The following morning, Rong Chen Zi washed and dressed, then brought with him nine of the disciples whose Daoist names began with “Qing,” preparing to head to Li Family Village. The disciples with lesser abilities were to accompany the hundred-odd townspeople and move ahead first to take temporary shelter at Anguo Temple, a monastery near Lingxia Town. The Qianhu officer Lin who had come to deliver the imperial edict had some objections, but out of deference to Zhuang Shaoqin, he did not dare to refuse outright. Zhuang Shaoqin, too, found himself in a difficult position. Even as National Preceptor, in the end the Emperor’s will could not be defied.
After both persuasion and pressure, Qianhu Lin finally agreed to delay for three days. After three days, if the Ming Serpent was not dealt with, the village would be set ablaze.
Rong Chen Zi carried He Bang up out of the bed — naturally lazy as she was, she was still asleep at this hour. The other Daozong members had already packed their things and set off toward Changgang Mountain. On an ordinary day, Rong Chen Zi would just grab a few steamed buns to eat on the road and call it breakfast. But with He Bang present, things could not be so casual. She was a lover of food — with a large appetite, a slow pace, and an insistence on taking her time. Rong Chen Zi was anxious, yet could not bring himself to rush her. After all, if she were not keeping him company, why should she need to rush about like this?
When the master gave no signal to leave, the disciples naturally had no choice but to wait. Qingxuan, Qingsu, Qingyun, Qingzhen, Qing Ling, and the other nine young Daoist disciples were all neatly turned out and lined up in a long row, waiting for her to finish eating and set off. She spooned her porridge slowly. In the end, the three-eyed serpent caught two more fish. Qingyun made a pot of fish broth to pour over rice, and He Bang spent a full hour eating through most of the pot before finally declaring herself satisfied.
The party of twelve, plus one serpent, set off with great momentum toward Li Family Village.
Li Family Village was poor — genuinely poor. The road was narrow and the terrain cramped. The entrance was squeezed between Changgang Mountain and Lingxia Town, narrowing at its tightest point to less than a foot’s width. To the right was a sheer cliff of ten thousand feet, enough to make one’s heart pound with every step. Fortunately, Rong Chen Zi’s party all had steady footing and good endurance. Aside from arriving coated in mud and grass seeds, they managed to come through without any mishap. The three-eyed serpent needed even less to be said about — with a body like that, it could squeeze through even the smallest hole. Beyond that narrow goat-path, the winding path led down the mountain, and in the distance, the vague outline of a village ringed with slender bamboo gradually came into view.
The winter day was cold, overcast skies swallowing the sun, the light dim and gray from the start. Yet the moment Li Family Village appeared before them, it was as if they had entered a different world entirely — dust and haze everywhere, the eye met only a sallow, sandy yellow. Even the sky had taken on the color of old bronze. Wind swept through carrying bamboo leaves, their sound bleak and desolate. No birdsong could be heard anywhere in all of Li Family Village, no living person to be seen. It lay in silence like a dead city.
Rong Chen Zi walked in front. Ye Tian followed close behind him. Though her expression appeared as composed as ever, she had drawn her treasured sword and held it in her hand. It is only when people are afraid that they instinctively think of protecting themselves. But the great river clam ambled along behind them in an entirely unbothered manner, glancing left and right, a picture of curious interest.
The bamboo grove had long since been reduced to bare skeletal stalks. Dead, yellowed bamboo leaves, swept by no one, blanketed the ground. Walking down the small path, they came upon a stone grotto on the side, inside which scattered stone slabs still lay in disarray. Rong Chen Zi stepped up onto them. Suddenly a gust of foul wind — fallen leaves lashing against his face. He met it with a sword strike. Yet the wind held only fallen leaves; there was nothing else. His sword cut through empty air — and then, in the gap between the stones, a dark shadow flashed. A slender serpent lunged directly at Ye Tian!
Ye Tian’s palms were slick with cold sweat. She raised her sword to intercept. The dark shadow was severed at the middle, blood spattering across her face. Yet the severed head did not slow at all — it opened its jaws and flew straight for her face. A black-based, red-patterned snake’s head with two rows of sharp, venomous fangs. Ye Tian felt her arms go weak. She brought her sword back to protect herself. Rong Chen Zi also rushed to her rescue — but before he could reach her, the snake’s head froze suspended in mid-air, hovering at exactly the distance of the tip of Ye Tian’s nose.
Ye Tian was so frightened her eyes went wide, and she did not dare to move a muscle. He Bang raised a slender finger, and the hideous snake’s head seemed to be enclosed within a layer of clear water. The water rippled gently — without any great violence — yet the entire head dissolved into it. The water ball fell to the ground with a plop and was absorbed into the earth. Ye Tian was so furious she stamped her feet: “You wretched clam! Couldn’t you have stepped in sooner?!”
Behind her, He Bang grinned cheerfully: “Well, it didn’t bite you, did it?”
