“So this is Yi Gou’s grave?”
On Peach Blossom Mountain, in the peach blossom grove, the thousand-year-old Peach Blossom Immortal Tao Mian stood beside a little girl whose head barely reached his thigh. Before them rose a small earthen mound.
The girl’s hair was a disaster of lopsided braids-clearly someone’s handiwork, and clearly not a professional’s.
“You should call him Senior Brother Yi Gou.” Tao Mian held a peach branch laden with pale pink blossoms. He tapped her head lightly with it, and a few petals, unable to bear the indignity, drifted slowly to the ground.
The little girl’s frown only deepened. She looked utterly lost.
She had been standing here for two full hours, listening to stories. Every time she tried to slip away, Tao Mian’s hand would clamp onto her skull and drag her back. Every single time. Who could have guessed that when she’d first agreed to become his disciple, it was only for a meal?
“Eating your rice is really hard work.”
“There’s no such thing as a free lunch.”
Tao Mian used the flower branch to brush dust from the gravestone. He said nothing more.
After Gu Yuan died, Tao Mian had wanted to bring his disciple’s body back to Peach Blossom Mountain. The Blue Mist Sect refused. Cheng Chi came to talk him down, saying it wasn’t proper. Tao Mian asked what wasn’t proper about it-you people worked my disciple to death, and now you want to keep him here to guard your mountain? Cheng Chi broke into a cold sweat trying to explain, mostly because by then the peach branch in Little Tao’s hand was resting against his throat.
He said it was also the Sect Leader’s dying wish.
Tao Mian didn’t believe him. Cheng Chi nodded so hard his head nearly fell off. “Really. Truly.”
Gu Yuan knew he had failed Tao Mian’s patient teachings. He couldn’t bear to face him again. In secret, he had transferred several estates and profitable shops to Tao Mian’s name-retirement funds, enough to keep him fed and clothed for the rest of his days.
As for himself, he would be buried at Blue Mist Sect. Gu Yuan didn’t believe a soul as stained as his could have another life. But he said that if there was a next life, he hoped to meet Tao Mian again.
These were words Gu Yuan had spoken to Cheng Chi, sentence by sentence, during his final bedridden days. Cheng Chi was only the messenger.
At that time, Gu Yuan didn’t know that a single word-“reunion”-would trap Tao Mian for another thousand years, and cause another person to waste her entire life.
A master and disciple, torn apart.
Tao Mian was heartbroken, naturally. Cheng Chi couldn’t bear to watch and tried to offer some comfort. But before he could speak, Little Tao wiped his own eyes and said, “Then can you at least cut off a leg and let me take it back to Peach Blossom Mountain?”
Cheng Chi: “…?”
He assumed Tao Mian was joking and respectfully escorted him home. Tao Mian clutched a thick stack of property deeds and drifted through the village like a wandering ghost, from one end to the other. The villagers assumed Peach Blossom Temple was finished and Little Tao was returning to secular life. They showed up at his door in droves, eager to arrange marriages for him.
Tao Mian was so terrified he didn’t leave the mountain for a month.
The first one is always different. Gu Yuan’s death left Tao Mian unable to move on for years. He hoped to take another disciple, to shift his thoughts elsewhere, but the System remained as silent as ever.
Tao Mian thought: perhaps the time hasn’t come.
The time truly came several decades later.
Compared to his sworn brother, Cheng Chi was undeniably long-lived. One day, Tao Mian received an invitation to celebrate the Blue Mist Sect Leader’s eightieth birthday. Cheng Chi’s real intention was to drag Tao Mian out of his mountain hermitage. Tao Mian also wanted to see an old friend. A reunion was only natural.
Blue Mist Sect was now the foremost sect in the world. Cheng Chi had continued the glory of his predecessor, Gu Yuan. For the Sect Leader’s birthday, cultivation sects from all corners arrived bearing lavish gifts. Tao Mian sent a letter claiming he was penniless, but if Cheng Chi was willing, he could hand over one of his estates for Cheng Chi to manage.
Cheng Chi saw through him instantly-Tao Mian was trying to freeload his labor. He replied: “I don’t want anything. Just bring a peach blossom, Little Tao.”
Tao Mian was a man of his word. He brought nothing but himself and a single peach blossom. Sect Leader Cheng still had to greet him personally at the mountain gate and treat him to the finest food and wine.
Rumors spread through the sect: was Tao Mian the Sect Leader’s secret illegitimate son?
Tao Mian thought: perfect. That very night, he raised the matter of inheriting the sect.
Cheng Chi nearly died at eighty.
Goblets clinked. Lantern light flowed. Cheng Chi, eyes hazy with drink, raised his cup in a distant toast to old friends. To Tao Mian at his right, he said, “I’ve grown old. But Little Tao is still Little Tao.”
The banquet wine was sweet, and Tao Mian couldn’t help indulging. He hugged the wine jar and refused to let go, vaguely hearing the Sect Leader sigh.
