Chapter 65 – The Green Mountains Have Not Withered, the Azure Sea Has Not Dried
The Grand Elders were stern and unsmiling.
They waited for Zuo Yuesheng to speak. This was his first formal appearance in the Mountain Sea Grand Hall as the Young Pavilion Master. His first speech, from tone and expression to rhetoric and content, would be repeatedly scrutinized and evaluated. Any hint of cowardice, any loss of composure, any sign of foolishness, would permanently brand him as a profligate and useless.
And how could the grand Mountain Sea, an immortal sect of ten thousand years, be handed over to a mediocre and clumsy person!
“The Black Tortoise’s sudden hibernation is a matter of great importance. Internally, if we fail to lock down the sea and govern the city well, the foundation of the Mountain Sea will be damaged. Externally, if our public response is not handled with care, the prestige of the Mountain Sea will be diminished. In my humble opinion, in addition to the two divisions of the Yinglong Division following precedent, we must also appoint elders to lead disciples in pacifying the people…” Zuo Yuesheng’s voice was unexpectedly deep and slow.
The Grand Elders’ expressions softened slightly.
A rushed and high-pitched tone was common for juniors who rarely had the chance to meet the great figures of a sect, eager to show themselves off, not realizing that it only made them seem more impetuous and flustered. As the Young Pavilion Master, Zuo Yuesheng should have the bearing of an unshakable mountain. When he spoke, he didn’t need to shout to attract people’s attention, because everyone should be listening intently. And his pace would never be too fast, because every word he spoke carried immense weight!
Some of the old-fashioned ones nodded to themselves in approval.
Not bad, he’s composed enough.
…Lu Shiyi, I’ll kill you!
The composed Zuo Yuesheng was reciting the cheat sheet Young Master Chou had written, while internally cursing Lu Jing and the bald donkey Budu to high heaven.
Did he dare not be composed?!
Speaking while sucking in one’s stomach was already a highly difficult skill, putting one’s lung capacity to the test. He could only catch his breath during pauses between sentences. If he spoke too quickly, he’d pass out from lack of air!
Fortunately, the cheat sheet Young Master Chou had written was quite scholarly, and the pauses between numbers gave him a chance to breathe.
Otherwise, Zuo Yuesheng felt that his only two endings today would be his belt snapping and his pants falling down in public, or his lungs exploding from holding his breath and dying on the spot.
“The Azure Sea rages anew, and vicious demons will surely take the opportunity to stir up trouble. The evil rain is relentless, and goblins will surely use the gloom to manifest. We must guard the city gates vigilantly and inspect the streets strictly. The disciples of the various workshops, in teams of five or groups of three, must constantly observe the winds and check for omens, giving no opportunity for obstructive ghosts to cause chaos…” After stating how Zhunan itself should respond to the Black Tortoise’s early hibernation, Zuo Yuesheng’s tone shifted. “The Wind Flower Valley has long had friction with our pavilion, the Buddhist Sect has had recent conflicts, and the Hundred Clans are passing through Qing Province. Zhunan is the foundation of our pavilion. With the Black Tortoise’s unusual change, we must guard against these three parties taking the opportunity to cause trouble…”
The old-fashioned ones continued to nod slightly.
Zuo Yuesheng’s speech was entirely from the standpoint of the Young Pavilion Master, considering the entire Mountain Sea Pavilion. He saw the most numerous fishermen, considered the various continental merchants who were the foundation of the Mountain Sea Pavilion’s wealth, attended to the city’s safety, and thought of the immortal pavilion’s future. He saw the crisis brought by the Black Tortoise’s hibernation and also maintained the pavilion’s prestige. It was comprehensive, considering both internal and external factors, near and far. Although some of his proposals were slightly impulsive, they could already be considered well-thought-out and watertight.
Grand Elder Ying took in the assenting nods of these people, and his mood soured.
The Mountain Sea Pavilion had many Grand Elders, each with a different temperament and belonging to various factions. A portion of them were rigid like Tao Rong. The existence of these people allowed the Mountain Sea Pavilion to have a Pavilion Master like Zuo Liangshi, who had mediocre cultivation and average intelligence. Because the pavilion’s law stipulated that the Pavilion Master must have the surname “Zuo”—even if that Zuo was as stupid as a pig! They would still insist on pushing that pig up!
The only difference was that before, this “pig” Zuo Yuesheng had been more disappointing than all the previous pigs combined.
This had finally caused the stubborn Grand Elders to waver a little.
Grand Elder Ying had chosen Zuo Yuesheng as a breakthrough point to address the Black Tortoise’s unusual change. Besides paving the way for what was to come, he also wanted to make him speak hastily, expose his unlearned nature, and make the stubborn old fossils completely disappointed! This was what they called destroying an enemy’s cornerstone before sieging the city!
But from the moment Zuo Yuesheng majestically stepped into the Mountain Sea Pavilion, the situation had begun to spiral out of control.
Not only had the enemy’s cornerstone not been destroyed, it even showed signs of becoming more stable!
Regardless of whether this was the result of Zuo Liangshi’s cunning calculations, Grand Elder Ying would not allow such a thing to happen.
“…An anomaly is not a change, a calamity is not a disaster!”
