The Cicada, Mantis, and Yellow Bird

In the garden there was a tree, and on the tree there was a cicada.

The mantis preys on the cicada, while the yellow bird follows behind.

The yellow bird wants to peck the mantis, but beneath it waits the slingshot.

...

1

In the three hundred years since becoming a ghost immortal, Song Cao had countless times replayed the events of that year, now able to detach herself and view her worldly past as a chess game.

As they say, those involved cannot see clearly, while outsiders can perceive the truth.

But even with her current identity as a ghost immortal, that chess game from back then remained unsolvable.

She had once thought herself the mantis, or at worst the yellow bird.

Until she saw Nanyang Zhenren at the prefect's residence—pine-like and crane-boned, wearing a Bagua robe and holding a horsetail whisk—Song Cao suddenly understood that what she was didn't matter. Whether the cicada, the mantis, or the yellow bird, all ultimately fell into the eyes of the one holding the whisk.

In fact, the moment she saw Xin Chen, she had already realized.

Xin Chen was precisely the lover of that female performer, Liu Jianiang.

He was also the man standing outside the door seeking his master's purple sand seal when she had sneaked into the Zhanhua Hall.

Song Cao belatedly understood this was a trap to lure her in.

No wonder she had felt that voice somewhat familiar back then.

She had never considered it—was it truly good fortune that she had entered Guo You's courtyard so smoothly?

A well-woven net could trap cicada, mantis, and yellow bird alike.

Nanyang Zhenren was younger than Song Cao had imagined. He wasn't a white-bearded elder. Though already over a hundred years old, he carried himself with an ethereal and dignified bearing. The three strands of beard beneath his chin were still dark, his appearance formidable, and a pair of eyes shone like cold stars—revealing both compassion and shrewdness.

He said he had lit a life lamp for Guo You in the Xingyun Pavilion. When that lamp extinguished, he knew the matter was accomplished.

Guo You's death was within his expectations.

Death at Song Cao's hands was also within his expectations.

Song Cao couldn't understand—cultivators should be compassionate toward all living beings, let alone someone of his exalted status. How could he assist evildoers and employ such cruel methods that disregarded human life?

When she angrily questioned him, Xuanji laughed, his voice sounding surprisingly benevolent: "Before the Son of Heaven enfeoffed the realm, this world still revered divine authority, with living sacrifices offered to gods. This was fundamentally a transaction. Human life is life, and the lives of livestock are also life. The so-called Dao follows nature—using humans as sacrifices or livestock as sacrifices are the same. How can this be called cruel methods?"

"This old Daoist merely uses the technique of offering plague ghosts to seek a cure, wishing to save the Guo family's young lady's life. The sacrificial object was provided by the Guo family. The Guo family's young lady was killed by you. How can you say I disregard human life?"

What was the technique of offering plague ghosts?

Legend says that in ancient times, the three sons of Gaoyang Emperor Zhuanxu became plague ghosts after death, dwelling in the rivers Jiang and Ruo.

Those female corpses thrown into the rivers were merely sacrificial offerings to them.

Only with the sacrifice of the skinless female corpse could Guo You's illness completely disappear and she recover her perfect skin.

Song Cao was stunned by Xuanji's shamelessness. She looked at him in disbelief: "You're simply insane! To commit such acts, aren't you afraid of divine retribution?!"

"This old Daoist has said that sacrifice is fundamentally a transaction. I did not harm these people, nor did I kill the Guo family's young lady. If you speak of divine retribution, learning the Dao and achieving enlightenment—or establishing the heart between heaven and earth—is no different from the common people securing their place in life. First comes the individual, only then can one show compassion for others. Therefore, even if I have wronged you, it can be forgiven."

Song Cao didn't quite understand what he was saying. She watched him warily, knowing only that he spoke sweetly but harbored ill intentions.

Sure enough, Xuanji said again: "The benevolent heart of heaven and earth nurtures all things. The so-called Dao follows nature means all things are equal. Little friend, do you agree with this old Daoist's words?"

Song Cao stared directly at him, sneering: "Since you understand this principle, why do you assist evildoers?"

Xuanji didn't answer but instead asked her: "This old Daoist heard that last winter, the wife of Xinjian County Magistrate Wu Yong fell gravely ill and often required bear gallbladder in her medicine. Bear gallbladder for medicine—so you kill bears. Plague ghosts for offering—so the Guo family kills people. Let me ask you, are human skin and bear gallbladder both good medicines for curing illness?"

