Regarding the matter of going on a trip, Xinyue erupted with enormous enthusiasm, especially upon hearing they were going to Shaolin Temple to pray for a child—she was overjoyed beyond measure. First, she mobilized all the women in the estate to sew monk robes—three hundred of them, all made of the finest hemp cloth in sky-blue and ochre colors. They also wove three hundred pairs of straw sandals that monks wear, and brought a full two hundred catties of sesame oil. Although Yun Ye said there was no need to bring sesame oil since it could be bought in Luoyang, and transporting these things hundreds of li was more trouble than it was worth.
Xinyue didn’t care. Especially after seeing Old Grandmother return from the palace beaming with joy, she gritted her teeth and added another hundred strings of cash, plus ten bottles of perfume. Who knew if the monks would find perfume strange? Yun Ye was just about to speak when he saw Xinyue looking ready to burst into tears, so he simply let go and didn’t interfere, allowing her to indulge her whims.
Old Grandmother, holding her tea bowl with a smile, stood under the corridor watching Xinyue bustle about. She beckoned to Yun Ye, and the grandmother and grandson entered the room. Xinyue bit her lip, wiped away tears, and added her jade bracelet to the gift list as well.
“Ye’er, Grandmother saw that Princess Shouyang is good at bearing children. Only two months along and she’s already showing—it must be a boy. Girls don’t grow this fast. No matter what surname he takes in the future, as long as he’s of the Yun family bloodline, that’s good. But the Emperor won’t allow her to stay any longer. She’ll soon have to return to Lingnan with that fellow called Feng Ang. Is it appropriate for you to go to Shaolin Temple at this time?”
“Everything is arranged. Meeting in Chang’an would only invite controversy. Only an encounter on the road is the best strategy. These days, the world is not what it once was, people’s hearts are unsettled, good and evil, true and false are hard to distinguish. Our family is especially pushed to the forefront of the storm and cannot extricate itself. If not for that scoundrel in her belly, your child would never take such a risky move. Our Yun family has suffered great calamity, and heirs are difficult to come by—we dare not easily abandon any. Moreover, our Yun family is not like those great households—descendants always come first. This time it was your grandson’s improper behavior. Please punish me, Grandmother.”
“What does it matter? As long as there’s a great-grandson, even if we lose all this wealth and status, it’s not such a big deal. It’s just hard on Xinyue, this child. You must treat her well and not let resentment grow in her heart. Only the children she bears are the legitimate orthodox line of the Yun family.”
Old Grandmother, satisfied now that she would have a great-grandson, seemed to have grown several years younger, walking with spring in her step. After giving Yun Ye a few instructions, she went to discuss with Aunt about preparing southern servants for Shouyang. Several households of southern servants would be accompanying Shouyang back to Lingnan this time—it was the Yun family’s way of giving her an accounting.
Old Grandmother had given her bracelet to Shouyang. Seeing the shabby state of her small building, she even cried about it. Unable to trouble Zhangsun about it, she ordered the Chang’an servants to rush out and make purchases, not stopping until the small building was filled. Especially the medicines for stabilizing the pregnancy—she even sent Old Zhuang racing off to find Sun Simiao, and only stopped after hauling back a cartload. According to the maid who served Grandmother, Princess Shouyang refused nothing and accepted everything. When no one was around, she even kowtowed to Old Grandmother.
The matter had become a muddled account. Yun Ye hadn’t anticipated that this butterfly’s wing-flapping would stir up towering waves thousands upon thousands of li away in Lingnan. Those small nations in the southwest still in the slave society period would gradually be submerged by these giant waves, leaving not even dregs behind. Cheng Yaojin was right—three thousand elite veterans armed to the teeth would be an invincible force there.
Li Anlan’s prostration—who knew how many innocent wronged souls it would produce? The Yun family was mobilized, the various nobles of Chang’an were mobilized, the imperial family was mobilized. The calm city of Chang’an was brewing a volcanic enthusiasm for getting rich, far beyond what Cheng Yaojin’s few sarcastic remarks could extinguish. The arrow was on the string and had to be released. Feng Ang’s face must now be no different from a steamed bun.
Lightly patting the ginkgo tree in the courtyard, Yun Ye’s mind was filled with cruel scenes of European bandits invading the Americas. Presumably these Tang war machines would be no more merciful than they were. Capital had been bloody from its birth—this was a universal law. How could the Great Tang be an exception?
“If I go far away and you’re this heartbroken over me, I’d be willing to die.”
Xinyue stood to one side speaking with jealousy written all over her face, holding Yun Ye’s teapot in her hands. “I’ve been watching you for quite a while. Your expression keeps changing—happy one moment, sorrowful the next, then viciously slapping the ginkgo tree. Be careful the white fruits don’t fall on your head.”
“What did you say?” Just awakening from his deepest fantasies, Yun Ye hadn’t heard clearly what she said.
Stuffing the teapot into Yun Ye’s hands, Xinyue said again, “If you really miss her that badly, just go see her. Don’t worry, this concubine is the principal wife—I have the proper magnanimity. A woman who married a black monkey—only you treat her like a treasure. I’ve heard she’s quite unpopular in the palace.”
