Chapter 39 Chapter Thirty-Nine — The Skylark Bears a Message

Dawn.

Li Daoxuan opened his eyes; his gaze was bright as a mirror, with a faint sense of "lightning born in the empty room."

He had cultivated the whole night through!

"So this is cultivation? Truly… comfortable!"

Li Daoxuan murmured; after stepping into early Bigu last night, the essence within him was unending, refined into mana, and the rise in cultivation was several times faster than before!

And once he entered stillness it was a whole night, with no fatigue or drowsiness at all.

This too is the benefit after early Binu — forever full of vigor, never weary, as if tirelessness itself had been poured into him.

To have burst open but the lower dantian brought such wonder; Li Daoxuan now looked forward eagerly to what bursting the middle and upper dantian would bring.

Gathering his thoughts, he first washed and rinsed, then as usual held stance, sat, practiced sword…

Days again grew calm; Li Daoxuan returned to the life before.

In this stretch the government did come, but most polite, gazing at Li Daoxuan with reverence.

Later even the magistrate of Xinyang came in person, saying Li Daoxuan had merit in demon-slaying and would recommend him to the prefect — but Li Daoxuan declined.

At last the magistrate had men make a plaque, himself wrote the four characters "Zhenyang Daoist Temple," and had it hung up.

From then Li Daoxuan found that when next he walked the street, the people's attitude toward him was much improved; sometimes some would take the initiative to chat a few words.

In this world where demons exist, local folk can scarce get the care of court mages; when a Daoist of true skill settles, the local people welcome it indeed.

Of course some evil-cultivators view life as grass, and are deeply loathed by the people — Li Daoxuan and his master had earlier been taken for such.

In a blink ten days had passed.

"The Dao is empty, yet in use not filled; fathomless, as if the ancestor of all things. Blunt its sharpness, untangle its knots, soften its light, merge with its dust…"

In the Zhenyang Daoist Temple, Li Daoxuan, a scroll in hand, leaned against a willow and was earnestly reciting; his voice was clear, like a bubbling brook, and hearing it one's restlessness strangely settled, swept clear.

What he read was not the Four Books and Five Classics, but the Daoist Patriarch Laozi's Daode Jing.

Since early Binu he spent one hour daily reciting the various Daoist scriptures; each time he finished, he felt calm and settled, his heart-lake like a mirror ever wiped, more and more translucent.

"Ever diligent in wiping, let no dust cling."

Within the room.

The oil-paper umbrella had opened of itself, unknown when; Chen Ziyu, holding the umbrella, stood quietly by the window, listening to Li Daoxuan recite.

Since some time, whenever Li Daoxuan recited, she would listen in stillness, intent of expression.

The author's NovelPhoenix page is the genuine publication source for this chapter; this copy was not authorized.

When Li Daoxuan finished, she would return into the umbrella.

But today, when Li Daoxuan finished, she did not return; instead her eyes lifted to a skylark perched still on the tree branch.

The skylark seemed most sentient; it had stood on the branch hearing Li Daoxuan read, motionless, a full hour.

Outside, Li Daoxuan too noticed the oddity.

He swept a glance at the skylark without show, put away the book, and a Five-Thunder Talisman had quietly appeared in his hand.

Bold demon, to dare intrude the Zhenyang Daoist Temple?

Just then the drunken Zhang Qianyang suddenly opened his eyes and smiled at Li Daoxuan. "Disciple, no rush."

The wine-qi about him cleared; to the skylark he smiled. "Little bird, long unseen — the Lady sent you; what is her command?"

The skylark tossed its head with a flourish, fluttered to Zhang Qianyang's shoulder, and chirped, who knew what.

A flicker of surprise crossed Zhang Qianyang's eyes; he pondered a moment. "So it is; thanks for the Lady's favor — but your poor Daoist is old, and has lost the interest of youth. Thus: I have lately gained a fine disciple; let him go in my stead."

