Cicadas chirped incessantly under the blazing summer sun.
On the long, winding mountain path, a woman in plain clothes walked alongside an old man.
The woman in plain clothes carried a small bundle on her back, her hair black as ink. Though it was swelteringly hot, she held up a green lotus leaf for shade, truly like a cool breeze arriving in the scorching sun. Combined with her fair skin and large eyes, she was extremely pleasing to behold.
But the old man was quite different. Though he wasn’t drenched in sweat, his face showed complete indignation. Dressed in tattered clothes with a yellowish wine gourd hanging at his waist, he held a broken bamboo pole in one hand while the other gripped a hemp rope.
Behind the hemp rope, he dragged a small cart fitted with wheels, upon which stood a big white goose, completely calm and composed.
Indeed, this old man was none other than the ethereal and otherworldly Fudao Shanren, who claimed to shake the Six Paths and Jiushijiu Zhou. The woman in plain clothes beside him was naturally Jian Chou.
This was already the tenth day since they had left the small mountain village.
After leaving the village, they had been traveling south all the way.
But poor Fudao Shanren had to bring along a big white goose throughout this journey. He had originally thought that taking on a disciple would at least net him a couple of big white geese even without any formal tuition fees, as he had been quite craving them lately.
But he hadn’t expected that there was a big trap waiting for him ahead.
That day, when he said he wanted to eat the big white goose, only then did Jian Chou reveal the truth, making Fudao Shanren squawk with anger.
At that time, seeing his fury, Jian Chou smiled. For some unknown reason, Fudao Shanren suddenly wasn’t angry anymore.
That was the only genuine smile from Jian Chou in those few days.
His disciple had suffered much hardship, yet still forced herself to smile—it truly made one’s heart ache.
Thinking about it, Fudao Shanren simply brought the big white goose along on their journey.
Then, facts proved that momentary soft-heartedness was inadvisable!
They walked, and the big white goose walked too, but Fudao Shanren still needed to hurry along. After a long time, how could a big white goose possibly keep up with human pace? Yet Fudao Shanren really couldn’t bear to part with this goose.
Seeing Fudao Shanren’s indecisive state, Jian Chou simply advised him to release the goose and let it fend for itself, or just kill it outright.
Unexpectedly, some nerve in Fudao Shanren’s brain must have misfired—he refused. In the end, he came up with a terrible idea and somehow produced a small cart from nowhere, placing the big white goose inside.
From then on, wherever Fudao Shanren went, he dragged this goose along.
Jian Chou was completely speechless, utterly convinced by the strange ideas in Fudao Shanren’s mind—
She had seen ox carts and horse carts, but she had truly never seen a human cart in her lifetime!
And it was carrying a goose!
Right now, Fudao Shanren was trudging along in front while the big white goose honked and squawked strangely behind.
Listening to this cacophonous noise and looking at the road ahead, Jian Chou felt utterly helpless.
“Master, how much longer do we have to walk?”
Weren’t legendary immortals supposed to be able to fly?
Why did Fudao Shanren have to drag a goose along on foot?
Jian Chou really couldn’t understand this at all.
Hearing this, Fudao Shanren stopped, wiped non-existent sweat from his head, glanced at her, and somehow produced a chicken leg from nowhere to gnaw on.
“The master isn’t anxious, but the disciple is—are you a eunuch or something?”
“…”
Jian Chou stared at him quietly, really wanting to say that she had just asked a simple question and wasn’t anxious at all.
Fudao Shanren looked as if he had seen right through her and said, “Alright, alright, I know what you’re thinking. You came to learn from a master, but I haven’t taught you anything yet. That’s the master’s fault, but the Master has to eat chicken legs, hold geese, and give you directions along the way—I’m very busy, okay? Don’t be anxious either. Being able to calm your heart is also a form of cultivation…”
No, I’m not anxious…
Wait!
Having time to eat chicken legs, hold the big white goose, and give her directions…
And still very busy?!
Listening to this, Jian Chou suddenly showed a look of realization and couldn’t help glaring at him: “Aren’t you saying you’re not teaching me cultivation to help me calm my heart and temper my state of mind?”
“Eh, did I say that?”
Oops, he’d been exposed.
