Chapter 75

The sun shines on the jewel and gives off a sheen, which can be seen but cannot be touched.1

The entire Valley of No Sorrow emanates an unusual aura.

The previous time he entered the Valley of No Sorrow, Cheng Qian was only an ignorant child, who didn’t even know how he ended up there. This time, he intentionally looks for the place, but as if blocked by ghosts, he keeps circling back to the starting point for an entire day.

That year, he was in a great shock because of his Master’s death, so the part where he took Puddle to escape the Valley of No Sorrow left only a vague memory. He only remembers that though it was a hard trip, there wasn’t much dangers besides the wild animals.

However, in the present, the world’s most brutal sword Shuang Ren is staying close to him like a scared lamb.

Cheng Qian silently covers himself with spiritual energy and recites the Scripture of Serenity. He then signs a spell and lightly wipes his eyes, making a frosty light flash from them. Normal demonic tricks cannot deceive the eyes reinforced by primordial spirit. However, Cheng Qian frowns slightly as he observes his surroundings.

This valley is too quiet. Quiet to an abnormal degree.

The mountains are like jewels, and the greenery is beautiful. Yet such a large valley has neither infernal aura nor the spiritual energy of nature.

There is no sound, as if the scene were from a painting.

Without making a noise, Cheng Qian sits down where he is and tries his best to calm the slight wave of anxiety in his heart. He immediately recalls something that doesn’t quite make sense. His Master said their disciple grandfather had ‘fought that battle from Fuyao Mountain to the Valley of No Sorrow, which was two hundred miles away from there.”

Why was it the Valley of No Sorrow?

Was it really the case that Fuyao Mountain wasn’t large enough for those warriors to fully use their power?

When he was young, Cheng Qian totally lacked common knowledge. He was completely ignorant of the cultivation world, and thought that one would only encounter ghosts when roaming outside at night. Later, when he formed a primordial spirit and encountered heavenly tribulations, he vaguely senses a force that is present everywhere, such that everything that exists in this world has a hidden side that fits some mysterious, predetermined pattern.

What is the hidden side of “Valley of No Sorrow”?

Was it really just a coincidence back then, when he stumbled into the Valley of No Sorrow?

As the sky darkens, the aura that is like a jewel’s sheen of the valley becomes accordingly more melancholy. A fluttering sound can be heard in the wind, as if there were many people walking past him.

When the last sunlight disappears, Shuang Ren suddenly gives off a buzz without any warning.

Startled, Cheng Qian opens his eyes, but all he sees is a mortal child dressed in rags, who is standing in front of him without him being aware of it.

That child is skinny as a stick, like he has never had enough to eat. Only his head is especially large. He is at most seven or eight years old. One can see his missing teeth when he grins.

The child, who has been squatting in silence, grins to Cheng Qian as he opens his eyes and stares at him.

Cheng Qian was in seclusion in the ice lake of Mingming Valley for decades, so his body has a permanent frosty aura that keeps strangers away from him. If he doesn’t hide his aura, not just mortals but even cultivators are scared of him.

However, the mortal brat in front of him doesn’t seem to be afraid at all. On the contrary, he curiously pokes at the frost-covered Shuang Ren with his dirty finger. It seems that he finds it too cold, because he withdraws his hand with a grimace and asks, “Mister Xiucai2, why are you sitting down and sleeping here?”

After a pause, Cheng Qian replies, “I’m not a Xiucai.”

“Oh, then you are a Lord Juren2?” The child widens his eyes. “My father says only scholars wear long robes like this. Farmers have to work in the fields, so they can’t wear these clothes.”

It’s hard to explain things properly to an ignorant provincial child, so Cheng Qian doesn’t say anything. He only smiles to the child.

The child grins, showing his missing teeth, and says, “I am Erlang. You wish to enter the valley? My home is right in there.”

Having said that, he points in the direction of the Valley of No Sorrow. Cheng Qian is quietly startled. Since when have people lived in the Valley of No Sorrow?

Looking at the child again, Cheng Qian senses that there is something really not right about him. As if seizing on a thought, he stands up and follow the skipping child into the valley.

It is strange that, as soon as his thought becomes clear, the winding path makes way for a clear road on which the two of them can easily travel inside.

Erlang doesn’t walk properly. He constantly gets sidetracked by catching fireflies or picking flowers or throwing rocks into a ditch. From time to time, he grabs Cheng Qian’s robe with his muddy hand and rambles on.

