The Adventures of a Naïve Apprentice, Part 1

A gentle breeze caresses the willows, sunlight falls on their waists, cicadas chirp and sing, and white talismans flutter in the wind.

On a desolate hillside, overgrown with wild grass, a figure in white moved about. Circling around a wall covered with vines, stepping on fallen leaves and blue stones, following the white talisman that resembled a butterfly, a broom was thrown out from in front of a gate covered with cobwebs and with a crooked sign.

The man in white gripped the broom, stepped on the stone, leaped up, and swept away the cobwebs and dust from the doorplate.

The characters on the plaque were then clearly visible.

The man in white landed back on the ground, looked up at the three words "City of Transvestites" and smiled serenely.

She had been in this desolate place for many years, but thankfully, what she wanted was to attain immortality, and this place was based on the current ideology of cultivating immortality—immortal cultivators exist to benefit the world.

That's what she needs.

Unfortunately, although she has a high level of comprehension, her progress in learning Taoist magic is slow, which is worrying.

"Young Master Huaiwen—Master wants you to go down the mountain to set up a stall!"

The two little demons from the transvestite community, named Onimichi and Oni-tetsu, were only 3 feet 7 inches tall. They resembled humans but had no faces, so they had to wear human face masks, otherwise they would be quite frightening.

Hearing the sound, Huaiwen responded and followed her master Liuxi down the mountain.

As usual, the master and his apprentice went down the mountain to set up a fortune-telling shop, displaying small props that could protect people from demons, or small props that people needed to disguise themselves when going to the demon realm.

For a long time, no one came to the stall. Huaiwen was worried; if they didn't earn some money soon, they would go hungry in a couple of days. Seeing Huaiwen's worry, Liuxi sent her to wander around and find some interested people to buy things.

Huaiwen wandered around for a week without finding anyone she was interested in. Not wanting to go back too soon and disappoint Liu Xi, she went to the old banyan tree as usual to listen to the storyteller talk about the latest trends.

But before she even got there, she heard someone smashing a wine jug.

The man roared, "You old, stinking tree! You claim that a month ago, a white light shone from the east, and a stone tablet fell down with inscriptions on it? Who would believe that? We, who have traveled far and wide, saw with our own eyes that the stone tablet was blank. You're trying to fool us!"

The old banyan tree calmly replied, "Those who are not worthy of the attention of the stone tablet cannot see the words; those who are not of noble birth cannot see the words."

The man was furious upon hearing this! He stood up and demanded of everyone present that anyone knew the words carved on the stone tablet, but everyone shook their heads; no one knew. Emboldened, he resumed his verbal attacks on the old banyan tree.

The old banyan tree did not refute, but simply stroked its beard and sighed, "If there is no affinity, one cannot see it; if there is affinity, why can't one see it?"

Huaiwen, unaware of the reason, sought out Bai Bumian, a familiar scholar, and asked him what had happened. Bai Bumian drank a cup of tea, asked Huaiwen to sit down, and then explained in detail.

Not long ago, a stone tablet fell outside Yong'an City in the eastern part of Zishang Kingdom. If it were an ordinary stone tablet, no one would pay any attention to it. However, this stone tablet fell at dawn, and it was surrounded by a strong white light.

Some early-rising farmers initially thought the sun had risen, but as they watched the ball of light grow larger and larger, accompanied by a huge fireball that was falling downwards, they began to think the sun was about to fall, and everyone fled in terror.

Suddenly, the "sun" went out, just like fireworks after they burned out, leaving a long trail of smoke in the air. The "sun" also revealed its "true form," which was a stone tablet.

The stone tablet crashed heavily to the ground, creating a deep crater. Ordinary people dared not go to see it, so they sought help from the government, who then found a Taoist priest, who finally came to investigate.

The stone tablet in the deep pit was smooth and blank. The Taoist priest tested it with his ritual implements and found it harmless. At the request of the government, he performed a ritual, which gradually calmed the hearts of the surrounding people.

Just when they thought the matter was over, someone visited in the dead of night. From the depths of the pit, countless black mists emerged, accompanied by flashes of lightning. With a deafening roar, the earth shook, trembling the entire city of Yong'an.

