Chapter 0003-1 – Mischevious little monkey
Translated by: Ken
Edited by: Ulamog, Dedition
Hai Long nodded his head sheepishly: “Many thanks to Ancestor for your guidance, I will work harder from now on.”
Daoist Daoming waved his hands, saying: “You can go back. Ling Tong! Your Dao Embryo is about to be consolidated, when that time comes, I will personally protect you.”
Ling Tongzi was overjoyed, and quickly offered his thanks. It must be known that the Dao Embryo was extremely important to cultivators, and when forming it, they could not allow themselves to suffer from distractions or deviation, otherwise if they went down the wrong path, it would adversely cause their cultivation to fall, and their souls might even be destroyed. “Let’s go, I want to enter closed-door cultivation.”
After this, Daoist Daoming turned around and went back to his stone house, and after his door closed, everything became peaceful and quiet again.
After getting the promise of his Master, Ling Tongzi felt a.s.sured, and together with his 3 fellow junior-brothers, they brought Hai Long and left Cloudstroke Mansion. The structure of Cloudstroke Peak was peculiar, the area of the peak was extremely small, and the portion of the mountain that was above the clouds was extremely steep. However, the part under the clouds was gentle and smooth, and it was a lot easier to walk there as opposed to the peak. This area was where Ling Tongzi and the rest usually cultivated.
After they descended from the peak, Hai Long pondered over how Daoist Daoming had given him a daoist t.i.tle, and while the ‘Yu’ character from the word ‘feather/Yǔmáo’ was decent, when joined with the other word, it was too disgusting. Tan Yu, it was practically spittoon! (also p.r.o.nounced tan yu) “Tan Yu, what’s the matter? Didn’t Master already induct you into the sect properly? How come you still look so upset.” Ling Yuzi smiled as he asked. Amongst the 4th generation disciples, he was the youngest. He was currently only 56 years old, and had went up the mountain when he was very young, and since life up in the mountains was simple and uneventful, he still possessed a child-like mindset.
Hai Long sighed and responded lowly: “Hmph, if you were given the Daoist t.i.tle ‘Spittoon’, I would like to see how happy you could get! I don’t care, 11th Uncle-Master, can you help me change my Daoist t.i.tle?”
Ling Yuzi and Ling Tongzi exchanged a look as they struggled not to laugh, before Ling Yuzi said: “It’s not that it cannot be done, but wait till you have cultivated enough, and join us as the 4th generation disciples, then you can change your Daoist t.i.tle to Ling Yu already. Actually, Tan Yu sounds good, as long as you don’t think astray, no one would think that you are Spittoon.” At this point, he could not hold it in anymore, and started roaring with laughter. Even Ling Tongzi and the rest found it hard to keep their faces straight, breaking into wide smiles.
Hai Long’s face flushed red with anger, “You, you guys..l..” He swore silently to himself, that he would quickly cultivate to the level of the 4th generation disciples, otherwise, when Little Beansprout arrived, and knew about his daoist t.i.tle, what would he think! As the sun set, the 5 of them arrived at the mountainside. Pointing to the row of simple-looking wooden houses, Ling Tongzi smiled gently and said: “Other than Eldest Senior-Brother, 2nd Senior-Brother and 3rd Senior Brother, the rest of us ‘Cloudstroke Peak’s 8 Disciples’ live here, and we have termed this place as Cloudstroke Plain, in the future, you will be cultivating here. Let’s go, I’ll bring you to take a look at your place of stay.” After which, he brought the pouting Hai Long to a little wooden house.
“Hai Long, don’t mind this too much. The Daoist t.i.tle is just a form of address, furthermore, it can be changed in the future, as long as the other elders or fellow disciples are not here, we will still call you by your name. Don’t be too affected alright? It’s easy to rise to the 4th generation disciples from the 5th generation, as long as you work hard, it would be possible in 20 years. It’s been a long day, and you must be tired, rest well ok? Tomorrow, I’ll properly impart the sutra of our Sect.” Ling Tongzi had tried his best to sound gentle, as even though this child in front of him seemed a little unruly, he had subconsciously develop affection for this child as though he was his own kid.
***
One month later. In the forest of Cloudstroke Peak.
“Kacha!” A branch as thick as an arm was felled by a sharp axe, as it dropped amidst a cloud of dust. Hai Long wiped the sweat off his face, and threw the axe aside, as he sat down hard, grumbling: “d.a.m.n it, what bulls.h.i.t Cloudlink Sect, there’s no difference from being in the village, I’m still chopping firewood! If I had known, I wouldn’t have separated from Little Beansprout.”
