Uncanny Immortal 29

Chapter 29

Daoist companion…

She didn’t often hear the senior sisters mention this term. Xie Qingzheng had only seen it in some books, where it was mentioned in passing without much detail, and the senior sisters had never elaborated on it.

Upon hearing the words “Daoist companion,” her first thought was of a partner in cultivation.

She was puzzled. “Master, why can Daoist companions stay together for a lifetime, but master and disciple cannot? Companions can have disagreements. I’ve seen the senior sisters argue and bicker occasionally. But you and I, master and disciple, are of the same lineage. I will listen to everything you say and never disobey. Can’t we be both master and disciple, and Daoist companions?”

“Insolence!” Hearing the last sentence, Mo Jiangxue’s expression changed slightly. She suddenly stood up, shot her a sideways glance, as if with a hint of anger.

It was the first time in her life she had seen her master angry. Xie Qingzheng shrank back in fear and quickly lowered her head. “Disciple was wrong. Master, please don’t be angry. I won’t say it again.”

Mo Jiangxue was of a calm nature, her emotions of joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness all very faint. Seeing the look of alarm on Xie Qingzheng’s face, she immediately reined in her anger, sat back down, and said calmly, “Do not say such things again. Once a master, always a master.”

Xie Qingzheng lowered her head, her face flushed red, not daring to meet Mo Jiangxue’s eyes. She saluted and replied, “Yes.”

She thought to herself: Master is an elder, and I am a junior. There is a distinction between senior and junior. Naturally, we cannot be companions. We can only be master and disciple for a lifetime.

It was my own rashness and rudeness that offended my master…

She felt ashamed, but hearing the words “once a master, always a master,” she couldn’t help but feel a slight joy.

Once one becomes a disciple, the master-disciple relationship is set for life. Could this also be considered an unbreakable bond?

Since there was such a bond, if they could stay by each other’s side for a lifetime, what was the difference between being master and disciple, or Daoist companions?

Mo Jiangxue looked at Xie Qingzheng.

The young girl before her was graceful and elegant, as gentle and refined as jade. Her brows were dark, her temples green. She no longer had the naive and childish look of her youth, but her eyes still held an untainted clarity.

As she looked, Mo Jiangxue suddenly understood that the “Daoist companion” the person before her spoke of was not the same as what she meant.

A Daoist companion could refer to a partner in cultivation, or it could refer to a couple who cultivated together.

Although the Xuanji Sect, which followed Daoism as its creed, did not forbid marriage, and there were even frequent intermarriages between the various sects, it also emphasized a pure heart and few desires, especially for the outer sect cultivators who were still young and whose Dao hearts were not yet stable. Private affections were forbidden.

The head teaching sister of Weiming Peak had probably only taught her the former meaning.

After entering the inner sect, she had only been on Ethereal Peak, enlightening the Dao and tempering her mind. She was not worldly, and she did not know what love was.

A person who did not know what love was, saying “be both master and disciple, and Daoist companions,” only wanted to become her Daoist friend in cultivation. It was just a child’s pure and straightforward filial love and admiration, with no hint of romantic love.

Realizing this, Mo Jiangxue turned her gaze away, no longer looking at Xie Qingzheng, but at the white snow and red plum blossoms outside the pavilion, her brow slightly furrowed.

As a master, it was her duty to impart the Dao, teach her music, and resolve her confusion about the righteous and the evil… but, did she also have to teach her what love was?

She already understood familial love, the friendship between fellow disciples, and the relationship between master and disciple. As for romantic love…

Mo Jiangxue did not consider herself knowledgeable in this area and could not teach her.

It was better to let her figure it out on her own…

Mo Jiangxue put away her qin, stood up, and said, “After we have been to Wen Family Village, you will go down the mountain with me for training.”

Xie Qingzheng replied softly, “Yes, Master.”

Mo Jiangxue turned and went back into the hut.

Only then did Xie Qingzheng dare to look up and watch her master leave.

In truth, every time she was alone with her master, her heart would beat a little faster than usual, and her emotions were a mix of feelings. Sometimes it was an inexplicable soreness, as lingering as water, difficult to describe. Sometimes she would have a feeling of loss, as if in a daze, as if walking on clouds. And sometimes she would laugh uncontrollably, as if she had eaten honey, a sweet sensation.