Ye Tian was about to retort, but Rong Chen Zi gave a light cough: “All right, everyone stay alert.” Ye Tian turned her face away and ignored him: “You’re always taking her side!” He Bang bounded over to Rong Chen Zi and pressed warmly against him. Rong Chen Zi gave a pat on her head that started out firm but landed very gently: “Stop making trouble.”
By the time they had descended to the middle of the mountain slope, they came across a household. Outside a small wooden cottage stood a fence of woven bamboo. The yard inside was planted with many orange trees, their round golden fruit swaying among the green leaves, like little lanterns. He Bang was exactly the sort who could not resist something like this, and she immediately sidled up to Rong Chen Zi: “Zhiguan, I want to eat some oranges!”
“Those are navel oranges.” Rong Chen Zi had been planning to step inside the wooden cottage to look around anyway, and naturally agreed. “Let me see whether there’s anyone at home — I’ll buy a few for you.”
He Bang was happy then. Without the slightest courtesy, she stretched out her hand to push open the little bamboo gate in the fence. Rong Chen Zi quickly pulled her back: “Careful — let me go in first. In case there are any serpents inside, it will be easier to handle…”
He Bang cut him off: “Little San, go quick!”
The three-eyed serpent slid out from behind one of the young disciples, visibly reluctant, yet not daring to disobey He Bang’s command. It had no choice but to slip inside carefully to clear the way. And no sooner had it reached the doorway than someone inside opened the door. At the sight of that green-bodied, black-patterned creature, the person nearly fainted with fright.
Rong Chen Zi quickly caught them, and discovered it was a young married woman in a floral-patterned cotton jacket, around twenty years old, with delicate features, dressed very plainly — her clothes bore several patches. Finding herself cradled in the arm of a monastic, she let out another cry of alarm, and it was fortunate that Ye Tian stepped forward to steady her.
Ye Tian cut an upright and dignified figure, like a trustworthy Daoist nun. The young woman finally calmed down and, still patting her chest, said: “Goodness, you frightened me. Who are you?” She glanced at Rong Chen Zi again, and color rose in her cheeks — then, all at once, something came to her: “Could you be Daozhang Rong Chen Zi?”
Li Family Village was a poor place. Even a geomancer was rarely ever called for, and the only Daoist who came here regularly was Rong Chen Zi. Rong Chen Zi had just nodded in acknowledgment when, before he could say a word, the young woman’s entire manner changed: “Oh, how terribly rude of me.” She wiped her hands on her apron and stole another couple of glances at Rong Chen Zi. He did not come by very often, and besides, men and women had always kept their distance, so she had only ever glimpsed him through a bamboo curtain a few times. Now that there was nothing between them, she found him all the more imposing and distinguished in person. “Daozhang, please come inside, please!”
Rong Chen Zi had things he needed to ask as well, and naturally accepted. The whole party filed into the cottage. The young woman hurried to the inner room to call her father-in-law. He Bang, however, was already impatient: “Zhiguan, the oranges!”
Rong Chen Zi smiled wryly. Then the bamboo curtain of the inner room was drawn aside, and out came an old man in his seventies leaning on a cane — white eyebrows, white beard, bright clear eyes, with a kind, amiable look about him. “Zhiguan!” At the sight of Rong Chen Zi, he suddenly became emotional. He stepped forward and took Rong Chen Zi’s hands, and was about to kneel. “Zhiguan, you must save us!”
Rong Chen Zi quickly caught him and steadied him, his manner entirely resolute: “Old Master Xu, rest assured. To vanquish evil and uphold the Dao is the inescapable duty of those who cultivate. But I have a few things I would like to ask you first.” The old man addressed as Old Master Xu nodded repeatedly: “If I can be of any help to Zhiguan, I’d give up this old life of mine and count it worthwhile! I’ve lived long enough — what saddens me is those young women and children in the village who are still so small.”
Rong Chen Zi asked his first question with great solemnity, and both Qingxuan and Qingsu immediately turned red in the face. “Old Master Xu… could the oranges in your yard be sold to me for a few?”
The outcome need not be said. He Bang naturally got to eat the largest and reddest oranges. Old Master Xu had his young daughter-in-law fetch a ladder, and picked the biggest, thinnest-skinned, most juice-filled ones, filling a whole bag for her. He Bang took an immediate liking to both the old man and the young woman: “You’re both so nice! And your oranges are so good! I’ll come back next year to eat your oranges again.”
Rong Chen Zi’s brow furrowed deeply listening to this: “Where are your manners — how are you addressing him like that? Call him Uncle Xu!”
Qingxuan was over there peeling oranges for He Bang. He Bang had already bitten into two plump, juice-filled sections and was talking with her mouth full: “He can’t bear such a title!”
Old Master Xu did not mind at all, smiling with both warmth and a touch of sorrow: “If, come next year, my household still has any living souls in it, I’ll tell them to set aside every last orange for you, young lady, and not let anyone else touch a single one.”
The oranges were large and sweet. He Bang immediately made up her mind: “All of you are going to live. Not one of you is allowed to die. I am coming next year for those oranges!”