“My home wasn’t here before. Then there was a great disaster. My father died. My mother didn’t care about me anymore, so I moved here with my grandpa and many neighbours in my village.”

A vague idea flashes in Cheng Qian’s heart, so he asks, “What kind of disaster?”

“No idea,” Erlang says, “I don’t really understand it. My grandpa said it was a punishment from the immortals or something. The immortals are really terrible. Lord Juren, where is your home? Are you a grand official?”

Cheng Qian hesitates, but the child doesn’t wait for his reply. As they are talking, he grabs Cheng Qian’s sword without any fear, then looks up and acts gravely like an adult, “In that case, you have to try and be a fair official!”

Cheng Qian’s hand trembles slightly.

Because of his spiritual power, his body temporary is already significantly lower than normal. He is also holding Shuang Ren, which is extremely cold. Even so, he still feels frozen by this child.

Cheng Qian looks down. Erlang immediately gives him his toothless carefree smile. However, there are bright red marks around this boy’s neck and the parts not covered by the sleeves.

It is said that only those who are frozen to death have this kind of red marks.

In a blink of an eye, Cheng Qian comes to a realisation. Only in a place of eternal rest that there can be no sorrow of the living world.

He stops in his tracks and asks in a low voice. “Are you feeling cold?”

Hearing that, Erlang grins and shakes his head. “On the contrary, I’m feeling hot!”

His face is completely carefree, but there seems to be some pale marks on it.

At that moment, an old man calls out in a low voice, “Erlang, come home right now!”

Hearing that, Erlang immediately lets go of Cheng Qian’s hand and replies energetically, “I’ll be right back!”

He skips a few steps around the spot, as he tells Cheng Qian, “My grandpa calls me back already. Lord Juren, you should find someone and ask for directions if you need to go somewhere.”

Then he bounces away as he hums a folk song of some unknown region. The thing is, he has no shadow.

“Hey,” Cheng Qian suddenly calls after him. Erlang turns back and stares at him with his wide eyes that are free from the dust of the world.

Cheng Qian quietly stays where he is and leans on Shuang Ren, which has claimed countless souls. In the darkness of the night, he looks like the statue of a handsome deity. He says in a soft voice, “When I was a child, I was called Erlang too.”

In a blink of an eye, he seems to see the crossroads of the chaotic human fate, full of feelings and passions.

Since that time when his primordial spirit enters the Spirit Collection Jade, he has not been affected by the joys and sorrows of the human world so clearly like this.

Erlang gives him a surprised look, then scratching his unkempt head, he grins and runs off.

Cheng Qian quietly exhales. There is a yearning bubbling up in his heart. If this world has a place for the souls of the dead, then...

He turns into a shadow and gracefully passes by the villages of death like a breeze into the centre of the valley.

There is no sign of the tigers and wolves that were prowling the last time he was here. Cheng Qian instinctively understands that those wild animals that scared him into running back then were just a nightmare, as he was an unarmed child who had a heart full of blades.

This time, Cheng Qian doesn’t get lost again. He quickly finds the place that has Tong Ru’s remains.

It is a new moon night. The sky is clear like crystal with the light of countless stars. Those old bones don’t seem scary at all, but give off an indescribable peacefulness. Cheng Qian senses a vague resonance between Shuang Ren and the human remains in front of him.

At that moment, the scenery in front of him suddenly changes, as if the curtains hiding something had been lifted.

A quiet voice interrogates him, “In your life, what is the happiest moment? What is the most painful moment? Why do you insist on this path? Have you had any regrets in these recent years?”

This voice is very familiar, but Cheng Qian can’t recall where he has heard it before. Within seconds, he sees his weasel-like Master carried his child self to hide from the rain, all the while rambling about something. The child with a face full of soot in the half-collapsed shrine looked up in surprise, his hands holding a beggar’s chicken that had just been taken off the mud cover…

The long path suddenly changes to Fuyao Mountain. In the richly-decorated Land of Tenderness, the arrogant youth listlessly ordered his maid to give the two children a handful of pine nut candies each. With a face visibly full of disdain, as soon as he got out of the room, the little Cheng Qian, who was only as tall as an adult’s waist, gave without a care the candies to his junior brother, whom he found just as insufferable.

