Chapter 72: Nurturing Jade, Going to the Provincial Capital?

“Humans are the most spiritual of all beings. Who on the body does not carry a bit of spiritual energy? Although that energy is weak and cannot compare with the spiritual lands formed between heaven and earth, it has the advantage of being continuous and unending, as long as a person is alive!”

While he was speaking, my head had already been slapped more than a dozen times.

I resigned myself to my fate. Who told me to talk too much? But I still had questions to ask.

“Master, you said good intentions and sincere scriptures. If I spit on this jade every day, what would it become?”

“Spit?” Old Man Jiang turned to look at me with a strange expression, and another slap came down.

After hitting me, he continued.

“If you spit, it is not some kind of malicious act. At most, it just will not become spiritual jade. Jade is extremely sensitive to magnetic fields. It becomes spiritual jade in spiritual lands, and in places filled with yin and evil energy it will naturally absorb that kind of energy. There are also vicious methods to refine jade into cursed objects. Also, ancient jade is best not worn. Some of it has been contaminated with blood energy or corpse energy. That is hard to say. The key is, you child should not harbor any bad ideas toward jade. For cultivators, as long as a bit of goodness in the heart is not extinguished, it is like a lamp in the heart that never goes out.”

I kept nodding, then asked again.

“Master, is all ancient jade bad?”

“Nonsense. If it comes from a feng shui blessed burial site and is not something taken from a coffin, and it has absorbed spiritual energy over a long time, it can also be good. But such ancient jade is hard to obtain, and even after you get it, you still need to cleanse it. After all, anything buried in a tomb for too long, even if it has spirituality, will also carry something sinister.”

We ended the discussion about jade there. After hearing my master say this, I actually felt reluctant to part with the piece of jade in his hand. But Old Man Jiang showed no reluctance at all. He only sighed and said,

“Selling spiritual jade to others, I only hope it goes to someone kind and virtuous. Otherwise, if I end up helping an evil person block calamity for no reason, I would feel uneasy in my heart.”

I fell silent as well. I had actually heard before from my master about Daoist magical artifacts. I knew they could bring luck and ward off disaster. I had not expected this jade to have been nurtured to such a level. More importantly, I knew clearly that this jade had been nurtured by my master himself. It was truly a treasure beyond price. If it were not for my family’s matter this time, he would never have taken out something like this, which for him counted as a magical artifact.

The master and disciple sat in silence for a while. I looked up and asked again.

“Master, are you going to tell me about my grandmaster or not?”

Old Man Jiang was staring blankly at the piece of jade. When he heard this, he almost dropped it in shock. He looked at me in disbelief and said,

“You still have not forgotten this matter?”

“Of course. How could I forget about my grandmaster? Betraying one’s master and forgetting one’s ancestors is unacceptable. Is that not what you taught me?” I immediately responded. This was experience in debate. Whatever the situation, you must first seize the moral ground.

“Fine, fine. It is not that I will not tell you about your grandmaster, it is just that I cannot say it now,” Old Man Jiang said, clearly forced into a corner by me.

“Then at least tell me whether my grandmaster is still alive. He is so powerful, he cannot just be gone easily. I only want to know that. Also, I want to know how my grandmaster lived so long.”

The moment I finished speaking, Old Man Jiang once again showed that strange and sorrowful expression. After a long pause, he finally said,

“For those who have attained the Dao, long life is normal. Your grandmaster being over three hundred years old is not even exceptional. Throughout history there have been countless recorded long lived people, not to mention hidden masters who never appear in the world. It is just that modern people refuse to believe it. A simple principle, people today live longer than people in ancient times, and people in prosperous times live longer than those in times of chaos. That is due to improved nourishment and health. If the method is correct and supplemented with excellent tonics, long life is natural. Do you think the mountain lineage of health cultivation is nonsense? Do you think immortality has no basis at all?”

“Master, I understand, but get to the point,” I said anxiously, scratching my head and ears.

“The point is, your grandmaster is not actually over three hundred years old. There is a reason for all this,” he paused again.

Then he continued,

“Your grandmaster... your grandmaster... whether he is still alive or not, I do not know.”

After speaking, Old Man Jiang let out a long sigh. In that moment he looked exhausted and sorrowful, as if he had aged ten years in an instant.

