Chapter 7 — Taking a Master

Zhang Qingyue slowly came to. He sat there dazed for a long while, then gradually sat up, and the past surged over him like a tide.

Like a nightmare!

"So you're awake. That's good." A voice came from the doorway, and a man stepped in.

Zhang Qingyue looked up and recognized Song Dayi, whom he had seen on Jietian Peak—a tall, powerfully built man with rough, hearty features. In his present state of mind, he could not say why, but the sight of a familiar face stirred a certain warmth in him.

"Brother Song," Zhang Qingyue called.

Though Song Dayi was a big, burly fellow, even his heart was moved to pity now. He walked to the bedside, reached out and patted Zhang Qingyue's head, and said gently, "Little junior brother, don't be sad. From now on we are one family."

Zhang Qingyue was taken aback. "What do you mean, one family?"

Smiling, Song Dayi told him how Tian Buhui had taken him as a disciple. Of course, he knew nothing of the small dispute that had arisen that day among the elders of the Canglan Sect in the Yuheng Hall on Jietian Peak.

Hearing this, Zhang Qingyue felt lost. To a farmer's son like him, the Canglan Sect was truly a gathering of immortals, and he would never have dreamed that one day he might have the chance to enter the Azure Cloud gates. Only, the price was not one he was willing to pay.

He gritted his teeth. In the end he knew that thinking more was useless, and he opened his mouth and said, "Senior Brother Song."

Song Dayi smiled and nodded. "Good, good. Little junior brother, you've slept a whole day and night—you must be hungry by now?"

Zhang Qingyue had not felt it before, but at his words his stomach at once gave two loud growls.

Song Dayi laughed. "Come, little junior brother. Let's go eat something first, and on the way I'll tell you a little about our sect. Then we'll go together to pay our respects to Master and Mistress, and meet your other senior brothers."

Zhang Qingyue nodded and got out of bed. Only then did he notice that the room he was in was much like the quarters of the Azure Cloud disciples on Jietian Peak, though it seemed somewhat more spacious.

Song Dayi led him out as he spoke. "Our Dazhu Peak is not like the other branches. We're very thin in numbers—even with you added now, there are only ten of us in all, which is why the rooms are more spacious." They came out the door into a small courtyard much the same as before; a few steps more and they left the courtyard for a covered walkway. But here everything was plain at a glance—only a dozen or so rooms, far inferior to the scale of Jietian Peak.

Zhang Qingyue followed Song Dayi toward the kitchen. From him he learned that the Dazhu Peak lineage, beginning with Zheng Tong, the fourth disciple under Patriarch Qingye, had passed down to Tian Buhui, now the sixth generation, and that conditions had always been so—the line was never prosperous. Among the elders there was now, besides Tian Buhui himself, only another martial uncle, Su Wan, who was Tian Buhui's wife. They had a daughter, Tian Lingsu, thirteen this year and two years older than Zhang Qingyue—so Zhang Qingyue was, in the truest sense, the little junior brother here.

And among Tian Buhui's disciples, Song Dayi was the eldest senior brother; below him in order came Wu Dayi, Zheng Dali, He Dachuan, Lu Daxin, and Du Biyan.

Zhang Qingyue committed them to memory carefully. "Oh—Senior Brother Dayi, Senior Brother Dali, Senior Brother Dazhi, Senior Brother Daxin, Senior Brother Dashu…"

Song Dayi laughed. "It's Senior Brother Du Biyan."

Zhang Qingyue blinked, then understood, and could not help asking, "How is it that only this sixth senior brother is different?"

Song Dayi said, "Originally his name really was Dashu. But say it a couple of times and see."

Zhang Qingyue murmured, "Du Dashu, Du Dashu, Du Dashu…" Then he caught the meaning and burst out laughing.

Song Dayi laughed too. "Now you see. Actually Master doesn't much care, but Mistress was furious. After a few times she declared that Junior Brother Du had no respect for his master or the Way and threatened to teach him a lesson. She frightened him half to death, and he hurriedly begged Master and Mistress to change his name. In the end Mistress gave him the name 'Du Biyan.' Now say that name over a few times."

Zhang Qingyue said softly, "Du Biyan, Du Biyan, du bi yan—gamble and lose every time…" He doubled over with a snort of laughter.

Song Dayi had meant all along to make him laugh and ease his grief a little; seeing Zhang Qingyue cheered, he was glad himself, and said with a smile, "Before he entered the sect, Sixth Junior Brother had a bad habit of gambling. Then by chance Master brought him up the mountain and converted him. He doesn't gamble for money anymore, but he still loves to bet with people for the fun of it. Mistress's choice of name was meant as a warning too."

Zhang Qingyue, being a child at heart, brightened at the laughter, and his sorrow faded a good deal. Seeing how kind his eldest senior brother was, the fear and dread he had felt for the future slowly settled as well.

After they had eaten in the kitchen, Song Dayi brought Zhang Qingyue to Dazhu Peak's main hall, the Shoujing Hall. Everyone of the Canglan Sect's Dazhu Peak line was gathered there now. The floor was paved with red brick, the roof tiled in red, the pillars of stone; carved into the floor of the great hall was a huge taiji diagram. Altogether it was quite plain.

At the front of the hall stood two chairs, and in them sat two people. One was Tian Buhui; the other was a quiet, dignified beauty who looked to be in her thirties, graceful and elegant. Beside her stood a little girl with fine, delicate features and a pair of bright, liquid eyes, quick and lively—a child to make anyone's heart soften.

As for the other five male disciples, they stood in a row below, some tall, some short, some sturdy, some lean, and every eye was now fixed on Zhang Qingyue.

Song Dayi went to the front of the hall and said respectfully, "Master, Mistress, your disciple has brought the little junior brother."

Tian Buhui gave a grunt, plainly impatient. It was the beauty, Su Wan, who looked Zhang Qingyue over a couple of times and said, "Daren, he's slept a day and a night—he must be starving. Take him to eat something first."

Song Dayi said, "Replying to Mistress, I have already taken the little junior brother to the kitchen to eat."

Su Wan nodded, glanced at Tian Buhui, and said no more. Tian Buhui gave another cold grunt. "Let's begin."

Zhang Qingyue did not understand, until Song Dayi whispered behind him, "Little junior brother, kneel quickly and kowtow to take the master."

Zhang Qingyue dropped to his knees at once and knocked his head more than a dozen times in a row, thud, thud, thud—hard and loud.

"Pfft." It was the little girl, Tian Lingsu, who could not hold back her laugh. Su Wan said with a smile, "Good child, nine times is enough."

Zhang Qingyue said "Oh," and only then stopped. When he raised his head, everyone saw the great red patch on his forehead and could not help laughing. But in Tian Buhui's eyes, Zhang Qingyue only seemed more hopelessly foolish than ever; at the thought of having to teach such an idiot in the future, his already sizable head seemed to swell another size.

"All right, that's enough," said Tian Buhui, waving his hand in a foul mood. "Daren, you look after him for now. The sect rules and precepts, and a few basic methods of entry, you can teach him first."

Song Dayi answered, "Yes." Then he hesitated and added, "But Master, the little junior brother is still young, and the lessons for new disciples…"

Tian Buhui rolled his eyes. "Do as I said." With that he rose and, without a backward glance, strode toward the rear hall. All the disciples bowed together. "Farewell, Master."