Amitabha, I See
Holding Young Shiyi in my arms, I relished the flowers and voices of cicadas for a while after Young Shiyi said, “… I just want you to be well.” For me, that was all I could ask for in life.
Young Shiyi was right when she accused me of purposely withholding information. Frankly, even Boss Shen and Hong Jiu could tell to some extent because I paid everyone but Young Shiyi a visit prior to commencing the expedition. I wasn’t afraid Young Shiyi would easily see through me. I was afraid of seeing her. Had she asked me to not go, I really would’ve left Pangu alone, opting to seek an alternative, even if I’d regret it later. Suffice to say, she wouldn’t have been so unreasonable despite the desire to be.
Young Shiyi didn’t care what the consequences of leaving Pangu unchecked would be. She might feel sorry for its victims, but she wouldn’t feel she was obligated to do something for them. If she forced me to turn a blind eye, however, I would take my regrets to my grave, and she was aware of that. When she found out the final boss was a dragon, she’d bite down on her lips and watch me go. I didn’t want to see that.
Although I was always cognisant of the fact that she was perceptive, I didn’t expect Young Shiyi to figure it all out from the scarce clues. Had she not noticed and dealt with Pangu’s sons, as soon as I left Pangu’s den, his sons would’ve been on me while I was defenceless. She never failed to amaze me.
“I heard you have exponentially improved, even reaching Divine Realm. I heard you scared the living daylights out of two of them with Overarching Heaven. The ignorant would’ve thought Guanyin descended upon the mortal realm to subdue demons.”
Young Shiyi giggled. “I see your praising skills have improved exponentially. My lame skills used to fool the people at the local teahouse caught the eyes of the great Lord San Shen?”
“Caught them so spectacularly that he can’t avert his gaze.”
“You’re not sick of me after seeing me for over twenty years?”
“I’ll answer that after I see you for another twenty years.”
“Here we go again. I wonder when he’ll take me.”
“Uh, uh, I’m not feeling physically up to it today. I’m feeling a lack of stamina…”
“Where are you taking it?! … Puhahaha, ah, I’ll spare you for six months on account of you stopping a dragon.”
“Ehehe, we’ll definitely come back to this topic – promise. By the way, when did you reach Divine Realm? I never heard anything about it.”
Young Shiyi tugged up a corner of her lips and swiped her nose with her thumb. “That’s the whole point.” She tapped Overarching Heaven, then explained, “I took a shortcut; you couldn’t even say I duped my way to it. At the end of the day, if you’ve made it, you’ve made it; you can’t fake your progress. In saying that, without the swordplay your shifu imparted and Overarching Heaven supplementing, it would be a miracle if I could tickle the dragon’s two sons.”
Young Shiyi didn’t lie based on when I checked her pulse before. I also somewhat understood how she reached Divine Realm. “You and Shifu take the same route. According to Shiniang, he once lost all of his skills but jumped to Divine Realm in a single day afterwards. I assume the method isn’t remotely similar to the usual method. Only you two freaks of nature could pull it off, though.”
“Only your shifu is worthy of being called a freak of nature. I can’t imagine myself succeeding with his method. I can’t imagine how he did it. It took me two years of studying his Reversal Manual to find the inspiration that got me through the rut. I suppose that was what he wanted me to do. He’s a genius. To comprehend the skills he invented, you can’t treat it procedurally.”
She was damn right about that. Who else but my shifu would design such a cornhole method? Whenever he wanted to teach you something, he’d torture you into a cornhole instead of teaching you the way you’d expect.
Did I just call myself a cornhole?
“You’re not able to bring out the powers of Divine Realm owing to the way you achieved your results. One day, Lass Yu will surpass you for sure when it clicks for her. If you want to beat her, it’s better for you to take it step by step so that you build a solid foundation.”
“Hmph, why else do you think I can’t beat her? I want her to be complacent. As long as she doesn’t reach Divine Realm, I will be able to keep her in check.”