She couldn’t quite figure out these feelings. She only felt that her master was like the fine snow and gentle breeze on the ethereal mountain peak, while she was like the green bamboo and turquoise water at the foot of the mountain.

The gentle breeze, mixed with fine snow, blew in gusts, its chilling coldness, carrying a faint scent of plum blossoms, rippling the pool of turquoise water, and also making the green bamboo branches and leaves sway and rustle…

Xie Qingzheng stood there in a daze, looking in the direction Mo Jiangxue had left, thinking of that wisp of cool plum fragrance that had floated away. It was a long time before she came to her senses.

Her heart was in a mess. She didn’t want to go back to her room to rest, so she flew around the Xuanji Sect on her sword.

She flew over Green Pine Peak and saw Elder Mu and Elder Lan sitting cross-legged in the center of the square, transferring qi to the injured cultivators.

Cultivators from all the peaks had come to help with the aftermath. Mu Zifu was in the crowd, arrogant and bossy, ordering this one and that one, looking every bit the mistress of the house.

A few tired senior sisters sat back to back under the pine trees, resting with their eyes closed.

And there was a group of music cultivators with injuries on their faces, sitting in a circle, either plucking the pipa or playing the guqin, singing in low voices, “The way of man is vast and indistinct, the way of immortals is long and uncertain; the way of ghosts is joyful, but one should walk the path of life! The way of immortals is always auspicious, the way of ghosts is always perilous…”

They were singing the Scripture of Salvation, the general meaning of which was: The path of human life is vague and unclear; the path of immortal cultivation is long and difficult to grasp; the deviant path of ghosts can indeed satisfy one’s temporary greed and pleasure, but as a human, one should walk the path of safe survival; the path of immortal cultivation often brings natural good fortune, while the path of ghosts often brings danger and evil… (Note)

The music and singing were ethereal and otherworldly, as fine as a silk thread. Xie Qingzheng was moved and repeatedly recited the eight characters, “The way of man is vast, the way of immortals is long,” as if she had some realization.

She really wanted to go down and be with the senior sisters, but she glanced at Elder Mu and Mu Zifu and still left dejectedly.

The Mu sisters would definitely not welcome her.

She flew to the mountain gate on her sword and heard a group of patrolling cultivators talking about her and her master, Mo Jiangxue.

Most of it was praise and compliments. She blushed and flew away.

The Sect Master had already returned to the mountain gate. On Zixiao Peak, the main hall was brightly lit.

Xie Qingzheng also wanted to go down and talk to the Sect Master, to see if she would be willing to reveal more about her mother. But with so much having happened in the sect today, the Sect Master must be extremely busy. It was better not to disturb her…

She was not willing to go near Elder Lan Mei’s Water Cloud Peak or Elder Jin Suchen’s Jueqing Peak.

Xie Qingzheng flew to Red Cloud Peak on her sword.

Elder Danshu had also returned and was standing angrily in front of a cluster of messy, fallen flowers. “Which blind fool ruined my peonies, my phoenix-tail flowers…”

Xie Qingzheng quickly went down to apologize and told Elder Danshu that she and Mu Zifu had had a fight here during the day and had accidentally injured these flowers and plants.

“Elder, I… I’ll help you replant them.” She squatted down and helped the flowers up, one by one, transferring spiritual energy to them.

Seeing this, Danshu waved her hand and teased with a smile, “Forget it, forget it. A child who can correct their mistakes is a good child. One of you is the disciple of ‘Cloud Melody, Flowing Frost,’ and the other is the sister of ‘Sorrow-Seeing Ghost.’ I, Danshu, can’t afford to offend either of you. I’d better do it myself.”

She held her pipa and played a tune of Ten Thousand Woods in Spring. In the gentle melody, the fallen flowers and plants gradually straightened up and regained their vitality.

The sound of the pipa was like pearls falling on a jade plate. Xie Qingzheng couldn’t help but praise, “So beautiful.”

Danshu smiled. “Not at all, just a small trick.”

