Chapter 10: 10

Chapter 10 – Wolf Eats Sheep

Cai Jinjian had been walking backward. The moment she took that step, she realized that something had gone terribly wrong. 

What was utterly intolerable to her was not the fact that she stepped in shit but because she was seen stepping in shit. The true tragedy of this situation was that the person who saw her step in shit had actually told her that she was about to step in shit.

Cai Jinjian was not the impetuous type, nor was she a spoiled daughter who never had to work a day in her life. She was one of the many descendants of the sect master of Alpenglow Mountain. Her being given the chance to be here was proof of her capabilities. Alpenglow Mountain had a total of 18 peaks. Shrouded in a misty haze year-round, Alpenglow Mountain procured an important material, cloud stones. This stone was a valuable material in the Dao of alchemy and pill-making. It was known to be impeccably clear and clean, one of a kind. The people of Alpenglow Mountain paid special attention to their cleanliness, and Cai Jinjian was no exception. 

Cai Jinjian would have never set foot in this small town, let alone walk in an alley full of shit if it was not for the severity of the matter. What was most embarrassing was that after coming here, the immortals high up in the heavens were now like fish thrown ashore. In an instant, they had lost all their backing. Their blessed land gone. Their cultivation which could overturn the world gone. Their treasures which could slaughter demons gone. All gone.

Now, here was Cai Jinjian stepping on shit. Fu Nanhua originally found it amusing. The ever-so-clean Fairy Cai now had her shoes covered in shit. What a sight!

But at the next moment, Fu Nanhua shouted, “Cai Jinjian, stop!”

Standing atop the wall, Song Jixin cleaned the jade pendant in his hand tightly. He saw Cai Jinjian vanish and appear in front of Chen Pingan in an instant. 

Her delicate hand, clear like crystal, shot towards the poor boy. Suddenly, her hand stopped a sliver away from the boy and gently patted the boy’s cheek, like a doting mother. She bent down and bore into the boy’s eyes. The boy’s eyes were clear, pure. Cai Jinjian could almost see her reflection from them. She was in a shit mood. With a forced smile, she said, “Little guy, I know you paused before saying that last word.”

Fu Nanhua let out a sigh of relief. If Cai Jinjian had actually tried to kill someone here, they would be driven out of the town. Then, they would be laughingstocks. His face grim, he said in the standard dialect, “Cai Jinjian, think twice before you act. If you are going to pull something like that again, I believe we’ll have to cut off ties here. I don’t want you to make all my hard work be in vain.”

Cai Jinjian, her back facing Fu Nanhua, recited in a whisper quickly, “Noble meet buddha soon, lowly meet buddha late… reach the Pure Land…”

She turned her head quickly and gave an apologetic smile to Fu Nanhua. “I lost my temper there. I promise, nothing like that will happen again.”

Fu Nanhua returned a cold smile. “You sure?”

Cai Jinjian responded with a laugh, not making any promises to Fu Nanhua. She looked at Chen Pingan again and said in her native tongue, “I am from Alpenglow Mountain, one of the five Buddhist sects. We wish to subdue the monkey mind and tether horse will, to calm the restless mind. Before I came here, I was at a loss for what exactly my monkey mind was. The elders have a tendency to not help the younglings, letting them explore it on their own. To think that one step in Muddyrun will give me a clue…”

Chen Pingan replied, “Miss, shit is still on your shoe, shouldn’t you scrape it off?”

The immortal woman had originally felt she had ascended, her mind reaching the realm of the Pure Land. However, after hearing those words, she plummeted back down to the mortal word. Her face turned livid. Fu Nanhua’s warning still echoed in her mind, so she did not have an outlet for her anger. She could only poke the boy’s forehead hard and glare. “Did your parents not teach you any manners? Such vitriol will only cut your lifespan and fortune.”

Chen Pingan’s skin was rough. He did not care and just looked at Song Jixin, silent. 

Song Jixin jumped and cursed, “What you looking at, Chen Pingan? Oh, curses!”

Fu Nanhua realized that they were getting nowhere. He began to feel a bit peeved. In a biting tone, he snapped, “Cai Jinjian! How amusing. Didn’t know some people were willing to idle on the path of Dao because of some shit.”

Cai Jinjian did not snap back at Fu Nanhua. She took one last look at the frail boy, turned around, and left.

Suddenly, behind her, Chen Pingan shouted, “Miss, you are very pretty.”

A vulgar mortal ant trying to flirt with an immortal? Furious, Cai Jinjian jerked and turned around.

She made up her mind. She would teach this two-faced country bastard a lesson, even if she had to sacrifice something. Although Cai Jinjian and the others who entered this place were like prisoners, their hands and feet bound, all their treasures unavailable, they still had their bodies. They practiced cultivation since childhood and tempered their body to some extent. 

