Chapter 24
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 24
“That seems like too extreme a method. It would be best to report to the higher-ups first.”
Ise agreed with Seol Ryeong’s suggestion.
Just then, the Bamboo Tube Beauty interjected.
“Elders! Could you please listen to my story?!”
“What story?”
“Please… hear my request. I beg of you.”
Ise had a gut feeling that something troublesome was about to unfold. He had taken this commission hoping it would aid his cultivation, not to get wrapped up in a tedious affair with little to gain.
The problem, however, was that his companion was soft-hearted enough to be swayed by the desperate yearning in the creature’s voice.
“Mmm… Should we at least hear her out?”
Having expected as much, Ise gave a slight nod.
As if she had been waiting for that exact moment, the Bamboo Tube Beauty began to speak.
“I am looking for a human. A human I must meet, no matter the cost.”
A long tale poured from her delicate lips.
“When I first gained spiritual nature and my consciousness awoke, the forest on the adept mountain where I lived was deep in the mountains, untouched by human feet. Forget humans, I was the only spirit creature there. For three hundred years, I never spoke with a single soul. Then, I met him. He was a scholar with neat, distinct features… a truly kind man.”
Her expression turned dreamy as she recalled the distant memory.
“He said he was a wandering scholar who had traveled down to the Southern Sea to recuperate. When he found me, he smiled so brightly—I had never seen such a beautiful smile before.”
Her hazy gaze held a look of pure happiness, and she described the events as vividly as if they had happened only a few days ago.
“Every day, he would come and chat with me for an hour before leaving. He taught me words, composed poetry for me, and sang songs. I was truly happy back then. Truly… so happy. Because I was no longer lonely.”
Yet, even as they listened, the two of them felt a strange sense of dissonance. An ordinary mortal scholar stumbling upon a guardian spirit deep within the mountains by mere chance? It was a tale as unlikely as a piece of bamboo gaining spiritual nature and becoming a spirit creature in the first place.
‘He was a cultivator.’
‘Seems like it.’
The two mouthed the words to each other.
And when a cultivator and a spirit creature crossed paths, the end was almost always tragic.
“For the sake of his health, I broke off pieces of my spiritual nature and gave them to him, little by little. Fortunately, he seemed to gradually regain his strength. But then… he told me he had to return to his hometown.”
“Will you come with me?”
“Where to, sir?”
“To my hometown.”
“Your hometown? What kind of place is it?”
“It is a lively place, overflowing with vitality and full of delightful things. Every day is filled with something new.”
“If I go with you, scholar… will you still talk with me as you do now?”
“Of course.”
“Then will you still compose poetry for me?”
“Without a doubt.”
“Will you stay by my side so that I won't be lonely?”
“As long as my life has not reached its end, I will always remain your friend. I promise you.”
“In that case, I do not want to part with you either, scholar.”
“And so, I followed him.”
The Bamboo Tube Beauty followed him north.
“Because I didn’t want to be alone ever again…”
And she received a name.
Though the environment was ill-suited for her and her spiritual nature was shaved away bit by bit to restore the scholar’s health, she was happy. At the end of each day, the scholar would set her by the window and chat with her every night. By day, she watched the human world from the window; by night, she listened to his stories until he fell asleep.
For seven years, she was happier than she had ever been.
But out of her three-hundred-year existence, those seven years were the only happiness she was allowed. Exactly seven years after meeting the scholar…
“I was left here, without knowing why.”
She added that she had waited for him in this very spot for fifty years. Her voice was thick with resentment and longing. By that time, her spiritual nature was already depleted. She had created this bamboo forest and endured here, shaving away her own lifespan, for the sole purpose of meeting the scholar one more time.
“At first, it was merely longing, but soon a feeling of resentment took root.”
The Bamboo Tube Beauty had likely become a guardian spirit out of a desire to protect the bamboo forest. However, as her resentment grew, she must have lost her hold on the Dao Principle and strayed onto the path of corruption.
“I felt that I would soon fall completely, lose my sanity, and turn into a demon ghost that does nothing but harm humans… That’s why I started grabbing mortals and frightening them. I thought if I did that, rumors about me might reach his ears. That if he heard news of me, he might come find me again.”
Thus, she had been crying out all alone, sending unheard pleas into the void.
For fifty long years.
Her time had remained frozen since that moment fifty years ago. The Bamboo Tube Beauty's voice became a desolate echo, wandering feebly through the bamboo forest.
