I'm your concubine now!

As the time for the Prayer Daoist Grounds approached, the Capital City bustled.

Soft autumn colors spread all the way from Silver Terrace Temple to Thousand Lamps Temple. People streamed into painted pleasure boats and carved towers, and the sky over the Capital City seemed a little lower.

"Min Ning, I'll go in first and see what's happening. Be extremely careful."

"Mm... sorry for the trouble."

After that brief exchange, Chen Yi rode his tall horse up to Hundred Flowers Tower.

From afar, he saw Hundred Flowers Tower standing beside a secluded waterway of blue-green water, with a stone bridge, willows, scholars, and ladies. The sky was darkening, dusk flowing like water. Perhaps tonight would be a lovely night. Painted boats drifted on the water, and flower lanterns overlapped in layer upon layer around the entertainment houses and brothels. Though night had yet to fall on the Capital City, it already glowed with red lanterns and green wine. Now and then, courtesans passed carrying lanterns or oil lamps, joking with patrons along the road.

This should have been its busiest hour, yet an unusual stillness surrounded Hundred Flowers Tower. Its carved signboard seemed to go unnoticed. Even from a distance, Chen Yi could sense that some kind of formation had been laid here.

The bustle of the Capital City had been shut away from Hundred Flowers Tower. This haunt of flowers and willows now resembled a place of secluded cultivation.

Ripples suddenly stirred in his heart. Chen Yi looked up and saw a white-robed Daoist woman leaning against a window railing. Her beauty was splendid, and she smiled with closed lips, like Gautama Siddhartha holding up a flower. Though she vanished after only a fleeting glance, that glimpse was still as startling as a swan taking flight.

Chen Yi narrowed his eyes and dismounted. With a saber at his waist, he walked slowly into Hundred Flowers Tower.

The moment he entered, he saw the madam standing pale-faced, glancing upstairs from time to time as though filled with fear.

At the sight of Chen Yi, the madam grew flustered. She seemed about to stop him, only for a voice to reach her through a secret transmission.

"Let him come up."

Chen Yi heard it too. He frowned, resting one hand on his saber hilt.

Since Yin Tingxue had killed him, Chen Yi had never felt this nervous.

But now his hairs stood faintly on end, as though a thin mist had gathered over the lake of his heart and a fine rain had begun to fall.

Chen Yi slowly climbed the stairs. As he approached the private room occupied by the white-robed Daoist woman, he heard the distant, haunting notes of a zither. It was the Guangling Melody, but its notes trembled softly, like a mournful cry.

Standing outside the door, Chen Yi drew a breath and pushed it open. Once again, he saw the white-robed Daoist woman seated upright, whisking tea.

At that moment, his tension deepened.

He had never seen her...

Chen Yi was slightly taken aback. He searched his memories hard and found that he truly had never seen her.

In any save file, at any point in time, he had never encountered this woman.

All this time, Chen Yi had relied on his knowledge of the game to seize the advantage in every situation. For the first time, he felt faced with something this difficult.

She wore plain white Daoist robes, ethereal as a goddess. Her tea-whisking technique was simple and unadorned, her bearing refined, her deportment flawless from head to toe. Chen Yi instinctively felt how perfectly she suited the Capital City's Thousand Lamps Temple. The incomparable grace with which she withdrew her hands after preparing the tea lingered in the mind.

As soon as Chen Yi entered, silence abruptly fell. Min Ming's slender hands stopped short, and she looked over in surprise and doubt.

Chen Yi gave her a look, signaling her not to worry. Min Ming understood at once and resumed playing, her fingertips trembling slightly.

"May I ask your Daoist name, immortal lady... and why you wished to see my elder sister?"

Chen Yi watched the white-robed Daoist woman prepare the tea.

Yin Weiying gently pushed the tea bowl toward him and smiled.

"It is you I am looking for, Min Moon Pond."

Min Ming's fingers stiffened slightly, but soon returned to normal.

Chen Yi slowly sat down and accepted the tea bowl. Only after testing it with a silver needle did he drink.

