Cultivation Retirement Plan (BL)

bgm: snow in the mountains

A flock of cranes burst into flight overhead, their wings weaving ribbons through the air. Shi Feng turned to check on Mo Yixuan and saw that a trail of blood had dried by his lips. He naturally lifted a finger and wiped it clean, tutting quietly to himself.

“What are younglings getting up to these days…”

Ever the perfectionist, Shi Feng fussed over Mo Yixuan’s hair and collar too until they were more or less neat. He couldn’t do much about the bloodstains, but at least the man looked asleep and presentable instead of dead and disastrous. 

Satisfied with his work, Shi Feng tapped his foot against the ground and flew towards the highest point of Jadecloud Peak with Mo Yixuan at his side. The skies were azure and only wisps of clouds hung about them; above and just out of reach glimmered the golden mists that formed the boundary of the Higher Realm.

Once he reached his courtyard, he simply picked up the man in both arms and laid him neatly on the only bed in the house. He then found Mo Yixuan’s right wrist and rested two fingers over his acupoint, sensing the blood and qi inside him.

“As expected…” Shi Feng trailed off, but his eyes were bright with pleased surprise. When he rolled down the man’s sleeves, he happened to glimpse the jade ring on his right index finger.

This…

Shi Feng immediately lifted the hand for a closer look, eyes fixated on the pure white band. He furrowed his brows but resisted the urge to touch the ring itself, only appraising it thoughtfully. Even that stopped when he sensed sudden movement from the head of the bed.

By the time Mo Yixuan regained his senses and opened his eyes, Shi Feng had released his hand and was sitting expectantly by the bed. When Mo Yixuan tried to sit up, he leaned in to help by propping the pillow behind his back for support.

Mo Yixuan’s eyes flickered briefly around the room before dropping to his own ghastly blood-soaked robes. The grisly sight might have paled him in his previous life, but now he felt strangely serene. After all, he knew he wasn’t bleeding now and felt no pain. His brain reasoned that his healing abilities must have kicked in after he lost consciousness.

As to what happened before, his memories were unclear. He had...pulled out his heart as if it was the most natural thing in the world and promptly lost his senses after locking eyes on it. Everything else was a blur.

“Here.”

Mo Yixuan looked up to see the stranger by his bed offering him a cup of water. Too tired to speak, he accepted it and took a few sips, avoiding eye contact. To his surprise, the liquid was rich and pleasantly full, filled with a hint of sweetness in its pure, clear, taste.

“This is from the only waterfall still connected to the Higher Realms,” the stranger went on amiably. “It’ll probably be one of the purest water sources you can find in this world.”

Mo Yixuan listened quietly as he drank.

“Of course, for the gods up there it’s only fit enough to wash their pets or water the plants,” the stranger finished. “One realm’s bane is another realm’s blessing.”

Mo Yixuan stopped mid-swallow and nearly choked. “...I wasn’t aware that gods kept pets,” he finally managed out loud.

“I suppose a better term to call them would be guardian beasts,” Shi Feng amended. “How are you feeling?”

Mo Yixuan only took a deep breath before looking around. The room they were in was small and modest, made out of simple wood and bamboo. An open window revealed a vista of blue skies beyond. “Better,” he decided after a while, because it was true. Whatever emotions he had unleashed during his outburst had left him as soon as he woke, leaving his heart still and calm. “Thank you.”

“No need,” Shi Feng replied simply. “You’re not curious about how you ended up here?”

Mo Yixuan leaned back against the headboard and closed his eyes. “Not really.”

“And you’re not wondering who I am?”

“You wouldn’t be the first new face I’ve met,” Especially in these last two weeks. The last part was kept inside to himself.

“Very true,” Shi Feng replied genially. “Your body needs rest, but we can talk after you recover.”

“How long can I stay?”

“As long as you need,” Shi Feng said, before adding the most beautiful phrase to ever grace Mo Yixuan’s ears. “No one will bother you here—not even I, if that is your wish.”

For the first time, Mo Yixuan looked him in the eye. “I appreciate it.”

Shi Feng just smiled. 

