Chapter 63: So That's How It Was

Chapter 63: So That's How It Was

Back on the small street, as the rain gradually subsided, Ning Yao turned her head to look at Chen Ping'an, whose breathing was steady and demeanor composed. Although she didn't like Old Man Yang in her heart, she had to admit that old man was a true transcendent master.

"Old Man Yang is no ordinary person."

Ning Yao paused for a moment, then turned to look back. The unremarkable Yang Family Shop, the light rain on the heavenly street moistening it like butter, the rain-soaked pharmacy now had soft contours, hazy with moisture. The young girl made a few subtle corrections to herself: "Old Man Yang is very extraordinary."

Chen Ping'an didn't catch the difference between the two statements, just nodded with an "Mm," and said with a smile: "I used to only think Grandpa Yang was a good person, very fair. Now I know Grandpa Yang has been hiding his true abilities all along. Miss Ning, would he be considered someone from the cultivation world?"

Ning Yao said something Chen Ping'an couldn't understand: "Somewhat similar, but actually not the same. Though for you, there's no difference."

Now at the southern end of the Covered Bridge, Chen Ping'an, who had narrowly escaped death, looked back at the girl in green robes. The young man's state of mind had also changed greatly.

When the girl heard footsteps, she stood up with a shy smile. Seeing the straw-sandal-wearing youth and the green-robed maiden standing side by side, the girl with a ponytail appeared slightly ill at ease. Chen Ping'an no longer dared to treat this girl named Ruan Xiu as an ordinary young woman. Of course, the image of her that left the deepest impression on him was still the four words: sitting around and eating away the family fortune.

Ruan Xiu glanced at Ning Yao, whose face was cold and aura aggressively imposing, and didn't dare to greet her.

Ning Yao glanced at the petite but well-developed delicate girl, and wasn't particularly willing to greet her either.

The three of them walked down the steps of the Covered Bridge together. Chen Ping'an said softly: "I heard from Mr. Qi that Liu Xianyang is fine now."

Ruan Xiu nodded vigorously: "He woke up, he woke up! After the shopkeeper of the Yang Family Shop saw him, he said the King of Hell showed mercy and spared Liu Xianyang, letting him keep his life. The old shopkeeper also said that as long as he woke up, there would be nothing big to worry about anymore. I was afraid you would be anxious, so I wanted to tell you as soon as possible. But my father wouldn't let me cross the Covered Bridge..."

The girl chattered on, like a chattering yellow bird on a branch. Towards the end, she showed a hint of apology.

The girl actually hadn't mentioned some things. After Liu Xianyang woke up, she rushed out of the house at the first moment. When she reached the Covered Bridge, she was so focused on telling the young man the news that she completely forgot her father's instruction not to enter the town. She had just started to run down the northern steps of the Covered Bridge when her elusive father grabbed her by the ear and dragged her back. Only after much pleading did she get her father to agree to let her sit on the southern steps and wait.

This wasn't love awakening, or any romantic feelings. It was a kindness that arose spontaneously.

Of course, the prerequisite was that Chen Ping'an wasn't someone the girl found annoying. On the contrary, she had some good feelings toward him, or rather, a sense of approval for Chen Ping'an.

All of this stemmed from their first meeting on the back of the Green Ox. The young man was willing to go into the water to catch fish for someone else, and even though his left hand hurt so much from the wound after that he sucked in cold air, he didn't regret it. Later, when Liu Xianyang encountered misfortune, the young man again stepped forward willingly, taking on the responsibilities he should take. Chen Ping'an had accumulated blessings bit by bit.

All of this was the result of young Chen Ping'an's long-term persistence, and it just happened that girl Ruan Xiu witnessed it. In fact, what Chen Ping'an missed was, of course, even more—like the golden carp in the fish basket, the loach he gave to Gu Can, the four-legged lizard, the locust leaves falling before his eyes, and so on. All these missed blessings and opportunities would never be grasped by the young man just because he was someone who cherished blessings.