Zuo Yuesheng’s words were resolute.
The muscles in his face grew even tighter, as if every word and every sentence contained infinite determination. The ten thousand candles in the Mountain Sea Grand Hall burned brightly, and after the silence, the Grand Elders let out soft sighs.
This speech could indeed be called a “brilliant insight.” It was detailed where it needed to be, the language was exquisite, and it was rich with philosophical thought. It showed that the Young Pavilion Master was not, as rumored, a penny-pincher who only knew how to hug his abacus and run around the streets, reeking of copper… Although the Mountain Sea Pavilion did indeed take “commerce” as its path and was the richest under heaven, for so many years, the Pavilion Masters and Grand Elders had been striving to create an image of “gathering a hundred rivers to aid the world,” and the Grand Elders themselves were all more elegant and outstanding than the last.
They were an immortal sect, after all, not purely a chamber of commerce!
…Finally done reciting.
Zuo Yuesheng secretly let out a sigh of relief.
If Young Master Chou had dragged it on any longer, his life would have ended right here!
As soon as he relaxed, Zuo Yuesheng felt his stomach push out, and the golden belt followed. He hastily held his breath again… holding it so tightly that the muscles on his face felt like they were made of iron.
Help, when is this damn meeting going to end?
Some of the Grand Elders saw his unflappable demeanor and grew even more suspicious, exchanging glances. For the past dozen years, the Young Pavilion Master had indeed been hiding his true abilities. This Zuo father and son duo were truly deep. Finally, several Grand Elders turned their gazes to Grand Elder Ying, subtly urging him on.
“What the Young Pavilion Master said is reasonable,” Grand Elder Ying raised his voice, suppressing the whispers in the hall. “It truly shows that a tiger father does not have a dog son!”
His tone suddenly shifted.
“However, what the Young Pavilion Master spoke of were all measures to deal with the Black Tortoise’s early hibernation, but it lacked an exploration and resolution of the root cause.”
You damn old fossil! Can’t you let me catch my breath?
Zuo Yuesheng cursed inwardly.
As if hearing his curses, Grand Elder Ying’s next words were surprisingly not directed at him.
“This grand pavilion we are in, these nine cities beneath our feet, and indeed the foundation of the entire Qing Province are all carried on the back of the Black Tortoise. If anything were to happen to the Black Tortoise, not only would Zhunan fall into the sea, but the hundreds of millions of lives in Qing Province would be swallowed by the raging waves along with it. Therefore, for tens of thousands of years, the Mountain Sea Pavilion has stood as a pillar, guarding the Black Tortoise, passing down this duty from generation to generation, never once failing.”
Grand Elder Ying paused slightly.
Many people already realized what he was about to say and turned their gazes to Zuo Liangshi, who was seated at the very head. Zuo Liangshi, dressed in white, still had his usual humble expression, a stark contrast to his imposing son. Hearing Grand Elder Ying’s words, he merely nodded slightly and did not speak.
“The Black Tortoise is inextricably linked to the Mountain Sea Pavilion, but for tens of thousands of years, the Black Tortoise has been a secret to the vast majority of people in the Mountain Sea Pavilion.” Grand Elder Ying looked directly at Zuo Liangshi. “At any given time, the one who can communicate with the Black Tortoise, the one who knows its condition, is and can only be one person.”
“Yes,” Zuo Liangshi nodded with a smile. “Thanks to the trust of successive generations of Grand Elders, the Zuo family has undertaken the responsibility of Pavilion Master and has been bound by pact to the Black Tortoise for tens of thousands of years.”
“The Zuo family has toiled for Zhunan and the Mountain Sea Pavilion for many years.” Grand Elder Ying raised his cup to Zuo Liangshi from afar as a sign of respect. The other Grand Elders pondered for a moment before following suit.
“It is thanks to the help of all the Grand Elders.”
Zuo Liangshi gave Zuo Yuesheng a look, signaling the little brat to raise his cup with him in return.
…Old man, I think you want me dead.
Zuo Yuesheng cursed inwardly while arduously raising his cup. Taking the opportunity provided by his sleeve, he quickly reached out and pressed the belt hard into the roll of fat around his stomach, forcefully jamming it in place. To a certain extent, it averted the crisis of it flying off, but it was branded in exceptionally painfully.
He was quickly recalling the contents of the curtain cloth Chou Bodeng had written, trying to figure out what kind of “sword in the belly” scheme Grand Elder Ying was playing.
After all, it was written in a hurry. Young Master Chou had kept it as simple as possible, summarizing the topics with just one or two words. He would only understand what they meant when these old fellows revealed their true intentions and he could match them up. And for the second point’s summary, Young Master Chou had only written two words: “Find Cause.”
Find cause? Find what cause?
Grand Elder Ying put down his wine cup. “However, there is a matter that has long worried me.”
“Grand Elder Ying, please speak freely,” Zuo Liangshi said.
“The secrets of the Black Tortoise are tied to one person, like a merchant betting all his chips on a single stake,” Grand Elder Ying said, looking around. “Everyone present is a pillar of the Mountain Sea Pavilion. I believe I don’t need to say more for you to understand the risks involved. In the past, the Black Tortoise hibernated once every three hundred years, following the pattern without error, so no one mentioned it. But today, the Black Tortoise has suddenly entered hibernation early, which forces me to speak plainly on this matter—”
His voice suddenly turned icy cold.
