Chapter 7: 7

Chapter 7: Bowl of Water

There was a well in Apricot Street called the Ironchain Well. An iron chain, as thick as an arm, hung from the wellhead. When this iron chain appeared and who placed it there was a complete mystery. Even the oldest person in the town could not give an explanation for its origins.

Rumor had it that a curious young man wanted to see exactly how long the chain was. The elders of the town had a saying that warned of pulling out the chain: “A foot of l chain pulled up, a year of life cut down.” This old adage had been passed down through the town, but the man ignored it, not believing it. He pulled on the iron chain hard for half an hour, a large pile of chain accumulating on the ground, the end of the iron chain nowhere in sight. Exhausted, he wrapped the chain beside the well and said he would continue pulling tomorrow. 

He returned home. On that very same day, he bled out on his bed, blood oozing out of his nose and mouth. His eyes were wide open, even in death. 

No matter how hard his family tried, the corpse would not shut its eyes, refusing to be at peace. At last, an old man who lived near the well told the family to carry the corpse to the well. The corpse “watched,” as the old man put the iron chain it pulled out back into the well. When all the chain was finally cast back in the well, the corpse finally shut its eyes.

An old man and child walked towards the Ironchain Well. The boy had a runny nose, snot hanging. However, when he spoke of this story, he spoke in a clear, orderly manner. His speaking was unlike a country bumpkin who had only been going to school for half a year.

The boy raised his head, his eyes like two big black grapes, and sniffed. The snot retracted. The boy looked at the storyteller, who held a big white bowel in one hand and said, “I’m done with my story. You’ll show me what’s inside your bowel, right?”

The old man chuckled. “No rush, let’s sit down by the well first. I’ll show you then.”

The boy gave the old man a “kind” warning. “Don’t go back on your word. You’ll die if you do. You might fall into the well, and your head will go splat. I won’t fish out your corpse if that happens. Or maybe, you’ll be struck by lightning, and your body will be split down the middle and turn to ash. I’ll take a stone and start grinding your ashes…”

The old man felt a bit of headache when he heard the boy’s unrelenting words, which cursed him to die a horrific death. He said quickly, “I’ll show you for sure. By the way, where did you learn to say such horrific things?”

The boy said without hesitation, “From my mama!”

The old man sighed. “It seems the new generation has a bright future. The holy land didn’t disappoint.”

The boy suddenly stopped and frowned. “You’re being sarcastic, right? I know there are people who like to talk like that, like Song Jixin!”

The old man hurriedly denied it and then tried to change the subject. “Has anything weird happened in this town lately?”

The boy nodded.

“Tell me.”

The boy pointed to the old man and said seriously, “You. You’ve been carrying around a big white bowel and won’t let people put copper in it. Mama said your way of talking isn’t evil, just weird, like some scammer. Now tell me, what the hell is in that bowel?”

The old man was at a loss.

After he had finished telling the story under the locust tree, he asked the boy to lead him to the well in Apricot Street. The boy was unwilling to at first, but he told the boy that his white bowel was a very special white bowel. It had some rare stuff. The boy was a curious child, always lively.

When he was young, he wandered around with the tramp Liu Xianyang. To catch those eels and loaches, the boy had to wait patiently without moving in the sun for hours at a time. He had a shocking amount of patience.

The old man had made a strange request after asking to be taken to the well. The old man told him that he wanted to see how much he weighed and if he weighed forty pounds. The boy agreed without hesitation, seeing no harm in it.

The old man, a bowel in his left hand, did something that made the boy roll his eyes.

The old man tried his hardest to lift the boy up with his right hand, trying six times. The old man was unable to lift him up. The boy glanced at the old man’s thin arms and frail legs and shook his head. That poor bloke Chen Pingan is stronger than this weak old man. He resisted the urge to say some not very nice words to the old man, not wanting to spoil the chance to learn about the mysteries that resided in the bowl.

In Apricot Street and Muddyrun, this boy was ranked third overall in the art of verbally abusing people. Runner up was the scholar Song Jixin. The boy’s mother took first.

The old man came to the well

The ancient well was made of bluish clay bricks.

The old man’s breathing started to become heavy. 

The boy walked to the well, turned his back to the wellhead, and jumped back. His butt plopped down on the wellhead.

This caused the old man to sweat. If the boy was not careful, he would fall straight down to his doom. Given the origins of this well, his corpse would be difficult to retrieve.

The old man took a couple steps forward and leaned over to examine the iron chain. One end of the chain was wrapped tightly to the well reel. 

The old man looked around, a thousand emotions running through his mind. Whose hands will this treasure fall into?

