Which One of You Is Afraid of the Other? (Thanks to "Number 5431" for the Alliance Leader!)

"Immortal Master..."

"Hm? Why haven't you left yet?"

"..."

The woman grew even more frightened, thinking the Immortal Master was very angry.

The Immortal Master seemed to be asking a question, but his expression didn't look good either.

Yes, he had trusted her so much last night, been so tolerant of her, and helped her, yet she had betrayed his trust and even caused him trouble just as he was going out to visit a friend. Who wouldn't be angry?

When you were wrong, you had to admit it. When you were being beaten, you had to stand at attention.

So she bowed her head deeply, without the slightest thought of resisting:

"Please punish me, Immortal Master!"

"Hm?"

"I know I was wrong."

Chen Du kept his expression neutral. "What did you do wrong?"

"I was wrong to..."

The woman thought carefully about how to phrase it:

"I have committed three wrongs.

"First, since Immortal Master had already told me to leave this place, I should have obeyed your decree. I should not have returned without permission and defied you.

"Second, Immortal Master's immortal abode is carved with dragons and phoenixes, with treasured light flowing through it. It encompasses the sun and moon of the mortal world and has its own spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Spiritual energy abounds, and strange phenomena arise all around. Even the fallen blossoms from the treasure tree are no ordinary things. Even if Immortal Master holds them in no regard and considers them dust and debris, they are not for a little yao like me to covet. I was blinded by greed and thought that since Immortal Master no longer wanted them, they would only be thrown away, so there would be no harm in taking them..."

"?"

Chen Du instantly pieced together what had happened.

Is that all the ambition you have?

There's a whole tree standing here, and you went rummaging through the trash for the unwanted blossoms that fell on the ground last night?

Oh, no, they fell the night before last.

Couldn't you have just asked me for them then?

I don't have any use for the things anyway!

Still, fortunately, most of it was as he had thought.

With that thought, Chen Du continued:

"And the third?"

"I was wrong to show Immortal Master disrespect and underestimate you."

"..."

You think too highly of me!

Never mind what you stole-if you stole something, you should have run! What kind of thief obediently kneels in the owner's home after stealing something and waits for him to come back and punish her?

Now Chen Du still had to find a way to get her to leave again.

"Since you stole something, why didn't you run?"

"Surely you jest, Immortal Master." The woman's face was full of bitterness. "Immortal Master possesses vast divine powers. How could my little schemes escape your notice? A mere gesture from you can make mountains crumble and the earth split. To wipe out a little yao like me would probably take nothing more than a sneeze. It is only because you are merciful that I am still here."

She quietly flattered Chen Du, hoping it would help.

Sure enough, she had been frightened by the shaking of the earth and mountains just now.

Who wouldn't be afraid of a commotion like that?

A new thought occurred to Chen Du, and he suddenly relaxed a little.

The Daoist temple, the Daoist robes, the spiritual energy, the treasure tree, and a cat that had become a spirit were already quite convincing. With the mountains shaking and the earth trembling on top of that, his image as an expert was probably already deeply impressed on her mind.

As things stood, as long as he didn't push her too hard, she wouldn't dare disrespect him no matter what.

"Then tell me, how should I punish you?"

"I leave it to Immortal Master to decide."

After saying that, the woman's heart tightened again. Afraid that the Immortal Master would slap her to death, she hurriedly added:

"Yunzhi is willing to work like an ox or a horse to atone for this crime."

"There's no need for you to work like an ox or a horse."

"Then Immortal Master means..."

"I haven't decided yet. Stay here and do odd jobs for me for now. Do whatever I tell you, and I'll provide your food and lodging. But you mustn't make this kind of mistake again."

It seemed the Immortal Master had no intention of letting her leave the mountain anytime soon.

That seemed only natural.

After all, spiritual energy had only just recovered, and all things were new. She had rashly barged in last night. At best, she had offended an expert; at worst, she might have revealed herself to be of poor character. After what happened today, the Immortal Master was even more likely to think poorly of her character.

Even if her magic power was weak, in these times she was still capable of causing a great disaster in the human world down the mountain. It was only natural for the Immortal Master to keep a close watch on her.

The woman sighed.

Although she had imagined last night that she might be able to stay here for a while to cultivate and restore her magic power, that was clearly a different matter from being forced to stay on the mountain.

Being confined for a long time was no better than being in a slightly larger prison.

For now, she could only lower her head obediently and agree.

