Listening to a Storyteller in Luoyang City

Night fell, and orange-yellow lights flickered to life throughout Luoyang City.

The streets were packed, the lights dimming. Before the midnight curfew, the old city was still just as bustling and prosperous as ever.

A gaunt figure crawled out from a corner of the old city wall, then brushed the dust off himself in a rather sorry state.

The young man, covered in dust, was none other than Gu Baishui, who had passed through the wall. He had deliberately waited until nightfall outside Luoyang City before finding a deserted corner and sneaking into the city.

"Why is using the Earth Traversal Technique in Luoyang City so difficult? I almost got squeezed into the wall."

Gu Baishui shook his head in irritation. The dust he kicked up made him cough a few times.

By rights, Gu Baishui was a great cultivator of the Immortal Platform Realm, and the Earth Traversal Technique came easily to him. Traveling three to five hundred li underground should have been no trouble at all.

But for some reason, when he burrowed into Luoyang City's walls, it felt as if he had fallen into a muddy swamp, where he could barely move.

If Gu Baishui hadn't gritted his teeth and struggled his way out, he might well have been trapped in a crack in the stone and gloriously become a dry corpse inside the wall.

"Now that would be quite the joke. An Immortal Platform cultivator crushed to death by a wall-other cultivators would laugh about it for generations."

Gu Baishui brushed off his hands, then peered toward the streets of Luoyang City in the distance.

People came and went along the streets, and the lights shone brightly.

Street hawkers cried out their wares, while in the quaint tavern opposite, a storyteller with a long beard and a folding fan was speaking without pause.

The storyteller had gotten excited, his face animated as he gestured. He seemed completely engrossed.

Gu Baishui raised his eyebrows, thought nothing more of it, and walked toward the tavern across the street.

But he had no money, so he didn't ask for tea or fruit. He casually picked up a little stool and joined the loafers listening to the story outside the door.

The storyteller happened to be moving on to the next chapter. He took a sip of tea beside him to moisten his throat, then continued.

The story he was telling was one the new Green-Robed Youth outside the tavern had heard before, though the teller hadn't finished it for him.

Sitting on the platform, the storyteller continued in a measured voice, "The protagonist of our story is the Exiled Immortal of Luoyang City, Li Shiyi."

"Li Shiyi was born in Luoyang City and grew up there. Only on the Grand Progenitor's birthday each year would he go to Chang'an City to pay his respects."

"So although he was the Grand Progenitor's own grandson, he had never lived in the Imperial City, unlike the other princes and princesses, who were always by the Grand Progenitor's side. Yet according to rumors, among the imperial clan of his generation, the Grand Progenitor was closest to this youngest grandson, who spent most of his time away."

"People in the palace often said that the Grand Progenitor would lament that none of the children he'd fathered were like him. The eldest prince was refined and steady; the second prince was full of Sha Qi. Though most of the other princes were accomplished in letters and arms and had their own strengths, not one of them was as unique as he was."

"The ministers were at a loss for words, because the Grand Progenitor truly was an extraordinary man. Otherwise, how could he have deserved the title of Emperor of the Ages?"

"The Grand Progenitor once said that the taciturn Li Shiyi was much like his younger self. But he wasn't the most like him; he could only rank second. Ahead of Li Shiyi was a young man who left even the Grand Progenitor speechless. That fellow was more like the Grand Progenitor than Li Shiyi because he was far more shameless and roguish."

"But the Grand Progenitor didn't like that brat. People never like a younger version of themselves, and that little bastard had also run off with his beloved daughter."

"Many people don't know who the Grand Progenitor was talking about, because aside from Grand Secretary Du, no one dared mention the matter. It was a piece of history, a very delicate and secret chapter in Tang Kingdom's history."

"The ministers were even more surprised by the Grand Progenitor's assessment of Li Shiyi, because they couldn't see anything special in that boy, who spent every day lazing about and idling away his time."

"There were plenty of princes and princesses with exceptional talent. How could the Grand Progenitor think Li Shiyi could compare to his younger self? Had he gotten something wrong?"

"But soon, the Grand Progenitor left Chang'an City and went to the Depths of the Clouds and Mist."

"Not long after, Li Shiyi came to Chang'an City alone, inscribed his name on the Weiyang Stele, and began the legendary life that would unfold in sweeping grandeur."

When the storyteller finished, the clang of a night watchman's gong rang out from the corner at the end of the street.

Midnight was near. The residents of Luoyang City should be heading home to prepare for the curfew.

Figures came and went. Some customers smacked their lips, still wanting more, while attendants began clearing away the empty fruit plates and cups.

But just then, a clean right hand reached out from the rustling crowd.

A Green-Robed Youth sitting on a stool furrowed his brow and suddenly asked the storyteller on the platform a question.

"What kind of person was Li Shiyi, exactly?"

The hall fell silent. The customers who had been getting up also turned around curiously, waiting for the storyteller's reply.

By rights, a story should end with the day. Once he had finished today's tale, the storyteller wouldn't say another word.

But for some reason, the storyteller on the platform seemed different tonight. He was silent for a long while, then slowly sighed.

"As far as I know, Li Shiyi was... a genuinely kind man."

Gu Baishui paused, then asked, "What makes you say that?"

The storyteller glanced at him and wiped his lectern with the cloth beside the table.

"It was said that Li Shiyi had been far more clever than children his age from a very young age. He had a natural gift for poetry, prose, Qin, Chess, Calligraphy, and Painting; he could grasp anything with a single hint."

"But in the story, after Li Shiyi grew from a child into a boy, he lost the spark he'd had in his youth. He idled away his days, lazier than the midday sun."

The storyteller raised his head and asked Gu Baishui below the platform, "Do you know why?"

Gu Baishui shook his head. "I don't."

The gong sounded farther away. The storyteller on the platform silently turned a page in an old book on the table, then looked at the boy below and said,

"Li Shiyi's father was a renowned general of Tang Kingdom. He fought more than a hundred battles in his lifetime and never lost. Only in old age did he rein in his bloodlust and retire to the countryside. He felt that he had taken many lives over the course of his life, and asked for nothing else-only that his children be safe."

"But he also respected Li Shiyi's wishes, giving him two entirely different choices. One was in Chang'an; the other was in Luoyang."

"In the end, Li Shiyi chose Luoyang, and from then on, he made himself small as a grain of dust."

Gu Baishui nodded thoughtfully, and the storyteller on the platform continued.

"Actually, Li Shiyi's mother was very optimistic. She also hoped that one day her child would walk beneath the morning sun, admired by all the world. But Li Shiyi had already promised the old farmer, and chosen an ordinary life."

"But fortunately..."

The storyteller paused there and didn't continue.

What he hadn't expected was that the boy below the platform picked up his words and finished what he hadn't said.

"Fortunately, he still had a younger sister, a sweet and sensible younger sister?"