C3. Raising A Lump

Sorry that this chapter came out so late… *bows deeply* It required a lot of research and 'surgery'.

Anyway…more opening speeches! Have some cookies, it's going to be long:

-About names:

-About terms:

-About format:

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-Others:

(No idea where to file this) SF teaches CH to write; some lines from the Spiritual Flight Sutra 靈飛經 and the Book of Huainanzi 淮南子 are mentioned in this chapter (both are texts with close links to Taoism, but Huainanzi doesn't have the religious aspect at all). I adapted the Huainanzi lines (not copied wholesale) from this site , but I just couldn't make sense of the Spiritual Flight Sutra lines. So the Spiritual Flight Sutra lines don't appear at all.

Chen He had hit his head, which caused his memory to be stuck at the time when he fell into the pond. When he woke up at the beginning of a new day, he would forget everything that had happened the day before. No matter how diligently he studied in private, it was useless, for he would simply forget all of it just by taking a nap.

A three-year-old's memory was already unclear to begin with, and besides, what did a child have to do? All he could do was play or greet his grandmother. Besides, he was born into a well-to-do family. Every morning, he would see his elder relatives, or the maids, or the wet nurse. He needed only to do what they told him.

For example, being reminded to go and study, to meet with the tutor…What, you don't even remember the tutor? Young Master has become even more of a fool…

And that was how Chen He became a fool.

He should have just grown up in the Chen household, muddling along the entire way, but he accidentally fell off Sky-High Cliff, and became a disciple at the age of six.

His master was a memorial tablet on the table; this confused the ignorant little Chen He, and for quite a long time he mistook s.h.i.+ Feng for his master.

In the beginning, every morning, the quilt would be flipped, and out crawled the tender white lump of a child. His plump little hand held onto the blanket as he looked at to s.h.i.+ Feng from the knees up.

Cultivators' appearances did not change with age. s.h.i.+ Feng's jet-black hair hung loose, without anything holding it up. Because his hair was so long, some strands even reached the top of the child's head.

Every day, Chen He would gaze up at him curiously, reaching out to hold the strands of hair. The cool, smooth strands would soon slip out of his hands and touch the tip of his nose, making him sneeze.

Eyes open slightly, s.h.i.+ Feng lowered his head to look at him.

With his head tilted, Chen He studied his surroundings, his expression becoming thoughtful.

—-this was not the Chen household, and he did not seem to be three years old.

The Mi Sect's Liquor-Wisdom Technique was able to transmit high wisdom and allow the recipient to understand the subtleties and deeper meanings of the world.

It was immensely difficult to instantly transform a young child into a learned scholar who understood numerous scriptures and ancient texts, but it was still an easy task to allow the child to be literate and be able to differentiate good and evil.

Applying the Liquor-Wisdom Technique was like leaving a book in the mind of the person; a book they could understand without reading. The priests of the Mi Sect used this to pa.s.s on insights and the ways of Buddhism. s.h.i.+ Feng's ability to use this was limited, so it was only enough to give Chen He basic knowledge of all the things in the world and let him know where he was when he woke up every morning. Before his confoundment was cured, Chen He could not go on living with the mental ability of a three-year-old.

The little lump got up clumsily and went to the side to put his own clothes on. Then he came back tugging at s.h.i.+ Feng's robe, and announced in a soft voice that he was hungry.

s.h.i.+ Feng picked up a few oval pebbles and tossed them.

As they touched the ground, there was a flash of gold light, and the pebbles transformed into people. There were old men and woodcutters, and women with baskets hanging from their arms, all very lifelike, as if they were real. After bowing their heads to s.h.i.+ Feng and Chen He in greeting, they walked away and disappeared.

Chen He's food, daily necessities and toys were all purchased from the market by this group of dummies[1].

The valley was full of cultivators who did not require mortal food for sustenance, and they had not even smelled mortal food for centuries. However, it was now different; every morning, the fragrance of meat buns and hot porridge would waft out of s.h.i.+ Feng's cave estate.

That old Taoist priest with the white eyebrows lived closest to s.h.i.+ Feng. Every morning, this smell would make him sniffle, and then he would sigh.

