Chapter 2: There is a Nunnery in the Mountain
Mount Seeking Immortals was located on the southwestern border of Great Liang, adjacent to Lotus Seed Town and under the jurisdiction of Luo County. Throughout Great Liang, there were at least fifty, if not a hundred, mountains named Mount Seeking Immortals. Luo County itself was an obscure little county town, far removed from the strife of the Jianghu. The biggest event in decades had been a group of farmers who lost their fields, took their hoes up a mountain to declare themselves bandit kings, and were promptly rounded up and sent to the county jail in less than a month.
Even so, the local commoners’ passion for the martial world hadn’t diminished in the slightest. What Du Yu heard most often were various tabloid anecdotes. Clever traveling merchants would record Jianghu stories—either fabricated or hearsay—into small pamphlets. Whenever they arrived in a town, they would vigorously promote these booklets, which would then spark a wave of heated discussion among the locals.
Gongsun Ruo was a “victim” of these gossip pamphlets. She loved listening to these rumors of the martial world: which forest’s tiger was besieged by young heroes, which sects were fighting again, who had become the number one fighter in the world today, which sect had a melodramatic love triangle erupt, which infatuated lover was jumping off a cliff, or which cave hid the treasures of the previous dynasty…
There was a time when Gongsun Ruo begged Master to take her and her Senior Brother out to travel the world. The result was a week of solitary confinement. She was much more well-behaved after she came out.
Du Yu looked at Gongsun Ruo’s profile beside him. It was obvious the lass was angry; she was usually chatty to the point of being noisy, but when she was mad, she wouldn’t say a word. She hated it most when her Senior Brother called her small, or said she wasn’t sensible or mature enough.
Du Yu pursed his lips. He would just coax her later; Junior Sister was easy to coax.
The two walked up the stone steps for less than a quarter of an hour before Gongsun Ruo couldn’t help but speak. She glanced at her Senior Brother with a hint of complaint: “Senior Brother, my feet are sore from walking with you. How are you going to compensate me?”
Du Yu answered subconsciously, “Shall I give you a foot massage?”
“Senior Brother, oh Senior Brother. For a fake prude, don’t you know that a woman’s feet can only be touched by her husband?”
Du Yu broke into a sweat, feeling a bit guilty. “Ah, is that so? Then I misspoke.”
He looked ahead at the eaves of the nunnery peeking out. That was the base of their Boundless Sect, a moderately sized courtyard house.
He only remembered opening his eyes when he was ten years old to see Master sitting by his bed wiping his sweat. She told Du Yu that he had contracted a strange illness, and his helpless family had sent him to Mount Seeking Immortals to save his life. Although his life was saved, he could never practice martial arts again.
At the time, Du Yu had nodded in a daze. He couldn’t remember why he got sick, nor could he recall anything from before he was ten, not even his own name. So, under Master’s arrangement, he stayed at the Boundless Sect. Since then, he became the Head Disciple, following Master to learn miscellaneous studies.
Now, his only connection to the past was a centipede-shaped birthmark on his left wrist and a name that carried the beautiful blessing “a gentleman is like jade.”
Mount Seeking Immortals had clear waters and lush scenery, with a sky as blue as if it had been washed, and a faint aura of immortality; no wonder it had such a name. Du Yu carried the firewood to the woodshed when he heard a voice from the inner room: “Yu’er, come here for a moment.”
Gongsun Ruo whispered, “Senior Brother, please don’t tell Master about me buying pamphlets. I beg you. I’ll secretly add roast goose to your dinner tonight.”
Du Yu pinched her cheek; it was smooth to the touch, making him want to linger a moment longer. “Depends on my mood.”
“Senior Brother.”
“What?”
“If you sell me out, I’ll fight you to the death!”
**
Du Yu first went to the kitchen to ladle water and wash his hands and face, straightened his clothes, and then walked to the entrance of the backyard as if ready for battle. Master loved cleanliness; she often wore a spotless white robe and never had a speck of mud on her.
“Yu’er, why are you standing dumbly at the door? Why don’t you come in?” Master’s voice drifted out. Du Yu responded, took a deep breath, and walked into the backyard with his head lowered.
First, a corner of white clothing appeared in his vision, then the legs of a rattan chair. Before he could see her face, he heard her say, “Yu’er, have you been possessed lately? You don’t come to chat with your Master as usual, and now you won’t even look up at me properly?”
Du Yu sighed inwardly before looking up. He saw a woman in white lying lazily on the rattan chair, her beautiful hair scattered casually, her white robe somewhat dazzling in the sunlight. Just one look at her made Du Yu’s heart tremble slightly. The woman in white had skin like congealed fat, eyebrows picturesque without any makeup, appearing naturally beautiful. Du Yu’s gaze dodged, subconsciously moving down to her figure. She used a white cloth as a belt around her waist, tied a bit tightly, accentuating the high swell of her chest. A pair of long legs were casually crossed on another rattan chair. Through the soft white fabric, one could vaguely make out the fullness of her thighs and the slenderness of her calves.
He had always felt that Master was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her appearance was what he considered the limit of “human” beauty—not just her features, but her proud figure and ethereal temperament. Just standing beside her felt like bathing in white-gold radiance.
He was curious about Master’s age. She looked like a woman in her twenties, but according to some grapevine news Junior Sister picked up from somewhere, Master had lived on Mount Seeking Immortals for over a decade.
“Yu’er, did you do something bad?”