Chen Ping'an, Ning Yao, and Ruan Xiu walked down the Covered Bridge. Neither the young man nor the girls noticed that drops of water of varying sizes silently fell into the stream.

Those water drops were either originally hung under the eaves of the Covered Bridge, or gathered on the railings, or in the potholes on the outer edge of the walkway—each different.

In the end, they all fell into the stream and merged with the water.

At the same time, in the backyard of the Yang Family Shop, which had accumulated so much water it was like a small pond, ripples spread everywhere, and the water returned to a muddy and turbid state, just like any ordinary backyard. Standing on the water surface was a blurry figure wreathed in smoke, barely visible as a hunchbacked old woman with an unclear face.

Old Man Yang, unfazed by this, took out his pipe and started smoking again, asking: "What did you see?"

That figure swayed "with the water" like a waterweed, involuntarily, and spoke hoarsely: "That little girl, after all, is the only daughter of the next sage here. How noble her status is, yet why does she fancy a young man from a humble alley?"

Old Man Yang sneered: "That's all?"

The old woman on the water trembled with fear and dared not speak again.

The old man slowly said: "Since you've already reached this stage, there are some rules that should be made clear to you. Otherwise, if you end up perishing with your Dao extinguished later without knowing why, you'd still feel wronged."

The old man seemed to be brewing some heavenly secrets and didn't rush to speak.

After the rain stopped, the water in the yard gradually subsided, and the old woman's figure became increasingly blurry. Pitifully, she said: "Great Immortal, I only want to see my grandson a few more times."

Old Man Yang, whose thoughts had been interrupted, said impatiently: "What you think is your own business. I can't be bothered with that."

Having said this, the old man's gaze became somewhat dazed, and he muttered to himself: "You're lucky. If you had fallen into the hands of the Three Teachings, you would have been lucky to even have a next life, let alone your current situation. The Buddhist school speaks of subduing the heart-monkey and reining in the mind-horse. The two matters of giving rise to thoughts and making vows are of utmost importance. The Confucian school is somewhat better—they don't manage things so broadly. They just tirelessly teach, cautioning their disciples and descendants to practice vigilance in solitude, which means not to say one thing and think another. The Daoist school, on the other hand, elevates the importance of 'how one thinks,' even regarding heart-demons as great enemies on the path of cultivation, harsher than the Buddhists. Thus, many people, when they take a wrong path, end up on so-called heterodox paths. Because the Daoist pursuit of purity emphasizes self-examination, once you're stumped by the questions left by the Daoist ancestral masters, your mind will become chaotic..."

The old man smoking his pipe was like a hidden dragon amidst surging clouds. The old woman was even more lost in a fog. After all, she was a local born and raised here, and hadn't studied, so naturally she couldn't understand these profound and mysterious scholarly principles. She could only grit her teeth and memorize them by rote.

Old Man Yang suddenly laughed: "You don't need to remember these things. Because we don't care about that."

The old woman was stunned.

Old Man Yang repeated: "We don't care what you think. We only look at what you do."

The old woman said nervously: "Great Immortal, I'll remember that."

Old Man Yang twitched the corner of his mouth and said: "Since you are a river hag, you must be responsible for all affairs in the river. Not only to accumulate yin virtue for yourself, but also to win the incense offerings of the local people. If you can get people to build a shrine for you, mold a golden statue for you, and let a strand of your avatar reside within it, that would be your ability. After that, you must strive to have the imperial court accept you, to be entered into the orthodox registry of the nation's mountains and rivers, to gain an officially recognized identity. If you can't achieve that, at the very least, you should be recorded in the local county annals. If the shrine that worships you is eventually deemed an illicit shrine and demolished by the authorities, and the golden statue is toppled, then your days will be very hard. Worse than being a lonely ghost."

The old woman plucked up her courage and asked: "Great Immortal, as you said before, this place has a complete ban on everything. So what can I, as a humble river hag, do besides gaining some borrowed longevity? What about the shrine incense, the mountain and river registries, and the local county annals you mentioned?"

