Chapter 94: Senior Brother, the Soiled Golden Vase

“What do you mean, ascend to heaven?”

Ji Ming felt dazed. He had only just reached the stage of the Three Blossoms Crowning the Crown, and now he was to go to heaven? To him, that still seemed impossibly distant.

“You haven’t gone silly with delight, have you? I mean the Azure Heaven, of course.”

Ji Ming steadied himself a little and asked again, “An immortal banquet?”

“That’s right.”

Elder Ape looked at the golden boy before him with emotion. On closer inspection, he found that the boy’s eyes were clear and bright, giving off an air of constant lucidity and wakefulness. “You could it be—”

Before Ji Ming could answer, he leaned in and studied the crown of his head. Three strands of vital force could be seen faintly suspended in a single line.

“The Three Blossoms Crowning the Crown.”

For some reason, Elder Ape suddenly let out a breath of relief. He did not know whether it was because of his own timely help, or because Ji Ming had never offended him in ordinary times.

“Good! Good! Good!”

He praised him three times in a row, clapping with delight. “With such progress, you only prove the Master’s keen eye for talent. Your future prosperity is now beyond worry.”

Seeing Elder Ape’s reaction, Ji Ming felt greatly pleased.

He spent his days ignoring worldly affairs and devoting himself entirely to bitter cultivation, sitting cross-legged until his legs might as well have taken root. Was it not all so that his potential might one day be recognized?

“I wonder which Star Lord of the Southern Dipper has invited me?”

Ji Ming asked.

Whether it was Cloud River Continent or Ocher Bear Continent, both lay in the southern part of the world and all revered the Star Lords of the Southern Dipper. So Ji Ming naturally assumed the invitation had come from one of them.

“No, no!” Elder Ape waved a hand and gave him a brief lesson. “The Star Lords of the Southern Dipper are all old immortals and divine beings who attained the Dao in the former Great Xia Dynasty, and even earlier in the Heavenly Zhou Dynasty.

“If they were to hold a banquet, it would surely be a grand affair involving all the great matters of the southern lands, with immortals gathering in full splendor.”

“Then this immortal banquet is for—?”

Elder Ape pointed mysteriously at the ground beneath their feet. Ji Ming guessed he meant Purple Melt Peak, or perhaps the Great Horizontal Mountain.

Ji Ming widened his eyes and lowered his voice in excitement. “Could it be the legendary Lady Southflower? I hear her spiritual domain is here at Great Horizontal Mountain.”

Elder Ape admired Ji Ming’s imagination. “Lady Southflower of Fire Virtue was the first female immortal in the world to attain the Dao. She is also the founding patriarch honored by Yellow Court Palace, one of the Three Orthodox Schools.

“Her rank is even above the stars of the Southern Dipper. Even if she were to host an immortal banquet, whether the Master would even have a seat there is still unknown.”

“Pah, pah, pah!”

Realizing he had misspoken and offended the Master, Elder Ape immediately turned the blame on Ji Ming. “You claim to be an orthodox disciple yourself, yet you know so little common sense?”

Ji Ming chuckled softly and waited for him to continue.

Elder Ape performed a bow toward the south and said, “Though it is not Lady Southflower of Fire Virtue, it is still someone closely related to her—the only recorded disciple she ever took in.

“His Dao title is Bell-Completion. I do not know his mortal name. In the former Great Xia Dynasty, he cultivated to the fourth realm, forming a golden core. When his lifespan ended and his Dao came to its close, his spirit entered the Netherworld Bureau of the Northern Yin Underworld to take office.

“By now, he is one of the ghosts and gods, governing one of the local bureaus in our southern region.”

Seeing the thoughtful look in Ji Ming’s eyes, Elder Ape immediately knew what he was thinking and said, “He was taken in by the Lady before she attained the Dao, and his failure to become an immortal was due to fate’s ebb and flow.

“Back then, most cultivators still followed the path of external elixir cultivation to seek immortality.

“The Yellow Court Inner Radiance Method written by Lady Southflower at the time touched upon inner refinement and was the forerunner of qi cultivation, but it was not yet a complete system. Even she herself attained immortality through external elixirs.

“It would take several more centuries before the true, complete system of alchemical cultivation was established by the one at Great Pure Yang Palace, the Dao lineage of the Middle Heaven.

“Yet this man, in an age when inner elixir methods were as barren as a desert, could still blaze a new trail and achieve a single golden core. It is truly unfathomable!

