Tale of an Ordinary Cultivator

[Little Blackarms is really growing up well! Is it because he eats multiple times the amount of food that a regular monkey does? Now that he is back in the pink of health, he seems to be much stronger than other wild monkeys. Earlier today, he accidentally struck Old Li’s kid a little too hard, and the poor child ended up with a broken arm. I really need to start thinking about how to teach him to control his strength.]

[Little Blackarms did it again... This is already the third time this week that he has injured another child. The other villagers are starting to get their kids to stay away from Little Blackarms. I will prove to them that my child is not dangerous!]

[I don’t know what to do. I already told Little Blackarms not to steal food from the neighbours, but he is simply not listening! Do I really need to put him in a cage like the villagers are suggesting? But he is not just any wild animal! He is my child!]

[I did my best, didn’t I? I tried to tell Little Blackarms to control his strength, and to be content with what he has instead of stealing from others. But why? Why does he never listen? I am getting really tired of dealing with the other villagers!]

[It was heartbreaking to have to stand by and watch as the villagers ganged up on Little Blackarms, forcing him into a cage like that. But there is really nothing I can do. I could still cover for him in the past, but now that he has gone and heavily injured Old Qi, even I have no way to defend him any longer. At least I managed to convince them not to put him down. Now, I can only hope that the villagers’ anger subsides soon, so that I can return him his freedom as soon as possible.]

[The villagers are starting to visit Little Blackarms more now that he is being caged up, but I don’t like it at all. I get the feeling that the past feeling of adoration is gone. Now, they are just using him as an example to educate the kids about discipline. My Little Blackarms is not your teaching material!]

[Little Blackarms seems to be getting angrier and more frustrated that he is being held in a cage. The way he looks at me is no longer the same as before. It is almost as if he resents and hates me now? But this is not my fault! I did try to prevent things from reaching this stage. If it is anyone’s fault, then it is his!]

[I’m done. Even after being caged for weeks, Little Blackarms still has not learnt his lesson. A child merely wandered too close, and he just punched the child for no reason. Even now, the child has yet to regain consciousness. Perhaps the village head is right. Perhaps it is really impossible to domesticate a wild animal.]

[Today, we started collecting fees for feeding Little Blackarms. Since it refuses to listen to reason, there is no reason for me not to treat it as the animal that it is. I have decided to take Village Head Fu’s suggestion and make it an attraction. Surprisingly, business is pretty good as well. Maybe I should have just done this from the start?]

[I’m rich! Little Blackarms is truly my lucky star!]

[People are starting to get bored of simply feeding Little Blackarms, so I took the villagers’ suggestion and opened up an option to poke it with a stick. It is surprisingly well received, and the line became long again for the first time in so many weeks! Maybe I should start thinking of what to do after people get bored of this as well. Its fur is thick, so it can probably handle even more than this, right?]

[Am I doing the right thing? Seeing Little Blackarms in his bloodied state brought back memories of the past. Since when have I started seeing Little Blackarms as nothing more than a tool for earning money? Have I gone too far with this?]

[This cannot go on, and my wife agrees with me too. I’m not sure if mother overheard our conversation earlier, but that does not matter. Tomorrow, my wife and I will secretly release Little Blackarms late at night when everyone is fast asleep. It does not matter what the villagers feel about this. He deserves to be free...]

That was the last of the records that almost seemed to be part of someone’s diary.

As for the rest of the papers, they were rather different in nature.

They were all receipts stating how much each person paid, including details such as when it was paid, who paid, and for what purposes.

A chance to feed it.

A chance to poke it with sticks.

A chance to splash water on it.

A chance to throw sticks, small pebbles, and even big rocks...

The number of people recorded in these receipts was staggering.

Zhao Yunxiao stole a glance at Madam Xie, who was simply standing there and watching him, waiting for him to be done reading.

In his head, Madam Xie’s earlier words rang out once more.

This is our fate! It is karma! It is inevitable! We are all going to die!

He did not know about the second half, but she might actually be onto something for the karma part.

Zhao Yunxiao let out a chuckle in sheer disbelief.

Same physical appearance, an appetite that was far beyond that of regular monkeys, as well as an unnaturally strong physique...

One could not help but draw a link between this Little Blackarms in the records and the monkey demon that was currently plaguing East Stream Village.

In fact, chances were slim that the two were unrelated.

But if this Little Blackarms was truly the same creature as the monkey demon, then just about the entire village would be guilty of torturing it for entertainment in the past!

It was no surprise then that the monkey demon had returned for revenge.

In Madam Xie’s words, this would be karma.

“Did you invite me into the house just to show me this?” Zhao Yunxiao asked. “Who wrote this? Is it your son?”

Madam Xie nodded.

“What happened after this?” Zhao Yunxiao continued to ask. “Is it true that they died to wild beasts?”

The other villagers mentioned that Madam Xie had lost her son and daughter-in-law to wild beasts decades ago.