“Is it too risky for only one person to hold the Black Tortoise pact?”
Silence fell all around.
Zuo Yuesheng finally understood what he was up to when he first asked him for his “brilliant insights”! This old fossil wanted to use today’s unusual event with the Black Tortoise to meddle with the pact! And the other Grand Elders, most of them seemed to have had this idea for a while. No wonder he had to rush to the Mountain Sea Grand Hall for the meeting!
If today’s meeting ended with the decision that more people would form a pact with the Black Tortoise in the future, the matter would naturally involve him, the unlucky Young Pavilion Master.
Crap!
Zuo Yuesheng almost exploded with anger.
He took a deep breath, trying to suppress the rage in his chest… No, can’t get angry. If I get angry, the belt will snap, and my pants will fall off.
“I understand your meaning,” Zuo Liangshi said, looking around the hall. “And what about the rest of you, Grand Elders?”
His voice was as gentle as ever, so gentle that it almost made Zuo Yuesheng’s previous efforts go to waste. For goodness’ sake! Old man! Someone has kicked down your door and is in your face, and you’re still being polite here!
A Grand Elder stood up and bowed slightly. “I, Meng, would like to ask the Pavilion Master, is the Black Tortoise’s early hibernation truly because the divine pact is weakening?”
Zuo Yuesheng had a flash of insight.
So that’s what Chou Bodeng’s “Find Cause” meant.
“The Black Tortoise hibernates because of the heavens.”
Zuo Yuesheng spoke before his father could, his words resolute.
All the Grand Elders’ gazes turned to him.
Grand Elder Meng Shuangqing frowned. “Young Pavilion Master, this is not a matter to be trifled with. Please be cautious.”
Zuo Yuesheng sneered and suddenly slammed the bronze table, the sound like a booming cauldron. He pressed his hands on the table and leaned forward abruptly like a tiger poised to strike. “Only my Zuo clan is bound by pact to the Black Tortoise. But you Grand Elders are not entirely ignorant of the Black Tortoise either.”
As soon as he said this, some people’s faces changed.
They didn’t look too good.
Although on the surface only the successive Pavilion Masters were bound by pact to the Black Tortoise, out of “concern,” over the years, everyone had more or less studied the Black Tortoise. After all, the nine Black Tortoises were so large, just carrying the city on their backs right under their feet. But these were all private matters. The Pavilion Master turned a blind eye, and the Grand Elders made concessions in certain areas. It was a tacit understanding, but no one had ever brought it out into the open.
Today, a bandit had suddenly appeared.
And the bandit had directly overturned the original chessboard.
“The Black Tortoise is a beast of the Four Symbols, inheriting the vitality of the Chen Star, and heralding the climate of Qing Province.” The firelight cast a golden sheen on Zuo Yuesheng’s taut, fleshy face, making him look like a wrathful vajra. “If the winds and rains of Qing Province are untimely, and disasters arrive, it will weaken the Black Tortoise’s aura. And who controls the four seasons, who commands the climate—these are things a three-year-old child knows. Could it be that you, Elder Meng, do not know?”
“Do not be rude.”
Zuo Liangshi symbolically reprimanded him.
Zuo Yuesheng didn’t even spare his father a glance. “There’s a small matter that you Grand Elders may have forgotten. A hundred years ago, the Taiyu Clan of Kongsang privately altered the celestial orbit. In Ru City, the sun and moon did not appear, and the four winds did not arrive, which is why the Red Ru Fish fell into hibernation. Don’t you all feel that the hibernation of the Red Ru Fish is extremely similar to the hibernation of the Black Tortoise?”
A Grand Elder suddenly stood up, his face flushed red. “Are you suggesting the Black Tortoise’s hibernation is related to the celestial orbit, and that it was plotted by the Hundred Clans? How arrogant! An ignorant child dares to spout such nonsense!”
“Oh, it’s you,” Zuo Yuesheng laughed. “Pavilion Elder Yan, your nephew is the City Diviner of Sparrow City. Sparrow City is quite close to the Hundred Clans, isn’t it? I wonder how much tribute your good nephew has presented to you over the years?”
Zuo Liangshi shook his head and cupped his hands towards Pavilion Elder Yan. “My son is mischievous by nature. Please do not take offense, Pavilion Elder Yan.”
He seemed to intentionally or unintentionally stress the word “Elder.”
Pavilion Elder Yan’s face turned from blue to purple. He shook his sleeves in anger. “You know nothing of the sun’s orbit, nor the moon’s track. I disdain to speak with you!”
…There may be those who have some knowledge of the “Celestial Calculation” and are influenced by the Hundred Clans, who may try to refute you. Remember! Be stern and severe.
Since Young Master Chou had said he could be “stern and severe,” Zuo Yuesheng had no intention of being polite to this old fossil surnamed Yan.