"The Valley Master was wrong; it's not so difficult raising a child with confoundment. He doesn't complain even if you feed him the same things every day." Because he's forgotten all about it, haha.

Another 'neighbour' used his divine sense to pa.s.s on a message.

The old priest finger-combed his long brows and beard, floating off the cus.h.i.+on.

As he exited his cave estate, he saw s.h.i.+ Feng pa.s.sing by on the path strewn with avocado flowers' petals and stepping into the icy cold brook.

A thick bundle followed him, running along the banks on short little legs.

Chen He's condition had improved greatly. When he had just arrived in Black Depths Valley, he was weak and breathless; now his expression was one of calmness, and his breathing was even and regular.

The fundamental technique of controlling one's breathing had been implanted into Chen He's subconscious, thanks to the Liquor-Wisdom Technique. At first, it was a daily ch.o.r.e for s.h.i.+ Feng to make Chen He run until he was breathless, so that he would activate this technique. Then he would use his own spiritual energy to guide the cyclical flow of breaths for thirty-six days.

But it had taken less than ten days. Now, whenever Chen He began to run, his body would unconsciously adjust his breathing to absorb Qi from the natural world[2]. Because he did not know how to stop, his body would maintain this state for the entire day. It would only cease when he fell asleep.

Even if Chen He remembered nothing, his body still remembered. The training he had undertaken, the Qi gathered in his dantian, they would not disappear simply because the mind had forgotten.

The bone-chillingly cold waters of the brook flowed through the entire Black Depths Valley, and at the end of the brook was the lake where s.h.i.+ Feng did his daily cultivation.

The prayer beads wrapped around his wrist were translucent, with a clear, silver s.h.i.+ne. As he continued to walk further, he became submerged up to his calves, then his knees. Finally, he walked up onto a mossy rock. His robe, which had become wet from floating along in the rippling waters, was a striking shade of bright red.

The string of prayer beads was so long that the end remained submerged in water. The beads, each of even size and shape, slid past between his fingertips, their s.h.i.+ne becoming clearer.

He did not read sutras, nor did he recite Buddhist doctrines. There he sat soundlessly, his gaze restrained and solemn.

As Chen He ran all the way to the lake's sh.o.r.e, staring dumbly at s.h.i.+ Feng all the while, he b.u.mped headfirst into Elder Long-Brows, who had been posing there for the longest time.

"Watch out, little one." With a wave of his duster, he caught Chen He without directly touching him[3].

Unable to stop, the little lump tripped over his own left foot and rolled in a full circle on the ground, ending up in a sitting position.

All at once, the various divine senses lingering on the sh.o.r.e began speaking—

Elder Long-Brows was holding in his own laughter as well.

"Little one, you were playing in the backyard pond at home, weren't you?" he asked, one hand on the child's tiger-head hat[4]. "Did you suddenly arrive here after falling into the water?"

Chen He's eyes lit up.

"Mm…Do you also feel that this place is familiar? You have never been here, and you have never seen him, but you trust him very much?" With his duster, Elder Long-Brows gestured dramatically at s.h.i.+ Feng, who was seated on his rock.

The child nodded.

"That is because the two of you are linked by fate." Smiling mysteriously, the Elder a.s.sumed the pose of an otherworldly person, his duster glimmering with specks of golden light.

"Hmm, you're all immortals…" The little one nodded. His subconscious told him all of it was real and not someone's magic tricks. Raising his head, he asked, "So I can seek to become an immortal too?"

"One does not seek to become an immortal; one must comprehend the way of becoming an immortal! Come, little one, sit down and let us talk." A wave of his hand, and two cus.h.i.+ons appeared on the ground.

Chen He came over and sat down.

Clearing his throat lightly, Elder Long-Brows began to speak.

"This place is the bottom of the Sky-High Cliff, and is cut off from the rest of the world. Your master, known by the name Nanhongzi, has long since pa.s.sed on. The person who seems like your master is s.h.i.+ Feng. As for the matter of the fate between you, it's a long story…in the Six Realms of Existence, there is something called karma. Let me tell you a secret: your senior brother is really a millennium-old fox spirit, and in your past life, you were the hunter who picked up his fox hide. Since the hide had been touched by a mortal, he could no longer turn back into a fox—Ouch, who's. .h.i.tting me!"