Then for the next few days, he really did leave Mo Yixuan alone. The peak lord was given free reign to wander about Jadecloud Peak as he wished. Oftentimes, Mo Yixuan spent long afternoons sitting by the waterfall simply meditating or walking to the edge of the floating island to peer down at a sea of clouds beneath them. He ended up wearing Shi Feng’s spare robes, which hung a bit loosely on him until the man wrangled him into a better fit with a belt. Sometimes, a nagging thought would arise in his mind such as wondering what Star Pavilion Sect was up to now or how his disciple must be doing in the aftermath of his aggravated assault.

But Mo Yixuan had only met these people for less than a month. To him, they were more strangers than friends and definitely a nuisance that taxed on his mind. Compared to the noisy rabble down below, he much preferred the silent company of this stranger, who passed through the days as effortlessly as a breeze. Often away, he left Mo Yixuan in full possession of his hut and only dropped by during the mornings to say hello. Sometimes, he brought back an interesting trinket or two to share with his guest. He was an intangible, airy presence who commanded full attention when he spoke. If Mo Yixuan could describe Shi Feng in two words, they would be unobtrusive yet arresting.

He was puzzling over this paradox on the fourth morning when Shi Feng arrived with his usual greetings. This time he brought some tiny flowers whose blue-white petals turned transparent in the rain.

“People call these ‘Skeleton Flowers,’” Shi Feng explained simply as he showed off their color-changing properties with a sprinkle of droplets from his hands. “What a strange plant.”

A strange plant for a strange man, Mo Yixuan mused. Out loud he asked, “Will senior be staying awhile today?”

Sensing that Mo Yixuan was ready to talk, Shi Feng bowed graciously. “If junior will have the pleasure of my company.”

Soon enough, they were sitting outside the bamboo hut at a wooden table. 

 “May I?” Shi Feng gestured to Mo Yixuan, who automatically rested his arm on the table, palm up. The half-immortal used two fingers to check his pulse, an action he’d repeated daily in the last few days.

Mo Yixuan watched on wordlessly.

After a few seconds, Shi Feng withdrew his fingers with a nod. “Your qi circulation has regained equilibrium. I congratulate junior on your recovery.”

“Thank you for...checking in,” Mo Yixuan replied for lack of better words. After all, Shi Feng had prescribed him no pills or treatment after he woke up, only suggesting good places to visit around the peak for admiring the scenery.

“Not at all.” Shi Feng had brewed tea and was now filling their cups. The refined Lord Amidst the Clouds was in full form as he lifted his own in a toast. “The first cup moistens the throat; the second cup shatters all feelings of loneliness.”

They have Tang Dynasty poetry in this world? Mo Yixuan mused as he raised his cup in turn. “Mists and clouds pass it their charm; morning dew moisten the tips of its leaves.”

They drank. Both of their motions were graceful and elegant, though different in degrees. Mo Yixuan was simply following the muscle memory of this body and carried himself like a well-bred scholarly gentleman while Shi Feng’s movements exuded the careless charm of an artist’s soul. 

“The aroma lingers in my mouth; my mind clears, and my spirit is at ease,” Shi Feng remarked after setting down his cup. “Junior has fine taste in verses.”

They have Song Dynasty poetry too? Mo Yixuan wondered after the other easily followed up with the appropriate lines. “Hardly. I’m only standing on the shoulders of giants.”

Shi Feng laughed. “Junior is quite forthright.” 

“If senior is willing to indulge this junior’s whims, may I ask what happened to me?” It was taking all of Mo Yixuan’s fragmented knowledge of ancient Chinese costume dramas to phrase his lines so formally. 

“No need for pretense,” Shi Feng was magnanimous. “Although I confess a personal partiality to prose, you are a man more suited for simple speech, Mo Yixuan.” 

“Ah.” Mo Yixuan cleared his throat. “My thanks, senior…”

“Shi Feng,” the other replied, then launched into a brief summary of the fateful day’s events. By the end, Mo Yixuan’s cup had gone dry and he was subconsciously clutching at his heart. 

“I don’t understand,” he said after a while. “If Senior Shi could sense me through the sect leader’s wards, then why didn’t the rest of the sect react?” Surely the racket would draw a crowd to Mt. Linglong in no time flat?

Shi Feng courteously refilled his teacup. “Your cultivation base is strong, but your sect leader’s wards were more than sufficient to contain your outburst of qi. I found you through other means.”

Mo Yixuan’s ears perked as he looked up. This had to be the crux of the matter and likely why Shi Feng had brought him away.

