After the First Elder left, Bai Xianxian sat on the stone stump for a long time.
She suddenly remembered many things from her childhood that she had forgotten.
For instance, because she refused to study the scriptures, the three old men had sternly dragged her to the ancestral hall for punishment, insisting she wouldn't be allowed to eat unless she studied. But before long, the First Elder came over with a bag of her favorite doll-shaped pastries, his hands behind his back and his face expressionless, warning her not to tell the Second or Third Elder.
Not long after she finished the pastries, the Second Elder arrived with a bag of steamed buns, whispering, "Little Xian'er, eat quickly, don't let them know."
Finally, the Third Elder snuck over holding a candied hawthorn stick, and seeing her mouth covered in sugar residue, scolded her: "Lick your mouth clean! You can't even sneak a snack properly!"
Little Xianxian let out a long burp.
Another memory was from her most rebellious years, when she refused to listen to anything. The three old men had even gone to an internet cafe, wearing reading glasses to search on Baidu how to deal with a rebellious child.
Most of her childhood spent in this mountain village had actually been happy and joyful.
But in the process of flying, she had only focused on pursuing the freedom of the vast sky, forgetting the wind that had carried her up there.
Light footsteps sounded from behind. Bai Xianxian turned around in surprise, only to find the Second Elder. Her expression turned wistful.
The Second Elder sighed softly: "Go back to sleep. You've said your goodbyes properly, so don't hold onto regrets anymore."
Bai Xianxian took a deep breath and put on a smile: "Mm!"
Then she would study the Way diligently and make up for all her regrets!
The next day, Bai Xianxian woke up early. When the Third Elder yawned and knocked on her door to wake her, she was already reading in the scripture pavilion.
The Daoist scriptures were diverse and varied. Besides orthodox transmissions, there were also many miscellaneous talismans and cultivation methods of dubious origin.
Bai Xianxian came across one that said: at sunrise on a full moon night, paste Essence Gathering Talismans on the two extraordinary acupoints on the human body, namely the temple acupoints, then channel the essence of sun and moon through the crown to cultivate. This would promote hair growth, prevent hair loss, and keep one's hair thick even past seventy.
—?
If that were true, programmers would be saved.
She couldn't possibly finish reading the three-story scripture pavilion in a short time, so she just picked up the foundational texts first, supplemented by the orthodox scriptures of the Tianshi Way lineage.
The two elders came to teach her every day. After a few days of this, they looked at each other—well, there was nothing left to teach.
Their only advantage over Bai Xianxian lay in theoretical knowledge, but she could read the knowledge in the books herself; memorizing it was just a matter of time.
Their Daoist arts were ultimately shallow, and what they could pass on to her was too little.
Seeing there was nothing more to teach in theory, the Third Elder wanted to toss her into the mass grave again. Bai Xianxian clung desperately to the pillar under the eaves: "I'm not going! I want to go back to work!"
The Third Elder glared furiously: "What work? What job is more suitable for you than a mass grave?"
Bai Xianxian clenched her fists: "Going back to work at the hospital! This was the First Elder's dying wish, and I must fulfill it!"
She had figured it out.
Either way, it was about building courage—if she was going to train her nerve, she might as well return to the morgue instead of a mass grave! At least the hospital had social insurance, and the morgue had a coworker, which was more reassuring than being alone in a mass grave.
Who would have thought that the morgue that once scared her unconscious would become her best choice?
Heartbreaking.
With that said, the Third Elder naturally didn't force her. The next day, cursing under his breath, he rode his electric tricycle to take her down the mountain.
Before she left, he wanted her to take all of the Bai family's magical artifacts, but Bai Xianxian declined, taking only the Six-Spirit Sword.
At first, the two elders were still giving her instructions, but in the end, it turned into Bai Xianxian admonishing them instead: "If anything tricky comes up, don't handle it yourselves—call me! I've drawn a lot of talismans and placed them in the shrine before the Ancestral Master's statue. That should last you a while. Oh, and also—"
The Third Elder knocked on her head: "We're old enough to take care of ourselves, do we need you to worry?"
Bai Xianxian held her head in grievance.
The Second Elder said with a smile: "Don't worry, we won't distract you. We're waiting for you to build up the Bai family's name and take us to the city to enjoy our retirement."
The Second Elder had always been steady, and his words put Bai Xianxian at ease. Only then did she settle into the departing bus.
