Upon entering the cave, there was a narrow corridor. They stepped on the steps made of soapstone at the bottom of the lake. The smooth touch spread from the soles of their feet to their hearts. After walking through this section of the path, light suddenly dawned in front of them.
The "small and messy" treasury Gouchen described was completely different from what it actually looked like. This ancient tree was very vast. Who knew that the inside of the hole was even higher than the sky and lower than the earth. Paperwork loomed in high piles, and thousands of weapons were gathered in horizontal lines. When everyone looked up, they couldn't see the top of the dome, and the rows of racks on which the world's sharp weapons were placed, can be described as lofty and imposing.
In the center of the treasury, there was a smelting pool with waves of heat rolling off of it. Orange-red molten iron was dripping in it, and a blade that had not yet been cast was being immersed in it for refinement. The weapons made by Gouchen are all better than Purple Lightning and Blue Frost*. The scorching temperature doesn't destroy it but makes the blade more colourful and unique, like light reflecting off a dragon's scale
*(T/N: 紫电青霜 (Purple Lightning and Blue Frost) is from a Confucian coin charm inscription taken from a poem by Wang Bo, who was describing the two swords of Emperor Sun Quan)
The most wonderful thing is that the various parts whizzing in the air are affected by the magic barrier around the ancient tree, and they could move around on their own.
Those tiny flower pieces and inlaid jewels were like charming demon spirits, rattling and dancing all over the sky, occasionally colliding and intersecting, creating bright sparks, tingling and melodious.
Gouchen looked back sheepishly: "The place is a little small, right?"
Shi Mei: "…"
Uh.
Xue Meng: "…"
Small? So what's big?
Mo Ran: "…"
I have something to say, you motherfucker. I don't know if I should or not.
Chu Wanning: "…"
Gouchen told Xue Meng and Shi Mei to choose anything among them. If there is something that stood out, take it. As for Mo Ran, Gouchen was quite interested in him and offered him several weapons, but none of them were very satisfactory.
"Feng Ming Jiaowei." Handing over the fourteenth weapon, Gouchen was undaunted. "Try this."
Mo Ran: "This… I don't know how to play music."
"No matter, just randomly swipe a couple times."
Mo Ran complied and strummed a few times on the guqin with a shiny front section and a burnt black end, but who knew that the tremors of the strings could not be stopped, and they turned into a sharp tone.
Gouchen immediately threw Feng Ming aside. The magic barrier held the guqin in place and replaced it with a jasper zither.
Mo Ran: "… No thanks." He is a strong man, this is the kind of zither his mother would play. This is also the kind of thing done by the little white faces of Kunlun Taxue Palace.
Gouchen insisted: "Try it."
"… Okay." Mo Ran couldn't argue. He had to take over and do what he was told, but he seemed to be a little more resentful. He didn't play it a couple of times, but he actually broke the string.
"…"
Gouchen stared at the broken string for a long time. "Do you know what that string is made of?"
Mo Ran: "… You won't ask me to pay for it, right?"
"The white hair of the Wushan goddess," Gouchen murmured. "A sword cannot split it, fire cannot burn it. it is the essence of an earth spirit. You actually… You…"
Mo Ran turned his head and said in horror: "Shizun! I have no money to pay him!"
Chu Wanning: "…"
Gouchen twisted the long strings of the zither and said to himself: "Wood overcomes earth. You could destroy the essence of an earth spirit. Could it be that the weapon that suits you has a wood spirit essence?"
"What?"
"It shouldn't be…" Gouchen didn't know why and glanced at Chu Wanning. Chu Wanning caught his gaze and asked, "What shouldn't?"
Gouchen didn't answer immediately, but raised his hand and waved, summoning the ceramic ocarina and slowly blew. As the sound of the ocarina gradually fell, the top of the sky suddenly burst into a blood-red summoning circle.
"Ji Baihua, come out."
Mo Ran tilted his head up. Xue Meng and Shi Mei were also attracted by the excitement happening. He saw Gouchen's fingertips condensed in the air, running the complex array at its height, and then, a fox spirit with a fluffy tail stretched out. Silver powder trickled down, and the brilliant light flowed.
The fox fairy circled in the air and stylishly landed in front of Mo Ran.
This fox spirit was very beautiful. Upon closer inspection, he realized that it was a man. The space between his eyebrows was dotted with crimson. His peach blossom eyes were slightly raised, his emotions indisguinshable. Surrounded by gorgeous brocade clothes, dragging a golden brocade box in his hand, he looked at Gouchen and smiled: "Supreme God."
Gouchen said: "Why did I have to call you? You should have sensed it, right?"
"This subordinate knows."
Gouchen asked: "What do you think?"
Ji Baihua smiled: "Yes, I could give it a try."
These two asked and answered question after question, completely ignoring the other four people.
Mo Ran couldn't help but say: "What are the hell are you talking about?"
"Hmm? The little cultivator can't wait?" Fox Spirit Bai Hua said calmly. "Interestingly enough, before I showed up, I sensed your spiritual power from a distance. I thought it would be an old man with gray hair, but I didn't expect it to be a handsome young man."