The young woman in the floral jacket brought in a few bowls of sweet tea and gave one to each of them. At the sight of the three-eyed serpent peering around nosily, she was still somewhat afraid and kept her distance. Old Master Xu, however, had lived long and seen much, and was well acquainted with Rong Chen Zi — the serpent did not alarm him in the least. Hearing He Bang’s words, he smiled with his face, but his eyes shimmered with tears: “What a pity — I already have two people in my house who are nearly gone.”
At those words, even Rong Chen Zi’s expression shifted. He immediately reproached him: “Old Master Xu! A matter this serious — you should have raised it first. How can we afford to lose any more time?” He strode toward the inner room: “Where are they?” The sentence was not yet finished — he had already seen for himself. Old Master Xu’s house had only two bedrooms, and lying in the beds were his son, already reduced to skin and bones, and his grandson who was no more than eight years old.
Rong Chen Zi crossed to the bed in three swift strides and extended his hand to take their pulses. He was deeply focused while diagnosing. He Bang hopped in front of him with a peeled orange section and fed him a piece: “The old man’s family’s oranges are good. Zhiguan, make them well.” Rong Chen Zi’s brow was tightly knit. The two in the bed were pale as paper, clearly with only the faintest thread of breath remaining: “An evil entity has been draining their yang energy. This does not look like the work of the Ming Serpents.” His expression was grave. He Bang had no concern for such distinctions — she was more worried about these two than Old Master Xu himself was: “Can they be cured?”
Rong Chen Zi’s voice was low: “I can drive out the evil entity. But these two have nearly exhausted their vital essence — their pulse-thread is already severed at its root. I fear…”
Hearing this, Old Master Xu’s eyes overflowed with sorrow, though he did not seem entirely surprised: “This, too, is fate. To think that I, an old man who has done good all his life, would end up outliving my children and grandchildren…” He wiped his eyes with his sleeve, then bowed deeply to Rong Chen Zi, frightening Rong Chen Zi into quickly helping him up. His voice choked as he spoke: “Zhiguan, if my children and grandchildren die, I shall have only this one daughter-in-law left. Yinling is a good child. I beg you — please, above all, save her.”
Rong Chen Zi had not yet responded when He Bang pushed in: “If their vital essence is replenished, they won’t have to die?”
She stretched out her hand to touch the child. Rong Chen Zi nodded: “Yes. But vital essence is exceptionally precious — I fear it would be…”
Before he could finish, He Bang had already moved up close to him. She was eating her orange, and answered as if it were of no consequence: “Zhiguan, you already transferred your original essence to me before, and I never got through using it all. If I transfer a little to them, they should be able to live, shouldn’t they?”
She blinked at him with wide, round eyes — the very picture of innocent sincerity — and managed to make the venerable and respected Rong Chen Zi so mortified he nearly sank through the floor. Nine young disciples were nearly convulsing with suppressed laughter. Ye Tian spat the mouthful of sweet tea she had just sipped clean onto the wall. Rong Chen Zi gave a quiet cough and lowered his voice: “That which has already entered your… body — how would one transfer it back?”
He Bang fed him another section of orange, then patted her own abdomen where her shell was no longer present: “It’s all been dissolved into clear water and stored there. My body can’t absorb that much all at once.”
Rong Chen Zi coughed twice, turned his face aside, a suspicious tint of pink rising in his cheeks: “Very well, then give it to them.”
He Bang finished her orange, flopped down over the bed, and touched the tip of her jade-like index finger to the forehead of the boy on the left side of the bed. There was no visible technique being invoked. Yet gradually a single drop of water appeared on that fingertip and seeped into the child’s brow. In the time it takes to blink, the child — whose breath had been nothing but the faintest thread — slowly began to regain color.
Rong Chen Zi was already a master of the highest order. His original yang essence was exceptionally pure. What he had given to He Bang, he had given without the slightest carelessness. Beyond this, he was the reincarnation of a true spirit — his vital essence could be called a supreme treasure. That one tiny drop, used to nourish an ordinary person, was more than sufficient. Given adequate spiritual roots, it could even open up the flow of yin and yang and set one’s feet upon the path of true cultivation. He Bang then moved to crawl across to He Tiezhu, Old Master Xu’s son, on the right side of the bed. Rong Chen Zi reached out and restrained her. Unable to crawl past him, she had no choice but to pout and drip a single drop from a distance onto his forehead.
Xu Tiezhu’s complexion immediately turned rosy as well. Old Master Xu was so moved he nearly dropped to his knees again. Rong Chen Zi steadied him. He Bang was also delighted: “All of you are staying alive. I am coming next year for those oranges.”
Old Master Xu trembled all over, calling out repeatedly: “Yinling — go and knock all the oranges down from the trees! Let the immortal maiden eat to her heart’s content!”
Looking at the heavy-laden orange trees outside the door, Ye Tian was aghast: “You wretched clam — if they knock them all down, you’ll be carrying them yourself!”