Compost Fairy

The town's alleys twisted and turned, and most had no names.

An old locust tree stood with its gnarled branches coiling overhead. No one knew how many dynasties it had weathered, or when a fortune-telling stall had been set up beneath it.

Behind the stall sat a bald Daoist priest in a green gauze robe. It was hard to tell whether he was a monk wearing a Daoist robe or a Daoist who had shaved his head, neither monk nor priest.

The bald Daoist looked middle-aged and had a kindly face. He smiled even when no one was around. A peachwood plaque hung at his waist, with the character for "purple" carved on its face.

He set out a gleaming, well-oiled fortune-stick holder and hung up two silk banners. The fabric was luxurious and the ink characters vigorous. They read, respectively:

"Break ill fortune and dispel disaster"

"Pare away virtue and change fate"

At that moment, someone stationed at the main residence was facing him from afar and asking him through a transmission of thought:

"Mister Mo, have you discerned the town guardian's true identity?"

The bald Daoist shook his head.

It wasn't that he couldn't see it. He simply hadn't looked.

And as long as he didn't look, it wasn't that he couldn't see it.

The town's thirty-nine households hadn't uncovered the man's origins in thirty years. Was it because they didn't want to investigate, or because they truly couldn't find out?

The water was so deep. Why should he go wading in recklessly?

"Mister Mo, you once cast a fortune for that youth surnamed Yu, but judging by the present circumstances, it seems rather far off the mark. Would you please cast another fortune for him?"

Hearing the other man question his divination, the bald Daoist said evenly:

"If you are still concerned, I will go and take a look at the boy myself later, then divine his fate again."

The last time he had read the boy's fortune, his assessment had been, "His fate is like striking fire from stone."

Now, the boy had first obtained the [Spark Instruction], then the [Refining the True] method. All he lacked was a [visualization diagram].

Of course, in the bald Daoist's eyes, as long as the other households held to their bottom line and kept Yu Tunzhou from obtaining a [visualization diagram], the result would be the same: he would never amount to much.

The Chen Household youngster who had given him the [Spark Instruction] was shrewd and calculating to begin with; he had merely overlooked the fact that the boy had eaten Dragon Fish for three straight years.

But the [Spark Instruction] itself barely qualified as a superior method. Even if the households lacked the finest methods, theirs were beyond its comparison.

With such a vast gulf between them, if Yu Tunzhou could still make something of himself, it would only mean that the "promising young talents" of the thirty-nine households were all good-for-nothings, even less capable than a country boy.

"In that case, sorry for the trouble, Mister Mo. When the fate disperses a month from now, [Purple Yang Mountain] will still need your help."

The bald Daoist nodded slightly, neither agreeing nor refusing.

More than one household had asked for his help. He had paid a tremendous price to obtain the permit to enter this grotto-heaven, and he hadn't come for this; it was merely something he could do in passing.

The bald Daoist lifted his head and gazed toward the mountain outside town. After a long while, his eyes filled with wistfulness.

Thinking back a thousand years, how formidable and invincible that man had been! He had truly fought everyone under heaven without finding an equal. His fate alone had been enough to make him supreme in the mortal world.

But now, he had been reduced to a "foundation" the households used to nurture their descendants. His martial fate, which had manifested as a green lotus, had also been scattered, ultimately creating the present situation, in which all the households shared the feast.

Remembering the old events recorded in the notes left by his founding master, the bald Daoist sighed from the heart. Shaking his head, he softly chanted:

"Alas, the fish that once could swallow a boat cannot now prevail against ants. Cast about and stranded out of water, it can be eaten by them..."

As if he had suddenly realized something, he sprang to his feet. His expression changed drastically, becoming almost fierce, and his gaze locked onto the figure of a youth walking toward town.

"How can you be called..."

"Yu Tunzhou?!"

The next moment, the bald Daoist was about to take a step and go examine the youth's origins properly when he suddenly frowned and looked down the alley, his right eyelid twitching.

The town guardian, who shared his surname, was charging toward him in a fury. He had even begun rolling up his sleeves. Clearly, he had come with ill intent.

Two youths had just met at the end of an alley. One pointed at the figure hurrying past, heading straight north, and said with a smile:

"Brother Jiang, that's Yu Tunzhou, the one I mentioned before. His situation is almost identical to Lu Huaiqing's back then."

The youth named Jiang Yungu narrowed his eyes and fixed them on the unfamiliar figure. He watched until Yu Tunzhou disappeared from sight, then said evenly:

"If none of the households makes a move in the end, I'll personally step in and sweep him away."

The person beside him was not at all surprised by his friend's attitude.

Ninety years ago, it had been the Luo River Jiang Clan that selected and supported the cowherd.

And afterward, it had also been the Luo River Jiang Clan that suffered the heaviest blow and the worst backlash.

Thus, he wasn't surprised in the least that Jiang Yungu had transferred all his loathing and hatred for Lu Huaiqing onto Yu Tunzhou.

He only pitied the youth, who had done nothing, yet whose path ahead had been blocked by someone who came before him.

Yu Tunzhou followed the bluestone road toward the northernmost end of town.

Along the way, the streets were no longer empty as they had been in the past, leaving him alone. He often saw people his own age in groups.

Occasionally, when they saw the youth whose fate should have been like striking fire from stone, their eyes held noticeably less indifference and more scrutiny. Clearly, they had heard what had happened not long before.