The skylark turned its head to Li Daoxuan, then flew up and circled a few times above his head, as if sizing him up.

At last it nodded, fluttered its wings, and flew to the sky, soon vanishing.

…

Li Daoxuan looked to his master. "Master, that bird…"

Zhang Qianyang smiled. "No need to tense. Little bird is no ordinary demon; once enlightened by the Lady in Green, taught the immortal secret method — not only without demon-qi, but with fine immortal root."

The Lady in Green…

Li Daoxuan understood; this skylark was like a subordinate the Lady in Green had trained, as many immortals and Buddhas have mountain-guarding beast-attendants.

"What you saw was not the little bird's true body, but one of her countless avatars."

Pausing, Zhang Qianyang smiled at his disciple. "Little bird is born with a spirit-eye, gifted in reading qi; she speaks highly of you — says your fortune is astounding, your bone of immortal caliber. Tsk — since I have known her, only one other has earned so high a praise."

"And the first?"

A shadow crossed Zhang Qianyang's eyes, as if recalling some sorrowful past.

"The first is your senior sister, my first disciple — though now… she has rebelled from Mount Longhu."

Li Daoxuan started; this was his first knowing he had a senior sister, who had even rebelled from Mount Longhu.

"Enough — no more of her."

Zhang Qianyang waved a hand; the whole man seemed at once to sink.

He went inside, took out a dozen-odd black jars, and handed them to Li Daoxuan. "These are souls your master has delivered of late; take them to the Lady in Green's temple, that they may be reiborn."

Seeing Li Daoxuan puzzled, Zhang Qianyang remembered he had not yet made the little bird's errand clear.

"The Lady in Green is to hold a banquet, three hundred li off, at Yuzhang City; she invites me — but your master has other matters, so you shall go in my place."

Li Daoxuan was somewhat surprised — the Lady in Green's banquet…

He would soon meet a ghost-immortal up close?

"Master, did you not say you could send souls directly, recommended to the Lady in Green, for rebirth?"

Zhang Qianyang snorted. "Sending to the Blue Netherworld by recommendation — that is using your master's old face to go the back door; once in a while is fine, but do it often and the face is worth nothing."

Li Daoxuan nodded and stored the jars in the Three-Realms Gourd.

"Since you are to meet the Lady, your master will tell you more of that one's origin, lest you embarrass yourself there."

Li Daoxuan's eyes lit; he was most curious about the ghost-immortal lady near a thousand years old, and naturally lent an ear.

"The Lady in Green was originally, in the early Han, the doughter of a prefect — born with spirit-sense, able to foreknow the shifts of heaven's will; she several times predicted the coming of disaster and saved many of Yuzhang City's folk."

"But the secrets of heaven may not be revealed, or one surely meets heaven''s punishment; soon a plague broke in the city, and some said it was because the Lady had revealed heaven's secrets that heaven sent calamity upon Yuzhang."

"At last the Lady in Green willingly sacrificed herself, self-immolating within Yuzhang City; the plague soon cleared. The people, grateful for her sacrifice, built a temple for her; for near a thousand years incense has not ceased, and because she loved green in life, they called her the Lady in Green."

Having heard her story, Li Daoxuan felt some emotion — truly a kind deity.

No wonder his master had said that after the gods and Buddhas vanished and the underworld split, besides the Lady in Green, the Hungry-Belly Ghost King and the Black Mountain Old Demon were both fierce and cruel; a soul that reached them would not only fail to reincarnate but be tormented, most piteous.

"Enough — no time to lose; the sky is still early — quickly be off!"

"Yes, Master!"

After Li Daoxuan gathered his pack and left, Zhang Qianyang watched his back and sighed long, a loneliness in his eyes.

He drank- a good while, and with some drunkenness cursed, "Dead girl, did you not always cry… for master to find you a little junior? Now the little junior is here, his gift… not worse than yours… yet you ran…"

"Had I known, your master should have… broken your legs…"