“I heard that you, Pavilion Elder Yan, proclaim yourself the foremost expert on calendar science in the Mountain Sea Pavilion. It turns out you’re nothing special after all.” Zuo Yuesheng’s voice was like a great bell, showing no sign of restraint. “What is the sun’s orbit? Ten crows carry the sun, alternating in their rest. What is the moon’s track? The Nether Moon’s Gazing Rabbit waxes and wanes. For a hundred years in Ru City, the sun’s orbit deviated from the second track to the sixth, and the moon’s position was erratic—this is proof that the Hundred Clans privately altered Ru City’s sun and moon! The celestial orbit is precise and intricate; one pull affects the whole. Furthermore, Ru City is located at the Great Void Acupoint of Qing Province. When the sun and moon here deviate, it affects the Chen Star. The Chen Star governs the four seasons, but it has reversed its course, grown large, and changed color! The star falls in the Southern Meridian! The Black Tortoise is mandated by the Chen Star. When the Chen Star is dim, the Black Tortoise hibernates!”
“Reversed its course, grown large, and changed color… Reversed its course, the Southern Meridian…”
Pavilion Elder Yan was at first full of contempt, but when he heard these two phrases, his whole body shook. With a thud, he sat straight back down in his original seat, muttering these two phrases over and over as if possessed.
The other Grand Elders’ faces changed.
Not all Grand Elders understood calendar science. After all, the Celestial Calculation promulgated by the Hundred Clans of Kongsang was too obscure and difficult to understand. The most profound and subtle calendar science had always been grasped by only a few people in the Hundred Clans of Kongsang and the immortal sects. Before, Pavilion Elder Yan was the recognized foremost expert on calendar science in the Mountain Sea Pavilion! His loss of composure showed that even those who knew nothing of calendar arts could see that Zuo Yuesheng’s words were by no means simple.
The few others who had some research in calendar arts all frowned deeply and began to calculate on their fingers.
In the passage Zuo Yuesheng had just spoken, he mentioned the degree of deviation of Ru City’s sun and moon: “the sun’s orbit deviated from the second track to the sixth, and the moon’s position was erratic.” Was this correct or not?
Those with keen minds for arithmetic and calendar arts had a faint intuition.
This answer was probably correct.
No one believed that Zuo Yuesheng had calculated this himself.
Setting aside Zuo Yuesheng’s past reputation, just in terms of calendar arts, it took an ordinary cultivator decades or even hundreds of years just to get started, let alone reach the point of being able to skillfully use the Celestial Calculation to calculate the orbits of the sun and moon. Those who could achieve this were all old monsters who had lived for who knows how many hundreds or thousands of years.
But how did Zuo Yuesheng know?
It couldn’t possibly be that the Taiyu Clan themselves had told him. So, besides the people of Kongsang, who could so easily calculate the celestial orbit? And not just the celestial orbit… there was also that last sentence that had sent Pavilion Elder Yan into a trance.
What did that sentence mean?
For a moment, some Grand Elders even wanted to grab Zuo Yuesheng by the neck and make him explain himself clearly.
…Actually, grabbing Zuo Yuesheng’s neck would be useless.
He didn’t know either.
Let alone what “reversed its course” meant, he didn’t even understand what “Southern Meridian” was. No, to be more precise, in that long passage, he barely understood what “sun’s orbit” and “moon’s track” meant. “Ten crows carry the sun, alternating in their rest” referred to the ten Golden Crow Birds carrying ten suns, flying in staggered formation across the skies of the Twelve Continents to evenly distribute sunlight. “The Nether Moon’s Gazing Rabbit waxes and wanes” meant that the Mysterious Rabbit nibbled on the celestial moon and then spat it out, causing the moon to go through phases of waxing and waning.
The reason he understood this was because a while ago, they had been working around the clock calculating the sun and moon record tables. Because they didn’t understand calendar arts, they had asked a series of stupid questions. Young Master Chou, lazy as he was, got so angry that he finally jumped up from his soft couch, got a piece of black wood, and forcibly gave them a crash course on the most, most, most basic knowledge of calendar science.
The learning process was too painful to recall.
Young Master Chou’s original words were, “Rather than being angered to death by you lot, I’d rather just kill you first.”
The crash course in calendar arts was not enough for Zuo Yuesheng to understand what the passage written by Young Master Chou meant. But he had been a cunning merchant for many years and was experienced in deception, deeply understanding the great bluffing art of “if you dare to boast, the bull can truly fly.” It didn’t matter if he didn’t understand! As long as others didn’t understand either, he would win!
As expected, the effect was extraordinary.
“Grand Elder Meng,” Zuo Yuesheng glanced at the stunned, collapsed figure of Pavilion Elder Yan, then turned his gaze to Meng Shuangqing, who had asked the question earlier. “Do you still think I am spouting nonsense?”
Meng Shuangqing’s gaze slowly swept over Pavilion Elder Yan and the other few Grand Elders who were proficient in calendar arts, and he sat down without a word.
As he sat down, he glanced at Grand Elder Ying.
Ying Zhong’s expression was gloomy.
“A single Ru City can be abandoned, but can the entire Qing Province also be abandoned?” Zuo Yuesheng pressed his hands on the bronze table and looked at each of the Grand Elders. “Knowing that there is something wrong with the sun and moon, that it has even endangered the Mountain Sea, are you still going to play deaf and dumb?”