"There's nothing to fear," Elder Long-Brows shook his head, "since the little one won't remember anything tomorrow."

The Valley Master left, disgruntled.

"Scared now, little one?" The Elder abruptly closed the distance between them, his face next to the child's chubby cheek.

"Hunter, fox."

Weakly, Chen He repeated this over and over, and it took some time before he finally got a shock; he was so shocked, he bent over, with his hands planted on the ground.

"Heheh." Elder Long-Brows took the opportunity to scare him even further. "If you can't become an immortal and pay off what you owe s.h.i.+ Feng from your previous life, s.h.i.+ Feng will eat you. You look even more delicious than the lingzhi mushrooms I'm growing, you know—”

The little lump began to tremble. It took another onslaught of threatening glares from Elder Long-Brows before the child began to cry.

He wiped the cold sweat off his head - finally, the child was crying!

(TN: He's not really being mean, there's a reason why he made MC cry. Read on.)

When s.h.i.+ Feng returned to the sh.o.r.e, the little lump was s.h.i.+vering, his eyes filled with terror.

Without a second glance, he left, prompting the child to toddle after him at once. Carefully, Chen He held on to the corner of his robe, sobbing, "Don't eat me, don't leave me behind…"

Stopping in his tracks, s.h.i.+ Feng bent down to pick him up. He took Chen He into his embrace, allowing the little one to cry on his shoulder.

As he headed back towards his cave estate, he stroked Chen He's back gently to help regulate his breathing. Once they were back inside, he fed Chen He a meat bun, then held his hand and helped him write some words from the Spiritual Flight Sutra.

The strokes were round and flowed smoothly, swerving freely. By the light streaming in from the cracks of the cave walls, it seemed as if the words were floating off the paper. Seemingly realising something, Chen He's eyes widened.

After s.h.i.+ Feng had finished writing, he laid down his brush, then sent the dummies off to buy some clay dolls and sugar people[5] to keep the little one entertained.

By nightfall, Chen He was no longer afraid of s.h.i.+ Feng. Before he fell asleep, he clutched at s.h.i.+ Feng's robes, asking dazedly, "The old immortal said Senior Brother was a fox, can you show me your tail? It must be so soft and warm…"

Without waiting for a reply, he fell soundly asleep.

After touching Chen He's baihui acupoint[6], s.h.i.+ Feng's expression relaxed slightly.

—the seven emotions and six desires[7] were fundamental to every person. If a person did not laugh or cry, and were unable to express their seven emotions, they would be in greater danger of becoming demonic cultivators. Luckily, Chen He was still young, and it was easy to make him laugh and cry like a normal child.

After covering the little one with his blanket and making sure there were no cracks for the wind to slip through, s.h.i.+ Feng's thoughts returned to Elder Long-Brows' lies of the day. Fox spirits and the like…that was far too ridiculous.

Although the inhabitants of Black Depths Valley meant well by entertaining and scaring Chen He - for their making him laugh and cry would help him express the seven emotions that had been bottled up - s.h.i.+ Feng saw that they were enjoying themselves, employing all sorts of tricks to do the job.

He minded this quite a bit - this outright bullying of his junior brother.

What could be done about it?

Scanning the cave estate, s.h.i.+ Feng noticed the bookshelf, full of its jade slips, and had an idea.

Jade was normally used to record cultivation methods and pill formulas. If he made them into jade orbs, and hung them in Chen He's clothes, they would be able to record down all the baloney that they were feeding him. Once Chen He became old enough to read those jade slips, and checked the jade orbs out of curiosity—

s.h.i.+ Feng laughed silently.

So they thought his junior brother, who forgot the past every day, was an easy target? He would let Chen He get even with them in the future.

And so there he remained, sitting on the rock with legs crossed, every single day. At the same time, with each day, the little lump would run on little legs to the sh.o.r.e of the lake, where he would meet a different 'kind immortal' every day. This bunch of old cultivators would happily come down to the sh.o.r.e to tease him, each tale they spun becoming taller than the last. And gradually, the dimensions of Chen He's expressions increased; as his eyes followed the gestures of those 'immortals', he went from simply laughing and crying, to stubborn disbelief, being able to declare firmly that he did not believe them.

