There are some people who feel old at only three; there are also some needs to go through ordeals at least eighteen times.
Looking at Shi Wuduan you can clearly see how caterpillars metamorphosize into butterflies – many years later there are lots of people who will lament, this thing that was naughty to no ends as a child, was bad to the bones, eventually what wrong medicine did he eat to become a man whose mouth is full of traditional virtues, who is seemingly harmless and cultured to the point of being fake?
On Yin Sheng lands, regardless of whether you are the common folks or the royalty, there has always been a passion towards cultivation (*).
(*) note that in the original text there are two paths of cultivation – 'xian', which is to become gods, and 'dao' which means the Taoist way of cultivation.
In the current era there are people who cultivate 'xian' and 'dao'. 'Xian' cultivators are shrouded in mystery. A lot of them are isolated from the world; whether the weather is hot or cold, sunny or rainy, the world peaceful or chaotic, they all will not participate. They see changes of eras and people in power as normalcy, because there is always up and down; they live their days eating winds and drinking dewdrops, uninvolved with worldly matters. Someone like Jianghua Sanren, who has a close relationship with the Taoist leader of the Jiulu mountain Xuan sect, is already a rare 'xian' cultivator.
'Dao' cultivation is split into a lot of different sects, the largest and most famous sects include 'Jiulu mountain Xuan sect', 'Pudi mountain Dacheng sect','West-most Mi sect', along with 'Leyou cliff Leyou sect'.
Apart from Leyou sect with loose sect rules, where student cultivators straddle the good and evil, frequently causing scandals just to buy themselves entertainment, three other large sects are naturally prestigious in the common people's hearts.
Xuan sect has been participating in worldly matters for a long time; a large part of its students sees human welfare as their mission. Dacheng sect seeks after the greater good, devotes to the gods; their students are vegetarians, modestly-dressed, mild-mannered, fair, and set out to do good and blessings. Mi sect is submerged in deep studies, only seeking after the true 'nature'; its students are at large mysterious and hard to track down as well.
Legend has it dao cultivators are immortals with the ability to ride on clowns and destroy evil. Among royal court members and pillars of the nation, not a few are originated from these three large sects deep in the mountains.1
Legend also has it the emperor has fear and respect for the leaders of these three sects. Many royal and general descendants all rushed to join these sects, but only those with naturally blessed bones (*) and good perception are lucky enough to be accepted as students.
(*) it was believed that your bone structure can determine how good you are at martial arts
This brat Shi Wuduan, his person is like his name (*), out of the blue got this good luck. He has not been born long before getting picked up by the Taoist leader of Xuan sect, who knows what he likes so much in this baby who was still in diapers that he accepted it as his sole student. This is a chance that others can only meet but cannot ask for their whole lives, how unfortunate that this Wuduan person only becomes more intolerable as he grows, he should be sorry for this opportunity from the sky.
(*) wu duan can mean '(for) no reason'
His 'great accomplishments' as a child on Jiulu mountain, even if you cut down all the bamboo slats (*) in this world there would not be enough to record them all.
(*) 罄竹难书 (qing zhu nan shu) originates from a saying by Li Mi. In ancient China, writing was recorded on slats made from bamboo tree, so the phrase basically means 'innumerable crimes'
That year when Jianghua Sanren came to Jiulu mountain to drink and debate teachings with the Taoist master, since Jianghua Sanren never had paid much attention to customs and such, after getting drunk he decided to rest at the water drinking pavilion. When he woke up, he only felt ice cold on his face, winds blowing at him. When he reached out with his hand, he discovered his long, god-like beard had been shaved clean since nobody knew when.
The beard grown for three centuries just like that got stolen by a brat to cushion a chicken's nest, not to even mention Jianghua Sanren's rage, Shi Wuduan got beaten up regardless. He also got hung up on the water drinking pavilion by the Taoist master for all the students. Since then, his name became infamous.
Shi Wuduan generally must have been fearless since in his mother's womb, since that time he was picked up by the Taoist master from the wolf cave, he was but a few months old baby, but regardless of whether he saw wolves to humans, he all observed with large eyes curiously shifting left and right, but did not cry at all.
When he learned how to walk, his short, chubby legs still shaky, but he did not even walk stably before excitedly trying to run. The moment his shixiong in charge of him's attention wandered away, he fell to the ground right away, and his chin, that was chubby enough the bone could not even be seen, got all scratched up. Yet, he seemed to feel no pain, did not need anyone to pick him up nor assure him, and scrambled up like a meat worm, lifted up his chubby face, and flashed his alarmed shixiong a brilliant, carefree smile, revealing an empty cavity with only a few teeth.1
When he grew a little more, Shi Wuduan spent his days climbing roofs and lifting tiles (*).