When the piece ended, she looked at Xie Qingzheng and sighed, “If it weren’t for the matter of the Tianxuan Sword back then, I would have wanted to take you as my disciple. What a pity, what a pity. You and I are not fated to be master and disciple in this life. But for you to be able to become Lady Yunshao’s disciple is also your good fortune, a hundred times better than being my disciple.”

She was easygoing, but she was also one to not get involved in things that didn’t concern her. She was not willing to be drawn into a series of troubles.

Xie Qingzheng said, “Elder, it is Qingzheng’s honor to have earned your favor. Regardless of whether we have a master-disciple fate, you are a senior I admire.”

Elder Danshu smiled. “I never thought that someone with Fuyun’s lively personality would have a daughter like you. You are not like her at all, but rather a bit like Sect Master Xie.”

Hearing her talk about her mother, Xie Qingzheng was slightly taken aback and asked, “Elder, do you know how my mother died?”

Danshu shook her head and sighed, “I don’t know. At that time, I only knew that your mother was the head senior sister of the Tianshu Sect, the next Sect Master of the Tianshu Sect.

When your mother had her accident, I was in the wildlands, fighting to the death with the people of the Ten Directions Domain. When I returned, I heard that the Sect Master of the Tianshu Sect had sent a message to all the major orthodox Xuanmen sects, that Xie Fuyun had been expelled from the sect, and had ordered the righteous path to jointly execute her.

Sect Master Wangqing was an old friend of your mother’s. She probably didn’t want to have a conflict with your mother and also didn’t let the disciples of the sect talk much about this matter, ordering that all records related to your mother in the sect be destroyed. Among the new generation of disciples in the Xuanji Sect, almost no one knows about this.”

Xie Qingzheng said, “Is the Sect Master of the Tianshu Sect my mother’s junior martial sister?”

Danshu said, “At that time, it was Senior Gu Hongying, your mother’s master. The current Sect Master, Xie Youke, is your mother’s junior martial sister. You haven’t met Sect Master Xie yet, have you?”

Xie Qingzheng shook her head. “No.”

There had only been a letter from Sect Master Xie, telling her to stay at the Xuanji Sect with peace of mind.

Danshu said, “Although your mother has been expelled from the sect, Sect Master Xie and your mother grew up together. Their bond is extraordinary. By rights, she should have taken you back…” Seeing the bewildered look on Xie Qingzheng’s face, she changed the subject. “Perhaps, as the supreme of the Xuanmen, she has many things she can’t control.”

There was a hint of comfort in her words.

Xie Qingzheng said, “If she had taken me away, then I wouldn’t have had the fate to become Elder Mo’s disciple.”

Even if the Tianshu Sect was the number one sect of the immortal sects, and even if Sect Master Xie was the head of the Xuanmen, she still felt that being able to stay at the Xuanji Sect and become Mo Jiangxue’s disciple was the greatest fortune of her life.

Danshu chuckled again and asked, “Have you learned about ‘inheritance’?”

Xie Qingzheng nodded. “I learned it on Weiming Peak—the good deeds of the ancestors bring blessings to the descendants; the evil deeds of the ancestors bring disaster to the descendants.”

Daoism, unlike Buddhism, did not emphasize individual karma, but rather the concept of “inheritance,” that “a family that accumulates good deeds will surely have abundant blessings, and a family that accumulates evil deeds will surely have abundant disasters.”

Danshu said meaningfully, “Fuyun’s good deed in Wen Family Village allowed you to receive the protection of the villagers’ ghosts. But some of the things she did in the immortal sects have caused you to be burdened by her upon entering the immortal sects. Whether she was good or evil, she is already a person of the past. Zheng’er, just remember to view it with an ordinary heart and just be yourself.”

With that, she picked a few flowers, gave them to Xie Qingzheng, lightly patted her on the shoulder, and turned to go back to the summit.

Xie Qingzheng bowed, watched Elder Danshu leave, lost in thought. Then she glanced at the sky and flew back to Ethereal Peak on her sword.

Wandering outside, with nothing to do, returning to the empty and cold Ethereal Peak, she unexpectedly felt a sense of coming home.

Before she landed, she saw that the light was still on in Mo Jiangxue’s bamboo hut. After she landed, she looked closely and saw that it was completely dark, as if the light just now had been her imagination.