“If he could advance two more steps and become a yang spirit earth immortal, he might well have replaced the one at Great Pure Yang Palace ahead of time and become one of the divine beings of the Three Heavens.”

As he spoke, Elder Ape sighed over and over, pitying Bell-Completion, who was now a ghostly deity.

A ghostly deity was not bad, either; after all, he governed one region’s local bureau. But compared to that one, it was the difference between cloud and mud.

Watching Elder Ape’s endless sighing, Ji Ming could not help thinking: why is this old ape mourning over some ghostly big shot? No matter how down-and-out he was, he was still a great figure above their heads.

After Elder Ape’s announcement, a group of children came from inside the cave, carrying a cinnabar brush, ceremonial robes and wondrous vestments, a pair of hemp sandals, and a red-copper hanging lock with a jeweled collar ring. They dressed and adorned Ji Ming.

As the children fussed over him, cinnabar was dabbed on the center of his brow. He was fitted with robe, ornaments, and jeweled ring, then bound with a sash, and the Precious Mirror of Rest was hung at his waist.

Once they had finished dressing him, the children stood apart on either side.

Then Ji Ming felt his footing slip, and he was sent forward. In the next instant, the scenery around him raced backward, finally freezing before the ancient plum tree that had stood for a thousand years.

The Master was sitting beneath the tree in conversation with a Daoist. Her gaze swept over Ji Ming, and a look of satisfaction flashed in her eyes.

“Golden boy, come and meet True Person Fire Dragon.”

Ji Ming stepped forward to pay his respects, only to draw a look of surprise from the Daoist.

“You never take male disciples. This time, you’ve made an exception?”

“This child is a disciple of an old friend of mine. He has been raised in my cave while I look after him on my friend’s behalf. I am very fond of his talent and character, so I have taken special care of him.”

The Daoist turned his head, revealing a single crimson horn on his forehead. He stared at Ji Ming for a long while before saying, “At your age, that is indeed rare.”

With that, he took a small flask from his waist and dripped a little grease onto the horn.

“Senior Brother, it’s only a single piece of bone. Why do you need to oil and maintain it every day?”

“What do you know? This bone was taken from the skull of a little demon. It is not in harmony with my fleshly body, so it must be tended every day if I am to wield it as I wish.”

Ji Ming gave a slight shudder. His eyes fixed dumbly on the Daoist’s single horn, and his heart trembled.

Just as he had guessed, a natural bone could indeed be taken and transplanted.

“Boy, how is my horn? Does it resemble a flood dragon’s horn?”

“It does!”

“Why not come under my junior sister instead? I’ll give you this horn someday.”

“Huh?”

Ji Ming cried out in shock, unable to tell whether the Daoist was deliberately teasing him, or whether the local Master had instructed him to test Ji Ming’s thoughts.

“Senior Brother!”

The Master called out with a darkened brow.

“You do not like those three disciples of yours, and I do not think you care much for them either. Why not take this golden boy, already at the stage of the Three Blossoms Crowning the Crown? Would that not be splendid?”

“I am not the sort to steal another’s good fortune.”

“Then you admit you mean to,” Fire Dragon True Person pressed.

The Master grew irritated and pointed at Ji Ming. “Even if I agreed, this golden boy would surely not be willing.”

“Indeed.” Before the Daoist could speak, Ji Ming said earnestly, “My master raised me with infinite hardship and care. How could I turn and join the Master’s school instead? The Master has shown me kindness and kept me in comfort within this cave. Even if we had no master-disciple bond, I would still serve her faithfully at her side.”

Ji Ming’s words were heartfelt and reasoned, striking the Master exactly where it mattered. She nodded again and again.

The Daoist laughed. “No wonder the Master cares for you. Your temperament is somewhat like hers—upright to a fault, though more flexible than she is.”

Ji Ming echoed the laugh, but within he could not hide his regret. He knew those words he had just spoken were only half true.

First, he really had developed some feelings for the old Daoist and would not easily betray him.

Second, if he agreed, the first person who would dislike him would probably be this local Master.

“It is already the hour of Rooster; yin qi rules the world, and we should go to the inner chamber of the Underheaven Palace. If we arrive late, we may offend Bell-Completion.”

The Daoist said.

The Master looked at Ji Ming and smiled. “Golden boy, come and carry my golden vase.”

Ji Ming looked at the brilliant golden vase with a branch of winter plum inserted in it, and his breathing quickened slightly.

That was the local Master’s magical treasure—the Tainted Golden Vase.