Chapter 128 – Night Talk

The night air carried a slight chill. The students had drunk far too much, stumbling as they walked. Someone started singing a folk song, and before long, the whole group was singing along the entire way back.

Zhan Changfeng hadn’t drunk much. She trailed behind the group with Yu Sheng, chatting idly. Fan Siyuan caught a few snatches of their conversation—something about humanities and geography, then Daoist philosophical thought—but they jumped topics every two or three sentences, making it impossible to follow.

“Hic—if I pass out later, you two better carry me home,” Fan Siyuan said with a wine-tinged hiccup. After mumbling those instructions, she stumbled off to fight someone for the wine jug and join in the off-key singing.

Yu Sheng shook her head with a laugh, then continued speaking with Zhan Changfeng. “I’m not the kind of detached ascetic who seeks nothing from the world. I always want to do something about the state of things. But I can’t quite figure out what you’re seeking.”

“How so?”

“It’s hard to describe. Judging by how you conduct yourself, you seem like an observer standing apart from everything. But after talking with you, I realize you might actually be someone deeply engaged with the world.”

“Withdrawing from the world and engaging with it were never really different.” Zhan Changfeng thought back for a moment and said, “I once asked a master where he had gone. He said, ‘Beyond the square inch.'”

“And where is ‘beyond the square inch’?” Zhan Changfeng looked at Yu Sheng.

Yu Sheng felt something stir in her heart and sighed, “It is still the mortal world.”

“That’s exactly how he answered me too.” Zhan Changfeng’s lips curled upward. “It sounds ridiculous, but at first I thought Cangyun Ravine was nothing but mountain peaks everywhere, and that the cultivators here lived lives cut off from the world, just like the Daoist priests in Shenzhou’s temples and the monks in their monasteries—caring nothing for the passage of time. But after arriving, I discovered this place is just a higher form of the mortal world, where the pursuit of fame and fortune has simply been replaced by the pursuit of wealth, companions, techniques, and territory.”

“Where there are desires, there is conflict. Where there is conflict, one remains entangled in this world. Sometimes, even if one’s heart desires nothing, one is still dragged into the vortex of struggle. Such is the life of a cultivator,” Yu Sheng said.

“Cultivating the Dao, cultivating the Dao—before one has actually attained the Dao, we’re all still within the Five Elements. For me, the sole purpose of cultivating the Dao is to let me live a little more freely.”

“More freely?”

“Roughly speaking, it means having the ability to obtain everything I want.”

Yu Sheng teased, “Others fight for everything and call it pursuing ‘the Dao.’ But with you, attaining ‘the Dao’ is just a means to conveniently get everything you want?”

“Perhaps my ‘everything’ is my ‘Dao.'”

Yu Sheng considered this for a moment. “That’s a very interesting way of thinking.”

“I don’t know what your philosophy of cultivation is like, but the way I see it, ‘the Dao’ isn’t something that exists in the future, nor is it something you can cultivate simply by meditating and practicing techniques.”

The narrow path through the fields wound into the distance. The seedlings planted in early spring had already grown into rice stalks heavy with grain. The evening breeze set the rice rippling in waves, accompanied now and then by the croaking of frogs and distant singing.

Zhan Changfeng’s voice rang especially clear in that moment, falling on Yu Sheng’s ears—low and resonant with meaning. “I’m more inclined to believe that I have always been within ‘the Dao.’ Everything I do, think, feel, and aspire to is about wiping away the dust so I can see clearly what kind of ‘Dao’ I truly inhabit.”

“You believe each person’s ‘Dao’ is predetermined?”

“No.” Zhan Changfeng casually plucked a stalk of rice and held it between her fingers. “Can you guess what this rice stalk will look like three breaths from now?”

Yu Sheng looked at her hand and shook her head. “I can’t say for certain. If I say it’ll be intact, you might crush it. If I say it’ll be crushed, you might keep it whole.”

After a pause, Yu Sheng laughed. “You’re saying that your will determines what kind of ‘Dao’ it becomes, and your words and actions determine what kind of ‘Dao’ ultimately manifests.”

“More or less.”

This was an extraordinarily profound topic, so what followed was a long silence.

Fan Siyuan did indeed pass out from drinking. Yu Sheng and Zhan Changfeng brought her home, and Zhan Changfeng took the opportunity to tell Fan Zhili about terminating her rental.

“She can’t hold her liquor and still drinks that much. Thank you both. Let me see you out—be careful on the road.”

Fan Zhili lit a lantern. “It’s dark out. Take this with you.”

Zhan Changfeng accepted it. “By the way, Village Chief—has anything happened to anyone these past couple of days?”

