Estranged Chapter 2

Published at 1st of August 2021 09:25:27 AM

Chapter 2. It’s a pity

He Xiyun was displeased.

The Qixian Sect is just a small sect backed by the Jianxue Clan, far inferior to her own sect.

But, being on foreign soil, act not for the monk’s sake, but for the Buddha’s. She dared to offend the Qixian Sect, but she wouldn’t dare to offend the Jianxue Clan behind the Qixian Sect.

Not for the monk’s sake, but for the Buddha’s: do sth. out of consideration for sb. else. In this case, they are in the Qixian Sect’s territory, but should be amenable for the sake of the Jianxue Clan.

While He Xiyun was hesitating, Changming took a step forward.

The leader of the Qixian Sect’s disciples looked at them from head to toe.

Obviously, the two of them were not just ordinary villagers or faraway wanderers. Although they looked travel-worn and weary, the sword in He Xiyun’s hand gave away her identity.

“I am Lin Han. I would like to ask, what are the two daoyous’ honorable names? Who do you study under? This place is under the protection of the Qixian Sect. If you have time, you might follow us up the mountain and have a cup of hot tea.”

His attitude was not enthusiastic, but it was a lot more polite than before.

He Xiyun: “Thank you, daoyou. I am He Xiyun, from the Qingbei Mountain. I am just passing by, and I had no intention to disturb you.”

When she saluted by cupping one hand in the other before her chest, she deliberately showed the sheath of her sword so that the other party could see the symbol of her sect, indicating that she was not lying.

The Jianxue Clan had many enemies, but Qingbei Mountain was not one of them.

Lin Han nodded, let down his guard, and took the initiative to explain further.

“We went to Qingshui Village today to select new disciples. We were not as polite as we should have been, daoyou, please forgive us. There will be no harm if you come to our sect and wait for a bit. I will talk to you when I’m done here.”

He Xiyun politely declined: “I have an important matter to report to my sect, so I am rushing back to my teacher. Please forgive me for not being able to stay here. I will pay you a visit another day.”

Her shixiong was dead, so her expression was still full of sorrow. Lin Han looked in her eyes and felt that her words seemed to be true.

“If that’s the case, then…”

“Your sect is recruiting disciples, do you think I am qualified enough?”

Changming spoke suddenly, stunning Lin Han.

He Xiyun explained his situation: “Brother Changming is a daoyou I met on my way. He saved my life, so I wanted to invite him to Qingbei Mountain as a guest.”

Changming: “I was severely injured, lost my skills, and my head is dizzy all the time, so my thoughts are in disorder. I’m afraid that it will be harmful for me to make such a long and difficult journey. I wonder if your school has any vacant positions for outer disciples?”

First Lin Han looked at the group of seven to eight year old children waiting to be selected, and then at Changming.  The meaning was clear: our Qixian Sect is looking for disciples, it is not a nursing home.

Besides, the origin of this person was unknown. Lin Han couldn’t be sure that he was not a spy or an enemy. How can the Qixian Sect just accept anyone?

“Daoyou Lin, we are talking so much, but you’ve got your own situation to deal with.”

He Xiyun tugged at the corner of Changming’s sleeve, pulling him aside.

“Brother Changming, the Qixian sect is supported by the Jianxue Clan, they are really nothing special. It’s better for you to go to the Qingbei Mountain with me. There, verdant hills and limpid water will heal your injuries.”

Changming: “I’m afraid I wouldn’t even be able to get there. Even if I can’t become an outer disciple, I can still find a place at the foot of the mountain to settle down and heal my injuries.”

He Xiyun hesitated for a moment: “Then I…”

“When my wounds will be fully healed, I will go to the Qingbei Mountain to see you.” Changming gave her a soothing smile.

He Xiyun kept in mind the death of her shixiong, so she couldn’t say that she wanted to stay with him.

They met by chance, like patches of drifting duckweed, but they weren’t helpless travelers in dire straits as they were before.

For the past two or three days wiped the melancholy off his face, perhaps because his memories were slowly recovering, and now he seemed more distant and lively, bright as the moon. And this smile—

Cultivators should not be fooled by appearance, because it is the most unreliable thing in the world. But, except for immortals and Buddhas, who can take their mind off of things and free themselves from worldly desires?

He Xiyun seemed to have understood something, hurriedly averted her gaze, and smiled reluctantly.

“Well, since you have already decided, I will help you persuade daoyou Lin. The Qingbei Mountain is not a large sect, but we are still worth something. When I report to the teacher about what happened, I will return here to meet you.”

She went back to find Lin Han, took out from her sleeve a green jade hairpin, and handed it over.

“Daoyou Lin, Changming is seriously injured and really can’t travel long distances. Can you let him settle down in your school for a while? After some time, I will return for him.”

“This…”

Lin Han’s gaze fell on the hairpin.

He Xiyun smiled and said: “This hairpin is made by my shishu Lingfei, who is well-known for designing weapons. It is not a famous weapon, but it is suitable for a woman’s self-defense. Daoyou Lin can give it to his sweetheart or a female elder. Take it as a present on our first meeting.”