Old Man Yang said: "That was the past. The future is hard to say. Later on, this place will degrade from a minor cave heaven to a small blessed land without a threshold. Anyone will be able to come here, and no one will have to pay those three bags of copper coins anymore. This is also the root cause of why the Great Li Emperor is using such unscrupulous methods. Doing some things sixty years earlier or sixty years later will have completely different outcomes."

The old woman gritted her teeth and asked: "Great Immortal, is the reason you were willing to give me shelter because of my grandson?"

Old Man Yang nodded, not hiding his original intention.

The old woman asked again: "If that's the case, why did the Great Immortal let the military cultivators of True Martial Mountain take away my Ma Kuxuan? Why not train him yourself?"

It turned out that this old woman, who had transformed into a river hag, was none other than Granny Ma from Apricot Flower Lane, who had been slapped to death.

Old Man Yang lightly tapped his pipe. The old woman's water-borne figure, formed by her soul, immediately twisted and distorted, wailing incessantly.

This sudden, unpredictable pain was like an ordinary person suddenly suffering agony that tore at the heart, split the bones, and churned the internal organs. How could the old woman bear it?

Old Man Yang said calmly: "Although in my eyes there is no distinction between good and bad, no difference between right and evil, and I don't use these to measure yin virtue, that doesn't mean I like what you've done. Before, it wasn't convenient to settle accounts with you. But from now on, even if I were to reduce you to ashes, it would only take a thought. So don't go too far."

The old woman knelt down and begged for mercy: "Great Immortal, I won't dare, I won't dare!"

When the True Martial Mountain sword cultivator paid a huge price to summon that true spirit surnamed Yin, facing young Ma Kuxuan's rude questioning, even that military sword cultivator felt a chill in his heart, fearing he would provoke thunderous wrath. Why, in the end, did that true spirit surnamed Yin reply to the young man with such seriousness? Even answering in human language with the seven words: "It's not that I won't, but I truly cannot"?

This was completely not the kind of question and answer that should exist between a god and a human.

However, this peculiarity, even that sword cultivator who already held a transcendent status probably didn't understand the reason, simply assuming that the true spirit had its own unknown rules and considerations. But the old man in the small courtyard knew very well inside.

That young man was the one destined by heaven.

Not in the slightest inferior to the maidservant Zhigui.

Wang Zhu, Wang Zhu.

Together, they form the character Zhu (Pearl).

For a true dragon, what object is most precious?

The Pearl!

Why did she choose to attach herself to the Great Li prince Song Jixin?

The emperors of the world have always liked to consider themselves true dragons, and one person's fortune can be linked to the dynasty's mandate. It's obvious that the two of them are a strong alliance, complementing each other.

But having said that, on the matter of cultivation, the Great Dao is long. Fortune, talent, bone structure, opportunity, and temperament are all indispensable, and none can be lacking. Yet on the path of cultivation, there are cases of one step ahead leading to steps ahead, and also cases of slow accumulation leading to late success. So nothing is absolute.

Among this generation of the town, besides Ma Kuxuan and Zhigui, there were also Song Jixin, Zhao Yao, Gu Can, Ruan Xiu, Liu Xianyang, and those other children each with their own destinies and opportunities. They could all be called favored children of heaven.

Even Old Man Yang, who was unfathomably deep, didn't dare to say whose achievements would definitely surpass another's.

Old Man Yang glanced at the accumulated water in the yard and said: "Go. For now, you only need to keep watch over the movements near the Covered Bridge."

The old woman said fearfully: "Great Immortal, near the Covered Bridge, especially that deep pool, even I cannot approach. Every time I get a little closer, it's like being boiled in an oil cauldron..."

Old Man Yang smiled: "You don't need to approach. Just keep your eyes fixed on the Covered Bridge. For example, if something flies out from under the Covered Bridge in the future, just watch where it goes."

The old woman quickly accepted the order and left.

In an instant, the old woman's smoke-like, misty figure vanished from above the water in the yard.

"Master! Master!"

From the back door of the main hall of the Yang Family Shop, Zheng Dafeng shouted loudly and came hurriedly to report good news.