The chicken leg meat in his throat somehow got stuck for a moment. Fudao Shanren looked around at the sky: “Cough cough… That’s not what I meant. Aren’t we busy traveling? Besides, we need to find a place with abundant spiritual energy before we can start cultivating. Master just hasn’t found the right place yet.”
Jian Chou’s hand gripping the bundle strap gradually tightened, and the smile on her face deepened.
“Oh? Master means it’s not because you’re too lazy to teach?”
“Right, right, right.”
Fudao Shanren nodded like a pecking chicken.
“Don’t worry, Master has already mapped out a smooth path to heaven for you! In another half day’s walk, we’ll reach the famous Qingfeng Nunnery of your Great Xia, located in Dai City on the Eastern Sea coast. Master has an old friend there whom I want to visit. That place happens to be by the sea with abundant and gentle spiritual energy, perfect for complete beginners to cultivate. When we get there, Master will handle business while you cultivate.”
Jian Chou studied him without speaking.
Fudao Shanren moved closer with a somewhat flattering manner: “Come on, Master is not the kind of unreliable person who speaks nonsense! How could Master let you fall behind others? When the time comes, you’ll be the most formidable of the new generation in all of Jiushijiu Zhou! Just half a day’s walk, that’s all.”
Jian Chou instinctively looked up at the sky.
No cows were flying overhead.
Although she didn’t think Fudao Shanren was very reliable, seeing his earnest and cautious expression, Jian Chou felt no anger in her heart.
“Master, I’m not anxious. I just feel…”
Your habit of spouting nonsense should be corrected.
“Never mind.”
“Hehe, don’t worry, don’t worry—just half a day!”
Fudao Shanren hastily promised.
So the two continued forward.
But after walking for less than two hours, Jian Chou knew this one was indeed unreliable.
The mountain path took a turn ahead and finally became gentle.
Standing on the mountainside and looking down, the continuous mountain ranges gradually lowered from north to south, finally hiding their undulating contours within the boundless vast plains.
On the plains, prosperous towns were scattered about, already showing a scene of human habitation and activity.
Qingfeng Nunnery was near Dai City on the Eastern Sea coast—the Eastern Sea coast!
They had come out from the small mountain village, traveling all the way south!
That meant now Fudao Shanren still had to take Jian Chou all the way east!
The moment she saw the plains ahead, Jian Chou finally realized she would sooner or later be killed by Fudao Shanren’s unreliability.
“This is the half-day Master mentioned?”
“Well, if we pick up the pace, it’s still possible.”
“…Give me back my big white goose!”
Jian Chou suddenly didn’t want to reason with Fudao Shanren anymore. She could see that without some pressure, this master would continue being unreliable like this!
“Let’s talk nicely—don’t bring up the goose at every turn!”
Fudao Shanren looked at the plains ahead, actually feeling a bit confused himself.
That wasn’t right—this wasn’t the same direction he had in mind.
He was still pondering exactly where things had gone wrong when he heard Jian Chou’s cold, heartless, and unreasonable words.
Fudao Shanren immediately bristled, bent down to scoop up the big white goose, and looked at Jian Chou warily.
Jian Chou smiled: “Then can Master give me a definite answer—is it half a day?”
“Why are you so anxious! I said half a day, so half a day it is. Half a day is six hours, and only… one, two… two and a half hours have passed! There are still three hours left—we can make it!”
Fudao Shanren spoke with complete conviction.
Skeptical eyes swept from Fudao Shanren’s hair down to his worn straw sandals. Jian Chou pointed toward the endless plains in the distance, where only misty clouds could be seen.
“You’re saying in another three and a half hours we can cross the plains?”
“I say we can, so we can.” Fudao Shanren’s eyes widened. “Hmph, I have to show you this mountain dweller’s special skill—Sword!”
Before Jian Chou could react, she heard Fudao Shanren shout sharply!
Sword!
Crack, crack, crack—a series of crisp sounds!
Jian Chou looked over in surprise and saw the small wooden cart that had been on the ground suddenly folding up rapidly!
A brilliant blue light flashed, and the original small cart transformed into a wooden sword, slowly floating about a foot above the ground.
The big white goose that Fudao Shanren was clutching immediately flapped its wings desperately, as if shouting: My cart, my cart, my sword, my sword!
