# The Great Dao Is Like the Blue Sky
"What... is this?" Jiang Wang looked at the black-veiled woman, his heart sinking.
This White-Bone Lotus was nothing like anything orthodox.
"A thing that appeared on your own body, and you ask me?" The woman's eyes were full of laughter.
"There was never anything like this on me before, and I have never seen a lotus of this kind... Does it have something to do with your secret art?"
"All I can say is, the secret art I used to save you seems to have only served as a guide." She leaned close to his ear, her breath like an orchid in the shadow, trembling the hair at his temples before burrowing into his neck. "Think hard. What secret, exactly, is hidden in your body?"
"I... what secret do I hold?" Jiang Wang racked his memory, but nothing connected to a White-Bone Lotus came back at all.
The black-veiled woman drew back her mirror, rose unhurriedly, and retreated.
"Your sister saved your life. There is no need to remember it to your very marrow — you need only do three things to repay me. As for what those things are..." Her voice turned sultry and soft. "Behave yourself in your sleep from now on. Wait until I come to find you."
Jiang Wang consciously let her faint, insidious charm pass him by, and said seriously: "So long as it does not go against the principles Jiang Wang walks by, I ought to do not merely three things, but thirty."
"Three shall suffice." The woman laughed lightly as she retreated. "It is time you left."
"You — do you know this lotus? What is it?" Jiang Wang pressed.
"It, ah..." The black-veiled woman drew out her words as if thinking, and only then said: "It seems to be a White Bone Path Lotus? A mark of the White Bone Path, you know..."
She turned and walked out of the mountain cave.
Jiang Wang remained seated where he was, sword in one hand, bare from the waist up.
He sensed that her presence had vanished.
...
Jiang Wang examined his body and found no other anomaly. He performed two sessions of meridian-charging cultivation, making up for the practice missed while unconscious, before making his way out of the cave.
A set of a Taoist robe had been folded at the mouth of the cave — readied, no doubt, by the woman in the black veil.
Jiang Wang, who had been troubled by his bare torso, immediately changed into it and found the fit exact, hugging close to his frame.
This woman was lissome and ever-changing, speaking in a mix of truth and falsehood, the whole of her impossible to tell as right or wrong. But the fact remained that she had saved his life.
Jiang Wang shook his head and set these thoughts aside for now. She had said she would seek him out again. Nothing could be parsed out of it anyway, so he would wait and see then.
A brief survey of the mountain's lie gave him his bearings, and he turned toward Sanshan City.
If Zhao Rucheng and the others were safe, they would be waiting for news of him. Zhao Rucheng would never abandon him, life or death still unknown, to head back to Fenglin first.
"Jiang Wang!"
"Jiang Wang!"
"Jiang Wang!"
From far away, Jiang Wang heard shouts rising and falling through the ridges.
He knew at once it must be Zhao Rucheng and the others searching for him.
After the battle before, the ferocious beasts upon Jade Scales Peak seemed far more subdued — had it not been so, they would already have charged down by now.
Jiang Wang sprinted with all his speed, dashing toward the direction the voices came from.
"I'm here!" he shouted.
The cries stopped, then started again: "Third Brother! Third Brother!"
From far off, a figure came racing faster than a dart, shouting at the top of his lungs. If it was not Zhao Rucheng, then who could it be?
Jiang Wang went to meet him.
The two brothers reunited upon the ridges near Jade Scales Peak.
Having crawled back from death's very door, it felt like a lifetime had passed.
And yet neither of them put on any show of excitement.
Zhao Rucheng looked up at the sky for a moment. "Ah, the weather's not bad."
"It is," Jiang Wang said.
Only after a while did Zhao Rucheng draw his gaze back to Jiang Wang, his face theatrical. "Wow, you don't look rough at all. And you've even changed into new robes!"
Jiang Wang smiled amiably. "You know who the big brother is."
Just then, Li Jianqiu and Huang Azhan came looking, along with Zhao Tiehe, Yang Xingyong, and a few unfamiliar faces — all of them outer disciples of Sanshan City's Dao Academy.
"Jiang Wang!"
"Junior Brother Jiang!"
"Brother Jiang!"
Jiang Wang returned their bows each in turn. "Brother Zhao, Brother Yang, all you brothers — and Senior Brothers Li and Huang. Jiang Wang's skill is meager and shames me; sorry to put you all through the trouble of coming to find me."
"What are you saying, Brother Jiang! Weren't you lending your strength for the sake of our Sanshan City?"
"It's wonderful that Brother Jiang is unharmed."
"Glad you're safe, glad you're safe."
It turned out that after Zhao Rucheng woke, accompanied by Li Jianqiu and Huang Azhan, he had gone straight back to Jade Scales Peak to search the spot where, by his memory, Jiang Wang had fallen off the cliff.
Their intent had been merely to find Jiang Wang's corpse and carry it back. But they searched long beneath the crags, and found not only no corpse — there were not even scraps of clothing or keepsakes.
Only then did Zhao Rucheng realize that Jiang Wang might still be alive!