Their bodies could not compare to a martial arts practitioner, but it was enough to deal with some broke-ass boy in a rundown alley. All she had to do was poke some important acupoints to cripple that boy’s life.

However, when she turned around, she was met with a pair of bright eyes in a dark alley.

Glittering like a full moon on the sea’s horizon.

Cai Jinjian’s eyes lit up. Her smile widened upon her sudden realization.

This was a chance, a chance to cut off her inner demons. The immortal founder of the Alpenglow Mountain sect attached great importance to one concept: When karma arose, tribulation followed. 

To overcome this tribulation, there was no fixed method. Every action taken was based on the situation, based on the person. 

Cai Jinjian felt her mind was in turmoil, and it was all because of this seemingly pure, innocent boy. This boy was hindering her. She raised her hand, placed it on the boy’s heart, and pressed lightly. Her movements flowed like water but were as fast as lightning. Chen Pingan took half a step back subconsciously but could not avoid the woman.

Fu Nanhua glared at Cai Jinjian’s back. Killing intent within his body surged, but he condensed it into a heart of stone. Concealing his murderous intentions, he shouted, “When you poked the boy’s forehead, you already afflicted him with a serious ailment. Was such a punishment not enough? Why, Cai Jinjian? Have you gone mad? Are you really going to forsake the path of Dao just for some bastard?!”

Cai Jinjian ignored Fu Nanhua’s words and recovered her graceful bearing. She giggled and said, “The oh-so-dignified me is going to such lengths for some mortal boy. If this gets out, wouldn’t it be embarrassing?” She turned around and smiled. “It seems this place is fated with me. I didn’t think I would get such a fortune. It wasn’t very big, but it still’s something. What an auspicious sign. I feel better about picking Gu Can already!”

Fu Nanhua’s heart skipped a beat. Did that girl have an epiphany?

Cai Jinjian raised her foot and looked at the disgusting filth on her shoe. She said with another smile, “What a shitty blessing in disguise.”

Song Jixin’s face was gloomy, his thoughts a mystery. His maid Zhi Gui, who seemed to not be paying attention, stood in place, silent. For a split second, her pupils turned pale gold.

Fu Nanhua felt something unsettling occur and suddenly turned his head. He looked around but could not find anything out of the ordinary. Finally, he examined Zhi Gui but could find nothing wrong. He decided to ignore this feeling of discomfort and turn his focus to what Cai Jinjian did. Her actions would have certainly attracted the gaze of the sage in this town. 

Cai Jinjian was in a jolly mood. Notions that had been accumulating in her mind began pouring out.

This is great. Cai Jinjian could not wait to leave this place and return to Alpenglow Mountain to go into seclusion for a couple decades. She would have done so if Alpenglow Mountain did not need an immortal treasure heavy enough to suppress the leakage of the sect’s fortune. She needed this to cement her position as the next sect master.

Cai Jinjian walked towards Zhi Gui. The boy behind her asked, “Did you do something to me?”

She did not look back. “Little fellow, you think too much.”

Chen Pingan fell silent.

Cai Jinjian looked back and smiled. “You have at most half a year to live.”

The boy froze.

Cai Jinjian smiled softly. “Hah, you actually believed that. I was just joking.”

Chen Pingan curled his lips.

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Cai Jinjian and Fu Nanhua, both immortals, shared similar thoughts at this point in time.

A frog at the bottom of the well, an ant under the mountain

Song Jixin who was on the wall watching this all play out rubbed his temples. In a rare moment, he had a solemn look on his face. 

Zhi Gui had led away the weird miss to find snotty Gu Can, but the young man who had given him the jade pendant stayed. The young man went towards Song Jixin.

Song Jixin was sitting on the wall in a daze. He could see the frail boy watch the woman’s back for a while. Chen Pingan then closed his eyes and walked towards the gate to his yard. He stayed at the entrance of his door for a long time.

Song Jixin despised this feeling, this boy. This boy was tasteless, unassuming, yet at certain times he was like a stone in a muddy ditch. If you did not move it, it would be an eyesore. If you did move it, it would get everything dirty.

Lost in thoughts, Song Jixin did not catch what Fu Nanhua said behind him. The Dragon City young master had to repeat what he said. “Song Jixin, do you know that there are people in this world that are very different from you?”

Song Jixin awoke from his thoughts, turned around, and looked at Fu Nanhua, an elegant young man. “I know.”

Fu Nanhua swallowed what he was about to say. He let out a little smile and asked, “Do you really know?

