Nothing strange or uncanny happened in the village.
At first, the disciples were still somewhat apprehensive. But after a day or two, as the festival preparations took shape and decorations appeared throughout the village, they gradually caught the villagers’ excitement and began asking for details about the celebration.
The Demon Mother had become a demon after being born human, and so she had no birthday to celebrate. After all, she had not wished to remain mortal, so her human birthday could hardly count. And the day she became a demon was also the day of her wedding to the Heavenly Demon, so their wedding anniversary could not serve as a birthday, either.
The villagers therefore chose the season when the Demon Mother’s favorite Yuejian flowers bloomed to celebrate and please her.
Every year at that time, the villagers hunted a great many wild animals, opened jars of fine wine, and laid out lavish feasts. Most importantly, they selected an intelligent, capable, beautiful woman to play the Demon Mother. Riding on a flower-decked palanquin, she would hunt, sing, and dance, then scatter flowers and fruit among the crowd to bless all the villagers, young and old, with peace, happiness, health, and long life.
One disciple listened with great interest, shoveling rice into his mouth as he laughed. “It’s not so different from the customs for thanking the gods back home. We just tend to hire performers to put on plays. This sounds pretty fun too.”
Tang Wenxian and several disciples who still had objections to the demons looked disgruntled, but they, too, pricked up their ears.
The person delivering the disciples’ meals that day was an elderly woman. Because she was old, her assigned duties were neither heavy nor numerous. For once, she had some time to spare and stayed to chat with them.
She chuckled. “Yes, yes. I’ve heard the outside world is much livelier than it is here. Operas, drums and music, processions honoring the gods… This old woman saw a few of those things herself years ago. If you’d like, Granny can tell you more.”
He Yuntao had regained consciousness, though he remained somewhat weak. He set down his chopsticks for the moment and said gently, “Granny, wouldn’t that be too…”
He had been worried that she might be shunned for getting too close to the Sword Sect disciples. After hesitating, he chose a different word. “Too much trouble for you?”
“Trouble? What trouble would an old woman have?” She shook her head and smiled. “Young people nowadays all have their own ideas, and more stories than Granny does. They’ve heard mine so often their ears have grown calluses, and they don’t want to listen anymore. If you like hearing them, Granny couldn’t be happier. How could it tire me?”
He Yuntao murmured his agreement and said nothing further.
Granny went on to describe the four people who carried the Demon Mother’s palanquin. They represented the four generals serving under the Heavenly Demon, so the village carefully selected four sturdy, powerful men in their prime for the task. Those generals had no human names, only demonic ones. Translated into the human tongue, they were Joy, Anger, Sorrow, and Pleasure. The four men would wear masks corresponding to their names.
A disciple asked curiously, “There weren’t any women among the four generals?”
“There used to be. More precisely, there were five generals originally. But then the Heavenly Demon married our Demon Mother, didn’t he?” Granny laughed. “At first the Demon Mother was one of the Heavenly Demon’s subordinates, a colleague of the four generals. They all served him together.”
A kindly younger disciple asked worriedly, “But the Demon Mother was human at first. Wouldn’t the others have bullied her?”
“The four generals were brave, but when it came to planning and intelligence, they couldn’t compare with the Demon Mother.” Granny shook her head. “They certainly looked down on the Demon Mother in the beginning, but after several battles they came to respect the Demon Mother completely.”
Tang Wenxian asked in an odd tone, “Didn’t any of the four generals fancy the Demon Mother?”
“Haha, young people your age always ask questions like that.” Granny chuckled. “But there’s no harm in it. Everyone wonders about these things when they have time. In the stories and records handed down to us, the four generals always respected and feared the Demon Mother. They obeyed her in everything, but never developed any other feelings. So I imagine there wasn’t anything of that kind.”
Tang Wenxian said sarcastically, “In that case, she can’t have been very pretty.”
He Yuntao’s expression changed. “Second Junior Brother!”
“What? Did I say something wrong? They say a wife should be chosen for her virtue. Maybe the Heavenly Demon married her because she was so capable.” Tang Wenxian shrugged. “If she’d been extraordinarily beautiful, how could none of the four generals have liked her? Were they all impotent?”
“Besides, I didn’t mean anything else by it. Maybe humans and demons have completely different ideas of beauty. What they find attractive might look bizarre to us, and what we consider beautiful might look strange to them. It’s not as if I’m saying the Demon Mother was ugly.”
These words prompted Qian Xuelang, who was sitting in the sun, to stir and ask, “Do humans and demons perceive outward appearances differently?”
He rarely spoke. The moment he did, everyone turned to look at him.
Granny followed the sound of his voice. Squinting in the sunlight, she took one look at Qian Xuelang and suddenly smiled. “There are some differences, certainly, but they’re not so great. Speaking of which, I hope none of you take offense. Granny is only making an observation, but if we went by the old descriptions of the Demon Mother, this handsome young gentleman would actually be the most suitable person to play her.”
The disciples all cried out, “Ah!”
Granny, however, was still smiling. “The Demon Mother was born a princess, with snow-white skin and a face as lovely as a flower. She was very tall, and her nature was cold and proud. Whether she was dealing with humans or demons, she rarely gave anyone a friendly word. Even the Heavenly Demon himself could seldom make her smile. We have plenty of pretty and capable girls in the village, but they work in the fields, so hardly any of them have especially pale skin. And everyone’s life is so free of worry that even our most hot-tempered girls don’t go around without saying a word all day.”
