Teacher Cheng’s wife gave birth to an extraordinarily beautiful daughter.

The old lady said with a touch of envy, “You wouldn’t believe it — put all our family’s children together, and not one is as pretty as the Cheng family’s girl. Tell me, everyone’s just an ordinary person, so how come the child they raised turned out so good-looking?”

Lu Shi laughed in agreement. “Well, neither Teacher Cheng nor his wife are ugly — how could their child turn out plain?”

Qiqian’er supported the old lady as they went to give Teacher Cheng’s wife her third-day bath. The old lady had prepared several pink little jackets and skirts, all brand new.

The household had a ready sewing room, so preparing these was no trouble at all.

Oh, and there was also a solid gold longevity lock — a rare instance of the old lady parting with a significant sum in her lifetime.

The group pushed open the gate to Teacher Cheng’s courtyard, and inside it was perfectly quiet. Xue Gu, who had always seemed too ethereal for this mortal world, was wearing an apron, sitting by a basin washing a large tub of diapers.

Seeing the large group of them, she was quite startled.

No matter whose home it was in Qinwei Lane, the property wasn’t small — even someone like Qiao Shi had needed to buy help for extra hands — but Teacher Cheng’s household had always been just the three of them, without so much as a gatekeeper or maid.

Seeing people had arrived, Xue Gu stood up, her face flushing red as she came to welcome them.

She bowed first to the old lady, then to each of the young aunts in turn.

In the past, this young girl had always avoided doing so — even seeing people from a distance, she’d only give a nod.

The old lady took Xue Gu’s hand and asked, “My dear, isn’t your family holding the third-day bath today?”

Xue Gu shook her head with a smile. “Old Madam, we’re not holding one. We really don’t know many people to invite.”

Everyone loved a clean, pretty girl. In the old lady’s words, the Cheng family’s Xue Gu was like a fairy descended to earth, and holding the little rabbit she looked just like the Chang’e of legend.

The old lady liked her, but it was a pity this girl didn’t care to go out or get close to people. Rarely had she held her hand like today, so she stroked it a few extra times.

The whole Cheng family was like this — closing their door and living their own quiet life. But if you ever had so much as a headache or fever, no matter how late the hour, one call and they’d come. Back when times were hard, Teacher Cheng used to give out medicine on credit.

Hearing that Teacher Cheng’s legitimate daughter wouldn’t be getting a third-day bath ceremony, the old lady grew displeased. She took Xue Gu’s hand and led her inside, saying as they walked, “Now this is you elders being in the wrong. The child came into this world once — you ought to give her everything that’s due to her. Little children are small-minded, and Heaven’s Gate hasn’t closed yet — if she sees you not treating her well, who knows, she might not even want to stay in your family…”

Xue Gu had never heard such rustic sayings before, and asked, puzzled, “Heaven’s Gate?”

The old lady nodded very earnestly, pointing to the spot between her own brows. “The old folks say a newborn child still has a third eye here, brought down from heaven. Later on… as they slowly grow up and see more and more of the ugly things in this world, that eye grows clouded.”

Xue Gu opened the curtain, looking thoughtful, and murmured, “So that’s how it is, so that’s how it is…”

The group of women followed the old lady into Teacher Cheng’s wife’s birthing room. She was awake, propped against the headboard wrapped in her blanket, eating chicken soup that Teacher Cheng was feeding her spoonful by spoonful.

The couple were gazing at each other with complete absorption, and at the sound of the commotion, seeing the old lady and the whole group come in, both husband and wife were startled.

Standing behind the old lady, Yang Shi, who had a loud voice, spoke up before anyone else could get a word in. “The two of you, honestly — why so unfeeling? Remember when Sister Lü was giving birth on the road, and Teacher Cheng, on the third day you even brought two taels of cotton wadding from the camp to help celebrate — how come when it’s your own turn, you don’t say a word about it?”

Teacher Cheng’s wife smiled, pushed away the soup bowl, and looked earnestly at the faces before her.

There was Grandmother Chen, the four young mistresses of the Chen family, the Chen family’s married-out daughter, Yang Shi, Lü Shi, Wan Shi, Huang Shi, Gao Shi, as well as Zhang Wanru, Lu Shi, and the others…

Everyone was smiling with genuine warmth, filling the household to the brim with the gifts they’d brought.

Quanhou Street truly had so many good neighbors.

