In the dim candlelight, the silhouette with its back turned stood tall and graceful.
Xiao Lin knelt trembling, not daring to breathe too loudly. Even with ten heads he couldn’t have fathomed why the supreme sovereign would visit this small prison cell in the dead of night, without a single attendant in tow.
The Daoist lay on his side upon the cot, seemingly fast asleep. Xiao Lin’s palms went slick with sweat on the man’s behalf, unsure whether he ought to wake him.
The emperor merely gazed in silence at the person inside the cell.
Fortunately, she showed mercy and did not make things too difficult for a lowly jailer. Her slender fingers flicked outward, and Xiao Lin took the hint and withdrew. Then, forming a single-handed seal, she raised a transparent sound-blocking barrier, sealing this place off from the world beyond.
Now only master and disciple remained-one inside the cell, one outside.
Lu Yuandi still did not speak, but the one who had been dozing opened his mouth first.
“I wondered long ago what sort of novel flavor it would have-you and I, master and disciple, meeting somewhere beyond Peach Blossom Mountain.”
The emperor finally deigned to reply.
“And what does Master think of the present moment? Is it far from what you imagined?”
Tao Mian did not answer directly. He sat up, tilting his head back slightly. High on the wall of the cell was a tall, narrow window; the full moon was split evenly into two halves by the iron bars.
He spread open his palm. Cool moonlight pooled in his hand.
His back was turned to Lu Yuandi. A wall separated him from the bright moon, and another wall separated him from his disciple.
The corner of Tao Mian’s mouth lifted, tinged with helplessness.
Yuandi, ah… when did you and I, master and disciple, first develop this rift?
“The one standing outside right now-is it the Son of Heaven, or Tao Mian’s disciple?”
A long silence. Then the person outside the cell answered.
“What does it matter whether I am the Son of Heaven or your disciple? The lines have long since blurred. Neither clear nor pure.”
Tao Mian’s pupils trembled-but only for an instant. He quickly reined in the excess emotion, braced both hands against the cot, and turned around.
Half of Lu Yuandi’s face was veiled in a hazy glow by the candlelight; the other half was swallowed by shadow. She was undeniably beautiful. The softness inherited from her mother and the sharp handsomeness from her father had merged flawlessly, making her features exceptionally striking.
Yet all that outward splendor seemed suppressed beneath her station. Standing there, she was not an individual person but a vast and looming authority, watching.
Tao Mian flicked his wide sleeve, as though brushing away the Pressure she had imposed on him. Between master and disciple, they could no longer withstand a single careless blow; every word had to be weighed before it left the mouth.
The last time he’d spoken poorly, Lu Yuandi had thrown him into the imperial prison.
Recalling the scene from that day, Tao Mian hadn’t actually said anything excessive. He had merely mentioned in passing, while playing Go with his disciple, that he wanted to return to the mountain for a visit.
His reasoning was simple enough. Attendant Wu was waiting for him, and the flying cockroach might miss him a little too. Besides, that whole mountain of flowers, trees, and fruit were all lined up waiting for him to tend them.
Also, Gu Yuan’s death anniversary was approaching.
No extra words-just that one sentence. Tao Mian hadn’t thought much of it. He’d been staying in this palace for quite a while, from summer through winter, about to welcome yet another spring. It was time to go back and have a look.
At that moment, Tao Mian still held a white stone in his hand. He looked down at the bare stone table, with nowhere left to place his piece.
Scattered black and white stones lay everywhere. Two or three rolled into the pond, startling the fish that had been resting quietly on the surface.
He watched the Son of Heaven’s retreating figure-she never once looked back-and let out a faint sigh.
What a temper on that child.
Within half a day, Tao Mian went from imperial teacher to prisoner. Quite the fall.
The wronged party didn’t take it to heart. The one who’d caused it, however, lost several nights of sleep.
Perhaps having realized her loss of composure that day, Lu Yuandi was even more silent than usual when she came to see Tao Mian this time, wearing a thicker mask than before.
She had to restrain the darker part of her nature. She could not harm Tao Mian-because Tao Mian would never raise a hand against his own disciple.
Lu Yuandi did her best to remain calm.
“The snow has been falling without end these past days. The roads are no good for travel. Xiao Tao, wait until spring comes and the flowers bloom before you head back. It won’t be too late.”
Tao Mian knew she was stalling, but he couldn’t say so outright.
“Yuandi, your master has been imposing on you for months now, and the two young ones are growing more idle by the day. It’s best they return to the mountain to resume their training. The reason your master came to see you was simply to check whether you were well. If you are well, then your master’s heart is at ease.”
