Guardians of Mountain and Sea - Chapter 2

Apu returned to Xiaolin Town. From the eastern side of the town came the faint sounds of suonas and drums playing, intermittently accompanied by the crackling of firecrackers and the bustling noise of a lively crowd.

Arriving at her doorstep, she saw the dirt road in front of the house already strewn with red paper scraps and the remnants of exploded firecrackers.

Just then, a group of people emerged from the entrance of Little Hua’s house next door. Leading them was a short, stout old man with a thick beard, dressed in an ill-fitting, brand-new scholar’s robe.

He was swaggering proudly, surrounded by a crowd of ruffians, his face flushed with the glow of alcohol and joy as he prepared to leave.

Apu was standing by the roadside watching the commotion when she was suddenly pulled behind a group of neighborhood aunties, who shielded her. Before she could ask what was happening, she caught fragments of the ruffians’ chatter.

“Brother Wang, double happiness! Your son is soaring to great heights!”

“That widow is lucky! From now on, all the women in Xiaolin Town are yours for the picking, Brother Wang!”

After the crowd had dispersed, Apu stood behind the group of women, puzzled, and asked, “That uncle looks like Uncle Wang from East Town? Dressed like that, I almost didn’t recognize him. Did he come to propose to Aunt Hua?”

Wang Da from East Town was a poor hunter. His household consisted of just him and his son. Wang Da hunted to support his late-born son, Wang Musheng, in his studies.

Supporting a scholar was no easy task. After Wang Da’s first wife died in childbirth, he couldn’t afford to remarry and remained a widower. Fortunately, the people of Xiaolin Town saw the father and son as honest and hardworking. Since Wang Musheng had passed the imperial examination at just over ten years old, the neighbors often helped them out with small contributions.

Aunt Hua had been widowed a few years earlier and was raising Little Hua and her younger brother alone. But Aunt Hua was only in her early thirties, while Wang Da was probably nearly sixty, their ages didn’t match at all.

The aunties who had shielded Apu only stepped aside after Wang Da and the ruffians had gone far away. They curled their lips scornfully and cursed, “That shameless lot! They want to marry Little Hua!”

“Ah? For Musheng to marry her?”

“That’s why they’re shameless scoundrels! It’s that poor widower Wang Da who wants to marry her. The day before yesterday, an immortal passed by from the sky and took a liking to Wang Musheng, saying he had some kind of bone.”

“Spiritual bone?”

“Yes, yes! They said he had a spiritual bone and wanted to take him to the immortal mountain as a disciple. That Wang Musheng is going to be an immortal from now on. With a son like that, Wang Da is strutting around like a peacock. Those ruffians egged him on, and now he wants to marry Little Hua as a replacement wife, saying he can’t let his immortal son lose face.”

One of the aunties gave Apu a once-over.

“Little Apu, you should be careful too. Don’t let that old turtle catch sight of you.”

Another aunt sighed.

“We’re all neighbors. Their family was so poor, without a woman to manage the household, the father and son lived like beggars. I used to feel sorry for them and asked my husband to gather some food to help them out. They always seemed so honest and simple, who would’ve thought they’d turn out like this.”

An uncle who had been watching the commotion chimed in, “That’s because they were poor back then and had no power. They had to rely on others, so even if they had ill intentions, they had to keep them hidden. Now that Wang Musheng has caught the eye of an immortal, yesterday he deliberately went to West Li Family Bay, beating gongs and drums. Young Li, the prodigy who’s younger than him and scored higher in the same exam, was studying hard at home. When he heard the gongs, drums, and firecrackers, he collapsed on the spot.”

“Oh dear, what a sin!”

“Exactly! Those kinds of villains, who seem honest on the surface but hide wickedness in their hearts, if they really become immortals, it’ll be a disaster!”

“Big Sister Hua?” Apu climbed over the low mud wall of her own yard into the neighbor’s house and, familiar with the way, made her way to Little Hua’s room.

The girl was sitting on the edge of the bed wiping her tears when she heard the call. She quickly dried her eyes and opened the window to let the neighbor’s younger sister climb in.

“You’re climbing the wall again. If your father sees you, he’ll grab the broom and beat you.”

Apu, seeing the girl’s eyes swollen red like jujubes, cursed angrily.

“Sister Xiaohua, I already know everything! That old scoundrel Wang is shameless! What did Aunt Hua say?”

The girl’s eyes welled up again, and tears began to fall.

“My mother said Wang is just a bit older. If I marry him, I’ll be the stepmother of a future immortal. I won’t have to go through the hardship of bearing children myself, and my younger brother might even gain some immortal blessings to succeed in the future.”

“She used to say at home that the Wang family, being hunters, were useless and lived on relief. Now she’s changed her tune, wanting to be related to an immortal! Apu, that old Wang is fifty-nine, and I’m only fifteen!”

With that, Xiaohua threw herself onto the bed and burst into sobbing.

Apu patted her back, comforting her repeatedly, “Sister Xiaohua, don’t cry. If you don’t want to marry that shameless old man, we’ll find a way to avoid it! I’ll definitely help you!”

Xiaohua seemed to have an idea and sat up, asking hopefully, “Apu, do you think the immortals will see that the Wang family is wicked and cast Wang Musheng out?”