She looked up at Teacher Cheng, but he wasn’t looking at her — he simply set down the bowl and went out silently, continually bringing in more chairs and stools.

The old lady didn’t sit down, but instead hurried over eagerly and said to Teacher Cheng’s wife with a smile, “Come, let me have another look at our little ugly one.”

Teacher Cheng, who hadn’t spoken until now, was startled. “Ugly one?”

The old lady nodded firmly. “Yes, ugly one!”

With that, she carefully took the red-flowered swaddled bundle Teacher Cheng’s wife handed her, looked down at the baby with a smile, and sighed. “Oh dear~ this child really is~ ugly, look at her, not even a hair on her head.”

Qiqian’er, stroking her own belly which had begun to firm up, walked over and glanced down, drew in a breath of cold air, and nodded. “My! So terribly ugly!”

Lu Shi tossed the bundle in her arms straight to Teacher Cheng, and hurried over to look, seeing in the swaddling a stunningly beautiful baby, skin like snow, delicate brows, a plump little nose, small red lips pursed — her heart melted, and she sighed, “Oh my, oh my, once she’s raised a hundred days and fills out her skin, there’s just no…”

Zhang Wanru tugged at her sleeve, and Lu Shi twisted her head, swallowing the rest of the sentence and finishing instead, “…no other one this ugly.”

Teacher Cheng’s wife couldn’t help but burst out laughing. “She takes after her father.”

Everyone turned together to look at that unkempt, bearded face, and let out a collective “eh” of open disdain.

Having finished expressing their disdain, they crowded around, looking her over from every angle, utterly smitten, and then launched into a long, extended session of teasing — stinky, ugly, no hair, ought to just be called “little ugly one”…

Teacher Cheng, who had been in a poor mood, leaned against the doorframe, rarely showing the hint of a smile.

Teacher Cheng’s wife held her blanket, watching this crowd of women, and thought to herself: “Growing up beside these good people, little ugly one’s days won’t turn out badly. Qinwei Lane really is a wonderful place.”

She looked up at Teacher Cheng — these sincere people had, over the years, warmed this honest man back to life through their own genuine care, through his giving out free diagnoses and medicine.

Seeing the couple’s expressions rather flat, everyone assumed they weren’t happy about having a daughter, and so, led by the old lady, they all began chiding them at once.

Zhang Wanru said fiercely, “Let me tell you both, don’t you dare put on such a face! What’s wrong with a daughter? Look at my father and mother, they’ve got a houseful of sons. Not long ago, you all know my mother came down with a high fever, and it was Teacher Cheng who prescribed the medicine.

At the time my mother was delirious with fever, her body a mess, and if you had her filial daughter-in-law tend to her — well, the daughter-in-law meant no harm, but my mother would have been so ashamed she’d have refused outright!

And don’t tell me you have servants! Servants can’t be as thorough as I am — cold or hot food brought right to your lips, dirty and foul things cleaned up hands-on. This business of filial devotion depends entirely on a daughter. A daughter-in-law, well, it’s all just for show.”

The plump and round Pan Baqiao, rarely one to assert herself, said forcefully, “That’s right, not even holding a third-day bath for the child — that’s you two being in the wrong. The child only comes down to this world once, and look at the sour faces on the two of you? What, you’re not happy? Not happy to have me around! My family wouldn’t mind one bit more…”

The quiet Ding Yuniang first slapped the edge of the kang hard, and once everyone was looking at her, she pressed down firmly on her own belly to indicate she herself wasn’t going to be having any more children.

Having made her point, she reached to take the baby as if to leave, but Teacher Cheng stopped her and apologized, “Forgive… forgive me, it’s my fault. Ladies, aunts, please let me off this once.”

He carefully took the baby back, looked down at her, and went utterly still. For three days, he hadn’t been able to face this child.

At last he cried, and after a long while managed to choke out, “She’s, she’s really, really so ugly…”

Qiqian’er went over and patted him. “Hey, what are you crying for? Hurry up and get things ready for her.”

Teacher Cheng looked up with the baby in his arms, grinned, and said, “Right, right! Getting it ready right now.”

The Cheng household hadn’t prepared anything, but Qiqian’er, who loved children, had already prepared several sets of things for the baby before she’d even given birth herself. She had someone go home and bring back a fine sandalwood basin to hand to Teacher Cheng.