The Spiritual Flight Sutra, the Book of Zhuangzi[8], the Book of Huainanzi…

The words on the paper began to change as well. Now, when s.h.i.+ Feng took his hand away, the child could follow that familiar spiritual energy, producing bold, robust characters in a single movement.

The plump little fist holding the brush gradually became slimmer, more powerful; likewise, the shadow cast on the paper became taller, the silhouette becoming more well-built.

"Uniquely, it stands alone; being-like, it is placed alone. Above, it fills the heavens; below, it connects the vastness of the world."

A ray of light shone into the cave estate. The youth in white had his brush in one hand, placing his other hand behind his back; when he turned, one could see even from the side. His eyes and brows had a refined, charming air about them, as if they had been sculpted by the hands of immortals.

"Ehh, what's this under the table?"

Chen He lowered his head, puzzled; it seemed to be a box that had not been locked.

Maybe it was alright to open it if his senior brother was not around.

—one for almost every day, one thousand in three years, three thousand in nine years.

In the sandalwood box, there sat three thousand jade orbs.

Translator's Thoughts: Thank you all very much for the support, and thank you, all of you who commented on the quality… *bows deeply* I always do my best to make sure the prose is easily understood.

To ensure that it makes sense to readers who don't understand any Chinese, I've had to restructure the prose in some places. Examples of that include:

-The bit where s.h.i.+ Feng does his daily cultivation. It's also the bit that talks about translucent silver beads…that one was so difficult OAO

-The paragraph talking about the before-and-after of Chen He's condition. See, the original paragraph was a single sentence, and became two sentences (one of which is very long) after restructuring. It's kind of like an 'extension' of the original.

-The two paragraphs after Chen He trips and falls, where Longbrows holds in his laughter and instead asks him why he's here. I had to split off half of the first paragraph and graft it into the second paragraph.

Now, on with the notes:

[1]: Mm…of course, by this I mean 'dummy' as in something not quite real, something that can be controlled…You know what I mean.

[2]: Referring to 吐納, which is a special kind of breathing. Quoting from Immortal Mountain, it 'expels the turbid Qi within the body and draws in the Qi of the natural world. An essential part of cultivation'.

[3]: Three words: awesome mystical powers. It seems higher-level cultivators can move things without touching them - something like telekinesis, except awesome mystical powers.

[4]: Originally 虎頭帽; I believe it's something like the tiger-head shoes I talked about in the previous chapter. Tiger hat to go with tiger shoes, maybe?

[5]: (Long explanation) Originally 糖人. If you search online, you may find both sugar people and sugar paintings 糖畫; both utilise sugar, but there is a clear difference between the two. Sugar paintings are made by drizzling hot sugar syrup onto a flat surface to create a pattern, and a thin wooden stick will be added so that people can hold them; they're two-dimensional (flat), and most importantly, edible. Meanwhile, sugar people are made this way: First, sugar is heated to a certain temperature; a ball is pulled from the ma.s.s and kneaded by hand. Then a thin straw is inserted into the ball, and air is blown in to slowly inflate it; at the same time this happens, the artist shapes the ball of sugar by hand or by tools to create the desired shape. The artist will then add colours before the sugar cools completely; the straw is removed, and a wooden stick is inserted in the bottom. Due to sanitary concerns, sugar people are not for consumption, and are only sold for ornamental purposes.

That said…first the tiger-head shoes, now sugar people…SF seems to be treating his little one to many things that have been made with lots of love. Aww…

[6]: It's somewhere on the top of the head and is a.s.sociated with the brain.

[7]: Originally 七情六慾, and here 'emotions' refers to emotional states as well. It's not difficult to translate, but has varying definitions that can be quite similar, and it took me a while to find the Taoist definition. The Taoist 7 and 6 seem to be (7) 喜怒哀欲愛懼惡 and (6) 眼耳鼻舌身意. Hmm…Maybe I should explain these terms separately someday, along with 三劫九難 and whatever…

[8]: Originally 南華經 nanhuajing; it's another name for this book t.i.tled Zhuangzi 莊子.