A Good-for-Nothing

66. Remolded (2)

Translator: Dragon Rider

“Master Shifu?” Zu Zhichong asked in confusion.

Xuanqing looked at He Zheng. “A master shifu can offer but guidance; how much an apprentice can achieve mainly depends on his individual effort. You are to study intensively what’s recorded in the handbook I gave you. The residual foulness inside you has already been purged. Given your talent, I believe you’ll find yourself getting twofold results with half the effort during your future cultivation. If you do encounter anything beyond your grasp, you may go and consult others about it. Since you are my apprentice, everybody in the Qingwei Sect will come to your help when you’re in need.”

He Zheng, who still hadn’t figured out what was going on, queried in puzzlement, “You won’t be instructing me yourself?”

Xuanqing replied calmly, “Soon I’ll start another session of closed-door cultivation, which will last at least seven or eight years.”

“You are starting yet another session of closed-door cultivation?” Sect Leader Zu was sent dismayed. “Didn’t you finish the last one merely a few days ago?”

Xuanqing gave an unconcerned smile. “My lifespan is coming to an end, but I still cannot break through the heart-knot. If this session of closed-door cultivation turns out to be a failure, my internal organs might fail permanently as well.”

All others lapsed into silence.

He Zheng, in particular, had a vacant expression on his face. For some reason, he couldn’t help but blurt, “Master Shifu…”

“Hearing you call me master shifu is enough for me.” Xuanqing gave an exceptionally relaxed smile. “This is what the path of cultivation is like. Fortunes are predestined, which is true for everybody. It’s been decades since my elder sect-brother died, yet I’m still in this form. Shouldn’t I count myself one of the lucky ones?”

He unfolded his hands which were fair-skinned, delicate and utterly wrinkle-free.

There was evident smile on the face of Xuanqing, but for some unknown reason, He Zheng felt a sudden twinge of sadness.

“Work hard and make some noise, kiddo.” Xuanqing patted He Zheng on the shoulder. “I practiced divination and the results suggested that you have unlimited career prospects.”

Heart heavy with sorrow, Sect Leader Zu involuntarily softened his tone. “Younger Sect-brother, is it because you have something to say to me that you asked me to stay?”

Xuanqing responded, “Not really. I just want to ask you why the quality of my meals has been on the decline recently. Do you wish to face my thunderous wrath?”

Sect Leader Zu fell speechless with embarrassment.

After a while, Sect Leader Zu earnestly advised him with good intentions, “Younger Sect-brother, though you bear the appearance of a young man, I hope you’ll keep in mind that not long ago you were hospitalized due to ‘the three high’ (hyperlipemia, hyperglycemia and hypertension).”

Xuanqing gave a snort and, as if throwing an adult tantrum, left the room. “Get lost, all of you. Stop disturbing my apprentice. He needs rest.” Others were still talking but followed him out of the room.

After taking the Purity Pill, He Zheng did feel much better. The soreness in his muscles gradually disappeared. Leaning against the headboard, he casually stretched out his legs. The cellphone signals were not very good due to the high mountains, so after sitting on the bed for a few moments, He Zheng put on his coat and got out of bed. There was nobody else both in and outside his room. It was not until He Zheng walked out of the door that he saw the first bar of the signal icon on his phone screen light up.

Distantly, he saw that someone was standing in front of the tree that had been struck by lightning, stroking the trunk with his right hand.

“Master Shifu.”

That person was Xuanqing who had returned to this courtyard.

Seeing He Zheng was capable of walking now, Xuanqing smiled, “The pill of the Hezao Sect was indeed very effective.”

He beckoned to He Zheng, who hesitated for a few moments and then walked over.

“How did it feel to be struck by lightning? It felt really good, didn’t it?”

He Zheng’s face darkened and the feeling of being touched disappeared. In a sour tone, he replied, “I can do that again if you want to give it a shot.”

“Oh, come on –you cannot even draw a lightning Fu.” Smiling, Xuanqing shook his head. Leaning against the burnt black tree, he quietly gazed at He Zheng. After a while, when He Zheng started to feel chills run down his spine beneath his gaze, Xuanqing remarked, “It never crossed my mind that some day I would get an apprentice as talented as you, who can recover so soon after being struck by lightning.