It had to be said, this Teacher Cheng was an interesting one — either he wouldn’t look at all, or once he did look, no one else could get a hand in edgewise.

Everyone sat there watching this man bustle about.

He lit the stove himself, climbed up to the household medicine cabinet, and searched out the finest dried tangerine peel, mugwort leaf, Sichuan pepper, honeysuckle, and motherwort to boil.

Once the water had finished decocting, worried the guests would leave, he anxiously grabbed a folding fan and fanned the large sandalwood basin of hot water, working himself into such a sweat that beads the size of soybeans streamed down from his head.

Worried Teacher Cheng’s wife might develop resentment from the birth, the old lady took her hand to comfort her. “My dear, you mustn’t hold onto any of these silly, jumbled thoughts. Men are coarse at heart, and the first time becoming a father, they’re all clumsy like this — everyone is. It’ll get better slowly from here…”

Teacher Cheng’s wife nodded, took the old lady’s hand and said with a smile, “Ah, it’s not his fault. I’m just troubling you, Old Madam.”

The old lady pulled the blanket up for her, stroked her hair and said with a smile, “What trouble? In this lane of ours, whatever happens to one family is everyone’s business.”

These words touched Teacher Cheng’s wife’s heart, and she threw herself into the old lady’s arms and said, “Old Madam, I’m someone without father or mother. I don’t know what blessings from past lives let me land in Qinwei Lane, to become neighbors with all you kind people, to become, to become one of the family… From now on, if there’s ever anything I don’t do quite right, please, trouble you to look after me a little more…”

The old lady laughed, patting her back. “Oh, becoming a mother, and still acting coy? Fine, I’ll look after you, look after you, look after you! Any child within reach of my feet is a child of mine, this old woman’s own. This is your first time being a mother — from now on, ah, it’ll get better…”

Teacher Cheng’s wife watched Xue Gu bustling back and forth and nodded.

The third-day bathing basin was set in the center of the room, surrounded by all the longan fruit, scallions, and peanuts everyone had brought. The newborn baby, deep in sleep, was stripped bare and, surrounded by everyone, was slowly lowered into the water…

And the blessings rang out one after another:

Baby, having had your third-day bath, may your body grow strong as a mountain. Baby, having had your third-day bath, may you live in a grand embroidered chamber. Baby, having had your third-day bath, may your hair grow glossy as black ink. Baby, having had your third-day bath, may you one day marry into nobility…

The baby’s ringing cries rose up over Qinwei Lane…

On the twenty-ninth day of the fourth lunar month, an auspicious day according to the calendar official — the Tiger Day clashing with the Monkey, one of the twelve spirits’ opening days — it was the most auspicious day for burial and interment.

That morning, Minister of Justice Wei Jitai, together with his capable aide Tang Jiuyuan, both dressed in red robes, stood at the southern gate of the Daliang palace.

They were waiting for the chief culprit, Su Baili, to turn himself in.

Emperor Yang Zao of Daliang was also dressed in red that day, a red cloth atop his head, having taken his place early upon the city gate tower.

Autumn was normally the season for executions, yet how many physicians did the realm have left? If this dragged on any further, Daliang would not be able to withstand a major crisis. Fortunately, Su Baili from White Stone Mountain had sent word turning herself in, and the whole court breathed a collective sigh of relief — at last there was a way to step down, a way to settle this long-standing grievance.

Though today was a day carefully selected by the Astronomical Bureau, the Emperor still felt uneasy, and turned to ask Meng Dingchen, “Will Su Baili really come today?”

Meng Dingchen wasn’t dressed in red — instead he wore, unusually, his old monk’s robes from the past, having turned prayer beads in his hand all morning.

To this very day, physicians were being arrested in ever greater numbers, and the number of people who might live or die hung ever more uncertain.

White Stone Mountain had long since scattered, but the tens of thousands of wronged souls of Daliang’s soldiers who had died to White Stone Mountain’s poison powder during the war still circled unresolved over this empire.

In the past, White Stone Mountain had been a weapon in the hands of the former dynasty — and now, that weapon had to be broken, in broad daylight, before the eyes of all of Daliang’s people, in this present dynasty.

This wasn’t a simple matter of law, but a great affair bound up with the nation’s very honor.

The state was riding a tiger it could not dismount; the sovereign was riding a tiger he could not dismount.

The fairness of the law had to be upheld.

