The Mountain Road

"This humble woman is called Yunzhi. I attained the Dao and gained sentience in the third year of Zhengde. Before that, because the Heavenly Dao changed with the passing of ages, the earth's qi cycled, and spiritual qi grew scarcer by the day, I entered a deathlike sleep in a tomb on the mountain ahead..."

The woman knelt on the floor with her head bowed and eyes lowered. Her mamian skirt spread around her like a flower, its subtle golden-thread patterns catching the lamplight, stunning and intricate.

Attained the Dao and gained sentience?

She seemed to be a female yaoguai, not a ghost.

Dwelling in an ancient tomb?

Hearing that, Chen Du felt a whiff of classical tales of the strange wash over him. He couldn't help lowering his head to examine her again.

He had to admit, the woman's appearance and attire really did resemble a fox immortal from those classical legends.

The fox immortals of legend, also called fox spirits, often liked to live in ancient tombs in the wilderness by the roadside. Sometimes they invited people in as guests and used magic to transform their dwellings into splendid, gold-and-jade gardens and elegant classical pavilions, so they could pass themselves off as wealthy households.

The third year of Zhengde...

That was around the middle of the Ming dynasty?

By his reckoning, wouldn't that make her over five hundred years old?

A yaoguai over five hundred years old...

His thoughts had already raced through several turns in the blink of an eye.

As Chen Du thought, he raised a hand.

"Stand up to speak."

"Huh?"

"Don't kneel."

"Yes."

The woman obediently got to her feet, though she kept her head lowered, not daring to look at Chen Du.

At that moment, she appeared utterly meek.

"As it happened, the spiritual qi of heaven and earth was reviving, and a mountain torrent broke open the ancient tomb, so I awoke.

"When I awoke, my head was heavy and muddled. Then I saw the terrifying thunderbolts in the sky and only wanted to find a place bustling with human presence to shelter from the heavenly lightning. I had no intention of harming anyone.

"But, but I looked all over the mountain, and only your place had a light on, Immortal Master. Without thinking much, I rashly barged in. I never meant to disturb you. Please forgive me, Immortal Master, please forgive me..."

So spiritual qi really is reviving?

A place bustling with human presence can shelter her from heavenly lightning? What's the reasoning behind that? Can human presence conceal a yaoguai's aura? Or is it that when there are enough people, heavenly lightning won't strike at random for fear of hurting them by mistake?

And how did I become an immortal master?

Chen Du asked none of these questions. He merely nodded calmly, pretending he wasn't surprised.

He couldn't ask questions at random, or he would easily give himself away.

After a moment's thought, he spoke.

"Since you've only just awakened from your sleep, how do you know spiritual qi is reviving now? Did you deliberately go to sleep back then, intending to awaken at this very time?"

"That's right."

The woman remained standing by the door and gave him an honest account.

"Back when I was cultivating, the tide was already ebbing. I wondered why there was no trace of the celestial immortals and divine spirits, the demon kings and great yaoguai of legend. I searched through ancient texts and finally found something similar in an old book. It said the Heavenly Dao changes like fair and cloudy weather, like the waxing and waning moon, and the earth's qi cycles like seas turning to mulberry fields. The rising and falling tides of spiritual qi are predetermined, beyond human control. Back then, the tide of spiritual qi was ebbing."

She was clearly nervous. She paused to swallow before continuing.

"Though I am a yaoguai, I rarely met others of my kind. I was deeply lonely and often curious, so I could only travel in search of immortals and the Dao, just like ordinary people. But I journeyed across the world and searched everywhere without finding them. It was not until I reached Yizhou that I finally met an expert of a kind rarely seen even in ancient books.

"He took pity on me because becoming a spirit had not been easy, and seeing that I had harmed no one, he told me that this cycle of spiritual qi was different. Spiritual qi would eventually run dry altogether. When that happened, everyone who cultivated would lose their magic power, and all extraordinary things would become ordinary. Yaoguai and ghosts who did not go to sleep beforehand would be beaten back to their original forms and lose all their supernatural powers. Even if they were not beaten to death by others or caught by their natural enemies, most would not live much longer.

