Chapter 740: A Letter
Inside the Caizhi Mountain pavilion, Cui Dongshan had finished two flasks of wine given by the girl Chunqing and felt somewhat apologetic. He shook his shoulders, slid off his seat, and glided over to the railing where Chunqing was sitting. From his sleeve he shook out a bamboo-woven food box; with a wave of his hand, he gathered the mountain mist into a cloud to serve as a table. He opened the three tiers of the box and laid them out before the two of them. There were all sorts of pastries from the New Year's Shop on Dragon Riding Alley, as well as some local snacks. Chunqing picked out an apricot blossom cake, holding it with one hand and cupping the other beneath it. She ate with her eyes squinted in delight, extremely happy.
Beside her, Cui Dongshan held a piece of food with both hands, nibbling at it sideways as if chewing on a short section of sugarcane. The snack was crispy and golden in color. Cui Dongshan made quite a commotion while eating.
Chunqing asked, “Is that the fried dough twist that the books describe as ‘crisp on the tongue, shattering like frost and snow’?”
Cui Dongshan pointed to the tier in front of him and said indistinctly, “They all come from the same origin—it’s for the Dragon Raises Its Head festival, biting off the scorpion’s tail. But it’s a bit different from the fried dough twists you mentioned. In our Bottle Gourd Continent, we call them ‘twisted dough sticks.’ The ones made with lotus root powder are cheaper; the mixed-filling ones are the most expensive. I bought them specially from a place called Yellow Hedge Mountain Osmanthus Street. When my Master was in seclusion on the mountain, he loved eating these, so I came to like them too.”
It was unimaginable that a child who once listened to old people tell old stories would one day become an old person telling stories to children.
Back then, under the old locust tree, there was an annoying child, squatting alone a little farther away, pricking up his ears to listen to those stories, but never quite hearing them clearly. On the way home, hopping and skipping alone, his steps were nevertheless light. The child was never afraid of walking at night, never felt lonely, and didn’t even know what loneliness meant. He just thought that he was alone, with fewer friends. But he didn’t realize that this was actually loneliness, not just being alone.
It wasn’t just that his Master was like this in his youth; in fact, the lives of most people go against their wishes. Getting through the days is a matter of endurance.
Cui Dongshan clapped his hands, then placed them lightly on his knees. He quickly changed the subject, grinning cheekily and said, “Miss Chunqing, that apricot blossom cake you’re eating is a hometown craft of the old cook on Falling Mountain. Delicious, isn’t it? If you go to Dragon Riding Alley, eat as much as you like, no charge—just put it all on my tab.”
Cui Dongshan suddenly fell silent, lowering his head.
A moment later, Chunqing turned her head and found a green-robed literatus standing behind the two of them, she didn’t know when he had arrived. The green shade and scattered golden light inside the pavilion seemed to pass right through the man’s form. In this scene and at this moment, this person truly lived up to the phrase “as if entering an empty space.”
Chunqing wanted to jump down from the railing and enter the pavilion to bow and pay respects to this gentleman. Qi Jingchun smiled and waved his hand, signaling the girl to remain seated.
Cui Dongshan didn’t turn his head. He asked sullenly, “Being toyed with like this by you people, Zhou Mi must be furious. Can Cui Chan escape?”
Qi Jingchun nodded and said, “Now that things have come to this, Zhou Mi will only weigh the situation and choose the lesser of two evils. For now, he still can’t bear to fight to the death with Cui Chan. Once he kills ‘Qi Jingchun’ from afar on Tongye Continent, at worst Cui Chan will drop to the Thirteenth Realm and return to Bottle Gourd Continent. We still need to prepare this retreat early. But Zhou Mi would lose his already extremely stable peak Fourteenth Realm cultivation. He might not drop in realm, but an ordinary Fourteenth Realm can’t support Zhou Mi’s ambition. After thousands of years of long-term planning, all his painstaking efforts would be wasted. Naturally, Zhou Mi can’t bear that. The thing I’m truly worried about, you understand very well.”