Recalling what the letter had said, Meng Dingchen nodded with certainty. “Your Majesty, rest assured. Su Baili will surely come.”

His Majesty nodded, then asked again, “She wouldn’t send someone to die in her place, would she?”

Meng Dingchen shook his head. “Your Majesty, though White Stone Mountain belongs to the world of medicine, for a thousand years their integrity has always come before their medical arts. They would never stoop to such a thing.”

Early that morning, a carriage had set out from Qinwei Lane.

Meng Wanquan, out early for morning drills, saw that it was Teacher Cheng driving the carriage, and called out with a grin, “Well now, up early, are we? Where are you headed?”

Teacher Cheng’s expression stayed calm; he glanced at him but said nothing. Just as the moment grew awkward, the carriage curtain was pulled open, and Teacher Cheng’s wife poked her head out with a smile and said, “Brother Quanzi, don’t you remember — before the shrine, we promised a day for repaying our vow for a child. Today, no matter what, we have to go fulfill our promise.”

Meng Wanquan drew in a sharp breath. “Are the two of you out of your minds?”

He glared at Teacher Cheng and scolded him, “Your wife hasn’t even finished her postpartum month yet! Catching a chill now could affect her for the rest of her life. Turn around and go home right now!”

But Teacher Cheng’s wife just smiled and said, “Brother Quanzi, it’s fine, I’m bundled up nice and thick. We made a promise before the Bodhisattva, and the Bodhisattva blessed me with a fine daughter — I mustn’t go back on my word.”

Meng Wanquan didn’t believe a word of any of this superstition, but he’d heard his own wife go on and on about how wonderful, how beautiful their little ugly girl was…

He clicked his tongue, pointed at the carriage curtain with some irritation and said, “You, you just put that curtain down right now. Don’t you dare catch a chill — you’ll regret it when you’re old! Not having an elder around to guide you is no small thing either…”

Teacher Cheng’s wife gave Meng Wanquan a long look, then let the curtain fall.

From behind it came the sound of Meng Wanquan scolding Teacher Cheng, “And here I thought you were a man who had his head on straight.”

Teacher Cheng shook his head helplessly, his heart heavy with sorrow.

But Meng Wanquan grabbed hold of him and pulled him aside, saying, “Listen here, brother — you’re two years younger than me, that’s not wrong, is it?”

Teacher Cheng nodded.

Meng Wanquan glanced around, then, shielding against the wind and lowering his voice by his ear, said, “Women, in this life, always have some stretch of time where they hold a grudge. These next while, you’d best be careful — ah, don’t hand them anything they can use against you, or it’ll go on forever without end!”

Teacher Cheng looked at him, startled.

Meng Wanquan wiped away a sweat that wasn’t really there and said, “Brother, ever since I can remember, my mother only ever nagged my father about one thing — when she was giving birth to my elder brother, she wanted to eat an egg, and my father said, your own mother didn’t even get to eat eggs, who are you to eat one? Just for that… my brother, my brother lived to past twenty, and my mother nagged my father about it for more than twenty years.”

Something occurred to him, and he gave a shudder, patting Teacher Cheng’s shoulder hard with his one arm and sighing, “You really can’t let them hold a grudge against you, or you won’t have an easy time of it even in your next life…”

Teacher Cheng’s eyes widened, and he nodded seriously and firmly, then stood and drove the carriage away.

Meng Wanquan watched the carriage disappear, and felt an odd unease settle over him.

He looked at the gloomy sky and said, “What’s wrong with today? Why do I feel so stifled?”

Lu Shi happened to come out looking for him for breakfast and said, “The almanac says today is unlucky for everything except burial and interment — a day when the earth gate opens, once in a hundred years. Hurry in already. No drinking wine today, understand?”

“Understood, understood.”

“No gambling either, understand?”

“Not gambling, not gambling, heh heh, I’ll just play with my wife…”

From Qingfeng to Yanjing was forty li. Teacher Cheng drove the carriage out of Quanhou Street, and the wind of the fourth month grew strong along the open road.

He drove very, very slowly. Sometimes, seeing an early food stall open, he’d stop and buy a bundle, then reach back to pass it into the carriage.

As they passed a pharmacy in Qingfeng City, they saw several physicians dressed in mourning sackcloth, walking slowly toward Yanjing with mulberry-wood staffs in hand.

Those in mourning for a mother carried mulberry staffs — today was the day of rebirth for the physicians of the realm.

