Who You Are Book 2

Chapter 6 - Empathy (Part Six)

During one night, the winter winds howled outside. The three of them were crammed inside the smaller room, warming up by the old furnace. Xiao XingChen was mending a basket that had a broken strip of bamboo. A-Qing was draped in the only cotton quilt. Wrapping herself as though she was a zongzi, she sat by his shoulder. Xue Yang held his chin with one hand and had nothing to do.

Listening to A-Qing pester Xiao XingChen about telling her a story, he was rather annoyed, "Stop being so noisy. I'll tie your tongue into a knot if you keep on yapping."

A-Qing didn't listen to him at all and demanded, "Daozhang, I wanna hear a story!"

Xiao XingChen, "When I was young, nobody told me stories. How would I know how to tell one?"

A-Qing continued the tantrum, and was about to start rolling on the ground when Xiao XingChen finally agreed, "Alright. I'll tell you a story that happened on a mountain."

A-Qing, "Once upon a time there was a mountain and on the mountain there was a temple?"

Xiao XingChen, "No. Once upon a time, there was a celestial mountain that nobody knew of. On the mountain, there was an Immortal who reached enlightenment. The Immortal accepted a lot of disciples, but she didn't let them leave the mountain."

After hearing the beginning, Wei Wuxian understood at once, She's Baoshan Sanren.

A-Qing, "Why not?"

Xiao XingChen, "The Immortal only hid in the mountain because she couldn't understand the world outside it. She told her disciples, 'If you are going to leave the mountain, then there's no need for you to come back. Don't bring the disputes of the outside world into the mountain.'"

A-Qing, "Then how can you withstand the boredom? There'd definitely be disciples who want to go outside and play."

Xiao XingChen, "You're right. The first disciple who left was very outstanding. When he first left the mountain, due to his mastery over his skills, everyone praised and admired him, and he became a famous cultivator of the righteous path. But afterwards, people didn't know what he went through, but his personality changed drastically, and he suddenly became a villain who killed people without blinking twice. In the end, he died under thousands of swords."

This was the first disciple of Baoshan Sanren who "didn't die a peaceful death"—YanLing DaoRen.

What this shibo of Wei Wuxian's went through after leaving the mountain that caused his personality to change so much remained a mystery. It was likely that nobody would ever find out.

After Xiao XingChen finished mending the basket, he felt it a few times. He made sure that it wouldn't hurt the hand, put it down, and continued, "The second disciple was a girl and also very outstanding."

Wei Wuxian's chest felt warm. She was Cangse Sanren.

A-Qing, "Is she pretty?"

Xiao XingChen, "I don't know. She was said to be really pretty."

A-Qing, "Then, I know! There must've been a lot of people who liked her and wanted to marry her after she left the mountain. And then, she must've married a high-ranking official or the leader of a big sect! Heehee."

Xiao XingChen laughed, "You guessed wrong. She married the servant of the leader of a big sect, and the two lived happily ever after."

A-Qing, "I don't like this. How would an outstanding and beautiful cultivator settle on a servant. This story's so cliche. It's probably made up by some poor scholar. And then what happened? How was their life like after they lived happily ever after?"