He, Guang Yunzi, probably hasn"t reached fifty, but quite a bit past the age of forty. The instant that I opened my eyes I was greeted by a nose-scrunching smell, the smell filled this immortal lord"s nostrils until I felt dizzy. This person hasn"t washed up his face and mouth for a long time, huh.
My hand extended to feel around, there"s a beard under my chin, it"s quite long. Covered in grime, it sticks to my hand. When I lifted it up to see, many bugs were crawling about, filling the openings, it seemed like they"re looking for food. I couldn"t bear to keep looking.
Heng Wen floated in the air and flippantly said, "Such a filthy daoist, don"t expect me to stay around your person, the time that you have washed clean is the time I will come back." And then he was gone without a trace.
Really, can this daoist be as filthy as Li Siming"s corpse? Your words flowed like songs when we stood by the coffin, this time it"s also so fluid.
No place on my body is spared of itching. I reached behind my neck and scratched, rubbing out a considerable amount of grey dirt off my skin. I flicked it off, scratched again, and flicked again. It"s quite fun to do.
The top of my head is so itchy, I can faintly feel small things running around, I heard that there"s a bug called "flea", I think this might be that creature.
The door was still banging with incessant knocks, I scratched my head, my hand moved from scratching out a lump of dirty dead skin to opening the door. Outside the door was also a fellow daoist, with a slightly rounded face. The stocky man, who had an honest face, called out at the top of his lungs, "You finally woke up, I thought you had become immortal in there."
He did indeed become an immortal in this room, first he died, and then this great immortal a.k.a. this immortal lord turned into him.
I told him, "Yes, I wandered around thousands of immortal mountains, then it all turned into a dream in a flash, I"ve almost left behind all worldly matters, and have even forgotten about you."
"Remember, Immortal Guang Yun, this small daoist Chang Shan does odd-jobs in this Mingyue temple. Don"t forget this small daoist when you"ve become a divine being." He rubbed his hands together laughingly, "Last night you got this small one to call you to wake up, and yet you would sleep the morning away. Small one came earlier to call you since today is not an ordinary one, it"s the big ceremony in Dongjun w.a.n.g"s family. The temple is extremely lacking in people, that"s why my master has let you add to our number. Why don"t you rinse your face and change into a more presentable outfit."
When I heard the words "rinse up", my eyes flashed with light. "Where is the water?"
"Splendid!" Chang Shan spoke while leading me to the backyard."You usually clamoured water will harm your health and wouldn"t bathe, but today you seem to have gotten over it."
In the backyard, there"s a wooden shed, and inside the shed is a well. A pail was on the side of the well, as well as a big wooden basin.
Sliding the shed"s bolt in, I filled the basin full and stretched over my head to check my reflection. What I saw was a s.h.a.ggy head. This immortal lord stood beside the well"s opening. Only after I"d poured down a few basins full of water and used up over one jin of honey locust, did the hair become smoother, the beard able to be combed through, and the skin scrubbed into an ordinary skin colour.
Chang Shan had prepared brand new clothes for me to change into in advance. Hair was bound, beard also combed neatly, only after every part of this body felt lighter did Heng Wen come back swaying. I took advantage of the absence of any other people and patted my brand new daoist robes, "Does it not look similar to Eight Immortal"s Immortal Lu?"
"If I voice the same sentiment as you, won"t my Wei Yuan palace be crushed to the ground by Immortal Lu."
I laughed hollowly, "Won"t you say it is so much better than the appearance from this morning?"
Heng Wen was quiet for a moment, then said sincerely, "Looks human now."
I went with the daoists of Mingyue temple and arrived at Dongjun w.a.n.g"s residence.
As I stepped across the threshold, I felt awfully rueful.
Just several days ago, I and the people living beyond this door were one family. Though Li Siming fell short of this immortal lord"s elegance, at the very least he is also handsome and young, a pampered young lord. Yet now, he was rotting inside a coffin while I changed into this air-dried-persimmon-faced middle-aged man. Do Ming Ge and Jade Emperor plan to make me go hara.s.s Tian Shu with this sort of face?
The thirty-fifth-day memorial ceremony was done extremely grandly, there was a total of eight Daoist temples, and sixty-six Daoist monks reciting scriptures. I stood amidst the crowd of people, ringing a little bell. I saw Dongjun w.a.n.g, Li Sixian and also Li Siyuan. This immortal lord knew that they cared a lot about Li Siming. However, the more you care the more you"ll cry, and after crying for these entire thirty five days, those tears had dried out. That is why, when it comes time to burn paper offerings facing the tablet, everyone was howling without tears.
Only Dongjun w.a.n.g"s words stirred this immortal lord up.
Dongjun w.a.n.g faced the memorial tablet, putting in a pile of paper money into the brazier and spoke, "Ming"er, rest easy, your dad will definitely take out that Shan Chengling"s heart and offer it as a sacrifice to you!"
At the distribution of reward money, Chang Shan spoke quietly in my ear, "By what the w.a.n.gye said today, our east county(dongjun) will definitely face off with south county(nanjun). Sigh, how sinful, how sinful. To say something unpleasant to the ears, the youngest lord"s death could be said to be fated, and also what he brought upon himself. Once war broke out, common folks will suffer." He stifled down his volume even more, "Do you know of how the young lord died?"
I said inwardly, in this whole world, no one knows better about its ins and outs than this immortal in front of you.
Chang Shan continued, "They say that the young lord was originally a fool, but somehow, one day he regained his mind. Worse was, when he regained a clear mind, he immediately started keeping a male lover with unknown origins in his yard, and I heard, he loved that little lover so."
"But not two days had past before Dongjun w.a.n.g would welcome another gentleman to be his counsellor, and people say this counsellor sir"s bearing was just as the immortals. When the young lord saw him, he immediately threw aside the man he was keeping, and devoted his heart to the counsellor sir. The little lover in his courtyard then got jealous and ganged up with an old paramour of his, stabbed the young lord then jumped across the walls and ran away. You say, interesting, isn"t it?"
My beard minutely twitched for a spell. "It is."
Chang Shan quietly spoke, "What"s even more great is, that kept lover"s old paramour was in fact the great general of Nanjun, Shan Chengling. And no one could find the counsellor after the young lord died. The whole thing was so chaotic, it was like it was out of a play. But this play is not a good one, after he was buried, the common people suffer."
I was rendered speechless. Jade Emperor, Ming Ge, this sin is on your backs.
I crossed my hands and put one of each two strings of coins into my sleeves. As we follow along the group of people returning to the dongjun w.a.n.g"s manor, at a distance I could make out the sight of Jinning and Jinshu, with mourning bands tied on them, scurrying here and there in the flock of people. Jinning stared wide-eyed at the offering platform, as if planning to pocket the offering pastry.
I"d asked after these two kids" destinies from Ming Ge. Five years from now, Dongjun w.a.n.g will die from stroke, after another three years Li Siyuan will pa.s.s away, and Li Sixian will die on the battlefield the next year following his second brother"s sudden death. The young Jinning will become a supreme commander of the country and attain victories at each turn. However it will be Jinshu who becomes the one in control of Dongjun. This timid and cautious Jinshu who followed behind Jining every day, will one day become a founder monarch. The matters of the human world were truly tumultuous and ever-changing.
I stood too long in front of the mourning shelter that Jinning"s eyes shifted my way, and he waddled over to where I was standing.
"Hey, old daoist with the long beard, what are you staring at?" As always, Jinshu followed at his heels.
Translator: PadamEditor: Mims
A new editor! please welcome Mims!! and wish Kai well for her irl stuff~