Chapter 19: The Great Way
Just as Chen Ping'an was about to run out of the courtyard, the girl in black suddenly called out, "Wait, there's something I need to tell you."
Chen Ping'an pretended not to hear and was reaching for the courtyard gate when she raised her voice, "Chen Ping'an!"
Chen Ping'an had no choice but to turn back and run over to the threshold. Her complexion was already a bit rosier than before, though her voice was still somewhat hoarse. "First, after we outsiders came to this town, although as I told you before, our physiques are stronger than ordinary people, we're no different from you in every other way. Second, outsiders cannot kill anyone here. No matter the reason or excuse, if this rule is broken, they will be expelled and will end up with nothing. The price is enormous—far greater than you can imagine. Third, you need to understand this clearly: we outsiders, when push comes to shove, will act even if it means ending up empty-handed. After all, staying alive is the most fundamental thing."
Chen Ping'an thought for a moment, then asked, "So you're saying that when you do something, you have to strike fast?"
The girl in black grinned, her expression radiant and her eyes sparkling, as if her presence alone brightened the entire room. She patted the green scabbard resting across her knees and nodded. "Right! You have to strike very fast, faster, even fastest! For example, I carry both a saber and a sword. I aim to be the fastest person in the whole world whether I'm drawing my saber or my sword!"
She paused for a moment, then suddenly shifted from being an impassioned wandering swordswoman to a neighbor girl wanting to show off. Squinting with a smile, she asked, "Hey, do you know how many realms there are in this world?"
Chen Ping'an looked completely baffled.
The girl seemed to sense the boy's lack of interest and immediately lost her enthusiasm, waving him away dismissively. "You'd better buy that clay pot quickly. I'm waiting to take my medicine."
This time, as Chen Ping'an left the courtyard, his steps were slower and much steadier.
Not long after he left Mud Vase Alley, the unlocked courtyard gate was gently pushed open. The girl in black inside the room opened her eyes. She had been breathing and exhaling in a strange manner. She stared toward the doorway, on high alert.
The flying sword inside the snow-white scabbard on the table suddenly fell completely silent, yet an invisible aura of deadly killing intent emanated from it, as chilling as the lingering cold of late spring that could freeze bones and kill people.
The maidservant Zhigui leisurely walked to the doorway, looking just like any ordinary neighbor visiting nearby houses. She didn't cross the threshold but craned her neck to peer inside, glancing around everywhere. She seemed to deliberately ignore the girl in black sitting on the small bed with a saber across her knees.
Zhigui looked around for a long while before finally acknowledging the very visible person in the room. With an utterly innocent expression, she asked, "Elder sister, who are you? Why are you sitting on Chen Ping'an's bed? I never heard he had any distant relatives."
Ning Yao glanced at the uninvited girl, then closed her eyes, ignoring her completely.
Seeing that Ning Yao was pretending to be deaf and mute, Zhigui wasn't angry. She just gently shook her head, pouted, and curled her lip with disdain.
She looked at the long sword in its snow-white scabbard on the table. Deep in her eyes, hidden hatred and fear stirred, and faint golden threads seemed to writhe wildly in her pupils. The maidservant hesitated for a moment. She raised one foot, ready to step over the threshold, then suddenly pulled her foot back. She coughed and put on a show. "I'm coming in now. You not saying anything means you don't object, right? That's what I thought. After all, this is Chen Ping'an's house. I've known him for many years... You don't understand what I'm saying, do you? That's fine. We don't have anything to chat about anyway. I just came to see if you need anything. We're moving out soon, and we can leave a lot of our things for Chen Ping'an. You wouldn't believe how hard his life has been all these years."
She chattered on and on, full of feigned concern and nostalgia, making it seem as if she and Chen Ping'an had grown up together like childhood sweethearts.
The maidservant Zhigui stepped into the room. Everything was calm and peaceful. She walked straight to the small table, sat down on the stool, and kept darting glances at the sword out of the corner of her eye.
At the same time, the girl in black pulled out the three sheets of paper that the young Daoist had left for Chen Ping'an. She studied them carefully, trying to find some hidden meaning. But even after flipping through them twice and scrutinizing every detail, she still couldn't figure anything out. Disappointed, she muttered, "These characters... they really have no... flavor."
She clearly remembered the long wall back in her hometown, where there were scattered eighteen characters, all carved by someone with a sword. Each character contained a majestic aura capable of suppressing ten thousand demons.
Back when she was still a child, her greatest joy had been standing in one of the strokes of those giant characters, looking out into the distance.
So when it came to the four-character plaque "Spirit Charging the Bull and Dipper" here in this town, the girl truly looked down on it.
The maidservant Zhigui turned around and quietly straightened her slender waist, folding her hands on her knees. She was probably trying her best to appear like a proper lady from a refined family. Facing the girl in black, she grinned sweetly and said softly, "Ah, miss, you were too careless."