Tao Mian opened his eyes wide, searching the face of the white-haired elder before him for any trace of the brash young man he’d once known.
He said, “You haven’t grown old. Neither has Gu Yuan. In my heart, you’re both forever in your prime.”
The Peach Blossom Immortal tapped his own brow with one finger.
Cheng Chi laughed-a great, hearty laugh-and pretended to casually wipe the moisture from the corner of his eye. The guests assumed the Sect Leader and the young Taoist were having a wonderful time. The banquet grew louder and merrier. Only Tao Mian slowly set down his wine jar.
Sect Leader Cheng passed away one year after his grand birthday celebration. Great joy followed by great mourning-the sect’s morale wavered. Fortunately, Cheng Chi had made arrangements. A single decree changed a young man’s life forever.
Cheng Chi was buried in the sect, beside his predecessor Gu Yuan. The day after the burial, people found a bright peach blossom placed before each of the two gravestones.
It was three days after Sect Leader Cheng’s burial that Tao Mian met Lu Yuandi.
Twenty years later, the name Lu Yuandi would resound across the mortal realm. As an emperor of her generation, her beauty and her power drew countless admirers. She never married. She never revealed her heart to anyone. The world believed she was devoted solely to the Dao, having severed all ties of love.
Only in the final moments of her life did she use a broken flower branch to carve words into a stone wall-
“From this day forth, think of love no more.”
Who she longed for remained a mystery, vanishing with her remains into dust and silence.
Of course, the current Lu Yuandi was just a little thief who’d been caught red-handed stealing a chicken and was now forced to do hard labor on Peach Blossom Mountain.
At first, Tao Mian had no particular thoughts about Lu Yuandi. If she hadn’t insisted on snatching Attendant Wu-a six-hundred-year-old black chicken-from the coop, he wouldn’t have tied her up and hung her upside down.
After a stern lecture, Tao Mian untied the rope, ready to let the girl go.
The System, silent for decades, suddenly came online.
[Detected: Human with disciple potential. Distance from Host: less than ten steps.]
…Ten steps?
Tao Mian lunged forward, heading straight for Lu Yuandi.
Lu Yuandi, still rolling her sore shoulders, flinched. What was wrong with this man?
“If you’re going to apologize, then I suppose I can-“
Before she could finish, Tao Mian bent down, scooped up Attendant Wu from beside her feet, and burst into tears of joy.
“Attendant Wu! So you’re my next disciple! Don’t worry-Master will spare no effort to train you into the most accomplished chicken spirit within a hundred li!”
Lu Yuandi: “?”
System: “…”
[Reminder to Host: Due to level restrictions, the non-human disciple training function is not yet unlocked.]
[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained your second disciple.]
[Disciple Name: Lu Yuandi]
[Background: Descendant of the previous dynasty’s imperial bloodline]
[Aptitude: High Grade Wind Spirit Root]
[History: Lu Yuandi is the legitimate daughter of Emperor Lu Fang of the previous dynasty. General Li Li usurped the throne, installed a puppet ruler, and changed the reign title. Lu Yuandi’s father and brothers were slaughtered.
Empress Xu entrusted the child to a palace nanny, who fled with the eldest princess. During the chaos of war, the nanny and Lu Yuandi were separated. Lu Yuandi was later taken in by an old beggar.
When the old beggar died of illness, Lu Yuandi wandered alone until she reached Peach Blossom Mountain.]
[The above is the relevant information for disciple “Lu Yuandi.” Please train her diligently, Host.]
[Congratulations, Host. Rewards unlocked: “Fei Lian Sword Technique” ×1, “Rain Condensation Heart Method” ×1, “God-Striking Whip Technique” ×1]
So the disciple was Lu Yuandi.
Watching Tao Mian’s disappointment spill across his face without the slightest attempt at concealment, Lu Yuandi stamped her foot in fury.
“I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but I have a very strong feeling I’m being looked down on.”
Tao Mian’s expression crumpled.
“Your instincts are sharp.”
“What?! You actually-“
“Alright, Er Ya.” Tao Mian patted the back of her head, quieting her. “I have good news. Don’t get too excited. From today on, you are my second disciple.”
“My name isn’t Er Ya! I have a name! It’s Lu Yuandi!”
“Understood, Lu Er Ya.”
“…”
Lu Yuandi was furious, but she wasn’t stupid. She had no idea what this “disciple” business was about, but a place to eat for free? She wasn’t about to turn that down.
“If I’m your disciple, do I get room and board?”
“Naturally. Mountain views all around, clear streams at your doorstep. Five-star treatment. The height of luxury.”
“That sounds like a lie…”
“Nonsense. I, Tao Mian, am an upstanding man. I never deceive children.”
“Tao Mian? ‘Mian’ as in ‘endless longing on the distant road’?”
“No. ‘Mian’ as in ‘I am drunk and wish to sleep.'”