Chapter 24 :

Chapter 24

Act 4: The Bamboo-Tube Beauty (5)

“That seems a little too extreme... I think we should report it to our superiors first.”

Yise agreed with Seol Ryeong’s suggestion.

At that moment, the Bamboo-Container Maiden interrupted their conversation.

“Honored elders! Could you please listen to my story?”

“What story?”

“Please... grant me a request. I beg you.”

Yise had a feeling that something troublesome was about to happen.

He had accepted this commission because he thought it might help advance his cultivation.

He did not want to become entangled in something troublesome that offered no tangible benefit.

The problem was that he was accompanied by a tenderhearted person who could easily be moved by the desperate emotion permeating the maiden’s voice.

“Hmm... Why don’t we hear her out first?”

Yise nodded as though he had known Seol Ryeong would say that.

The Bamboo-Container Maiden immediately began speaking as though she had been waiting for the opportunity.

“I am searching for a human. He is someone I must meet again.”

A long story poured from her tiny mouth.

“When I naturally acquired spirituality and first developed consciousness, the forest on the immortal mountain where I lived was deep in the mountains, untouched by human feet. I was the only spiritual object there, let alone a human. For three hundred years, I never once spoke to another being. Then I met a human. He was a neatly dressed scholar with handsome, well-defined features... He was a truly kind man.”

Her expression became hazy as though she were recalling a distant memory.

“He said he was a wandering scholar who had traveled to the Southern Sea to recuperate. When he discovered me, he smiled brightly. I had never seen such a beautiful smile before.”

Her dreamy expression seemed filled with happiness, and her description was as vivid as though she were recounting something that had happened only days ago.

“He visited me every day and spoke with me for an hour. He taught me letters, composed poems for me, and sang songs to me. I truly enjoyed those days. I was... genuinely happy, because I was no longer alone.”

However, the two of them had already begun to sense something strangely incongruous in her story.

An ordinary scholar—an ordinary mortal—had accidentally discovered a guardian spirit hidden deep within the mountains?

That was about as unlikely as bamboo spontaneously acquiring spirituality and becoming a spiritual object.

‘He was a cultivator.’

‘It seems that way.’

The two communicated using only the movements of their lips.

And since a cultivator had encountered a spiritual object, their story had likely been destined to end in tragedy.

“I gave him small portions of my spirituality to improve his health. Fortunately, he seemed to recover little by little. But then... he told me that he had to return to his hometown.”

“Would you come with me?”

“Where do you mean?”

“My hometown.”

“Your hometown? What kind of place is it?”

“It is a bustling place. It is full of vitality and many delightful things. Every day brings something new.”

“If I follow you... will you continue speaking with me as you do now?”

“Of course.”

“Then will you continue composing poems for me?”

“Most certainly.”

“Will you remain beside me so that I will never be lonely?”

“As long as my life has not ended, I will always remain your friend. I promise.”

“Then I do not wish to part from you either.”

“I... followed him.”

The Bamboo-Container Maiden followed him north.

“Because I did not want to be alone again...”

She also received a name.

Although the environment was unsuitable for her survival and her spirituality gradually diminished as she restored the scholar’s health, she was still happy.

When the scholar finished his daily work, he would place her beside the window and talk with her every night.

During the day, she watched the human world through the window. At night, she listened to the scholar’s stories until he fell asleep.

For seven years, she was happier than she could ever have imagined.

However, out of more than three hundred years of life, she was allowed only seven years of happiness.

It happened exactly seven years after she met the human.

“I was abandoned here without even knowing why.”

She added that she had waited here for that human for fifty years.

The emotions deeply embedded in her voice were resentment and longing.

By then, her spirituality had already been exhausted. To survive here until she could meet the scholar again, she had created this bamboo forest.

She had done so at the cost of her own lifespan.

“At first, I merely missed him. But before long, I began to resent him.”

The Bamboo-Container Maiden had likely become a guardian spirit because of her desire to protect the bamboo forest.

However, as her resentment grew, she must have forgotten righteousness and begun walking the path of corruption.

“I felt that I would soon become completely corrupted, lose my reason, and turn into a demon that did nothing but harm humans... So I captured and frightened ordinary mortals. I thought that if I did so, rumors about me might reach him. Perhaps he would hear about me and return to find me.”

She had continued crying out with that tiny, unheard voice.

For no less than fifty years.

Her time had stopped at that moment fifty years ago.

The Bamboo-Container Maiden’s voice became a desolate echo that drifted weakly through the bamboo forest.