The old man stretched out his free hand and stared at his palm

It was full of wrinkles, a chaotic pattern.

Suddenly, a new pattern emerged. It extended out on his palm, like cracks on a pottery.

The old man looked down on his palm, like an immortal overlooking the world.

The old man frowned and said in shock, ”Just half a day passed. The situation is already this dire?”

The boy sat on the wellhead, one hand on his hip, the other pointing at the old man. He shouted, “Show me the freaking bowel!”

The old man said, “Come down, come down, then I’ll show the bowel.”

Still skeptical, the boy jumped down from the wellhead.

The old man paused, his face solemn, and said, “Little child, you and I are fated to be. I will show the heavenly secrets of this bowel, but you mustn’t tell what you see to outsiders, not even to your own mother. If you cannot do this, no matter how much you scorn and curse at me, I will not show you.”

The boy blinked. “Show.”

The old man walked to the well, lowered his head, and realized that the brat had gotten back up on the wellhead. The boy sat down on the wellhead, his feet spread apart lazily. The old man was starting to regret involving himself with this child.

The old man reigned in his thoughts and faced the well. He grabbed the bottom of the big white bowel with five fingers and titled the palm of his hand ever so slightly, holding the bowel right above the well.

The boy did not notice anything happening with the bowel. The old man kept this posture for a long time.

Just as the boy’s snot was about to touch his lips, his patience exhausted, he saw a stream of water, the thickness of a finger, pouring out of the white bowel. The water fell into the depths of the wall, not making a sound.

The boy smirked, about to run his mouth again.

Suddenly, he shut his mouth, a little surprised. After a while, the surprise transformed into shock. The child looked on with fear. He jumped down and dashed towards his house.

The white bowel was no bigger than a jug.

Yet, water kept pouring out of the white bowl, kept pouring and pouring, as if it contained an endless amount of water.

The boy felt like he was seeing the impossible.

…

Liu Xianyang broke a branch off a tree on the roadside. He began to practice his swordsmanship. His body spun and flew, turning in a crazed manner, dust flying up in the air. He did not care about his new pair of boots.

Liu Xianyang had left the town and traveled south. As long as one went through the bridge built at the expense of Sir Song and walked another three miles, they would arrive at the blacksmith opened by the Ruan family. Despite being a proud youth, Liu Xianyang was reverent towards his master. He still remembered what his master told him. “We are here to forge swords.”

That sentence captured his heart. Just the thought of having a real sword in the future made Liu Xianyang giddy. He threw away the tree branch and began running and punching. He roared as he punched.

Liu Xianyang had been taught a few fist arts by Master Ruan in private. He practiced the first arts with ferocity.

He drew closer and closer to the bridge.

…

There were four people sitting down on the bridge. A graceful, beautiful middle-aged woman held a boy, who wore a red robe, in her arms. The boy had his chin raised, arrogant, like a general who had just won a battle. On the other end of the steps, there was a muscular old man, with a head full of pale gray hair. Besides him, there was an angry little girl. He was trying to soothe her. She had a dainty build, a pristine and refined air around her. Her fair skin shined under the sunlight.

The girl and boy were arguing a moment ago. The little girl was on the verge of tears, while the boy was smug.

The old man was muscular, his build resembling a mountain. The middle-aged woman gave him an apologetic look, but the old man ignored it.

At the bottom of the steps, there was a young man, the eldest grandson of the head of the Lu family. His name was Lu Zhengchun. One’s environment affected their appearance. Lu Zhengchun’s complexion was inferior, his body ravaged by a life of decadence. Compared to the four people sitting on the steps, he stood out like a sore thumb.

The Lu family was at the top of the town, many members of the family traveling around the town and establishing branches. However, the flamboyant Lu Zhengchun was no more. He had a cautious demeanor, his face pale, body tense. It was like if he made the slightest mistake, his entire lineage would be executed. 

The red-robed boy said, “Mom, that Liu Xianyang bug, does his ances—”

Just as he was about to finish, the middle-aged woman covered his mouth. “How many times do I have to tell you this? You shouldn’t blurt out someone’s name like that.”

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The boy took off the woman’s hand, his eyes fiery. He asked in a suppressed whisper, “Did he really inherit an ancestral suit of armor and a sword scripture?”

The woman patted the boy’s head fondly and said softly, “The Lu family swore those two things are hidden in the boy’s house.”

The boy said cutely, “Mom, mom, why don’t we trade with Bai? The armor we’re plotting to get is really ugly. Mom, think about it, that sword scripture will allow someone to take someone’s head in an instant. Isn’t that much more powerful than some dumb tortiose shell?”