Beating Zhang Qinghe down with a flurry of punches wasn't the important part. What mattered was the daring and decisiveness the youth had shown, striking quickly and ruthlessly.

In particular, he had defied the Zhang Household's stationed guardian at the end.

Those points alone meant he could not be regarded as an ordinary farmer's son, and was worth watching out for.

Yu Tunzhou strode north through town and noticed something strange: several people were actually headed the same way.

When he reached the old residence in the north, Yu Tunzhou froze for a moment, then hurried to the front gate. He found several people moving along the surrounding corridor, seemingly searching for something, while others were going in and out of the main house ahead.

Had the other households caught wind of it too?!

With a swish, a paper fan flicked open and shut.

Xie Linchuan appeared silently beside him from who knew where. Gently fanning himself, he gave off an air of effortless elegance. He raised his chin slightly and asked with a beaming smile:

"Brother Yu, what do you think?"

"I found two acquaintances and spread word that the Heavenly Peng Daoist Temple had gathered dust for years and contained old treasures that only the sincere and those with an affinity could obtain. That brought these people over to help."

Yu Tunzhou stared in astonishment.

Xie Linchuan continued smugly:

"Of the town's thirty-nine households, eleven have come by now. If there's a chance later, I'll introduce you to a few people."

"Huh? Brother Yu, why do you look a little pale?"

Yu Tunzhou silently clutched his chest, feeling a faint ache there.

Although having people help clean up was a good thing, if someone took away a fortuitous opportunity that might have been there, this would be more than a good intention gone wrong.

He looked at Xie Linchuan, whose good intentions had gone awry, and sighed, but did not blame him.

Brother Xie's willingness to set this up to help him meant he already regarded him as a friend.

The youth rallied himself. It was only a slight change of circumstances; how could life be free of surprises? He rolled up his sleeves, grabbed Xie Linchuan, and charged into the old residence.

Xie Linchuan said in surprise, "Brother Yu, you're going to do it yourself? Haven't you heard of sitting back and reaping the fisherman's profit?"

Yu Tunzhou said earnestly, "Old Xie, is it possible that there really are old treasures buried here, covered in dust?"

Xie Linchuan's expression abruptly changed. He remembered that Yu Tunzhou had lived on the mountain as a neighbor to two sages and was also on good terms with the mysterious and unfathomable town guardian.

By rights, none of those three would interfere, nor should they interfere, in the rivalry among newcomers like them.

But what if?

A thousand words could not outweigh those two: "what if"!

If it were only a few vague hints, that would not be enough to stir the town's "Heavenly Dao."

The Heavenly Peng Daoist Temple...

Back then, it had at least been a lineage left by an expert with a Dharma Aspect!

If some treasured trump card had truly been left behind, even he, born into a great clan and accepted into [Evergreen Mountain], the ancestral court of the Daoist School, would find it hard not to be tempted.

Xie Linchuan snapped his fan shut, tucked it behind his waist, and rolled up his wide sleeves. "Brother Yu, how can we let ourselves fall behind the others?"

He turned as he spoke, only to find that Yu Tunzhou had already walked over to the side and begun cleaning the rockery and pond.

And when the promising young talents of the various households, who had been fooled there by the "rumor" in hopes of finding a prize, saw Yu Tunzhou join the cleanup, they became even more certain that the rumor was true.

Just like that, the old residence, which had stood empty for who knew how many years, suddenly became a sought-after place, growing livelier by the minute.

By noon, the people gradually dispersed. Yu Tunzhou also returned to the mountain, ate lunch, and came back down.

When he arrived again that afternoon, he found even more people in the old residence.

This time, moreover, when they noticed Yu Tunzhou's arrival, quite a few cast appraising glances his way.

Clearly, the morning's events had already spread among the households.

Under their varied gazes, Yu Tunzhou glanced warily at the people around him, then threw himself back into the great undertaking of cleaning the old residence and hunting for treasure along the way.

While cleaning the pond and rockery that morning, he had found a copper coin at the bottom of the pond and quietly tucked it into his robes. He planned to ask Xie Linchuan to appraise it later.

Just as he was thinking about it, Xie Linchuan appeared at his side again as if out of nowhere.

Xie Linchuan had just learned of Yu Tunzhou's "glorious feats" that morning from his grand martial uncle. With the hint of a smile, he said:

"Brother Yu, did you knock down Zhang Qinghe of the Zhang Household this morning, and then drive off the Cao Household's future sword immortal?"

Yu Tunzhou turned to look at him, wondering whether the fellow had cultivated some kind of lightness skill, appearing without a sound like that.

"Mm." He thought for a moment, then added, "Did Senior Zhang tell you?"

Old Mo hadn't been wrong. Those people had their eyes on every move made in town. He would have to be careful in everything he did from now on.

Xie Linchuan's smile widened. "Do you know what Cao Jianjia, who retreated at the sight of mud, is doing now?"

"...Making careful preparations to come after me for revenge later?"

Yu Tunzhou's expression immediately turned serious, and the girl's nimble movements appeared in his mind.

If they met again somewhere like an alley, how would he face her without a sharp weapon in hand?

Xie Linchuan waved his fan and said with a smile:

"Grand martial uncle said that woman's elders punished her by sending her to farm. Right now, she's studying how to make compost for the vegetable garden."

"The Cao Household's future sword immortal? I think she ought to change her name to Compost Sword Immortal."