Chapter 34- Just a Momentary Joy

Tian stood straight with his hands loosely clasped behind his back. It was the pose he had seen some of the more senior Senior Brothers adopting when they were supervising his martial arts practice, and he thought it looked very fine. It seemed to have the air of an expert about it. Hopefully, it would lend weight to his dignity as he held the important job of Dao Protector.

Assuming that “Dao Protector” was an important job. It sounded important. You wouldn’t go around calling someone a Dao Protector if their job was digging latrines, even if they were, in a real sense, protecting everyone’s dao. He supposed. If “Protecting someone’s dao” meant what he thought it did.

“Grandpa, what is a Dao Protector?”

Dao means a lot of things, and one of them is “path” or “way,” in the sense of a journey. “I am following this path to the peak of the mountain.” See?

“Sure.”

So a Dao Protector is an achingly pretentious way of saying “You are guarding someone during their cultivation journey, making sure their path isn’t cut short.” Just a glorified bodyguard, really.

“Ah. Well that’s boring.”

Don’t be so quick to judge. No, actually, you are completely correct, it’s boring as hell, but in your specific case, there is a massive, massive upside.

“Oh? What’s that?”

The Dao Protector is often a clan or sect elder, raising a promising junior so that in the future, the junior will make big contributions for the clan.

“More proof that I’m the elder sibling.”

Indeed.

Tian looked upward. The sky was just so blue, and life just so beautiful.

Hong was still building qi and vital energy in the shed. It was noticeably warm to the touch. It must have been absolutely roasting inside. He really didn’t know what she was up to. It felt like some kind of breakthrough, but his level advancements all felt quite smooth. He thought of it like a cup filling up and then overflowing into a bucket that suddenly appeared underneath it. Then the bucket overflowed into a water barrel and so on and so on. Larger and larger streams of water, filling larger vessels.

He had assumed it was like that for everyone. In retrospect, he really had no good reason to think that. People must have been doing all that secluded cultivation for a reason. Maybe it was this. Or maybe it was something else entirely.

The disciplinary squad turned up. Tian recognized them all by sight, but not by name. They didn’t leave the depot too often, and he was now a permanent resident here. The disciplinary squad were only distinguished by an iron pendant that dangled from the belt on their robes. The pendant was supposed to symbolize something, but Tian never bothered to learn what.

Alright, just like we practiced. Remember, if you can’t say nothing to the cops, say as close to nothing as you can.

Grandpa had explained that “cops” were a sort of disciplinary squad, but instead of calling them that, he insisted on “cops.” Not for the first time, Tian thought Grandpa had gotten a little strange in his old age.

“Are you Disciple Tian Zihao?”

“Yes, Senior Brother.”

“You were the one that found the gu?”

“Yes, Senior Brother.”

The squad scattered around, searching the scene.

“What happened? Be precise.”

“I was guarding the door. I found it. I killed it. I went for help.”

The squad member stared at Tian. Tian stared straight back. This seemed to make the disciple mad. Tian didn’t know why, but he knew he would get in trouble if he hit the red face or slit the bulging neck, so he just stood there, looking at the shouting man. Then he glanced back at the shed. Hopefully the noise wouldn’t disturb Hong. If it did, he would have to tell her who was responsible. Tian started carefully memorizing the face, features and qi of the now more quiet man.

“Look, I get it. You are her Dao Protector. No doubt Martial Aunt Hong set you up as a pawn after you managed to catch her eye. That’s your good fortune, and your duty to your senior. But you have another duty, and that is to assist the disciplinary squad in their investigations!”

That all sounded reasonable. Tian kept looking.

“Well?”

“Well what, Senior Brother?”

“What. Happened. Exactly.”

“I was guarding the door. I found it. I killed it. I went for help.”

“Does that strike you as a complete explanation, Disciple Tian?”

“Yes, Senior Brother.”

It was a complete explanation, and it left out all kinds of irrelevant, confusing nonsense. The best kind of explanation.

The look of miserable recognition slowly spread across the Senior Disciple’s face. Tian didn’t quite know what he was recognizing, but it must have been something awful.

“You are an ascetic, aren’t you?”

“I don’t know what that is, Senior Brother.”

“How do you feel about worldly possessions?”

“Mine or someone else’s?”

“Anyones. Other peoples’ let’s say.”

“Indifferent, Senior Brother.”

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“Your own?”

“My weapons are good.”

“Nothing else?”

“A tea set.”

“Jade?”

“Clay.”

“Made by a famous potter?”

“No.”

“Were you paid to act as Hong Liren’s Dao Protector?”