Shishu: teacher’s younger brother, aka martial uncle

Lin Han couldn’t take his eyes off that hairpin.

To be honest, the Qixian Sect was not a wealthy sect.

He was not a core disciple, so Lin Han got even fewer resources.

It was not easy for him to win the right to carry out the mission of assisting in selecting disciples outside the sect. He thought it would be a lucrative mission, but the villagers he was assigned to all had mediocre earnings and couldn’t bring out anything worthy to show their respect.

Just now, Lin Han dropped several hints, indicating that those who meet certain conditions would be prioritised in the selection and have higher chances of becoming disciples, but none of those foolish children got it.

And now there was He Xiyun, the first person to give him something after he went down the mountain.

Lin Han hesitated, but had to decline her offer.

“I’m afraid it goes against the rules…”

He Xiyun smiled and said: “Daoyou Changming is not a child, so he cannot start training from scratch. If there is some kind of unskilled work, you can let him do it without wasting places for disciples.”

Lin Han yielded: “The kitchen of the outer circle lacks a cook…”

He beckoned Changming to come closer.

“Can you cook?”

Changming: “A little bit.”

Lin Han: “What can you cook?”

Changming thought for a while: “Do scrambled eggs with cedrela count?”

The corners of Lin Han’s mouth twitched. He asked in his heart, you just heard the smell of someone making scrambled eggs with cedrela coming from a house behind, right?

Changming seemed to be honest: “I am very smart, so I can learn.”

It doesn’t require any cultivation skills to run errands for the kitchen, and it didn’t even matter whether the food he makes is good or not—it’s not for Lin Han to eat anyway, since the teachers and shixiongs from the inner circle don’t go to the outer circle to eat.

Lin Han felt the hairpin in his sleeve and agreed without hesitation.

But He Xiyun was not at ease. She was reluctant to part with him and kept advising him.

“Although the Qixian Sect doesn’t have a bad record, they are supported by the Jianxue Clan. You should be very careful, and never make rushed decisions.”

Changming said: “Thank you for the hairpin, I will find a better one for you before the next time we meet.”

He Xiyun only regarded this as simple courtesy, but now the two of them were bound by this promise, so she was also satisfied.

Having said goodbye to He Xiyun, Changming, a person with amnesia, has officially become a member of the kitchen staff in the outer circle of the Qixian Sect.

Three months passed.

For the Qixian Sect, offering shelter to Changming was just an episode not worth mentioning.

At that moment, apart from selecting new disciples, there was another important event going on in the Qixian Sect. That was the wedding of the most beloved disciple under the Sect Master, Liu Xiyu, who was getting married to the daughter of the Xiao family.

For many generations people from the Xiao family were officials, and this generation’s talented genius Xiao Cangfeng was no exception. Although he himself was still unmarried, his niece has reached the age of marriage, and an endless flow of people came to their gates to propose. In the end, it was the Qixian Sect that was chosen.

The reason was not only because Liu Xiyu, as the most valued direct disciple of the Master of the Qixian Sect, was likely to take over it in the future, but also because his talent made him famous as the prodigy of the century. He was very young, but could already play the Qixing guqin, a treasure of the Qixian Sect. One day he broke through to the next cultivation level, and his spiritual power soared, attracting dragons and phoenixes.

Guqin: seven-stringed zither or guqin. Qixing means ‘seven stars’, Qixian means ‘seven strings’.

Attracting dragons and phoenixes: fig. wishing the newlyweds a hundred years of reconciliation, here it’s either a bealutiful exaggeration, or real dragons, who knows, it’s xianxia.

If nothing out of the ordinary happened, Liu Xiyu was very likely to become the Qixian Sect’s master and make it famous.

Such an unusually lucky person, even if he came from a small sect, was worthy enough to be a perfect match for the daughter of the Xiao family, they were a string of pearls and jade indeed.

String of pearls and jade: perfect pair

The day of the marriage was approaching, and dozens of new disciples were accepted into the sect—two happy events came one after the other. Everything was decorated with lanterns and coloured ribbons, and the sect was bursting with joy.

But for Chef He, who was in charge of the kitchen in the outer circle, these things were not the best-case scenario.

Large sects were divided into the inner and the outer circle.

The so-called outer circle consisted of candidates for becoming disciples in the inner circle, and their qualifications were mediocre. There were dozens or even hundreds of people sitting together in one class, which is not nearly as good as the one-on-one training for the inner disciple.

To put it simply, their position was similar to that of ‘Dad doesn’t dote on, and mother doesn’t love’.

Dad doesn’t dote on, and mother doesn’t love: in this case, to lack resources.

Chef He had a bad temper. All the outer disciples agreed on this point.

However, he had a relative in the inner sect who held a high position. The chef had a bad temper, but still retained his position as chef. Regardless of what the outer disciples thought, they had to be polite in front of him.

But there were times when even Chef He was pleased.

At the moment he was chatting with a steward of the inner circle.

