Chapter 91 Nezha is no longer in human form, when will we ever see him again...?
Meanwhile, another group of carriages belonging to the Lin family were experiencing a completely different situation.
When Pingyu traveled, Xue Yue'e provided her with three carriages. Aside from the one Pingyu herself rode in, the other two carriages were filled with daily necessities allocated from the manor's treasury, such as clothing, hairpins, tableware, and ingredients. The coachman was Lin Dong's trusted confidant, skilled in both driving and cooking, and even capable of acting as a bodyguard against bandits. It was dinnertime, and after a moment's hesitation, the coachman finally retrieved two sets of tableware from the carriage.
The young lady seemed to know the old beggar well, but it was best not to offend him without knowing his true character.
The food was served on the table, but Pingyu had no appetite.
The Taoist priest did not answer the question Pingyu had just raised. He only said that he was so hungry that he was about to faint, and then he dragged Pingyu here by force.
She was at the head of the table, and the Taoist priest was at the foot of the table.
The lavish dinner covered the crimson table, and the girl sat upright in her seat, not touching a drop of water.
She watched the Taoist priest sitting opposite her eating heartily, and asked expressionlessly, "You still haven't answered me. What happened to my home?"
The Taoist priest spat out a bone: "You child are truly disgusting."
She remained unmoved: "You should be full by now."
After all, only the bone marrow had been sucked out of the plate of roast chicken, and only golden oil remained on the plate of crispy fish. The Taoist had devoured everything in a whirlwind, leaving almost nothing on the table. Sucking on his fingers, he was still not quite satisfied. He smacked his lips twice and asked, "Want some more?"
The girl looked at him quietly, her eyes clear and bright.
The Taoist priest felt uneasy under those large, dark eyes and could only raise his hand in resignation: "Little girl, you're really being unreasonable!"
He said, "How would I know about your family? I've never been to your house. I was just curious when I asked you what to do after your life-threatening ordeal."
"You didn't ask out of curiosity."
The next second, the Taoist's previously nonchalant expression changed. He looked at the quiet, gentle girl sitting opposite him and suddenly dropped a bombshell: "You're the Taoist I knew when I was a child, right?"
He had expected the girl to continue her pursuit, but instead, she seemed intent on dismantling his facade. After a few moments, the Taoist calmed himself and asked, "Why would you think that?"
“See, you didn’t refute me.” Ping Yu smiled. “I didn’t even explain the background; just one question and you knew that I met a Taoist priest when I was a child.”
The Taoist priest choked for a moment.
He instantly found the logical flaw in the statement, but since he had been exposed, the Taoist made no attempt to conceal his identity. Ping Yu noticed that the Taoist's lips moved slightly, and the outer layer of skin melted away like a candle. In the blink of an eye, a white-haired old man with an air of Taoist immortality appeared before Ping Yu. His hair was loosely combed in a Taoist bun, his thin face had distinct features, and his wrinkled skin was dignified. His dark eyes were bright and piercing.
A thought popped into Pingyu's mind: Even an old Ferrari is still a Ferrari.
"You haven't changed at all..."
The Taoist's transformed appearance seemed to have been extracted from Ping Yu's memory, almost identical to how she looked when she was an infant. If the Taoist had presented herself in this form from the beginning, Ping Yu was certain she would have recognized her instantly. The Taoist was too mysterious; Ping Yu couldn't ascertain much about her background. He wasn't even surprised that a newborn infant could remember things, let alone eleven years later.
He asked, "Were you trying to trick me?"
“There are too many flaws,” Ping Yu shook his head: “You never intended to hide anything.”
Ping Yu saw through the Taoist's disguise from the start; after all, although the Taoist looked disheveled, there was no dirt between his fingers. The mention of "fragrant tea" before leaving the carriage was also quite intriguing. At first, Ping Yu thought this man, like Nezha, was a ghost who needed incense to enjoy fragrant tea. But inside the carriage, he was eating and drinking recklessly, behaving like a living person. Therefore, the tea was none other than tea offered to the master. And the three sticks of incense were for offering prayers to the ancestral master. With all the doubts neatly laid out, those overlooked details also came to light.
Why did the Taoist priest lead Nezha away? Why did he block her way to Cuiping Mountain?
Pingyu had to overcome the hurdle on her own, and the Taoist's appearance was like a metronome, not allowing the melody of the plot to deviate even slightly.
Having mostly sorted out his thoughts, he nodded repeatedly to the astute Taoist Pingyu, saying, "You're quite intelligent."
He said, "If they were to become my disciples, they would not bring shame upon my family."
“I’m just a senior,” the girl said again, “I have a question.”
"What is it?"