Yun Ye pinched Xinyue’s nose and said, “Stop pretending to be virtuous. If I really went, you’d set the house on fire. I was just thinking about Lingnan matters. Although this venture will bring great wealth, I’m afraid there will also be rivers of blood.”
“There are people in the Lingnan forests? Isn’t it said they’re all just monkeys squatting in trees eating fruit?” Xinyue stared at Yun Ye with innocent eyes.
Yun Ye smiled bitterly. Monkeys squatting in trees eating fruit—this was the Great Tang’s view of those barbarous lands. Even Xinyue didn’t consider those island natives as people. How could one expect those military killers to have discernment?
While Yun Ye harbored pity for those natives, he didn’t know that in the distant Arctic, a great life had just breathed its last breath. Shengshang was wrapped in thick fur, lying on green moss, with small purple flowers blooming all around. In the distance, the dark seawater beat against the shore, and several white giant bears roared toward the distant icebergs.
When a person dies, they become a corpse, noble or not. Xi Tong knelt on the moss, wanting to use the long blade in his hands to dig a grave pit for Tian Xiangzi, but who knew this damned land had only a thin layer of loose soil—the earth below remained as hard as iron.
He remembered Yun Ye saying that when you see shimmering lights extending for hundreds of li in the night sky, you’ll be close to your destination. The rest depends on your luck. If fate permits, you’ll see a new world.
Everyone had seen the rainbow-like five-colored aurora, beautiful enough to make one’s heart palpitate. Recalling Tian Xiangzi’s manic laughter, Xi Tong felt like crying. This was a land belonging to devils. One could only see dim light—the sun remained forever on the horizon, neither rising nor setting, like perpetual dusk, like perpetual dawn.
The hundred-plus person expedition walked toward the aurora, with people constantly dying. Those white giant bears always came looking for trouble. At the slightest inattention, one would be carried off. Some people walking on smooth ice would suddenly disappear—crevasses more than a man’s width were like devouring maws, bottomless, with only companions’ screams lingering in the ice fissures.
The more people died, the more excited Tian Xiangzi became. The land of immortals wasn’t somewhere any ordinary mortal could easily tread. Only someone with great fortune like himself could truly set foot on that land.
The eternal night ended, replaced by eternal day. Tian Xiangzi watched with his own eyes as green plants frozen in ice and snow rapidly came back to life, spreading their branches and leaves to seek the sun’s position. This was something only gods could do—they didn’t want to see only white ice and snow, so they froze plants in the ice, and when it melted, they revived.
This was Tian Xiangzi’s explanation for Arctic plants. When a companion who’d been slapped by a white bear and had half his ribs broken, could only wail waiting for death, ate those yellow flowers in his agony and slowly regained consciousness, no longer crying, seemingly having forgotten the pain and able to sleep peacefully—this discovery further annotated Tian Xiangzi’s words. Although that person still died.
The sun hung in the sky never setting, the world seemingly transformed into eternal day. Tian Xiangzi led them wandering the ancient wilderness for a full half year. When the last two companions also fell, Tian Xiangzi fell ill as well. This old man who in Xi Tong’s eyes was like a god shouted “White Jade Capital” twice before also leaving him.
We are not fated. We’ve already touched the shadow of heaven but cannot enter its gates. A hundred years of human life spent grasping at the moon in vain. Oh Heaven, how unjust you are! A shameless wretch like Yun Ye can enter heaven but doesn’t go—why is this old man, so devout, barred from its gates? Tian Xiangzi’s grieving voice still echoed across the wilderness, but those white bears that loved to eat corpses came running over again, very quickly.
Xi Tong wandered alone between dream and reality, until that bear raised its giant paw to strike him down. A warrior’s alertness made him naturally evade, and the treasured blade stuck in the ground swept across the white bear’s neck—a huge head rolled down.
He had to leave quickly, or more white bears would come. It was eternal day now, and there would be wolves too. Having already killed countless bears and wolves these past days, Xi Tong suddenly remembered something Yun Ye had entrusted to him—to bring back two or three fine white bear pelts.
Grimacing in a soundless wail, he peeled off the bear skin through his tears, not knowing if this headless bear pelt would suit Yun Ye’s taste. He regretted asking Yun Ye for those notes. Yun Ye had said this was a nine-deaths-one-life venture—why did he still come here?
Life-and-death brothers buried one by one in the wilderness, his teacher dead too—these white demons didn’t even spare corpses. What kind of existence was this land of immortals?
While skinning, two more came. Xi Tong continued to kill. This time he didn’t sever heads, only thrust his spear through the giant bear’s eye and stirred its brain into mush. Promises still had to be kept. Even in death, he had to fulfill his friend’s entrustment. Xi Tong always kept his word.
Xi Tong dragged a sled across the wilderness with difficulty. On the sled was Tian Xiangzi’s already-stinking corpse and four or five white bear pelts. He could already feel warmth—this gave him a feeling of having escaped with his life.
Seeing forest for the first time, he cut a pile of dry firewood, placed Tian Xiangzi’s body on the woodpile, and lit it. The flames quickly consumed Tian Xiangzi’s withered body. Watching the rising smoke, he shouted loudly, “White Jade Capital,” sincerely wishing that his teacher’s soul could reach the divine realm he most yearned for.