Why Trouble the Immortal Master with Such a Trifle?

The fruit on the treasured tree had grown nearly as large as quail eggs. Still perfectly round, they looked like luminous pearls hanging from its branches at night.

After that, they seemed to stop growing, but even another day later, their radiance had only intensified. Though sunlight obscured it during the day, it was still visible if one cupped a hand over them.

At this time, more people came up the mountain from town.

They were a burly, thick-waisted middle-aged couple.

"You're crazy!"

"Shut your latrine!"

Carrying a bundle of incense and candles in a red plastic bag, the two waddled toward the mountain.

"They actually built a cement road. If I'd known, we should have ridden the electric scooter here. Oh, just walking these few steps on level ground has left me exhausted and panting, and I'm still out of breath. My back feels chilly, too."

"Weren't you the one who said you wanted to walk?"

"A walk is good too. If you ask me, we just haven't rested in too long. Traditional Chinese medicine calls it mental overexertion and qi deficiency. A little mountain climbing and fresh air will probably set us right!"

"You've got an answer for everything!"

The two emerged from the alley and saw a cement path over a meter wide leading halfway up the mountain, with plots of land on both sides.

"Some of the plots have been left to go to waste. What a shame."

"Who's going to farm them?"

Chatting as they walked, they looked as though they were out enjoying the spring scenery.

One more step took them onto the mountain.

To their surprise, with that single step, the chill on their backs and the nagging discomfort somewhere in their bodies all vanished in an instant.

The change came abruptly, unlike their slow, imperceptible decline into weakness. It was clear and unmistakable, like someone whose airways had long been blocked suddenly breathing freely.

"Why do I suddenly feel so much better?"

"Crazy!"

The boss followed her forward and froze as well.

He, too, felt much better all of a sudden.

"Maybe it's cooler in the shade of the trees?"

The boss wasn't sure either. He looked up and saw a Daoist temple at the end of the cement path, half hidden among the trees, with wisps of blue-gray smoke rising from it. Whether by coincidence or something else, a light cloud happened to be drifting halfway up the mountain, and a few birds happened to fly past, lending the scene an air of quiet serenity.

The couple climbed halfway up the mountain and entered the Daoist temple.

But when they walked in, the first person they saw was neither an old Daoist priest nor a young one, but an exquisitely beautiful woman in classical dress, sweeping the ground with a broom.

The couple couldn't help staring for a moment.

A woman this beautiful was rare enough, much less one found in a Daoist temple deep in the mountains, doing the sweeping.

Yunzhi had clearly noticed them too, but she remembered the immortal master's words. She merely nodded to them and went on sweeping.

The couple found her rather aloof.

They had no choice but to offer incense and pray to the gods for safety. They also looked around, but couldn't find the temple's Daoist priest.

One monk's cell on the west side of the courtyard had its door open, and a washed disposable plastic milk tea cup sat on the windowsill. But the room was empty and had a few cobwebs, so it didn't look as though anyone lived there.

"Miss, may I ask where the Daoist master of this temple has gone?"

"The Daoist master? He's cultivating in seclusion." Yunzhi remembered the immortal master saying he was cultivating a secret art and shouldn't be disturbed lightly, so she asked, "Is there something you need?"

"There's something we wanted to ask him about."

"Oh?"

Yunzhi narrowed her eyes slightly and looked at them. They seemed a little familiar.

After a moment's thought, she asked uncertainly, "Are you two villagers from the town at the foot of the mountain?"

"Yes, we run a little restaurant in town."

"A restaurant?"

"We sell noodles and bobo chicken."

"Ah..."

It really was them!

Yunzhi stood there, thinking of how the immortal master relied on incense offerings to improve his meals. After a moment's consideration, she made a decision.

She thought about how to put it.

Then she smiled faintly and began, "I know why you have come."

The couple were puzzled to hear her say that.

It was both what she said and the way she said it.

"What's that?"

"Where are you from? Why do you talk like someone on TV?"

"..." Yunzhi fell silent for a moment, then chose to ignore them and continued, "I see a faint trace of yin energy about you both. I fear it has been troubling you of late, leaving you unable to sleep at night, plagued by nightmares, and cold, weak, and prone to illness by day. You have come up the mountain today to seek a solution, have you not?"

