Dark Blue Frost - Chapter 18
Chapter 18: Bodhi Seeds
When he heard the phrase “infatuated seed”.
A term hard to decipher as praise or criticism…Qing Xuan unconsciously shot Qian Se a glance.
He caught a sudden flash of light across her eyes. Though her posture remained haughty and unyielding as ever, her gaze subtly lowered.
Qing Xuan felt a surge of oddness. Observing her facial expression closely, he detected a faint, indescribable trace of dejection in her eyes.
Dejection?
He had never seen such a look on his Master’s face. According to Martial Uncle Bai Lian, Master was naturally unyielding, cold-faced, and taciturn. Unless something had touched the deeply hidden chords of her heart, how could she wear such an expression?
He wondered: could she have been stirred by the scene before them, recalling some trivial, chaotic matters of the past?
Thinking this, Qing Xuan turned his head slightly to look at Chen Kong. Suddenly, he too felt shaken, as if gazing at his own self from ten lifetimes ago upon the Three Lives Stone.
Though he could no longer recall his mindset from back then, nor feel how much he had pitied that peony demon—enough to disregard everything for her—he was beginning to vaguely grasp the subtleties of love.
Could Master be thinking of that unfaithful and heartless Feng Jin?
Could she still be longing for him in her heart?
Yes, it had to be!
Otherwise, Martial Uncle wouldn’t have chided Master so bitterly for her lack of realization!
What on earth did that Feng Jin look like to make Master pine for him so unceasingly?!
For reasons unknown, as Qing Xuan pondered this, an odd sensation surged from deep within his chest. It swept through his limbs, bones, and internal organs in a flash, leaving a sour, astringent taste at the back of his throat.
Right now, he had no interest in ridiculing the fox demon Hua Wuyan.
Though he knew clearing his throat during such an oddly silent moment was an unwise move that would draw everyone’s attention, he did it anyway—solely to catch his Master’s attention.
For no other reason than feeling a bit suffocated inside, unwilling to let his Master keep longing for that heartless Feng Jin!
As Qing Xuan cleared his throat, Qian Se naturally raised her head to glance at him, while Chen Kong snapped out of his daze.
Every word Hua Wuyan spoke was a fact that hit the mark, leaving him no room to conceal the truth any longer. Though dual-cultivation methods existed within Daoist sects, love was a well-known taboo.
Not only were cultivators who fell into love tribulations unable to achieve immortality, but even those who had already become immortals could not survive their heavenly tribulations if ensnared by romantic affairs. Having nowhere else to go since childhood, he had entered the Daoist sect, forced daily to follow Daoist Master Yuan Qing in meditation and cultivation. Yet his mind had wandered, yearning only for the mundane romantic affairs of the mortal world.
Over the years, everything he had done was indeed for Fu Qiuniang. Not only had he used almost all his savings as the Zhao family’s housekeeper to relieve her distress, but even her son’s well-being in the Zhao household had depended entirely on his constant care and attention to stay fed and warm to this day. To be frank, he had never expected any intimacy with her, nor had he ever thought of possessing her.
Even knowing she had been violated, bore a child out of wedlock, and suffered the ignominy of being whispered about by the crowd, in his heart, she remained that tearful young girl kneeling before the Buddha Treasure Cave—so devout, so pure, wishing only to spend a lifetime together to repay her beloved, never changing.
He knew that fate often played tricks on people.
Thus, he dared not ask for too much; merely being near her and having the chance to see her was enough to fill him with content.
“Having been caught by you today, I have nothing to say.”
After a long silence, Chen Kong finally squeezed out these words through his lips. Perhaps feeling that no one would ever understand his actions, an odd air of proud indifference touched his eyes. He adopted a posture of surrendering to fate, seemingly paying no mind to the various people present.
“Since ancient times, paying for a life with a life is only natural and right. Since this is a matter of mundane affairs, let us hand you over to the government to be dealt with by law.”
Qian Se spoke nonchalantly, lowering her eyelids as her eyelashes trembled gently.
Unwilling to interfere with the cycles of mortal affairs, she chose a middle ground. As she spoke, she stepped forward, sweeping the eighteen Kilinga-eye Bodhi seeds off the table into her palm, cutting off Hua Wuyan’s longing glares.
“I shall take these Kilinga-eye Bodhi prayer beads to Qingfeng Temple on Mount Ruoquan and personally deliver them to your master, Daoist Master Yuan Qing.”
Seeing the brownish-gold, shimmering Kilinga-eye Bodhi seeds fall into Qian Se’s hand, Hua Wuyan could only let out a sigh of “Ah—”, ending in frustration.
