter with gold. They won't collapse! Come on, come on, let's hurry down and take a look."

With one coaxing and the other only half resisting.

The two lowered their clouds and transformed into a pair of ordinary mortal travelers, blending into the pilgrims along the mountain path.

A clamor of voices filled the space before the Third Holy Mother Temple.

This place was only for ordinary mortals to kowtow, burn incense, draw fortune sticks, and seek divinations. The true Holy Mother’s Daoist Sanctuary stood at Mount Hua's summit, where the Holy Mother's true spirit cultivated in seclusion.

As for the figure seated high in the main hall, receiving mortal incense offerings and worship, it was merely an image molded from clay and carved from wood.

In the center of the main hall.

The kneeling cushion before the incense altar had been worn hollow and shiny by the pilgrims coming and going.

A scholar squeezed through the crowded throng and approached the divine image. He took three thick incense sticks from inside his robe, lit them from the ever-burning lamp, then dropped to his knees with a thump, his expression reverent.

"Your Ladyship above, bless this student, Liu Yanchang, to place first in this autumn's provincial examination, then continue my success and become the top scholar in next spring's metropolitan examination!"

"If I can be posted to a substantive appointment as a prefect and govern a region, I will certainly return to restore Your Ladyship's gilded image! Of course, if Your Ladyship is merciful, please also bless my household with peace, wealth flowing in from every direction, many sons and grandsons, and freedom from illness and calamity..."

"If you could also grant this student a wonderful marriage, letting me wed the daughter of a great and noble household!"

"That would be best of all!"

"This student bows in thanks!"

As the saying went, a greedy snake would try to swallow an elephant.

Had the fortune-stick cylinder been alive, it probably would have leaped up and smashed him on the head.

He wanted every good appointment there was, yet burned only three incense sticks. He had calculated every last detail of this deal that promised profit without any risk of loss.

No sooner had he finished speaking than a soft laugh came from beside him. "You scholar, you want every advantage for yourself. Her Ladyship the Holy Mother isn't the Star of Literary Excellence. She doesn't oversee examination success. You've petitioned the wrong immortal and worshipped at the wrong temple."