To be honest, at the beginning, Ji Yuan did not think that Lu Chengfeng would undergo such a big change just because he had gone to the underworld to see his deceased parents.
This was because, in Ji Yuan’s view, although the forr Lu Chengfeng was polite and smooth in his social dealings, he was still just an ordinary person in the end. He would not look up to Lu Chengfeng because of his previous achievents in the martial arts world, nor would he look down on him because he had been crushed by the cruelty of reality. He could only respond out of sympathy and care for his old friend.
But the human heart was the most inscrutable of all, both for good and for ill. After returning from the underworld of Desheng Prefecture, Lu Chengfeng was no longer an ordinary person.
Ji Yuan could clearly feel that Warrior Lu had beco a true warrior, a hero that even he, who was considered an immortal or even a god in the eyes of ordinary people, could recognize. Well, perhaps other practitioners might not recognize him as a hero, but Ji Yuan certainly could.
He turned around from the courtyard entrance, closing the gate once more and looking back at the courtyard. The branches and leaves of the jujube tree were still swaying with the breeze. Although they were moving, they seed even more peaceful.
“It seems you also see it!”
That jujube was not given by Ji Yuan, but rather by the jujube tree itself.
“Buzz…”
The Green Vine Sword, which had been leaning against the jujube tree, also let out a soft sound, revealing its presence, as if it could understand what its master was thinking with just Ji Yuan’s half-sentence.
“Ah, I know, you recognize it too.”
Ji Yuan smiled and went back to the stone table. He picked up the jade slip and continued to read its contents. He also felt so unique thoughts revolving around Lu Chengfeng’s sudden visit.
There was a saying: destiny had its own unseen plans.1 Ji Yuan believed that this saying was by no ans purely constrained to destiny; in fact, it was most likely about the laws of all things in nature, as well as the law of nature itself. However, it could also be taken to an that when there was a causal relationship, then things would indeed have a corresponding effect.
Now was the great turning point of Lu Shan Jun’s life, a ti of complete transformation. According to his analogy of the dragons and flood dragons, it would take at least five years at the fastest, and ten years at the slowest, for the tiger spirit to be completely reborn. He believed that his transformation would be more natural at that ti. After all, most aquatic spirits could transform into their human forms soon after successfully being reborn as flood dragons, and there were even many who could transform before they were reborn into flood dragons.
This mont also coincided with a turning point for Lu Chengfeng himself, who had achieved a breakthrough. It could only be concluded that this was a wonderful twist of fate.2 If one truly looked into it, the reason why Lu Shan Jun and those nine people had made a covenant was that, in addition to the role Ji Yuan played, Lu Chengfeng was undoubtedly the initial link.
Ji Yuan was very curious as to what the tiger would transform into. After all, he had not heard of any such precedent up until now. This kind of transformation was probably related to his retelling of “Xiao Yaoyou.” He was now even more curious about how Lu Shan Jun would fulfill his covenant when the ti ca.
At present, those nine young warriors might not even rember their original agreent with the tiger. Even Lu Chengfeng, who had just left, seed to follow these expectations. Or, at the very least, he hadn’t ntioned it to Ji Yuan.
Over the years, Ji Yuan had visited the large stone platform on Niu Kui Mountain several tis. He had lectured to Lu Shan Jun several tis with his increasingly proficient manifestation thod of his inner world. Although Lu Shan Jun had never ntioned the covenant, Ji Yuan knew him much better than the nine young warriors did. He knew that his cheap disciple valued his word, and kept their agreent in mind.
After reading the jade slip for a while, Ji Yuan stopped again. Lu Chengfeng’s visit made him curious.
Thus, setting aside Du Heng and Lu Chengfeng, he used the nas of the other seven warriors and his mories to make a hexagram. After a while, Ji Yuan frowned.
He didn’t know their dates of birth, plus it had been so many years: under such limited conditions, with Ji Yuan’s skills in divination, this hexagram could only be considered ambiguous, roughly determining a single direction.
But even so, he could still feel a vague sense of good or bad.
‘Forget it, I’d better not get involved. This is a ‘surprise’ that belongs between them and Shan Jun.’
. . .
Five days later, in front of the Lu family’s house in Cloud Pavilion, Yuchang County, Lu Chengfeng got off of his yellow horse, brushed the dust off his body, took off the bamboo hat on his head, and went straight to find his elder brother, regardless of his fatigue and sleepiness.
Half an hour later, in the house next to the back warehouse at ho, Lu Chengfeng found his brother hard at work.
As soon as he saw Lu Chengfeng, Lu Chengyun frowned.
“Where have you been for so many days? Why didn’t you let the servants follow you? Do you need to explain to you again just how bad the situation is in our Lu family these past two years?”
Lu Chengfeng didn’t talk back, just smiled. He took out a ball of carefully wrapped cloth from his arms, untied it to reveal a fiery red jujube.
“Brother, I brought you a rare jujube fruit, a gift from a master. It is absolutely sothing extraordinary.”
In fact, Lu Chengfeng knew very well that this jujube was extraordinary. He had studied it more than once on the way back. Whether it is the constant warmth or the occasional flickers of firelight in the middle of the night, all of it fully contributed to the magic of this fruit.
“What is this? A jujube? One that looks like this, at this ti of year?”
Lu Chengyun was also attracted by the fire jujube. Out of curiosity, he couldn’t help but grab the jujube to take a closer look, but as soon as he touched it, he felt a fire in his hands.
“Ah!”
Lu Chengyun looked at his Lu Chengfeng in amazent, and seed to realize that what his younger brother just said was true. After tossing it in his hands for a while, he handed it back to Lu Chengfeng, but the latter blocked his hand as soon as he held it out.
“I brought it back for you. I don’t know if it will go bad after this long. Brother, it would be best to eat it as soon as possible.”