Shi Feng asked, “Have you reached a new level of enlightenment recently?”

Mo Yixuan thought back. Fei Chenling, Ouyang Che, and Mu Yelian had all commented on his advancement in cultivation, but that was only after he took over this body. “My sect siblings said as much after I left the Qi Refining Pool.” But I wouldn’t know the difference, because I only showed up later.

Shi Feng nodded as if he expected it. “Junior Yixuan’s Dao heart was exceptionally clear and bright. It was the resonance of your convictions that drew me there. Although…”

Inexplicably, Mo Yixuan’s heart seized up at the pause. “What is it?” he asked, gulping down his tea.

“Abandoning yourself to excess can only lead to a loss of self,” Shi Feng’s tone turned serious. “Free from attachments to the earthly realm, the spirit seeks ascension yet finds no home. Every soul must have its harbor, the better to rest and recline.”

Mo Yixuan grew pensive. 

“I was surprised,” Shi Feng went on. “You have unlocked at least partial enlightenment on a similar path as mine. At that moment, your Dao heart longed for nothing more than to burn all ties with this Earth and yet—your human one held you back.”

“Abandon ties and sever all emotions,” Mo Yixuan said suddenly. “That is the path to godhood.” Ouyang Che had said these words to him back on Mt. Jingting.

“One of many paths,” Shi Feng corrected placidly.

“I’m not aiming to be a god,” Mo Yixuan said. “I don’t even know how or why I enlightened in the first place. This world—cultivation—it’s not something I’m used to.”

To anyone else, it would sound ridiculous for a peak lord of a prominent sect to make such claims, but Shi Feng took his words at face value.

“Would you like me to show you?” he asked gently.

Mo Yixuan gave him a curious look. “Show me?”

“Enlightenment requires further reflection and understanding to advance,” Shi Feng explained. “I mentioned that our Ways were similar. I can share with you the understandings of my Dao to deepen your understanding of yours.”

“All right,” Mo Yixuan relented.

Shi Feng nodded before leaning back in his seat with eyes closed. “All actualities, all existence, all possibilities. All names and forms, all that was and is and will be. Exclude impossibilities and the unnameable ultimate reality remains…”

For those in the realm of experts, simply listening to the Way would be enough to lead them to new understandings. Mo Yixuan didn’t expect anything to happen, but as Shi Feng went on, the world suddenly sharpened into focus. He could heard every leaf rustling in the boughs above them, their tiny veins pulsing with life as they drank in the light of the sun. The wind brushing past his teacup sent silent ripples across his tea and carried its scent into every crevice and crack of the mountain stone behind them, then slipped around and up the hilly expanse to touch the waterfall hidden beyond. Droplets splashed upon the stones and into the river that ran to the very edge of Jadecloud Peak, cascading into an eternal rain below. 

The world was made of separate parts yet melded into one distinctive whole, pulsing with life and death. He felt more than saw the birth of a hundred flowers and the withering of a hundred more, caught the butterfly as it breathed its first and last breath of air, felt the skies brighten and dim and brighten again in an endless cycle of death and rebirth.

All was in harmony and everything at peace; this was the heart of Shi Feng’s All-Encompassing Dao. From within it he found a sliver of recognition and touched upon it with its senses; the tiny light of enlightenment thus bloomed to life, blanketing his mind with pure white.

Nothing begets all; all conceals naught.

The white filled his mind like a slow flood of snow, shining brighter and brighter until he fancied seeing rainbows in its brilliance. As Mo Yixuan struggled to keep his eyes open, the light suddenly shattered into glittering fragments that rained upon the table, teacups, his hands; he blinked dazedly while a single tear streamed down his cheek.

No attachment to sorrow, joy, anger, fear, disgust, or affection.

Heart steeped in sentimentality yet removed from desire.

Vaguely, Mo Yixuan saw more strands of qi rising off his body like blue-white streams of smoke. His mind felt light and a heavy burden seemed to have lifted off his heart. A little bewildered, he looked at Shi Feng smiling across him at the table.

“Congratulations,” the half-immortal said. His voice was like a single echo in a large and endless hall, ringing through his ears. “You have stepped upon the path of further enlightenment.”

The void is where all starts and ends.

The null is where beget begins.

All-Nothingness.

Mo Yixuan’s eyes glowed a bright ice blue. 

—