Chapter 5 (2/2)
The Taoist master can only offer a forced laugh: ”The future, I will have to depend on you, fellow cultivator, to discipline him more.”
Jianghua says: ”You've spent ten years nurturing him into this current state, what talents do I have that can care for him holistically? To ensure he has a roof over his head and grows to be decent are already not bad, let's not even speak of discipline.”
He stretched his shoulder and smiled: ”If you give a child for me to discipline, wouldn't the more I discipline the worse they get?”
The Taoist master does not say anything. He suddenly stands up, a few star threads quickly wrapped around his outstretched hand. The constellation tablet brightens up immediately, a tiny cyclone seemingly forming between the slow-moving little stars, billowing the green sleeve of the Taoist master.
Jianghua follows his line of sight is stunned. He cannot help but blurt out: ”This is ...”
The Taoist master's entire body is engulfed in the starry light from the constellation tablet. He turns his head upon hearing, his face against the light showing neither happiness nor sadness, yet his eyes are incredibly deep.
Jianghua widens his eyes, his laziness from earlier lost. He cannot resist standing up as well, staring down at the chaotic constellation tablet from above, and cannot resist glancing at the Taoist master again. He hesitates a long while before asking carefully: ”If I didn't read wrongly, this is ... Taixing is about to collapse, am I right?”
(*) Taixing: a mountain often referred to in fantasy text, located near Henan in reality. In-text, the collapse of Taixing is taken as a sign of disasters.
”The stars growing disordered, Taixing collapsing, demons roaming rampant ...” The Taoist master suddenly closes his eyes, lowering his raised arm. The star threads originally wrapping around his hand suddenly all wither, falling down one by one. The sea of stars on the constellation tablet reverts to its state of stillness, its lights dimming, countless stars resembling true pebbles. A little chill slowly engulfs the small cottage at the top of Jiulu mountain like a sheen of water in the night: ”My cultivation friend, I did not predict that we are fortunate enough to witness chaos large enough to break open our entire world in this lifetime.”
Jianghua Sanren is stunned for a long while, his gaze on the withering constellation tablet suddenly s.h.i.+fts onto the Taoist master: ”You ...”
The Taoist master lifts his hand to stop the latter half of that sentence, his fingers, which are seemingly even thinner than earlier, wriggling slightly. He stays silent for a long time before saying: ”There is no need for so many words, this is fate.”
He turns to Jianghua Sanren, staring at him for a long time before saying: ”Cultivation friend, you are already removed from these worldly matters, it is only right for you to look at all this with cool eyes and an unmoving heart. But us, we cannot control our fates.”
Jianghua forces a smile, asks: ”What? You want to gift me your precious student? This time you are willing to let go?”
The Taoist master says: ”To follow you and be detached from this world is not necessarily a bad thing. I just feel that that child, if we are speaking about his wiliness, within the past centuries on Jiulu mountain no one could compete with him. Yet he does not possess enough insights, he is not a big intellect, I am merely afraid of his little clever tricks. Haizz, if it really could not be changed ... in the future if you can still give me some face, you can care for him a bit more.”
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