Chapter 16#
Sumeru Divine Deer#
This wasn’t the first time Yan Wushu had appeared silently nearby. Speaking of which, Xiao Man was almost used to this behavior of his, and thus used to ignoring it. He retracted his gaze and nodded to Wei Chuyun.
Yan Wushu witnessed the entire process of Xiao Man going from seeing him to pretending not to see him. Raising an eyebrow, he stopped concealing his aura, folded his fan, and walked over from beneath the tree.
Now Qu Hanxing finally spotted him. Switching sleeves to wipe his sweat, he said, “Is that him? Looking at his clothes and grooming, how does he look like a vegetable delivery man?”
—Due to the positioning, from Qu Hanxing’s perspective, Yan Wushu seemed to have stepped out from behind the tree. But Wei Chuyun stood in a different spot with an unobstructed view; he immediately sensed that this person had appeared far too abruptly. He pulled Xiao Man behind him and gripped the hilt of his sword tightly.
Yan Wushu stopped in his tracks, his gaze shifting to fall upon Wei Chuyun.
“No need to be tense, he’s here for me.” Xiao Man reached out and pressed a hand on Wei Chuyun’s shoulder. “Go to Wugu Building with the others first.”
“And what about you?” Wei Chuyun turned back to ask him.
Xiao Man: “I’ll be there in a while.”
Wei Chuyun gave Yan Wushu another look, stepped aside to make way, but kept his eyes on Xiao Man.
Mo Juntian also realized something was wrong, but the current situation wasn’t convenient for asking questions. Qu Hanxing climbed up from the ground, patted the dust off his hem, looked at Xiao Man, then at these two, and said, “Let’s go first. If we’re any later, there won’t be seats left in Wugu Building. We’ll talk about whatever it is when Brother Man arrives.”
“Alright.” Mo Juntian nodded.
The three headed toward Wugu Building, while Xiao Man went in the opposite direction.
Under the setting sun, the shadows of all things were slanted and long. Xiao Man was already thin, so his shadow could be described as extremely slender. His hem fluttered in the twilight; if the wind were any stronger, it seemed he might just drift away with it.
The tail of the shadow stopped three meters away from Yan Wushu. Xiao Man lightly flicked his sleeves and lifted his eyelids to fix his gaze on the man opposite him.
Yan Wushu understood his silent opening and gave a snorting laugh. “A vegetable delivery man? Is that how you’ve been talking about me behind my back?”
Xiao Man lowered his gaze, not wanting to engage with that.
There was a moment of silence between the two. Yan Wushu glanced at the fluttering corner of Xiao Man’s robe in the twilight wind, changed the subject, and said, “That friend of yours—the youngest one—has very keen perception.”
“He is also very talented in the Way of the Sword,” Xiao Man said, immediately adding: “But he doesn’t want to go to Xueyi Peak.”
His expression was different from when he was practicing his sword or chatting and laughing with his friends just now; it was very indifferent, with a hint of impatience mixed in his eyes. Yan Wushu was choked by the second half of the sentence. He tapped the tip of his nose with his folding fan, feeling a bit amused. His peripheral vision caught the shadow on the ground again, and he gave a low sigh: “Am I some kind of flood or wild beast? Is it necessary to stand so far away?”
“It’s a hassle; I’ll have to walk back in a bit,” Xiao Man said flatly.
Yan Wushu caught the meaning in his words: “You don’t plan on leaving now?”
Xiao Man: “I don’t.”
“Going to Wugu Building to eat?”
“Mhm.”
Yan Wushu nodded in understanding. The head chef of Wugu Building was famous in Gushan; it was only natural for Xiao Man to like the food here. He asked again, “Going back after eating?”
Xiao Man frowned visibly, his entire face writing: Do you have business? Then he pursed his lips, as if saying: If you have business, say it now.
“It’s a long story, not convenient for a short talk. Besides, I have some things to show you.” Yan Wushu’s gaze had been on Xiao Man the whole time, not missing a single change in his expression. Seeing him like this, he actually found it somewhat cute and smiled. “I’ll wait for you back at Xueyi Peak.”
“Fine,” Xiao Man uttered this single word and immediately turned around.
He didn’t walk too fast. Not because Yan Wushu was still on the practice field, but because he didn’t know how to explain things to Qu Hanxing and the others.