The two came to the backyard one after the other. Zheng Dafeng, in front, was walking briskly: "Senior brother has returned! Huge good news!"

Old Man Yang looked at the honest man behind Zheng Dafeng. The latter nodded.

But that man hesitated to speak, full of questions, yet he was slow and dull of speech, not knowing how to ask.

In the end, the man just said in a muffled voice: "Master, why did you take Ma Kuxuan as a disciple instead of that young man? I don't like that kid surnamed Ma."

Old Man Yang glared: "So that's why you took it upon yourself to grab that golden carp and sell it to Chen Ping'an?!"

Compared to Zheng Dafeng, who was constrained and cautious in front of the old man, the middle-aged man had much more backbone. He sat down on the stool where Chen Ping'an had been sitting earlier: "So what? I was happy to do it. Master, don't you quite like that kid too?"

If Chen Ping'an had been present, he would have been shocked, because the middle-aged fish seller he had met on the street was none other than this person.

Old Man Yang laughed angrily: "And what was the result? Did that fish basket and that golden carp end up in Chen Ping'an's hands, huh?!"

The man was sullen and didn't speak.

Zheng Dafeng fanned the flames from the side: "Senior brother, it's not that I'm criticizing you, but you really wasted that Dragon King's Basket of yours. Who could you give it to and instead give it to the Great Li's archenemy, that little prince of Great Sui? Be careful that Song Changjing doesn't settle accounts with you later. Besides, 'fertile water shouldn't be let into another's field.' It would have been better to leave it for my nephews and nieces. What, senior brother, did you find the treasure too hot to handle? If it's really a problem, you could have given it to me!"

Old Man Yang shot a cold glare, and Zheng Dafeng fell silent in fear, not daring to speak another word. He raised both hands and obediently sat down on the steps.

The old man said: "Take Fu Nanhua and go to Old Dragon City together."

Zheng Dafeng's face was full of surprise. He turned to look, only to see the old man's weathered face, expressionless.

This bachelor who kept watch for the town slowly withdrew his gaze, patted his knees, smiled bitterly, and stood up. Without saying a word, he walked down the steps and headed for the back door of the shop.

From behind came the old man's stern voice: "Remember, even if you die, never reveal your origins!"

Zheng Dafeng's bitter smile deepened. He nodded but didn't turn around, quickening his steps.

When he reached the corridor of the back door of the main hall, this man turned around, knelt down, and kowtowed three times heavily, saying in a deep voice: "Master, take care of yourself."

From beginning to end, the old man said not a word.

Zheng Dafeng left the Yang Family Shop in dejection.

Li Er, the man sitting on the stool, felt a bit indignant for his fellow disciple Zheng Dafeng: "Master, you're too..."

The old man laughed: "Cold and unfeeling?"

The man nodded: "Although junior brother is always misbehaving, his feelings for you, Master, are genuine. To be honest, I can't match him in that regard."

The old man neither agreed nor disagreed: "In any case, he's like duckweed without roots, inferior even to roadside weeds. What difference does it make where he dies?"

The man sighed: "This time, junior brother must be feeling very uncomfortable leaving the town."

"Generally speaking, if you want a lineage to be passed down continuously, like passing a torch, you need three disciples. One is 'capable of great use,' able to glorify the master's sect. After the master dies, he can bear the heavy burden, hold the fort, being both the face and the substance. One is 'able to continue the incense.' On the surface, he seems less capable than the former, but his strength lies in resilience. Even if the sky falls and that capable disciple dies, it is precisely this person who can ensure the sect's incense never breaks. In times of glory, his role isn't obvious, but when the sect's fortunes decline and times are dangerous, he becomes very important. The last one must be 'interesting.' Good talent, good bone structure, everything good—very interesting. He doesn't even need to be particularly grateful to the master or the sect. As a master, you don't enforce all rules on such a disciple. As the saying goes, 'Teaching a disciple starves the master.' The last disciple is exactly like that."

The man asked curiously: "Me, junior brother, and Ma Kuxuan—which one are we each respectively?"