The Mountain Sea Pavilion was silent.
“My son is young and full of vigor, so his words are inevitably reckless. I ask you, Grand Elders, to be magnanimous.” Zuo Liangshi broke the silence. He cupped his hands to Grand Elder Ying and Grand Elder Meng. “I know that you two brought up the matter of the Black Tortoise pact today out of consideration for the Mountain Sea Pavilion. I, Liangshi, also feel that it is too risky for one person to bear this heavy responsibility. But you two may not know that the Black Tortoise divine pact is not something the Zuo family intentionally monopolizes, but rather that this pact can only be made with the blood of the Zuo clan. As for the hidden details, I might as well be frank with you all today.”
He pondered for a moment.
“The Records of Ancient Stone Steles state that ‘heaven and earth have eight apertures, and the winds of the eight apertures regulate the seasons of cold and heat.’ One of these wind caverns is actually in Zhunan.”
Grand Elder Ying Zhong’s pupils shrank slightly.
“Everyone knows that the Azure Sea was originally called the ‘Raging Sea,’ with ceaseless winds and waves, and teeming with strange monsters.” Zuo Liangshi smiled. “The reason for this is that there is a wind cavern in the Azure Sea, and the wind that gushes out of the sea cavern is the ‘Obscure Wind.’ The great wind stirs the azure waters, and the obscure qi breeds demons and ghosts, which is why it was initially difficult to survive in the Azure Sea.”
“The Black Tortoise suppresses the sea, so it suppresses the Obscure Wind Acupoint?” Meng Shuangqing asked in a deep voice.
“In fact, the wind cavern is right beneath our feet, under Zhunan City. The Black Tortoise suppresses the Azure Sea, using its body to fill the eye of the cavern, blocking the rampage of the Obscure Wind. But over time, the obscure qi gushing from the wind cavern seeps into the Black Tortoise’s body. Therefore, the Black Tortoise enters a hibernation state once every three hundred years to purify the obscure qi. The reason the Zuo family can form a pact with the Black Tortoise is because the blood of the Zuo family can help the Black Tortoise purify the obscure qi. This is the secret of the Zuo family for so many years…” Zuo Liangshi looked around and smiled. “It’s nothing to speak of.”
“I see.” Meng Shuangqing bowed. “Thank you, Pavilion Master, for clearing up my confusion. It was this old one who was reckless.”
“Please rise, Grand Elder Meng.”
Zuo Liangshi flicked his sleeve and helped him up from a distance.
As Grand Elder Meng rose, he discreetly glanced at Zuo Yuesheng.
Zuo Yuesheng’s hands were pressed tightly on the bronze table, his expression tense, as if he were trying hard to suppress his anger. It seemed that the rumors were at least somewhat credible—the Zuo father and son were not on good terms. What happened today was not necessarily arranged by Zuo Liangshi. In that case, the person behind Zuo Yuesheng must be someone else.
Who could it be?
“As for what my son said about the Chen Star’s reversal…” Zuo Liangshi smiled bitterly. “You all know that my knowledge of calendar arts is mediocre at best, so I dare not say whether it is true or false. However, the Chen Star does indeed affect the force of the Obscure Wind, and it is not impossible for the Black Tortoise to be affected by this and enter hibernation early. This matter involves Kongsang, so let’s discuss it after the sea lockdown is over.”
Some people breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Zuo Liangshi remained impassive. “Compared to that, there is another matter that is more urgent.”
“Please speak, Pavilion Master,” Meng Shuangqing said.
“With the Black Tortoise’s early hibernation, it cannot completely suppress the wind cavern, and the Obscure Wind is very likely to gush out from the seabed. Therefore…” Zuo Liangshi straightened his sleeves, knelt upright, raised his hands flat to his chest, and then bowed long to the ground, his head touching his hands. “I, Liangshi, in my capacity as Pavilion Master, request all you Grand Elders to ascend the walls and guard the sea!”
The Grand Elders exchanged glances, then followed suit, prostrating themselves on the ground.
“We obey the Pavilion Master’s command.”
A hall full of immortal-like figures, their robes fluttering in the candlelight as they bowed to each other, seemed to transcend the mortal world.
The chime bells rang again, and the Pavilion meeting ended.
The Grand Elders rose and left in succession. After leaving alone, Ying Zhong stopped in front of a pavilion. Meng Shuangqing, who had left a step ahead of him, emerged from the pavilion. “What do you think, Elder Meng?”
Ying Zhong sneered. “Zuo Liangshi is as good at smoothing things over as ever.”
“And what about the Young Pavilion Master?” Meng Shuangqing asked impassively. “What do you think of him?”
Ying Zhong’s brow slowly furrowed. “It’s hard to say.”
He looked up at the rain for a moment, then shook his head. “I don’t understand… Why was he leaning on the bronze table the whole time? Was he trying to make a show of force, or is his conflict with his father really that deep?”
***
“Alright, everyone’s gone.”
Zuo Liangshi placed his wine cup back on the bronze table.