This time, the couple were truly startled.

They hadn't held out much hope for this Daoist temple, since they had already been to Guanyin Monastery and the Great Chan Buddhist Temple. The boss in particular had even been trying to persuade those two young customers a couple of days ago. Today, he had only come along to give his leader some peace of mind. Yet, to their surprise, from the first step they took onto the mountain, it was as though something had been forcefully shattering their understanding.

For the moment, neither of them cared about her manner of speech.

"Miss, how did you know?"

"A paltry trick, not worth mentioning."

"Then how do we fix it?"

"It is a simple matter. There is no need for our Daoist master to intervene. I need only seek his permission. Once he grants it, I can go with you and resolve the matter completely."

"How much will it cost?"

The boss asked as soon as he opened his mouth.

Smack!

The boss's wife gave him a slap, then smiled ingratiatingly, even switching to Mandarin. "Thank you so much, immortal lady."

"Think nothing of it, and do not worry. Our Daoist master's cultivation and mastery of the Dao run deep, and he has always been compassionate. You two need only return to give thanks when the time comes. The amount of money is up to you," Yunzhi said with a smile. In her heart, the immortal master was exactly that kind of person.

"When can we go?"

"Once the Daoist master gives his permission, we may leave at any time."

"All right, all right, all right..."

The couple exchanged a glance, astonishment in both their eyes.

That afternoon, Yunzhi returned from the foot of the mountain.

Just as she had said, it was a tiny bit of yin energy, easily dispersed with a casual breath. It couldn't have been simpler.

Of course, to win their trust and show them that the immortal master of this Daoist temple truly possessed great divine abilities, she had still put on a proper show of casting a spell, conjuring a little breeze and smoke to awe them. Only after leaving the couple, who were already thoroughly convinced, with their jaws hanging open did she tell them the yin evil had been completely eradicated.

"To treat an illness, one must first treat the heart, so Yunzhi was not entirely fooling them. Immortal Master, please do not think on that account that Yunzhi is skilled at making up lies!"

"Go on."

Chen Du was very interested.

"Afterward, the couple insisted on pressing banknotes on me, but to avoid tarnishing your reputation, Immortal Master, Yunzhi did not take a single cent. They did, however, give me a basin of chicken and a packet of this fragrant oil, which smelled wonderfully appetizing. Yunzhi thought that since ancient times, people on the mountain have often been provided for by those below, and that you seemed to be no exception, Immortal Master. Senior Xie would most likely enjoy it too, so I did not refuse again."

"You did very well."

When Chen Du used to go down the mountain to perform rituals and read feng shui for people, he would readily accept payments agreed upon beforehand. But when a patron gave him an extra red envelope like this, he would smilingly refuse it once or twice before accepting.

And so he said, his heart aching:

"We cultivators are duty-bound to drive out evil, suppress wickedness, and safeguard the people. We should not ask for too much money. If they are sincere, they will come up the mountain again."

"Yunzhi has learned from your guidance!"

Yunzhi answered solemnly.

At the same time, she felt a faint stirring of emotion.

When ordinary people said such things, they more often used the words "subdue demons and exterminate devils." But the immortal master hadn't said that. He had said "drive out evil and suppress wickedness," which undoubtedly warmed the heart of a demon like her.

"Oh, right. Before they left, they also said something about adding me on Weixin. May I ask, Immortal Master, what is that?"

"It's modern high technology. Even older people don't know how to use it, so it's perfectly normal that you don't understand."

"I see."

Yunzhi lowered her head. She was still far too ignorant.

Not only did she not know what Weixin was, but the way she spoke was still completely at odds with this era.

Just today, that couple had said her accent wasn't right. Perhaps they had been laughing to themselves, wondering what backwater she had come from.

The last time she had felt this way-"knowing nothing, understanding nothing, and being laughed at for everything she said and did"-was just after she had taken human form. With no other choice, she had learned from people she met along the way, copying whatever they did. A lame stutterer had even berated her at length, and she had nearly gotten a beating.

She never wanted to feel that way again!

Losing face herself was one thing, but she might very well make the immortal master lose face along with her.

Yes! She had decided. Today she would watch Xinwen Lianbo and Yizhou News five times over and properly learn the refined speech of this era.