Sc-scary…
That said, Lass Yu was the type to put in the miles whether she lost or won. In my opinion, in seven years from now, a second Matriarch Zi would be born. As a matter of fact, she could very well surpass her mentor.
“Plus… I. Don’t. Have. A. Brother Feizhen’ to teach me. Yijin Jing, Tai Chi, you know, they’re all for outsiders, not me, aren’t I right, Brother Feizhen?”
I coughed profusely, then changed the topic. “With four Divine Realm members on Mount Daluo’s roster, we can do whatever we please, I mean, honour our ancestors.”
“Don’t change the subject! Why don’t you teach me when you’re so good?”
“It’s not that I refuse to teach you, my dear Young Shiyi. The problem is that our styles are polar opposites of each other, on top of being extremes in regards to martial arts to begin with. Lass Yu can learn Tai Chi’s mental cultivation because she’s pure and focused. You’re able to see fifteen steps ahead. No matter how you try, you won’t be able to master it.”
Young Shiyi knew that without me pointed it out. It’s just, you know, it wasn’t easy to settle a smart woman once she’s fixated on something.
“Besides, why do you need to bother learning them?” I pulled Young Shiyi in tighter. “Nobody will pick on you with me around.”
“Don’t change the topic.” Young Shiyi gave me a peck on the cheek. “I’m happy you’re protecting me; however,” Young Shiyi turned stern, “why are you teaching outsiders exclusively?”
“…”
Stick to my script! Why do you have to keep the line between emotion and logic so distinct?!
“Did Yiren also gain something from you? Her internal style looks bizarre to me. You passed on Yijin Jing to Shiba and Su Xiao. Why don’t you teach it to me, too?”
“They, uh… are fated to share a thread of destiny with Buddhism. Amitabha, why must you be so persistent, Miss? Why do I keep saying Amitabha so naturally? It started since I woke up, right?”
“I don’t know what screw in His Majesty’s head was loosened, but he insisted on sitting by your bed until you came to. It took me a lot of effort to convince him to only visit during the day, leaving night shift to us.”
I scrubbed my head. “Emm… So? It’s not the first time he’s had a screw loose.”
“Yes, but the problem is you speak in your sleep… incessantly.”
Huh?! I forgot about that!
I had been talking in my sleep for as long as I could remember. As a consequence of me divulging where Shifu secretly stashed his money, he was always in deep water. One time, I survived my three shiniang’s dangerous interrogation when I came back late with Shifu after we went to a brothel for a concert. Once I fell asleep, howbeit, I disclosed our schedule for the past month. Consequently, he ended up spent all night kneeling on… needles. Yeah, I still owe him an apology for it.
I gradually forsook the habit with the passage of time and my strength improvements. Learning to practice qigong in my sleep empowered me to control every stage of my sleep, as well as avoid assassinations, so sleep talking became a thing in the past.
“Tang Ye told me I slept for more than thirty days. Doesn’t that mean I shared all of my secrets with His Majesty?! Martial World Treasury, Martial World Treasury! I need the fastest horse to escape to Western Regions!”
Even my tamest secret, my rank as Jingan Fuma, would be enough for me to be beheaded ten times over!
“Calm down. If he did find out your secrets, do you think you could’ve slept for so long? You’d be dead already.”
She… has a point. The daughter-con would slice me, then blow me up, boil me and then kill me again if he found out. Young Shiyi seems to have helped me out with the issue…
“But it’s not as though I can distinguish between night and day in my sleep. Surely His Majesty heard a bit during the day.”
“He did. On the first day, you were going on about dog crap, ‘I’ll stomp you, you snollygoster of a dragon’ and whatnot. His Majesty didn’t suspect you went to challenge Pangu; he thought you were insulting him.”
“… Martial World Treasury!”
“Relax. His Majesty isn’t angry. I was frightened, on the other hand. The more you say, the higher the chances of you letting something sleep. That’s why I had whoever was on night shift implement a trick.”
“What’d you do?”
“Practically everything you say in your sleep comes from what you remember most vividly. Accordingly, I had Shiba and the others read archaic stories to you when you were sleeping. As a result, you’d repeat what you heard overnight the next day.”
