Chapter 23: This Man Is Not Simple

"Dong Guo Haoran's final disciple?"

Shang Chaozong and Lan Ruoting were both startled and could not help exchanging a glance.

Despite their doubts, neither knew the truth yet, so both maintained their manners and cupped their hands. "We'll be troubling you, Cultivator Niu."

Once the courtesies were over, Lan Ruoting lowered his hands and spoke bluntly. "Forgive my discourtesy. Mr. Dong Guo and I could be considered old acquaintances, so I knew a little about him. I know every one of Mr. Dong Guo's personal disciples, yet I have never heard that he had a final disciple named Niu Youdao."

Niu Youdao was not surprised in the slightest. From the way Tang Yi had called him Junior Brother in front of outsiders, he had already understood that the Shangqing Sect had no desire whatsoever for the outside world to know that someone like him existed.

He smiled. "There are some matters that aren't convenient to explain. In any case, my identity is genuine. When a suitable opportunity arises, I'll naturally explain the reasons behind it."

Lan Ruoting gave Shang Shuqing a meaningful glance. He knew perfectly well what sort of woman she was. She was no foolish woman without a mind of her own. He could not understand what purpose she had in bringing someone like this along. No more was said. The party resumed its journey. Niu Youdao could feel that the others were not particularly warm toward him. The cavalry kept him hemmed in among them, seemingly on guard against him. In fact, Shang Chaozong and Lan Ruoting had already guessed the Shangqing Sect's intentions fairly accurately. They assumed the sect had casually sent someone merely to go through the motions. At the same time, they worried that there might be something wrong with Niu Youdao himself, which was why they kept him under watch.

Once they had put some distance between themselves and Niu Youdao during the journey, Shang Chaozong found an opportunity to ask Shang Shuqing, "Qing'er, did you ask the Shangqing Sect to remove the birthmark from your face?"

Shang Shuqing was silent for a moment before answering, "Brother, there really is no need. Mr. Dong Guo was right about one thing. In these chaotic times, pleasing people with beauty may not be a good thing. Given our present circumstances, being too presentable as a woman might even bring us trouble. What harm is there in being a little ugly?"

Lan Ruoting shook his head at that. What woman did not care about beauty?

Shang Chaozong said heavily, "You'll have to marry sooner or later. You can't spend your whole life hiding your face behind a veil."

Shang Shuqing replied, "Brother, I'm not made of wood or stone. I too long for love between man and woman. But I was born at the wrong time. With the family we were born into, you and I are destined to draw our swords and look to every side in this chaotic age. Love is too great a luxury. Brother, there truly is no need to concern yourself with the birthmark on my face. Ordinary men don't interest me anyway. I think of myself as a bright pearl covered in dust. If I truly meet someone who does not despise me for it, then he will be the man I genuinely desire. I will sweep away the dust and meet him in the true brilliance of that pearl. If affinity comes, let it come of itself. If it does not, I will wait in peace. There is no need to force anything."

She rode into the wind, the gauze of her veiled hat streaming behind her. Her words were reasonable enough that Shang Chaozong fell silent. Yet his jaw remained tight, grief and anger churning inside him. Ordinary girls married and bore children at sixteen, seventeen, or eighteen. He hated only his own helplessness for dragging his younger sister down with him. Years of his imprisonment had left her nearly twenty, already considered an old unmarried woman by the standards of the age. And given the Shang family's present circumstances, even if she did not have that hideous birthmark on her face, who would dare marry his sister?

She was a Commandery Princess. He could hardly pick just anyone for her. Nor was he willing to wrong her or make her suffer. Their father had repeatedly instructed him before his death to take good care of his younger sister... The party traveled sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly, rotating between their horses to give the mounts time to recover. By evening, they made camp beside a river. Some erected tents, some fetched water and lit fires, some stood guard, and others were assigned specifically to tend the horses. Tents rose along the riverbank. Campfires burned in clusters, and before long the aroma of cooking began drifting through the air.

Niu Youdao found a rock and sat down. He took out his bundle, pulled out the dry provisions inside, then remembered Tu Han's warning. After thinking for a moment, he casually threw all the provisions into the river beside him.

