In the alchemy room of Qingfeng Temple, the smell of medicine wafted thickly with wisps of purple smoke. The nearly hundred years old Daoist Chiheng, white-haired and white-browed, grasped a thin sword, its tip pointed at Zhuge Jingjun's throat. The black brocade sachet tightly gripped in her hand had yet to be stowed away.
"Please return the item to its original place," the Daoist was calm and composed, "Stealing is never an honorable thing. Don't tarnish the reputation of the Zhuge family."
Zhuge Jingjun shook her head, gritting her teeth, "Don't practitioners take it as their duty to eliminate evil and uphold the Dao? You clearly have a magic weapon, yet refuse to save lives[1]. Is this an honorable thing, Daoist?"
"Young lass, you only know one thing, but not the other!" Chiheng's sword lowered slightly.
At that moment, the door burst open, and Long Renyu rushed in, his expression changing upon seeing the two in confrontation.
"Master, this girl doesn't know her place, you mustn't stoop to her level!" He grabbed Chiheng's sword-holding hand, then reprimanded Zhuge Jingjun, "Why don't you return the thing quickly! I brought you to the temple to save, not steal!"
"He refuses to save lives!" Zhuge Jingjun refused to back down, glaring at this old ox muzzle[2]. "He himself said only the Bifang[3] Spirit Pearl can lure out that monster, yet he refuses to lend it! If that's not refusing to save lives, what is?"
"Ahem..." The old Daoist stomped his foot, sheathed his sword, and pointed at Zhuge Jingjun's nose, "The Bifang Spirit Pearl can only lure it out, not destroy it. Do you understand what will happen after the Six-Desires Fiend is lured out of the body?"
A gust of bone-chilling cold wind rattled the old door and windows, drowning out the voices of the three people inside with its mournful howl.
After a long while, the wind subsided, and the clouds parted, revealing a crescent moon struggling to emerge from the darkness. There was complete silence in the Daoist temple.
"I am the daughter of the Water God. Although I only have half of the immortal bloodline, perhaps those things you said won't happen to me," Zhuge Jingjun smiled at Chiheng after a long silence.
"Jingjun, do you know," Long Renyu looked at this stubborn and exasperating girl, "if the situation develops into the 'perhaps' you don't expect..."
"Do you have a better solution?" She interrupted him.
Chiheng threw the sword to the ground, shaking his head and shouting, "Doomed love! Dommed love!"
"Whether it's fated love[4] or doomed love, is it really that important?" Zhuge Jingjun smiled with lowered eyes. "What matters is that I know what I want to do, that's enough. If it's really a doomed love, then let it end with me. I only want him to live well, no matter what unforgivable mistakes he has made in the name of love. The me now is the same as the previous him. I can disregard everything for the sake of one person." Zhuge Jingjun tightly held the sachet in her hand and stepped out of Qingfeng Temple under the first glimmer of dawn.
Footnotes:
[1] 见死不救: to neglect a person in danger and not assist them.
[2] 牛鼻子: facetious way of calling a Daoist.
[3] The Bi Fang is a mythological bird, thought to have one leg. In the Classic of Mountains and Seas, the Bi Fang is described as one-legged, crane-like, white-beaked with red markings on green. Source: Wikipedia.
[4] liáng yuán: good karma; good and harmonious match; opportune connection with marriage partner. niè yuán: ill-fated relationship; doomed love.
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