“Holy fuking shit,” Zuo Yuesheng jumped up abruptly, clutching his pants with both hands, a look of sheer terror on his face. “I almost went down the same road as that kid Ying Yuqiao.”
Speaking while sucking in one’s stomach was too difficult, and he couldn’t even curse properly. Later, when Zuo Yuesheng’s gaze fell on the bronze table before him, he had a flash of inspiration and thought of a way. When he slammed the table in anger, he would lean forward and use the table to hold his belt in place, so he could curse without restraint.
The problem was, later on, he got too excited and was just short of pointing at all the Grand Elders’ noses and directly cursing “You bunch of bastards who don’t dare to confront the Hundred Clans,” when tragedy struck.
The bronze table couldn’t save him in time.
The damn golden belt finally snapped.
Zuo Yuesheng: …
In order not to follow in Ying Yuqiao’s footsteps, Zuo Yuesheng could only maintain his posture of leaning on the bronze table, fuming with anger until everyone had left.
“Your old man is here. Watch your language, you little brat,” Zuo Liangshi said with a dark face.
Zuo Yuesheng, clutching his pants, tied a dead knot and, after confirming they wouldn’t fall down, exposed his father’s shortcomings with a booming voice. “Old man, you’re a real disgrace. People were practically spitting in your face, and you were still talking about the five virtues and four goods?”
“Five virtues and four goods?” Zuo Liangshi frowned. “Where did you learn that nonsense from?”
“Not from you, that’s for sure,” Zuo Yuesheng grinned.
“Is that any way to talk to your own father?” Zuo Liangshi glanced at the genius dead knot he had tied. “…What kind of knot is that? I’ve been elegant my whole life, how did I end up with such a crude son.”
“You should ask yourself how you ended up as the kind of guy who kicks his own son out of the house!” Zuo Yuesheng rolled his eyes.
“Who wrote that stuff you were reciting just now?” Zuo Liangshi asked.
Zuo Yuesheng eyed him suspiciously. “Old man, what are you scheming now? …Can’t this young master be learned enough to have read it in a book?”
Zuo Liangshi shook his head without exposing him and stood up. “Come with me.”
“What for?” Zuo Yuesheng didn’t move. “I still have to go settle scores with Lu Shiyi.”
“Don’t you want to know why the Azure Batfish appeared in the Tranquil Sea?”
Zuo Liangshi waved his sleeve, and the screen wall of the Mountain Sea Grand Hall suddenly split open, revealing a pitch-black opening from which a cold, sinister wind gushed out. All the candles in the hall were instantly extinguished, and the sound of the wind was like the wails of ten thousand vengeful ghosts. The sound exploded in one’s mind, shrill and terrifying, yet vaguely familiar.
Zuo Yuesheng couldn’t help but shiver.
Zuo Liangshi looked back at him.
“Scared?”
“Who’d be scared of some hocus-pocus!”
Zuo Yuesheng composed himself.
Young Pavilion Master Zuo was shameless and could admit defeat to anyone… except his own father!
Zuo Yuesheng summoned the same imposing manner he had used to curse the Grand Elders and strode forward. Just as he stood at the entrance of the secret passage, he was slapped on the back and, caught off guard, stumbled right into the darkness. The ground beneath his feet was empty! It was like a bottomless abyss!
Zuo Yuesheng didn’t even have a chance to flail his arms before he let out a yelp and began his high-altitude freefall.
“Old man, you damn bastard! You tricked me again—I’m telling Mom—”
“You just wait ’til you’re kneeling on the floorboards—aaahhhhh—”
The angry curses and ghostly screams rapidly descended, gradually fading away.
“That brat is such a tattletale.”
Zuo Liangshi shook his head.
“Passing the Mountain Sea Seal to him so early?” someone emerged from behind the screen wall.
“He’s been nagging about it for over a decade, wanting it all this time. It’s about time he had it.” Zuo Liangshi’s hands slowly drew a strange crescent shape in the air. The opening closed, and the cold wind instantly stopped. “It’s quite unexpected that you were willing to come and help.”
“If it were just you, you cunning merchant, I definitely wouldn’t have come,” the Old Heavenly Craftsman sneered. “If you died, I’d set off firecrackers for three months straight.”
Zuo Liangshi smiled bitterly. “You were going to take this kid as your disciple. You could at least be a little more polite to his father, right?”
“The thought of you being this kid’s father makes me want to go back on my word and not take him as a disciple,” the Old Heavenly Craftsman said gloomily, then paused. “Where did this kid learn all that stuff?”
“Didn’t you notice something?” Zuo Liangshi gave the Old Heavenly Craftsman a strange look. “He was most fluent when he was cursing; only those were his own words. The rest was probably a cheat sheet someone wrote for him to memorize beforehand. If he could have come up with that stuff himself, I could have retired early.”
The Old Heavenly Craftsman breathed a sigh of relief and muttered, “That’s what I thought… How did he change so much in just a year…”
For a moment there, he had felt a bit unworthy of taking this disciple. What sun’s orbit, moon’s track, and what response strategies… if this little fatty was already so learned, what did he need him as a master for?
After a moment of thought, the Old Heavenly Craftsman frowned and asked again, “Is the Black Tortoise’s early hibernation related to the Hundred Clans? Has Kongsang become so audacious?”