“When I was an infant, you said that after I passed my tribulation, I would have a master-disciple relationship with you.” My birthday is tomorrow, and my tribulation is also tomorrow. You came to my side so much earlier than expected. Aren’t you afraid of revealing a heavenly secret?
The Taoist smiled without speaking, implying that Pingyu should figure it out himself.
Pingyu tentatively asked, "Has my fate been resolved?"
If the problem has been solved, she wants to go home first thing tomorrow morning!
"No," the Taoist shook his head, "but it won't cause any delay."
Ping Yu's face darkened. What did he mean by "not solving it but not delaying things"? Was this old man just there to watch? If she was still alive by tomorrow, he'd take her as a disciple; if she died, he'd just collect her body?
She swallowed her complaints with difficulty, and the question returned to the very beginning: "What about my home..."
"I advise you to refrain from mentioning this," the Taoist interrupted Ping Yu promptly. It's said that clothes make the man, and his disheveled appearance and subsequent behavior seemed quite ill-mannered. Now, however, his stern, immortal demeanor as he rebuked Ping Yu carried a considerable air of authority: "You are a cultivator, destined to live to a hundred years. Regardless of family or country, in the passage of time, you will all become nothing but dust. How can you achieve great success by clinging to the past?"
Pingyu disliked this way of speaking, finding it too condescending: "They say that when one attains enlightenment, even one's chickens and dogs ascend to heaven. How can I forget my parents before I've even begun my cultivation?"
Forgetting one's roots is unacceptable!
The Taoist priest remained noncommittal in the face of the childish words. He simply said, "There is still a difference between cultivators and those destined by Heaven. You are too young to understand."
Pingyu felt a sudden urge to ask again, but the Taoist priest didn't give her the chance. With a flick of his sleeve, the girl felt a strong, surging wind rush towards her. Pingyu stumbled and was pushed outside. The girl, steadying herself against the doorframe, startled the drowsy coachman. The dozing slave, realizing his slacking off had been caught by his master, was in an extremely awkward situation. To make amends, the coachman, enraged by Pingyu's rough treatment, grabbed the doorframe and shoved, saying, "Even a dog wags its tail when it eats a bone thrown by someone else, how can you be so rude after eating my dinner?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a flash of golden light appeared through the crack in the door.
The driver was gone, and a big, burly little dog was left circling around where he had been.
If dogs know manners, then wouldn't those who know manners become dogs?
Seeing this, Pingyu didn't press the matter further and returned to her room. Little Gray hopped around on her bed, and the girl gently stroked the pigeon as she held it in her arms. After the Cold Dew came Frost's Descent, and the mountain was windy and cold. Since arriving here, Pingyu felt that Little Gray had lost some of its lively spirit. She wrapped herself in the blanket and hugged the bird tightly, drawing warmth from it. At home, she had Green Robe; in Chen Tang Pass, she had Nezha. The more people Pingyu cared about, the more she feared loneliness.
The pigeon sensed the girl's low spirits and nuzzled her cheek twice.
She kissed the clever fur on Little Gray's head and asked as if to herself, "What do you think Nezha is doing right now?"
The night was deep and dark, making the Five Lotus Pond appear as if it were filled with ink. The lotus flowers and water lilies were laid out on the ground by the immortals. The lotus petals were picked and arranged into three categories, and the lotus roots were washed and arranged into three hundred joints. Finally, the three lotus leaves were arranged according to the three categories of heaven, earth, and man. Taiyi Zhenren took a golden pill from the alchemy furnace and placed it in the center. He used the pure essence of heaven and earth to operate the nine-turn process, separating the dragon and tiger trigrams to lock Nezha's soul. After everything was ready, Nezha's soul was pushed into the lotus pond, and Taiyi Zhenren's closed eyes suddenly opened! [1]
Golden light gathered, and the phantom of the array rose from the pool. The immortal roared, "If Nezha doesn't take human form, when will he ever do it again!" [2]
As he stood up completely, a tall young man appeared in the lotus pond. His damp hair clung to his naked body, darker than the night, with a few strands hanging from the surrounding blooming lotus flowers and leaves, as if his hair were an abyss, about to swallow up the pink and green.
"Nezha," Taiyi Zhenren called him.
The boy's eyelids twitched, and a teardrop hanging from his long eyelashes fell. His eyes, dark and dull beneath his eyelids, stared straight at his mentor. His face was too clear, too coldly beautiful, with striking red lips on his flawless skin. As he spoke, his lips slowly parted: "Master."
Nezha raised his hand, his movements as sluggish as a newborn infant. He watched the water slip through his fingers and calmly declared, "I should go save people."
Author's Note: [1] and [2] are both adapted from the original novel "Investiture of the Gods".
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