As if possessed, Cheng Qian steps forward and receives the packet of pine nut candies. He puts a candy in his mouth. The sharp sweetness wakes up his tongue, which hasn’t tasted any flavour for a long time, and sends him into a light trance.

Unable to help himself, Cheng Qian gives way to the child on the stairs and slowly walks to the youth, who demands his hair to be brushed eight times a day. He watches that spoiled youth orders around his maids and servants, as something inside him breaks and drowns him in it.

Moving forward, Cheng Qian pulls the youth into his lap and holds him like holding the treasure of his life.

At that age, Cheng Qian’s most senior brother hasn’t fully grown yet. He is still slender the way teenagers are. He is a bit smaller than his peers, and is only as tall as Cheng Qian’s lips.

Cheng Qian lifts his head a little and rests his chin on the head of the youth. In that moment, everything blurs in his eyes.

That is the happiest and at the same time most painful moment in his life.

As he holds the person he yearns for the most in his arms, he faces himself without hesitation, as he realises where his life will return to. At the same time, he understands clearly that everything is not real, that all hopes are as distant as a strand of sunlight when the sun sets.

Time flows, only death is certain.

At that moment, a sigh can be heard, and Cheng Qian’s arms become empty. He looks up and sees that all the illusions disappeared. Muchun Zhenren has been standing in front of him for who knows how long. A bit further away is Lord Beiming: Tong Ru. His limbs are bound by pitch black chains, and his body is surrounded by a sphere of white light. Countless blades relentlessly spawn from that sphere and cut into him. However, he sits peacefully next to his skeleton, and doesn’t seem to be in pain at all.

Cheng Qian asks, “Master? D- disciple grandfather, this is…”

Tong Ru nods to him from a distance and replies, “For my unforgivable crime, after my death, I have to undergo the punishment of being tormented by countless blades. I hope it doesn’t look too bloody?”

Cheng Qian: “…”

With a teasing smile, Muchun Zhenren signals for Cheng Qian to come nearer and comments, “You’re still wearing this stone face even as an adult. Not cute at all.”

Cheng Qian says softly, “Is my most senior brother’s habit of finding new ways to cause trouble everyday cute then?”

Muchun Zhenren smiles, “If he is so annoying, then why did you hold him so tightly without any desire to let go?”

Cheng Qian’s face darkens. He closes his eyes. After a long while, he says in a low voice, “Indeed, it was rude of me.”

The smile of Muchun Zhenren fades away. He wants to pat Cheng Qian’s head as was his habit, but as he raises his hand, he realises that Cheng Qian has become a little taller than him. He can’t reach his head as easily as before, so he hesitates in a moment of embarrassment.

Cheng Qian quietly puts Shuang Ren to a side and kneels down.

Muchun Zhenren asks, “How can you come here?”

“The Valley of No Sorrow is the realm of the dead from the human world,” Tong Ru says casually from where he is, “Most of the wandering souls from all over the world will linger here for a while then fade. There are also those who are neither dead nor alive and have to wait here, until they completely rot away together with the grass and trees. On principle, living humans can’t enter this place. Back then, as the two great evils that were myself and the Soul Consuming Lamp battled to the death with each other, the half-formed soul-tracing charm was activated. Those two were still children and thus not counted as full living humans, so they were sucked in. This time, this kid no longer has a flesh and blood body, so of course he can enter here freely.”

Cheng Qian smiles ruefully, “My soul is still in this world, but my body is no longer here. I dare not claim things like ‘the heart is swayed by the body’3 anymore.”

Muchun Zhenren gives him a piercing look and asks, “Kid, why are you here at the Valley of No Sorrow?”

Cheng Qian tells him everything from the beginning to the end.

“I see,” There is no expression on Muchun Zhenren’s face. A moment later, he says coldly, such that each of his word draws blood, “I thought you were here to visit my grave. As it turns out, you’re here to dig up the grave.”

Cheng Qian: “…”

To be fair, it is indeed like that.

Muchun Zhenren folds his arms and complains in a piteous voice. “Alas, keeping dogs is better than having disciples. They all grow up into ungrateful bastards.”

Next to him, Tong Ru says with a smile, “Indeed, the sword cultivators of us Fuyao Sect aren’t led by external artifacts. The guide into the path is just the wooden sword. The Master is just decoration, and of course there is no such nonsense as outside influence around. If you want to talk about a guide, then there is only the Fuyao Wooden Sword itself. What? Have you already forgotten what it was like when you were guided by the wooden sword into the first steps of cultivation?”