“You don’t know it, but since Changming started to work here, I got rid of a lot of trouble. Chopping wood, picking up beans—I don’t even have to say half a sentence, and everything is already done. He’s much better than those lazy and crafty assistants from before. I have everything prepared. If after some time he will still have the disposition, I will take him as a disciple, let him take over the mantle!”

The steward smiled and said, “It’s rare to see you boasting about someone! Is he that good?”

Chef He: “Can’t he be? Oh, say the person’s name, and he appears, Changming, come, come, come here!”

When Changming put down firewood and got closer, Chef He introduced him.

“This is Steward Zhang. He is responsible for organizing the celebrations in the inner circle. This time, shishu Liu’s marriage was planned by Steward Zhang inside out.”

Liu Xiyu was young, but a head disciple, so his position in the sect was high. It was not wrong for Chef He to call him shishu.

Steward Zhang looked at Changming.

Unlike those young disciples who started cultivating in their teens, this person was at least in his twenties or thirties.

He looked energetic and reliable, but was really way too elegant, even more than Liu Xiyu, who was known as the ‘jade gentleman’.

Given his appearance, shouldn’t the female disciples of the outer circle fight for his favor?

This ridiculous thought flashed in his mind, making Steward Zhang smile.

“You don’t want to cultivate? Do you agree to be a cook like Chef He?”

Changming said: “I am not in good health and I am not suitable for cultivation. Chef He was willing to take me in, and helping him with work is fine.”

Steward Zhang knew some things about medicine, so he took his wrist to check his pulse, and confirmed Changming’s words.

“It’s a pity.”

Steward Zhang casually expressed regret.

If he could cultivate, and his talent was fine, given time, he might have become another ‘jade gentleman’.

Changming didn’t care for cultivation. He said to Chef He: “I’ll go and chop the firewood first.”

Now there was a person to help him, so Chef He could devote himself to making the dishes. His temper has improved a lot. He laughed.

“Go, go.”

Changming cupped his arms in front of him and left. The two people continued chatting.

“Do you think shishu Liu can break through as smoothly this time? If so, he will become the first person in history to break through the eighth level of Pixia Scripture at the age of twenty five!”

“Even if he makes a breakthrough, he will be the second.”

“No way, there was someone who was faster? Which senior of our sect is the first?”

“He’s not a member of this sect, it’s Jiufang from a demonic sect.”

“Jiufang? That very Jiufang who first entered the Daoist sect, then entered the Buddhist sect, rebelled against Buddhism and Daoism and became a demonic cultivator, finally turning even against Confucianism?”

“Yes, it is him.”

“He actually had something to do with this sect? Pixia Scripture is a secret method of this sect that is not passed on to unrelated people, and the Sect Head lended it to him?!”

“It was not that he lended it, it was stolen! He took it for three days and three nights without asking and then returned it again, saying that there were flaws in Pixia Scripture that cannot be mended, and it is impossible for people to cultivate it to the ninth level. The former Sect Master Song was so angry. This is not a glorious thing, why would we go spreading it around? I suspect that Sect Master Song died early because he didn’t want to admit it. He forcibly tried to break through the eighth level of Pixia Scripture but failed and perished. I heard that his death was horrible. The disciples who went in to collect his bones were all terrified…”

“Hey, that’s enough, stop describing it! Let’s talk about something else on this day of great joy. Have you seen shishu Liu’s fiancee?”

“I saw her from afar…”

The voices sounded behind his back, becoming more and more faint.

Changming walked past the kitchen, picked up a bamboo basket from the wall foundation and walked down the slope of the mountain. He was going to dig up some bamboo shoots in the forest halfway up the mountain. Chef He said he was going to cook bamboo shoots and roasted meat that evening.

Most of the food of the outer circle is given to disciples, but a small part is naturally left for the chef. However, the size of the portion was determined by Chef He, who had the final say. That’s why he became the person most disciples of the outer circle couldn’t offend.

Halfway through, the strength he used to lean on the ground with the bamboo stick suddenly increased—Changming slightly bent down and gasped.

He couldn’t move, as if frozen by a thousand-year frost. Blood rushed to his heart, like a surging wave that could almost drown him.

The pain came suddenly, but it was not surprising.

Ever since he had come out of the Yellow Springs, Changming has had such bursts of pain from time to time. Although his memory was damaged, he still remembered some of his previous cultivating experience. Every night he tried to guide his spiritual power to correct his breath and regulate his qi.

After a few months, this proved to be somewhat effective. The time between those bursts of pain has extended a lot, and the half-worn spiritual essence seemed to be faintly moving. But each time the pain flared, he was still suffering a lot.

He could only stand still, slowly waiting for the pain to ebb away.

Something moved in the bamboo forest to the right.

Changming was not a nosy person, but at that moment he couldn’t control himself.

Someone was pushed towards Changming, staggered back, and fell right in front of him.

This person raised his eyes, Changming lowered his gaze.

They looked at each other.

Changming’s face betrayed his astonishment.

He was shocked to the core.

This person?!

Chapter end