The Taoist (3)
Yu Ji was, quite literally, the living image of the word immortal. White hair grown down to his waist, a white beard spilling to his belly, eyes steeped in an unearthly light, and an air of mystery to crown it all. With a staff the size of a grown man in his grip, he even gave off the faint impression of a wizard.
If he had a single flaw, it was the bird feathers stitched onto his robe... So that was roughly what old-time Taoist fashion had looked like, apparently. Then again, among those who wielded the Taoist arts, there was never such a thing as an easily predictable man.
Even now, I had no idea why Zuo Ci had turned up at the banquet hosted by Her Majesty, performed a few of his marvels, and simply left.
Having sent the commoners who'd been watching nearby on their way, Yu Ji greeted me in an even voice.
"It seems Your Excellency has some questions for me."
"...Ahem."
Awkwardness had me clearing my throat for nothing as I addressed him.
"You're not wrong, but... every question I had for you vanished just a moment ago."
"......"
"I only wished to see the medical skill behind your towering reputation. That was all."
"Hahaha. That is good news to hear."
At my answer, Yu Ji broke into a kindly smile.
"I am almost ashamed of it now—that I briefly feared Your Excellency might deal with me harshly."
"......"
And what if he'd cursed me for it, hmm?
One could tell from the way he used his abilities to heal commoners free of charge—Yu Ji was, at his core, a good-natured man. But even a man this good shows no mercy toward whoever took his life. And what if the reason for that killing had been nothing more than petty jealousy? Naturally, Yu Ji—his temper flipped clean over—laid a curse on Sun Ce and tormented his soul.
Truthfully, the process by which Sun Ce was driven out of his mind was quite the spectacle. After killing Yu Ji, he moved to inspect the corpse, only for the body to vanish without warning—and the moment a perfectly hale Yu Ji revealed himself again, Sun Ce swung his blade and fainted dead away. After that, the man would appear without warning at the foot of Sun Ce's bed to glare at him as he lay in his chambers, or come drifting toward him from far off like a phantom while he lodged at his camp...
...Come to think of it, he IS a ghost, isn't he?
In any case, Yu Ji hounded Sun Ce like a stalker, as if determined to teach him precisely what a horror film was. Worn down in body and mind, Sun Ce fell ill and his face turned gaunt—and the instant he looked into a mirror to check his haggard features, there stood Yu Ji within the glass yet again. Only then did it truly dawn on him that he had crossed a man he should never have crossed.
In the end, the man once called the Little Conqueror left Sun Quan the words you are our leader and died at the young age of twenty-six.
If even Sun Ce couldn't escape such an absurd end, was I any different? What mattered for me now was simple: do not, under any circumstances, set off Yu Ji's temper.
Yu Ji, who had smiled at me once, spoke on with that same smile still in place.
"Since this too must be fate, would you care to share a game of Go with me?"
"I've no objection, but..."
I answered his proposal in a sheepish voice.
"Just don't laugh at my playing."
"How could I ever commit such a shameless act?"
Fair enough. If such a thing ever came to pass, even if I let it slide, someone else certainly wouldn't.
"Now, please make the first move."
"...Right."
Sitting across from Yu Ji, I couldn't hide my astonishment at the Go board that had materialized before my eyes without my ever noticing. Some trivial yet tremendous little trick. In a case like this, 'Taoist sorcery' was probably the proper word for it. Moving my stones at an unhurried pace, I tried to estimate roughly how many times over I was about to lose.
A few minutes into the match. Having begun the game at Yu Ji's suggestion, I was now thoroughly flustered.
Was I stunned because the Taoist before me played Go so magnificently? Hardly. Had he played well, I wouldn't have batted an eye—that much was only natural. The reason for my astonishment was simple.
"Hmmmmm..."
"......"
This man was catastrophically bad at Go. I'd taken black and already held a commanding position, yet every attack I launched went wholly unblocked—his side was riddled with holes. At first I wondered whether he was letting me win, but that face brimming with worry said otherwise.
Watching Yu Ji, who had already spent several minutes doing nothing but agonize, I asked.
"...Shall I teach you a move?"
"Ohh! Do you truly mean it?"
The moment he heard my offer, Yu Ji's crumpled face bloomed wide open. ...Doesn't a man normally have to be clever to become a Taoist master? Where on earth had that brilliant mind gone?
People like that did exist, now and then—superb physical gifts paired with an almost unnatural lack of talent in one single field. Yu Ji seemed to be exactly that type. Was that talent possessed, or talent absent?
"There—a move given. Now place your stone wherever you like."
"Hahaha. My deepest thanks."
Having been fed the move, Yu Ji smiled and set his stone down as though vowing not to lose this time.
"Hmmmmmm..."
"......"
But on his very next turn, his face crumpled right back up. At this rate, I'd be stuck playing Go all day long. It occurred to me that losing on purpose might just be the road to everyone's happiness.