Apu shook her head. “It’s not that simple. Priestess Granny told me that the so-called immortals nowadays are just people cultivating immortality. They can’t see through someone’s heart.”

“Besides, look at how honest and simple the Wang father and son used to be. It’s only now that they’ve gained some power that their true nature is revealed. You can imagine Wang Musheng must’ve acted meek and humble when he first entered the immortal sect, keeping his head down.”

Back home for dinner, Apu ate silently as usual, only picking from the plate of boiled wild greens in front of her. Her second brother, who had been working as an apprentice in a neighboring town, hadn’t returned recently. Her younger brother, clutching a roasted chicken leg their father had bought on his way home from work, was eating messily, his mouth greasy.

Her father and mother, like everyone else in Xiaolin Town, were discussing the Wang family’s newfound immortal fortune.

“That old Wang family in East Town is about to rise. Having an immortal disciple in the family is truly a blessing from their ancestors. Why don’t we have such luck?”

Her mother glanced at Apu, who had her head buried in her bowl.

“Husband, you weren’t here today. Old Wang came by the neighbor’s to say he wants to marry the widow’s daughter, Xiaohua, as his official wife.”

“What?” Her father spat out a mouthful of noodle soup. “That old lecher is even older than me, and he wants to marry a teenage girl next door?”

“He is indeed a lecher, but if she marries him, she’ll be the stepmother of a future immortal. Is our Apu any less worthy than the widow’s daughter?”

Following his wife’s gaze, her father studied Apu for a few moments. No one in the room spoke; the only sounds were her younger brother gnawing on the chicken leg and the girl slurping the bones. Apu lowered her head further, feeling a chill run down her spine.

After a while, her father placed a piece of fatty meat into her bowl.

Under the full moon late at night, the gate to Priestess Granny’s courtyard opened, and a small figure slipped inside. Finding the house empty, Apu ran toward the sacrificial ground behind the house, bathed in moonlight.

The Mangshan Sacrificial Ground was a vast, barren, white jade-like circular arching area, capable of holding tens of thousands of people. It sloped gently upward from the edges toward the center, where a tall platform rose abruptly from the ground. Mysterious black patterns wound across the surface, extending all the way to the circular platform.

At the center of the sacrificial grounds stood a monolithic altar, towering a hundred feet high, so masterfully crafted it seemed the work of gods or spirits. From below, one could only see the ascending stone steps, layer upon layer. No one but the High Priestess had ever set foot upon it.

From a distance, a silver-haired figure cloaked in a grand mantle and holding a tall wooden staff could be seen standing at the base of the altar.

“Grandmother, is it time for the Grand Sacrifice? It doesn’t seem to be the scheduled time yet. Should I go and call?”

The figure turned, revealing a silver-haired beauty dressed in black and red ceremonial robes, draped in a flowing mantle. The hem of her robes shimmered with gold and silver, rippling with faint, gleaming patterns.

Each of the nineteen towns in Mangshan took turns hosting a minor sacrifice every year, but the Grand Sacrifice was held only once every two decades at these very grounds. The last Grand Sacrifice had taken place the year Apu was born. Though she had never witnessed it herself, she had heard the elders in town talk about it countless times.

During the Grand Sacrifice, all married men and women between the ages of fifteen and forty-five from the nineteen towns would gather here. Even with tens of thousands of people, the sacrificial grounds were never fully crowded.

“The High Priestess, clad in sacred robes, shimmered under the moonlight. Ah, we didn’t even dare to look up! The Priestess is no ordinary mortal.”

Apu had always known the Priestess as a gentle, approachable woman, like a beautiful neighbor in simple clothes. She could never understand why the elders regarded her with such reverence and fear.

But now, the silver-haired High Priestess stood before her, draped in a golden-flowing mantle and holding a black staff adorned with a coiled dragon. The golden dragon at the top of the staff seemed almost alive.

Suddenly, the dragon blinked, lowered its head to glance at the little girl, and twisted its body, circling once around the top of the staff.

Its whiskers swayed in the night breeze.

The silver-haired woman smiled, her feet seemingly treading on empty air.

Apu’s eyes sparkled, her heart surging with uncontrollable excitement.

“Grandmother, are you an immortal?”

“I once was,” the High Priestess replied, lifting her gaze to the half-obscured full moon veiled by dark clouds.

“Apu, it’s so late. What brings you to me?”

“Ah? I… Sister Xiaohua, my parents. No, I mean, a cultivator wants to take Wang Musheng from East Town as his disciple. Wang Musheng’s father, Wang Da, wants to marry Sister Xiaohua. I’m scared!” Apu stammered, her mind in a muddle, overwhelmed by the shock.

The Priestess was actually an immortal?

“Take your time. Speak slowly.”

Apu calmed herself a little.

“Grandmother, I want to sever Wang Musheng’s chance at cultivation, so that Sister Xiaohua and I…”

The High Priestess interrupted her, “Is it only the fate of a wicked person’s cultivation you wish to sever?”

Apu looked up at the silver-cloaked, silver-haired woman hovering in mid-air, her eyes gleaming with fierce determination.

“I want to cultivate too.”

“At the Divine Severing Cliff, on the other side of the precipice, there grows a Divine Bone Grass. It will mature tonight. Do you remember asking how one could attain the bones for cultivation?” The woman smiled. “There are two steps left. The first is to swallow it.”

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