Chapter Five: Someone Sets Forth to Give the World Its Meaning

A girl of eleven or twelve is at the age when she cannot keep her feelings hidden, and this was especially true of the precocious child before them. Rather than saying she wanted to leave, it would be more accurate to say she wanted peace of mind; she poured everything out plainly, like beans tipping from a bamboo tube.

Yu Fu had only just learned of it himself, and his eyes reddened at once.

Wu Yue let out a long sigh. After a long silence, he said, "The festival spell is indeed a marvelous art, though its flaws are many, and it cannot be cast lightly." His expression showed neither grief nor joy.

He gazed at the crabapple tree, its blossoms red and blazing. Perhaps because of his altered state of mind, it now seemed as though Hong Xiu herself stood there, solitary and untouchable, cold and desolate.

However ordinary a cultivator may try to appear, he can never truly be ordinary. For instance, Yu Dangran, though holding a watering can and looking like nothing more than a gardener, possessed a power that appeared out of nowhere and was likely beyond the reach of a hundred ordinary men.

"I feel... very surprised," Wu Yue said slowly after a pause.

Yu Dangran, however, was not surprised. Water fell upon the crabapple blossoms, and after the sunlight struck it, a refracted gleam shone forth, but no rainbow colors appeared. Yu Dangran smiled and said, "This is what it means to be the most generous kind of person in the world. If something is of no use to yourself, why not give it to someone who can use it? If all people under heaven were like this, the great way of universal harmony might truly be within reach."

"Hong Xiu died for a worthy cause. The Scarlet Blood Curse is not a poison without cure; what cannot be undone is a dead heart," Yu Dangran said. "So there is no need for excessive sorrow. Sometimes death is not necessarily a bad thing. There are many things far more painful than death, yet people lack the courage to choose them. If one does not even possess that courage, how much harder must it be to escape suffering?"

Yu Dangran set down the watering can and stood by Wu Yue's window, his eyes clear with wisdom and calm. Just as he had said, there was no need for too much grief.

"I took the magical item he always carried, transformed it into Hong Xiu's robes and crown, and buried it here. As for the crabapple tree above, I do not know where it came from."

"Father! Didn't you say this was what Hong Xiu had become?" the girl suddenly spoke, her words tinged with accusation.

Yu Dangran remained composed and replied, "Yes. It must be so. Otherwise, how could such a strange thing have happened?" He smiled at his daughter, showing no reproach for the girl having revealed the matter.

The atmosphere fell briefly into silence. Yu Dangran sighed, yet offered no explanation. In youth, one does not lack understanding of reason; one lacks the understanding of why reason matters.

"Master Yu, I will probably be going down the mountain in the next two days," Wu Yue said suddenly.

Yu Dangran nodded. "You are a free man to begin with. Do as your heart wishes. But you must take Pingyuan with you. Our old temple on Mount Huangshan probably cannot afford to support such a great Buddha." He gave a wry smile. "Drinking is no crime; getting drunk a little is only a minor hurt. But if you bring along our disciples of Mount Huangshan, that would be a far greater injury."

It was meant as a joke, but the mood was too cold for anyone to laugh.

"Young man, do not be moved just yet. One cannot know a person by face alone; this festival spell and the Old Huangshan Five Wounds are the sect's closely guarded secrets. Especially this festival spell: its effects are extraordinary, but the price will surely not be small. I have lived for more than two hundred years and have seen every sort of person, but never have I met a truly good person with great cultivation."

Qing Yuzi's words were full of cold reason. Fortunately, only Wu Yue could hear them. Otherwise, if Yu Fu and the grieving girl had heard, there would certainly have been another round of denunciations of human nature.

Wu Yue's fingers tapped unconsciously against the table. Bitterly, he murmured to himself, "How can I repay this?" He feared no thousand enemies, but a debt of kindness cut deepest; there is nothing more invincible than being unable to repay it.

"Some die amid grandeur, some perish in obscurity. Whether one's weight is greater than a mountain or lighter than a feather, so long as one can face it with peace, that is what matters most. Life and death are the two great affairs of the world, and also its two great difficulties," Yu Dangran said, as if deep in thought.

"Young man, this old Daoist speaks well. If I were you, I would seize the thunder scepter while you can. Such a treasure buried underground—would that not be a waste?" As Wu Yue heard this, a scene suddenly flashed through his mind: a woman in black clutching the thunder scepter tightly. Was this your peace of mind?

Wu Yue remained silent for a long time. The girl, who had originally thought him cold and heartless, suddenly recalled a phrase from the current bestselling book, First Sin of Love, that said the bitterest sorrow in the world is what cannot be spoken, and even harder, what cannot be shown.

She secretly glanced at Wu Yue's expressionless face, and her earlier suspicion became even more certain. Feeling that she herself had caused all of this, and remembering how they had agreed from the beginning not to say anything, she now felt a faint regret. After hesitating, she spoke up to comfort him. "Don't be too sad. Sister Hong Xiu said herself that she had no regrets. And that magical item of yours—I was the one who buried it, not my father."

Wu Yue suddenly looked at the girl and said, "Thank you." His gaze was sincere, and his words earnest. Even if he did not know, it would be fine; even if knowing would only make him sadder, he still wanted to know. He had no regrets.

The girl was caught off guard by the sudden thanks. By then, Wu Yue had already turned his head and was looking out the window.

Outside the window were the crabapple tree and Yu Dangran.

Who says my luck is bad?

"Does Master Yu have any further guidance?" Wu Yue asked.

"One's own life and death need only be a worthy end. The cycle of all living beings, their coming and going, is the true principle of the human world. If the day comes when the heavens topple, I hope you will not forget this moment," Yu Dangran said without the slightest courtesy, sounding almost indifferent.

Wu Yue frowned, somewhat puzzled. But behind him, the girl’s expression changed from anger at the beginning, to satisfaction, and then to a faint regret.

By now, her face had suddenly filled with the utmost grievance, tears spilling down without end. She glared fiercely at Yu Dangran, and the little father-daughter warmth from moments before came to an abrupt halt and vanished without a trace. The girl cried as she ran outside; Yu Fu stood stunned for a moment, then hurried after her.

Yu Dangran seemed to let out a helpless smile, but Wu Yue clearly caught the bitterness within it.

"Qing Zhi is still blaming me."

Wu Yue turned his head slightly and looked at the crabapple tree, swaying in the wind. Countless feelings were too hard to speak aloud.

"Ah Li, I know you would not blame me." Yu Dangran lowered his gaze to the ground, like an ordinary man remembering his departed wife. Countless feelings need not be spoken; more than anything, there was no regret.

"I thought he had changed. Who knew he still hadn't changed! He still said the same thing." Before long, Qing Zhi's tears had fallen like rain. Yu Fu stood beside her, reaching out and withdrawing his hand several times, utterly at a loss.

"Let's go. We are leaving the mountain right now! No need to tell him." Qing Zhi wiped away her tears and said loudly, "Who would tell him? He didn't even care when my mother died. Even if I died, I naturally wouldn't want him to care either."