Legend of Swordsman

The young Daoist priest took a few steps back, then moved gracefully, light as a swallow. He leaped, soaring to a height of seven or eight feet. With a single hand, he prepared to vault over the wall. However, the roof tiles above him were unstable, and his hand slipped, almost causing him to fall.

Fortunately, his agility saved him. With a light movement of his palm, he effortlessly resolved the crisis, landing smoothly inside the temple.

Taking a closer look, he scanned his surroundings and realized he was in a vegetable garden. In front of him, there was a row of cucumber plants. The cucumber vines were supported by bamboo poles, standing tall and effectively concealing his figure.

The young Daoist breathed a sigh of relief. When he calmed down, he noticed the fresh cucumbers hanging on the bamboo poles. His mouth watered involuntarily.

Having grown up eating coarse grains, he had never tasted proper vegetables. Although there was a vegetable garden in the Taoist temple, it only grew white radishes. Although there was a slight sweetness when eaten raw, every time he consumed them, his chest burned painfully.

Those white radishes would eventually be pickled, stored in a large crock in the kitchen. A big chunk of dried radish was what he and his master usually ate.

Now, he was seeing a lush vegetable garden like this for the first time.

The saliva at the corner of his mouth was almost dripping as he unconsciously reached out for a cucumber that shimmered like jade.

But before his hand could touch the cucumber, a small stone accurately hit the back of his hand.

The young Taoist quickly retracted his hand, ignoring the stinging pain. He hastily scanned the surroundings, trying to find the person who had thrown the stone at him.

“Hey, I’m here!” a mischievous voice came from behind him.

Looking up, a little girl in a tattered red robe sat on a broken wall, smiling mischievously at him. That smile left the young Taoist standing there, dumbfounded and unable to move.

“What are you looking at? Keep staring, and I’ll gouge out your eyes!” The girl in red put away her smile and assumed a fierce expression.

The young Daoist was genuinely frightened and ended up sitting on the ground.

Seeing the Daoist startled, the girl in red could no longer hold her stern expression and burst into laughter.

She jumped down from the wall and walked slowly towards the young Taoist. She stood there, hands on her hips, with crescent-shaped eyes as bright as the moon.

“What’s your name?”

“Li Yushan!”

With this question and answer, the two of them became acquainted.

From the girl, the young Daoist Li Yushan learned that she was from the temple, and this vegetable garden was all hers.

After seeing him, the girl seemed to have endless things to say. Originally, she had come to investigate the temple’s secrets. However, Li Yushan seemed to forget his purpose as well. They ended up chatting for a long time.

This encounter felt destined!

It wasn’t until the sky began to darken that Li Yushan remembered he should leave.

He wanted to ask her name before he left, but even after their long conversation, he still couldn’t muster the courage to speak up.

Although it seemed like they were both engaged in the conversation, it was mostly the girl in red talking. He would nod along or mention something about the Daoist temple, but every time he did, the girl in red would widen her eyes, turning her crescent-shaped eyes into stars, full of admiration. She seemed like someone ready to throw a stone at anyone who spoke ill of the temple.

Sighing, the young girl in the red robe expressed her sorrow, “Ah, if only I were in your master’s Daoist temple. I could go out and play every day. My father never lets me leave this vegetable garden, and he doesn’t allow anyone to play with me either. I’m so bored to death!”

Li Yushan, not knowing how to console her, pondered for a moment and finally said, “Can I come and visit you in the future?”

The red-robed girl’s crescent-shaped eyes lit up, and she nodded vigorously, excitedly saying, “Of course you can!”

The young Taoist Li Yushan lowered his head, his face blushing slightly.

When he left, the red-robed girl picked two cucumbers for him.

“One for you and one for your master. Remember to come and play with me!” The carefree girl handed two fresh cucumbers to Li Yushan.

Being a young boy, seeing the cucumbers, he couldn’t help but salivate again. The words he was about to say were swallowed back, and he could only nod, planning to ask next time. But as he turned to leave, the girl called out to him.

“Oh, Li Yushan,” the red-robed girl called the young Daoist, somewhat dejectedly, “l don’t have a name, but you can call me Red Girl from now on!”

After saying this, she turned and left. Watching her disappearing figure, Li Yushan smiled.

Back at the Taoist temple, the young Taoist gave both cucumbers to his master.

“Master!”

The old Taoist stared at Li Yushan and shook his head.

“I’m not hungry, you take them out!”

Li Yushan!s face brightened, holding the cucumbers, he returned to his room.

In the following days, he would go to the temple’s vegetable garden every few days to play with Red Girl. The two gradually grew dissatisfied with just chatting and catching butterflies. From Li Yushan’s words, she learned about the bustling town below the mountain and the beautiful scenery of the valley behind the mountain.

She longed for these places but never had the opportunity to visit them.

Until one day, Li Yushan came up with an idea.

On a snowy day, the two of them built a snowman. Then Red Girl draped her coat over the snowman and climbed over the courtyard wall using the young Daoist’s shoulder as a step.

They walked along the mountain path, playing all the way, enjoying the snowscapes in the valley, and then went down to the town. Looking at the crystal-clear candied hawthorns, both of them couldn’t help but salivate,

Seeing Red Girl’s longing eyes, the young Daoist secretly swore to himself that he would earn money to buy candied hawthorns for Red Girl in the future.

They toured the market and saw all the new and interesting things. Li Yushan remembered everything that caught Red Girl’s interest.

When he met Red Girl, he felt a worldly affection.

At this moment, they both felt a worldly desire as they descended the mountain together.

After escorting Red Girl back home, Li Yushan stepped on the thick snow, slowly making his way back to the Daoist temple. Unbeknownst to him, the snow was marked with many footprints.

When he returned to the temple, he found that the already dilapidated Daoist temple had become even more rundown.

The wooden door had been smashed, and the only square table in the courtyard had been split in half. The only jar in the kitchen that held dried radishes had also been shattered.

The young Daoist was at a loss and hurried into the house, shouting, “Master!”

“Yushan!” The old Daoist, his forehead covered in bruises, sat cross-legged on a cushion, stopping the anxious young Daoist.

“Master, what happened to you?” Li Yushan hurried forward to support his master, who was trying to get up.

“It’s nothing. You don’t need to help me up. What you need to tell me now is whether you intend to stay here or follow me and leave this place.” The old

Daoist stared at the young Daoist. The two of them stood there in a stalemate.

Li Yushan avoided his gaze, took a few steps back, lowered his head, and didn’t know how to answer. He had never expected that his master would want to take him away. He had never thought about leaving this place, leaving the Valley of Rebirth..