Cui Dongshan said, “I’m not Cui Chan anymore. Telling me anything is useless. Qi Jingchun, don’t overthink. Save your thoughts; you can go see Pei Qian. She is my Master’s—your junior brother’s—first disciple. She’s on Caizhi Mountain right now. You can also go to the Southern Peak Mountain God Temple and talk to Song Jixin, who has changed a lot. Back in the secondary capital, you can still guide Lin Shouyi in his cultivation. Just don’t waste your time and Dao foundation on me. As for what I should or shouldn’t do, Cui Dongshan has a clear understanding.”
Qi Jingchun smiled and said, “I am worried about my disciple-nephew Cui Dongshan.”
Cui Dongshan, who was unmatched in quarreling, was for the first time at a loss for words.
Qi Jingchun stood behind the boy and girl the whole time. Cui Dongshan said to himself, “The scenery of the human world can never be seen enough.”
Cui Dongshan suddenly exclaimed angrily, “With such vast knowledge and such skill in the game of Go, why don’t you just find some way to survive! If you had the ability to secretly break into the Fourteenth Realm, why don’t you have the ability to linger on?”
Qi Jingchun shook his head without a word.
Unbeknownst to them, the middle-aged Confucian scholar, who originally only had graying temples, now had hair whiter than the boy’s sleeves—a withered, lifeless, deathly white.
Cui Dongshan murmured, “If Master finds out about today’s events, even if he returns to his hometown in years to come, he will be heartbroken to death. Master walks so carefully on the path of life—who knows this better than you? Master rarely makes mistakes, but the people and matters he cares about he has to miss again and again.”
Cui Dongshan sensed the unusual aura behind him from Qi Jingchun. He raised his head but still refused to turn around. “Has it started over there?”
Qi Jingchun nodded. “The Grand Tutor of the Great Li Nation, the Grand Tutor of the Barren Wastes—since the two sides have met, neither can afford to be too polite. Don’t worry. Zuo You, Jun Qian, and the Grand Heavenly Master of Dragon Tiger Mountain will all take action. This is Cui Chan’s return gift to Zhou Mi for the siege of Bai Ye at Fuyao Continent.”
Cui Dongshan frowned and asked, “Xiao Xun is actually willing not to pester that blockhead Zuo?”
Qi Jingchun explained, “Xiao Xun despises the Heaven’s Will Continent, but she also despises the Barren Wastes. No one can control her whims. Senior brother Zuo must have agreed with her that once he returns from Tongye Continent, he will have a clean life-and-death battle with her. If you have the guts then, go and try to persuade Senior Brother Zuo. If you don’t dare, then forget it.”
Cui Dongshan neither agreed nor disagreed. He just breathed a sigh of relief. “It seems that those three million volumes of collected books have been turned into Spring Festival couplets stuck on the door, used to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. Only you could think of that and do it.”
Qi Jingchun shook his head. “It was a spur-of-the-moment idea from Cui Chan. According to my original intention, it shouldn’t have been like this. I initially planned to be a temporary door god… Enough, saying more is useless. Perhaps Cui Chan’s choice will be better. Perhaps. I hope so.”
Cui Dongshan said, “So in the end, you still chose to trust Cui Chan.”
Qi Jingchun suddenly said, “It’s like that, but also not just that. I see… quite far.”
Cui Dongshan said, “No matter how far a person sees, it’s ultimately not as good as how far they walk.”
Qi Jingchun smiled. “Isn’t there still you all?”
Outside the Patriarch Hall on Jise Peak of Falling Mountain, there were already so many chairs.
Since that was the case, what more was there to say?
The green-robed literatus who appeared from the Great River Temple was actually Cui Chan, who had temporarily borrowed Qi Jingchun’s Fourteenth Realm cultivation, not the real Qi Jingchun himself. The purpose was to scheme against Zhou Mi’s completion of the Great Dao. It was both a conspiracy and an open strategy. They had accurately calculated that Jia Sheng of the Heaven’s Will would not hesitate to take out three million volumes of collected books and actively allow “Qi Jingchun” to stabilize his realm, so that the latter’s profound study of the Three Teachings and various schools would manifest as the Great Dao within the great world of Zhou Mi’s person. Ultimately, this would make Zhou Mi mistakenly believe that he could merge with the Dao by sitting in the heavens, using a power comparable to the Fifteenth Realm to suppress Qi Jingchun alone with his own world’s Great Dao, and then devour the fundamental teachings of the Three Teachings that allowed Qi Jingchun to successfully enter the Fourteenth Realm. This would make Zhou Mi’s cycle of the Heavenly Dao more tightly interconnected without any omissions. If successful, Zhou Mi would truly become a being that even the founders of the Three Teachings could not kill, becoming the greatest “One” across several worlds.