Seeing this, Fudao Shanren didn’t hesitate to give the big white goose a swat.
“Behave yourself!”
The big white goose immediately wilted, drooping its neck and looking pitifully at the wooden sword.
The wooden sword had an ancient, simple design—it was a large sword, two palms wide and four feet long. Blunt and edgeless, its color was somewhat dark, with deep, mysterious black marks in certain places.
Looking closer, those mysterious black marks were small tadpole-like patterns, resembling some kind of mystical symbols.
The entire sword wasn’t aesthetically pleasing.
But the moment it appeared, Jian Chou felt a simplicity and naturalness that merged with heaven and earth.
Seeing Jian Chou’s surprise, Fudao Shanren finally snorted through his nose.
“This sword is named ‘Wu.’ If you close your eyes, you won’t be able to see it.”
“…Are there swords you can see with your eyes closed?”
The cultivation world truly had all sorts of wonders.
Jian Chou’s mouth twitched.
“Ignorant, ignorant! Even if I explained it, you wouldn’t understand. Hurry up and get on the cart… oh no, get on the sword!”
Fudao Shanren stepped onto it first, standing about a foot from the sword tip. The wooden sword didn’t move at all, still floating above the ground.
Jian Chou hesitated for a moment, roughly understanding: they were about to fly.
She walked over and carefully stepped onto the rear position near the sword hilt. Worried about falling, she reached out to grab Fudao Shanren’s arm: “Master, I won’t fall off this, will I?”
“You won’t fall if you stand steady.” Fudao Shanren chuckled, but he stroked the head of the big white goose in his arms and said, “Good goose, good goose, I’ll take you to ride the wind and wield the sword! Wu Sword, rise!”
Ride the wind and wield the sword!
A fierce wind blew toward them. Fudao Shanren’s withered body seemed fragile and vulnerable in his fluttering robes, but his eyes immediately became blazing and bright, with a lustrous, full radiance contained within his body.
He stood steadily on the sword tip. With a hand seal, a blue radiance overflowed from the wooden sword’s body.
The wooden sword that had been floating above the ground suddenly shot upward, soaring into the sky from this mountain path!
The tall trees by the roadside that had previously blocked out the sun now rapidly receded from Jian Chou’s vision.
Higher and higher, higher and higher.
The sword carried her ever upward at an angle.
The blue sky, white clouds—the higher they went, the purer the colors became.
In just moments, they had left the original mountain valleys behind and headed toward the vast plains.
Floating clouds rushed past beneath their feet. The prosperous towns were all shrouded in that layer of light floating clouds, only vague shadows visible.
Standing above this layer of clouds, Jian Chou’s heart and spirit swayed for a moment.
The beautiful mountain ranges stood like eternal sculptures at the edge of the plains, like the earth’s undulating, protruding pulse.
The vast mountains and rivers were all beneath their feet.
Vast and boundless, as if riding the void and controlling the wind without knowing where to stop; floating and ethereal, as if leaving the world behind and standing alone, transforming with feathers and ascending to immortality.
For a moment, Jian Chou forgot what she wanted to say or think, watching all of this with near fascination.
As if understanding Jian Chou’s current state of mind, Fudao Shanren was also unusually quiet.
Under the swift speed of sword flight, the vast plains beneath their feet were no longer something that required arduous trekking to cross.
The wooden sword Wu transformed into a snow-blue radiance, streaking across the horizon.
The vast Eastern Sea was already close at hand.
Deep blue seawater came from the horizon, churning with rolling waves and foaming white surf.
The coastline was flat, with only some low mountain ranges where it met the plains. The highest among them was called Dai Mountain, home to Qingfeng Nunnery—exactly where Fudao Shanren wanted to go.
From afar, Fudao Shanren spotted the cliff behind Dai Mountain and controlled the wooden sword to head in that direction.
“Descend!”
With another hand seal, the sword tip pointed downward.
Jian Chou almost felt unsteady, but her feet remained firmly fixed to the sword—there was some kind of protection.
She suddenly felt a bit moved in her heart—Master might complain about her verbally, but he thought of her when the sword flew.
Thinking this, she looked forward and saw Fudao Shanren holding that big white goose like he was holding his son!
Who exactly is your disciple here?!
The emotion that had just risen instantly turned to nothing.