Zuo Liangshi gave him another strange look.
Dark green bracers shot out from the Old Heavenly Craftsman’s arms. “What’s with that look, Zuo?”
Zuo Liangshi calmly averted his gaze. “The celestial orbit has indeed gone wrong, but it has nothing to do with the Black Tortoise’s hibernation. If you were someone from the Great Wilderness, lurking in Zhunan, and you saw the Mountain Sea Pavilion and the Hundred Clans of Kongsang at odds, on the verge of conflict, what would you do?”
“Fan the flames, make you fight to the death as soon as possible…” The Old Heavenly Craftsman suddenly understood. “No wonder you suppressed the news of the Azure Batfish appearing in the Tranquil Sea. You want to lure out the person in the shadows. The person who wrote the responses for your son, do they have the same plan?”
“I’m not sure,” Zuo Liangshi shook his head. “But they did help me out.”
The Old Heavenly Craftsman was silent for a moment. “You people who play with schemes, your hearts are all truly black.”
“You flatter me.”
The Old Heavenly Craftsman didn’t want to spend another moment with this guy and turned to leave. After two steps, he stopped again and asked with his back to him, “Are you confident he can gain the recognition of the Mountain Sea Seal?”
“No,” Zuo Liangshi said faintly.
The Old Heavenly Craftsman whipped around, glaring. “No, and you still let him go in?”
“He is the future Pavilion Master of the Mountain Sea Pavilion.”
“What kind of bullshit is that? Is the Mountain Sea Pavilion so great? He could just be the Mansion Lord of our Heavenly Works Mansion…” the Old Heavenly Craftsman jumped up and cursed, then his voice suddenly turned cold. “Are you not confident you can survive?”
Zuo Liangshi turned and walked towards the entrance of the grand hall.
“I didn’t want him to get involved so early. As a father, one always hopes to personally hand him a world where the dust has settled and the seas are calm. But he has grown up, and he has walked into the storm himself. Sometimes, I wish he wasn’t a child of the Zuo family, that he didn’t have to bear this… fate from generation to generation!”
Zuo Liangshi pushed open the hall doors, and the sea wind rushed in, billowing his wide sleeves.
“But his surname is Zuo.”
A muscle in Zuo Liangshi’s cheek twitched almost imperceptibly.
“He is destined to listen to the roars of his ancestors’ heroic souls, to ignite the bloodline passed down through generations.”
***
Lightning streaked across the sky, and the rain was like a white mist.
The forest-like pavilions and gate-towers of the Mountain Sea Pavilion were reduced to dark silhouettes in the white mist, as jagged as a billion dormant sea beasts. The lightning illuminated Lou Jiang’s face in the room, making it as hard and cold as ice. After a long time, he suddenly turned and threw open the door. The wind rushed in, making the candlelight flicker.
Lou Jiang raised a hand and pointed towards the distant surface of the Azure Sea.
“There, that is the sea boundary of Zhunan. The Black Tortoise guards the aperture of obscure qi, but compared to other sea regions, the Azure Sea’s waves are still turbulent, requiring more life force to nourish this land. So the first Grand Elders, after their deaths, used their bodies as pillars and drove the first sea pillars into the Azure Sea. That was the prototype of the sea boundary. Later, during the first expansion of the Great Wilderness, Qing Province was the first to be attacked. That time, more than half of the Mountain Sea Pavilion’s Grand Elders and nearly a hundred thousand disciples rushed to the sea boundary, turning their bodies into stone, and forcibly enclosed the first Tranquil Sea.”
“From then on, disciples of the Mountain Sea Pavilion who were willing to turn their bodies into sea stone after death to be built into the sea pillars would receive a white jade tablet.”
“To this day, there are a total of three million two hundred thousand sea pillars.”
“Three million two hundred thousand sea pillars, a spine of mountain and sea built by tens of thousands of disciples.”
Through the open door, many figures in pale gold cloaks could be faintly seen, like flying birds, darting through the cold curtain of rain.
“Yes, I admit, the Mountain Sea today is like a pavilion with decaying beams. I admit, the Mountain Sea Pavilion today is indeed looked down upon.” Lou Jiang stood straight at the door. “But we of the Mountain Sea Pavilion are not without our pride! This year’s sea pillars are thirty-two more than last year’s, and this year’s Tranquil Sea is seven kilometers wider than last year’s. The sea pillars will increase year by year, and the Tranquil Sea will grow wider year by year, until finally, the sea pillars will encompass the entire Azure Sea, and the entire Azure Sea will be a thousand kilometers of clear winds and ten thousand kilometers of calm tides.”
“Our Mountain Sea’s mountains have not yet decayed, and our Mountain Sea’s seas have not yet withered!”
The white stone die spun between his fingers. Chou Bodeng leaned against the window lattice. He didn’t speak, just listened to the sound of the wind and rain outside. He suddenly let out a faint smile.
It was fleeting. Lou Jiang didn’t see it, and neither did the others.
“Zuo Yuesheng? When he and his father fought and he hid, and his father ignored him, it was I who ran all over Zhunan to find him. It was I who wiped his nose, I who fought his fights, I who carried him home,” Lou Jiang said, uncharacteristically swearing. “I’m his goddamn brother!”