“And the story you all read to me was…?”
“This.” Young Shiyi took out a mini book from her sash.
My eyes flew wide open at the text on the cover – Lord San Shen X Ximen Chuideng – First Volume.
No! No! No! No! No! I’d rather reveal all my secrets than listen to that!
“Oh, my mistake. It was this one.” Young Shiyi took out another mini book – Lord San Shen X Ximen Chuideng – Second Volume.
“Martial World Treasury! Martial World Treasury! I’m going to Dongying! Prepare me a ship! I don’t want to live here in shame for another minute!”
“Eh? Oh, wrong book again, ehe.”
… You’re still mad I taught outsiders, aren’t you?!
Young Shiyi finally brought out the actual book they read me every night – Journey to the West. No wonder why I saw myself journeying to the west for a scripture and bald monks all the time!
Read some more of Chang’e’s flirting part.
“This is what they read you every night. In spite of there being so many characters in the story, you only heard the parts starring Tang Seng. By the second day, you keep saying ‘Amitabha, three coins for incense. Please come inside for the ceremony’, ‘Empress Your Majesty, this one’s dharma name is Ji Xianfeng. He resides at Fengliu Town’ and whatnot.”
… I mean, it’s not as bad as Lord San Shen X Ximen Chuideng, but why do I feel like I haven’t won? Why does it feel as though I lost something important?
“Good boy, good boy. Although you sounded like a weirdo, it’s a good thing you’re used to it. After all, your secrets are safe. It’s just that you’re a little annoying with your amitabha lines.”
I guess… this is a solution? Amitabha.
“How did you become a general again?”
“I requested it. Luo, Abels, Martial Paragon, Patriarch Moyan and I were all credited with major contributions. His Majesty, therefore, said we could choose between being conferred up to Third Rank, ten thousand taels or up to an Earl title.
“Even if Luo Ming comes to, he’s in a special situation, so I assume there will be different arrangements for him. Patriarch Moyan asked for ten thousand silver taels. Abels was conferred Deer Hunter Duke. I don’t care for peerage. It can be fun, but it doesn’t sound as cool as a general, so I asked for the title of Grand General of Nieyao, which grants me authority over all soldiers of Nieyao. Although it’s nominal, it is a family business.”
A family business? Why does it sound sort of odd?
“How about me?” I stroked my chin. “I believe His Majesty wanted to confer me something before he passed out, but I didn’t catch it.”
Young Shiyi dimpled. “Why not ask him yourself? You never know if you’ll be surprised.”
Sounds like she knows but isn’t telling me…
“Brother Ming!”
I cast my gaze down the slope of the mountain to see Tie Hanyi coming up, yelling, “Brother Ming, His M-, Hero Li has come to. He’s calling for you!”
Young Shiyi gave me a nudge. “Go on. It’s finally your turn.”
Why is she so elated? Is His Majesty really going to confer me a high rank?
Glossary
Kneeling on needles – For those who’ve read Gu Long’s Chu Xiliang series, the phrase for it is the box that fires off a rain of needles. It’s known for always drawing blood from its target by the time the twenty-seven needles are fired. In this chapter, it’s being used as a symbol to depict how much suffering Ming Huayu went through that night.
Qigong – The act of working on the “qi” and spirituality inside you. Demystified and without all the marketing hype, it is what we now coined “breath work”.
Dongying – Archaic name for Japan.
Ji Xianfeng – Means vanguard. The town name (Fengliu Town) gives it context. Fengliu Town translates to “Philandering Town”. To be the vanguard, he is saying he is the King of philanderers.
Family business – In this scenario, this is a very broad translation since the translation will be more specific depending on context. The Chinese phrase refers to a very broad spectrum of functions that is associated with the noun. The noun refers to a family’s business, foundation, income source, insurance and reputation. Semantically and technically, it is a family business, but it’s also the family. Semantically and technically, it’s not the family, but it also is the family. It really depends on how the phrase is being applied.
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