But could it be that they had lost their lives to the very same creature that they had rescued in the past?

All while trying to release it, no less.

Zhao Yunxiao did not know for sure, but there was definitely that possibility.

Madam Xie looked at him for a good few moments, then walked out to sit on a chair in the front hall.

Her eyes had lost the light of determination from earlier, and were glazed out once more, as though she had fallen into deep thought.

“May I take these with me?” Zhao Yunxiao asked with a sigh.

Once again, there was no response.

“I shall take that as consent then,” Zhao Yunxiao kept away the stack of paper. “Thank you for showing me this, Madam Xie. I shall take my leave then.”

Unable to get any response from Madam Xie, Zhao Yunxiao nodded towards her before leaving the house.

The moment he left, he saw the villager from earlier standing around outside.

“Great cultivator sir!” the villager waved towards him immediately. “How is Madam Xie? Is she all right?”

“Yes, she is fine,” Zhao Yunxiao nodded. “Have you been waiting for me?”

“Ah, no, not at all! I am just passing by,” the villager quickly denied. “Though I have to say that I’m surprised that Madam Xie invited you into her house! Hopefully, she didn’t say anything strange or rude?”

“Don’t worry, I still know how to differentiate between deliberate rudeness and mere thoughtless speech,” Zhao Yunxiao answered with a smirk. “Or is there something else in particular that you are worried about?”

“I-I see,” the villager scratched his cheek in embarrassment. “Great cultivator sir is truly magnanimous. If that’s the case, then I guess I can rest assured.”

“...Is that so?” Zhao Yunxiao said. “Is there anything else that you would like to say? If not, I will get going now.”

“Ah! No, there’s nothing else,” the villager hurriedly answered. “On the other hand, feel free to let any of us know if there is anything that we can help you with.”

“There’s nothing like that for now. Farewell,” Zhao Yunxiao nodded towards him before walking away.

As Zhao Yunxiao left, the villager continued standing there and rubbed his chin in contemplation.

He felt that there was something different about Zhao Yunxiao’s mannerism as compared to before, but perhaps that was just his imagination?

***

Zhao Yunxiao did not return to the inn immediately.

He continued walking around the village, just like he had been doing earlier. But this time, he no longer stopped to speak to anyone.

Instead, he simply walked along while silently observing everyone’s reaction towards him.

It was still the same as before.

The general atmosphere in the village was jovial and optimistic.

Everyone’s greetings were filled with nothing but admiration and reverence as he walked past.

But Zhao Yunxiao no longer felt proud about it.

Instead, he could not help but imagine just how each of these jovial faces must have looked when they were purchasing opportunities to torture the monkey demon in the past.

***

“So, what have we got?” Mo Mian asked as everyone convened in his room that night.

“I will start,” Gui Longcan said. “I joined the fishing team today. Be it fortunate or not, the monkey demon did not show up this time. However, some of the fishermen are witnesses to past incidents, so they did tell me what they know about this demon, including how it looks and how it acts.”

Gui Longcan proceeded to share the information that he had gathered.

It mostly aligned with what they had heard so far – it was strong, fast, and highly resistant to damage.

It only appeared near the river, and the time of day did not matter.

It also only attacked one person at a time, though it was probably more of an outright kidnapping than actually attacking the victim.

“I went to check out the smith to look at the weapons that the guard team is using,” Pu Feixiang followed up. “They might be rather crudely crafted, but they are definitely sharp enough to be lethal. To be able to shrug off attacks from such blades means that the monkey demon is truly as tough as we had thought.”

“We have to keep that in mind when devising a plan to take it down,” Mo Mian reminded everyone. “What about you, Junior Martial Brother Zhao? Did you manage to find anything interesting?”

“Mm,” Zhao Yunxiao nodded solemnly.

With a flick of his wrists, a stack of paper appeared in his hands.

“What is this?” Mo Mian asked while receiving the papers from Zhao Yunxiao.

“Just some past records of the village,” Zhao Yunxiao said. “Specifically, this is the story of a strange monkey that used to stay in the village. Oh, and it happened to have black arms as well.”

Everyone’s expressions changed.

“Are you saying...?” Pu Feixiang asked.

“Read for yourself,” Zhao Yunxiao gestured towards the stack of paper.

And read, they did.

Before long, a solemn silence had fallen over the party as they tried to internalise what they had just read.

“If this is true, does that mean the villagers have been deliberately hiding this from us?” Gui Longcan was the first to ask.

“Perhaps they will say that it is because we didn’t ask,” Chu Han answered.

“How convenient,” Pu Feixiang sneered.

“Where is this from? Is it to be trusted?” Gui Longcan continued to probe.

“The village head will have to be the one answering those questions,” Mo Mian replied in place of Zhao Yunxiao.

At the same time, Zhao Yunxiao could see a fierce light flashing across his eyes.