It’s been a while since I last visited my elders. It wouldn’t be right to come empty-handed.
So I went to the supermarket and bought a box of beef cubes.
Sha Luo flavor.
Using the address I’d obtained last time from the Soul Search, I headed toward Yun Shanhai’s residence.
“Observe a father’s aspirations; if he passes, observe his conduct. If for three years one does not stray from his father’s path, he can be called filial.”
“When serving parents, one should advise them gently; if your advice is not heeded, remain respectful and do not disobey, work diligently without complaint.”
“A father covers for his son, a son for his father. There is honesty within.”
I could never have imagined it.
When I arrived outside Yun Shanhai’s door, what greeted me from within was the rising and falling sound of students reciting aloud.
Unlike the Mu Family, Yun Shanhai’s little courtyard was serene and elegant.
A bamboo grove surrounded all sides, and above the old vermilion iron gate hung a plaque—
[Confucian]
“Are you also here to visit the Confucian Sage, Master Yun?” There were even visitors waiting at the gate, holding gifts and waiting excitedly.
“Yes.”
I nodded and looked up, catching sight of the “Confucian” character above the porch.
I glanced at the lush chives growing in the yard.
With a smile, I walked into the courtyard.
Assuming the identity of Yunxian.
“Gentle and honest, that is the teaching of poetry. Respectful, frugal, solemn, that is the teaching of ritual. Broad, easy, and kind, that is the teaching of music.”
Yun Shanhai stood with one hand behind his back, holding a book aloft with the other, like an old-fashioned teacher from ancient times.
Before him, at rows of small desks, sat children listening with rapt attention.
They swayed their heads and recited along with Yun Shanhai.
They etched every sentence deep into their hearts.
Branded into their souls.
I had intended to sit and wait for the class to end.
But there wasn’t a single seat left.
Outside, parents excitedly and eagerly packed the courtyard full of children, stuffing it to the brim,
as if afraid their children might miss the blessing of a sage.
They whispered quietly among themselves.
“This is a lecture by the renowned Confucian master, Master Yun. Our children must listen carefully,
so they can get a head start in life.”
“My son only knows how to play games all day. If I beat him, he even dares to say he’ll report me to the Sian Office. Luckily, the Law Enforcement Officers don’t get involved. So I used my connections to get him in here. Let him learn the sage’s teachings, maybe he’ll behave.”
“‘When serving parents, one should advise them gently; if your advice is not heeded, remain respectful and do not disobey, work diligently without complaint.’ Listen, isn’t he reciting so well!”
“No wonder Donghuang boasts five thousand years of culture. This depth of thought is truly enlightening!”
I squeezed past the crowd of murmuring parents and walked into the teaching area.
Yun Shanhai saw me, nodded, and said, “Wait a moment, class will be over in five minutes. There are stools in the house.”
So I fetched a stool and sat beside the students.
“In life, serve with ritual; in death, bury and honor with ritual, and offer sacrifices with ritual.” Yun Shanhai continued to read aloud.
I couldn’t help but chuckle.
This phrase means:
While your parents are alive, you should serve them with respect and proper ceremony.
When they die, you should bury and honor them, and offer sacrifices according to ritual—this reflects a heart of sincerity and respect.
Looks like he already knows his own fate.
I put in my earbuds and laid my head on the desk, waiting quietly.
These stinking words of the sages always make me nauseous.
“How did you decide to choose that Old Kong as your master back then, Qilin?” I asked.
[Don’t judge people from two thousand five hundred years ago with modern eyes. The times were different, so was the meaning.]
Qilin couldn’t speak, but conveyed roughly that message to me.
[In that chaotic, brutal age, he was indeed a sage.]
Alright, it seems Qilin really knows how to pick its sages. It has its own logic and reasons.
“But I bet he never imagined that two thousand five hundred years later, people would be as powerful as the immortals they once imagined. And yet their thoughts still cling to ideas from two thousand five hundred years ago.”
[That isn’t his fault.]