Shang Chaozong had been quietly observing him from not far away. Seeing this, he could not help giving a cold snort. "Isn't it a waste to throw away provisions that fine? In these war-torn times, who knows how many people can't even fill their stomachs? Of course, cultivators never seem to lack food or drink. Perhaps he's simply grown accustomed to better things..."

Lan Ruoting, who was poking at the fire with a branch beside him, tapped Shang Chaozong's foot with it and smiled as he shook his head. Then he called someone over and had them invite Niu Youdao to eat something hot by another cooking pot. Niu Youdao had vaguely heard the displeasure in Shang Chaozong's voice, but he did not take it seriously. When someone came to invite him, he happily went over.

What could be more important than filling one's stomach?

Shang Chaozong looked back at Lan Ruoting. "Sir thinks I went too far?"

Lan Ruoting smiled. "Earlier, I was still worried there might be something wrong with this man. Now it seems more likely that the Shangqing Sect dislikes him and sent him away simply to fob us off. I'm actually starting to believe he really is Mr. Dong Guo's disciple."

"Oh?" Shang Chaozong asked. "Why do you say that?"

"Did Your Highness not notice?" Lan Ruoting replied. "During the day, he asked us for food himself and had no trouble eating even our rough travel rations. Yet now he throws away much finer provisions rather than enjoy them. Wouldn't that be perversity for its own sake? Add in the fact that the Shangqing Sect was willing to send him with us, and I suspect he has doubts about those provisions. Tomorrow, there's no need to watch him so closely. We might as well loosen the reins and give both sides an opportunity to understand each other."

Shang Chaozong looked toward Niu Youdao, who was sitting with the soldiers by a campfire, drinking hot soup, gnawing on rations, and chatting cheerfully. Thought appeared in his eyes. Shang Shuqing returned from washing by the river. At night she had removed her veiled hat, and her long hair hung loose, individual strands drifting in the evening breeze. Despite her face, there was a soft, waterlike grace about her.

Once she sat down near them, Lan Ruoting asked, "Commandery Princess, you are intelligent and hardly a reckless person. Surely you could see that Niu Youdao is too young and cannot have much cultivation or spiritual power. Why did you agree to let him travel with us?"

Shang Shuqing settled onto a folding stool and smoothed the hair over both shoulders. After considering the question, she said, "I understand what Brother and Mr. Lan are thinking. How should I put it? First, having someone is still better than having no one. Second, I think this man isn't simple. Brother is desperately short of capable people. Even half a capable man would be better than none."

That immediately caught Lan Ruoting's interest. "Why does the Commandery Princess believe this man isn't simple?"

Shang Shuqing's posture was graceful in profile, though in the wavering light of the campfire her face truly did resemble the face of a ghost.

After organizing her thoughts, she said, "Tang Yi is now Sect Leader of the Shangqing Sect. Even disciples senior to her in generation behave with great respect when they meet her. Niu Youdao was respectful enough toward Tang Yi as well, yet there was something difficult to describe about it. It felt as though his respect existed only on the surface. Deep down, he seemed to regard Tang Yi as an equal. Stranger still, I faintly sensed that Tang Yi felt guilty or uneasy in front of him. She looked forceful and lofty, but underneath that exterior she seemed somewhat lacking in confidence. Intentionally or otherwise, she would keep avoiding Niu Youdao's eyes."

"Guilty?" Shang Chaozong asked in surprise.

Shang Shuqing said, "Brother, don't forget that I'm a woman too. There are subtle reactions in women that reveal what they're feeling inside. I can understand some of them."

Lan Ruoting asked curiously, "Tang Yi is Sect Leader of the Shangqing Sect, while this man looks so young. Why would Tang Yi feel guilty in front of him?"

Shang Shuqing shook her head. "That puzzled me too. At first I thought I had misread her. Fortunately, because I wore a veiled hat, I could observe her carefully without drawing attention. After watching repeatedly, I don't think I was mistaken. Tang Yi truly did seem guilty when facing him."