"He also taught me how to deal with it, so I followed his instructions and found a place to sleep. When the tide rolled in again, I would awaken."

Something like that actually happened?

Chen Du fell into thought.

For now, he set aside the woman's claim that she had "harmed no one." The rest was worth pondering.

The tide rose and fell, then vanished completely.

Sealing oneself away, sleeping and awakening.

None of it sounded false.

"What year did you go to sleep?"

"The tenth year of Wanli."

"The tenth year of Wanli?"

That seemed to have been the late Ming dynasty already? The fall of the Ming might have been only a few decades away? It was probably also about a few decades after the third year of Zhengde?

How much cultivation should a yaoguai who had cultivated for a few decades have? What spells and divine abilities might she possess?

Chen Du couldn't be sure, but his expression remained unchanged.

"Then do you know what year it is now?"

"I don't."

"More than four hundred years have passed."

"Ah..."

Even though the woman was a yaoguai, she couldn't help feeling a surge of surprise on hearing that more than four hundred years had quietly slipped by while she slept. Then came a bewilderment she could not suppress.

This world was undoubtedly unfamiliar to her.

She stood there in a daze.

The room fell quiet for a time, with only the increasingly frequent thunder outside.

Chen Du now vaguely realized that perhaps he shouldn't have said that last sentence, but by now it was clearly a little too late.

He paused as though considering it, and only when thunder burst repeatedly overhead in the night sky did he wave a hand. Putting on an air of forgiveness and magnanimity, he said:

"In that case, things haven't been easy for you either. I won't harm your cultivation. Leave quickly before I change my mind."

But the woman stood there in a daze and turned to look back blankly-

Rumble!

The thunder nearly shattered their eardrums. Its force and frequency had both increased by several degrees, as though the heavens themselves had been smashed to pieces.

Never mind a yaoguai-even a human wouldn't dare step outside lightly!

Lightning flashed ceaselessly, illuminating the rise and fall of the mountain forests: an unfamiliar world several hundred years removed from her own.

If she went out now, where could she go?

Heavenly thunder rolled on without end. Would it show her the slightest mercy?

The woman didn't move her feet.

She also thought that, since she had already come and told the immortal master before her everything, why not throw the broken pot to the ground and beg him to show mercy, let her stay, and protect her for one night?

At least this immortal master seemed fairly easy to talk to.

In any case, he was far easier to talk to than the heavenly lightning overhead.

No sooner had she thought it than she acted-

Thump! The woman dropped to her knees again!

The cat jumped straight up in fright.

"Please show mercy, Immortal Master. Let me shelter here for one night, and I will surely repay you!"

"Hm?"

How can that be allowed? I'm a fake immortal master!

Chen Du panicked at once.

On the surface, however, he put on an angry look.

"Do you take me for someone so easy to talk to?" Chen Du tightened his grip on the iron sword and leaned slightly toward her, creating an oppressive air. "How can a place of secluded Daoist cultivation shelter a yaoguai? Do you mean to stay here?"

"Please show mercy, Immortal Master! I dare not offend you, but the thunder is truly too fierce right now. If I go out, I fear the heavenly lightning will strike me dead before I can find another place to shelter!"

The woman simply prostrated herself on the floor. When she raised her eyes slightly, she met the gaze of the yaoguai dwelling in this place of secluded Daoist cultivation, crouched on the floor and licking its fur. But she didn't dare comment in the slightest and only pleaded again and again:

"I dare not disturb you here, Immortal Master. I only beg for a corner to shelter in. A woodshed, a kitchen, even under the eaves would do. Once the thunderstorm stops, or once this Awakening of Insects season is over, I will leave..."

She knows today is the Awakening of Insects too?

Is thunder during the Awakening of Insects a serious threat to yaoguai?

