Chapter 23: The Wilderness of Guangmo, Part 3
The Autumn Beginning Banquet is also the first time the new disciples have met with everyone after arriving on the mountain.
Du Gewen didn't take on any disciples this year, and Ming Jin was busy with other things, so she didn't notice anything amiss. It was only when Mei Chong introduced Ming Jin to an unfamiliar man that Ming Jin realized there were several strangers around.
"This is Elder Du's disciple, Senior Sister Tianguang. Senior Sister, this is our Medicine Sect's new disciple, surnamed Zhao, named Xun. Master gave her the courtesy name Yuanda."
“I know,” Mingjin thought for a moment, “You reported that someone had gone up the mountain without warning, right?”
"Indeed. But it wasn't just me; it wasn't all my doing."
The three chatted for a few more minutes. Miao Sheng, still unable to find Mei Chong, came out of the kitchen to call for him. Zhao Xun didn't know many people, so he went along to help.
"It's a masterpiece," Chi Hui and Chu Ying introduced their junior brother Qiu Hongcheng to Ming Jin. After exchanging a few words, the two of them led the newcomer to the other person. Gao Dai, who usually played with them, couldn't get involved and rarely sat quietly to the side. "How is that disciple who colluded with the evil spirit?"
“Before, you senior sisters were all recuperating in the city, so the sect leader sent me and Elder Yan and the others to hunt ghosts, leaving Senior Brother Fu in charge of this matter,” Gao Dai said, holding a teacup. “When I left, that person was still locked in the secret dungeon. Although he was not in good condition, he was not injured and his life was not in danger. His situation was awkward, and I did not dare to ask the sect leader. Anyway, I did not find a suitable solution myself.”
"A secret prison?"
"Shh," Gao Dai put a finger to his lips, "Don't make a sound. I don't know much either; I'm basically just following the sect leader's orders. When Senior Brother Fu arrives later, you can ask him. He's probably introducing the sect leader's newly accepted disciple, which is why he's been delayed and hasn't shown up yet."
While the two were talking, Zhu Zhenyun was holding her son Fuzhang, and Zhou Wei was supporting Deng Lin. The three adults joined in as they talked, but none of them had much freedom, so after greeting each other, they wanted to find a place to rest for a while. When they saw Ming Jin waving to them again, they walked over together.
"Shihe and Tianyi haven't arrived yet," Zhou Wei thought, "maybe they haven't even come up the mountain. It's strange that I haven't seen these two familiar faces. What's wrong?"
"Yesterday at dusk, Shihe was suddenly summoned by the sect leader and didn't return until midnight. He left early this morning, and we don't know what it was for. Tianyi probably went with him too."
Fu Zhang, having arrived at a new place, couldn't sit still and struggled in Zhu Zhenyun's arms, babbling incessantly. Gao Dai, also unable to sit still, took him from Zhu Zhenyun, and the adult carried the child to stroll around the neighborhood.
"Oh, they're here," Zhu Zhenyun's eyes were originally following Fu Zhang, worried that the child would bother others, but she happened to see a young woman following behind Fu Nai and Shen Du. "That's the sect leader's new disciple, you probably haven't seen her before. Her surname is Wang, her given name is Fu Yuan, and her courtesy name is Shi Yi. She was the first to discover those spies, but she didn't dare to act on her own. She called Elder Ji and Elder Yan's new disciples to investigate together before reporting to Tian Zuo and the others."
"I didn't expect the sect leader to take on another disciple," Zhou Wei said with slight surprise. "Didn't he say that he didn't know how to be a teacher, so he never mentioned it again after taking on Shihe?"
"It was just something I said in the heat of the moment," Deng Lin said with a smile. "Times have passed, and if you encounter a promising talent, why miss out because of a single sentence?"
“That makes sense,” Mingjin replied with a smile.
"Where's Yuanbei? Why didn't you two come from home together?" Zhu Zhenyun looked around and, noticing that one person was missing, asked curiously.
“Yuanbei went to see Master Chen. He’s been working on a spell recently but has hit a roadblock, so he asked Master Chen for guidance.”
The spell Pang Ming was researching was the one Meng Sheng had introduced to Ming Jin, but Meng Sheng and Shen Bai were both temporarily unavailable. Ming Jin secretly pondered it several times in seclusion, but made no progress, so he had to give up and place his hopes on Pang Ming, who was familiar with water magic. Although Pang Ming was very interested, they were all young cultivators, and it was not easy for a group of people to independently figure out a new spell. Coincidentally, it was the beginning of autumn banquet, so Pang Ming had to go out. He took his research materials and went to Chen Duan for advice.
"It is indeed a brilliant idea."
Chen Duan tested the spell once, but because he was busy with his own research, he could only offer Pang Ming some advice. The two of them talked for so long that by the time they arrived, everyone was already seated and ready to eat. They quickly found the two remaining stools, listened to Miao Sheng's speech, and then raised their glasses with everyone.