The excuse was rather stiff, but the last two lines were sincere. Lu Yuandi’s expression softened a fraction, and a trace of the old ease she’d once felt around Tao Mian returned.
“Xiao Tao, why the rush to go back to Peach Blossom Mountain? Everything in the palace has been arranged for you. Whatever you want, I’ll send someone to fetch it. I know you worry about the temple and those chickens of yours-that’s hardly a difficult matter. Watering flowers, feeding chickens-just give the word, and I’ll have people see to it.”
“Outsiders can never care as much as one does oneself.”
Tao Mian’s words, carrying the faintest sigh, made Lu Yuandi’s face-which she had only just managed to soften-go taut again.
“Why must you insist on returning to the mountain? We’ve been apart for over ten years. Master, your disciple still has so many old things to talk about with you.”
It seemed Lu Yuandi had successfully learned the art of playing the emotional card from Tao Mian. When the hard approach failed, she switched to softer words. Of course, if her expression could have matched her tone, the effect would have been even better.
“Yuandi…”
But a master was still a master, and he would not be so easily fooled.
Tao Mian asked his second disciple a single question, and she fell silent.
“Your master asks, and you answer honestly. If your master asked you to come back to Peach Blossom Mountain with me right now-would you agree?”
“I…”
Lu Yuandi did not know how to answer. She was the emperor. She was imperial power itself. She had coexisted with authority for too long-possessing it, and being possessed by it in turn.
The days on Peach Blossom Mountain felt like another lifetime.
To go back would be no different from passing through a cycle of reincarnation.
Tao Mian smiled, understanding.
“You see? You have your imperial palace, and your master has his Peach Blossom Mountain. You won’t leave the palace, and your master will always belong to that mountain.”
Lu Yuandi’s stubborn streak flared up again, the same as when she was young. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
She asked-what if she forced Tao Mian to stay?
“Master is an immortal with eternal life, while I am merely a mortal. I will leave before you in the end. Why can’t you stay and accompany me through what remains of my life?”
She even accused Tao Mian of cruelty.
Tao Mian shook his head gently.
“Yuandi, it isn’t that your master is being cruel to you. Companionship is the easy part. I can watch over a flower that blooms once in a thousand years; of course I have the patience to walk beside you to the end of your days.”
“Then-“
“But is what your heart truly seeks really just companionship?”
Tao Mian knew his disciple too well. He knew her strengths, and he knew her weaknesses. Lu Yuandi held the throne through methods that were cold-even ruthless-and through a heart that was never, ever satisfied.
If Tao Mian agreed to stay today, tomorrow she would want more.
“Your master can do many things for you. But there are things even your master cannot give.”
In that moment, Lu Yuandi understood his cruelty.
He was so gentle, so clear and pure, so free and unhurried. His heart, like the mountain gate, stood open to anyone. Every hand that reached out for help would be gently clasped in his. Ask for a bowl of porridge, and he would give a bowl of porridge. Ask for shelter, and he would give a roof against the wind and rain.
On Peach Blossom Mountain, she had wanted secret manuals-and Tao Mian taught her Peerless techniques.
In the war camp, she had wanted her enemies dead-and Tao Mian delivered them into her hands to deal with as she pleased.
Amid flashing blades and dancing swords, she had said, Master, I don’t want to be bullied anymore, I don’t want to be humiliated anymore. And Tao Mian had said, very well-go sit upon that throne, above all others.
Immortal arts, enemies, the throne… she had seized them all, one by one. She stood at the summit, gazing down upon the masses, and still felt emptiness on every side.
When at last she turned to look back, she saw a sky full of peach blossoms, and the immortal standing beneath the tree.
She thought she finally knew what she truly wanted. She wanted the immortal’s eyes to look only at her. She wanted every word that left his lips to be bound to her alone. She wanted to possess one whole, undivided heart.
She was the emperor. What was there in this world she could not have?
But the immortal gazed back at her from across the distance and let out a soft sigh. That sigh called back the years. She shed her magnificent robes and became once more that girl who had nothing-head full of innocence, pockets full of air. She had returned to the day she left the mountain, and Tao Mian was seeing her off beneath a peach tree in riotous bloom.
He said: Yuandi, your master is always here.
When you were small and had no one to lean on, your master was at your side.
When you left the mountain and enemies closed in from every direction, your master was behind you.
Now you have won your glory and stand secure. Your master… will stay here on Peach Blossom Mountain.
His heart, like the mountain gate, stood open to anyone-and would never open for one person alone.
The emperor who never miscalculated gripped the railing with both hands, trembling, and bowed her head. A few hot tears splashed onto the cold stone floor.
This cage-in the end, it imprisoned the one standing outside it.