As Qu Hanxing had said, a mere vegetable delivery man couldn’t possibly be dressed like that. Furthermore, Yan Wushu’s cultivation was extremely profound; anyone on the field besides him would likely feel pressure just by being slightly close. This was one of the reasons Wei Chuyun had been so vigilant.
But Xiao Man couldn’t directly reveal Yan Wushu’s identity either; if he did, there would be even more to explain.
Xiao Man thought about it all the way and finally came up with a way to bluff his way through. When he reached Wugu Building, however, he found that only Wei Chuyun was at the table.
—Wei Chuyun was the hardest of the three to bluff!
But Xiao Man wasn’t about to lose his composure like this. He sat down, pulled the food basket over, served himself more than half a bowl of rice, and asked with a natural expression, “Where are they?”
Wei Chuyun helped Xiao Man pour a bowl of soup. “Tomorrow morning is the Herbs and Medicine class. Junior Brother Mo received notice to go and help out, and Junior Brother Qu went with him.”
There were very few odd-job disciples on Baihua Peak; helping the various instructors with chores was a way to earn silver and spiritual stones. Mo Juntian’s family background was poor, and cultivation was an extremely expensive affair in terms of money and resources, so he had always been doing odd jobs on Baihua Peak.
Xiao Man nodded to show he understood.
Wei Chuyun didn’t immediately ask about the person they met on the practice field earlier.
Xiao Man took a few bites and then put down his chopsticks, deciding to speak up first: “You know I live on Xueyi Peak. That person just now… is actually also from Xueyi Peak. He is a senior who came over to tell me some things.”
“I see.” Wei Chuyun’s tone was gentle. “My reaction was over the top earlier. Anyone who can move freely on Baihua Peak is presumably a fellow disciple; I shouldn’t have harbored ill intent.”
“It’s my fault for hiding things in the first place.” Xiao Man gave an unnatural smile.
He finished his meal with Wei Chuyun, found a food box, packed several untouched dishes and rice, and sent them to Qu Hanxing and Mo Juntian.
By the time he finished this, the sky was full of stars.
Fallen leaves were piled on the mountain path, and the trees by the roadside were hung with starlight, ghostly and silent, permeated with layer upon layer of coolness. Xiao Man found a Cloud Turtle and slowly set off from Baihua Peak. It took a full fifteen minutes to reach Xueyi Peak.
The lights were on at Qiyinchu, their glow falling upon the mountains and reflecting the starlight in the sky—it was quite moving.
Rong Yuan had built a stove out of stones and wood in a corner of the courtyard, but pots, bowls, and ladles weren’t easy to make oneself; these things at Qiyinchu had all been moved over from the Daoist hall.
Yan Wushu had spent some time a few years back pondering over recipes when he had nothing to do. While waiting for Xiao Man, on a whim, he once again began to tinker with those utensils.
Thus, as soon as Xiao Man returned to Qiyinchu, he smelled a burst of fragrance and sweetness.
—Yan Wushu was sitting at the stone table he usually sat at, with a dish of fish, a steamer of cakes, and a pot of floral tea set before him.
The fish was sweet and sour fish, the cakes were osmanthus cakes, and the tea also had an osmanthus base. With a slight sniff, one could tell this man had added a lot of sugar.
“Please, Your Highness! Today the Peak Master himself cooked.” Rong Yuan stood behind Yan Wushu, his face full of an earnest smile.
Xiao Man stood where he was and didn’t move. From a distance, he asked Yan Wushu, his gaze rarely carrying a hint of concern: “Are you sick?”
In the hundred-plus years Xiao Man had known Yan Wushu in his previous life, when had this man ever cooked personally? Xiao Man didn’t even know he could cook.
These words drew a laugh from Yan Wushu, who then beckoned him: “Come and try it.”
Xiao Man still didn’t move. “I’ve already had dinner.”
Yan Wushu spun his folding fan into a beautiful flower. “That’s why I just made some simple late-night snacks.”
“…” Xiao Man glanced at the fish. At a rough estimate, it was definitely no less than two kilograms.
He didn’t know what kind of madness this man was going through, but this was at least his place for the time being, so he sat on the empty stone stool opposite Yan Wushu and asked straightforwardly: “What is the matter you wanted to speak about?”
Yan Wushu passed the chopsticks over. “Take a bite first.”
Xiao Man: “…”
Xiao Man reckoned this man wouldn’t harm him at this time, so he picked up the chopsticks and, with extreme reluctance, picked up a piece of fish meat.