Yin Weiying gazed at him. Once he had finished his tea, she said:

"The prophecy said you were both dragon and phoenix. Yet seeing you now, there seems to be a slight discrepancy."

Chen Yi's grip on the tea bowl tightened a little.

"But it doesn't matter."

Just then, the music stopped. The white-robed Daoist woman turned her eyes toward Min Ming and said,

"The Guangling Melody was composed by Ji Kang. He cared little for fame or profit. Before his death, he asked for a zither and played with final resolve, still retaining the bearing of a recluse. After death, he became the Ghost Emperor. Miss Min, your playing is superb, without a single wrong note. Unfortunately, your heart is now full of fear, leaving none of Ji Kang's spirit."

Nervous and bitter, Min Ming said:

"Immortal Maiden Yin, I am merely a woman of the pleasure quarters. The pieces I excel at are mostly sorrowful laments. How could I understand Ji Kang's state of mind?"

Immortal Maiden Yin... the imperial surname?

Chen Yi caught something.

Hearing Min Ming's words, Yin Weiying turned her head and said:

"Never mind, never mind. I was too demanding."

Then she looked at Chen Yi again and went straight to the point.

"Min Moon Pond, I came to see you today because you have an affinity with the Dao. Would you be willing to follow me up the mountain to cultivate?"

Chen Yi narrowed his eyes.

In other words, this woman wanted to take Min Ning away?

In Beyond the Heavens, Min Ning had reached the top ten of the Martial Ranking in her twenties. Later, when the Heavenly Gate split open, she had even ascended with sword in hand. Such ability could hardly have been water without a source.

The opportunity that made it possible had probably come from this very woman.

"Immortal Maiden Yin, about this... forgive me, but I must refuse."

Playing the part of Min Ning, Chen Yi declined.

"Even aside from my reluctance to leave my elder sister, I cannot cast aside my duty to restore the Min Household. Someone like me could never sever worldly ties."

Seeing Chen Yi refuse so completely on her younger sister's behalf, Min Ming froze slightly. Panic stirred in her heart, and she worried that the white-robed Daoist woman might suddenly lash out.

Yet Yin Weiying's expression did not change. She remained seated in perfect composure, still smiling with closed lips.

"A morning mushroom."

"What?"

"A summer cicada."

The white-robed Daoist woman spoke again.

Chen Yi understood at once. She was calling him a morning mushroom or a summer cicada, knowing neither the month's end and beginning nor spring and autumn.

Just as Chen Yi was about to speak, Yin Weiying continued leisurely:

"It doesn't matter.

"Before seeing the scenery upon the mountain, many people are like this. How could ordinary mortals see what immortals can see?

"Min Moon Pond, you have an affinity with the Dao, so I will make an exception and let you see the month's end and beginning, spring and autumn."

As her words fell, the fragrance of tea had somehow spread everywhere.

Chen Yi's mind suddenly sank. The thin mist over the lake of his heart abruptly thickened, and the drizzle became a storm of driving wind and rain.

The scene before him shifted in a blur. The private room disappeared. Chen Yi lowered his head and found himself looking at Thousand Lamps Temple, where incense offerings flourished in the Capital City.

Inside Thousand Lamps Temple, Yin Weiying wore a peachwood sword at her waist. She turned and smiled at Chen Yi, and a momentary daze swept through his heart. She led the way, and Chen Yi followed behind.

Upon entering the front hall, he saw lamplight. A covered walkway ran through the hall, with oil lamps burning more than ten feet beyond it. Behind the lamps stood the thirty-six heavenly generals. Chen Yi unconsciously began counting, but lost track after several dozen. The name Thousand Lamps was evidently no exaggeration. The walkway's pillars were often repaired; despite years of wind and rain, they retained their original brown wood color. A thin layer of snow lay at their bases.

Snow had accumulated on the maple trees outside the pillars.

When they reached the rear hall, eternal lamps filled the space before the altar. The stepped altar had nine tiers in all, and behind it stood the Myriad Blessings Celestial Venerable.

Her Daoist robes like snow, Yin Weiying reached out, took down an eternal lamp, and held it before Chen Yi.