“I wanted to ask him. Why did you abandon me? Why haven’t you come to find me…?”
Silence enveloped the bamboo forest. No one could speak. Suffocated by the heavy mood, Ise tilted his head toward the sky.
Flowers were blooming on the Bamboo Tube Beauty’s head. It was the Blooming Disease.
Normally, bamboo does not bloom. On the rare occasion that it does, the plant dies shortly after the blossoms wither. For ordinary bamboo, this signified a generational change, but the flowers blooming on her head meant her lifespan as a spirit creature was nearing its end.
She was on the verge of becoming a full demon ghost.
“If only you had stayed quietly on your adept mountain,” he murmured softly.
Understanding the meaning behind his words, the Bamboo Tube Beauty offered a gentle smile. I have no regrets, her eyes seemed to say.
“That scholar was likely a cultivator. The reason he brought you with him was probably—”
“Let’s help her.”
Ise shook his head, even as Seol Ryeong cut him off with a stubborn gaze.
“Our opponent is a cultivator. One who has cultivated for at least fifty years. This is several times more dangerous than a low-rank evil spirit subjugation mission.”
“I know. But… we can at least find out the truth. We can't be sure he acted out of malice. That cultivator might have been harmed or had inescapable circumstances.”
“Even if that’s true, encountering a cultivator of a high realm can be dangerous in itself. Did you forget what’s written in the Basic Manual of the Great Martial Dao?”
Seol Ryeong flinched for a moment before retorting, “I know. I know! But…”
“If you want, I can appease her spirit through Soul Pacification instead of an Exorcism. But no more than that. It’s too dangerous.”
“Ise.”
Seol Ryeong’s voice was low. Gone was her usual light and cheerful tone, replaced by an impossible solemnity.
“Don’t forget. We are Daoists.”
“…”
“Immortal cultivation is a path that defies Heaven. At every crossroad you face, if you lose your hold on the Dao Principle and seek only the easy way out, you will not escape a massive Heavenly Tribulation. The magnitude of that tribulation depends on how far the path you’ve walked has deviated from the Dao Principle.”
Ise listened quietly to her words.
“Immortal cultivation isn't the goal; it's the result of the process. Please remember that what we must practice right now is not immortal cultivation, but cultivating the Dao.”
Though the sermon came from a fellow cultivator who often seemed impossibly young, the sharp intelligence in her words was undeniable. To strive to find a way for a tragic spirit creature to avoid corruption, even after losing its spiritual nature—this, she was declaring, was the Dao Principle.
A brief silence fell.
Ise closed his eyes in thought, while Seol Ryeong tilted her head toward the sky, jingling the ritual bell sphere in her hand as if reading the Heavenly Secrets or divining a fortune.
After some time, Ise asked her, “So. What do you want to do?”
“Let’s search for news about the scholar she mentioned for just seven days. If we still can’t find anything after that, I’ll give up.”
Seven days. Could seven days and seven nights yield any meaningful results? He judged it an impossible task. Furthermore, the Heavenly Tribulation Seol Ryeong spoke of had little to do with his own constitution.
Yet she was a precious companion who had willingly stepped into a dangerous mission purely out of friendship. Her opinion deserved to be respected.
Ise let out a soft sigh and asked the Bamboo Tube Beauty, “Is there any hope of reversing it?”
“The last hope… is for him to call me by the name he gave me. If I reclaim my name… I might be able to stop the corruption.”
“What is your name?”
“Ah… I am sorry, but it must be called out by the scholar himself. In the meantime, you may call me Bamboo Tube Beauty.”
“Alright, Bamboo. How long can you hold out?”
“…”
“You need to answer.”
“If you mean before I fall into corruption… it will likely take about a month.”
“Conserve your strength and stay out of sight of mortals. If you've turned into a demon ghost by the time we return, I will exorcise you.”
“Yes…”
“Write down the scholar's name here, and draw his features. As accurately as possible. Everything you can remember.”
Ise handed the Bamboo Tube Beauty a brush and paper, then turned back to Seol Ryeong.
“First, let’s report to the sect. If our proposal is accepted, then we'll search for the cultivator.”
“Okay.”
“One week. Exactly that much time, just as you said. And if it turns out that cultivator is alive and at a higher cultivation realm than us, we will not make an enemy of him.”
“I promise.”