(*) means being destructive
The Taoist master of Xuan sect, who legend has it has lived for more than five hundred years, has always been a mildly-spoken intellectual, who devotes his life to the Taoist teachings, and who is someone's very smile can make people feel like they are bathed in spring wind, ever since accepting this sole student, his hundred-year long cultivation seemed to burst. It was said every month he had to get mad a few times, breaking three to four rulers.
It is also unknown whether he got punished too much that Shi Wuduan develop a steely, impenetrable layer of skin. After he caused some disaster, the Taoist master would yell: "You devilish child, come here for your punishment!"
He would then obediently scuttle forward, then after getting hit 'bang bang' a few times, rub his butt, wipe his nose with no care in the world, and continue to mess up Jiulu mountain to absolute chaos.
A young boy being naughty is common, which child has not been through a few whoopings? But this brat Shi Wuduan is truly naughty to a new extreme, like he has been born without a few nerve endings and does not know what fear is.
Shaving Jianghua Sanren's beard to cushion the chicken's nest is but a small thing, when he was five, he ushered the revered animal 'Qingcu' out like bringing a goat for a walk, and almost got out the mountain's territory. After a group of lumberjacks surrounded and pointed at Qingcu for a whole while, he finally got rushed back home by his shixiongs.
When he was six and playing hide and seek with a group of kids, while no one was paying attention he already ran to the Cangyun valley where all sorts of spirits (*) gather and played with the spirit children. Eventually the Taoist master had to search the whole mountain for him, only to frighteningly found out that this stupid, reckless brat had run into a nest of giant snakes and was sleeping alongside a nest of colubers (water snakes).
(*) a type of being called yao. They originate from either inanimate entity in nature (rocks, trees, etc.) or animal, who cultivate over the years to gain power and shapeshift into human forms. They also can be born from each other.
The winter when he was seven, during the ancestor worship at year's end, the Taoist master and his shixiongdi all four invited the Jiutian Xuan fire. In the end, this brat sneaked in during midnight to see what was the difference between the Jiutian Xuan fire and the normal fire used to light torches, so he used the little sparks he stolen to light the fireworks with his gang of children, carelessly causing fire and burning down half of the Xuan sect's ancestor worship house.
At eight, he sneakily climbed into the Kure master's, the Taoist master's shimei, sleeping flowers garden, destroying all eighty-one sleeping flower trees. These sleeping flower trees took thirty years to bear flowers and the next thirty to hibernate. Legend has it when the wind blows past, its scene can make people dream of their earlier incarnation, if someone takes one drop of dew from the flower and puts in their mouth, the effect would be like drinking thirty jars of strong wine, they would be piss drunk regardless of their alcohol tolerance.
What Shi Wuduan did, was to pitilessly destroy the flowers. He used a small ladder to climb up and down and snatched up any flowers within reach. In the end, of eighty-one sleeping flower trees none luckily escaped, all got scraped clean by him and through all tribulations he obtained a bottle of sleeping flower dew. He was sweating all over, feeling extremely thirsty, so conveniently he finished up a whole bottle of sleeping flower dew like freshwater, then fell into a coma for more than half a year, almost losing his little life.
After waking up, he got forced by the Taoist master to apologise to Kure master. Kure originally was still regretful over that garden, but upon seeing this brat who used to be chubby and white yet now thinned like a pitiful monkey in just half a year, his chin so sharp it could stab someone, she felt that he had already suffered not little, so only 'hmm' and left.
The Taoist master originally felt that having walked on the edge of life and death once, this little student would be more mature, or at least would know his boundary and be less naughty.
Who would know he thinks too much.
Shi Wuduan not easily having been fragile and silent for a while, all his shixiong and shishu in Xuan sect even said he had already seen the light, so none expected that two months later, the leader of Cangyun valley – the holy fox spirit monarch Bai Ziyi came to their doors, and specifically accused this shameless brat Shi Wuduan of seducing away her little one.
Everyone came to the water drinking pavilion to find out Shi Wuduan was formally dragging a little lady in white to play at getting married, that 'little girl' looked around seven or eight from the outside, dressed entirely in white, 'her' soft hair bound by satin, 'her' face slightly pale, like 'she' had just recovered from a serious bout of sickness. Just that once 'she' looked from the corner of 'her' eyes, her charm would spread far and wide. On first glance, you can tell this is a little fox spirit that had cultivated into human form, and who even knows if they are hundreds of thousands of years old.
