Chapter 18: Mystery

“Poisonous Ice Cicada?”

Pan Yu explained, “I read about it in an ancient book. The Poisonous Ice Cicada is said to be carved from a celestial stone, beautiful and lustrous, but whoever possesses it will suffer great misfortune. Legend has it that southern shamans placed a curse on it. It was thought lost long ago, I didn’t expect it to be discarded in a rice field.”

Xu Xian was speechless. “Is there anything you don’t know?”

“I only know what I know!” Pan Yu smiled. “It’s just a coincidence. How did you know he’d brought something home?”

“I’ll explain later. Hey, brother, your family’s illness is probably caused by that ice cicada.”

The peasant was half-convinced, half-doubtful, afraid the two were tricking him. Xu Xian said, “Don’t you feel better when you leave home, and worse when you’re there?”

“Yes, yes! I walked ten li to get here and feel much better.” (li = about 0.500 meters)

“That’s it. Hurry home, your family is still being poisoned by the ice cicada. The longer you wait, the more dangerous it is.”

The peasant thanked them profusely and rushed off.

As the porch emptied, the two finally breathed a sigh of relief. Pan Yu’s dark, glossy eyes fixed on Xu Xian, making him uncomfortable. “Is there something on my face?”

“All right, I’ll explain. I heard about that illness before, there’s a kind of stone that emits invisible light, like sunlight, but it’s harmful to people. The symptoms are just as he described. I just happened to have heard of it.”

Pan Yu looked thoughtful. “I’ve never heard of that, but it sounds plausible. I’m just curious, how did you know? I’ve read all kinds of books since I was young and never seen that written anywhere.” His bright eyes locked onto Xu Xian.

Xu Xian felt helpless, why is it that other transmigrators can show off modern knowledge freely, but he always gets questioned? Facing someone as confident as Pan Yu, who always seemed to have “read every book you’ve read,” and who was sharp and insightful, any excuse was full of holes.

Fine, fine. Xu Xian gave up. “A Daoist passing by my house when I was a kid told me.”

Pan Yu blinked at Xu Xian, his long lashes fluttering, then gave a long “Oh”, as if barely accepting the explanation.

Only then did Xu Xian breathe a sigh of relief.

*Creak* the door opened as they spoke. An old gentleman, bowing as he backed out, face beaming with joy, thanked someone inside over and over. As the door closed, he even called out through the crack, “Thank you!”

Xu Xian couldn’t help stepping forward to ask, “Elder, you’re done with your reading?”

“You’re the one who’s done! Today is a day of great joy, great joy.” The old man’s words were scolding, but his face was all happiness. Xu Xian, catching the mood, asked, “May I ask, what’s the happy occasion?”

The old man seemed to have been waiting for someone to ask. He immediately launched into a long explanation. It turned out he had a concubine who was now pregnant. For a man who’d never had an heir, this was a good thing, but he thought he was too old for it to be possible, so he’d come to have his fortune told: first, to see if the child was his; second, to see if it was a boy or girl. Both wishes were fulfilled, an old man with a son, how could he not be happy?

Xu Xian slumped against the door: this fortune-teller wasn’t just a weather satellite, but also a paternity tester, X-ray machine, and more, a must-have for home and travel!

“Looking at that Daoist’s immortal bearing, white hair and childlike face, he’s truly an accomplished master. After his reading, he really seemed like an old immortal.” The old man praised the fortune-teller a few more times, then left in high spirits.

Xu Xian nudged Pan Yu and whispered, “Hey, do you think the child’s really his? At his age…” Xu Xian mimed being old.

Pan Yu shrugged. “How would I know?” He ignored Xu Xian’s gossipy curiosity. Xu Xian was about to knock on the door, but before he could touch it, it opened. A little girl with twin buns and Daoist robes smiled, “You two must be the xiucai from Jintian Academy! My master asked me to fetch you.” The girl was cute and lively, her big dark eyes sparkling.

Xu Xian sighed, “With a disciple like this, the master must be either a man or a woman.”

Pan Yu laughed, “Who else could it be?”

Xu Xian disagreed, “That’s your ignorance, Mingyu. In the southern barbarian lands, there’s a country where men can become women, but not completely, they end up neither male nor female, called ‘renyao’ (human monsters).” Although Pan Yu’s cross-dressing was achieved through exquisite illusion, she was still female, but the words “neither male nor female” made her feel a pang.

Pan Yu’s step faltered, but she smiled, “Bragging! You’ve probably never left Jiangsu or Zhejiang. How would you know?”

“It was a Daoist passing by my house when I was a kid who told me.” Xu Xian’s universal excuse worked again, and he swore never to show off again.

Pan Yu laughed, “Was your house a Daoist temple? Daoists passing by every day, all of them poets and scholars, encyclopedic and brilliant.”

The two joked as they followed the little girl into the Daoist temple. She closed the door behind them, and instantly all the city noise was shut out. The little courtyard was quiet and secluded, as if deep in the mountains. Bamboo groves, rockeries, a cool breeze. Xu Xian felt a strange sense of déjà vu, but couldn’t recall why.

They turned past a rockery and walked along a stone path through a bamboo grove. The little girl hopped ahead, humming an unknown nursery rhyme, her song blending with the wind in the bamboo, making the whole grove seem to sway.

Pan Yu frowned slightly and whispered to Xu Xian, “This courtyard can’t be this big.” He’d seen the walls from outside, it was just a small temple. But they’d been walking for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea and still hadn’t reached the end.

Xu Xian, lost in the feeling, answered absentmindedly, “If not illusion, then reality!”

That phrase seemed to trigger something. In an instant, the sun-like light in his soul flared, and as he spoke, the little girl ahead called out, “We’re here, we’re here!”

Her clear voice broke their thoughts. Looking up, they saw they’d reached the main hall.

“Master, Master, they’re here, they’re here!” The little Daoist ran in to announce them, glancing back at Xu Xian before entering.

Xu Xian and Pan Yu exchanged a smile, feeling the trip was worthwhile.

They entered the hall, but instead of the “old immortal” described by the old gentleman, they saw a Daoist woman in her twenties, wearing cloud-patterned cloth shoes and a pale yellow robe, her black hair in a bun with a wooden hairpin. Her simple attire had a transcendent air, and her beautiful face truly gave her the look of a fairy descended to earth.

Xu Xian thought: Could this be the legendary “little secretary”?

The Daoist woman greeted them with a gentle smile, “This humble Daoist is Yu Xuanji. My Daoist name in the sect is Tianji Zi.”

Xu Xian had the feeling, maybe it was just his imagination, that although Yu Xuanji greeted both of them, her gaze lingered on him. Then he laughed at himself, how could any woman pay attention to another man with someone as stunning as Pan Yu present?

Yu Xuanji introduced herself with her Daoist name, but seeing Xu Xian’s calm, smiling response, she found him even more inscrutable.

“Are you the master of this temple?” Pan Yu asked.

Xu Xian wondered, “Didn’t that old man say the master was an old man?”

Yu Xuanji praised, “Young Master Pan, what sharp eyes.” Then to Xu Xian: “Young Master Xu, didn’t you just say ‘if not illusion, then reality’? In this world of truth and illusion, who can really tell the difference?”

Her autumn-water eyes lingered gently on Xu Xian, giving him the feeling of a spring breeze, yet within that gentleness was something that kept people at a distance. It wasn’t arrogance or coldness, nor was it deep or inscrutable, it was a kind of solitary grace, standing apart from the world.

Xu Xian had once felt something similar from Pan Yu, but it was still different. Pan Yu’s eyes were like a deep pool, clear, but you could never see what lay within.