The General-in-Chief mulled something over for a moment, gave a small nod, and before long the match drew to its end.
"Hahaha! A fine game it was!"
"...Right."
The result: a victory for Yu Ji. The Taoist whose name rang through the realm, regrettably, never noticed that his opponent had thrown the game.
Wearing a wry smile for Yu Ji, the General-in-Chief rose from his seat.
"It's getting late. I ought to be going."
"Hmm... Is that so?"
"It is."
At that, Yu Ji smiled once more and offered a courteous bow.
"Before we part ways, I would like to ask just one question."
"What is it?"
"Your Excellency—when you witnessed the people bowing before me, what thoughts crossed your mind?"
Had anyone overheard it, the question would have seemed to come entirely out of nowhere. Yet the General-in-Chief gave it no long deliberation; the answer came readily.
"At first I took you for one more charlatan. And once I realized the tales about you were true, I thought it only natural."
Only natural? Whatever could he mean by that? Yu Ji's puzzlement, however, was not long in finding its answer.
"You save the lives of others without asking anything in return."
Having said that much, the General-in-Chief let a brief smile cross his face.
"Is that not precisely the sort of deed that deserves the praise of others?"
"......"
"Have no fear. I have no intention of taking your head over some notion that you bewitch the people with strange sorcery."
"I see."
At that crisp, hearty answer, Yu Ji felt a smile rise to his face of its own accord.
"This poor Taoist owns nothing, and so it grieves me that I cannot offer you even a single parting gift."
"Such things would only be a burden. I have no need of them."
Their exchange concluded, the General-in-Chief said in an offhand tone,
"Then I really must be off."
"Yes."
How long did Yu Ji watch the General-in-Chief as he receded at an easy pace, the officers stationed nearby trailing after him? Left alone, Yu Ji spoke in a leisurely voice.
"You may come out now."
"...Hmph. I was going to come out anyway."
The instant Yu Ji called, a petite girl popped out of empty air where nothing had existed a heartbeat before. Fresh from thin air, the girl fixed him with her vivid blue eyes and said,
"Honestly, you ill-mannered thing. What right have you to order me about—come out, stay hidden?"
"...Heheh. I don't know where to hide my face."
The sight of the girl scolding a white-haired old man looked for all the world like a granddaughter whining at her grandfather—yet the truth could not have been further from it. The girl's name was Nanhua Laoxian: the strange immortal who had once descended with teachings upon Yu Ji, back when he made his living gathering herbs in Quyang, a corner of Jizhou, in the days of Emperor Shun. The immortal who had appeared while Yu Ji was still young kept, as though the current of time simply flowed around her, the very face she had worn eighty years before. If there was one problem, it was that time hadn't merely bypassed her—it had bypassed her far too well.
"Anyway, the young ones these days. Not a shred of respect for the master who took them in..."
Even for Yu Ji, the spectacle of a girl lecturing people who were, in truth, younger than she was remained something he could never quite get used to. ...In a way, I suppose that counts as a baby face too. She looked ready to mutter on for days if left to her own devices, so Yu Ji had no choice but to open his mouth.
"What does Your Old Master make of him?"
"Mm? Ah—the gormless-looking fellow, you mean."
Arms crossed, Nanhua Laoxian gave a dismissive snort.
"Hmph. One who piles up good karma, that one."
"......"
"Not bad at all."
At that answer, Yu Ji could not conceal his astonishment. The eccentric immortal's eye had grown terribly exacting over all she had lived through; for her to pass such a judgment was a genuinely rare thing.
"And what is that insolent look for? Shall I pluck it out for you?"
"...How could I possibly harbor such a thought?"
Faced with the immortal, unchanged in every particular from the old days, Yu Ji smiled wryly to himself.
"I merely wondered whether it truly sits well with you—never meeting her."
"...Tsk."
Clicking her tongue once, Nanhua Laoxian answered.
"A woman who defied my charge and stirred up trouble? I have no intention of meeting the likes of her."
"......"
"This body has merely taken an interest in that gormless fellow. Nothing more."
A man whose very existence bent the secrets of heaven out of shape. It was a strangeness that even the Zhao lord and the Liu lord—men who had unified all under heaven—had never displayed. Looked at one way, he might well be called a Defier of Heaven, one who set himself against the will of the skies. That alone would have been more than enough to send a few of the more hidebound immortals charging over, foaming at the mouth—except that such fellows had long since been knocked flat by her own hand. That was precisely why Nanhua Laoxian had been free to teach in private and raise up Taoists of her own.
"Fufufu. To think there was a man who could turn the destined current of an age on its head, root and branch."
How galling it must have been, all this while, for a Heaven that had watched the deaths of countless souls with lofty detachment—as though they were merely the necessary price. Having thought this much, the strange immortal who had been observing the General-in-Chief melted away at some point into a cool breeze and was gone.
"...Hoo."
At the girl's vanishing—without so much as a farewell—Yu Ji could only shake his head a little.