By the time the carriage left Qingfeng City, Teacher Cheng heard the carriage curtain rustle, and Teacher Cheng’s wife came out smiling and sat down beside him.

Teacher Cheng urged her to go back inside. “The wind’s strong out here, don’t let it catch you.”

But Teacher Cheng’s wife just smiled, holding a bag of peanuts, eating them while she leaned her head against his shoulder, occasionally feeding him one too.

Teacher Cheng ate very seriously, chewing slowly.

Just as they were enjoying themselves, a thin baby’s cry sounded from inside the carriage.

Teacher Cheng reined in the horse and looked at her face, but the words caught in his throat.

Teacher Cheng’s wife laughed brightly. “Oh, however smoothly you drive, she’s bound to cry a couple of times for me. Let me hold my milk in a bit and I’ll give her a good full feed in a moment.”

The carriage began moving slowly toward Yanjing once more.

Leaning against Teacher Cheng’s shoulder, Teacher Cheng’s wife asked softly, “Does A’Ning still remember the words carved on the entrance stone of our White Stone Mountain?”

Teacher Cheng turned his head and kissed her dark hair. “I remember. ‘Great physician to all living beings.'”

Teacher Cheng’s wife smiled. “That’s right. ‘If there is suffering and someone comes seeking rescue, one must not ask whether they are noble or humble, rich or poor, old enemy or dear friend, of our people or another’s, wise or foolish — treat them all the same, as if they were one’s closest kin. One must not hesitate weighing fortune or misfortune, nor guard one’s own life and safety. With a heart of deep compassion, regardless of day or night, cold or heat, hunger or thirst, exhaustion, one must rush wholeheartedly to the rescue, without any thought of personal merit or performance — only thus can one become a great physician to all living beings’ (from the Thousand Gold Prescriptions)… And yet our White Stone Mountain became the blade of three whole dynasties of emperors.”

Teacher Cheng’s lips trembled for a long while before he managed, “But, we never did anything ourselves…”

Teacher Cheng’s wife tossed away the emptied paper bag, sat up straight, her gaze clear and steady. “That’s right, we did nothing, and we said nothing either. When those blades were handed out, we didn’t utter so much as a single word against it — and this is my retribution today.”

Teacher Cheng didn’t want to speak, turning his head aside, his hand pulling the reins to slow the horse further still.

But however slow, they would still arrive eventually.

The carriage finally reached the foot of the mountain at Qingque Nunnery. Teacher Cheng’s wife suddenly reached out and pulled the reins herself. Teacher Cheng’s whole face filled with alarm, and after a long moment, his lips trembling, he said, “You, you can still walk a bit further… let me, let me see you a little further…” He looked up at the sky. “It’s, it’s almost noon — why don’t, why don’t we go back and eat…”

Teacher Cheng’s wife reached out, embraced him, and pressed her lips to his.

Inside the carriage, the thin cry of the baby continued in soft sobs, as her parents held each other, looking into each other’s eyes.

Teacher Cheng said, please, I beg you… stay just a little longer, just a little longer… but, the more urgently you wish it, the faster time seems to run. Teacher Cheng’s wife released him, climbed into the carriage, and before long, the baby’s crying turned into the sound of hungry, eager nursing, occasionally mixed with a small aggrieved whimper.

“Little ugly one has quite the temper.”

“Mm. Takes after me.”

The bronze bell of Qingque Nunnery slowly began to toll — this was the largest nunnery in the area, its incense burning ever strong.

The two “Teacher Cheng’s wives” faced each other beneath the carriage. The one about to leave straightened her clothes, then knelt earnestly and bowed to the one who would from now on be Teacher Cheng’s wife — Xue Gu. “From now on, little ugly one, I entrust her to you.”

Xue Gu stroked her head and sighed. “It should have been me who went. But I’ve never once entered the medicine hall, nor ever struck the seal of office — only you could go. A’Li, once you leave, our White Stone Mountain parts ways with its past. From here on, we shall practice medicine across the realm, to repay the debt of our sins.”

Having said this, she too knelt, bowing earnestly to Teacher Cheng’s wife. “It’s only that we’ve wronged you.”

Teacher Cheng’s wife accepted this calmly, then stood, and unfastened a small carp jade pendant from her waist, handing it to Teacher Cheng. “When little ugly one turns three, put this on her. She is my daughter — she’ll be aunt to physicians the world over, and will surely be protected all her life, free from worry…”

Teacher Cheng took hold of the little carp pendant, his eyes clouding with mist until he could see nothing at all.

