Chapter 135: Shaking His Robe
Xie Xie returned to the campfire, and Lin Shouyi and Lady Qing were finishing their game of Go. The girl glanced at the chessboard, showing no interest, and reached her hands toward the fire.
Chen Ping'an had chopped several branches into sections, set up three simple tents, then came over to Li Baoping. The little girl yawned and ran off to sleep. As for the others, Li Huai and Lin Shouyi shared one tent, the girl Xie Xie had her own tent, and Yu Lu usually slept in the driver's seat of the carriage, half-covered and half-wrapped in a blanket to get through the night.
Of course, most of the time the group could smoothly find lodging, whether at inns and hostels or at temples and monasteries in the mountains and forests.
One stormy night, following faint lights, they finally found the home of a wealthy man. The owner turned out to be a former Vice Minister of Revenue in the Huangting Kingdom, a septuagenarian who had built a secluded estate and retired to the mountains. He was quite hospitable. Seeing Li Baoping and the other young scholars traveling with their book bags, the old man was overjoyed. Even after learning they were from Great Li, which could be considered half an enemy state, the old Vice Minister still warmly entertained them. When it came to food, he strictly adhered to the sage's teaching: "He never tired of refined rice, nor of finely minced meat," which opened the eyes of these hicks from a small town.
As they spent time together, the old man seemed particularly fond of the little girl Li Baoping and the youth Yu Lu. Upon learning that the girl enjoyed reading travelogues, he not only gave her several rare travelogues hidden in his library but also insisted on personally taking them to a famous scenic spot—a huge cliff by a local river. The cliff face was as smooth as a mirror, with ancient rock carvings of unknown age, never recorded in any official texts, obscure and hard to understand. Throughout history, countless literati had come to admire the spectacle, and rubbings of the carvings had spread widely in the Huangting Kingdom and its suzerain, the Great Sui Dynasty. Yet no one had deciphered the true meaning of those characters; opinions varied, and no conclusion was widely accepted.
The youth Cui Chan merely glanced at the stone cliff from afar and said, "That was personally carved by the Heavenly Lord of the Thunder Ministry, a reprimand from the Heavenly Emperor to the dragon."
The old man laughed heartily, clearly not believing him. For generations, various philosophers and sages had studied it carefully without daring to jump to conclusions. A fourteen- or fifteen-year-old boy casually spouting such words—the old Vice Minister of the Huangting Kingdom naturally didn't take it seriously.
After leaving the old Vice Minister's estate, every time Chen Ping'an cooked something in the wilderness using an earthen stove, he noticed that everyone's expressions looked a bit odd. Especially the little girl in the red cotton-padded jacket, who protested too much: "Little Uncle-Master, your cooking is really good, really! It's no worse than the food at that Vice Minister Ma's house!"
Li Huai was also getting sleepy. He greeted Lin Shouyi and went to the tent to sleep first. Lin Shouyi was not drowsy and continued to contend with Lady Qing over the chessboard.
Lin Shouyi told Chen Ping'an that he was going to accompany Lady Qing to the small temple on the mountaintop to retrieve a precious chess manual hidden in the temple's hollow wall. Fearing that Chen Ping'an might worry, the youth explained with a smile that Lady Qing had initially wanted to go alone, but he had volunteered to go with her.
Chen Ping'an couldn't say much, only told Lin Shouyi to be careful on the night road.
The youth and the ghostly incense-offering priestess of that small temple climbed the mountain together. Chen Ping'an watched their retreating figures. Perhaps it was a rule unique to the mountains: Lady Qing's feet did not touch the ground as she drifted slowly, and a faint green ghostly fire appeared before her, illuminating the surroundings. Together with the blue-robed young scholar walking beside her, they chatted happily. This scene was not frightening at all; instead, it held a certain poetic charm, like what Li Baoping had read in her travelogue: "Strolling by candlelight at night, traveling with a free spirit."
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After the girl Xie Xie left, the youth Cui Chan stood alone on a high branch. Deep in the mountains, the sudden cry of a night owl cut through the air, harsh and terrifying. The locals of the Huangting Kingdom called this bird the "Wandering Bird," an ill omen often associated with "announcing a death" or "bad news."
A dark wisp of smoke rolled through the trees, flew to the side of the white-robed youth, and hovered in midair.
The youth withdrew from his tangled thoughts and spoke: "Leaving?"
