Chapter 92: Settling Down

In the Great Song, the Daoist orders were very different from the sects found in later online fiction.

By the standards of those stories, any sect devoted to immortality and cultivation possessed its own techniques, whether righteous or sinister, and every one of them had methods for training in supernatural power.

But in the Great Song, Shen Shi came to realize something else.

The Daoist world of the Great Song was astonishingly loose. So loose, in fact, that one could almost not find any visible trace of it at all; and yet to say it did not exist would be wrong, for from the court to the common folk, the shadow of Daoism was everywhere.

It felt as though doctrine and technique had been split apart. Ideas flourished, while the practical arts were not taken seriously.

No—saying they were not taken seriously was not quite right. Who among men would not wish to become an immortal, to live forever?

The problem was that the training itself was far too exacting. Like the martial arts written about in Jin Yong’s novels, most of them came with a corresponding philosophy. If one did not understand the meaning behind that philosophy, and had no one to guide them, then to practice blindly might bring some progress, but it also carried hidden dangers.

Take Xiao Yuanshan and Murong Bo: they cultivated the Seventy-Two Shaolin Arts and brought several useful techniques to a fairly high level, but because they did not understand Buddhist doctrine, danger always remained. Or take the husband and wife Mei Feng and Mei Chaofeng. Their master, Huang Yaoshi, was a genius in the study of strategic arts and arcane methods, yet when the couple obtained a Daoist classic, the Nine Yin Scripture, they could not deeply grasp the Daoist ideas and allusions within it, and so ended up driving themselves into madness. The grand and upright Nine Yin Divine Claw was transformed into something eerie and ghastly, and Mei Chaofeng herself was left paralyzed from the waist down. Other famous and extraordinary arts, such as the Unfettered and Northern Abyss techniques, likewise had their own core philosophies behind them.

If one did not understand the doctrines, allusions, and interpretations of a given school, and simply buried oneself in its techniques, then a single misreading could turn a practice into a catastrophe a hair’s breadth away from disaster.

The world of Strange Tales was much the same. Eighth Lady was the best example.

Eighth Lady was a spirit creature; by nature, she could absorb the essence of sun and moon. Even if she understood it wrong, at worst she would only be someone who refined power without refining her level of attainment.

Humans were more troublesome. They were not born with the ability to absorb the essence of sun and moon. Even if they read every Daoist book in the world and gained some measure of insight, it would be like a battery with no charge. Over time, that was all people came to think of cultivation: if one was not already a practitioner, one would not casually take up the Dao.

Xi Hou had never been a cultivator. That much was certain.

"No, no, that’s not it. I, I just want to serve the young master well." Xi Hou said, her face flushed red.

"Young master, just take me. I know you’re a cultivator. I swear I’m still a virgin..."

She pleaded with Shen Shi, terrified of being turned away. She did not know what else she could do for him. Compose poems? His poems were better than hers. Besides, poems really were of little use.

She did not even ask anything of Shen Shi. If he would simply take her virtue, she would be satisfied.

For she understood that from the moment the bandits had seized her, she was no longer any courtesan. Though she had not yet lost her chastity, she had already lost her standing. If she returned now, the brothel might well have her receiving clients at once. While she still had some value, they would squeeze out of her whatever they could.

That was the fate of a courtesan all along, merely sooner or later.

To be honest, when she was still the famed beauty of the pleasure quarters, there had been no shortage of patrons and suitors.

But once word spread that she had been taken by bandits and had nearly been forced into dishonor, her position and price would plummet at once. Whether there would still be any man willing to take her in the end was not even certain.

"Wu..."

Seeing that Shen Shi remained silent, Xi Hou thought he must truly be rejecting her.

After all, she had been taken by bandits.

And thinking of her own disgraceful behavior today, she no longer had the face to meet anyone. Tears streaming, she pushed Shen Shi away. Without even putting on her shoes, she climbed down from the couch, grabbed the clothes on the floor to cover her chest, and tried to flee.

"Damn it! Where do you think you’re going?" Shen Shi barked, grabbing her at once.

Caught by him, Xi Hou had nowhere to run. Looking back at him through tears, she said, "I know I was taken by thieves and am not worthy of Young Master Shen. Since that is so, I will come and serve you in my next life. By then I will give you a pure and spotless body. I only beg that when I am reborn, you will not forget me."

With that, she struggled to break free and flee.

If she got away, she would surely take her own life.

But with her strength, how could she possibly match Shen Shi? She did not break free; instead, he pulled her back onto the couch, where she collapsed into his arms.

"Young Master Shen, just let me die. I know you’re kind and cannot bear to see someone die before you, but I have no face left to live." Xi Hou cried, struggling all the while to get away.

Yet Shen Shi’s strength was no longer what it had been. He was now so powerful that even demonic creatures might not match him, and having pinned Xi Hou in his arms, he was not about to let her go.

"Shut up. Don’t move!" Shen Shi said irritably. He was a man too, and with her writhing in his arms like this, the situation was becoming impossible to ignore.

"Young master, you don’t mind that I was taken by bandits?"

Xi Hou felt it too. Her face turned even redder, yet somehow she also felt a little happy.

But that was not how it worked at all. For a cultivator whose yang energy was strong, even without being touched there was no guarantee they would not stand at full strength; let alone with all this rubbing and twisting.

Yet could Shen Shi tell her the truth?

"Yes, yes, I don’t mind. There, are you satisfied now?" And he truly did not think it mattered. If she had been taken by villains, then she was the victim.

"Then why won’t the young master want me..."

Whether it was because his display had given her courage, or because Shen Shi truly did not mind, Xi Hou suddenly trembled, ceased struggling, and looked at him in a dazed sort of way, half sobbing and half hopeful.

"You’re mad. You’re injured, so what are you doing? We’ll talk after you’ve healed."

"See? The wound is bleeding again."

Shen Shi lit a lamp, and the injury on Xi Hou’s body began seeping blood once more.

Xi Hou lowered her head and said nothing.

"If you don’t mind, I’ll do it," Shen Shi said. He did not call her Fourteenth Lady, so as not to make her feel cast aside again.

"Mm." She nodded and did not object.

"I’m sorry, young master. I didn’t mean to..."

Fearing that he would be angered, she hurried to explain.

And Shen Shi finally understood why she was acting this way.

Xi Hou said she had always known Young Master Shen was a good man. She had been alone all along, with no family at home, and at last she had met someone worthy. For women like them, if some idle man was going to be the one to have their future favors, then it would be better to give themselves to the young master first. It was a pity that after he had won the poetry gathering, he never came again, and then she had suffered this sort of thing...

"If you want, I can help redeem you," Shen Shi said after a moment’s thought. On the day of the poetry gathering, he had indeed failed to explain himself properly.

"You would help redeem Xi Hou? Thank you, young master, thank you. Xi Hou has already saved enough silver, so you need not spend any of your own. As long as you can provide a place for me to stay, I will be satisfied."