"Take it," she said.

Chen Yi accepted it. The flame swayed, burning on and on, enduring like the sun and moon.

Yin Weiying held out her hand to ask for it back.

Chen Yi handed it over.

Yet in the immortal lady's hand, the eternal lamp that should have burned forever guttered out forlornly within moments.

What... was going on?

As Chen Yi wondered, Yin Weiying turned to look at him and suddenly said:

"You are puzzled."

Chen Yi paused.

"Because you are merely a morning mushroom or a summer cicada," she said.

After a moment, Chen Yi said:

"Please enlighten me, immortal lady."

Yin Weiying smiled leisurely.

"Mortal flesh below the mountain must eventually reach its end. No matter how people nurture their health and prolong their lives, they generally cannot live beyond two sixty-year cycles.

"People have only a hazy understanding of Daoist cultivation. What they see is merely the tip of an iceberg. How could they imagine that in antiquity there was a Great Chun, for whom eight thousand years were one spring, and eight thousand years one autumn?

"To the Great Chun, a mortal with two sixty-year cycles is nothing more than a summer cicada."

Half understanding, Chen Yi pressed:

"You mean..."

Yin Weiying looked at him with a smile.

"The lamp burns eternally in your hands, yet flickers out in mine. Do you still not understand? To me, even an eternal lamp is not eternal. However long a lamp burns, how could it outlast a spring and autumn upon the mountain?"

Realizing that Yin Weiying was speaking of the Daoist Way of Immortality, Chen Yi asked:

"Then... how can I live through the springs and autumns upon the mountain?"

Between the lamp's lighting and extinguishing, he suddenly realized his own insignificance.

Holding a horsetail whisk, Yin Weiying waved it gently and chanted her sacred title.

The scenery changed again.

A boundless whiteness rose around them. Soon, snow began to fall. The blue tiles of distant pavilions and towers turned white, their outlines familiar. Chen Yi looked around, saw a stone bodhisattva statue, and realized with a start that this was Silver Terrace Temple in the Xiang Prince's Residence.

"If you wish to live through the springs and autumns upon the mountain, you must attain understanding, as though clarified butter were poured over your crown, or as the Buddhists say, through a shout and a blow to the head."

Yin Weiying spoke while looking at the stone bodhisattva.

Chen Yi could not help asking:

"Why are you speaking of Buddhism? And why did you bring me here?"

Yin Weiying said softly:

"The Daoist Canon says, 'The immortals of the heavenly realms all speak Sanskrit.' The principles are connected; it is simply two blossoms flowering, each upon its own branch.

"As for why I brought you here, it is because this is the place of your greatest worldly attachment, your deepest Avidya."

His greatest worldly attachment, his deepest Avidya...

Looking at this place, Chen Yi involuntarily thought of that girl who appeared resolute but was, in truth, weak.

In his previous life, she had killed him and was his enemy. In this life, he had forced her to become his concubine. She did not like him, nor did she love him, yet even so, she still haunted his soul and dreams.

Chen Yi murmured:

"You want me to... sever every relationship and connection below the mountain? No longer concern myself with worldly affairs?"

Yin Weiying smiled.

"You are indeed perceptive.

"One who leaves home for cultivation should do just that. Without severing worldly ties, what home have you left?"

Chen Yi could not help asking:

"If I don't sever my worldly ties, can I not attain longevity? Isn't it said that an immortal strokes my crown..."

Yin Weiying smiled and said:

"I am that immortal, stroking your crown and granting longevity."

Severing worldly ties, supreme oblivion of emotion—this was the Way of Immortality she imparted.

Chen Yi fell silent.

Every unfolding scene Yin Weiying displayed possessed an indescribable tranquility. That tranquility welled up in the lake of his heart and suffused his whole body.

Chen Yi glanced aside and unwittingly saw that gray-black treasure basin.

Here, that enemy girl, Yin Tingxue, had burned three thousand taels in banknotes to ashes and become his concubine.

Even though she had later fled, he had brought her back.