The Taoist master worried until his hair greyed, he did not know what kind of karma he had inherited to bring back this devilish brat. He was just about to fall over with anger, the vein on the side of his head pulsing, and then that Shi Wuduan dared casually pulled that little fox spirit forward, eagerly coming to him: "Shifu, look look, this is my wifey. Third shixiong said, once I marry my wifey I can have a kid, once I have a kid it can bear beatings for me, ahaha ... Ow! Shifu don't hit, shifu ..."
Beat you to death you little devil, for not just bringing a little fox spirit to our doors, but even female or male you cannot even differentiate!
The spirits in Cangyun valley is governed by the holy fox spirit, so they usually do not hurt humans, only cultivate and live their own lives near Jiulu mountain, rarely interacting, but had never interfered with each other's business. That holy fox spirit Bai Ziyi saw that Shi Wuduan was just a brat who did not understand anything, and he even got beaten by the Taoist master until he was yelling gibberish, so she did not prolong the matter and led the little fox spirit away herself.
Due to this, under the crime of improper conduct, Shi Wuduan had not even woken up from his good dream of 'birthing a son to get beaten for him' before he was punished with a broken leg, having to unevenly kneel in the worship house more half a year.
That year he was nine years old.
With this sole student, the Taoist master really used tough love, since looking up and down generations of students in Xuan sect, none had more blessed bones, a more perceptive mind than this child.
When he wanted to be intelligent he was truly intelligent; regardless of what the topic was, he could understand upon the barest guidance. The rarest thing is, he had a natural talent for astrology. Since young he could sit with his head on his hands for a whole day in front of the giant constellation table, did not mind anything at all. Only this constellation table could stop him from naughtily creating some ruckus.
Others see the star orbits as dry and mysterious, but he can clearly calculate them like a game, and even passionately does it.
But apart from this one thing he really is a troublemaker; there is nothing he dares not do, no disasters he dares not meddle.
On Jiulu mountain if you mention this devilish king they would all smile ruefully – if you look from afar he is like a beautiful jewel, but up close you realise it is a stubborn stone – even worse, a smelly stone in the toilet.
There are some people who feel old at only three; there are also some needs to go through ordeals at least eighteen times.
Looking at Shi Wuduan you can clearly see how caterpillars metamorphosize into butterflies – many years later there are lots of people who will lament, this thing that was naughty to no ends as a child, was bad to the bones, eventually what wrong medicine did he eat to become a man whose mouth is full of traditional virtues, who is seemingly harmless and cultured to the point of being fake?
On Yin Sheng lands, regardless of whether you are the common folks or the royalty, there has always been a passion towards cultivation (*).
(*) note that in the original text there are two paths of cultivation – 'xian', which is to become gods, and 'dao' which means the Taoist way of cultivation.
In the current era there are people who cultivate 'xian' and 'dao'. 'Xian' cultivators are shrouded in mystery. A lot of them are isolated from the world; whether the weather is hot or cold, sunny or rainy, the world peaceful or chaotic, they all will not participate. They see changes of eras and people in power as normalcy, because there is always up and down; they live their days eating winds and drinking dewdrops, uninvolved with worldly matters. Someone like Jianghua Sanren, who has a close relationship with the Taoist leader of the Jiulu mountain Xuan sect, is already a rare 'xian' cultivator.
'Dao' cultivation is split into a lot of different sects, the largest and most famous sects include 'Jiulu mountain Xuan sect', 'Pudi mountain Dacheng sect','West-most Mi sect', along with 'Leyou cliff Leyou sect'.
Apart from Leyou sect with loose sect rules, where student cultivators straddle the good and evil, frequently causing scandals just to buy themselves entertainment, three other large sects are naturally prestigious in the common people's hearts.
Xuan sect has been participating in worldly matters for a long time; a large part of its students sees human welfare as their mission. Dacheng sect seeks after the greater good, devotes to the gods; their students are vegetarians, modestly-dressed, mild-mannered, fair, and set out to do good and blessings. Mi sect is submerged in deep studies, only seeking after the true 'nature'; its students are at large mysterious and hard to track down as well.
Legend has it dao cultivators are immortals with the ability to ride on clowns and destroy evil. Among royal court members and pillars of the nation, not a few are originated from these three large sects deep in the mountains.1
Legend also has it the emperor has fear and respect for the leaders of these three sects. Many royal and general descendants all rushed to join these sects, but only those with naturally blessed bones (*) and good perception are lucky enough to be accepted as students.