“How could I…” Du Yu considered himself a model disciple. He respected his teacher, cared for his Junior Sister, and helped Master manage the Boundless Sect in an orderly fashion. Did he look like someone who would do bad things?
“Then why do you not dare to look at me?” The woman in white spoke with a hint of coquettish blame, her tone like that of a young maiden. Du Yu thought to himself, Master, you aren’t young anymore.
“…” He couldn’t come up with a good explanation. He wasn’t good at lying to begin with, and after so many years on Mount Seeking Immortals with just the three of them in the sect, there had been no need to lie. He couldn’t very well admit that as he grew older, he became increasingly aware of Master’s beauty and feared he might harbor wicked thoughts of disrespecting his teacher, could he?
He hadn’t felt this strongly last year… Just after winter this year, when Master was sweeping snow with a broom made of reeds, Du Yu happened to pass by. He saw Master facing the early spring morning light, leaving a graceful silhouette in the glow. For some reason, he suddenly thought that whoever married Master would be truly blessed.
Once this thought arose, certain strange ideas in his heart could no longer be suppressed. He even dreamed of Master one night during a wet dream. This state frightened him somewhat. Master was his savior, equivalent to half a parent; how could he…
“Forget it. Yu’er is grown up and has his own thoughts. As a master, I have no right to pry.” Master stretched lazily, then suddenly lifted a leg. “Yu’er, come massage my feet. You haven’t given me a massage in a long time.”
Junior Sister’s unintentional remark suddenly flashed through Du Yu’s mind. After hesitating for a moment, he lowered his head and sat on the rattan chair next to Master, kneading her feet through the white cloth as he had in the past. He told himself inwardly: Master has a free and easy nature and doesn’t stick to trifles. Du Yu, oh Du Yu, you must not think crooked thoughts.
“Yu’er, how many years have you been with me?” Master lay comfortably on the rattan chair. Her posture wasn’t very elegant; her collar was slightly open, and from Du Yu’s angle, he could catch a glimpse of spring. Master actually used cloth bindings instead of wearing a dudou… and even bound, the deep cleavage was still faintly visible. Du Yu blinked and looked down to examine the stitching on the white cloth.
“Eight years.”
“Eight years.” Master sighed softly. “These eight years have been more fulfilling than eighteen. Yu’er, what have you learned in these eight years?”
“Astronomy and geography, arithmetic and poetry, music, chess, calligraphy and painting, medicine, poison, and divination.” Du Yu answered truthfully. Sometimes he wondered if Master might be a hidden super expert, just like in Junior Sister’s pamphlets. Maybe one day Master would transform and say, “Your Master was once the number one expert in the world,” and then he, Du Yu, would become the Head Disciple of the world’s number one expert.
Thinking this, Du Yu’s mind wandered, and his massage technique sped up a lot.
But what difference would it make if he really became the Head Disciple of the world’s number one expert? Thinking carefully, in this remote southwestern borderland, there was no place to use martial arts. The biggest event would be catching a petty thief or beating a weasel in the mountains. He heard that the Iron Palm Sect went to the county town streets to perform recently and earned quite a bit of silver. They were planning to rent a theater troupe in the county town specifically to perform Iron Sand Palm strikes.
Sure enough, the blood-soaked Jianghu storms in the storybooks had nothing to do with them.
“Yu’er, you’ve been my apprentice for eight years and learned about seventy or eighty percent of my skills. From now on, this annual trip down the mountain will be left to you.” She stretched, revealing a satisfied smile. “Switch feet, switch feet.”
Du Yu dismissed his fantasy. Master looked nothing like a hidden expert in this state.
“Am I going to Lotus Seed Town alone?” Du Yu was stunned.
“Don’t you want to see your biological parents?” Master asked back.
Master had told him that he was the third son of the Du family in Lotus Seed Town. The Du family elders had sent him up Mount Seeking Immortals to beg Master to save his life. But after so many years, the word “parents” had faded significantly in Du Yu’s heart. He couldn’t remember anything before he was ten; to him, his biological parents were now just two strangers he had never met.
Perhaps there would be the legendary blood connection—relatives meeting and knowing each other without a word, feeling like old friends at first sight, everyone happy. Du Yu let his imagination run wild.
“Take Ruo’er with you too. She has a lively nature and can’t stand being cooped up in the mountains anymore. This year you two can stay in Lotus Seed Town longer, even a few months is fine.”
Du Yu nodded, then asked, “What about you, Master? With no one to take care of you for months, will you go hungry or cold?”
Master was stunned, then immediately realized her Head Disciple was teasing her for her lack of independence. She sat up with a smile, reaching out to grab Du Yu’s ear, but he dodged. “Yu’er, come here, I won’t punish you.”
“Master, I have to go help Junior Sister cook, or she won’t be able to handle it alone.” Du Yu found an excuse.
As he was about to walk out of the courtyard, Master suddenly shouted, “Yu’er, when you go down the mountain, if you get bullied, remember to use your Master’s name.”
“I know, Master. I’m not the child I was back then.” Du Yu looked back helplessly, only to see the woman in white squatting on the rattan chair hugging her knees. Her crystal-clear, jade-like bare feet peeked out from under the white robe, exceptionally eye-catching.
“Do you still remember Master’s name?”
“Master’s surname is Ye, given name Shuangyue. Ye Shuangyue, of the Boundless Sect.” Du Yu called out, following her lead.
Ye Shuangyue smiled with satisfaction. “Good boy, go on then. By the way, Master will be leaving for a trip in a few days and will be back in about two or three months. You don’t need to worry about me, Yu’er.”