Was he to sever this worldly tie, to cut off everything... with her as she was?

"Whatever the method of immortality, it requires severing worldly ties and erasing all that has form to comprehend the Dao. Only through supreme oblivion of emotion can the Three Flowers Gather at the Crown and the five qi return to the origin. Buddhism also says that to become a Buddha in a single thought, not one thought may remain in Avidya."

As these words fell, Chen Yi felt his feet gradually leave the ground. Turning, he suddenly saw that the white-robed Daoist woman had already risen upon the mist. Ethereal as a flying immortal in a Dunhuang mural, she led Chen Yi freely upward.

Half the Capital City of Great Yu lay beneath their feet, its splendor like richly embroidered flowers beneath the dusk.

Seeing such a sight, Chen Yi had thought his heart would jolt in surprise. Yet he felt no ripple at all. The lake of his heart remained as calm as ever.

Great Yu's Capital City grew tiny. Beside him, the Goddess of Mount Taihua led him step by step away from worldly splendor. As Chen Yi moved farther and farther from the Capital City, time in Great Yu seemed to accelerate. Its once-unrivaled prosperity slowly declined. Then the Jin Army besieged the city, and the last emperor opened the gates to surrender. The dynasty's allotted span ended at five hundred years, and the realm was united once more.

Evening mist shrouded the city. After suffering decline, the Capital City welcomed a peaceful, prosperous age. Merchants from across the realm gathered again. Pavilions and towers rose from the ruins, and carved pleasure boats once more stretched across the river. People came and went, went and came. The sun set as usual and rose as usual. The wind came from the west and went east, all returning to where it had begun.

Watching this, Chen Yi felt an indescribable peace. Within the dusk, someone seemed faintly to strike the tones of the Yellow Bell and Great Lü amid the Cave Heavens and Blessed Lands.

Splendor remained splendor, yet was no longer as it had been. The renowned Thousand Lamps Temple fell into abandonment, while the little-known Silver Terrace Temple flourished. Spring and autumn turned; worldly affairs were ever changing.

Floating past the headwaters of the Xia and traveling west, I looked back, but could no longer see the gates and walls of the old capital.

Only he attained sudden understanding.

Wandering ethereally with the goddess as though ascending to immortality, the mortal world was but a mirage of Penglai.

As that thought settled, time passed in a blur as though hundreds of years had elapsed. Everything had become unfamiliar. Nothing was worth lingering over. Everything grew insignificant. All things were like mayflies, like a single grain of millet in the vast sea. Chen Yi gradually understood the month's end and beginning, spring and autumn. Such days had already arrived.

"Lesser understanding cannot match greater understanding; a short life cannot match a long one..."

Chen Yi murmured to himself. The Capital City's scenery receded farther and farther. Only the Goddess of Mount Taihua beside him remained unchanged, gently surrounding him as he ascended step by step, as though he need only release his last thread of desire to attain the Three Flowers Gather at the Crown and five qi returning to the origin.

Whether Min Ning, Min Ming, or the empress dowager... even Yin Tingxue's face gradually receded, fading into memory like misty ripples in a reflection. Could such a thing ever be grasped?

Just as he was about to close his eyes.

"I'm your concubine now!"

As her face faded, those words echoed back once more.

Faint and wavering, every word stumbling, they flashed past like forlorn fireworks.

How resolute had she been when she entrusted herself to him?

She had thrown all the banknotes that could have bought her freedom into the fire. After he saved her in the rain-soaked alley, she had shed tears. However much she disliked him, however much she hated him, she belonged to him.

Through her tears, she had said she would not run again, that she would always serve him. Though she had not stated it outright, this was entrusting herself to him!

Faced with his demands, she could never refuse. She had no way back. She had entrusted herself to him!

He... could not abandon her...

A momentary daze swept through Chen Yi's heart.

Chen Yi could erase all that had form to comprehend the Dao, chant "Fortune-Born Boundless Celestial Venerable," and enter the boundless Great Dao like a sage forgetting emotion, yet he could not erase that faint trace she had left upon his heart, like a wild goose's footprints in snowy mud.