The fox"s Jinluo Lingzhi"s divine power was really good. I"m beginning to regret healing Tian Shu.
That night ten minutes after the lights were lit, I and Heng Wen was downstairs eating dinner, when Mu Ruoyan stepped out of his room and explored.
He wore a powder blue long gown, his light feet treading in a steady walk, and his long gown fluttering with the wind. It"s apparent immediately that he had started to recover from his bedridding illness, and his spirits had recovered enough after his rest.
Mu Ruoyan descended the stairs and headed to the middle of the hall. I got up and faced him with palms clasped, asking after his wellbeing, while Heng Wen nodded his head to him. Mu Ruoyan returned the greeting and sat at the table beside ours, and shortly after, the servers took his orders.
Heng Wen had little words today, so this immortal lord was feeling low in spirits. I sat opposite of Heng Wen, the fox curled up on the chair beside Heng Wen, pretending to know nothing and eating the scrambled eggs Heng Wen feeds him.
Heng Wen picked out the chopped onions on the eggs and picked the eggs, moving them one at a time to the fox"s china plate using his chopsticks. The fox ate the eggs as carefully as they were put in his plate. After finished it all, he licked his mouth and surrounding furs that had the remainings, then looked up to Heng Wen with his tail wagging left and right animatedly.
This immortal lord casually looked on and sipped my congee indifferently.
And picked some of the sweet sagewort dish from time to time.
The servants were standing to a side, they uttered, "You"re truly skilful sir, this beast is so docile in your presence, and the way it eats is so interesting."
I smiled sarcastically inside. If he turns into his human appearance, show you his pectorals and the tail that this almost eight chi tall man has, it"s even more interesting.
The "Riverside inn" doesn"t have many guests staying, but everyone in the hall is watching the fox, including Mu Ruoyan.
On a table at a corner of the hall sat a few fat men dressed like merchants, and one among them spoke, "to tame such a wild animal into being that obedient, does the lord and Daoist monk have some kind of special technique?"
Heng Wen replied them with a small smile, I was the one who answered, "No, no, I don"t deserve such words. Actually, It was just a small insignificant skill." The fox shot this immortal lord a very irreverent sideglance, and I added, "In fact, it is extremely easy to tame these wild beings, with only a bowl of this poor cleric"s charmed water, all of their wild nature will be gone."
Subsequently, the companions of the fat man who just spoke to us turned to him and called him "landlord Dong". Landlord Dong eyed this immortal lord half-skeptically as he said, "This lowly one had walked the greater part of the continent and its seas, yet have never heard of the Daoist magic can be used in this way."
I smoothed my beard without a word of reply, not opening your mouth when the time is right to, this is the world of experts.
A servant promptly filled in, "The Landlord may not know, this monk Guang Yun really is an expert. Do you see the gentleman who is sitting in that table? The young lord was brought back from the brink of death by the Daoist, and just by using a bundle of medicinal plant! A true, genuine, miraculous healer."
Landlord Dong and the fat men sitting with him were instantly in deep awe. They said over one another that they spoke disrespectfully, and asked for forgiveness. I also repeatedly said, they have wrongly praised and I am daunted of their words.
Then Landlord Dong said, "Daoist, your immortal bones gleam. I suppose catching, subduing demons, and even bringing the dead back to life you must be extremely proficient at."
It"s getting more and more far-fetched as I listened on… I just replied, "Now and then, when there is a house at unrest with demons and monsters haunting the place, this poor cleric may be able to exert my meagre force to drive them away. Concerning bringing the dead back to life… I would never dare to boast about it. Only the underworld can manage whether one dies or lives. Myself hasn"t broken away from the realm of desires yet, unworthy to talk big about life and death."
Landlord Dong greatly revered this immortal lord"s humility and sighed admiringly to those words.
Heng Wen, left sitting without company, idly picked food from the dishes and placed it to the fox"s plate. The entire plate of eggs were all fed to the fox, the only thing that was left was the wood ear dish, the picked-out green onions and the k.n.o.bs of ginger.
As my chopsticks reached over to the plate of wood ear dish, Mu Ruoyan started to say, "The so-called life is the start of karma, and death is end of it. But where do the souls with remaining debts, the spirits that kept its anger and blame come from? Or, perhaps, it"s mere talk?"
I pondered over what to say while I placed the wood ear in my bowl of congee. Unexpectedly, it was Heng Wen who said, "This thing cannot be easily determined, whether it is mere talk or not is not certain. To ill.u.s.trate, human life is just like one staying in a house. When the house could no longer be lived in, that is the time for their life to be extinguished, their fate to die. Their fate with this housing may be done, however, they may have remaining connection to another housing." He pointed his chopsticks to me, "For example, this Daoist monk over here, he said he cannot raise the dead back to life, but perhaps he could "change houses"."
Heng Wen, are you trying to tear down my act?
Mu Ruoyan"s eyes snapped to this immortal lord and I stiffly smiled, "Young lord Zhao, you tell a very amusing joke. this poor cleric is left not knowing what I should reply with."
Heng Wen put down his chopsticks and the fox leapt over to his lap and beat out a yawn. Heng Wen muttered that he will be going first, then he went to the second floor without any regard for others with the fox in his arms.