Xie Qingzheng took the few peonies that Elder Danshu had given her, put them in a porcelain vase, and placed them in front of Mo Jiangxue’s bamboo window.

The next day, the master and disciple flew to Wen Family Village on their swords.

After landing, Xie Qingzheng stood at the entrance of the village, quietly looking at the ruined village, her vision gradually blurring with tears.

She missed the “people” of the village very much.

When she was a child, the “people” of the village would take her to the river to catch fish, to East Mountain to pick wild fruits and dig for bamboo shoots. There was an abandoned vegetable patch by the stream, and they had even taught her how to grow vegetables.

Later, she moved to West Mountain alone. Every time she went down the mountain to meet with her aunty and the others, her aunty would rush her back to the mountain after less than half a shichen.

At first, she thought they disliked her for being an orphan and a burden, and she was very sad. But later, when she often received mended clothes and picked wild fruits from them, she knew she had been overthinking…

They just understood that yin and yang were distinct. She was a mortal, and if she stayed among ghosts for too long, the ghostly qi would invade her body…

It was only after she entered the Xuanmen to cultivate that Xie Qingzheng understood: if a mortal body was invaded by ghostly qi, first the eyes would not be able to see, then the ears would not be able to hear, and the mouth would not be able to speak… In the end, all senses would be lost, the limbs would become stiff, and one would be completely reduced to a walking corpse.

After crying for a long time, her eyes were sore. Xie Qingzheng pulled herself out of her memories, looked up, and looked at the two mountains, East and West, in the distance.

East Mountain was still lush and green, the green bamboo on the mountain swaying gracefully. On West Mountain, the grass and trees were fallen, and the cracks in the mountain had closed up again. It was no longer the terrifying sight of skeletons everywhere.

The two mountains rose and fell, facing each other from afar, looking like two people lying on their backs, facing the sky, calm and at ease.

Mo Jiangxue walked around the village and then played a tune of Soul Summoning.

But she did not summon a single evil creature.

No poison corpses, no residual souls, no malevolent qi. This place had become very “clean,” so clean it was as if someone had deliberately cleaned it up after she had left.

Mo Jiangxue walked around the village again but found nothing.

She turned her head and only saw her crying disciple, following closely behind her, holding back her tears and whispering, “I wonder how my little chickens, ducks, and geese are doing? Did they starve to death? Were they eaten by the other animals in the mountains? Why can’t I feel any malevolent qi in the village at all…”

Mo Jiangxue frowned slightly, withdrew her gaze, grabbed her, and flew to the halfway point of West Mountain on her sword. She borrowed a drop of her blood and played a tune of Beast Taming.

Not long after the music started, she heard a series of “cluck-cluck-cluck” and “quack-quack-quack” sounds from the stream and the mountain, as if there were chickens, ducks, and geese responding to the music. Then came the sound of frantic running, from far to near. A few fat fowls quickly approached the two of them.

Xie Qingzheng’s heart filled with joy. She hurried forward, picked up the chickens, ducks, and geese, and lifted their wings and felt their feathers one by one, crying with joy. She asked, “Are you the little chickens, ducks, and geese I raised? Why are you so plump? Are you eating better without me?”

Mo Jiangxue was silent, and she glanced at the few peach trees in the courtyard.

Those few peach trees were planted according to a Xuanmen array. In the past, someone had applied a lot of spiritual energy to them. These chickens, ducks, and geese, having been raised here, must have also been imbued with some spiritual energy over time.

She didn’t know if they had gained spiritual intelligence. If they had, then perhaps she could talk to them. She wanted to ask them, who else had come to Wen Family Village after they had left…

Author’s Note:

Mini Theater 1:

Little Xie (love-struck brain): Since there is such a bond, if we can stay by each other’s side for a lifetime, what is the difference between being master and disciple, or Daoist companions?

Author: Of course there’s a difference! The difference of whether you can kiss and hug!

Mini Theater 2:

Mo Jiangxue (the peak is quiet): I just disciplined her a little, and she ran away from home in the middle of the night?! (leaves the light on, waiting for her to come back) (after she comes back, immediately turns off the light!)

Note: The Scripture of Salvation and its interpretation are from the China Taoist Association website.