Before his eyes rose the image of this little carp, lively and mischievous — the first time they’d met, she had been perched playfully in a tree, startling him, and said, “You’re quite good-looking, aren’t you? Are you a new junior disciple from outside the sect? You should call me Auntie.”

She’d jumped down from the tree, run up to him, then pinched her nose and backed away in disgust, saying, “You really stink!”

The young boy had been mortified with shame. When the outer master asked him which discipline he wished to study, he’d said, I want to study the fragrant one.

The outer master had laughed heartily, and from then on he’d entered the Fragrance Bureau.

They’d grown up together, bowing to heaven and earth countless times on the back mountain. Later, when the sect master had Xue Gu, A’Li had secretly stolen Xue Gu away to serve as witness for their own bow to heaven and earth…

Teacher Cheng’s wife looked once more at little ugly one, kissed her several times, and left once the bell had finished tolling.

She walked a few steps, then heard someone shouting behind her.

“Wait! Wait for me!!”

Teacher Cheng’s wife stopped. Teacher Cheng hurried to her, pleading, “Wait…”

Teacher Cheng’s wife smiled and said, alright.

They gazed at each other for a long while. Teacher Cheng reached out, took hold of her arm, pushed back her sleeve, and bent down to bite hard into her arm.

This bite was fierce — blood actually flowed.

Teacher Cheng’s wife stayed perfectly still, smiling all the while as she waited for him to finish, and only then did she hear her little fool say, “I, I want you to have a hard time in your next life too. You have to remember me. You cheated me this whole life — you… you owe me, next life.”

Su Baili finally smiled. She blinked, her smile blooming like a great red flower in spring, and reached out with playful coquetry, saying, “Then, then I’ll do the same — I want you to have a hard time too.”

Teacher Cheng nodded rapidly, rolled up his own sleeve without hesitation, and raised it high to her lips.

Su Baili held it, bit down — but couldn’t bear to cause him any real pain, only leaving two warm trickling lines that dripped down his arm.

She released him abruptly and turned to leave… but he ran after her like a madman, arm still raised, shouting, “Su Baili! You’ve tricked me again, tricked me again! I want a hard time — next life, the life after that too, I don’t want an easy time either! Bite me… bite me! Otherwise… how will I find you? Su Baili, I beg you, trick me again, would you?”

Su Baili stopped, looked him over carefully, and threw a handful of powder at him. Teacher Cheng swayed, unable to believe it, and finally collapsed unconscious to the ground…

Why hadn’t A’Li bitten him?

…This fool was unlucky enough running into me — he still has decades of life ahead of him. Was he supposed to live it with a ruined arm?

Below Qingque Nunnery, the stream ran clear. Su Baili washed off her disguise, changed into a white robe of White Stone Mountain, tied a bamboo crown atop her head, and hung a small lingzhi mushroom pendant at her waist. Looking down once more at her reflection in the water, she smiled, reached out and stirred up the waters of the fourth year of Yong’an, then walked barefoot onto the official road.

On the official road, more and more physicians in mourning sackcloth appeared, carrying a white coffin between them. When they saw Su Baili, they bowed low.

Su Baili walked up to the elder leading them and said, “If one day you see a young girl with my carp pendant hanging at her waist, that is my daughter.”

The old man bowed his head, tears in his eyes. “Yes, that will be our young mistress.”

And so this woman took up the thorns and carried them upon her back, and together with the thousands of physicians bearing thorns, she walked barefoot, step by step, toward Yanjing.

Seen from behind, thousands of white backs splashed with red plum blossoms — it was as if spring had returned to the mortal world once more…

In the fourth year of Yong’an, to repay an old grievance, the Emperor of Daliang ordered the arrest of three thousand physicians of White Stone Mountain. Afterward, the head of White Stone Mountain’s Budang Hall, Su Baili, bore thorns upon her back to beg for punishment. Once her identity was verified, Emperor Wu, in his mercy, granted her poisoned wine and allowed her a whole corpse in death.

From that day on, White Stone Mountain vanished entirely into the dust of history. From then on, the people of White Stone Mountain called themselves the Carp Sect, taking as their duty the healing of all under heaven.

Little ugly one was named Cheng Xiaoli.