Chapter 5

There was neither wind nor rain when Jing Tongzhou returned.

He had removed his bamboo hat and changed into the moon-white Daoist robe of a formal disciple. His eyes shone like stars and his bearing seemed untouched by the mortal world—an absurd contrast to the thrashing fish in his hand.

I parked my cart, wiped the sweat from my brow, and greeted him.

He smiled. “Miss Chongxiu.”

I heated oil and decided to fry the fish. Yexue took it to the river, gutted it, removed the gills, and scraped off the scales with practiced efficiency.

Jing Tongzhou’s gaze settled on her.

I told him that her home lay on the distant northern frontier. Her parents had been renowned warriors. Because they refused an influential faction’s overtures, their entire family was slaughtered in a single night.

Yexue watched her siblings die, fought until she was driven from the city wall, and was carried by the river to Dragonseek Town—the last peaceful refuge in a realm at war.

The town was beautiful, fertile, and safe.

It simply had no place for her.

I tested the oil with my chopsticks. “What does Senior Brother Jing think of the Suspended Sword Sect?”

He laughed. Yexue had no spiritual root and was deficient by birth, he explained. The immortal path would be distant and lonely for her.

I agreed.

Mortals cultivated to explore the mysteries of the Three Realms, comprehend the vastness of heaven and earth, and recognize the smallness of the self. The fortunate entered great sects and received personal instruction. Powerful families could pile up rare treasures to nourish a spiritual root, while ordinary disciples spent long years grinding themselves through repetitive trials.

Some pierced the veil at twenty. Others meditated for a century before understanding one sliver of creation.

For a mortal body, cultivation was harder still.

But there was more than one Dao.

A damaged spiritual root could lead to body cultivation. If she could not fly on a sword, she could carry one and run. If talent was lacking, she could train for ten years, then twenty.

Stone yielded to constant drops of water.

I asked what he cultivated.

“The heart,” he answered.

I praised his insight. In the end, cultivation was never about where someone began. To see great rivers rise and fall yet preserve one’s nature was another road to the same destination.

He listened in silence, his brow gradually easing.

I wondered if I should press further.

“The Suspended Sword Sect has always accepted outer disciples,” he said at last. “Would Miss Wu be willing to begin at the lowest rank?”

I turned. Yexue stood behind me, eyes burning.

“I am.”

“The rules on the mountain are strict. I cannot guarantee you anything.”

She wiped fish blood from her fingers, making no effort to hide the ambition in her eyes. “I will not trouble Senior Brother.”

Relieved, I coated the fish and dropped it into the oil with a hiss.

Yexue would go up the mountain with him. She promised to repay me as soon as she received her stipend.

I nodded while wrapping fried fish in layer after layer of oilcloth and secretly stuffing it into her arms.

Jing Tongzhou coughed to hide a laugh. “Miss Chongxiu, food may now be brought into the sect.”

Delighted, I handed him a packet too, then asked why Tang Six and the others had stopped coming. Ordinary families could not buy wontons every day; one visit from cultivators earned me more than many days of mortal business.

Jing Tongzhou hesitated. “To tell you the truth, a thief has been haunting the sect. Every rare flower and herb in the alchemy garden has vanished, along with several bottles of the elders’ best pills.”

He paused, baffled. “Even the Golden Immortal Ancestor’s Qingqi Sword was stolen.”

I instinctively looked at the ugly green iron sword in my kitchen, so rusted that I used it as a fire poker.

Surely not.

He mistook my expression for fear and rested a hand on his sword. “Do not worry. The thief is targeting the sect. We have laid formations everywhere and will catch him when he returns.”

Before leaving, he placed a golden leaf on the table as payment for the fish.

“The martial arts tournament is near. Once the inner sect inspection ends, the disciples will come down again.”

I exhaled in relief and waved happily at their backs.