The coffin was a fine one, made of aged cypress dried in the shade and freshly coated with wood oil and clear varnish. It was about the largest size ordinary commoners could afford, and the withered Old Man Xiang had plenty of room lying inside.
In the poor alleys west of the city, a coffin of this quality was already an excellent place for eternal rest.
Old Man Xiang's friends came over to thank Cui Jiuyang and exchange greetings. Since they were all friends of the deceased, they dispensed with the elaborate funeral formalities such as kowtowing. Their conversations amounted to little more than "You came," "You're here to see him off too," and "Poor fellow. Apart from us friends, he doesn't even have any family to send him off."
Many of them knew one another, but most did not know Cui Jiuyang.
When some saw that Ninth Lady had come with this unfamiliar young man, they asked a few questions.
Ninth Lady answered them all in turn.
How had Old Man Xiang died? Over the past three days, someone had always asked, only to fall silent at the guarded looks from others.
In truth, no one knew how Old Man Xiang had died.
They were so guarded only because the veteran funeral director sent by Fifth Master Yang had said the Japanese had killed him.
Everyone then dreamed up their own version of events, recounting it to one another as though it were fact.
Yet not one of them could have guessed that, before dying, Old Man Xiang had taken his revenge in a savage, irrevocable way.
After all, the Japanese were formidable indeed.
In these times, anyone killed by the Japanese had absolutely no hope of obtaining justice.
But Old Man Xiang had seized that justice with his own hands.
That lay beyond anything they could imagine.
Cui Jiuyang, however, knew the truth, and Ninth Lady had personally beheaded Abe with her sword.
As the two listened to people solemnly describe how terribly Old Man Xiang had died and how cruel the Japanese were, both recalled the trace of terror on Abe's face as her severed head rolled across the ground.
She had feared neither Ninth Lady's sword nor Cui Jiuyang's Reverse Five Elements divine light, but Old Man Xiang's fury, his hair and beard bristling, his eyes stretched almost to bursting.
That fury had consumed Old Man Xiang, and its burning death had scorched Abe too, jolting her out of her madness-you will die.
Lunch consisted of eight small plates and eight large bowls.
A large restaurant in which Shengdelong held a stake sent three of its finest cooks to prepare the feast with care.
From the delicate little pastries served before the meal to the final heaping bowl of thick, oil-fried pork belly, every dish drew praise. Everyone agreed that this was fine food made with real care.
The men and women sat at separate tables, with the same dishes and the same number of people at each.
Ninth Lady ate only some fish and a few pastries, then watched in shock as Cui Jiuyang tore through the food again at the table diagonally opposite.
"What happened to everything you ate this morning? How can you eat so much again?" Ninth Lady asked Cui Jiuyang after they left the table.
Cui Jiuyang rubbed his round belly. "Grief takes a lot out of you. I'm terribly sad about Old Man Xiang. Those six steamed buns didn't give me nearly enough strength. Luckily, I filled the gaps with two bowls of soy milk with eggs stirred in."
Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, Ninth Lady gave him a punch for failing to be solemn enough.
In truth, many people were like Cui Jiuyang. People were not always overwhelmed with sorrow at funerals.
On the contrary, unless they were paying their respects before the bier, the guests usually seemed more like they were attending a gathering.
Especially when the food arrived.
In later years, people online often joked, "Lie on a plank, get covered with a sheet, and the whole village waits for something to eat!"
It was, in fact, a remarkably accurate portrayal.
The dead were gone. Here and now, they had come to see him off, and this lavish feast added cheer to their conversation and jokes.
It was also the last meal they would share with him.
Perhaps they did not think of him as they ate that slice of pork hock or that piece of braised fish, but they were sitting together because he had departed.
Amid the clutter of cups and plates, the one who had left them would presumably receive some companionship and comfort from his friends and loved ones too.
Once everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, the eight pallbearers took their places.
The veteran funeral director stood before the coffin's carrying frame, its four beams and eight posts already lashed together, holding a hemp-rope whip.
He cracked the whip overhead. Its tip snapped sharply through the air, like a tiny, fierce firecracker.
"Raise the coffin! Shoulders together, front and back! Steady!" he called in a rhythmic chant.
The eight pallbearers lifted the poles on their shoulders in unison, raising the coffin steadily in the center of the frame.
The funeral director stepped onto the foremost crossbar and stood on the carrying frame. Bracing one hand against the head of the coffin, he cracked his whip again and drew out his words in a ringing chant. "Heaven and earth above your heads! Lotus blossoms beneath your feet! Higher with every step! The departed ascends to heaven, the living remain safe! Send him off!"
The pallbearers advanced step by step, carrying Old Man Xiang to the burial ground.
"Turn left, let the Azure Dragon yield! Turn right, let the White Tiger clear the way! The great road lies ahead-mind your footing!"
To the funeral director's repeated whip cracks and chants, Old Man Xiang's friends crowded around the coffin and moved forward.
The whip cracks scattered ill fortune and the wandering ghosts that came to make trouble. Though the people could not see these evil things that sought to harm the man in the coffin, they believed the strength of their gathered numbers could stand behind the newly dead.
"A bridge is a bridge, a road is a road! Keep your path in sight, never look back! Departed soul, go on your way!"
Beyond a small bluestone bridge lay the burial ground Old Man Xiang had chosen for himself long ago.
His simple-minded son was buried here. Now another small mound stood beside his son's grave, and when Cui Jiuyang saw it, he understood that the talking mynah was buried inside.