After that, aside from matters concerning the mountain and the academy, Pang Ming mostly stayed at home. Since he had an older brother and sister-in-law, he moved into the Ming family home after marrying Ming Jin. Although the Ming family home wasn't large, Shao Zhe and Ming Shiyu had a large study, divided in two by a large screen, allowing Pang Ming to immerse himself in his research. Ming Jin was constantly busy with matters on the mountain, and after finishing, she had to perform exorcisms, so she was often away from home. Only when the cold winter arrived, and the twelfth lunar month was approaching, did Ming Jin have time to sit in her study, warm herself by the stove, and comfortably drink a cup of hot tea.
This is usually how Mingjin spends his leisure time, but this year things haven't been so good.
"Have you read it?" Ming Jin was sitting in a recliner, holding a thick stack of letters in his hand. "A letter from the squad leader?"
“I’ve seen it. I even helped copy it over,” Pang Ming looked up from his desk at the stack of papers Ming Jin was holding up, then adjusted the folded corners of the papers and continued writing. “You’ve been hunting ghosts outside recently, following the sect leader’s instructions. I thought you knew.”
"Before Youran City, were people really captured to give birth and be fed to those evil spirits?"
“You’re just doubting the class elder’s abilities,” Pang Ming said, his gaze fixed on the paper, his voice growing lower. “The class elder, despite being ill, rushed to translate such difficult text. As for those evil spirits, nothing they do is too surprising. When we fight them, we can only try to avoid major mistakes and seek minor ones.”
“That makes sense,” Mingjin lay down and began to read it again from the beginning. “Then why did the evil spirit abandon this plan and instead kidnap people?”
"Neither the inscription nor the logbook leaves a date, so we don't know when they started changing their plans. I don't think this is necessarily a good thing; it just means they found a more advantageous solution for themselves and changed it."
After saying that, Pang Ming put down his pen and blew on the ink to dry it.
“What kind of evil spirit could come up with such a plan?” Mingjin frowned as he flipped through the letter. “Maybe it was too depraved for the evil spirit to continue.”
"You still want to talk about conscience with evil spirits?" Pang Ming stood up and walked towards Ming Jinshi.
“The world is vast and full of wonders,” Ming Jin read quickly for the second time, then put the letter down and watched Pang Ming walk over. “If all evil spirits look alike, then we wouldn’t have to struggle so much to deal with them.”
"Forget about ghosts, look at this."
As he spoke, Pang Ming took out a square piece of paper about the size of two palms, sat down next to Ming Jin, and then silently recited an incantation. Under the reflection of the water, the paper leaned against it, and the shadows of the two people, one large and one small, were ultimately left on the paper.
"You succeeded?" The piece of paper fell onto Mingjin's lap. She straightened up, picked up the small piece of paper, and examined it carefully. "It looks pretty good."
"Let me see."
Pang Ming followed Ming Jin's hand and examined the details on the piece of paper. He found that apart from the two people's heads, the shape gradually faded from the four circles around the heads and the necks, leaving only some faint colors.
"After all this effort, we've finally achieved some results, but the effect isn't quite right yet."
Pang Ming's shoulders ached from sitting for so long, so he leaned back and lay down on Ming Jin. Although he had a smile on his face, he was still dissatisfied: "This spell can't be used reliably yet. When you go to Huicheng during the New Year, why don't you go and ask Yu Cheng if the cultivators there have any different techniques than those in our Kongyun Mountain that can improve the spell?"
“That’s feasible,” Ming Jin said, placing his free hand on Pang Ming’s chest. He murmured after a moment’s thought, “We might run into Elder Hong. If he were willing to give us a word of advice, it might have a miraculous effect. However, since we’ve already achieved some results, we might as well go find Chang Qi and leave one for him and his daughter. Xiang’er isn’t the same child she was when she was born, so leaving one would be nice too.”
“It’s good,” Pang Ming turned his head back to look at his desk and said helplessly, “but I’ve almost used up the few sheets of paper you bought before. I don’t know if they’ll last until I can produce a single successful piece.”
“It’s not easy for you to hold out for so long,” Ming Jin handed the piece of paper to Pang Ming to prevent it from getting mixed up with the stack of letters in his hand. “You should still give it a try, since I won’t be able to buy it again until spring.”
"Take me with you next time you go to that forest gathering. I want to see what good things they have."
“I have to ask,” Mingjin thought carefully. “It seems that a token can only allow one person to enter. I need to get their permission first. Before, Master Mu and I were able to go in together because Boss Jiang let both of us in at once.”
"What a pity," Pang Ming said with a helpless pout. "I really wanted to go and see it. A gathering of flower and plant spirits..."