He had done so much and set up so many smokescreens—appearing to act for the sake of accumulating merit on the surface, but actually seeking these Kilinga-eye Bodhi seeds in hopes of hastening his own path to immortality. Now that everything had come to naught, he felt deeply displeased. He only regretted not being bold enough to snatch them earlier; even if he had lost the fight, he wouldn’t have been defeated without a battle like this, losing both face and pride.
Upon hearing that Chen Kong would be handed over to the government, Fu Qiuniang finally realized the gravity of the situation. She fell to her knees with a thud, and of all people, she ended up grabbing Hua Wuyan’s leg.
“Can I beg you all to let him go?!”
At this moment, Fu Qiuniang believed everyone present was merely a good-natured passerby trying to capture a murderer, unaware of the underlying story.
She could only plead bitterly.
“In the end, everything he did was because of me! I will go to the government and take responsibility for his crimes!”
Hua Wuyan had an obsession with cleanliness, feeling uncomfortable even when brushed by ordinary mortals. Being held by one of Fu Qiuniang’s hands now made him feel even more suffocated and annoyed. Had it not been for so many people present, he would have kicked her away fiercely.
“Do you think that taking the blame for Chen Kong, submitting to the law, and enduring the punishment will help him?”
Glaring at the guilty and pleading Fu Qiuniang, he sneered sinisterly. Though his voice was soft, his words carried a terrifying chill.
“You are not helping him; you are harming him!”
Fu Qiuniang did not grasp the full meaning of Hua Wuyan’s sneer for a moment. She turned her head and looked around at everyone, completely bewildered.
At that moment, even Qing Xuan understood what Hua Wuyan meant.
Indeed, if it were merely a matter of finding a culprit, it would take only someone to confess, sign the paper, and be publicly executed to settle the legal debt. However, a life lost would still be recorded on the Book of Life and Death against the instigator’s name. When that person died and their soul entered the Ninefold Nether Hell, these sins committed during life would be settled one by one before the Nether Yama King.
Furthermore, Chen Kong had not only murdered others, but had also used magic treasures to suppress Gu Huiniang’s soul, causing her to turn into a Rakshasa who devoured the flesh and blood of over a dozen innocent young men.
This was yet another heavy sin beyond calculation.
The mortal realm was a scene of vanity, yet waves of suffering rose continuously in the sea of bitterness, staging endless karmic sins!
…
In the end, Qing Xuan and Qian Se together returned the Kilinga-eye Bodhi seeds to Qingfeng Temple on Mount Ruoquan.
The return of the temple’s treasure was naturally a cause for celebration. Yet, upon hearing about Chen Kong, Daoist Master Yuan Qing showed no joy at all.
Staring at the eighteen brownish-gold glowing Bodhi seeds, tears streamed down his aged face as he wept bitterly.
Only then did Qing Xuan learn that the old Daoist Master Yuan Qing was actually Chen Kong’s birth father.
Years ago, obsessed with cultivating immortality, he had abandoned his wife and son without a word to join the Daoist sect on Mount Ruoquan. Unbeknownst to him, his wife had taken their only son to search for him, only to fall gravely ill and pass away at the foot of the mountain. Whether by fate or coincidence, Chen Kong was taken in by Qingfeng Temple and became a young Daoist monk.
Chen Kong had hated his birth father, the Daoist sect, and the pursuit of immortality since childhood. Upon discovering that his master was his own birth father, how could he accept the truth? Thus, he stole the treasure of Qingfeng Temple and sneaked down the mountain, intending to permanently rob his birth father of the chance to achieve immortality.
Everything he did afterward followed naturally.
Those eighteen Bodhi seeds were like auspicious eyes, coldly watching over his sins, tribulations, loves, and sorrows all along the way.
As the saying goes, every hateful person must have a pitiable side. All karmic encounters are decreed by fate; humans are merely busy pawns in the mortal world, and world affairs always have their own subtle cycles.
Chen Kong thought he had calculated everything for his beloved, yet he failed to anticipate that the ways of the world were unpredictable.
The conclusion of the affair did not unfold as he had envisioned.
Because of the murders, he turned himself in to the government, confessing fully to his crimes and accepting whatever punishment awaited. Normally, a public execution would have concluded the matter. But just then, a concubine from the Zhao family reported to the officials, revealing that Zhao Fugui had personally admitted in bed to murdering the scholar Qi Ziru and incinerating his body in the dyehouse to destroy the evidence.