The temple cat sat off to one side, still looking utterly baffled. It kept turning its head from side to side, looking at one when that one spoke, then turning to look at the other when the other opened their mouth. It couldn't make sense of it at all: which one of them was afraid of the other?

"You may only stay in the front courtyard. You're not allowed in the back courtyard or the study. Keep your eyes and ears to yourself, and don't go prying."

"Yes..."

"The roof tiles fell and broke. There are good ones stacked by the wall in the back. Go find them and replace the broken ones first. It's damp today, and there's an eighty percent chance it'll rain again tonight. Don't let the roof leak." As Chen Du spoke, he walked toward the kitchen to the side. "I have things to do. Don't disturb me."

"Yes..."

Only then did the woman stand up.

"And one more thing. A mistake is a mistake, but don't kneel at the drop of a hat. That's what the lackeys of later times did."

"Immortal Master is merciful."

Chen Du had already walked into the kitchen.

Sure enough, there was no rice left, and fewer than two fingers' width of dried noodles remained. Otherwise, he wouldn't have eaten instant noodles that morning.

The instant noodles he'd eaten that morning had been the last two packets as well.

It had already been time to buy supplies. He had bought some online, and they had all been delivered to a pickup point in the town at the foot of the mountain. Since he happened to be going down the mountain today to look at someone's feng shui, he had kept putting off collecting them until today, when he planned to pick up some other things in the village along the way.

He had even cleared out the storage space on his three-wheeler.

And then this happened...

In other words, unless the two laying hens could lay another two eggs today, he would start going hungry by tonight at the latest.

"Sigh..."

"Mrr?"

The cat tilted its head in concern.

"Don't you 'mrr' me! We don't have anything to eat!"

"Meow!"

The cat turned and ran, swift as a startled hare, bounding away into the distance. It made two trips and brought him two cans of cat food in its mouth.

"Don't those cost money too? If I can't go down the mountain, there won't be any money, and once these are gone, there won't be any more."

One worry came on the heels of another. Chen Du was at his wits' end, rapidly thinking of a solution.

The most pressing problem was this yao.

Now, that had turned out to be easy to solve.

Or rather, it had already been solved.

Given how much she feared and respected him now, he didn't need to worry about anything else. However he chose to drive her off the mountain, she would accept it. If he added a childish threat like "Don't ever let me see you again," that would be enough to keep her from daring to set foot on this mountain for the rest of her life.

Even if he did something that didn't fit the usual image of an expert and would ordinarily arouse suspicion, she might fill in the gaps herself and take it as an eccentricity of a reclusive expert.

But a person had two eyebrows.

And two problems burning those eyebrows.

The other was food.

Spring had only just begun, and winter's chill had yet to fade. The greens beside the Daoist temple had just sprouted, and the spring bamboo shoots on the mountain should be poking out too, but neither could serve as a meal. The wild fruit hadn't even appeared yet. People on survival shows could at least gather a basketful of wild kiwifruit on a mountain, but here he had nowhere to gather any fruit at all.

Even if he solved the immediate problem, there was still the long term to consider.

This place was somewhat remote, after all. The Daoist temple had never had many visitors, and young people nowadays weren't as willing to donate to temples as people had been in the past. That was why Chen Du had once suggested to his master that they convert the two meditation rooms on the west side into guest rooms, where tourists and worshippers could stay overnight for a modest fee.

Their main income still came from going down the mountain to perform rituals and read feng shui.

If he couldn't go down the mountain, the temple's income would plummet, and even putting food on the table would become a problem.

Could someone really starve to death in this day and age?

For the moment, Chen Du really couldn't be sure.

And if he was always going hungry, he would also be likely to expose the fact that he was merely a mortal without any cultivation before he starved to death.

One who did not plan for ten thousand generations was unfit to plan for a single moment. Looking further ahead and behind, even if he really could take care of his food, drink, and bodily needs for the rest of his life, was he truly going to be trapped on this mountain forever?

Even though he had taken over the Daoist temple from his master and was now effectively its owner, and would probably spend his life there like his master and ultimately die in the temple, that was clearly a different matter from being forced to remain on the mountain.

Being confined for a long time was no better than being in a slightly larger prison.

This had come from the mysterious, and it would probably have to be resolved through the mysterious as well.

If he wanted to find out what was really going on, let alone break it, he would most likely have to cultivate.

As he thought, his gaze turned toward the front.

Through the window, he saw that the female yao had already fetched the spare tiles. He didn't know how she had gotten onto the roof, but she had begun diligently replacing the fallen tiles.