(*) it was believed that your bone structure can determine how good you are at martial arts
This brat Shi Wuduan, his person is like his name (*), out of the blue got this good luck. He has not been born long before getting picked up by the Taoist leader of Xuan sect, who knows what he likes so much in this baby who was still in diapers that he accepted it as his sole student. This is a chance that others can only meet but cannot ask for their whole lives, how unfortunate that this Wuduan person only becomes more intolerable as he grows, he should be sorry for this opportunity from the sky.
(*) wu duan can mean '(for) no reason'
His 'great accomplishments' as a child on Jiulu mountain, even if you cut down all the bamboo slats (*) in this world there would not be enough to record them all.
(*) 罄竹难书 (qing zhu nan shu) originates from a saying by Li Mi. In ancient China, writing was recorded on slats made from bamboo tree, so the phrase basically means 'innumerable crimes'
That year when Jianghua Sanren came to Jiulu mountain to drink and debate teachings with the Taoist master, since Jianghua Sanren never had paid much attention to customs and such, after getting drunk he decided to rest at the water drinking pavilion. When he woke up, he only felt ice cold on his face, winds blowing at him. When he reached out with his hand, he discovered his long, god-like beard had been shaved clean since nobody knew when.
The beard grown for three centuries just like that got stolen by a brat to cushion a chicken's nest, not to even mention Jianghua Sanren's rage, Shi Wuduan got beaten up regardless. He also got hung up on the water drinking pavilion by the Taoist master for all the students. Since then, his name became infamous.
Shi Wuduan generally must have been fearless since in his mother's womb, since that time he was picked up by the Taoist master from the wolf cave, he was but a few months old baby, but regardless of whether he saw wolves to humans, he all observed with large eyes curiously shifting left and right, but did not cry at all.
When he learned how to walk, his short, chubby legs still shaky, but he did not even walk stably before excitedly trying to run. The moment his shixiong in charge of him's attention wandered away, he fell to the ground right away, and his chin, that was chubby enough the bone could not even be seen, got all scratched up. Yet, he seemed to feel no pain, did not need anyone to pick him up nor assure him, and scrambled up like a meat worm, lifted up his chubby face, and flashed his alarmed shixiong a brilliant, carefree smile, revealing an empty cavity with only a few teeth.1
When he grew a little more, Shi Wuduan spent his days climbing roofs and lifting tiles (*).
(*) means being destructive
The Taoist master of Xuan sect, who legend has it has lived for more than five hundred years, has always been a mildly-spoken intellectual, who devotes his life to the Taoist teachings, and who is someone's very smile can make people feel like they are bathed in spring wind, ever since accepting this sole student, his hundred-year long cultivation seemed to burst. It was said every month he had to get mad a few times, breaking three to four rulers.
It is also unknown whether he got punished too much that Shi Wuduan develop a steely, impenetrable layer of skin. After he caused some disaster, the Taoist master would yell: "You devilish child, come here for your punishment!"
He would then obediently scuttle forward, then after getting hit 'bang bang' a few times, rub his butt, wipe his nose with no care in the world, and continue to mess up Jiulu mountain to absolute chaos.
A young boy being naughty is common, which child has not been through a few whoopings? But this brat Shi Wuduan is truly naughty to a new extreme, like he has been born without a few nerve endings and does not know what fear is.
Shaving Jianghua Sanren's beard to cushion the chicken's nest is but a small thing, when he was five, he ushered the revered animal 'Qingcu' out like bringing a goat for a walk, and almost got out the mountain's territory. After a group of lumberjacks surrounded and pointed at Qingcu for a whole while, he finally got rushed back home by his shixiongs.
When he was six and playing hide and seek with a group of kids, while no one was paying attention he already ran to the Cangyun valley where all sorts of spirits (*) gather and played with the spirit children. Eventually the Taoist master had to search the whole mountain for him, only to frighteningly found out that this stupid, reckless brat had run into a nest of giant snakes and was sleeping alongside a nest of colubers (water snakes).
(*) a type of being called yao. They originate from either inanimate entity in nature (rocks, trees, etc.) or animal, who cultivate over the years to gain power and shapeshift into human forms. They also can be born from each other.
The winter when he was seven, during the ancestor worship at year's end, the Taoist master and his shixiongdi all four invited the Jiutian Xuan fire. In the end, this brat sneaked in during midnight to see what was the difference between the Jiutian Xuan fire and the normal fire used to light torches, so he used the little sparks he stolen to light the fireworks with his gang of children, carelessly causing fire and burning down half of the Xuan sect's ancestor worship house.