Once the truth was exposed, it caused a massive stir. Although Qi Ziru had compromised his virtue by enticing a female student to elope with him earlier, he remained a scholar conferred with academic honors by the court—a student of the Emperor. How could his mysterious death go uninvestigated? Thus, after endless twists, turns, and trials, the foolish magistrate handling the case confiscated all of the Zhao family’s immense wealth, along with their cloth store and dyehouse!
On the day of the public execution, Chen Kong was beheaded, his blood splashing across the execution ground. Meanwhile, Fu Qiuniang, overcome with guilt and absentmindedness, accidentally slipped into the water while washing clothes and drowned. Thus, when Qian Se and her disciple brought Daoist Master Yuan Qing to collect Chen Kong’s body, this sigh-inducing tragic end was what met their eyes.
It had to be said that in less than two months, having experienced such bizarre events, Qing Xuan’s mindset was no longer what it was two months ago. Back then, he had only wanted to escape what he perceived as humiliation, unaware that the series of events along the way had already brought about a rapid transformation within him.
Early in the morning, while packing his luggage to return to Mount Yan in the Eastern Extremities with Qian Se, the inn waiter knocked on his door with some confusion, helplessly stating that a person claiming to be an old acquaintance was asking to see him and could not be driven away.
Qian Se merely continued copying scriptures, giving only a slight nod to Qing Xuan’s request. Upon descending the stairs, Qing Xuan discovered that the persistent “old acquaintance” was none other than Fu Yuanchuan, covered in severe ailments that everyone else avoided like the plague.
Not only that, but Fu Yuanchuan was also leading a child—the very same foolish child with whom Qing Xuan had formed a bond in the Night Weeping Forest.
Meeting such an “old acquaintance” first thing in the morning left Qing Xuan with an indescribable mixture of feelings inside.
He could only stand silently before Fu Yuanchuan without saying a word. In contrast, the foolish child clung to Qing Xuan the moment he saw him, warmly hugging his pant leg and babbling indistinctly, which slightly softened the atmosphere.
“Qing Xuan, I know I shouldn’t have the nerve to ask you, but I’ve come shameless nonetheless.”
With disheveled hair, Fu Yuanchuan lowered his head intentionally, unwilling to let others see the festering wounds and sores on his face. Looking at the foolish child clinging to Qing Xuan’s pant leg, his words carried a desperate sense of helpless ruin.
“Qiuniang is gone now, and my time is short. I wonder if you could be kind enough to take care of this foolish child for me?”
Though he said this, he knew clearly in his heart that this act of entrusting his child was hardly feasible. Yet, if he did not shamelessly beg now, the child would eventually end up on the streets as a beggar after his death, facing a grim fate. The woman Qing Xuan followed was extremely mysterious—rumored to be a ghost-hunting Daoist priestess, though her true identity and background were unknown. Although she and Qing Xuan referred to each other as master and disciple, he had heard the inn waiter gossiping that the pair shared a room without hesitation. He feared Qing Xuan was likely a male favorite under the guise of a disciple. While lamenting that Qing Xuan could not escape the fate of being a plaything, Fu Yuanchuan, having spent long years in the pleasure houses, could tell that the woman treated Qing Xuan very well. If Qing Xuan were willing to help, ensuring the child had food to eat in the future, he could die in peace.
To tell the truth, Qing Xuan felt an instant affinity with the foolish child, yet he had never expected him to be Fu Yuanchuan’s son. As for taking in and caring for the child, he could not make the decision himself. After all, Mount Yan was located in the Eastern Extremities—an immortal realm.
He was merely a mortal who entered only by his Master’s grace; how could he dare carelessly promise another’s request now?
Seeing Qing Xuan remain silent, Fu Yuanchuan assumed his silence was a polite refusal. Helpless and desperate, he nearly fell to his knees to beg.
Qing Xuan hurriedly supported Fu Yuanchuan, ignoring the filthy disease that everyone else shunned, a look of difficulty on his face.
“I need to consult my Master about this first.”
Lowering his head to look at the child’s innocent smile, Qing Xuan responded softly, already contemplating how to persuade his Master.
“There is no need to consult anyone. Whatever you wish to do, do as your heart desires.”
Just as he was pondering deeply, Qian Se’s voice came from behind him, cold and aloof as always. Qing Xuan turned around to see the inn waiter carrying the bolts of cloth he had packed earlier, following behind Qian Se.
Qian Se looked calm, opening her mouth casually as she brushed past Fu Yuanchuan.
It sounded less like an explanation and more like a mock, her eyebrows unreadable, but her voice carried a trace of chilling coolness.