Ning Yao couldn't help asking, "Who are you?"
Zhigui let out an exaggerated "Oh" and placed her hand over her chest, pretending to be surprised. "So you can speak our local dialect here, miss?"
Ning Yao asked again, "Do you need something?"
Zhigui pointed at the long sword on the table. "Is this yours?"
Ning Yao frowned and said nothing.
Since the girl in black wouldn't speak, Zhigui didn't mind. She stood up, walked to the corner of the wall, and looked at the jars and pots lined up on the wooden shelf. These worthless household items—the maidservant examined them very carefully.
Back when he was an apprentice at the kiln, Chen Ping'an had walked barefoot through every mountain and stream around the town. He would go up the mountain alone to dig clay and chop firewood, running up and down the slopes very quickly. Whenever someone was willing to teach him something—whether it was simple basics or difficult, obscure knowledge—Chen Ping'an would give it his all, putting in twelve times the effort. As for how well he would end up doing, Chen Ping'an never worried about that. Not that he could control it anyway. For instance, when Old Man Yao taught him porcelain-making, he was always stingy, never willing to reveal his true treasured skills. But as long as Yao had said something or demonstrated something with his own hands, Chen Ping'an would practice it with extreme diligence. Later, when Liu Xianyang taught him how to make wooden bows and fishing rods, Chen Ping'an also learned it meticulously. Their neighbor Song Jixin often spoke harshly, saying that Chen Ping'an's habit—according to the books—was called 'do your best and leave the rest to fate.' Unfortunately, Chen Ping'an simply didn't have any good fate. In that case, he might as well just drift through life, waiting for death, and let things fall apart however they would.
Zhigui waved her hand, her smile brilliant. "I'm going now, miss. Rest well and recover. If you need anything, just call for me. My name is Zhigui. I live in the courtyard next door."
Ning Yao's face was expressionless.
After the maidservant left the room and reached the courtyard, she muttered in a voice just loud enough for the girl in black to hear, "She's not all that good-looking anyway."
Ning Yao also said very softly, with deliberate casualness, "What a tacky name."
When Zhigui closed the courtyard gate, she slammed it a little too hard, making it bang loudly.
Ning Yao closed her eyes again to rest.
The strange girl's visit stirred no waves in Ning Yao's heart.
But she truly disliked this town. And she especially disliked the cultivation practitioners who came here seeking opportunities, scheming and wrangling like petty, greedy insects. They called themselves immortals and lofty beings, but that was only because they stood on the mountain—not because they themselves were tall.
In the mind of the girl Ning Yao, the Great Way should not be this small.
----
When the straw-sandaled boy stepped out of Mud Vase Alley, the sunlight was somewhat dazzling. He raised his right hand to shield his forehead and let out a soft breath.
Then he began to jog, his steps light and brisk. Even though he'd already crossed many alleys and streets, he felt no fatigue at all. For a boy used to running up and down mountains and rivers, this distance was utterly insignificant. The truly difficult task was going up the mountain to make charcoal. A single Dragon Kiln consumed twenty to thirty thousand catties of charcoal every year. Especially on rainy days, living on the mountain to chop wood and burn charcoal was nothing short of torture. The boy had once nearly died in a charcoal kiln that collapsed during construction. Almost everything the boy had done over the years was physical labor, requiring some skill, but once he'd grasped the basics, it was purely a matter of relying on his physical strength. So the boy's outward appearance of being thin and frail was merely an illusion. He possessed a lean, tough body that had been tempered through countless trials.
Chen Ping'an stopped at a crossroads where four alleys met. He squatted down with his back against the wall, keeping one hand clenched into a fist while using the other to retie his straw sandals.
At this moment, the boy's heart was as still as water.
But he missed the only friend he had in this town.
That guy had once mysteriously boasted to Chen Ping'an that his grandfather had told him a story. When his grandfather was young, he had personally seen someone standing by a stream. That person had only taken a few running steps before leaping across the entire stream in one bound. Later, Liu Xianyang and Chen Ping'an had tried it themselves. They picked the narrowest stretch of the stream, backed up, ran forward together, and jumped at the same time. But Liu Xianyang, who was several years older than Chen Ping'an, exhausted his strength mid-air and fell into the water. Then he saw a shadow whoosh past over his head, continuing forward and finally landing far ahead.
After that, Liu Xianyang never mentioned anything about gods who could cross a stream in one step ever again.
After that, after that, Liu Xianyang knew that Chen Ping'an would often go to the stream by himself. Run forward. Jump. Soar through the air. Leap. Fall.
Each time, the boy got closer to the opposite bank. Tirelessly.
Once, unable to resist, Liu Xianyang secretly watched from a distance. When he witnesses that breathtaking scene, he felt that the dark-skinned boy at that moment seemed... different from the idiot he had in his mind.
When the boy leaped across the stream, he looked just like a snake-hunting eagle that often circled the sky above this town.