To deceive Wen Hai Zhou Mi was naturally not easy. Qi Jingchun had to be willing to hand over all his cultivation to the Embroidery Tiger of Great Li, with whom he had deep enmity. Besides that, the real key was the unique Fourteenth Realm aura belonging solely to Qi Jingchun. This was the hardest to fake. The reason was simple: even among Fourteenth Realm great cultivators, Qi Jingchun, Bai Ye, the Old Blind Man of the Barren Wastes, the Chicken Soup Monk, and the Old Temple Master of the Guan Dao Temple in the Eastern Sea all had vastly different Dao paths. Zhou Mi, also a Fourteenth Realm cultivator, had an extremely sharp eye. It wouldn’t be easy to fool him.
But in the lineage of the Sage Wen Sheng, the Embroidery Tiger had once taught on behalf of his master. The sage principles in books, the refined arts of qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting—Cui Chan taught them all, and taught them extremely well. Cui Chan himself had studied the Three Teachings and the hundred schools of thought in great depth.
Moreover, Cui Chan was the only direct disciple of the Wen Sheng lineage who had accompanied the old scholar to two Three Teaching debates, always sitting in on them. As the senior disciple, Cui Chan sat right beside Wen Sheng.
Therefore, when suppressing that ancient high-rank deity who tried to cross the sea and land, Cui Chan intentionally “revealed his identity.” He acted in the manner of young Qi Jingchun, stepping on the deity several times, and then used Qi Jingchun’s Three Teachings knowledge from a sixty-year seclusion to clean up the battlefield.
And indeed, part of Qi Jingchun’s consciousness was with Cui Chan, condensed into a “person without realm” using three lifebound characters, serving as a Daoist dojo.
But scheming against Zhou Mi like this came at the cost of continuously consuming Qi Jingchun’s consciousness and Dao cultivation, in exchange for Cui Chan to break into the Fourteenth Realm through an unimaginable “shortcut.” He not only borrowed Qi Jingchun’s Dao knowledge but also stole from Zhou Mi’s sea of books, using it to repair and sharpen his own knowledge. Thus, Cui Chan’s greatest ruthlessness lay not in choosing the battlefield at the Old Dragon City ruins, but in directly taking the risk to go to Tongye Continent, to the small boat at Peach Leaf Ferry, and face Zhou Mi face to face.
Naturally, this was not out of impulse from Cui Chan.
The best outcome was the current situation: Qi Jingchun still had some residual consciousness left in the world, allowing him to appear in this pavilion to see Cui Dongshan, who could be called either senior brother or disciple-nephew. At the same time, this could pave a retreat for Cui Chan to return to the Great River Temple in the secondary capital of central Bottle Gourd Continent.
The worst outcome was Zhou Mi seeing through the truth. Then a peak Thirteenth Realm Cui Chan would have to drag a time-limited peak Fourteenth Realm Qi Jingchun, and the two of them would fight to the death with Wen Hai Zhou Mi, deciding the outcome within the time it takes to burn an incense stick. Given Cui Chan’s temperament, of course he would fight until the entire Tongye Continent sank into the sea, regardless of the cost. Bottle Gourd Continent would lose one Embroidery Tiger, and the Barren Wastes would be left with a Wen Hai Zhou Mi whose own great world was shattered.
Either way, Cui Chan could accept it.
At this moment inside the pavilion, the green-robed literatus and the white-robed boy had neither isolated the world nor even communicated through heart voices.
Chunqing was extremely embarrassed. If she ate the pastries, it would be too disrespectful to those two scholars. But if she didn’t eat, she would inevitably seem to be eavesdropping. So she couldn’t help asking, “Mr. Qi, Young Master Cui, how about I leave? I’m an outsider. I’ve already heard too much. My heart is pounding wildly right now, and I’m very flustered.”