Shang Chaozong and Lan Ruoting exchanged a glance, then both turned to look toward the nearby campfire. Niu Youdao sat cross-legged on the ground with hot soup in one hand and dry rations in the other, drinking, eating, and laughing with the soldiers around him. He certainly looked like a man of easy, unfettered temperament. Shang Shuqing's clear, gentle voice suddenly began reciting:

In Peach Blossom Vale stands Peach Blossom Hermitage;
Beneath Peach Blossom Hermitage dwells a Peach Blossom Immortal.
The Peach Blossom Immortal plants peach trees,
And plucks peach blossoms to trade for wine...

Her clear, gentle recitation drew both men back to her, and both looked startled. Shang Shuqing knit her brows slightly. Thoughtful, she recited the rest of the poem from memory:

Sober, he sits only before the flowers;
Drunk, he comes again to sleep beneath them.
Half sober, half drunk, day after day;
Flowers fall, flowers bloom, year after year.
I only wish to grow old and die amid flowers and wine,
Never to bow before carriages and horses.
Dust from wheels and pounding hooves marks the mighty;
Wine cups and flowering boughs are the hermit's lot.
Compare the mighty with the hermit:
One is on level earth, the other in Heaven.
Compare flowers and wine with carriage and horse:
How busily they labor; how idle am I.
Others laugh at me for being far too mad;
I laugh at others, for they cannot see through.
Where now are the tombs of Wuling's heroes?
No flowers, no wine—only fields beneath the hoe!

Shang Shuqing possessed extraordinary intelligence and a near-photographic memory. She had heard Niu Youdao recite the poem only once, yet had actually remembered the entire thing. When she finished, she looked up to see how the two men would react.

Shang Chaozong chuckled. "Is this a new poem of yours, Qing'er? 'Sober, he sits only before the flowers; drunk, he comes again to sleep beneath them...' Heh, a fine poem. It sounds wonderfully carefree, though perhaps a little too indolent and withdrawn. Is that the life you hope for?"

Shang Shuqing shook her head, then turned to see Lan Ruoting's reaction.

Lan Ruoting pondered briefly before saying, "I once visited Mr. Dong Guo's secluded residence. Before the gate stands a thousand-year-old peach tree. Spring, summer, autumn, or winter, its blossoms remain brilliant as rosy clouds and never wither. It is truly miraculous and leaves a deep impression. For the Commandery Princess to suddenly recite a poem like this—was it perhaps inspired by your first impression of Niu Youdao?"

Shang Shuqing shook her head again. "I didn't write it. Niu Youdao did. When I went with Tang Yi to Peach Blossom Spring, Niu Youdao was sleeping soundly beneath the peach tree on a reclining chair, lazy as could be. When I learned that this was the retainer cultivator the Shangqing Sect intended to give us, I was actually displeased. One look at his age was enough to tell me they were fobbing us off. If the Shangqing Sect had no sincerity, forcing the matter would be pointless. I was already preparing to return the sword and take my leave. Who would have thought Niu Youdao would stretch in his sleep and casually murmur this poem as though talking in a dream? The sheer talent of it startled me. More than that, in the poem he cast himself as a reclusive master, with something of the air of a talented man whose gifts had gone unrecognized. That made me patient enough to keep watching. Afterward, I noticed Tang Yi's strange behavior. Only then did I decide having him was better than having no one at all and wait for him to come down the mountain with me. And there is something else: at first, he was clearly unwilling to come with me. I don't know what Tang Yi said to him in private, but only afterward did he agree. When he left, the Shangqing Sect didn't even give him a proper farewell. They simply sent some junior disciple to dismiss him and send him on his way. You could sense his helplessness."

"Oh?" Lan Ruoting stroked his beard and glanced toward Niu Youdao. "Now that the Commandery Princess explains it this way, the poem truly does carry the air of someone casting himself as a reclusive master. Thinking about it again, this man's bearing is indeed unusual. He has a certain ease and composure, and he possesses this level of poetic talent. He doesn't resemble any Shangqing Sect disciple I've met before. Interesting. I'll find an opportunity to test him and see just how deep he really is..."

[End of Chapter 23]