Joy of Life

Along the snow-brushed steps, a young Ku He and a distraught Xiao En began to ascend the frost-bitten mountain. The look upon Xiao En’s face thawed somewhat, allowing him to once more express a range of differing emotions, from excitement, to anxiety, to fear.

Ku He possessed no fear; he only harbored a fervent fanaticism. He was a monk, and he had made it his life’s goal to touch the temple’s door and kneel upon the stone steps of that sacred place in worship of its divinity.

As they pushed on with their snowbound venture, it wasn’t long before they neared their final destination. However, upon approaching its frigid steps, they would immediately be taken aback. You see, each time they neared, the temple would vanish from sight and reappear in the far distance, once more. After half a day of intense climbing towards their desired haven, this continued, and the temple’s distance away from them appeared to gradually lengthen, with its black, solemn walls looking like little more than fleeting, flickering shadows.

In legends, it was said that the temple would only appear twice a year. Ku He and Xiao En were unwilling to relinquish this opportunity, however, and so they exerted every ounce of their strength in their climb. And climb they did. They climbed, crawled, and clambered until they lost track of how long they had spent doing so. Over the course of their pursuit, their bodies developed innumerable cuts and bruises from the harsh ice and lethal icicles and as they endured, two trails of blood marked their route.

...

...

Slap. Ku He’s hands slapped flat stone – he had reached the footsteps of the temple. The young monk, in his relief, could not help but slap the stone twice in a presumptuous manner. He was quickly filled with boundless joy and his heart leapt in elation.

Xiao En was slightly slower to reach the top and as he peered at the door of the temple, he clutched the weapon that he had hidden within his sleeves. As he looked upon the seven-meter-high door, Xiao En became slightly unnerved, and with its presence there, it almost looked as if a god had dropped a book onto the earth. Although the door wasn’t as fancy as the grand door that existed within the Great Wei Palace, it made the latter look miniscule in comparison. The place seemed otherworldly, as if it weren’t built for the presence of mortals.

The walls of the temple were caked in dust, and it must have been several years since anyone else had treaded upon the grounds of this place.

Xiao En gulped, and steeled himself to find a way inside. The king had bestowed upon Xiao En the task of discovering the key to immortality. He believed that the end of his search was nigh, and so his excitement grew. Ku He, however, felt differently. His kowtow before the temple door had become quite unsettling, and he was performing the act so vigorously that his forehead began bleeding.

Xiao En approached the temple door and as he leaned forward to touch it, the temple seemed to move away from him.

The temple was so close, yet so far.

30 years later, in the cave. Xiao En’s pallid eyes grew sad.

“I was unable to enter.”

Fan Xian let go of Xiao En’s hands and lightly told him, “It is as I thought. If this were not so, there would be five grand masters, not four.”

“Ku He was stronger than me. Even if I were as lucky as he, there is no way I could become a grand master.” Hearing this, Fan Xian shook his head. “But Ku He could not enter, either. That temple possessed an aura, and it was shielded by a mystic force. Back in the day, Ku He and I were the strongest warriors on the face of the earth, but even we were unable to breach that place.”

Fan Xian perked his head. The tale that Fei Jie’s mentor mentioned had detailed Ku He’s incredible strength stemming from the time he spent kowtowing before a temple’s door. It would appear that this tale was one of truth. Fan Xian frowned and asked, “What resides in that temple?”

Xiao En struggled to provide a response, for he was entirely drained of strength. “In front of the temple’s door, there resides a large plaque. Over the course of the eons, its face had weathered and its message faded. If I were to hazard a guess, I would assume that what was once written on that plaque were runes, left to us mortals by the gods themselves!”

Fan Xian’s heart began to pound and he fervently asked; “What sort of runes?”

Xiao En caught the excitement that was beginning to develop within Fan Xian, and his eyebrows moved in response. In his heart, he found it admirable that the young man in front of him was still filled with such wonder and curiosity regarding the mysteries of their world.

“Do not...” With difficulty, the old man raised his finger to trace the shape of the rune in the air.

Fan Xian understood immediately. “The dragon hiding in deep water?”[1] he said to himself. After he said this, he could not help but laugh.

“And there were three of the exact same runes,” Xiao En said. Through strenuous effort, Xiao En managed to raise his finger and in the air, gestured the shape of two circular arcs, providing a mystic sensation.

Fan Xian began to believe that it was impossible for him to discern anything from these runes. Does my rebirth have anything to do with this temple? Does the temple possess a connection to my mother? It looks as if I’ll have to find out myself. I don’t believe I have the strength and luck of Ku He and Xiao En to brave and endure the cold nights of travel to such a place.

“I don’t imagine this story has such a simple ending.”

Xiao En coughed and said, “You are correct. When you spend so much time and effort in pursuit of your lifelong goal, to finally be within reach and fall short of it, you may not be so willing to give up.”

“As Ku He continued to kowtow on the steps before the temple, I walked to the sheltering mountainside.”

