Chapter Three: Rising Sun
Juxia's kind invitation coincided with the day when Menggu Academy was recruiting new students.
The rules of Kongyun Mountain stipulate that anyone wishing to ascend the mountain and become a disciple of one of the elders must first acquire skills at the academy at the foot of the mountain. Only those skilled enough and favored by the elders can then proceed to become disciples. Those who come to seek apprenticeship are either disciples from neighboring sects, children raised in Changhe Town, or unfortunate individuals displaced by evil spirits and rescued by Kongyun Mountain. Normally, the elders would visit the academy, making it a grand occasion with many elders gathering at Menggu Academy. However, the grand banquet clashed with the students' enrollment, forcing several elders to prepare their schedules. Now, only a few remain at the academy to guard the place.
The outskirts of Changhe Town are a vast expanse of lush greenery, with towering mountains, tall trees, and flowing water. Inside the town, as far as the eye can see, are houses with white walls and black tiles, and the roads are paved with large stone bricks. A light drizzle had fallen that morning, and now the stone steps gleamed. There was a dock on each side of the town; the eastern dock was for commoners, and the western dock for cultivators. Therefore, most of today's visitors took the dirt road on the west side. After disembarking at the dock, I walked to the large tree at the town entrance, where I encountered townspeople chatting idly. Following their directions, I arrived at the gate of Menggu Academy via the brick path. Several children ran back and forth along the way, calling out with laughter to those carrying bundles, "They're the new disciples of Menggu Academy!" And so, I quickly reached the academy.
Two stone beasts stood before the academy gate, unfamiliar to most visitors. They were the three-legged golden crows, divine birds chosen by the first headmaster of Kongyun Mountain, and the plaque for Menggu Academy was also inscribed by him. The gate was wide open, and the first thing visitors saw was a courtyard with a large vat containing a tall tree, still lush and green. The visitors, unfamiliar with plants, didn't recognize it. Several people were already seated on either side of the vat. Beyond the courtyard was the main gate, an east wing, and a round archway on the west leading to several rooms further in, before a two-story building at the back. The weather was fine that day, and the wooden windows on the second floor were open, revealing shelves filled with books. The visitor grabbed her bundle, stepped over the threshold, and entered. Suddenly, she heard a voice beckoning her. A man and a woman were sitting at the entrance to the east wing, and several other people were seated inside, though she couldn't make out their names. She went in, not daring to look up immediately, only to hear the woman ask her name.
"My name is Wang Fuyuan."
The man remarked that it was a good name, then gave her a token and a key, telling her it was the key to her residence. She could wander around the yard first; this was where they would study from now on. He would take them all to their lodgings later.
Before Wang Fuyuan had even left, he heard a slightly deep female voice coming from the side room: "Yuanxi, what time is it?"
“Master Chen, it’s almost noon,” Huang Jing, the woman writing, replied.
Then came the sound of a book closing, followed by a dull thud as it was put down, and then the crisp sound of a teacup being picked up. Next came the tapping of a cane, and an elderly woman emerged, leaning on it. She was clearly getting on in years; her hair was completely white, neatly tied back. Wang Fuyuan had just noticed that the man and woman at the table were dressed identically, even their hairstyles were the same.
"I'll go back to the mountains first."
Wang Fuyuan walked a long way, then sat down on a stone bench in the courtyard to rest for a moment. He watched as the old man, leaning on his cane, walked to the door without assistance, and vanished the moment he stepped across the threshold. Wang Fuyuan was still wondering when, after Chen Fuzi disappeared, a tall figure rushed in. Unlike himself, this man went straight to the east wing and introduced himself: "Yu Dongmei. Yu is composed of '丂' and '一,' representing the east; Mei is composed of '羊' and '大.'"
“Today is unusually long.” Another person emerged from the south wing. Unlike the others Wang Fuyuan had seen, his robes had wide sleeves, and while everyone else wore their hair up, his was only half-tied. Wang Fuyuan initially guessed that he might be another teacher from the academy, but then he heard the man at the table reply, “Senior brother, you seem quite content. Is reviewing essays for Teacher Rong such a trivial task? I’d rather spend the whole day practicing martial arts than read a single word.”