Mo Ran: "…"
Gouchen said: "Ji Baihua, you should be serious."
"Okay, I'm only teasing." Ji Baihua narrowed his eyes and waved his tail. "What's the proper one? Ah – Xiao Gou, don't look at me like that. This, it's is a long story —"
Mo Ran smiled: "Can you make a long story short?"
Ji Baihua also smiled and said: "Okay, okay, if you want it to be short, it's actually very short." He generated his spiritual energy and the golden box in his hand floated in front of Mo Ran.
"Come on, take it."
… Very concise.
Mo Ran took the brocade box and turned it over in his hand to weigh it.
The golden box was bright and radiant. It isn't known what kind of divine weapons were held inside. It's just that the box had no openings. The only decoration is a yin and yang fish pattern on the surface of the box. Two koi fish, one black and one white, are attached to each other to form the eight trigrams.
"How do I open this?"
Ji Baihua: "Hee hee, the way to open it is something I'll only say into your ear and no one else can listen to it."
Xue Meng asked: "Do you mean to ask us to excuse ourselves?"
Ji Baihua smiled: "You don't have to leave. I'll offend this little cultivator." He waved his hand, and the world darkened in front of Mo Ran's eyes. Somehow, the two had been transported to a small secret room.
"Don't be nervous, little cultivator. This is the space-shifting technique that I am good at. The brocade box containing the weapon is my unique secret treasure, so I couldn't tell you how to open it in front of everyone. Don't take offence. "
Mo Ran said with a smile: "It doesn't matter. But I'd like to ask, what kind of weapons are in there that need to be contained in a separate brocade box?"
"I can't tell you that." Ji Baihua said. "Divine weapons are all temperamental, and this weapon doesn't want people to easily know what it looks like. If you mess with it, even if you finally open the box, it still won't recognize you as its master."
"…" Mo Ran was speechless for a moment, and he chuckled bitterly. "What kind of weapon is it? Such a strange temper. Okay, tell me, how do I open this box?"
Seeing that he didn't force the question, Ji Baihua felt a bit of goodwill in his heart, and smiled: "The little cultivator is happy, then I won't be ambiguous. This box is called Changxiang Si*. You have also seen it, it's seamless. If you want to open it, two conditions must be met."
*(T/N: 长相思 can be translated as "All-Consuming Love" but I personally like that it also means Sauvignon Blanc)
Mo Ran: "I'd like to hear more."
Ji Baihua said: "Most of my fox spirit clan believe that love is good and true. Therefore, first, there is only one person in this world who can open Changxiang Si. This person is very important in your life. You need to love this person deeply, and this person must also be devoted to you and treat you faithfully."
Mo Ran smiled: "So that's how it is, that's a strange request, but it's not difficult." He was still sure of his love for Shi Mei.
Hearing this, the corners of Ji Baihua's lips curled: "How is it not difficult? Since ancient times, people's hearts are the most difficult to predict. What you think isn't necessarily true. I have been in the world for a long time, and I have seen too many people lose their hearts. They don't know who their beloved is. In millions of years, there are very few people who can open Changxiang Si, so to speak."
Mo Ran wondered: "How come? Even if you get the wrong person, you can still keep looking. It's a big task to try and find all the people you know one by one, but you can always find the so-called 'most important person in life', right?"
Ji Baihua said: "This is the second condition I want to talk about. Apart from you, Changxiang Si can only be touched by one person. That is to say, you only have one chance. If you find the wrong person, it will be closed forever. No one will ever again be able to obtain the contents of the box."
Mo Ran chuckled: "No wonder you wanted to separate everyone. It would be hard for me to deal with that if they heard you. How awkward it would be if I held the box up to whoever I went to see, and they would know who I liked." He paused, playing with the brocade box in his hand, and added: "But it's funny what you guys do with this gadget. It turns out to be a keyhole that could only be used once, and if you guess wrong, the box would be ruined."
"Naturally, it can only be opened once, otherwise how many more times do you want to open it?" Ji Baihua glared at him. "You mortals have been wandering in the world for decades. How many good destinies have you passed without realizing it? You know, the affection in the world is like Changxiang Si. If you make the wrong choice, it will be hard to go back."
"Haha, Great Fox Spirit, you can rest assured. Others might choose wrong, but I'm sure." Mo Ran bowed to him, smiling, "They can't live up to this deep love."
Ji Baihua glanced at him. His voice was low, warm and mellow, extremely elegant and pleasant: "Little cultivator, don't be too confident. I see you actually don't know the visitors to Wushan or the fate of its people."
Mo Ran froze, the smile still frozen on his face: "What do you mean?"
The handsome immortal who claimed to be "the most trustworthy and kind" did not want to say anymore, and only sighed softly: "To yearn unwittingly breaks the willow branch.*. Sigh…"
*(T/N: 无令长相思,折断杨柳枝 is a play off of the line 无令长相忆,折断绿杨枝 (To remember unwittingly breaks the willow branch) from the Tang dynasty poet, Li Bai. The only change was the inclusion of Changxiang Si's name instead of the original phrase, Chǎngxiàng yì)
Mo Ran was not very cultured and he couldn't understand this avid display of knowledge but he felt that the fox spirit was reminding himself of something. Unfortunately, his mind was slow, and he couldn't think of a reason why.