When a youth holds the wooden sword for the first time and immerses himself in that comical opening move, he will be led by the wooden sword to the realm of the sword will. Cheng Qian’s mind turns, as something dawns on him.

The chains on his arms give off a clang as Tong Ru says with a soft laugh, “Yes, it’s precisely that. You should go. Don’t return here anymore. It’s likely you won’t be able to meet us the next time you come here anyway.”

He is neither dead nor alive, as he waits here for the day he rots completely together with the grass and trees.

Cheng Qian can’t resist asking, “Disciple grandfather, did you really enter the Three Lives Mystic Site?”

Muchun Zhenren’s eyes spasm a little, showing that he is being reminded of a great trauma.

“Yeah, I was there,” In a contrast, Tong Ru’s face is unmoving. He looks like an old monk who has entered a meditative trance. “Then I consulted Xu Yingzhi. He cast the divination and gave me three rounds of Great Misfortune. On top of that, he told me to obey the Heavens’ Will and meekly wait for death. I found that it was useless to have those kind of friends, so upon my return, I gave the sect leader seal to Xiao… your Master, then went to the Tower of No Regret.”

“Tower of what?”

“‘Don’t look back as you enter that place of no return. The Tower of No Regret where you give away your child without a tear.’ Ah, it’s also known as ‘Tower of the Heart Demon’,” Tong Ru says, “Fuyao Mountain is a natural mystic site. You must have heard of that already. Legend has it that a powerful cultivator who had ascended brought that mystic site into this world from outside the Three Realms to guard the Tower of the Heart Demon. It also acts as a barrier between the human world and the world of the yao. Our Fuyao Sect is none other than the lineage of the guardians, who were entrusted to protect that gate.”

Cheng Qian is stunned to hear such a thing. “Is that true?”

“Likely not. It’s just a legend, the same as those stories of Hong Jun and Pan Gu creating the world,” Tong Ru looks at him with a good-humoured smile on the lips. At his moment, the Lord of all demons doesn’t seem scary at all. On the contrary, he seems pretty down to earth. “But the Tower of No Regret is real, and it carries an artifact that goes against the will of the Heavens.”

Cheng Qian blurts out, “The Wish-granting Stone?”

“After entering the Three Lives Mystic Site, my obsession was too much that I went into qi deviation. I risked everything to walk up the eighteen thousand steps of the Tower of No Regret, and retrieved the stone that had been sealed off by Fuyao Mountain for thousands of years. Then, ignoring the advice of the Four Sages, I pledged a million lives as a sacrifice to the stone, in return for an impossible wish.”

These final words give off a terrifying air. Recalling his Master’s words “those who died under you hands” when he sealed the soul of Lord Beiming, Cheng Qian can’t help feeling a chill in his heart.

“Frankly speaking, the souls you met in the valley are all outcomes of that seed,” Tong Ru smiles ruefully. “My crime is unforgivable, but at least my wish was… honest.”

Cheng Qian can’t resist asking, “Who led you into the Three Lives Mystic Site back then?”

Without any resentment or hatred on his face, Tong Ru says simply, “One that meets their retribution.”

Cheng Qian wants to press on, but Muchun Zhenren sighs and interrupts him. “Xiao-Qian, it’s nearly morning.”

Cheng Qian is startled, as there is already light in the East.

Muchun Zhenren looks at him and smiles. “I thought you could stay for a while longer, but it looks like that’s not possible.”

When he was young, his ignorance was a shield for him. In the present, Cheng Qian nearly cries as he hears these words. He chokes for a while, then says tearfully, “I want to stay here with you for eternity, but I promised him that I would return within a hundred days. I absolutely can’t fail that.”

Not far from there, Tong Ru smiles ruefully, as if he is amused, or is recalling something.

He suddenly raises his hand. The chains binding his body give off a loud clang and the energy of the blades torturing him surges, as he pushes Cheng Qian away.

The face of Muchun Zhenren gradually fades away, as miles of the dead’s souls flash by under his feet.

For a moment, Cheng Qian loses consciousness.

********

1. From 与极浦书 by Si Kong Tu (author's note)

2. Xiucai (秀才) and Juren (举人): Titles of scholars who passed the imperial examination and thus eligible to work as imperial officials. Xiucai is provincial level, Juren is national level.

3. From 歸去來辭 by Tao Yuanming