The Yin spirit from the town nodded. "The protective charms bestowed by Old Man Yang can indeed defend against the yang qi and the soul damage from city gates and passes. But with the Great Li's Yefu Pass as the terminus, a round trip will use them all up. I forced myself to escort you this far to Hengshan in the Huangting Kingdom. It's already a stretch; probably once we reach the Embroidery River and Wanping County area, things will start becoming difficult."
The Yin spirit's face rippled like lake water, flickered like a candle flame, constantly shifting and blurry. He sighed emotionally, "Though I don't know what deal you made with Old Man Yang, I hope that before you reach the academy in Great Sui, the State Preceptor can handle Chen Ping'an and the others well from start to finish."
The white-robed youth was relatively polite to this Yin spirit: "I will do my best."
The Yin spirit suddenly laughed and asked, "State Preceptor, do you believe that good and evil have their retributions?"
The youth Cui Chan shook his head. "Never did. If you're trying to persuade me to accumulate virtue and do good, then I'll advise you in turn: those who follow different paths cannot scheme together. Instead of worrying about whether I will protect your benefactor Chen Ping'an, you'd better worry whether your wife and child, beyond your sight, will be manipulated as mere pawns by the River-Crossing True Lord Liu Zhimao of Shujian Lake."
The Yin spirit sighed helplessly. "Even humans have their limits, let alone a yin creature like me, detested by heaven and earth."
Cui Chan smiled. "The Great Way never reaches a dead end; it's only a matter of difficulty. Gathering yin to become a ghost, gathering yang to become a god—it has nothing to do with being human. You now have the chance to become a god, after all. Think of those mountain and river spirits; their path of cultivation is truly more arduous."
The Yin spirit laughed hoarsely. "Indeed."
The Yin spirit was silent for a long time, yet showed no sign of returning to Great Li.
The youth Cui Chan asked, "What, is there more to say? I know that aside from repaying a debt of gratitude, you personally think well of Chen Ping'an. But you certainly don't know that I thought well of this youth from the very beginning, earlier than anyone. However, this involves inner secrets of the Great Way, so it's hard to explain in detail. All you need to know is that although I was in the Great Li capital at the time, the attention and concern I invested in Chen Ping'an were neither later nor less than Old Man Yang's."
The Yin spirit shook his head with a smile. "It's not about that."
The youth frowned. "I'm in a bad mood right now. If you have something to say, spit it out."
The Yin spirit took no offense and said slowly, "Your theory of meritorious service, benefiting the state and the people, I greatly admire. Though there is criticism within the Confucian tradition, more derogation than praise, I believed during my lifetime that what happens a thousand years from now can only be a matter for future generations to seek their own blessings. None of it is as important as using learning to benefit the common people here and now, to achieve a prosperous age."
The white-robed youth was somewhat surprised, raised an eyebrow, and couldn't help turning his head to ask, "I didn't expect you to support my scholarship?"
The Yin spirit made an unexpected move. He performed a solemn bow, like a younger Confucian disciple before a venerable teacher, lowering his head and speaking loudly: "This bow from Gu is not for the Great Li State Preceptor. I honor Master Cui Chan for not confining himself to lofty, inaccessible moral essays."
It was only after the Yin spirit had already drifted hundreds of miles away that the white-robed youth slowly came back to his senses, his face a mixture of sorrow and joy.
Finally, the youth took a step forward, the branch beneath him bending further under his weight. He suddenly flicked his sleeves, clasped his hands behind his back, and no longer showed any trace of dejection.
The youth possessed the majestic aura of one who "shakes his robe on a thousand-fathom cliff."
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Lin Shouyi returned, his face ashen, clutching a yellowed ancient book. He sat down by the campfire.
Chen Ping'an asked, "What's wrong?"
Lin Shouyi ground his teeth in anger. "A pack of degenerate hypocrites! These scholars from the Huangting Kingdom's scholar-official families, gathering in the small temple to drink and carouse, that's bad enough, but they also engaged in such discourteous behavior! Shameless! Utter befoulment of scholarly dignity! If I were Lady Qing, I would have driven these disgusting people off the mountain long ago."
Chen Ping'an asked, "No matter what happened, Lady Qing herself didn't do anything, did she?"
Lin Shouyi nodded.
Chen Ping'an said, "Then you should adapt to local customs."
Lin Shouyi looked up, somewhat puzzled. When the youth, whose mind was a bit unsettled, saw that familiar dark-skinned face, he inexplicably calmed down. He sighed and said softly, "I understand."
End of chapter.