It was impossible to tell whether she was joking or making an earnest observation. The disciples stared at one another, struggling so hard not to laugh that their faces nearly turned blue. Someone sprayed rice all over the table, and the people around him howled in dismay.
He Yuntao wanted to laugh but did not dare. He stole an awkward glance at Qian Xuelang, the muscles of his face twitching.
Qian Xuelang took no offense. But Granny noticed their reactions and froze. Only then did she realize what was wrong with her words. “Just listen to this old mouth! When people get old, their minds stop working properly. Granny didn’t mean it that way. Really, there’s nothing wrong with being quiet. It shows a steady temperament and an ability to handle things properly. That’s good too.”
“It’s all right,” Qian Xuelang said quietly. “I understand.”
He suddenly remembered something from very long ago.
Qian Xuelang’s path toward immortality had begun early, when he was only eight years old. Yet even now, he had not reached its end. His parents, meanwhile, had been ordinary people of the mortal world, bound by their own worldly relationships.
In the year he attained some success in cultivation, he descended the mountain alone, without particularly remembering those mortal ties. Many years later, he happened to pass by his old home and discovered that his parents had died and his younger brother now headed the household.
The two were brothers, yet they had never met. His younger brother had lived as a mortal, growing a beard and raising a houseful of children. He even looked older than their father did in Qian Xuelang’s memory.
In that brief glimpse, Qian Xuelang noticed the family going to burn incense and worship the gods. Then he passed them by.
Later, on another journey down the mountain, he encountered an evil Daoist and a yao creature the man kept captive. The Daoist had caught the creature and made it abduct children for alchemy, and sometimes assist in cheating and swindling people. Qian Xuelang killed them both with a single stroke of his sword.
And among the abducted children, one little girl happened to be his niece.
Was she his niece? Qian Xuelang had been removed from worldly affairs for so long that he scarcely remembered all the terms of kinship. The little girl, however, was very friendly toward him. Whether because of their shared blood or simply because she was naturally bold, she seemed to have been thoroughly spoiled and imperiously demanded that Qian Xuelang carry her.
The girl’s eyes shone with life. The other children were either unconscious or terrified, none of them possessing her energy.
So Qian Xuelang picked her up. Though young, she had plenty of spirit. Pointing at the heavens, she asked him, “Were you sent down from the sky to save me?”
Qian Xuelang shook his head. She looked terribly disappointed, then asked, “Then are you an immortal?”
Before he could answer, the girl immediately drooped with disappointment. “Daddy told me my eldest uncle is an immortal up in heaven, and he never tells lies. You’re so powerful that I thought my uncle had sent you to save me. Does my uncle have lots and lots of important things he has to do? Is that why he didn’t think of me?”
“No,” Qian Xuelang replied evenly.
Qian Xuelang said nothing more. Even in his own heart, he was not entirely sure what his denial meant.
Not an immortal? Not sent by her uncle? Or… no longer one of her family?
The little girl did not mind his coldness. She watched him curiously, then suddenly pressed her palms together and gave him a sweet smile. “You’re so good-looking and strong, and you don’t talk much. You’re just like the eldest uncle Daddy and Grandma told me about! I’m sure one day you’ll become an immortal, just like him.”
It was a wish so innocent that it could hardly have been more innocent.
After returning the children to the local authorities, Qian Xuelang did not stay, nor did he visit the relative he had never met, though the man apparently still thought of him.
Qian Xuelang simply returned to the mountains. By then he had a place of his own where he lived alone. In the depths of the night, an unprecedented loneliness suddenly came over him. He sat quietly before the snow and ice and watched the black hair on his head turn white, strand by strand.
He could no longer recall what he had been thinking at the time. Perhaps he had been thinking of nothing at all.
Something seemed to fade slowly from Qian Xuelang’s heart. He paid it no heed and felt no pain.
He remembered only that the snow and ice had been very still that day, so quiet it seemed every sound in creation had fallen asleep. When the new day arrived, he heard the voices of all things in the world again.
Only this time, they were much quieter, without their former clamor.
Returning to the present, he heard Granny say, “This old woman knows you people from outside don’t believe in the Demon Mother…”
Perhaps because Qian Xuelang had been silent for so long, while the disciples had laughed so hard, Granny had grown uneasy and apologetic.
Qian Xuelang said calmly, “The village reveres the Demon Mother. If Granny thinks I resemble the Demon Mother, then surely that is a kindly blessing, just as people in the mortal world say a child has the aspect of a Buddha or a god, or resembles a golden boy or jade maiden.”
“Yes! Exactly! That’s what I meant!” Granny hurriedly agreed, looking extremely grateful.
“I understand,” Qian Xuelang said.
With that, the disciples sheepishly stopped laughing.
Under the sunlight, Qian Xuelang’s expression was tranquil. He raised his head slightly, looking like an immortal beyond the dust of the mortal world. Compared with his former coldness and unapproachability, he seemed somewhat gentler now. Yet that gentleness carried a distance so serene that it was almost impossible to bridge. He no longer resembled a stone statue bereft of the seven emotions and six desires; he had become something even more indistinct, more remote.
Wan Yuntao sat somewhere above them, watching from afar. That pain in his heart a few days ago really was an insight into the Dao.
Wuhui asked curiously, “Brother Yun, what’s wrong?”
Wan Yuntao smiled faintly. “Nothing. I just feel sad and happy at the same time.”