Old Man Yang laughed: "After so many years, who says I only have you three disciples?"

The man was stunned for a moment, then smiled sheepishly: "I forgot about that."

Old Man Yang asked with a smile: "So, how is Song Changjing?"

The man thought seriously for a moment, then only let out two words: "Not bad."

Old Man Yang smoked his pipe, blowing out clouds, and said in amazement: "That means he's very formidable."

The man said: "Song Changjing promised..."

Before the disciple could finish, Old Man Yang stomped his foot, and heaven and earth fell silent.

The man laughed: "Master, we haven't exactly been covert in our actions over the years. Do we still need to care about this?"

Old Man Yang said slowly: "If you won't even go through the motions, are you trying to rebel?"

The man asked back: "Are there two things?"

Old Man Yang looked up at the sky, his gaze penetrating three layers of heaven and earth. The old man was silent.

The man felt heavy-hearted and asked: "Master, do my two children really have to go to that Cliffside Academy?"

Old Man Yang: "Since Qi Jingchun is willing to use this as an exchange, why not go? Saying this kind of opportunity is once in a century isn't an exaggeration at all."

Old Man Yang asked: "Why didn't Qi Jingchun give it all to Chen Ping'an in one go?"

Old Man Yang laughed: "Do you think that would be helping Chen Ping'an? That would be more like wishing he didn't die fast enough. Do you believe that if you had successfully given away the Dragon King's Basket and the golden carp, within three days, Chen Ping'an would surely have died a violent death somewhere in the town?"

The man said doubtfully: "Before Chen Ping'an was six, his father shattered his destiny porcelain, thus removing all constraints. Although it meant this kid couldn't hold onto any great opportunities, that's both a bad thing and a good thing. He was like a lamp in a dark room, attracting many moths to the flame. During this time, wouldn't it be quite normal for that poor kid to get his hands on something?"

Old Man Yang explained: "As long as he's in the town, Chen Ping'an won't have any good luck. If the opportunity is too great, the kid can't pick it up, can't keep it. He's destined to be poor and have nothing. It's already been incredibly difficult for him to survive. Replace him with any of those so-called favored children of heaven, and which one wouldn't have died seven or eight times over?"

The man grinned: "So that's also the reason why you, Master, were willing to give him a hand. What you, Master, can give is exactly the only thing Chen Ping'an can receive."

Old Man Yang hesitated for a moment, then exhaled a thick cloud of smoke: "Do you know that the opportunity you tried to give Chen Ping'an almost killed him? The Great Sui prince and eunuch, Ning Yao, the criminal assassin, that strange Daoist... Chen Ping'an almost died on that line."

The man furrowed his brow.

Old Man Yang changed the subject: "In the past, the sages who were responsible for guarding this realm often did two things upon taking office: first, check the four ancestor-leftover suppression artifacts; second, come to my place to greet me. But even among these sages, the vast majority knew the 'how' but not the 'why.' There are two other types of people who wouldn't come to my place. The first type, mostly in the early years, when Buddhism was flourishing in Eastern Treasure Vase Continent and there were many bald monks—these people didn't dare come for fear of incurring karmic consequences. The other type is people like Qi Jingchun. The higher-ups deliberately didn't tell him the truth, hoping Qi Jingchun would come into conflict with me, even come to blows. The reason Qi Jingchun came today was either because he figured out the lingering meaning himself, or..."

The old man's expression turned grave: "This possibility is too small, and the consequences too great, unimaginable. I hope it's not, and... it shouldn't be."

Within the small heaven and earth, there was another separate realm.

Qi Jingchun was the guardian of his realm, while Old Man Yang was like a warlord in his own territory, with no sign of living under someone else's thumb.

Old Man Yang sighed with emotion: "A Confucian sage who came before Qi Jingchun's teacher said: 'The sage exhausts his eyesight, using compasses and squares, to create rounds and straights.' What this means, simply put, is that you common people should be grateful for the great grace and virtue of the Ultimate Sage. It was he who expended great effort, exhausting his eyesight, to establish these rules and frameworks for later generations to walk within, so they wouldn't suffer calamities and disasters, and would have the chance to continue being reborn as humans in the next life."

