I didn't understand most of what they said, but I enjoyed listening to their voices. Even when they crossed verbal swords, their voices remained crisp like flowing water, touching the heartstrings.
From time to time, I glanced at him, then at Jiu Jue, earnestly capturing every distinct expression on their faces, trying to decipher everything from the few words and phrases I could understand.
The faint aroma of wine had been lingering in my nose, and to my surprise, I felt a bit dizzy, my eyelids getting heavier and heavier.
Finally, I couldn't resist anymore and fell into a deep sleep, leaning on the stone table.
The next morning, a few thin rays of sunlight penetrated through the cracks in the rocks above my head, gently sprinkling on me.
I slowly opened my eyes, only to find that my sleeping position was all wrong — I was obviously lying on the table, but somehow I slipped to the ground, my entire person leaning on him, comfortably using his thigh as a pillow. And both of my hands were still tightly holding his calf.
I slept soundly all night like this?!
I jumped up in embarrassment, my face flushing, somewhat at a loss for what to do.
"Haha, did you sleep well last night?" He looked at me with a playful smile. "I didn't expect that guy's new wine to be so potent, just the smell of it knocked you out."
"You just sat like that all night?" I asked timidly, staring at the creases I had pressed into his robe.
"Well, you were sleeping so soundly, I didn't want to wake you," he said casually, beating his own legs lightly, then standing up and looking outside. He turned serious and said, "It's getting late, we need to leave immediately."
"Leave? Where are we going?" I was surprised, or more accurately, pleasantly surprised.
"Daizhou City."
With that, he took my hand as usual and briskly walked out of the cave.
The whistling wind blew away my hair.
I clutched his arm and closed my eyes tightly, not daring to look down.
The feeling of traveling by cloud wasn't as comfortable as I had imagined.
The mass of white vapor beneath my feet looked thick and soft, but when I stepped on it, I realized it was nothing. Flying thousands of miles high in the sky with this unsettling feeling of nothingness, how could I not have my heart in my mouth?!
"Hehe, don't be afraid. You'll gradually get used to it," he noticed my tension and patted my hand reassuringly. "It's a good thing Jiu Jue left early this morning. Otherwise, seeing you like this, he wouldn't miss the chance to tease you."
His last remark reminded me. I opened my eyes, daring only to look up but not down, retorting calmly yet not boldly, "Does he dare say he wasn't scared at all the first time he rode the clouds? He was probably more scared than me! Humph! A boring guy who only makes fun of others and doesn't criticize himself."
He couldn't help but laugh, "Alright, alright, it seems like you two had better meet less in the future, so as not to disturb my quiet practice[1]."
I huffed in frustration, thinking about how many sarcastic comments that guy might have said after I got drunk last night.
But with this anger, most of the initial panic was offset.
"How much longer until we reach Daizhou City?" I mustered up my courage and glanced down at my feet. Clouds and mist swirled around the mountains, and the broad, winding river had shrunk into a thin ribbon less than a finger in width, all retreating at an extremely fast speed. A burst of vertigo hit me and I quickly withdrew my gaze, understanding I shouldn't have looked down.
He looked into the distance, his brow slightly furrowed, "We'll be there soon."
So fast?!
Before I could finish my murmur, a fierce hurricane from an unknown direction struck brazenly.
The sand and dust engulfed in it mercilessly hit me in the face, getting into my eyes.
With a scream, I instinctively released his hand that I had been holding all along and reached to cover my sore eyes, completely unaware of the danger I put myself in.
I stumbled, and my whole body involuntarily tilted backward — if he hadn't grabbed my waist in time, I might have been blown off the clouds and into the abyss below, leaving no trace of my body.
With one hand protecting me and the other forming seals, he closed his eyes slightly and muttered to himself.
In an instant, the raging wind was dispersed without a trace, as if it had never appeared.
Still trembling from the shock, I finally realized that the sky I was in now was much dimmer than before. The clouds were very heavy, a mixture of gray and black, dark and light, as if they would fall from the sky at the slightest touch.
He opened his eyes, looked at the scene before us, and said to me, "Under these dark clouds lies Daizhou City."
As soon as he finished speaking, he pressed down on the cloud.
I only felt my body plummet, and in no time at all, we were standing firmly on a patch of soft muddy ground, surrounded by sparse trees.
Before I could catch my breath, I immediately felt something pitter-pattering on my head and looked up — oh, what a heavy rain.
But why wasn't I getting wet?
I watched the raindrops as big as beans splashing on our heads, but they never touched us.
Did he cast a spell?!
"Let's go," he said, pulling me along, heading towards the city ahead through the woods.
I didn't know how long this place had been ravaged by heavy rain. The once vibrant and eye-catching red city gates had lost their original appearance, their color darkened as if ink had been splashed on them, looking extremely unsightly. Murky rainwater cascaded down the cracks between the bricks on the city walls, forming shallow rivers at the base of the walls, flowing down to our feet along the low-lying terrain.
He remained silent, surveying the surroundings carefully and vigilantly.
Although I had many questions to ask him, I didn't want to disturb him at the moment. Instead, I followed quietly behind him, ready to listen to his instructions at any time.
After pinching his fingers to calculate, he pondered for a moment and murmured to himself, "It's indeed mischief caused by evil demons."
Are there really demons here?!
In all these years, I hadn't seen any other "family[2]" except for a few beast spirits or butterfly demons who occasionally passed through Fulong Mountain. What would the demons in Daizhou City be like?!
Footnotes:
[1] 清 修: It refers to maintaining pure conduct. Nowadays, it denotes a practice of disengaging from worldly trivialities, pursuing a quiet and serene cultivation, refining one's moral character, cultivating one's inner world, and embracing a state of tranquility and non-action. In Buddhism, it refers to practicing spirituality while living a lay life.
[2] 本家: member of the same clan; distant relative with the same family name.
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