Beginning with the Ubume Bird

Chapter 257: Chapter 94 A Slant and a Stroke, Thinking of a Person

[Taiping Document·Yang Pill]

Category: Code!

Upper Limit: Six Ministries

Originating from the “Yellow Emperor Nine Cauldrons Pill Scripture” of the Orthodox Path, it records 306 Yang Skills, relating to bumper grain harvests, harmonious winds and rains, the Yang spirit leaving the body, and techniques of reviving the dead and restoring flesh to white bones.

Those who practice it accrue boundless merit, can alleviate three disasters and remove six adversities, without fear of five flaws and three deficiencies.

[Taiping Document·Yin Pill]

Category: Code!

Upper Limit: Six Ministries

Originating from the “Wudoumi Witch Ghost Record” of the Orthodox Path, it records 306 Yin Skills, relating to nourishing ghosts, summoning gods, controlling wind, fire, thunder, and lightning, swallowing clouds and spitting fog, turning beans into soldiers, and techniques of the Dharma body harmonizing with heaven and earth.

One can only cultivate one of the two, Yin or Yang Skills.

As for the Code, Li Yan himself had no direct intention to cultivate it, not to mention the side effect of being “permanently stuck with this fruit.” Moreover, the style of the Taiping Document didn’t sit well with Li Yan.

In fact, traversing the pathways to enhance legacies through fruits had clear advantages compared to cultivating local fruit codes.

Whether it be Madam Shi or Zhang He, both had devoted more than a decade of effort to their magical practices before reaching a level above the “Nine Luminaries.” However, Li Yan had nearly caught up with them in just over half a year.

Moreover, it was clear that the upper limit of these Codes was merely the Six Ministries. Yet the path Yan Fu traversed had produced powerhouses like the “Four Emperors” such as Cao Yuanchao.

The superiority or inferiority of the two paths was obvious at a glance.

Sacrificing Codes to Yan Fu could save time and directly grant a portion of the magical skills within the Codes, which was also a good choice. The right inheritance matched with Code magic might yield effects greater than the sum of its parts…

What Madam Shi had coveted in life was the Yang Pill from the Taiping Document, used to resist the side effects of the “Chu Sermon Defying Skill.”

Li Yan thought to leave this Yang Pill for Zheng Xiu’er, as it was completely worth it, whether out of emotional inclination or long-term benefit considerations. As for the Yin Pill, Li Yan decided to keep it for himself.

As for the magical content in the [Taiping Document·Yin Pill], he would check it after his return.

“Where is Xiu’er?”

Li Yan asked Chaoyi, who stood aside.

“In the side room, Old Man Lin is giving her a night lesson,”

Chaoyi responded.

Li Yan pondered: “Lin Yuanfu?”

Chaoyi felt he hadn’t made himself clear and added, “Old Man Lin is very kind to Xiu’er.”

Since noticing Xiu’er’s development, Chaoyi had considerably softened his attitude towards Lin Yuanfu.

He regarded Xiu’er as his own, and as long as the outcome was good for her, even if sometimes Lin Yuanfu’s actions were a little inappropriate, Chaoyi often turned a blind eye.

After all, people of this era held a bewildered admiration and respect for scholars. Everyone knew it was a blessing cultivated over several lifetimes to be taught by a worldly great scholar like Lin Yuanfu.

“The old man is very kind to Xiu’er…” mumbled Li Yan to himself, then suddenly shook his head, “Chaoyi, you know, one shouldn’t take oneself too seriously.”

Chaoyi did not understand: “What do you mean?”

“It’s nothing.”

Remembering his initial days in Guangzhou and the faces of those “fellow apprentices,” Li Yan could only laugh it off. Clutching the two pills tightly in his hand, he headed towards the side room, leaving behind a sentence.

“In some people’s eyes, a peasant is just a peasant, a bandit is just a bandit. They might sympathize with you, but they would still eliminate you!”

In the middle of July, the initial days of summer, Chaoyi felt a chill in his heart.

…

“Justice doesn’t outweigh one’s life, and in the face of rising danger, it is hard to ward off villains.”

Lin Yuanfu rubbed his eyes wearily. Xiu’er, seeing this, passed him a cup of strong tea from the side desk.

“Today is the last lesson I am going to teach you,”

he said, pursing his lips as he gazed at the still petite Xiu’er. He didn’t take the tea, instead, he spoke these words.

“Your brother Tianbao told me that tomorrow someone will send me back to Guangdong.”

Xiu’er was taken aback, she gently placed the tea down, returned to her seat, picked up her pen, and hung her head without speaking.

Despite his short time on Lantau Island, Old Man Lin was a well-read and witty old fellow. The days he spent with Xiu’er made outsiders genuinely feel as if they were grandfather and granddaughter.

Now that Old Man Lin was about to leave, it was foreseeable that Zheng Xiu’er would be in low spirits.

Xiu’er hung her head, while the rice paper on the desk was dotted with big wet spots. Still, the girl was stubborn, holding back without making a sound.

“Ah…”

Old Man Lin opened his mouth but ultimately let out a sigh.