“I wanted to ask him why he abandoned me. Why he never came back for me...”

Silence enveloped the bamboo forest.

Neither of them could say anything.

Feeling stifled, Yise raised his head toward the sky.

A flower had bloomed atop the Bamboo-Container Maiden’s head.

It was flowering sickness.

Ordinarily, bamboo did not bloom.

On the rare occasions when bamboo produced flowers, it survived only briefly after those flowers withered.

For ordinary bamboo, this would signify the transition to a new generation. However, the flower blooming on her head likely meant that little remained of her lifespan as a spiritual object.

She was on the verge of becoming a complete demon.

“You should have remained quietly on your immortal mountain.”

Yise murmured softly.

Understanding what he meant, the Bamboo-Container Maiden smiled gently.

I do not regret it.

That was what her eyes seemed to say.

“That scholar was probably a cultivator. The reason he brought you here was most likely—”

“Let’s help her.”

Although Seol Ryeong interrupted him with a stubborn look in her eyes, Yise shook his head.

“Our opponent is a cultivator—one who has been cultivating for at least fifty years. This could become several times more dangerous than a low-ranking malevolent-spirit extermination mission.”

“I know. I do. But... we can at least uncover the truth. We can’t be certain that he acted maliciously. The cultivator might have been harmed, or unavoidable circumstances might have prevented him from returning.”

“Even if that is true, merely encountering a cultivator in an advanced realm could be dangerous. Have you forgotten what the Basic Handbook of the Grand Martial Path says?”

Seol Ryeong flinched momentarily before arguing back.

“I know. I know that. But—”

“If you want, we can perform a spirit-consoling rite instead of spirit purification and soothe this creature’s soul. But we can’t do anything beyond that. It’s too dangerous.”

“Yise.”

Seol Ryeong’s quiet voice flowed forth.

Instead of her usual light and cheerful tone, her voice was deeply solemn.

“Don’t forget. We are Daoists.”

“......”

“Immortal cultivation is the path of defying heaven. Whenever you encounter a crossroads, if you recognize righteousness yet seek only the easier path, you will be unable to avoid a great Heavenly Tribulation. The magnitude of your Heavenly Tribulation depends upon how far the road you have traveled has strayed from righteousness.”

Yise silently listened to Seol Ryeong.

“Immortal cultivation is not the objective. It is the result of the process. Remember that what we must practice now is not immortal cultivation, but cultivation itself.”

Although it was a lecture from a cultivator his own age who often seemed exceedingly childish, Yise could clearly sense her wisdom.

She was insisting that righteousness meant making an effort to help a spiritual object with a sorrowful history find a way to avoid corruption.

A brief silence followed.

Yise closed his eyes as though contemplating her words. Seol Ryeong tilted her head toward the sky and jingled a ritual-bell sphere in her hand.

She looked as though she were reading the secrets of heaven or casting a divination.

After some time, Yise asked her a question.

“So, what do you want to do?”

“Let’s search for information about the scholar she mentioned for seven days. If we still can’t find him, I’ll give up.”

Could they produce any meaningful result in only seven days and seven nights?

Yise judged it to be impossible.

The Heavenly Tribulation Seol Ryeong spoke of was also largely irrelevant to someone with his constitution.

However, she was a valued companion who had readily accompanied him on a dangerous mission simply because they were friends.

Her opinion deserved at least that much respect.

Yise let out a faint sigh and asked the Bamboo-Container Maiden a question.

“Is there any hope of reversing your condition?”

“My final hope is... for him to personally call me by the name he bestowed upon me. If I regain my name... I may be able to stop the corruption.”

“What is your name?”

“Ah... I apologize, but the scholar himself must be the one to call me by it. Until then, you may call me the Bamboo-Container Maiden.”

“All right, Bamboo. How much longer can you endure?”

“......”

“Answer me.”

“If you mean before I become completely corrupted... I believe I have about a month.”

“Conserve your strength and remain out of sight of ordinary mortals. If you have become a demon by the time we return, I’ll perform spirit purification on you.”

“Yes...”

“Write the scholar’s name here, along with everything you remember about him. Describe and draw his distinguishing features and appearance as accurately as possible.”

Yise handed the Bamboo-Container Maiden a brush and an ink stick before turning back to Seol Ryeong.

“First, we’ll report this to the cultivation sect. If our proposal is accepted, we’ll begin searching for the cultivator.”

“Okay.”

“One week. Just as you said, that is all the time we will devote to this. And if we discover that the cultivator is alive and has reached a higher cultivation realm than us, we must never antagonize him.”

“I won’t.”