Her feet were already moving out of the inn, leaving behind a subtle reminder.
“Qing Xuan, it’s time to leave.”
Fu Yuanchuan froze for a moment before reacting, while Qing Xuan, his face full of smiles, took the items from the waiter and pulled the foolish child along to chase after Qian Se’s steps.
There was no tearful parting of flesh and blood, nor bitter weeping of a father and son’s final farewell. When Fu Yuanchuan dazedly opened his right palm and realized he had nothing left, he hurriedly rushed to the inn doorway.
In the faint red morning glow, he saw only a splash of crimson beauty alongside a faint shade of grey—so mismatched, yet so harmonious.
…
Mount Yan in the Eastern Extremities was covered with parasol trees. Their tall, slender trunks and reddish leaves rustled in the autumn wind, blending with ethereal, melodious zither music that lured phoenixes to chase and call to one another among the branches.
What a charming scene of phoenixes seeking their mates!
Kong Lan sat in a parasol tree, smiling as he lifted a wine jar and drank deeply. Unintentionally, his bold drinking caused the fragrant, heart-refreshing liquor to spill, dripping onto Mu Fei, who was playing the zither beneath the tree.
“Senior Brother, you’re about to drink up all the wine on Mount Yan.”
Mu Fei always maintained the elegant and free-spirited look of a gentle piece of jade.
Even when interrupted, he merely knit his brows slightly and continued playing with his fingers flying across the strings in an unbroken rhythm, subtly voicing his dissatisfaction and warning.
“Once Senior Sister notices, it won’t be easy to account for.”
“Heh heh, once I drink all the wine, I’ll naturally top off the jar with clear water.”
Kong Lan, drinking heavily up in the tree, laughed nonchalantly.
Though his eyes, permanently steeped in wine fragrance, were hazy with drunkenness, his mind turned faster than anyone’s. Alright, he admitted he had a scheme: back then, he had dragged Qing Xuan along to steal wine precisely so that when the matter was exposed, he could immediately push the little brat forward to take the blame.
“When Senior Sister investigates later, she won’t know it was me; she’ll think Qing Xuan stole it. No matter how angry she gets, she’ll never vent her rage on Qing Xuan randomly!”
“That’s true,” Mu Fei replied in agreement.
Somehow shifting the topic to Qing Xuan, Kong Lan took another gulp of wine and began to smile with malicious intent.
“Junior Brother, do you think that on this trip out, the little brat Qing Xuan will be eaten by Senior Sister in a fit of rage?”
He deliberately emphasized the word “eaten,” his smile sly and heavily suggestive.
“That matter?”
Mu Fei’s hands playing the zither paused slightly before resuming.
With the lingering melody still floating, he remained relaxed, shaking his head with a half-smile.
“Hard to say, hard to say! Back then, when you urged us to talk nonsense in front of Qing Xuan, wasn’t this exact outcome what you wanted?”
“Heh, you saw right through it.”
Kong Lan leaped down from the parasol tree and sat cross-legged on the dry leaves covering the ground. His flushed cheeks, touched by alcohol, carried a hint of excitement as he tapped the wine jar appropriately.
“I was just thinking, in five years, it will be the day Master exits seclusion. If Senior Sister takes Qing Xuan to the Yuxu Palace on Mount Kunlun, and that kid Feng Jin learns she has a lover with deep ties who doesn’t care for him at all, who knows how terrible his expression will be…”
Alright, he also had to admit that most of those chaotic rumors spreading like wildfire across the Six Realms were spread by his own hand. He knew Qian Se always did as she pleased and wouldn’t care, but Feng Jin, far away in Yuxu Palace, might not feel so comfortable.
Men were selfish after all; even if it was a woman he didn’t care for who liked him, he would never want to see her fall for someone else.
His reason for doing so, besides hoping Qian Se would forget Feng Jin, was also because he didn’t want that sanctimonious fellow Feng Jin to live too comfortably.
In any case, his bond with Bai Lian as fellow disciples was as close as brotherhood. In all reason and fairness, he ought to help vent his grievances.
Just as he was animatedly gossiping about others, thinking he was entirely undetected, a cold voice came from behind him—indifferent, laced with impatience and displeasure.
“Senior Brother Kong Lan, this isn’t your first time on Mount Yan. You should know my rules: whoever mentions that person’s name in front of me must roll down the mountain immediately. Now, do you want to roll down yourself, or do you want to roll down holding that wine jar?”
The zither music stopped abruptly.
Mu Fei fell silent, while Kong Lan shuddered, snapping up from the ground like a spring and turning his head around.
“Senior Sister?!”