“Girl, I’ve taught you nearly everything you wanted to learn. You are young; it’s okay to forget some. But there’s one thing you must firmly remember,”

Old Man Lin’s expression became stern, “White-haired, yet still brandishing swords at each other, while the nobles at the red gates laugh and flick their caps away,”

He paused, then continued, “Your fate isn’t exactly good, child. You’re precocious. There are things I don’t necessarily need to spell out, but what you cannot afford to forget is that your father, Zheng Yiguai, died in a shipwreck years ago, and your mother passed away early. People have their own hearts secreted behind flesh, and Tianbao may treat you well, but he’s not your kin by blood. The power of the Red Flag Gang is in his hands. Today you are the Alliance Hierarch of the South Seas pirates, but what about tomorrow? And after? You need to think of a way out early.”

Zheng Xiu’er was only nine years old. Upon hearing these words, she couldn’t hold back her tears any longer, her small face drenched as if by a downpour, looking pitifully sorry.

Old Man Lin pursed his lips, and as he was about to stand up after sorting out the textbooks, Xiu’er spoke up crisply, “Teacher, the last sentence you just said, ‘righteousness cannot withstand death, in times of danger it’s tough to fend off villains.’ What does it mean?”

Old Man Lin replied nonchalantly, “Righteousness is not worth one’s life. When pressed by circumstances, one inevitably has to play the villain.”

“So even a man like you, Teacher, when faced with such a situation, has to play the villain?”

The girl’s voice, though soft with a sob, carried a weight of a thousand pounds.

Old Man Lin looked up. His throat moved for a while before he blinked and said, “Girl, what do you mean by that?”

Zheng Xiu’er pursed her lips, and tears kept falling down her face. While crying, she said, “Teacher, answer me first. You said you were poor when you were young, that you had a daughter who starved to death and a wife who got rheumatism from washing clothes for others. Is that true or false?”

Old Man Lin’s eyelids twitched, and he fell silent.

The atmosphere turned silent for a moment, with only the girl’s sobs to be heard.

“Teacher, you are actually the son of Lin Yuanguang, the County Magistrate of Min County, and a descendant of the Jiumu Lin family, a family of scholars. You’ve been betrothed since childhood, and Mrs. Chen, your wife, is the only daughter of the Governor of Guangxi. You were talented from a young age and became the scribe for the Xiamen maritime defense at the age of twenty-four. You have three sons under your knees and no daughters. So, all those words were just to cheat Xiu’er, a child who doesn’t know the ways of the world, right?”

Old Man Lin, with his eyes closed, listened for a long time before answering with difficulty, “How did you find out about these things?”

Zheng Xiu’er turned her face away and sniffed, trying to steady her voice, “It seems Teacher has underestimated the operations of Red Flag over the years.”

Her eyes reddened, “Although you are a man of great talent, Teacher, you’re trapped and powerless. You made up this story, just to touch upon the sympathies of an orphan like me.”

Old Man Lin’s facial muscles twitched slightly, with each of Zheng Xiu’er’s words hitting him squarely in the face.

“Seeing that I, a girl, still possess a competitive spirit, you wished to use rhetoric and textbook wisdom to provoke the relationship between me and Tianbao. Even if it’s of no use right now, it will one day become a concern for our Red Flag. Is there any mistake in what Xiu’er has said?”

“I know full well how Tianbao treats me. In the books, I only believe in one line, ‘The righteous often end up slaughtering dogs; prostitutes and thieves are all that’s left among the literate.’

Zheng Xiu’er’s tears fell again, “Xiu’er cries not because Teacher lied to me, but because, as sincere as Teacher’s words are, and despite your demeanor, you wouldn’t even accept a cup of tea from me—ultimately, in Teacher’s heart, there isn’t the slightest bit of affection for me.”

Old Man Lin closed his eyes, speechless.

With tears streaming down her face, Xiu’er stepped down from the desk, knelt on one knee, and offered the now-cold strong tea to Old Man Lin.

“Xiu’er asks for nothing else but hopes that Teacher will accept this cup of tea from me, so as not to render our teacher-student relationship in vain.”

Ever since Zheng Xiu’er asked her first question, Old Man Lin hadn’t opened his eyes, and now the tea was right in front of him. He remained motionless like a clay sculpture or a wooden carving.

The soft sobbing of the girl gradually became lighter…

Old Man Lin opened his eyes, got up to gather his books, and left without a glance at Xiu’er.

Zheng Xiu’er hung her head, her arms ached from holding them up, and the room was already empty.

Tears cascaded down her cheeks like beads on a broken string, yet Xiu’er remained silent. Suddenly, her arms felt lighter.

“It’s cooled down, why are you still holding it?”

Li Yan sat upright, holding the teacup and taking big sips, savoring the taste.

“Who made our Xiu’er cry?”

Zheng Xiu’er pouted and threw herself into Li Yan’s arms with a loud cry.

Li Yan patted the girl’s back, his shoulder becoming damp.

His face remained calm, but the teacup in his hand cracked with a snap.

A “ring” was forcefully pried off from the teacup by Li Yan. It fell to the floor and rolled far away…