The man scratched his head: "Master, why are you telling me all this? I can't understand it anyway. Zheng Dafeng is the one who can talk with you about these things."

Old Man Yang laughed: "If you, Li Er, could talk about these things, I wouldn't have brought it up. One speaks, one listens; one asks, one answers—that's just right."

Old Man Yang stood up and looked into the distance: "If one day, that kid can manage to walk out of this town and wander around outside for a few decades, he will surely be amazed to realize how huge this hometown town of his actually was."

Since the master had stood up, the man had to follow suit. Although he wasn't one to flatter, he still understood the rules.

Old Man Yang said: "You shouldn't stay here either. Take that shrew of a wife of yours and go somewhere. On Eastern Treasure Vase Continent, you'll have no hope of breaking through to a higher realm in this lifetime. Song Changjing is a petty-minded man. If he suppresses your realm later, even if you don't find it disgusting, I, as your master, would still find it disgusting for you. By the way, about your son and daughter—if you really can't bear to part with them, you can take one with you. At worst, you'll just get a slightly smaller share of Qi Jingchun's gift."

The man asked: "Master, what if my wife insists on taking both children with her? What should I do?"

Old Man Yang fumed: "Who makes the decisions in your household anyway?!"

The man said as if it were a matter of course: "She does!"

The old man took a deep breath, waved his hand to dismiss him: "Get lost, get lost! All four of you, get lost! Do whatever you want!"

The man walked down the steps, then suddenly turned and asked: "What about you, Master?"

The old man sat back down on the stool, reached into his pocket for tobacco, found it empty, withdrew his hand, and said calmly: "What else can I do? Just wait for death."

The man walked to the eaves and, for no apparent reason, turned and grinned: "I don't think Ma Kuxuan can take away that thing."

The old man's expression darkened, and he said with self-mockery: "If he can't take it, then no one can."

---

The four surnames and ten clans of the town suddenly received word: within three days, all outsiders must withdraw completely from the town. Pearly Pearl Cave Heaven would temporarily allow only exits, no entries.

Though resentment was sky-high, in the end, not a single person questioned the matter.

Among the eastbound group, the Li family's old ancestor personally stepped in to secretly escort that little ancestor of Bright Sun Mountain away.

The next day, from the far western side of the town came a series of rumbling sounds, like an earth-ox turning over, shaking heaven and earth.

It turned out to be that Mountain-Moving Ape of Bright Sun Mountain, truly uprooting a massive mountain peak.

The old ape, now revealing its thousand-zhang true form, was about to hoist it onto its back.

Suddenly, the old ape's shoulder tilted violently, as if a heavy weight had been pressed upon it. The old ape raised its head, squinting as it looked.

On top of the peak on its shoulder was a "speck" of a tiny figure.

Qi Jingchun!

The old ape laughed heartily: "Qi Jingchun! Don't be so petty and ruin the big matter!"

Qi Jingchun said in a deep voice: "Put Cloud-Shouldering Mountain back."

The old ape's shoulder lifted upward, and it let out an angry roar, arrogant: "What if I don't?!"

The next moment, the Mountain-Moving Ape suddenly let go of the base of the mountain peak, rolled sideways, its massive form crushing countless nearby trees.

The next moment after that, the thousand-zhang giant ape was stomped into the ground by someone's foot.

That person was truly one who stood towering between heaven and earth. Compared to him, the Mountain-Moving Ape might as well have been an ant under someone's foot.

With another kick, the old ape, struggling to get up, was stomped even deeper into the ground.

Another kick.

The thousand-zhang old ape lay limp in a huge pit, covered in blood, barely breathing.

That person, stooped over as if his head was propping up the sky, looked down at the Mountain-Moving Ape and sneered: "If I were the me from sixty years ago, the very first thing I would do after leaving this place would be to trample Bright Sun Mountain flat!"