"Immortal Master, it's fixed."

The woman jumped down from the roof.

"That was fast!"

Chen Du also came back to his senses from his thoughts.

"Immortal Master gave an order. I would not dare delay." The woman was extremely respectful. After speaking, she stood obediently to one side, hands folded in front of her, awaiting his instructions.

"I was going out to visit a friend, but after this delay, I no longer feel like going. I still have some things down the mountain that I haven't picked up. Go and get them for me."

"Down the mountain?" the woman said. "It is my honor to be of service to Immortal Master, but I... have only just awakened and am unfamiliar with the people and places..."

There's no other way!

"It's all right. It's in the town at the foot of the mountain. Oh, what's called a town now is a larger village, somewhere between a village and a county. Follow this cement road to the end and you'll be there. I'll tell you the exact place, and you can find it yourself."

"Cement road..."

So that's what that white jade-like road is called? But it has neither water nor mud, so why give it that name?

"May I ask, Immortal Master, is there a token?"

"Wait a moment."

Chen Du went back to the study, took out paper and a pen, wrote something on a sheet, and handed it to her.

"Is this the token?"

The woman looked at the characters written on it. She recognized some, while others were unfamiliar but looked familiar.

"This is the address. It's a small, two-story yellow building. These big characters are written on the sign by the door. Compare them, and you'll know it's the right place when they match."

"I shall obey Immortal Master's decree."

"Take this too."

"This is...?"

The woman looked at the paper in her hand. Some crooked symbols were written on it.

"This is the token. Remember, when you go in, tell the owner, 'Pick up a package,' then hand him this paper. He'll find the things and give them to you."

"Pick up a sword..."

The woman repeated it, her expression solemn.

The blossoms that fell from the tree the Immortal Master had planted were no ordinary blossoms, so how could anything involving him be ordinary? With both a token and a secret phrase, this was clearly no ordinary matter! What she was to pick up was very likely some important treasure, perhaps even an immortal sword!

A thought faintly formed in the woman's mind-

This might be the Immortal Master's test of her.

If she could hold true to her heart this time, she might change some of the Immortal Master's opinion of her. If she once again failed to resist greed, true punishment would very likely descend immediately.

Thinking of it this way, the Immortal Master truly was kind and merciful. Not only had he indulged her repeatedly last night, but when she offended him again today, he had not made things too difficult for her, instead giving her a chance to mend her ways.

That was truly the bearing of an expert.

"I've remembered."

"And this too."

"And this is...?"

There were two more pieces of paper, both strange in texture and appearance.

"This is money, the equivalent of Great Ming treasure notes. There are two hundred yuan here, which you can think of as two hundred copper coins. The place where you're picking up the package also sells things. Buy a fifty-jin bag of white rice and bring it back."

"Understood."

Chen Du watched her calmly, observing her as well, and noticed that she didn't seem surprised that he wanted to buy rice.

It seemed the cultivation experts of ancient times couldn't abstain from food either.

Or perhaps, even after reaching a realm where they could abstain from food, or cultivating a method that allowed them to do so, those experts were still willing to eat when there was no need to abstain.

On closer thought, that also matched the true stories left over from ancient times and the tales of immortals circulating among the people. Ancient emperors and nobles, for example, would hold banquets to entertain cultivation experts, and the immortals in heaven also held feasts, only with finer food and drink.

And judging by her own account, unless not a single word she had said was true, she probably hadn't met many cultivation experts herself.

That made it even less likely that he would be exposed.

Add to that the fact that some Daoist cultivators were easygoing by nature...

"One more thing-"

Chen Du was kindhearted after all and couldn't help adding a warning:

"The human world down the mountain isn't as it was in your time. The changes may be beyond your imagination. When you walk on the road, remember to watch out for vehicles and stay by the edge, not in the middle. If there are red or green lights at an intersection, remember that you can't cross on red; you can only go when the light is green. If you can't tell them apart, wait and watch the people around you. When they go, you go. If someone asks you for an ID card, that's an official. Don't rely on being a yao and attack anyone. Just find an excuse and run away."

"This..."

There was so much information that she couldn't remember some of it.

The woman tucked the papers away and went out through the mountain gate. Her figure was as light as ever. With a tap of her toes, she leaped onto a treetop and turned to bid the Immortal Master farewell.

"Get down and walk."

"Oh, all right!"

The woman obediently jumped down and followed the path down the mountain.