Chen Du had no time to think further, nor could he possibly ask. That would make an "expert" like him seem ignorant. More importantly, a more pressing problem lay before him-

This female yaoguai really didn't seem to want to leave.

Chen Du turned and looked outside.

He hadn't softened because of the yaoguai's otherworldly beauty or her meek, submissive manner. The ancient books said clearly that a yaoguai's outward appearance wasn't necessarily its true form. She was only being meek and pleading so desperately because she thought he was an immortal expert. If she discovered he was merely a mortal, she might well show the ferocious, terrifying side of a yaoguai.

But the point now was that the heavenly lightning outside during the Awakening of Insects really did seem to pose a deadly threat to her. Putting himself in her place, if it meant death either way, he probably wouldn't want to go out either.

If she refused to leave, what could he do about it?

Clearly, nothing.

Do I really have to spend the night with a yaoguai?

Problems followed one after another. He had only just told her to leave. If she said she wouldn't go and he immediately changed his tune, could an "expert" like him save face? Would this yaoguai think him exceptionally kindhearted, or see through the fact that he actually had no way to deal with her?

Chen Du took two steps back and sat down to think.

The woman bowed her head low, not daring to raise it.

Only the cat sat neatly at Chen Du's feet, turning its head to look at one and then the other. With its intelligence, it couldn't make sense of their verbal sparring. It only heard them speaking back and forth, and then its Daoist seemed to become unhappy.

Don't understand, don't understand...

"Sigh, never mind. As it happens, no pilgrims or visitors came up the mountain today. Perhaps your chance has arrived and you aren't meant to die. There's an empty guest room across the way. You can rest there tonight."

Chen Du first used the chance that had come her way as a pretext, then added:

"The wind and rain are strong tonight. The courtyard will probably be covered in fallen leaves and broken branches tomorrow. Before you leave in the morning, get up early and clean it for me. Then neither of us will owe the other anything."

"As you command! My deepest thanks, Immortal Master!"

The woman's joy showed on her face, and she bowed in thanks again.

This made what she had said earlier seem less like a lie.

"Stand up to speak. People don't kneel these days."

"Yes..."

"Side-Swept Bangs." Chen Du looked down at the cat licking its paw beside his feet, then pointed to the guest room opposite. "Take her to that room. Be good, and I'll give you an egg yolk tomorrow."

Though the wind howled and rain lashed down, soaking the entire corridor, the cat obediently got up. It turned to look at the female yaoguai, then took little steps along the wall beneath the eaves toward the guest room.

At the doorway, it put its front paws on the threshold and stopped, then looked back at her.

That was cat language too.

"Thank you, Immortal Master.

"And thank you too, little Immortal Master."

The woman stepped through the doorway, quickly picked up her lantern and banana leaf, and followed the cat away, as though afraid the Daoist would change his mind.

Chen Du sat upright in his chair, his expression composed.

He casually picked up the remote and switched on the television.

Before long, a light came on over there, glowing a warm pale yellow through the heavy rain that hung across the courtyard like a curtain of beads. His cat walked back beneath the eaves along the wall, then sat down and began grooming its fur.

The door was tightly shut, the television was making noise, and the wind, rain, and thunder were all piercingly loud. Thinking that the yaoguai couldn't detect what was happening over here, Chen Du finally let out a breath of relief.

That was close!

In the midst of danger just now, danger had been all he could think about, and all he had wanted was to find a way through it. There had been no room for anything else in his head. Now that things had quieted down, he found his mind in a complete muddle.

Immortals and yaoguai!

Spells and divine abilities!

If he hadn't already seen spiritual qi half a year ago, if his own cat weren't also close to becoming a spirit, and if he hadn't already consulted many ancient books and prepared himself somewhat, he would probably have panicked even more.

Now he saw both danger and opportunity.

It was as though he had found a mountain road clinging to a cliff, and wanted both to follow it upward and to turn back.