"You're insane! How can humans and bears be compared in the same breath!"

"Heaven and earth nurture all things—all things are equal. Why can humans and bears not be compared?"

The transcendent cultivator outside the mundane world looked at Song Cao with those compassionate yet shrewd eyes, waiting for her answer.

Song Cao only felt a fire in her heart, anger rising and falling. After a long while, she said resentfully: "Though all things are equal, those who can speak are human. Naturally, this world holds humans in highest esteem!"

Xuanji shook his head, his expression showing some disappointment. Then he sighed deeply: "Little friend is a mundane person. You say humans are held in highest esteem, meaning you agree with the principle that the weak are prey for the strong. As the saying goes, beyond humans there are others, beyond heaven there are higher heavens. Since humans regard bears as worthless lives, when they themselves are divided into high and low status, why do they cry to heaven and wail in sorrow? Where is the esteem in this?"

Before becoming a ghost immortal, Song Cao was only a seventeen-year-old girl.

This seventeen-year-old girl was a mundane person, destined to be no match for Xuanji, nor could she provide the answer he sought.

So when Xuanji said: "If a bear, having lived for many years in the deep mountains without harming a single human life, suddenly glimpses the heavenly Dao and learns it will die when a human takes its gallbladder, and to protect itself kills that person first—little friend, do you think it has done wrong?"

Song Cao pressed her lips together, looking at him coldly: "What exactly are you trying to say?"

"The fifteenth day of deep winter, the snowy night at year's end—fish lantern guides the soul."

"This was a heavenly tribulation my master divined for me in my youth," Xuanji sighed, his voice distant. "For mortals to cultivate enlightenment is an act against heaven. My master said that though I have the roots of a cultivator, when reaching the stage of returning to emptiness and uniting with the Dao, I still cannot escape the tribulation that will descend."

"Since ancient times, cultivation has always included cultivating life. Tribulation-transcending cultivators often perish from the world. As a cultivator, I should naturally be compassionate toward all living beings, but if I cannot even show compassion for myself, how can I show compassion for others?"

"The world's people are greedy like snakes and wrathful like tigers. This old Daoist is that bear wishing to achieve the Dao. If you ask what my Dao-heart is, I am willing to tell you, little friend—my Dao-heart is to achieve enlightenment and become true."

Song Cao didn't understand. She looked at Xuanji in astonishment, finding it utterly ridiculous: "What fifteenth day of deep winter, what fish lantern guiding the soul—have you failed in your cultivation and driven yourself mad instead?"

Xuanji stroked his beard and shook his head: "Fish lantern guiding the soul—this was the divination my master cast for me back then. As they say, fish lantern opens the underworld's gates, guiding souls into the Yellow Springs. This signifies that my heavenly tribulation comes from the underworld. The twelfth month of the Gengchen year, the snowy night of the fifteenth day of deep winter—this was the night you were born. This was divined by this old Daoist himself. Though I know not the reason, after you die you will go to the underworld, causing my heavenly tribulation to descend, and I will perish from this world."

"Nonsense! If you never harmed me, even if I go to the underworld after death, what does that have to do with you!"

"This old Daoist cannot divine incorrectly, and my master certainly cannot either. Back then, precisely because of divining this hexagram, my master leaked heavenly secrets and severed his opportunity for cultivation. The words of the divination cannot be false."

"Hahaha, is that so? Then why doesn't your hexagram count as leaking heavenly secrets?"

"My master's hexagram concerned the underworld. My hexagram concerns a person—naturally, it cannot count as leaking heavenly secrets."

"So what exactly do you want, you stinking Daoist! After going in such a large circle, what do you intend? If you kill me, wouldn't I just go to the underworld to report you?" Song Cao laughed angrily.

"Little friend, do you know that this old Daoist once tried to prevent your birth?"

Xuanji's voice was gentle, his face actually showing compassion: "Back when famine and plague ravaged the Jiangnan region, this old Daoist came down from the mountain precisely for you. When your father Wu Yong suffered imprisonment, your mother was seven months pregnant. In the struggle, she fell and gave birth to a stillborn infant during a difficult labor that night."