True.
I looked at Yun Shanhai.
People like him are everywhere, and they can never all be eliminated.
If livestock could read and write, he’d be teaching the pigs in the pen to master the Four Books and Five Classics.
“All right.”
Yun Shanhai put down his book, announcing the end of class.
I removed my earbuds too.
“Should we talk somewhere else?”
I glanced around. The classroom was neat and clean, with a faint scent of ink, and elegant calligraphy hanging on the walls.
If we talked here, blood would defile the sage’s solemnity.
“No need. Someone will clean it.”
Yun Shanhai saw all the students and parents off.
Amid the parents’ grateful tears and the students’ adoring gazes, he waved gently, bidding farewell to each parent with a warm smile.
At last, he shut the courtyard door.
“What do you want?” Yun Shanhai asked as he put away the desks and chairs.
“Two things. First, lift the Forging Association’s blockade of Xianlu Forging Shop. Second, I’m sending you to hell.”
Yun Shanhai chuckled.
“You ask me for a favor and then say you want to kill me?”
“This isn’t a request. It’s an order.” I pulled out a Spell Paper. “Unfortunately, I don’t need your consent to make you do what I want.”
Yun Shanhai was stunned.
“Necromancy Immortal Technique?”
“No. Puppet Arts.”
“…More dark arts. Yunxian, you’re sinking deeper and deeper.”
“Thanks to all of you.” I crossed my legs and propped them up on this sacred desk. “All thanks to the careful care of my mother and brother, and your willful ignorance.”
“No, Yunxian.” Yun Shanhai shook his head. “It wasn’t ignorance. It was tempering.”
“…”
“You can’t deny that all those torments forged your unbreakable will, made you what you are today. It’s the wind and rain one must weather to succeed…and you, you didn’t let me down. You succeeded.”
Compared to the anger and fear my aunt and Yun Muchen inspired, facing this man, I felt more…disgust.
Sanctimonious, self-righteous, hypocritical and shameless.
“So, you want to credit all I have now to your torment and your wise guidance?”
“Of course. Simple logic—think about it. If they hadn’t tormented you, if you hadn’t had that car accident…would you be here today?”
“…”
No, I wouldn’t.
“But why should I want to be here today?” I looked coldly at the man, with no trace of familial affection or pity in my eyes.
“You think these are achievements. You always believe whatever you want…But I only have all this so I can kill you.”
“You’d kill the benefactor who made you who you are? Your parents and family? Turn back, blood is thicker than water.”
“No. Blood isn’t even as thick as water.”
I flung the Spell Paper.
It fluttered through the air, landing lightly on Yun Shanhai’s forehead.
And then vanished without a trace.
Yun Shanhai was my last relative in this world.
Completing this vengeance ought to have been a cathartic showdown, a fierce fight to let all my years of hatred and resentment explode at last.
To pour it all out on this man.
But there was nothing.
He didn’t even fight back.
He seemed to have no desire to live at all.
Yet I wanted to hear his begging, his howls of pain, his despair as crazed as my aunt and Yun Muchen.
But he never gave me the chance.
“You think this is enough to disgust me?”
I stood before Yun Shanhai, the corners of my mouth curving up ever so slightly.
“You think I don’t know what you care about? That I chose a Puppet Spell just so you’d deal with the Forging Association? Naive…”
Right in front of Yun Shanhai, I used his face to unlock his phone.
I scrolled through his photo albums and all his chat records before his eyes.
“That wretch and Yun Muchen care about money, about luxury and wealth. But you—you care about reputation, your name.”
At last, there was a flicker of panic in Yun Shanhai’s eyes.
“If I killed you right now, the news tomorrow would just say, ‘A great Confucian Sage died at home.’ But what if, before that, I published the evidence of your embezzlement and sexual harassment? Sent it all over the web? Made you watch yourself ruined and infamous before you die.”
“No… No! Yunxian! Don’t!!!”
At last, Yun Shanhai was truly afraid.