After saying this, Lu Chengfeng turned around and left, not wanting to explain too much.
Lu Chengyun looked at the jujube fruit. The fruit in his hand had a strong allure. Just looking at it made him feel like salivating.
“Chengfeng, why don’t you…”
“I don’t need it anymore!”
Lu Chengfeng stood still, turning to look at his brother. He refused even before the other party finished speaking, then left without looking back.
“Where are you going?”
“‘I’m going to sleep first, then get up to practice.”
Lu Chengfeng’s silhouette had disappeared at the door of the house, but his voice ca back from outside.
It was just a few words, but the tone of his voice made Lu Chengyun inexplicably feel that his younger brother seed to be a little different.
. . .
It was the sumr rainy season3 in Ji Province, and it was currently raining on this day.
Ji Yuan did not go into the yard, but instead picked up a chair and sat under the eaves in front of the house, reading the letter in his hand.
Communication in this era of Dazhen was not convenient. Sotis no letters for a long period of ti did not necessarily an that no one had written. For example, at the current mont, when Ji Yuan finally received his mail, it had co as a whole bundle. Who knew which post office had suffered so issues? It was impossible to check these matters in real ti. The letters had probably accumulated for a while before soone realized the problem and sent them out.
In his previous life, he had encountered many similar situations with express deliveries, not to ntion in this new era. As long as it wasn’t a military letter, or sothing soone had co to deliver in person, its arrival was not guaranteed.
Reading letters was easier than reading books. The writer was talking to Ji Yuan, and there was a hint of their aura when he touched the paper, which to a certain extent allowed Ji Yuan to read the letter without being affected to a certain extent by his own poor eyesight.
There was a letter from Du Heng, which ntioned Lu Chengfeng, and said that Lu Chengfeng had grown indulgent due to great changes in his family. He couldn’t help but ntion Mr. Ji to him, incentivizing Lu Chengfeng to co to Ji Yuan, so he wrote a letter to apologize.
There was also a letter from Bing Province. The author of the letter was Qin Zizhou, who had changed a lot. He wrote about his current cultivation practice, and ntioned that he had studied Taoist scriptures related to astronomy with two Taoist priests in Cloud Mountain Temple. Being in harmony with the star map chart and the banner in the temple was very helpful to him. He could even occasionally draw a traces of spiritual power from the stars at night, such that he could finally embark on his true path of cultivation.
In the first half of his cultivation practice, things were quite normal. In the second half, Qin Zizhou seed puzzled and amused, asking Ji Yuan several questions. The general idea of his words was that Taoist Qingsong was currently growing more and more robust thanks to the spiritual energy that Ji Yuan had once guided into him, and Qin Zizhou’s own cultivation. As a result he had beco even more obsessed with food and his passions, and less concerned with the consequences. Was this a good or bad developnt?
Ji Yuan knew very well what Taoist Qingsong’s so-called “passions” were, but what could he say?
The remaining two letters were all sent from Wan Province. The first one was signed Yin Zhaoxian. There was nothing special about it. Apart from chatting about his current situation and daily life, it also served as a belated New Year’s greeting letter. Ji Yuan watched the spring rain outside as he read it, thinking that he should pay the Yin family an early New Year’s visit this year.
The handwriting of the second letter was rather strange. It looked rough and awkward. Ji Yuan could tell at a glance that it had been written by Yin Qing with his left hand. There was not even a signature. Ji Yuan’s expression grew a little more serious.
The letter ntioned that Emperor Yuan De’s health was declining. He had begun to ignore governnt affairs, and even relinquished power to Prince Wu in court to suppress the other princes.
But so of the things that happened at Assembly gathering at that ti made the old emperor firmly believe that there must be a path to immortality sowhere in the world, so he was even more relentless in seeking dicine and supernatural ans during this period of ti.
Even Yin Qing vaguely ntioned that “Prince Wu wishes not only to win over the ministers, but also the scholars.”
Ji Yuan put down the letter, looked at the drizzle outside, and thought for a long ti.
The scholars ntioned naturally referred to Yin Zhaoxian. Prince Wu even tried to win over a governor like Yin Zhaoxian, who was far away in Wan Province. Even without considering the politics of the capital, was clear that there were indeed undercurrents surging in the imperial court of Dazhen.
Yin Zhaoxian wouldn’t write about this kind of thing in a latter, but Yin Qing specifically made sure to inform him, which was quite interesting.
The current most legitimate prince in line to take the throne once the old emperor died was naturally Prince Wu, but Prince Jin was no pushover either. He was more powerful than his brother in terms of ans. Any conflict between them would likely end in death.
Unfortunately, Ji Yuan had no intention of intervening in this battle for the throne. However, he could certainly just go over there and take a look.
He had been cultivating at ho for almost two years, and it was ti for him to travel. He also wanted to find the storyteller Wang Li, and listen to “The White Deer’s Fate” now that it had been published. If the tale turned out okay, he might go give him so new stories.
Ji Yuan sat for a while, then went back to his room to grind ink and write a letter to Wan Province. He did not reply to any of the other letters. Then he locked the inner and outer doors to the small pavilion, and left.
冥冥之中 (míngmíngzhīzhōng) the underworld of spirits/mysteriously and inexorably, 自有 (zìyǒu): one’s own, 定数 (dìngshù): constant/destiny. There are several different ways one could translate this (“one’s own destiny is mysterious and unseen,” “the underworld has its own destiny,” “one never knows one’s own destiny,” etc.) all with the sa general aning but slightly different connotations. Cheesy pun on the part of the author with JY’s na. Lit. “wonderful way of fate” could also say “wonderful path of Yuan,” because JY set him up for success Lit. “plum rains season,” prolonged rainfall during the sumr months
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