The mysterious town boy revealed a cold smile. “People that can raise the dead, turn flesh into bone, live for centuries, on the path of the boundless Dao.”

Fu Nanhua nodded. “It seems you know about Dao. We can be considered like-minded individuals.”

Song Jixin stole a glance at Chen Pingan’s gate, absent-minded, not paying attention.

Fu Nanhua said, “Then, I’ll be frank with you. No matter what you have, as long as you’re willing to sell it, I will buy it, no matter the price!”

Song Jixin said, skeptical, “I can tell that you have a higher family status than the woman. The woman treated the boy like that. Why are you treating me any different?”

Fu Nanhua took the initiative and responded, “Think of us on equal footing.”

Song Jixin nodded and said, “You know your stuff. Easy to talk to.”

Fu Nanhua seemed to not pay mind to the condescending tone of Song Jixin’s words. In contrast to Cai Jinjian viewing Chen Pingan as a lowly ant, Fu Nanhua felt reverence in this area of Muddyrun. He just could not say it. Fu Nanhua regarded this boy in front of him as a fellow man of Dao.

On the path of Dao, class, gender, age, they were all meaningless. 

Song Jixin jumped off the wall and whispered, “Come in, we’ll talk inside.”

Fu Nanhua nodded. “Okay.”

When Song Jixin stepped through the door, he asked, “Out of curiosity, what’s your relationship with the woman you were with?”

Fu Nanhua said without hesitation. “We are partners for the time being, not too close.”

Song Jixin let out a snort and said, “Her way of doing things is too sloppy. Not smooth at all. I heard the outside world is full of all sorts of dangers and monsters. If one has a grudge, shouldn’t one eradicate the source of the matter completely? Why only go halfway?”

Fu Nanhua was the young master of the Fu family, an immortal family. He had struggled and had his fair share of hardships. When he heard this, his face remained emotionless. He just smiled and asked, “Do you have any grudges?”

Song Jixin pretended to be surprised. “Why ask?”

Realizing that the man would not believe him, Song Jixin restrained his pompous aura, pulled out a chair, and sat down. He motioned for Fu Nanhua to have a seat as well and then said, “Chen Pingan lost his parents at a young age. He has been my neighbor for many years, and we never got into a fight.  Whether you believe it or not, is up to you.”

Fu Nanhua instantly understood the sinister intentions of the boy. 

Song Jixin’s neighbor had no backing, no roots. If he were to die, so be it. No one would care.

Fu Nanhua could not help but find this whole situation a little absurd, amusing.

The poor boy next door wanted to hide Song Jixin’s location from them to protect Song Jixin and ended up losing his whole lifespan because of it. However, it seemed Song Jixin wanted to use a borrowed knife to kill that very same poor boy.

Fu Nanhua let out a sigh. A wolf is a wolf, no matter how little. It still hunts sheep.

…

In the yard of Gu Can’s house, Gu Can had been locked in a room by her mother. The mother sat opposite to the old man who called himself a “true monarch.”

The old man looked up from his palm, which was filled with interlocked wrinkles, and smiled. “It has been settled.”

The woman said, “May I ask, what did you do to Chen Pingan…”

The moment she said that, the old man’s eyes turned into daggers. She shut up.

The old man looked at the gate and flicked his sleeves. A breeze swirled in the yard, and the old man said, “When a person with my status steps foot in this place, they begin to get trapped in the muddy waters. They are like mud statues trying to cross a river, can’t even protect themselves. The more time passes, the more… heh, it’s just like that boy Song Jixin said, sloppy, messy things are, the muddling with the karmic cause and effect. It’s a good thing that that person is reviled by all, in their twilight years, with no way to escape the calamity that is about to befall. A pity though, what once was supposed to be fortuitous has taken a sharp turn to the worse… oh how it hurts to see. Given the situation, I can only make some arrangements for your son. Let’s see if I can end the life of that boy and cut off the prying eyes of those immortals. Sweep away the future worries. Give my new disciple a clear road to immortality. He will ride on the winds of this tumultuous situation and turn into a dragon…”

The woman sat beside the old man. She began sweating.

The old man asked with a smile, “Don’t you find it peculiar? She is clearly a woman from the outside, devoted to the path of cultivation, yet she behaves so shamefully. Not much better than some ignorant rural woman like yourself, ah?”

The mother lowered her head and said in a trembling voice, “I dare not have such thoughts!”

The old man smiled and waited for Cai Jinjian to knock on the door.

The road of cultivation was unending, with infinite mystical techniques and powers. There were inevitably those above others.

Cai Jinjian regarded the village folk as ants. Why shouldn’t a true monarch, like himself, regard Cai Jinjian and Fu Nanhua as ants?

Was there any point in reasoning with ants?

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