That night, a saying spread: "If there are words on this stele, divine calamity will descend again."

No one knows how the message got out. But since it did, someone went to look at it. But no one could see the words on it.

Why then is it said that the inscription on this stele foretells a calamity from heaven? Opinions vary, but no definitive conclusion can be reached.

As a result, different opinions arose. However, they can be categorized into two types: one is that someone did it on purpose to mislead people into making wild guesses; the other is that there really were words, but someone deliberately erased them.

Whether there were written words or not is not important; what matters most is that half the people in Yong'an City died that night.

This is a calamity from heaven!

Huaiwen was shocked upon hearing this and pressed Bai Bumian to tell him if the government had investigated. Bai Bumian lowered his voice and whispered in Huaiwen's ear, "Of course they investigated, but all those who investigated were dead. Everyone became afraid, and since that place was a calamity, they naturally dared not go there again. The government found a pretext, had a few Taoist priests perform a ritual, and ended the matter."

Huaiwen frowned, and Bai Bumian added, "There's no need to ask anymore, I don't know the rest either."

To draw conclusions without knowing the truth is far too hasty. Huaiwen felt a sense of unease, as if something was amiss. But since Bai Bumian was now engrossed in listening to the opera, she stopped pressing the matter and got up to go back to find Liu Xi.

But when she returned, she didn't see Liu Xi. All the neatly arranged props were in disarray. Huaiwen was very worried, so she took out a white talisman, used her hand as a pen to write a spell, and recited the word "chase". Then she followed the white talisman to follow Liu Xi's trail.

They chased the white talisman out of the city of demons and monsters, but it disappeared into the forest. Huaiwen looked around but found no signs of a fight. He could only continue searching deeper, but after searching for a while, he still hadn't found his master and was entangled by some lesser demons.

Helpless, Huaiwen could only outwit and outmaneuver the little demons, and before long, it was already dark.

Just as Huaiwen was about to use the white talisman, she smelled a foul odor, her vision went black, and she collapsed to the ground.

When she woke up again, Huaiwen was already lying in her bed. She opened her eyes and saw Liuxi, and hurriedly asked her what had happened after confirming that Liuxi was safe.

Liu Xi sighed and said that a demon, due to unstable magic, suddenly lost its human form and was exposed on the street. This caused a commotion, and some Taoist priests acted haphazardly, accidentally messing up the items on the stalls.

He was naturally furious and wanted to confront them.

Unexpectedly, it turned into a fight between him, the demon, and the Taoist priest, and the three of them ended up outside the city. Later, when they finished fighting and he was about to return from the forest, he saw Huaiwen and those little demons engaging in a battle of wits and courage.

Since that was the case, Liu Xi decided to observe Huai Wen's recent progress in learning immortal techniques. Unexpectedly, Huai Wen was knocked unconscious by the poisonous gas released by the little demons. He quickly went to save him.

Huaiwen hung her head after hearing this. She had been cultivating very diligently, but her immortal techniques were not making much progress.

Seeing this, Liu Xi comforted him, "Huaiwen, do you know why your progress is slow despite your diligent cultivation?"

"Why?"

“Because cultivation, like studying, requires traveling thousands of miles. I’ve calculated it, and you don’t lack knowledge of immortal techniques and spells, but you lack practical experience,” Liu Xi explained in detail.

Huaiwen frowned, somewhat puzzled.

Liu Xi continued, "Master wants you to go down the mountain to gain experience."

Huaiwen asked in surprise, "Why are you suddenly... asking me to go down the mountain?"

“I’ve heard about the stone tablet in Yong’an City,” Liu Xi explained. “It’s very strange that the stone tablet descended on Yong’an City in the middle of the night, just like the cursed shackles on you.”

Suddenly, Huaiwen's face darkened, and she called out in a low voice, "Master."

The memory suddenly came back to her. After a moment of contemplation, Liu Xi pulled herself together and said with some shame, "Huaiwen, it's not because of the cursed shackles that Master wants to force you to go down the mountain. It's because Master feels that the stone tablet, like the cursed shackles on your body, has an unknown origin. Perhaps you could go down the mountain and go somewhere to see if you can find anything."

It's civilized.