On the bus, she called Yu Anding.
He picked up immediately and asked eagerly: "Xianxian, have you thought it over?"
Bai Xianxian said: "Uncle Yu, I'm sorry for the delay. I just finished handling the First Elder's funeral arrangements back home. I'll come to the hospital to report in tomorrow."
When Yu Anding heard that the First Elder had passed away, he was deeply grieved and asked about the cause of death. Bai Xianxian didn't go into detail, but she didn't tarnish the First Elder's reputation either.
After listening, Yu Anding was silent for a long while, then sighed: "Truly worthy of the old immortal! Xianxian, if you had told me sooner, I would have come no matter what to offer incense to the old immortal."
After chatting for a bit, the two got down to business. Yu Anding said, "Are you coming to the hospital to start work tomorrow? Then I'll have someone get the staff dormitory ready for you today. Our hospital's dormitory is in a really good environment—close to the hospital, with a bus stop right downstairs. Bus 58 will get you there in just three stops."
Yu Anding gave her a rundown of the dormitory situation, telling her that when she arrived in the afternoon, she could just get her ID card and pick up the key from the security guard at the gate.
Bai Xianxian acknowledged everything one by one.
After hanging up, she called Bai Xiangwang.
Her father wasn't surprised to hear she was going back to work at the hospital. He just said he'd go home and pack her luggage right away, then pick her up at the high-speed rail station in a bit.
Bai Xianxian looked out the window at the vast, lofty sky and clenched her fist firmly.
When she went through security at the high-speed rail station, the inspector noticed a suspiciously shaped weapon in her backpack and asked Bai Xianxian to open it for inspection.
Feeling awkward under the curious stares of people around her, Bai Xianxian pulled out the Six-Spirit Sword. "It's wooden—a wooden sword."
The inspector examined it—the tip was blunt and couldn't hurt anyone—and handed it back, muttering quietly, "It looks like it's made of jade, though."
Bai Xianxian thought to herself that figuring out how to carry a jade-like wooden sword around without drawing strange looks would be another problem for future travels.
…
It was already afternoon by the time they arrived in Yunchang City.
Bai Xiangwang was still driving his beat-up white Santana to pick her up. As soon as Bai Xianxian got in the car, she was surprised to see her father wearing casual clothes. "Dad, why aren't you wearing your Daoist robe?"
Bai Xiangwang said, "Recently, a bunch of con artist charlatans have been operating at the high-speed rail station, swindling people out of money with fortune-telling and face reading. It's even made the social news." He said sorrowfully, "I'm worried I'll get mistaken for one of those charlatans and arrested."
Bai Xianxian shared his indignation: "That's just awful!"
Bai Xiangwang fumed, "It's these frauds and charlatans—too many of them—tarnishing the image of us Daoists!"
Bai Xianxian soothed her father, "Don't be mad, don't be mad. The police will catch all those bad guys!"
After fuming for a while, Bai Xiangwang asked about her studies with the elders. When he heard that the two elders had nothing left to teach her, he sighed and said, "If the elders have nothing left to teach you, then I definitely don't either. You'll just have to develop on your own."
He had already packed all her luggage and put it in the trunk.
Yu Anding had said the dormitory had everything she needed—she could just move in with her bags—so Bai Xianxian didn't bother going to the supermarket. She had Bai Xiangwang drop her off at the dormitory building, waved goodbye to him, and dragged her suitcase inside.
The security guard had already been notified. Bai Xianxian used her ID card to get the access card and room key. A small white slip of paper was stuck to the key with the room number 3009 written on it.
The whole building was the hospital's staff dormitory, with separate floors for men and women, and both single and double rooms. Yu Anding had arranged a single room for her. When Bai Xianxian unlocked the door, the curtains and windows were wide open, letting in sunlight and a gentle breeze, and the room looked very clean.
The room was a standard master bedroom with a private bathroom. Since meals were at the hospital cafeteria, there was no kitchen. All the furniture and appliances were fully provided. Whether it was because Yu Anding had specifically arranged it or not, there was even a fresh bouquet of flowers on the TV cabinet.
Bai Xianxian was quite satisfied—it was even bigger than her own bedroom at home. After resting a bit, she started making the bed and tidying up, then took out the name plaques of the six patriarchs and placed them in the shrine, lighting three sticks of incense.
