“Oh… I was just thinking, why was the plaque Kunlun-jun left behind called the ‘Soul-Guarding Order’?” Lin Jing murmured. But before Guo Changcheng could work out what he’d said, Lin Jing continued, “Oh, right—what’re you guys doing after work?”
“Oh, I’m bringing some stuff to Grandma Li,” Guo Changcheng said. “The South Tibetan Education Action Team’s summer program has started, so I’m going to help them make posters and pamphlets in the evening.”
Lin Jing mindlessly toyed with his Buddhist prayer beads. “The Hinayana school of Buddhism was about cultivating for one’s own deliverance, while Mahayana Buddhism is about cultivating toward the deliverance of all living things. I’ve always been curious, xiao-Guo—what are you cultivating toward with all that running around you do?”
“Cul…cultivating?” Guo Changcheng had no idea what he meant. “I don’t know any cultivation.”
“Then why help so many people unconditionally?” asked Zhu Hong.
“It’s not like I have anything else to do…” Guo Changcheng was like a swan that had been scooped up out of the water. He extended his neck, a little lost, with no clue why everyone was suddenly showing him so much interest. If this were happening on a TV show, odds would be that he had some kind of terminal illness and was going to die soon. Fear made him stutter. “I’m j-just trying not to do harm. If there’s anything I can help with, then I’ll lend a hand. But most of the time I’m not really much help. I don’t know how to do anything.”
“I just remembered a quote.” Chu Shuzhi had been silent for a while, but now he spoke up. “I saw it on a mural in an ancient tomb. There’s no knowing how old it was, but it said, ‘Filth resides in human hearts. Overthinking leads to bitterness, which begets anger and resentment. They do all that they should, as well as all they should not. But the greatest kindness is to do no evil, and that alone is enough to save the world.’”
That alone is enough to save the world…
The words seemed to float halfway across Dragon City until they came out of Zhao Yunlan’s dad’s—or rather, Shennong’s mortar’s—mouth. “Something’s been nagging at me for the past few days.”
Sitting back against the window, Zhao Yunlan had one leg lazily crossed over the other while he looked out over the central area of Dragon City University’s campus. It seemed that exam season might be coming up; Shen Wei was surrounded by a gaggle of students bombarding him with questions. A smile lurked in Zhao Yunlan’s eyes as he watched. Unconcerned, he asked, “Hmm? What was that?”
“Why was the wooden plaque the Mountain God left behind called the ‘Soul-Guarding Order’?”
Zhao Yunlan glanced at him. “What do you think?”
Shennong’s mortar thought about it, and then, carefully considering his words, he said, “I’ve heard it said that there are two kinds of people unafraid of death: the first is someone with a great obsession who walked on a path with no resentment or regrets; the other is someone who knows what lies on the other side of death. The Soul-Guarding Lamp burned steadily over these past five thousand years. Now the old Reincarnation Cycle has broken and the new Reincarnation Cycle has been completed, aided by the King of the Gui’s soul and the merits of the Soul-Guarding Lamp’s wick. I wonder…was all of this the result of a colossal gamble by the great sages of old?”
Zhao Yunlan’s lips quirked up, showing off his dimples. “If we’d had that kind of ability, why would we have died one by one? Shennong asked you to keep an eye on the Soul-Executing Emissary, and somehow you wound up becoming a conspiracy theorist instead?”
Even more confused now, Shennong’s mortar asked, “Then why did the Mountain God leave behind the Soul-Guarding Lamp and Order? Why did my master release the Mountain God’s memories and powers at that precise moment?”
“The instant Shen Wei decided to erase my memories, his oath to Shennong was fulfilled.” Zhao Yunlan poured himself a cup of tea. “With the oath fulfilled, whatever power Shennong had over us automatically disappeared, so naturally I ‘woke up.’”
“So…it was all a coincidence, then?”
Zhao Yunlan pondered for a moment. “I wouldn’t say that.”
The mortar’s confusion just kept growing.
The way Zhao Yunlan glanced at him wasn’t the look of a son looking at his father, but a gaze that pierced through their current identities and fell on the mortar itself.
In that moment, Zhao Yunlan suddenly seemed like the older of the two.
“Just wait,” he said. “Maybe in another one or two thousand years, you’ll understand. Explanations are no use. You have to experience it yourself. When you feel the call to sacrifice yourself, you’ll understand some things you couldn’t before. Whether it was the Soul-Guarding Lamp or Shennong’s oath, back then, we only had a vague sense of the future. Perhaps it was going in a good direction, or perhaps…”
Shennong’s mortar asked, “What if it didn’t develop in a good direction?”
“Someone else once asked me that. If we died, new gods would naturally arise in the world. If we could serve as an example for them, our deaths wouldn’t have been for nothing.” The sound of familiar footsteps on the stairs told Zhao Yunlan that Shen Wei was approaching. Grabbing his trench coat from the back of the chair, he draped it over one arm and straightened up. He shot another glance at the mortar. “Aren’t you one of the ‘new gods’ yourself?”
The mortar sat stock-still, but Shen Wei had already reached them. He gave the mortar a chilly but polite nod, then turned to Zhao Yunlan, expression immediately softening. “Are we leaving now? Have you two finished talking?”
“Mn,” Zhao Yunlan answered. To Shennong’s mortar, he said, “Drive carefully on the way back. Don’t let my dad notice anything. Take care of his body.”
Shennong’s mortar stood up. With great respect, he said, “Thank you for your wisdom, Mountain God. In truth, I came to say goodbye today. Having carried out my mission, it would be inappropriate to continue occupying a mortal’s body.”
Zhao Yunlan was taken aback. “When are you leaving?”
“Today,” the mortar said. “After taking Mr. Zhao back now.”
“All right, then.” Zhao Yunlan thought about it, then gave him a casual wave. “Take care. If you ever need anything, come find me.”
Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan went downstairs together, while Shennong’s mortar stood at the window. Together, they ambled through campus toward the neighborhood across the street, as if taking a leisurely afternoon stroll.
Even further in the distance, in the green areas of the neighborhood, flowers on the large condo terraces quietly burst into bloom wherever they passed by. It struck the mortar then that spring had already arrived.