Even if he was always driven to distraction by the messes his weird younger brother made, even if his weird younger brother met new weirdos and the weirdo team grew, making the world a less peaceful place, how could an older brother really just abandon him? That was the fool who, when you first arrived at the Mountain Sea Pavilion, a stranger with no family, facing exclusion, was the only one who would sneak you secret manuals.
“As for why I…”
Lou Jiang slowly pulled something out of his sleeve and held it up for everyone to see.
“I received this this morning.”
It was a neatly cut piece of Xuan paper with two lines of writing on it:
“Red Plum burns the pure land, bones buried ‘neath the window.”
The handwriting was neat, but unremarkable.
Lu Jing read the sentence aloud, scratched his head, and asked, puzzled, “What does it mean?”
“Mei was my mother, Xuan was my father.” Lou Jiang’s face was expressionless, as if frozen. “They were burned to death. Who set the fire… I don’t know.”
He turned the paper over. On the back were four small characters.
Midnight, Bright Tower.
“I don’t know if I should go.”
Lu Jing slammed the table. “This is obviously a conspiracy, isn’t it? Waiting for you to fall into a trap! Damn it, I’ll bet my head on it, if this isn’t a conspiracy, I’ll twist my head off for you! Old Mother Lou, you can’t be dumber than me, can you!”
A crack appeared on Lou Jiang’s frozen face. “Don’t call me Old! Mother! Lou!”
Lu Jing shrank back, and at the same time, breathed a sigh of relief.
“Also, it’s not like I don’t know this is a conspiracy! I’ve already decided…” Lou Jiang hesitated. In fact, not even Zuo Yuesheng knew about his past. Now that this long-troubling mystery was out in the open, he felt a little regretful, but also faintly relieved, like a thick layer of dust had been shaken off a bit. “I’ll give this to the Pavilion Master later.”
“The Pavilion Master… Fatty Zuo’s dad? Did his dad know your parents?”
Lu Jing asked subconsciously.
“He did.” A hint of embarrassment appeared on Lou Jiang’s face. “I even rode on his neck when I was little…”
And then peed all over the back of the esteemed great Pavilion Master of the Mountain Sea Pavilion, to the point that the great Pavilion Master Zuo, who valued his decorum immensely, refused to pay them a visit ever again.
“Midnight, Bright Tower.”
Lu Jing was still pondering the contents of the paper.
Just then, a whistle sounded faintly through the rain.
“It’s a junior brother from the Yinglong Division who’s encountered some filth he can’t handle,” Lou Jiang said, listening for a moment. He had regained his usual composure, but was more polite than usual. “I’ll go out and help them. I ask our honored guests to rest here in the Wuye Pavilion. The rain is heavy and the wind is fierce, so it’s best not to go out.”
As he spoke, Chou Bodeng, who had been sitting by the window, suddenly stood up and walked over.
Before Lou Jiang could react, Chou Bodeng had already snatched the Xuan paper from his hand.
“You!”
Lou Jiang was furious.
“Sinking Snow incense,” Chou Bodeng said, holding the paper to his nose for a sniff, then casually tossed it back to him. “Red Railing Street.”
Lou Jiang hurriedly caught the paper.
Chou Bodeng brushed past him, opened an umbrella, and walked out into the vast rain.
Lou Jiang stood frozen in place.
For a moment, he didn’t understand what he meant.
“Let’s go, let’s go!” Lu Jing came over, wrapped an arm around his neck, and dragged him outside, lowering his voice as they went. “This guy has always been like this, his bark is worse than his bite…” As he spoke, Lu Jing gave Lou Jiang a ‘you know what I mean’ look, then raised his voice a little. “Keep up, keep up, he has the nose of a dog, more sensitive than anything. Trust him, you won’t go wrong!”
A die came flying from ahead, hitting Lu Jing on the forehead.
“Lu Shiyi, are you looking to die?”
Chou Bodeng’s voice came from afar. He was walking quickly and was already ahead.
“Young Master Chou, I was complimenting you!” Lu Jing argued vehemently.
Monk Budu twirled his Buddhist beads and chanted “Amitabha” twice, then glanced at Half-Diviner. Half-Diviner muttered to himself as he counted on his fingers. “The heavenly secrets tell this humble Daoist… that although this trip is perilous, I can pay off one-tenth of my debt. Zen Master Budu, shall we go together?”
Upon hearing that this fellow Half-Diviner could pay off even one-tenth of his massive debt, Monk Budu’s face instantly lit up with a smile. “Well said, well said.”
The monk and the Daoist followed them out the door.
In the sound of the wind and rain, a storm raged.
Young disciples in silver cloaks patrolled the Tranquil Sea, checking the boats one by one, shouting for the fishermen to remember to patch their canopies. Young disciples in golden cloaks were in Zhunan City, clearing the streets of the filth born from the damp gloom, their storm lanterns swaying, like fireflies, like stars. And a group of five walked side by side into the heavy curtain of rain.
Withered wood will sprout new fibers, and new flowers will burst from withered branches.
There will always be new backbones to support a new crown of glory.