Cui Dongshan seemed to be sulking. “Miss Chunqing, no need to leave. Just listen openly and honestly. This Mountain Cliff Academy Principal Qi is the most gentlemanly. He never says anything that outsiders shouldn’t hear.”
Qi Jingchun flashed and sat down on the railing beside Cui Dongshan. He turned his head to look at this white-robed boy, who was actually not unfamiliar to him.
Cui Dongshan looked straight ahead, not shifting his gaze, merely gazing into the distance. His hands lightly tapped his knees. Unexpectedly, Qi Jingchun seemed to have water in his brain—what was there to stare at? Hadn’t he stared enough? It made Cui Dongshan extremely uncomfortable. He was about to reach out and grab a Yellow Hedge Mountain twisted dough stick, but before he could, Qi Jingchun beat him to it, took it, and started eating. Cui Dongshan muttered to himself, “Aside from eating books, which still have some flavor, now eating anything has no taste. It’s just wasting money, isn’t it?”
Qi Jingchun said, “Just now, inside Zhou Mi’s mind, I helped Cui Chan eat some books. Only then did I realize how true that old scholar’s lament from the human world academy was back then.”
Cui Dongshan knew what Qi Jingchun was referring to.
*So there are so many books in this world that I don’t want to read.*
Cui Dongshan said softly, “Actually, someone else has said that too.”
Qi Jingchun also knew what Cui Dongshan wanted to say.
*I don’t want to say anything more to this world.*
So over all these years, the boy Cui Dongshan had spoken many baskets full of strange words, angry words, and joking words, but very few heartfelt words—probably only to a handful of people, countable on one hand.
Apart from his Master Chen Ping’an, it seemed they were only Little Bao Ping, Senior Sister Pei Qian, the little lotus figure, and Little Mi Li.
Qi Jingchun smiled and withdrew his gaze.
In fact, when Cui Chan was young, he was rather good-looking. No wonder in the years to come he would have countless romantic debts and ties, even more than Senior Brother Zuo. From the wine-selling woman near the Master’s old school—whenever Cui Chan went to buy wine, the price would be much cheaper. To the female guest lecturers in the academies who occasionally lectured Confucian disciples, to many sect-leading immortals—they would all find ways to ask him for a calligraphy letter or deliberately send letters to the old Sage Wen Sheng, ostensibly to seek guidance on scholarly questions. The Master would understand implicitly and each time have his senior disciple reply on his behalf. After receiving the letters, the women would carefully mount them as calligraphy models and treasure them. Then there was A Liang, who every time he and Cui Chan returned from a journey, would cry and complain that he had been reduced to a foil. “Heaven and earth as my witness, the girls’ souls were all hooked by Cui Chan. They didn’t even glance at Brother A Liang!”
Chunqing reminded softly, “Mr. Qi.”
Mr. Qi’s thoughts were too many; his Dao foundation was diminishing too much.
Qi Jingchun turned his head, reached out to press down on Cui Dongshan’s head, and moved him aside so that this disciple-nephew wouldn’t get in the way. He then said to her with a smile, “Miss Chunqing, if you have time, you really should visit Falling Mountain. It’s a wonderful place—beautiful scenery and outstanding people.”
Chunqing nodded. “Okay! I’ll do as Mr. Qi says.”
Cui Dongshan said with a look of indignation, “Chunqing, what’s with you? I went through nine bulls and two tigers of effort and still couldn’t trick you into coming to Falling Mountain. And this fellow surnamed Qi just opens his mouth and you agree so readily?!”
Chunqing blinked and said honestly, “You’re not a reliable person, but Mr. Qi is a gentleman.”
Qi Jingchun looked toward Tongye Continent and said with a smile, “I have to admit, although Zhou Mi’s actions are perverse and rebellious, his solitary upward path is indeed shocking to the hearts and minds of the world.”
Cui Dongshan’s mind suddenly trembled. He recalled something and looked at Qi Jingchun’s weakened aura. He asked, “Fuyao Continent and Tongye Continent are both part of the Barren Wastes territory. Could it be that just now?”