"After dawn, the midwife threw the swaddled infant to the suburban burial grounds. But unexpectedly, your fate should not have ended—you actually cried out among the chaotic burial grounds and were taken away by someone."

"...My father Wu Yong suffered imprisonment while my mother was seven months pregnant?"

Song Cao repeated this sentence in a daze, her eyes wide with disbelief: "Say what you just said again!"

"Back when famine and plague ravaged the Jiangnan region, this old Daoist came down from the mountain..."

"You stinking Daoist, I'll kill you!"

Song Cao, suppressed by Xin Chen, glared red-eyed and tried desperately to rush toward Xuanji.

Xuanji looked at her unable to move on the ground and sighed: "This old Daoist tells you these things hoping you can understand that the causes and effects of this world are all predetermined. The fault is not mine, and you should not resent me."

"You're talking nonsense! Just you wait! Stinking Daoist! If I die, I will definitely go to the underworld and let you die in heavenly tribulation as you wish!"

"Little friend, you won't have the chance to go to the underworld. This old Daoist has prepared a good place for you."

2

Xuanji would not tell Song Cao how long he had waited for this day.

From the day he longed to achieve enlightenment, from the day he learned he would die in heavenly tribulation, aside from cultivation, his entire life had been spent trying to avoid this tribulation.

In the fifth year of the Tiancheng era, he obtained a lotus bell from a Celestial Master Daoist.

That bell was only finger-sized with a clapper inside, but it could not be rung.

The Celestial Master Daoist said this object was not of the mortal realm—it was used for guiding souls.

Legend says that when Pangu split heaven and earth, chaos made heaven and earth indistinguishable. His wife, Taiyuan Holy Mother, created the heaven-splitting axe and established Buzhou Mountain.

In ancient times, humans, ghosts, and gods were without order. Later, Gonggong, in anger, crashed into Buzhou Mountain, causing the heavenly river to pour down and floods to ravage the human world.

Nüwa mended the heavens, but the countless souls lost in the disaster had nowhere to go and wandered the world, causing the earth to again fall into chaos where good and evil could not be distinguished.

Houtu, son of Gonggong,不惜 transforming himself into the Dao, creating Youdu underworld and establishing the six paths of reincarnation.

To guide the wandering souls of the human world into Youdu, Houtu Niangniang created three soul-guiding bells from Yellow Springs stone.

Legend says that when Houtu Niangniang washed the bells with Yellow Springs water, a deity not belonging to this place crawled out from the filthy shore.

That deity said he had wandered here by mistake, eaten things of the Yellow Springs, and his true body had decayed, becoming a fallen deity.

She covered her face and wept, saying she could no longer be accepted by the people of her land.

Houtu took pity and gifted her a soul-guiding bell and a vessel of Yellow Springs water, letting her seek a good destination for herself.

The remaining two bells, after Houtu Niangniang entered reincarnation, fell into the hands of Fengdu Dadi.

Fengdu Dadi gave the bells to the Wuchang Master.

The Wuchang Master gave them to Heibai Wuchang.

...

The Celestial Master Daoist said the lotus bell in his hand was a gift brought to the Tang Emperor by a monk who had crossed from the west.

The monk said this was originally a thing of the Central Plains and should be returned to its original owner.

The Tang Emperor was initially very interested, but later discovered it was merely an ordinary bell that wouldn't ring, so he casually rewarded it to the protector celestial master.

The Celestial Master Daoist was a lineage disciple of the Tang Dynasty's protector celestial master.

He said his master had once said that this lotus bell was not that it couldn't ring, but that mortal bodies could not make it ring.

Since it could not ring and circulated in the world, it was no different from a useless bell.

When the lotus bell reached the Celestial Master Daoist, it had already been passed down for over two hundred years.

The Daoist was a naturally free-spirited hero who didn't yet have a lineage disciple. Seeing that Xuanji regarded the bell as a treasure, he simply gave it to him.

Xuanji spent fifty years verifying that the Celestial Master Daoist's words were not false.

The bell was truly not an object of the mortal realm.

The soul-guiding bell had the power to lock and suppress souls.

He thought of a brilliant method to resolve his heavenly tribulation.

This brilliant method was to place the soul-guiding bell inside Song Cao's body, seal the person in a coffin, and bury them alive.

Because of the soul-guiding bell's presence, Song Cao's soul could not leave her body, and she would become a living dead person, forever in the coffin, unable to enter the underworld.