Jian Chou felt a catch in her heart, an indescribable feeling…
“Whoosh!”
Landing on the ground, Fudao Shanren let out a long breath.
Jian Chou also got off the sword and looked around in all directions.
The climate of the Eastern Sea coast was completely different from the small mountain village where she had lived before. The trees were even taller and denser, their leaves glossy and bright. The cliff stone beneath their feet was gray-white with a layer of fragments, as if worn into this state by years of wind.
This was a high precipice with several sparse-leaved old trees growing sideways from the cliff wall.
Gusts of fierce wind blew up from the bottom of the cliff, stinging their faces.
But Fudao Shanren showed no fear. The moment the wind blew, he suddenly exclaimed, “Eh?”
“What’s wrong?”
Jian Chou thought something was amiss.
Fudao Shanren shook his head: “Nothing, just someone sending a message to this mountain dweller.”
“Where’s the person?”
Jian Chou looked around but didn’t see anyone coming.
She turned back to see Fudao Shanren standing at the cliff edge, his tattered clothes fluttering in the wind. He extended his hand with five fingers spread, as if feeling the wind’s trajectory, then slightly narrowed his eyes, frowned, and gently stirred his fingers in the wind.
Then, as if sensing something, he brought his index and middle fingers together and pinched something from the wind’s trajectory!
A silver radiance was pulled from the void by his pinch.
“No person—the message is here.”
The silver radiance was in Fudao Shanren’s hand, and Jian Chou found it strange.
“This is the message?”
Nodding, Fudao Shanren gave Jian Chou a confirming answer.
He frowned and lightly crushed the silver light between his thumb and index finger. The silver light exploded into a silver mist floating in the air, then condensed into lines of text.
What was this?
Jian Chou looked over but found the writing appeared blurry to her—she couldn’t make it out clearly, no matter how hard she tried.
But Fudao Shanren focused intently on reading it.
“To the esteemed Fudao Shanren, respectfully submitted by Hengxu of Kunwu Mountain.”
“By the constancy of heavenly dao, I once used great arts to calculate a hundred years ahead. Kunwu will face a great calamity within a century. There is one of extraordinary talent who will emerge on the twenty-second of the sixth month to replace me, saving Kunwu from fire and water, turning back the collapsing tide.”
“I was born dependent on Kunwu and must dedicate my life to Kunwu. Thus, ten days ago, I went west to Great Xia and took this child as my disciple.”
“This child has excellent character and nature, has severed all worldly ties, has a face like jade, is gentle and refined, and is versed in all schools of learning. Though he practices dao with his left hand, his talent is extraordinary—achieving Foundation Establishment in ten days, truly something I have rarely seen in my lifetime.”
“Mountain dweller and I have been friends for many years. Now that there is joyous news, I sincerely invite Mountain dwellers to share in this joy.”
“Additionally, I hope Mountain dweller will return to Jiushijiu Zhou soon, as there are important matters to discuss.”
Word by word, sentence by sentence.
After Fudao Shanren finished reading, his feelings were indescribable, and his teeth ground audibly.
“Hengxu, that old monster! So what if he just took on a disciple? What ‘face like jade, gentle and refined! Cultivation doesn’t depend on looks! And ‘practices dao with his left hand’—if he’s left-handed, just say left-handed! Why dress it up so elegantly! Pretentious, pretentious, pretentious! What’s so great about Foundation Establishment in ten days? Disciple, disc—”
He shouted, looking toward Jian Chou, but his voice suddenly caught.
Jian Chou, in her plain clothes, without a trace of cultivation, looked at him with confusion.
Thinking of the “Foundation Establishment in ten days” mentioned in the letter, Fudao Shanren felt a mouthful of old blood stuck in his throat, almost ready to be spat out.
Looking at the disciple that person had taken, then looking at his disciple…
For a moment, Fudao Shanren’s face was full of vicissitudes.
From Fudao Shanren’s shouting earlier, Jian Chou had roughly understood the meaning—it seemed someone had taken on a disciple?
Only…
Face like jade, gentle and refined, Foundation Establishment in ten days…
And also—
Left-handed.
Jian Chou stared blankly and raised her head: “Master, what’s the name of this disciple that Hengxu Laoguai took on?”