Qi Jingchun nodded, confirming Cui Dongshan’s guess.
Cui Dongshan sighed. Zhou Mi’s expertise in controlling the river of time was the key to besieging and killing Bai Ye.
It seemed they had already tested each other’s strength. In the end, Qi Jingchun didn’t let Zhou Mi succeed.
That old turtle bastard Cui Chan, even if he broke into the Fourteenth Realm, would never have such means. At most, he would increase a few long-planned killing techniques.
Qi Jingchun stood up. He wanted to go see the first disciple taken in by his junior brother—it seemed the Master had helped choose her. His junior brother must have put a lot of thought into it.
Cui Dongshan seemed to want to say something but hesitated.
Qi Jingchun reached out and pressed Cui Chan’s shoulder. “In the future, if the junior brother still feels guilty and thinks he has done too little, then at that time, you can tell the junior brother something for me. Tell him about that little golden incense figure, and how it came about.”
Cui Dongshan hummed in acknowledgment, listless and lacking spirit.
Qi Jingchun suddenly gave him a hard slap on the head, nearly knocking Cui Dongshan off into the pavilion. Qi Jingchun laughed, “I’ve wanted to do this for a long time. Back when we studied under the Master, you were the best at fanning the flames. I fought over ninety battles with Zuo You, and at least eighty were stirred up by you. Many of the Master’s later bad habits—you made an enormous contribution to those.”
Cui Dongshan said angrily, “Tattling? Keeping a ledger of grudges? Those habits of my Master and Senior Sister—who did they learn them from?”
Qi Jingchun gave a knowing smile. One smile brought the warmth of spring. His form dissipated, disappearing like the spring breeze, leaving no trace.
Cui Dongshan murmured, “Why not talk a little longer?”
Chunqing silently finished eating an entire tier of pastries. Finally, she couldn’t help but remind softly, “What about that old god from the Cloud Stop Pavilion at the Observation Sea Realm? Are you just going to keep him locked up in your sleeve?”
Cui Dongshan rolled his eyes. “What the hell are you talking about? There’s no such person. No such thing!”
This girl wasn’t being honest. If he had known, he wouldn’t have brought out those pastries to treat her.
Chunqing said, “When we get to your Falling Mountain, will we go to the shop on Dragon Riding Alley first?”
Cui Dongshan immediately said obsequiously, “Definitely.”
Chunqing suddenly asked considerately, “Do you want some more wine?”
Cui Dongshan was silent for a moment, then shook his head.
On the summit of Caizhi Mountain, the white-robed old ape walked alone down the divine path.
He felt something was off. This guardian spirit of Positive Sun Mountain quickly looked around but found nothing unusual. Strange.
Pei Qian’s eyes widened. That green-robed literatus smiled and shook his head, signaling her not to make a sound. He asked her with his heart voice if she had any concerns and whether she would like to tell her senior uncle.
Outside the Southern Peak Mountain God Temple, Song Jixin sat alone in a temporary study, rubbing his temples. This powerful Great Li prince suddenly stood up and bowed to his Master.
Inside the Qi Ferry Temple outside the Great Li secondary capital, Lin Shouyi was about to put away the lower volume of *Cloud Top Clear Sound* when the green-robed literatus smiled and sat down, asking Lin Shouyi to fetch brush and paper so he could make annotations.
Inside a nearby great river water mansion, Wang Zhu, now the only true dragon in the human world, looked at the uninvited guest. She raised her head high, full of defiance.
At the blacksmith shop by Dragon Beard River, Liu Xianyang was dozing, his mind roaming through a shocking ancient battlefield. He didn’t know that beside him, on a small bamboo chair, sat a Mr. Qi who was also resting with his eyes closed, providing him with one final escort on his path.
Over at the small town school, the green-robed literatus stood inside the classroom, his form gradually fading. Qi Jingchun looked toward the door, as if at any moment a shy and timid straw-sandaled boy would appear. Before speaking up courageously, he would secretly raise his hand, rub his palm against his old but clean sleeve, then look into the schoolroom with clear, pure eyes and say softly, “Mr. Qi, there’s a letter for you.”
[End of Chapter]