The back of the plaques were engraved with the names of the six patriarchs. They had been consecrated before the statues at the ancestral temple, making them equivalent to avatars of the patriarchs. For someone like Bai Xianxian, a "wanderer" away from home, venerating the plaques was the same as venerating the statues.
After tidying up the room, she still needed some daily necessities. Bai Xianxian jotted them down in her notes app and went to the supermarket downstairs to stock up, grabbing dinner along the way. By the time everything was done, it was completely dark outside.
Having spent the day traveling and the afternoon cleaning, Bai Xianxian took a quick shower, set the air conditioning to 25 degrees, and crawled wearily into bed.
Thinking about how she'd be starting her life with corpses tomorrow, she encouraged herself as she drifted off to sleep.
Don't be scared, Bai Xianxian! You're not the person you used to be! Be strong!
With those thoughts repeating in her mind, her consciousness sank, and she gradually fell into a dream.
Some time passed, and then, as if suddenly startled awake, she snapped her eyes open.
But what met her eyes wasn't darkness.
It was a void of white.
Looking around, the place she was in wasn't the single dormitory she'd just moved into today.
It felt like a dream, yet Bai Xianxian could clearly sense that she was awake.
This kind of situation would normally be frightening, but for some reason, Bai Xianxian felt a sense of familiarity with the environment. She looked at the white void ahead and felt like something should appear there.
Just as she thought that, a shadowy figure indeed emerged from the whiteness, greeting her cheerfully: "Xianxian, hello there."
Bai Xianxian strained her eyes but still couldn't see clearly. Yet even though she couldn't make out the details, she somehow knew with certainty that the figure was a kindly old man with a white beard. This elusive, dreamlike-yet-real sensation left Bai Xianxian a bit bewildered.
She scratched her head. "Hello… who are you?"
The figure seemed to become clearer, and Bai Xianxian saw a small gourd tucked diagonally in his hair. He smiled warmly and said, "Don't you remember me? We met when you were little. Right here, too."
It was as if a hand had stirred the memories in her mind, then precisely stopped at a certain moment.
Bai Xianxian's eyes flew wide open.
Yes!
They had met when she was little—also in a dream!
Six old men with white beards had played with her in the dream and told her, "Xianxian, don't be afraid. We just look a bit fierce. What you're afraid of is only the surface of the statues. See, we've changed our appearance, and now you're not scared anymore, right?"
Little Xianxian had understood nothing back then, and whatever dreams she had were forgotten the moment she woke up.
But from that day on, she was never afraid of the statues of the six patriarchs again.
Every time she looked at them, her subconscious would recall the reassuring feeling of six kind old men with white beards playing with her.
Realizing something, Bai Xianxian dropped to her knees with a thud. "Patriarch!"
The patriarch smiled warmly, his voice sounding as if it came from far away, yet also as if it were right by her ear. "Xianxian, you are willing to take up the Bai family's legacy, and we are deeply gratified. The generations after us have not fared well, and much of the heritage has been lost. What you have learned is but a fraction. Now that you have taken up the Six-Spirit Sword, we shall begin today to pass down the scriptures to you and aid you in your cultivation."
…
…
Bai Xianxian woke with a start from her dream.
It was still dark outside. She turned over and sat up, her heart pounding like a drum. By the light of a streetlamp outside the window, she looked at the name plaque of the patriarchs in the shrine, then quickly reached under her pillow for her phone and dialed the elder's number.
The phone was answered by the Second Elder. Woken in the middle of the night, he showed no impatience and asked gently, "Xianxian, what's wrong?"
Bai Xianxian could barely speak clearly. "Second Elder! I dreamed of the patriarch! He… he, I… he taught me, he said he would help me!"
The Second Elder was stunned for a long moment, then suddenly burst into hearty laughter. "Xianxian, this is the patriarch's spirit at work—a Dream Transmission to you!"
After the Second Elder explained for quite a while, Bai Xianxian finally understood. It turned out that in the Daoist tradition, there was a concept called "Dream Transmission," where the patriarchs of various sects would sometimes appear in the dreams of their descendants and pass down scriptures and incantations to them.
But not every Daoist was fortunate enough to receive a Dream Transmission. Generally, those who did were masters with unwavering Dao hearts and extraordinary talent.
The Second Elder said excitedly, "With the patriarch's Dream Transmission, the lost scriptures and incantations of our Bai family can once again see the light of day!"