Liu Xi said earnestly, "Master is afraid that he will not be able to go with you, and Master also hopes that you... will go down the mountain as a man? I... feel that this way you can avoid a lot of harm."

Huaiwen understood what Liuxi meant. From the time she could remember, she had been living as a boy. Liuxi had told her that it wasn't that she couldn't live as a woman, but that she was bound by a curse. Even the two little ghosts who lived with the demons didn't know that Huaiwen's true identity was a girl.

She recalled a night when the curse suddenly descended upon her, sealing her female form. She could only live as a man. Although the curse did not harm her life, aside from the change between male and female forms, it did not kill her.

What terrified her was that neither she nor Liu Xi knew what lay behind the cursed shackles, or what the curse itself was.

Because of this curse, she has no hope of cultivation; because of this curse, she cannot attain immortality.

Huaiwen's heart skipped a beat, and he was more worried about Liu Xi: "But Master, if I go down the mountain, will you be the one guarding the transvestite sanctuary?"

Liu Xi nodded: "Don't worry about your master, worry about yourself first. Your cultivation is not high, and you will definitely encounter many things after you go down the mountain. The most important thing is whether you can protect your own life."

“Master, actually, I…” Huaiwen wanted to say that she wasn’t that bad, but seeing Liu Xi’s eyes, she swallowed her words.

As the incense wafted over, Liu Xi looked at Huai Wen with a sigh, then made a firm decision and said solemnly, "With you all alone, I worry that your path of training will be fraught with danger. Therefore, I have come up with a plan that can protect you for the rest of your life, preventing you from suffering a tragic death."

Huaiwen remained silent; in her master's eyes, she was doomed. But she couldn't blame her master; she had also consulted a fortune teller, and it was a bad omen. Her life was destined to be fraught with unrest.

"I have carefully selected three people to accompany you, who are also people who owe us transvestites a debt of gratitude in the past."

According to Liu Xi, the scroll records the debts owed by people who had done business with different people and demons in the past, or the favors that the human-demon association had done for them, leaving behind a record of human kindness.

Now that Huaiwen is going down the mountain to gain experience, this is a good opportunity to visit the people listed here and retrieve the money. They can also help Huaiwen succeed in his training because of our past friendship.

Therefore, Liu Xi carefully selected three people who could best protect Huai Wen and accompany him on his journey.

First on the list is Song Ziheng. A hundred years ago, this man came to the place of demons seeking treasure, but he had no money and had to pay with his life. His martial arts skills were among the best in the martial arts rankings at the time. If he had cultivated diligently over the past hundred years, he would certainly be even more powerful than before, and perhaps he might even have attained immortality.

Second, the Jiang clan. A hundred years ago, their ancestor Jiang Youlai came to the place of demons and humans, seeking their protection. This was because their clan was being hunted down, and the then-leader, for the greater good, saved their people.

This is a debt of gratitude.

The Jiang family was originally a scholarly family. After being rescued by a demon, some members of the family began to cultivate immortal arts. Now, thinking back, after a hundred years, they must have achieved something great.

At this point, Liu Xi took out a jade pendant and handed it to Huai Wen, saying it was the token she would need to present when she went to find the Jiang clan. However, this jade pendant alone wouldn't suffice; it also needed to match the password set by their clan and the one established by their leader at that time before it would be accepted.

In this way, Huaiwen could go down the mountain to gain experience, find out where the curse came from, and find a way to break it. In addition, with someone to accompany him, Liuxi could relax a little.

The master and apprentice each had their own thoughts and were secretly worried. But this was the best solution at the moment.

Then Liu Xi instructed Huaiwen that after going down the mountain, the first priority should be to have money to survive, the second should be to find someone to accompany him, and the last should be to go to the stone tablet to investigate the truth.

Before Liu Xi could finish speaking, Huai Wen interrupted him, asking in confusion, "Master, didn't you just say there were three? How come there's one more?"

At this point, Liu Xi frowned involuntarily. Huai Wen, seeing through her, asked, "Has this last one already passed away?"

Liu Xi shook her head, sighed, and said with great reluctance, "I hope you can meet the first two, not this last one."

Why?

"Because of him, there was no escaping it."