Mingjin wanted to find Zhuilian and Zhulian before the Gathering of the Forest to ask if she could bring Pangming along. However, she went three times during the breaks from ghost hunting but didn't see the two sisters. Even after the Gathering of the Forest resumed, Mingjin still hadn't seen them. Thinking she could only go herself first, and then take Pangming with her after getting permission, she went out.
But Mingjin looked around and still couldn't find the sisters' shop.
"They didn't come?" Old Jiang, holding a large teapot, grew increasingly puzzled as he listened to Ming Jin's words. "That's really strange. They're usually the first ones to arrive. Have you seen Cao Xiu?"
"No, not at all." Mingjin shook his head.
"How strange, how strange," Boss Jiang was even more troubled, unable to recall what had happened to them before. "Tian Guang, you can wander around for a while. After I finish serving tea to the guests, I'll go and check on Cao Xiu and Lian Hua."
"Okay," Mingjin replied, then, after a moment's thought, asked, "Boss Jiang, could you do me a favor? I'd like to bring someone else along, but the other three aren't here. Could you help me with that?"
“Little girl, your credibility with me is not as high as Old Man Hong’s, so I can’t let anyone in for you. After all, if the person you bring in causes trouble, we who distribute the tokens will be driven out by the other spirits.”
"Oh, I see. Then I'll leave it to you. I'll bring you some of Juxia's fine tea next time I come."
"You keep your word."
As they were talking, the seated customers behind them called for tea, and Boss Jiang quickly took the teapot to serve it. Mingjin felt that it was a waste of time to sit there, so she walked along the tea stall towards the place where the three sisters usually set up their stall. Along the way, few of the flower and plant spirits were seriously doing business; several stalls were empty, and several others had groups of people joking around behind them. Mingjin tried to call out to them to come and buy something, but there was no response.
"Just leave the money and take your things. Most of them don't know the value of coins, so just estimate it to be close to the market price. Buying things here is mostly based on conscience."
Mingjin was holding something in her hand, unwilling to put it down, and was at a loss for what to do when she heard a slightly familiar voice behind her. She turned around and met the eyes of "Crane".
Is this feasible?
"Don't worry, I've been browsing around here for over ten years. I've asked around and it's definitely feasible."
Hearing her say that, Mingjin did a quick calculation and put the money back where it was. She originally planned to say a few more words to "Crane," but "Crane" left after speaking, leaving Mingjin with only a small back view. She could only hurry up while stuffing the things into her pouch.
"Senior Meng, Senior Meng, Senior Baihe."
Just then, "Crane" stopped in front of a stall, and Mingjin's two shouts happened to reach her ears.
"Oh, how do you recognize me?"
Meng Xi held a translucent white ten-yuan note she had just picked up from the stall, looking at Ming Jin with a smile in her eyes.
"These days, probably not many cultivators remember me, right?"
“I bought some venison from you last time, and I happened to give some to Yu Cheng. She recognized the deer leg immediately by your knife skills. I was so sorry I didn’t recognize you last time.”
"So your friend is Sheng'er? What a coincidence. Come to my place for a cup of tea, it's not far." Meng Xi held a xun (a type of ancient Chinese wind instrument) in her hand, with a pendant hanging from it. As she gestured for Ming Jin to follow her, the pendant swung slightly in the air.
"Then this junior will respectfully accept your offer."
"Are you also a cultivator from the capital city?"
"I am a cultivator from Kongyun Mountain. I met Elder Hong and Yu Cheng by chance during a ghost hunt, and that's how we became acquainted."
“Kongyun Mountain,” Meng Xi said, walking forward with Ming Jin. He paused for a moment when he heard these three words. “I think I’ve vaguely heard this name before. I haven’t dealt with people as a member of the sect for a long time, so I don’t really know much about it.”
"Have you completely left the path of cultivation?"
"You know so much about me?" Meng Xi was intrigued by this question. "What else did Sheng'er tell you?"
“She didn’t say much,” Mingjin said, unsure of Meng Sheng’s true feelings for Meng Xi and worried that her retelling might contain unnecessary ambiguity. “She said that she and you lived together in a small village, making a living by hunting, until you sent her back to Huicheng to study when she was a teenager. She has hardly seen you since then, so she misses you very much.”
"She didn't complain about me at all?" Meng Xi's expression was meaningful.
“I don’t know about that,” Mingjin avoided the topic, “but she just gave birth before the New Year. If you would like to visit her and her baby, everyone would be very happy.”
"Let's talk about it another time. We've arrived."
Reminded by Meng Xi, Ming Jin looked up and saw a small courtyard nestled among the dense forest not far away. They didn't know when they had come out of the Forest Gathering. The trees here were tall and leafy, probably further south, and the leaves hadn't fallen even in winter. The sunlight was sparse, flickering among the leaves in the wind.
As they entered, Meng Xi went to unlock the door, while Ming Jin stood behind her, looking up at the two characters "Lin Mansion" on the plaque above the main gate.
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