“If you had consulted your senior brothers and sisters more, you wouldn’t have written such poor essays that you were punished by Master Rong with more than a dozen strokes of the cane. In the end, you even became Elder Du’s disciple. I thought you had overcome your fear of Master Rong and writing. Tianyi, didn’t you give your fellow disciples some pointers?” Huang Jing blew on the words he had just written to dry, flipped through the pages, and reviewed the records of all the new disciples who had come today.
"Anyone who consulted you before becoming an apprentice would know that Master Rong is Elder Du's wife." Shen Du continued Huang Jing's words, then smiled at Gao Dai's helpless yet slightly desperate eyes. "What's wrong? Are you unhappy that you can't go to the Grand Banquet like Tian Guang and the others?"
“I’m not that petty. Besides, even though Wei Shi left, Wei Yi stayed behind just like me.” Gao Dai said helplessly, “Although I’ve studied here for a long time and mastered many skills, when I sit here now and think of the scene of me standing under the corridor, struggling to memorize my lessons, my heart aches.” He then clutched his chest.
"I am Yu Dongmei, may I ask your name?" Wang Fuyuan's attention was interrupted by the voice beside him as he saw the newly arrived man greeting the man next to him. Compared to the tall and imposing Yu Dongmei, the other man appeared thin, but he was also quite tall with fair skin and didn't look like someone who would do anything.
"Oh, I'm Qiu Hongcheng." The person looked like he had just woken up from a nap in the chair, as if he was momentarily disoriented and unaware of where he was.
"Are you from a family of cultivators? Or do you live in Changhe Town? Are you the first in your family to practice magic?" Yu Dongmei kept asking him questions.
"My family is in business..."
"Do you know where the magic of cultivators comes from? Do you know where evil spirits come from?"
"I don't know, do you?" Qiu Hongcheng really wanted to find a place to sleep for a while, and he also saw that this person had a lot to say. He used to only study at home and rarely did anything, but now that he had come to Kongyun Mountain to cultivate magic, he had to cut off too many connections with the outside world, and at the same time, he couldn't let outsiders come to Kongyun Mountain. He had to carry his bundle and walk for a long time, then take a boat, and then walk for a long time again to get to the academy. Now he was exhausted and felt a slight cramp in his stomach.
"Of course I know. My parents were both cultivators from Menggu Academy, but they're no longer at Kongyun Mountain." Seeing Qiu Hongcheng's good attitude, Yu Dongmei continued casually, "The so-called evil spirits are demons who escaped from the underworld. While in the underworld, they learned many spells that don't exist in the human world. As soon as they came out, they went around burning, killing, and looting, trying to take over the human world as their territory. Fortunately, our cultivator predecessors learned the spells of heaven and earth from the flower and plant spirits in the mountains. The cultivators used the spells of the heavens to fight against the spells of the underworld, thus maintaining peace in the region. I know that besides Huicheng, Juxia City, and Kongyun Mountain, other sects in other places have also been trying their best to exorcise evil spirits, but the evil spirits are numerous. Although the number of evil spirits has decreased to this day, there are still powerful demons who have been honed for hundreds of years lurking in unknown places, secretly trying to expand their power again..."
Wang Fuyuan was listening to Yu Dongmei talk incessantly, while the others chatted with their companions. Then, a man walking from the west interrupted him, saying, "You're quite the talker. Alright, everyone, pack your bags and come with me. Take your tokens and keys. Gao Tianzuo, stop drinking."
"Good tea, good tea, it's a pity that Chu Weiyi has ruined it."
Upon hearing the man's voice, Gao Dai promptly put down his teacup and turned to look at a man who had just entered the room. This man was tall and imposing, with a face that appeared to be over thirty years old. He had a beard and hair, and his sharp eyes stared at Gao Dai, making Wang Fuyuan feel intimidated.
"I came to the academy to study."
Only then did Wang Fuyuan notice that he was also carrying a bundle in his hand.
"My name is Zhao Xun."
Gao Dai led him to the east wing, gave him the key and token, and told him to follow a group of people to his and Chu Ying's residence. When Yu Dongmei and the others saw that the newcomers were different from them, who were fifteen or sixteen years old, they all shut their mouths, realizing that this place seemed quite different from the academies outside.