To his surprise, the taste was excellent.
The fish had been deep-fried, the skin was crispy, the texture was superb, and the sweet and sour sauce was perfectly balanced—sweet but not greasy, with just the right amount of acidity. Compared to the skill of the chef at Wugu Building, it was actually not far off.
“How does it taste?” Yan Wushu rested his chin on his folding fan, his eyes curved as he asked.
Xiao Man put down his chopsticks and said plainly, “Acceptable.”
Yan Wushu gave a snorting laugh and poured Xiao Man a cup of water. “In the entire Gushan, you’re the only one who has eaten something I made.”
“Peak Master, there’s also me,” Rong Yuan said in a low voice from the side. That year, Yan Wushu was in high spirits and had him taste-test every dish he made. At the beginning, the skill wasn’t very good; during that period, Rong Yuan truly had bitterness he couldn’t speak of.
“Oh, right.” Yan Wushu only then remembered this. “But those weren’t specifically made for you to eat.”
Xiao Man turned a deaf ear and didn’t drink the water either. Looking into Yan Wushu’s eyes, he asked, “Can you tell me what it is now?”
Yan Wushu waved his hand to signal Rong Yuan to withdraw. He moved the fish and osmanthus cakes on the table aside and placed a book and a wooden box down, saying, “The malevolence of that deer kept in your prayer beads has been removed. Relying only on a bit of spiritual energy isn’t enough for it to survive. This box contains food I found for it.”
“Thank you,” Xiao Man said.
“No need to be in a hurry to thank me.” Yan Wushu shook his head. “These past few days, I looked into its origins a bit.”
“What did you find?” Xiao Man’s expression tightened. He placed a hand on the prayer beads on his wrist, his back straightening.
Yan Wushu: “You should know of Mount Sumeru.”
Xiao Man: “The divine mountain of legend.”
“That deer is the divine deer of legend—the Fuzhu.” Saying this, Yan Wushu flipped the book to one of the pages and pushed it in front of Xiao Man.
Xiao Man quickly picked up the book.
“This is a transcript; no need to be so solemn,” Yan Wushu couldn’t help but say, seeing his careful movements.
“But it is also the painstaking effort of the transcriber,” Xiao Man disagreed.
On this page, there was an illustration of a Fuzhu, which didn’t differ much from the deer in Xiao Man’s prayer beads.
The text introduced the habits and origins of the Fuzhu and, at the very end, recounted a story from several thousand years ago about a certain sect refining the last Fuzhu divine deer on Mount Sumeru into a demon.
The sect used the Fuzhu as a means to harm the common people and devastate all living things. The people of the time were indignant; various sects sent out their experts to form an allied force to suppress it, eventually subduing this demonized Fuzhu and sealing it in a Buddhist shrine.
“Fuzhu are born with awakened intelligence and can use a technique called ‘A Mustard Seed of One Side,’ which can confuse the mind and draw out the listener’s painful memories.” Yan Wushu poured himself a cup of osmanthus tea. Amidst the sound of trickling water, he spoke in a low voice, “You told me before that you felt the sound was very piercing, but…”
Xiao Man didn’t want Yan Wushu to look further into that matter and interrupted him, closing the book and handing it back. “It was just a bit piercing. Rong Yuan was with me at the time, and he was so scared he couldn’t even stand steadily.”
He then changed the subject: “If what is written here is true, what Lord Lingguang should care about is that the events of the evil sect and the suppression by various sects several thousand years ago all took place in Jiuyou. As everyone knows, Jiuyou was destroyed long ago. How did the Buddhist shrine end up in the hands of the Chan Sect?”
“If the Buddhist shrine were still here, perhaps some clues could be found on it; if the Chan Sect were still here, perhaps some information could be asked for,” Yan Wushu said softly, taking a sip of tea.
Xiao Man looked into his eyes. “But neither exists anymore.”
A hint of regret appeared in Yan Wushu’s eyes.
“There must be a cause and effect between this.”
Xiao Man touched the prayer beads on his wrist and shifted his gaze elsewhere. “One more thing. Does Lord Lingguang dare to be certain that this Buddhist shrine was truly sent by the Chan Sect?”
As his voice fell, the starlight scattered in the courtyard seemed to tremble for a moment.
Yan Wushu knitted his brows almost imperceptibly. After a long silence, he finally said, “I cannot be certain.”