At eight, he sneakily climbed into the Kure master's, the Taoist master's shimei, sleeping flowers garden, destroying all eighty-one sleeping flower trees. These sleeping flower trees took thirty years to bear flowers and the next thirty to hibernate. Legend has it when the wind blows past, its scene can make people dream of their earlier incarnation, if someone takes one drop of dew from the flower and puts in their mouth, the effect would be like drinking thirty jars of strong wine, they would be piss drunk regardless of their alcohol tolerance.
What Shi Wuduan did, was to pitilessly destroy the flowers. He used a small ladder to climb up and down and snatched up any flowers within reach. In the end, of eighty-one sleeping flower trees none luckily escaped, all got scraped clean by him and through all tribulations he obtained a bottle of sleeping flower dew. He was sweating all over, feeling extremely thirsty, so conveniently he finished up a whole bottle of sleeping flower dew like freshwater, then fell into a coma for more than half a year, almost losing his little life.
After waking up, he got forced by the Taoist master to apologise to Kure master. Kure originally was still regretful over that garden, but upon seeing this brat who used to be chubby and white yet now thinned like a pitiful monkey in just half a year, his chin so sharp it could stab someone, she felt that he had already suffered not little, so only 'hmm' and left.
The Taoist master originally felt that having walked on the edge of life and death once, this little student would be more mature, or at least would know his boundary and be less naughty.
Who would know he thinks too much.
Shi Wuduan not easily having been fragile and silent for a while, all his shixiong and shishu in Xuan sect even said he had already seen the light, so none expected that two months later, the leader of Cangyun valley – the holy fox spirit monarch Bai Ziyi came to their doors, and specifically accused this shameless brat Shi Wuduan of seducing away her little one.
Everyone came to the water drinking pavilion to find out Shi Wuduan was formally dragging a little lady in white to play at getting married, that 'little girl' looked around seven or eight from the outside, dressed entirely in white, 'her' soft hair bound by satin, 'her' face slightly pale, like 'she' had just recovered from a serious bout of sickness. Just that once 'she' looked from the corner of 'her' eyes, her charm would spread far and wide. On first glance, you can tell this is a little fox spirit that had cultivated into human form, and who even knows if they are hundreds of thousands of years old.
The Taoist master worried until his hair greyed, he did not know what kind of karma he had inherited to bring back this devilish brat. He was just about to fall over with anger, the vein on the side of his head pulsing, and then that Shi Wuduan dared casually pulled that little fox spirit forward, eagerly coming to him: "Shifu, look look, this is my wifey. Third shixiong said, once I marry my wifey I can have a kid, once I have a kid it can bear beatings for me, ahaha ... Ow! Shifu don't hit, shifu ..."
Beat you to death you little devil, for not just bringing a little fox spirit to our doors, but even female or male you cannot even differentiate!
The spirits in Cangyun valley is governed by the holy fox spirit, so they usually do not hurt humans, only cultivate and live their own lives near Jiulu mountain, rarely interacting, but had never interfered with each other's business. That holy fox spirit Bai Ziyi saw that Shi Wuduan was just a brat who did not understand anything, and he even got beaten by the Taoist master until he was yelling gibberish, so she did not prolong the matter and led the little fox spirit away herself.
Due to this, under the crime of improper conduct, Shi Wuduan had not even woken up from his good dream of 'birthing a son to get beaten for him' before he was punished with a broken leg, having to unevenly kneel in the worship house more half a year.
That year he was nine years old.
With this sole student, the Taoist master really used tough love, since looking up and down generations of students in Xuan sect, none had more blessed bones, a more perceptive mind than this child.
When he wanted to be intelligent he was truly intelligent; regardless of what the topic was, he could understand upon the barest guidance. The rarest thing is, he had a natural talent for astrology. Since young he could sit with his head on his hands for a whole day in front of the giant constellation table, did not mind anything at all. Only this constellation table could stop him from naughtily creating some ruckus.
Others see the star orbits as dry and mysterious, but he can clearly calculate them like a game, and even passionately does it.
But apart from this one thing he really is a troublemaker; there is nothing he dares not do, no disasters he dares not meddle.
On Jiulu mountain if you mention this devilish king they would all smile ruefully – if you look from afar he is like a beautiful jewel, but up close you realise it is a stubborn stone – even worse, a smelly stone in the toilet.