The onset of night had come, and without the light of a campfire, the darkness blinded them both. Xiao En, in a softened voice, began to once more describe the events that occurred decades ago. Fan Xian, after a while said, “You were looking for a sewer entry?”

Xiao En looked at the young man’s silhouette framed by the mouth of the cave. “You’re in the same line of business as me,” he said. “That’s why you know what I would have done at that time.”

“You were unable to get close to the temple’s walls, so how were you supposed to enter via a sewer?” Upon saying this, Fan Xian’s eyebrows moved in a manner to suggest slight confusion. Then, he asked, “In a place such as this, a relic left from the gods, how could there be a sewer?”

“So I failed.” Xiao En said these words in haste. “Now that I think about it, I must have had a lot of courage in my youth. In front of that temple, there I was, believing I could get inside through such a mundane point of entry.”

“And then?”

“And then...” Xiao En fell into a weird mood. “Then I returned to the front of the temple. And when I did, I saw Ku He hold something in his arms. In my curiosity, I approached to ask him what he held and then...”

The old man’s speech stammered and slowed, and as it did, Fan Xian’s heart grew tenser and tenser.

“The door of the temple swung open.”

“What!?” Fan Xian, without realizing it, inched closer towards Xiao En in a manner that seemed to suggest he wanted to protect him.

Xiao En’s eyes gleamed and smiled on his behalf. With his voice beginning to break, he said, “The temple’s doors opened quietly and quite naturally. It was an exciting thing to witness. On my way there to take a look inside, from beyond that massive door, a beautiful person stepped outside.”

“A beautiful person?”

“Yes, it was a fairy.”

Xiao En stood before the door like a fool as a little girl ran directly into his arms. Blood from his still-battered and fatigued body almost spilt from his mouth. In the pale light, Xiao En glanced at Ku He, who looked like a fierce tiger. He dashed towards the temple doors and began to make battle with a dark entity.

Ku He was the youngest Rank Nine elite, but he had no idea what came over him. He was quite visibly exerting all of the strength that he possessed to take on this entity that had emerged from the temple. The whole scene quickly descended into chaos.

A few moments later, it dawned upon Xiao En that he did indeed hold within his arms a young girl. Before he could react, however, the young girl began yelling at Ku He, “Retreat!”

It was a simple word that was uttered from the mouth of frail young girl, but it was spoken like a decree issued by an emperor. The power within her voice made Xiao En shiver. And then, all of a sudden, his face was smacked.

“You too!”

Ku He stepped backwards with grace, but Xiao En, clutching the young girl, clumsily fell backwards and rolled down the temple stairs.

The dark entity did not give chase and rather warped back inside the temple. Xiao En, in shock, returned his gaze back towards the temple doors. He hazily thought that for a brief moment, the dark entity resembled the shape of a man. Fear overcame Xiao En, and he saw Ku He was already coughing up blood after his brief clash. Even Ku He was no match for that dark entity. It was evident that whatever was inside that temple was not from this world.

Xiao En understood quite quickly that while he was off looking for his supposed sewer entrance, Ku He must have bargained with the little girl that was in his arms upon Xiao En’s return. A bargain that would free her from the temple.

But who was this little girl?

“Carry me. Drag him and let’s go.”

The little girl appeared to be extremely cold and so she buried her head in his chest, before signaling him to move. Xiao En did not dare to relent and so he held the girl tight, grabbed a hold of Ku He and began his descent back down the mountain.

It took what seemed like an age of running, but at long last, they returned to their campsite. He was exhausted and upon sitting down in his tent, he suddenly questioned why he took flight. The Emperor had ordered him to retrieve the secrets of immortality, but he had come back without them. Why had he listened to the little girl, without a second thought? The strangest aspect, or so he thought, was that the dark entity did not go after him.

Xiao En turned around to look at the little girl, as she sat upon the floor, rubbing her nose. She took notice at the mound of human bones that had been left over in the corner of the tent.

“These poor and hateful humans.” The little girl spoke and returned her gaze to Xiao En. It was only now that Xiao En was able to get a good look at her and see what she truly looked like. Her skin was pale like snow, without a single blemish. Her eyes were wide and they sparkled. Her beauty was something no mortal could possess.

In the pitch black cave, Xiao En could not make out Fan Xian’s facial expression, but he could tell through the tone of his voice, that something was amiss. Fan Xian asked, “How old was the little girl?”

“Four years of age, at the most.” Xiao En’s eyes were wide open, as if he could see her face before him. “When I held her in my arms, she was as light as a feather.”

Fan Xian, in a tone of astonishment, asked, “She was four years old as well?”

“Why ‘as well’”?

“It’s nothing.” Fan Xian laughed, opened his eyes and asked, “Do you know who that little girl is?”

Xiao En replied assuredly, “Of course I know. She was fairy who wanted to become mortal, and thus she escaped that temple.”

Fan Xian was laughing and shook his finger in disagreement, “Believe me, she was just a little girl that entered the temple to steal stuff.”

[1] The character in the rune, “do not” (wu), made Fan Xian think of a Chinese idiom about a dragon hiding in deep water, which is a metaphor for not acting rashly until the time is right.