But I did not notice and kept asking,

“Why?”

This time, Old Man Jiang did not get angry. Instead, he turned and looked at me deeply, then said,

“You are not allowed to ask this question again.”

Then he drove me out of the small room.

I naturally felt uncomfortable, but I did not dare argue with such a master.

The next morning, I got up early to do my morning practice. Strangely, my master did not get up for the first time ever. From his room came his familiar snoring sound. This had never happened before. Usually, when I got up, he would also be up, sometimes supervising my morning practice, sometimes wandering somewhere, but never staying in the room.

I did not want to wake him. Maybe he had not slept last night. He seemed full of worries when he drove me away. I went downstairs as usual to train in the open area. When I passed the window of the small room, I unexpectedly found it half open. It must have been left open by my master last night, and on the floor were several scattered sheets of paper.

There is always some wind in the mountains, probably blown off the table. I picked them up and immediately recognized my master’s handwriting. I was very familiar with it. His writing always carried a wild and unrestrained spirit, very free and easy, but these pages carried a heavy feeling and an indescribable sense of confusion.

I could not explain why I felt this way. The pages were filled entirely with writing, but there were only two words in total, Kunlun.

Kunlun? I knew there was a Kunlun Mountain. Was my master’s beloved person there? I shook my head and put the papers back down. He usually burned his own writings and paintings, saying his skill was not good enough and he was ashamed to show them to others, so I should respect that.

My master did not wake up until almost lunchtime. As soon as he got up, he started shouting that he was hungry.

Summer meals were easy to prepare. I had already made everything. Cold cucumber salad, stir fried shredded potatoes, cold chicken noodles, and a pot of old sweet potato porridge.

Cultivation was quite hard, especially when it came to food. Occasionally wanting something light was not allowed. Every meal had to include meat. My master said that once you reached a certain level, you could eat vegetarian, but I could not yet. I had to eat meat. Except breakfast, the stomach could not be too greasy, but every other meal had to include meat.

It was not without reason that I complained. Every night there was a small clay pot of nourishing soup. How could I not get tired of it? Even today’s lunch, which was already quite refreshing, still had chicken in the cold noodles. In my bowl, at least half was shredded chicken.

After washing up, Old Man Jiang began eating like a man possessed, gulping down porridge and slurping noodles, chewing potatoes loudly, and crunching cucumbers. He somehow managed not to choke.

Yesterday he was full of worries, and today he was eating like this.

“Master, why did you wake up so late today?” I asked while slurping noodles. My eating manners were not much better either.

“I stayed up writing calligraphy last night and only realized it was already dawn,” he replied casually.

“What is Kunlun? Kunlun Mountain? This morning your papers flew out the window, I saw them.”

“I know, I saw the window of the small room was not closed properly when I got up.”

“What is Kunlun?”

“Kunlun Mountain, the Kunlun Mountains in Xinjiang.”

“Master, is your lover there? My master’s wife?” I asked.

“Mm, cough... cough... nonsense. I just... I just like the scenery there.” Along with his words came a sharp slap sound. Without doubt, I was hit again.

“San Wa Er, come down the mountain with me later. We are going to your home.”

“What for?”

“Tell your parents that the money will be delayed a few days. I am taking you out.” Old Man Jiang was very calm now, probably because he had eaten something. He even poured himself a drink.

“Where are we going? The county town?” I was excited. I had never left the county before. I was sure it was the county town.

“No, we are going to the provincial capital, Chengdu.”

At that moment, I started coughing violently.

I coughed for a long time before recovering. My face turned completely red, and even a full strand of noodles shot out of my nose. Old Man Jiang sipped his wine and smiled with obvious satisfaction, his face full of revenge.

I quickly wiped my face with paper and stormed back to the table.

“Master, you did that on purpose to get back at me, right? That is why you said we are going to Chengdu?”

“Hey, you little brat, do not use your petty mind to measure your master’s noble heart,” he said in a strange tone.

“Are we really going to Chengdu?” I suddenly felt a dizzy sense of unreality. The provincial capital was something I could not even picture in my mind.

“Yes, we are really going to Chengdu,” he said seriously, nodding.