Without waiting for the woman’s response, the girl nearby shouted angrily, “How dare you want to get your dirty hands on our sect’s long-lost treasure? We’re here to reclaim what is rightfully ours. Unlike some despicable thieves!”

The boy turned his head and made a face. “Heh, girl, what treasure? It’s just some ancestral gate. Is it really that amazing?” The boy had an amused expression on his face. He stood up from her arms and looked down on the little girl. He said in a lecturing tone, “The Great Dao takes its course on the world. To go against the course of the world one must fight. To think you don’t even understand this principle. How are you going to inherit your family’s practices in the future? How are you going to abide by the ancestral teachings? The descendants of the True Sun Sect had to raise True Sun Mountain at least a thousand feet every thirty years. Girl, do you think that was an easy feat for your forefathers?”

The girl lost some of her spirit, her face a little pale. She lowered her head, not looking at the boy.

The muscular old man said in a deep voice, “Madam, although the words of children are said to be innocent, if the dao heart of our family’s young master is tainted because of this, you best be aware of the consequences. ”

The woman flashed a charming smile and pulled the sullen boy back into her arms. She said in a gentle but firm voice, “The children are just bickering. Why is a senior like yourself, Yuan, stirring discourse with this. It would be unwise to spoil our long-standing friendship.”

To the woman’s surprise, the old man lashed out at her. He shouted, his voice piercing, “The True Sun Sect has lasted for 2,600 years! To this day, we abide by an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth! No grudge shall be left unsettled.”

The woman smiled and stayed silent, unwilling to fight in a battle of words with the old man.

Everyone on this trip to the town had a heavy burden on their shoulders. In this trip, she had put her life, her son’s future, and her family’s heritage on the line. She was taking a big gamble.

Although her clothes were plain, she had a graceful demeanor, something the people of this town, oblivious to the mysteries surrounding them, had never seen before. It was otherworldly.

From beginning to end, Lu Zhengchun had his back facing these people.

When these people had arrived at the Lu family, there had been an incident. His little brother was young and impudent. He did not heed grandfather’s warnings and snuck a glance at the woman’s chest. Furious and trembling, grandfather ordered someone to drag his little brother to the courtyard and beat him to death. They stuffed his little brother’s mouth with cloth and began the execution. 

Lu Zhengchun, who sat by his grandpa in the main room, could neither hear his little brother’s miserable wails nor see the grotesque and bloody scene. When the talk was over, he walked out and found the blood stains in the courtyard had already been cleaned up, his little brother no more. The four guests who had come from afar looked at this indifferently. Even the little boy and girl treated this as a matter of course.

Lu Zhengchun went into a daze.

Died a dog’s death.

He had been drinking with his little brother the night before. His little brother was full of energy, claiming that he would rise to the top, that he would make his ancestors proud. He said they would no longer just be frogs in a well. They would explore the outside and join the shining stars.

His mind went blank, fear overtaking his heart. When these strange people asked him questions, he would speak with a trembling voice. He led the way, staggering. He knew his appearance right now was a joke. It was disgraceful. However, the young man could not control his fear. Fear had been etched into his heart.

Towards the end of last year, his grandfather had taken the two brothers to a secret chamber to tell them an important piece of news. “The Lu family will be assisting great people soon. This is a great blessing, but you must be careful. Once the task is complete, the Lu family will try to convince them to let you two into the sect. If they are willing, your future will be secured. You will put on the path of the sun, of dao. You will ascend into the clouds and be blessed with wealth beyond your imagination.” 

Lu Zhengchun saw Liu Xianyang draw closer and closer to the bridge. He hated this person. He and a couple of his buddies had beaten that poor fucker till he was lying like a dead dog in some street in the slums. If it wasn’t for some bastard who started running around and screaming “murder,” he and his buddies would’ve continued beating Liu Xianyang to their hearts content.

Lu Zhengchun did not understand why these important people were interested in Liu Xianyang. He also did not understand that ancestral armor, sword scripture, True Sun Sect, Great Dao, fighting stealing stuff they talked about.

However, Lu Zhengchun was sure of one thing. He hoped Liu Xianyang would die today.

He did not want to think too deeply about the reason for this messed-up hope. 

Deep down in his heart, Lu Zhengchun loathed the fact that Liu Xianyang, a poor bum, would see him, the great Lu Zhengchun, reduced to such a pitiful state.

He should just die.

He was ashamed at what he had become.

The beautiful woman looked at Liu Xianyang and murmured, “He’s here.”