When he was about to ask, Ji Baihua smiled slightly. The mission was accomplished so he waved his sleeves and sent Mo Ran out of the secret room. Ji Baihua suddenly froze, became stiff and rigid, and then broke apart with a clatter, leaving only one black chess piece behind, falling on the spot where he had been standing.
It's a pity that Mo Ran had not foreseen this situation. If he had, many things at the bottom of the lake would probably change…
When Mo Ran returned to his senses, he found that he had returned to the Divine Weapon Treasury, holding Changxiang Si in his hand. The remaining four people were waiting for him there. When they saw him return, Gouchen grinned, the corners of his mouth stretching, and said, "That little fox is really interesting. So mysterious about opening a box. How about it, do you know how to open it?"
At this crucial moment, he had to think deeply. Mo Ran thought for a second and smiled: "No problem, it's easy enough."
He inadvertently walked to Shi Mei's side: "The lock design is exquisite and interesting. You might not figure it out even after eight or ten years. Don't believe me?"
Saying that, he nonchalantly held the box in front of Shi Mei.
The splendid brocade box was in front of Shi Mei, and the golden light reflected in Shi Mei's gentle and beautiful eyes.
"Shi Mei, you try." Mo Ran obviously wanted to act as if nothing was wrong, but his heart felt like was tangled into a ball, his palms sweating.
This was a gamble on his chances of having a new divine weapon. He should be extremely cautious, but he felt that he was already very cautious. He was a person who has died once. Wouldn't he know who he cared about the most??
He wasn't stupid.
Shi Mei was slightly hesitant, but in the end, he took Changxiang Si from Mo Ran.
Mo Ran's heart immediately leapt into his throat, but after staring for a long time, everything was normal, and there was no movement.
Mo Ran: "…"
Shi Mei was delicately holding the box. He looked at it carefully, his fingertips stroking the yin and yang fish pattern. Then he said: "There's no opening, and there's no chain anywhere."
Why was there no response?!
Why did Shi Mei hold Changxiang Si but Changxiang Si didn't react at all?
Could it be – ah! Yes! It's the gloves!
Mo Ran glanced at the deerskin gloves on Shi Mei's hands, and his heart lurched. He was about to tell Shi Mei to take them off and try again when, suddenly, without warning, a hand with five slender fingers and well-proportioned bones stretched out and smoothly took Changxiang Si.
Mo Ran reacted like he was struck by lightning and screamed: "Shizun–!!"
Chu Wanning was startled and almost dropped the box, but his calmness had truly penetrated into his bone marrow, so much so that the frenzy in his heart was undetectable.
Mo Ran wailed like he was mourning the dead: "Shizun, ah-!!!"
Xue Meng got goosebumps: "Come on! He just took the box? What's wrong with you? It's like someone stole your wife."
"I-I-" Mo Ran was lightheaded with anger. He couldn't say it outright, so he could only cover his face and howl. "My god…"
Chu Wanning! Why don't you wear gloves?!
You're obviously so afraid of the cold!
We all wear them in the snow and ice, why are you the only one who-
Suddenly, Mo Ran froze.
That's right…
The repellent enchantment on them needed to resonate with the spiritual power through Chu Wanning's palm, so Chu Wanning didn't buy a pair of cold gloves for himself.
He didn't wear gloves to protect them.
But he hadn't cared about him this whole time, so it wasn't until he started to hold Changxiang Si that he suddenly discovered that Chu Wanning, who was most afraid of the cold, was freezing.
Mo Ran wanted to cry. He was so unlucky that he would lose his chance at a divine weapon. He felt like he was suffocating. Who would have expected that suddenly, as Chu Wanning's fingertips gently touched the yin and yang fish, the two metal fish seemed to come alive. They began to coil and twist flexibly on the box.
There was a slight pause.
He heard two crisp "click, click" sounds and the yin and yang fish entwined and tangled with each other, eventually raising up and turning into two handles. Chu Wanning turned the handles and Changxiang Si split in two, something golden shining inside.
Mo Ran was stunned.
Ji Baihua's words still rang in his ears.
"There is only one person in this world who can open Changxiang Si. This person is very important in your life. You need to love this person deeply, and this person must also be devoted to you and treat you faithfully."
… This person is Chu Wanning?
How could it be Chu Wanning?!
Impossible, absolutely impossible!! How could he love Chu Wanning, and how could Chu Wanning like him? What a joke!
It must be wrong. This must be the wrong box, this box is broken.
However, this wave of surprises had not yet passed. When Chu Wanning picked up the divine weapon in Changxiang Si, another even more shocking thing happened.
This time it was not only Mo Ran who was shocked. The remaining three, even Chu Waning, had slightly shaken faces.
Their eyes reflected the brilliance of the weapon. A glittering beam of a thin, soft willow vine illuminated the faces of the crowd.
Chu Wanning: "…"
Xue Meng: "…"
Shi Mei: "…"
One word was stuck in Mo Ran's throat for a long time before he eventually spat it out with difficulty, full of disbelief.
"… Tianwen???"