Fan Zhili paused to consider. “Ever since those three investigators from the Bureau of Patrol came to look around, nothing has happened. You lot have been fine too. Maybe things have settled down.”

“Is that so.”

After leaving the village chief’s home, Yu Sheng asked with uncertainty, “Is something wrong?”

Zhan Changfeng glanced at her and spoke honestly. “I feel there’s a kind of demonic aura about Xiao Shaobai, though it doesn’t normally show. I only noticed it today.”

“You think he’s connected to the man-eating case?”

“I’m not sure yet. But even if he isn’t, he must have come into contact with some kind of evil entity or dark art. His power is growing far too quickly, and the nature of his aura gives me an uneasy feeling.”

“Without proof, it’s hard to act. Perhaps we could find some pretext to have the Militia keep an eye on him.”

“That’s all we can do for now.”

Yu Sheng glanced at the road. “What, are you really going to walk me all the way back to Green White Mountain?”

“Who told the village chief to only give us one lantern?”

Zhan Changfeng did indeed escort her all the way up to the small courtyard on Green White Mountain. “If you’re going to the Eternal Capital, are you taking all those flowers and plants you’ve been tending?”

“Since I chose to raise them, I should see to them properly.” Yu Sheng smiled gently. “Your orchid didn’t make it?”

“It was always meant for you anyway. I’ll bring it over tomorrow.” Having found a good home for the orchid, Zhan Changfeng took her leave.

But she did not descend the mountain. Instead, she went to a bare cliff face—the very spot where Master Yao Yu held his lessons.

At this hour, the surroundings were silent and empty. The craggy rocks stood with their backs to the moonlight, casting layer upon layer of dark shadows.

Time trickled by. In the blink of an eye, it was the third watch of the night.

Footsteps sounded from the forest. “What are you doing here?”

“Keeping our appointment to attend the third-watch lesson.”

Master Yao Yu countered, “When did I ever make such an appointment with you?”

“When I asked you what ‘Intent’ was, you laughed three times and walked away.” Zhan Changfeng was respectful but not subservient. “Since I was able to wait here and find you, it seems I did not misread your meaning.”

She paused briefly. “If Master Yao Yu chooses not to teach, that’s fine as well. After all, daytime and nighttime are different.”

After the Outer Academy spots had been confirmed, Master Yao Yu had followed through on his arrangement with chief examiner Yuan Qiao and retested her root bones. But the results hadn’t changed.

Root bones were actually quite important. There was a saying that had long circulated among Daoist sects: “Those without bone structure shall not be taught.”

Master Yao Yu scoffed at her words. “Do you have so little confidence in your own comprehension?”

He walked to the thatched hut. “Come inside. First, pay respects to the lineage’s Founding Master.”

Inside the hut stood a stone tablet as tall as half a person, inscribed with two characters: Wuxin.

“My lineage is called Wuxin—’No Heart.’ It has been passed down for seven hundred and twenty generations. Because it is exceedingly difficult to learn, it has essentially been passed down to a single disciple each generation. I also share some rudimentary knowledge with the Community School students from time to time, to test whether any of them are suitable.”

Master Yao Yu drew three sticks of incense, lit them, bowed three times before the stone tablet, and inserted them into the burner before continuing. “Wuxin has already declined. Though I am a disciple of this lineage, I have only mastered part of its teachings. By our sect’s rules, I am not qualified to take on disciples. And I imagine you wouldn’t bow to someone at mere Foundation Establishment as your master either. So here is what we’ll do: you offer three sticks of incense to the Founding Master, register your name in the lineage records, and I will teach you one art in the capacity of a senior fellow disciple. What becomes of it after that is entirely up to you.”

He cut a piece of yellow paper and handed it to Zhan Changfeng along with a vermilion brush, leaving the choice to her.

When Zhan Changfeng had first heard the word “Intent,” she had sensed that what he intended to teach was not merely a simple spell. That was precisely why she had come for this lesson. There was nothing to hesitate about now.

She wrote her name on the yellow paper and handed it to Master Yao Yu. He held it between two fingers, chanted a sacrificial hymn to convey the meaning to the lineage, then set the paper alight. He handed three sticks of incense to Zhan Changfeng, recited the sect rules once through, and said, “Since you are only a registered disciple, the rules are not overly binding. You need only uphold three points. First, you must never in your lifetime transmit the art I teach you to another. Second, on this day each year, you must erect a Wuxin tablet, report to the ancestors, and declare your aspirations. Third, you must never present yourself as a disciple of the Wuxin sect to outsiders.”

“Offer the incense!”