Now sit down cross-legged.”

He Zheng looked at him, a skeptical look on his face.

However, Xuanqing sat down cross-legged first and curled his lip. “I’ll teach you some life-saving skills before starting my closed-door cultivation lest some day you accuse me of being a stingy master shifu.”

He Zheng, not quite convinced, sat down.

Without any warning, Xuanqing quickly pressed the tip of one of his fingers against He Zheng’s forehead and with that He Zheng was forced into closing his eyes. He felt something cold-pungent moved across his eyelids. “I’ve opened your Divine Eye for you. From now on, you’ll be on your own.”

Xuanqing’s voice reverberated in his ears. Somehow, he felt that it was tinged with debility.

When He Zheng opened his eyes again, Xuanqing was already gone.

“Cutie, why did you get out of bed?” Zu Zhichong carrying a lunch box walked into the courtyard from outside.

Feeling strange, He Zheng rose to his feet and stroked his eyes, making no response to Zu Zhichong’s question.

Zu Zhichong put the lunch box down onto the surface of the stone table and took the food out of it. There were a dish of stir-fried shredded radishes, shredded chilies and bean sprouts; a dish of fried fish cubes; a dish of tofu mixed with chopped green onion; and a bowl of big sweet dumplings with ground sesame seed filling.

“Enjoy your breakfast. Chief told me that you like sweet dumplings and asked me to prepare some for you.”

“Li Zong? You can make contact with him?” He Zheng, whose train of thought was interrupted, forgot about the matter of Xuanqing. “My cellphone isn’t receiving any signals whatsoever and I cannot even make a phone call to Li Zong with it.”

Zu Zhichong glanced at the iphone X in He Zheng’s hand and said, “You may use mine. There’s a built-in signal-amplifier in my cellphone.”

He Zheng took it and dialed Li Zong’s number. Zu Zhichong tactfully walked away.

On the third ring, Li Zong’s apathetic voice came from the other end of the phone. “Hello?”

“Li Zong?”

On hearing He Zheng’s voice, Li Zong softened his tone. “You’ve got some spare time? Have you had breakfast?”

He Zheng took the spoon and scooped a sweet dumpling into his mouth. “I’m eating right now.”

“How’s the induction?”

After a few moments’ hesitation, He Zheng told him the whole story exactly as it happened.

He Zheng seemed to have a strong aversion to the topic of death, no matter whose death it was.

“Everybody has their own destiny. The living are passing travelers, the dead are returnees. Even if Xuanqing died eventually, it wouldn’t mean that he truly left.

This is the end of this life of his, and it was also the end of his last life and all those before that. There’s no need for you to feel upset about it.”

“I just hate death.” He Zheng’s voice was very low. He held the cellphone slightly tighter, forced a smile and, feeling that it was not like him to talk like that just now, switched to a relaxed tone. “How’s the task? Are you doing okay? Why am I hearing the sound of wind? Are you in a car?”

“Yeah.” After a brief pause, Li Zong remarked in a tender voice, “Stop talking and focus on your breakfast. You might choke yourself.”

“I’m not a kid.” He Zheng mumbled unhappily.

Li Zong’s chuckle came from the other end of the phone. “Since Xuanqing has expelled the foulness from your body, you should start doing morning exercises with Zu Zhichong from tomorrow on.”

“All right.” He Zheng suddenly laughed. He raised his head and looked into the sky. It was bright and clean. Those dark clouds had long ago dispersed. He Zheng murmured, “Li Zong, it’s been merely one day since we parted, but I’ve started missing you already. Is it because we are passionately in love?”

He deliberately added before Li Zong could make a response, “Finish the job as soon as possible. I’ll meet you in the Coastal City.”

Then he immediately hung up.

After the phone call with Li Zong, He Zheng did feel somewhat better. He was not lying both when he talked about his thinking on the matter of Xuanqing and when he told Li Zong about his longing for him. He really began to miss Li Zong.

He Zheng pocketed the cellphone and resumed eating in gulps the big sweet dumplings with ground black sesame seed filling. What he was unaware of was that at this moment, Li Zong, who had just talked with him on the phone, was standing on the verge of a huge meteorite crater in the far north.