After sipping tea and chatting idly.
Si Lingxi also heard the tale of Shen Ying bestowing a cultivation method upon Lu Zheng, Lu Zheng rescuing Shen Ying from calamity, Shen Ying aiding Lu Zheng in slaying demons, and Lu Zheng helping Shen Ying establish her temple.
“Peach trees lush and young, their blossoms brightly burning!”
Si Lingxi smiled. “Two years ago, while travelling the Central Plains, I chanced upon a peach blossom temple and learned this poem. Regrettably, that temple was not your true body. I was curious then. Today, my wish is fulfilled.”
Shen Ying raised her cup in a distant toast to Si Lingxi. “To be favoured by Senior’s regard is an honour beyond words for this wife.”
Daoist Wan Song nodded with a smile. “That too stems from your own extraordinariness. Otherwise, taking a poem as origin and harmonising with the Heavenly Way, how could it be so simple?
“Just like little friend Liu. Without exceptional mental state, how could she obtain such merit?”
Liu Qingyan smiled charmingly. “Yet without Lu Lang gifting the book, Qingyan would not have today.”
To give Lu Zheng face before Daoist Wan Song, Liu Qingyan and Shen Ying praised him as rare in the heavens, hard to find on earth. It left Lu Zheng somewhat embarrassed.
Have I really done so many things?
…
With profound cultivation, all present could go long without rest or sleep. Yet this would conflict with the turning of sun and moon, the natural order of the Heavenly Way.
Thus, barring discussions of the Way, contests of arts, or unavoidable matters, even top-tier grandmasters mostly maintained daily routines of rising with the sun and resting at dusk.
Even if not sleeping at night, merely cultivating or resting, they upheld this habit.
Such routine was itself a cultivation of mindset: neither arrogant nor impatient, neither hurried nor slack.
So as daylight faded, they ceased tea and conversation.
Daoist Wan Song vanished into the ancient pine at the summit. Si Lingxi went to meditate atop a great boulder on another peak. Lu Zheng, naturally, took his two wives to find a place to rest.
Fortunately, Wan Song Mountain had many caves. Inside were stone tables, benches, beds, and shelves, even stone urns and bowls. Apart from lacking bedding, they were truly move-in ready.
Lu Zheng chose a larger cave midway up the mountain, at a bend where bamboo groves met a stream. With a wave, he cleared accumulated dust, summoned clear water to rinse the stone furnishings, used a brightness incantation for light, and finally produced bedding, cups, pots, and fresh clothes.
In moments, the cave was fully fitted for temporary residence.
…
The next day, at sunrise.
Lu Zheng led Shen Ying and Liu Qingyan to the summit of a certain peak.
“Watching sunrise amid the hundred thousand mountains of the southern borders offers a different flavour from the Central Plains,” Shen Ying said.
Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan nodded.
Both had visited the southern borders before. Lu Zheng more often, Liu Qingyan to Dingfeng Mountain, where she had seen southern sunrises. Only Shen Ying was experiencing the deep southern borders for the first time.
The golden sun rose from the horizon, rays shooting in all directions, piercing clouds and mist.
All that met the eye: above, endless sea of clouds with myriad rosy lights and soaring birds; below, layered peaks and ridges with drifting mists and myriad trees vying in splendour.
“So beautiful!” Shen Ying exclaimed.
Lu Zheng nodded. “The red sun newly risen, its path greatly bright.”
Liu Qingyan asked, “Lu Lang, was that Sunrise Painting you did last time from here?”
Lu Zheng nodded and drew a scroll from his gourd. It was the very painting from his previous visit to Wan Song Mountain, later shown to Liu Qingyan and Shen Ying for appreciation.
“Indeed very similar.”
“Practically identical.”
Shen Ying and Liu Qingyan compared the painting to the scene before them, praising in unison.
After admiring a while, the sun reached its zenith. The faint rosy clouds gradually dispersed. Heaven and earth grew fully bright.
“Enough. Sunrise viewed. Let us return for breakfast,” Lu Zheng said.
“Breakfast?”
Liu Qingyan and Shen Ying exchanged glances. Then Liu Qingyan asked, “When you visited Wan Song Mountain before, did you eat breakfast?”
Lu Zheng sighed. “Forget breakfast. No lunch or dinner either. Fortunately, I could already abstain from grain then, or I might have starved here.”
“Hehe…”
Light laughter came from nearby. Si Lingxi had arrived not far away.
She had not concealed her approach. Lu Zheng had not spoken softly. Naturally, she overheard.
“Old Pine Tree only drinks tea, occasionally nibbles pine nuts. Probably never eaten a proper meal in his life,” Si Lingxi smiled. “Making breakfast? Prepare a portion for me too.”
“No problem. Any dietary restrictions, Senior?” Lu Zheng replied.
“None.” Si Lingxi shook her head. “Whatever you make is fine.”
“Good!” Lu Zheng nodded.
He piled stones for a stove, produced pots, pans, bowls, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, chopped scallions, picked two fresh mushrooms nearby, and finally took a handful of dried noodles bought in the modern era.
“Something light for morning. Sour soup noodles. At noon, I will hunt some game down the mountain. By the way, Senior eats meat?”
“Yes.” Si Lingxi nodded. Watching Lu Zheng deftly chop and cook, she asked curiously, “You cook too? Looks like good skill.”
Lu Zheng admitted, “Passable. Definitely better than average.”
“Then for lunch, make roasted snake,” Si Lingxi said. “I have visited the Central Plains several times. Few eat snake, and the skill is ordinary.”
“Fine!” Lu Zheng nodded. He had guessed Si Lingxi might be a great demon with phoenix bloodline. But eating snake sounded more like a roc.
Mixed blood, perhaps?
Chatting casually, he produced table, stools, porcelain bowls, wooden chopsticks from his gourd.
Soon, four steaming bowls of fragrant sour soup noodles were ready. With fresh Wan Song Mountain mushrooms, the sourness carried a clear fragrance. The aroma alone whetted the appetite.
“Not bad!” Si Lingxi’s phoenix eyes narrowed slightly. She nodded in praise. Her chopstick movements were graceful and refined, yet swift.
“Slurp slurp…”
After finishing the noodles, all four lifted bowls to drink the soup. Setting them down, they found every bowl empty.
The four exchanged smiles. Lu Zheng’s trio felt Si Lingxi warmer, less distant than yesterday.
…
Moments later, after Lu Zheng cleared the stove and dishes, a ripple of spiritual qi flashed from the ancient pine at the summit.
“Little Friend Lu, fancy a game?”
“Coming!”
Si Lingxi led the way. Lu Zheng followed with his two wives. They returned to the mountain summit.
…
After one game, Daoist Wan Song showed no interest in another. Instead, he called Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan aside to discuss the Red Pine Master’s Left Precepts Jade Water Elixir Classic.
Meanwhile, Si Lingxi took Shen Ying down the mountain. While inquiring about Central Plains matters and strolling, she casually caught three snakes over a zhang long and fist-thick.