An entire month had pa.s.sed by, and at first, Ling Tongzi had imparted the basics of the Sect’s sutra to Hai Long, before making him carry out ch.o.r.es everyday. In the morning, he would have to go and chop firewood in the forest, during the noon, he had to pluck enough fruits for everybody in a day, and in the afternoon, he would be required to wash the clothes of his Master as well as Uncle-Masters, not just his own. He could only rest in the evening. Everyone in Cloudlink Sect ate fruits, rhizomes, fungus and other natural plants from the forest. As for the reason of chopping firewood, it was to create a perimeter around the place they lived in.
According to Ling Tongzi, there were valuable plants and rare naturally-occurring treasures in the patch near their residences, and with the firewood, they could keep out the wild beasts. It must be made known that the entire area was about thousands of square metres! Furthermore, the ground was extremely hard, if they wanted to stick the wood into the ground, they had to first dig a hole. In the entire month, Hai Long had yet to even surround 10% of the entire area, and he was worked to the point of exhaustion everyday.
However, for some reason, in the entire month, his body had become a lot tougher, which was possibly due to the Yuan-cultivating Pills. 6th Uncle-Master had said, 2nd Uncle-Master had brought them over, and upon remembering the pills, Hai Long still felt a sense of dread. The flavour of the pills had been decent, causing his lips to retain their fragrance.
However, the moment he ate them, he had suffered from diarrhea for 3 whole days. His entire body had collapsed, and his state of mind at that point of time was that he thought he was going to ascend to Heaven even before cultivating. Surprisingly, when his body recovered, he had felt extremely refreshed, his entire body feeling extremely light, and he had gained additional strength.
“En, these branches should be enough for today. Time to go back. It’s not early anymore. I still have to stick them in, and then go pluck fruits.” Hai Long bundled those branches up with practised ease, and lifted them onto his shoulders, before making his way quickly back towards Cloudstroke Plain.
Ling Tongzi and the rest of his fellow disciples were currently cultivating silently in their rooms, and after Hai Long threw the branches to a side, he went back to his own room and ate a few fruits. He then began to bore holes into the ground, all the way till 3 in the afternoon before he was done with the day’s requirements. By then, Ling Yuzi had just come out from his room.
Before Hai Long had joined, the daily ch.o.r.es were all carried out by Ling Yuzi. In this month, his load was entirely lifted, and he could focus entirely on cultivating, and was feeling the effects of the training. He saw Hai Long carrying some bamboo poles, preparing to go pick fruits and couldn’t resist laughing as he called out: “Little Spittoon, are you going to pluck fruits?”
Hai Long snorted and stared at him: “Call me Little Spittoon once more, and I’ll stop for today, you can go eat the drafts from the mountain.”
Ling Yuzi had long since gotten used to Hai Long’s rudeness, as he chuckled: “Alright, alright, calling you Hai Long should be ok, right. This past month, how’s your sutra practice? If there are any parts you’re not sure of, just ask me.” Hai Long snorted again, saying: “It’s just sitting and sleeping. Whatever sensation I’m supposed to be feeling, seems to be that I’m sleeping better only. 11th Uncle-Master, please teach me some moves ok? I’m getting bored!”
Ling Yuzi shook his head: “Kid, the Skyheart Technique is the fundamental bedrock of our cultivation, if you don’t build the foundation properly, how would you be able to execute any moves in the future? If you want to learn them, at the very least, it would have to wait till you reached the Crouching Tiger Stage.”
Hai Long made a face at Ling Yuzi, and ignored him, as he carried his bamboo pole towards the mountains. Near their places of stay, there was a patch of fruit-bearing trees, and that was the source of their food.
Air up on the mountain was extremely pure and concentrated, and with every deep breath he took, Hai Long could feel that his body became lighter. He carried out his task of plucking the fruits without rest, as he ventured deeper into the orchard. As he walked, he suddenly heard creaking sounds, and was alarmed, becoming alert as he stopped. He pulled the hatchet from his waist as he looked towards the direction of the noise. It became clearer, and when he saw the source of the noise, Hai Long could not help but relax and laugh. It turned out to be a little monkey. Just an ordinary monkey. Its grey fur had no shine, and it was scratching its bright red bottom while munching on a peach.