"There are about twenty people again this year. I just heard some more troublemakers have arrived. It's the same every year." Another man came out of the east wing. He had a square face, was about thirty or forty years old, and was clean-shaven. He walked over and took the booklet from Huang Jing's hand. "Judging from previous years, there are fewer people after noon. In previous years, it was more lively with more people. Now that everyone is away, it makes Kongyun Mountain seem like it's losing its talent."
“It’s not Elder Yan’s style to argue with a newcomer. Or do you also want to go to Juxia City?” Shen Du took the roster from Huang Jing’s hand, wanting to see if there were any familiar names, but he couldn’t find any after flipping to the end, because he hadn’t heard that any of his acquaintances wanted to send their children here.
Yan Junyou sighed, "When I'm teaching people to read, I sometimes lament that I'm the most incompetent man in the world. As for Juxia City, although I'd like to go and see what's going on there, I'd have to take my two children with me. Right now, they're both so annoying that even cats and dogs would bother them. Taking them out would be too much trouble. It's better to leave them at Kongyun Mountain and keep an eye on these annoying creatures, big and small. Fortunately, there are no restrictions on which cultivators can go to Juxia City, so I had Zongzheng take Chi Hui there to participate in the martial arts tournament."
"Senior Sister Tianhua is seven months pregnant and resting at home. Tianyi and Shihe must stay to manage affairs because the sect leader is not here. Tianguang went out to cultivate with Master Mu, and if he goes, his current position will also be considered Master Mu's disciple. Tianzuo can't go this year because he has to take care of the new disciples. Only Tianqu has the opportunity to go with Elder Du to watch the excitement, but he stayed on the mountain because he wanted to practice his skills. Elder Du's five disciples are around him, and now he is taking Elder Yan's disciple out. This is good, so that the people of Juxia won't remember the old story of Elder Du knocking the current Juxia sect leader off the stage in the martial arts tournament when he was still a disciple, and drag the two disciples into a second match."
"At that grand banquet, the then-leader of Juxia City changed the rules to ensure the current leader would be among the top three, in order to introduce the future leader to everyone. Unexpectedly, Elder Chen Duan insisted on his own disciple making a name for himself in the cultivation world, and instead regarded the current leader as his biggest rival. In the end, Elder Du himself came in second, while the leader of Juxia City, Wan, got third place." Yan Junyou said with a smile, "Speaking of which, the weather has warmed up a bit, and Juxia City has beautiful scenery. It's a nice place to go. But you two haven't left Kongyun Mountain to go out and see the world for a long time, haven't you? Don't you think it's a pity?"
"There are many beautiful sights in the world, but only one or two can be remembered. The rest are just fleeting shadows." Shen Du smiled calmly.
"Master Rong is leaving, so you'll have to review her papers. Shihe has to take care of the pregnant Tianguang, and the sect leader isn't here either. You'll have to shoulder the work of two people all by yourself. How can you still be so energetic? Do you have some secret? Why don't you teach us?" Huang Jing brought out a plate of pastries from the side room and handed them to Yan Junyou and Shen Du, but they both shook their hands to indicate that they didn't need them.
"There's no secret, it's just that I have plenty of free time. Even so, it would be great if the sect leader could find someone to share the workload. I can do it, but it would be nice if I could do less." Chen Du stood behind the threshold of the east wing, not paying attention as he spoke, and took a step back, almost tripping. He had to grab the door frame to steady himself. "And you're one to talk. You yourself have to cultivate such a large area of land in Nanshan by yourself, delivering grain to everyone in the mountain, without ever thinking of asking Master Ji to find someone to lighten your burden."
"Let's be busy for the next six months and see how this batch of seedlings grows. Besides, farming is a troublesome thing, and Yuanbei and Yuanyi are not interested in it, nor have they learned any farming techniques. Although Master is willing to help me and give me some free time, and has also spoken to the sect leader about it, it's much harder to find a helper like me than you are," Huang Jing said helplessly.
In the distance, an owl flew in from the mountain. The people of Kongyun Mountain often ate together on the mountain, and this was a magical artifact created by the head chef using his magic. Originally, everyone was transformed into orioles, but the head chef wanted the bird to serve two purposes, so he transformed it into an owl, so that it could go out to the fields to catch mice when it had nothing to do. Unfortunately, this bird did nothing extra and would disappear at any time.
The reason for this visit is that food is now prepared.
Shen Du thought that he still had a few articles to review, so he told Yan Junyou and Huang Jing to go eat first, and he would join them later.
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