Liu Xianyang punched, as he moved. His punches were swift and crushing. The punches got faster and faster, whipping up a storm. The momentum from the punches even caused Liu Xianyang to stagger a little.

An expert could see that fist intent was beginning to take shape in him.

Fist intent was the essence of the fist, a demonstration of absolute mastery over the fist. Without fist intent, one would spend their lifetime as a layman. Upon comprehending fist intent, one could challenge beings that lurked beyond the mortal realm.

The woman sighed, as if a heavy burden had been lifted off of her. 

Liu Xianyang is the one they are looking for. His talent and spirit is pretty good, even when compared to those immortal households.

Of course, in this vast world that the woman and old man wandered, people like this were a dime in a dozen.

The women stood up and told Lu Zhengchun, who was at the bottom of the steps. “Go, ask the boy what he wants and if he is willing to exchange his two family heirlooms, the armor and the scripture.”

Lu Zhengchun turned around and bowed his head. In a dialect that the people of this town never heard before, he replied, “Yes, madam.”

The woman said indifferently, “Remember, when you talk to him, be careful with what you say. Don’t anger him.”

The boy pointed at Lu Zhengchun and said, “If something goes wrong, I’ll peel off all your skin, rip every bone out of your body, and refine your soul into a candle. Your soul will burn out. You’d wish you were dead!”

Lu Zhengchun was frightened witless. He shuddered and bowed even lower. He said anxiously, “This little one won’t make mistakes!”

Still spiteful after losing the argument with the boy, the girl sneered and said, “Look at this. Acting so high and mighty, even threatening mortals. Hmm, I wonder, who was it again that got called a bastard on our way here and was too scared to fight back?”

The old man had a bad impression of the snobbish mother and son pair, so he added, “Miss, it would be more accurate to say he was scared shitless. Couldn’t even say a word.”

The boy in the red robe clenched his teeth and glared at the girl, his face grim, but he did not say anything. Instead, he smiled brightly.

The woman’s eyes were on the road ahead, appearing calm and peaceful. It was unknown whether she took those words to heart.

The girl snorted, ran down the steps, crouched by a stream, and looked at the swimming fish. Occasionally, a group of red carp would swim into her line of sight, their numbers varied.

Some of the elderly in the town told stories about a golden carp. They said one had the chance to see a golden carp under this bridge during stormy days.

Some said the golden carp was palm-sized, small, while others said the strange carp was very big, at least half a person long. There were different stories regarding this golden carp. The elderly argued with each other over the carp. The children who listened to the story did not take this “golden carp” seriously.

The girl stared at the crystal clear stream, her hands on her cheeks.

The white-haired old man crouched beside her and chuckled softly. “Miss, if the Lu family didn’t lie, this great opportunity has already been seized by someone else.”

The girl turned her head and smiled. “Grandpa Yuan, maybe there are two carps!”

When she smiled, she revealed a missing front tooth. The girl realized this quickly and covered her mouth.

The old man held back his smile and explained, “The descendants of the flood dragon have divided the territory with the utmost care. They will not allow their same kind to draw close. So…”

The little girl groaned, turned her head again. She looked at the river in a daze and murmured “But what if…”

For the first time, the old man, who seemed to always spoil the girl, began to exude the disposition of an elder. He reached out and gently placed his hand on the girl’s head. “Miss, you must remember, the words ’what if’ is the mind-killer. It is the bane of our ancestors. We do not take chances! Miss, although you have the golden flower body…”

The girl took off the old man’s hand and tilted her head side-to-side. “I know, I know, Grandpa Yuan, you always say the same old stuff.”

“Miss, I’ll keep an eye on them. Although they are considered an ally of the True Sun Sect, their character is… heh, I’ll stop now.”

The girl shooed him away. The old man turned around and began leaving.

The old man, who acted like a slave, had his hands on his knees when we walked, his back slightly hunched over. It was like a heavy load was crushing him.

The girl on the bank rubbed her eyes. The water level of the stream seemed to rise slowly. It was rising at a speed visible to the eye.

Strange.

If this was outside the town, such as in the True Sun Sect, she wouldn’t be surprised even if the entire stream dried up in an instant.

Wasn’t a ban placed on all mystic arts, divine powers, and Taoism in this town? Grandpa Yuan told me about that person too. Stay here for too long, a difficult predicament…

In the end, the girl shook her head, too lazy to think more about this mystery. She turned her head and looked at the muscular back of Grandpa Yuan. 

She thought happily, Once the ban is completely lifted, I’ll ask Grandpa Yuan to move the Cloud Mountain away. I’ll take it home and use it as a little flower garden.

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