But he did not flail about searching aimlessly, either. He went straight back to Sanshan City to rally people, dividing the mountains near Jade Scales Peak into several zones and combing through them area by area in shifts.
Sun Xiaoman had been unable to come herself, for she had to stay by Dou Yuemei's side — but it was she who had organized so many people in the first place.
Jiang Wang privately thought that the black-veiled woman's sudden departure was probably precisely because Zhao Rucheng and the others had come looking.
"Third Brother, what are you thinking about?" Zhao Rucheng waved him over. "This is Lady Ye, a fairy of the Yun Kingdom. In finding you this time, she lent a great deal of effort as well."
Jiang Wang shifted his gaze, and saw the mysterious cultivator masked in white gauze give him a small bow. "I have not yet thanked Brother Jiang for the kindness of his aid."
Jiang Wang had no idea what had come over the female cultivators of these times — every one of them liked to go out with their faces veiled.
"You needn't stand on ceremony," Jiang Wang said. "It was but a gesture done in passing."
"Brother Jiang's generosity in giving without seeking reward is lofty, but Qingyu cannot be a petty one who receives kindness and never repays it." She took out a small token of exquisite workmanship and offered it to Jiang Wang. "Should Brother Jiang ever have a need, take this Cloud Token to the Lingxiao Pavilion, and there will be nothing that goes unanswered."
Nothing goes unanswered? Was the Lingxiao Pavilion some place where all things were possible?
A flicker of surprise ran through Jiang Wang, though none of it showed. "There really is no need. We stood on the same battlefield, and that made us comrades-in-arms. It is only natural for comrades to lend each other a hand. Lady... Ye, you truly need not be so polite."
Because of the veil, only this cultivator's eyes were visible — bright, clear eyes.
With these very eyes she looked at Jiang Wang with complete sincerity, holding up the small token in both hands. "I beg you, do keep it, so that Qingyu may rest at ease."
Zhao Rucheng suddenly nudged Jiang Wang from behind. "Since Lady Ye has said as much, Third Brother, just accept it."
Jiang Wang had no choice but to take it.
This small token was shaped like a cloud, bearing no engraving. But looking closely at its body, one would find faint wisps of cloud coiled within — truly a thing of beauty.
Setting aside whatever meaning it carried, the Cloud Token by itself was already a curious treasure.
Her lifesaver safe and sound, and the Cloud Token given away, Ye Qingyu felt she had done all she could for peace of mind. So she said to Jiang Wang: "In that case, Qingyu will take her leave. The Great Dao is like the blue sky — may you, Brother Jiang, climb a green cloud and soar ever higher. Farewell."
With that, she condensed a crane-shaped cloud beast, stepped onto its back, and rode the wind away.
The sky was clear and the clouds at leisure, the cloud-crane ethereal and immaculate. She had come in delight, and left with a settled heart.
That lucid, undefiled Dao heart of hers was worthy of admiration.
Just having grazed life and death, Jiang Wang was in no mood for pleasantries. He gave courtesy to Zhao Tiehe and the rest: "All you brothers of Sanshan City, I am about to set out back to Fenglin City. There is a little sister waiting at home, and I truly cannot linger long abroad."
Zhao Tiehe and Yang Xingyong each said they understood, and the other Sanshan City outer disciples — whom they had brought along to help — voiced no objection either.
The two parties promised to meet again, and parted there. One company turned back toward Sanshan City, the other headed straight for Fenglin City.
Walking along the road, Zhao Rucheng finally found the opening to ask Jiang Wang: "I didn't get the chance before. Third Brother, what happened after you fell off the cliff?"
"Right." Huang Azhan chimed in. "When we found you were gone, we searched everywhere to no avail, and we thought... in the end we could only carry the unconscious Rucheng back to Sanshan City. Senior Brother Li has been blaming himself the whole time, saying he should never have taken you to Jade Scales Peak."
"This has nothing to do with any of you — it was entirely my own carelessness." Jiang Wang comforted them. "I was lucky, too. After falling off the cliff I was saved by a mysterious master, and it took a while for my wounds to heal. That's why I only came out today."
Zhao Rucheng rubbed his chin in deliberation. "And the way they even prepared new robes for you so considerately, I'd wager that master is some beauty too!"
"Right, right!" Huang Azhan grew excited for no discernible reason. "Take that Lady Ye — she's a breathtaking beauty!"
The one he was chatting about with Zhao Rucheng was not the same person at all. It was not clear what he thought he was agreeing to.
"What nonsense." As the black-veiled woman touched upon the White-Bone Lotus, Jiang Wang had no mind to say more, and only replied: "That Lady Ye keeps her face veiled — how would you know whether she's pretty or not?"
"You don't understand." Huang Azhan shook his head with a sigh, his face enraptured. "A true beauty needs no face. A single glance, even a wisp of fragrant breeze, is enough to sense her loveliness. How could a mere thin gauze hide such a beauty away?"
Zhao Rucheng nodded faintly, conceding with reserve.
"I've finally figured out why Ye Qingyu goes out with her face covered."
"Why?"
"Because lecherous knaves like you two are far too many!"