The carrying frame was set directly over the grave dug in advance. The pallbearers lowered the poles from their shoulders and lined up on either side of the pit. The eight men passed four ropes beneath the coffin, front and back, while the others hurried forward to dismantle the frame.
Suspended over the grave by those four ropes alone, the coffin hung in the air. The funeral director cracked his whip. "The golden coffin enters the earth, blessings come to the living! Slowly now!"
The eight men slowly paid out the ropes, gently lowering the coffin to the bottom. Once the ropes had been pulled free and the pallbearers stepped aside, everyone else gathered around.
This was their last look.
"Do not grieve, do not linger! Deep earth brings peace! Seal the grave!" At the funeral director's command, the people circled the pit, scooping up earth from the ground and scattering it inside.
Cui Jiuyang and Ninth Lady stood among them, tossing in earth from time to time. After thinking it over, Cui Jiuyang felt Old Man Xiang probably had no regrets.
Perhaps he did, but it no longer mattered. Heart-Removal Divination had scattered his soul utterly. Old Man Xiang had no next life. He would lie in this pit forever.
Scattering earth by hand was only a gesture of remembrance. Tools were needed to fill the grave and raise the mound. Shovels filled the pit and heaped earth over it, and everyone talked for a while longer before the grave.
Only then was Old Man Xiang truly laid to rest.
Everyone turned away together, and the funeral director led them back. From time to time, someone glanced at the fresh grave, remembrance and longing in their eyes.
But in the end, they all left.
As the people departed, silence returned to the burial ground.
A long while later, a mynah flew in from somewhere and fluttered down onto the top of Old Man Xiang's grave.
"Daddy, Daddy."
It said.
Chapter 54: Nothing to Do
With them staying at the guildhall all day, Fifth Master Yang kept coming to pay his respects and ask after them.
It made Ninth Lady, who was being treated as an immortal for the first time, rather uncomfortable. No one had ever been so deferential toward her before.
Cui Jiuyang did not mind. He had never felt that things were any different now than before. He had met Great-Grandfather, fought the Malevolent Flood Dragon, and brushed against death several times. Very little in this world could disturb his peace of mind anymore.
Especially since... he had calculated his remaining lifespan-a whole year!
A year! What an incredibly long time that was... like hell it was!
After cultivating Ultimate Unity, he should have lived to exactly thirty. Besides, he had drunk three great mouthfuls of Golden Milk Stone Marrow in the Divine Tomb. By any calculation, he ought to have lived past thirty-three.
But... exhilarating as his battle with the Malevolent Flood Dragon at Jidu Shrine had been, he had done nothing but burn his lifespan to look impressive.
His meridians had been severed throughout, his dantian damaged. All of it had injured his vital essence. Though the Turtle Chancellor and Ninth Lady had later saved his life, the lifespan he had spent was difficult to restore.
"How exactly did you and the Turtle Chancellor save me?" Cui Jiuyang had asked twice since waking up, and Ninth Lady had answered vaguely both times. Today, they had gone out to wander the city to avoid Fifth Master Yang, so he asked again.
Jining City had suffered serious flooding a few days earlier. It was not exactly a case of everything needing rebuilding, but the city was still slowly recovering.
Some older women had set out baskets by the roadside to sell embroidery patterns.
These patterns were needlework supplies. Young women and married girls bought them, first stitched the patterns onto fabric, then followed the thick, thin, and dashed lines, each indicating a different stitch, choosing their own colors to embroider the finished piece.
As Cui Jiuyang understood it, they were basically PowerPoint templates.
Ninth Lady was browsing the patterns just then. Hearing Cui Jiuyang's question, she ignored it and picked up a pattern of fish playing among lotus leaves. "Do you think this looks pretty?"
Whatever the era, anyone accompanying a girl on a shopping trip had to face this soul-searching question.
If it looked pretty, one had to offer clear yet thoughtful analysis and praise across five major categories: design, elegance, taste, comparison, and coordination.
If it did not look pretty, refer to the previous rule: praise four categories and gently reject one.
Cui Jiuyang said, "It's all right."
Ninth Lady rolled her eyes at him, handed the older woman two copper coins, put the pattern away herself, and strode on.
Cui Jiuyang followed. "You still haven't answered me. How exactly did you save me? There's something strange inside my dantian. Do you have any idea what it is?"
Ninth Lady marched forward with her head high, not looking back. "Who knows what's in your belly? Have you eaten too many steamed buns again?"
"Huh? Didn't we have meat-and-grain soup and fried flatbread this morning? Where were the buns? I didn't see any!" Cui Jiuyang hurried a couple of steps to walk beside Ninth Lady and saw the barely suppressed smile on her face.
"What exactly can't you tell me?" he asked in bewilderment. "Why won't you tell me?"
Ninth Lady went to look around a roadside stall selling lotus seed heads instead...
Realizing that Ninth Lady was deliberately avoiding his questions, Cui Jiuyang stopped asking and making a fool of himself.
The two wandered about the streets, looking here and there and buying sweets and melons. Whatever Ninth Lady could not finish, she gave to Cui Jiuyang.
Cui Jiuyang felt there was something a little odd about this scene. Wasn't this how people dated in TV dramas?
Yes, as a proper corporate drone-and, before becoming a corporate drone, a proper student-Cui Jiuyang... well... had never been in a relationship.
Judging by his rather limited experience watching Chinese TV dramas, this really did resemble a romance in some assembly-line show.
Walking behind Ninth Lady, Cui Jiuyang stared at her back. After turning it over in his mind, he reached a conclusion...
Ninth Lady likes me!
Still, he had long since committed the "three great delusions of life" to memory as one of the most reliable truths on the internet.
Before you continue