The Tale Never Ends

My sword was but only an inch away from the Taoist priest’s chest. But it could go no further; an invisible force was gripping at my wrist, preventing me from going any further.

I tugged at my arm, indicating my intent to yield and the invisible force that held me vanished. I looked back, searching for the source of the voice and saw a little boy, dressed in traditional Taoist garb, emerging from within the midst of the frozen crowd. The unusually placid look he gave when our eyes locked told me enough that this was no ordinary boy, for his gaze was as deep and unfathomable as the deepest waters of a quiet lake.

Lin Feng and Chongxi formed up beside me and we bowed to him. “Our humblest apologies, Esteemed Celestial Master,” I said, “I hope you understand that we have had no choice.” “I understand fully, Master Shiyan,” the little boy that was one of the Celestial Master Zhangs who was now an immortal said, “And I want to thank you as well, for showing kindness.” I smiled, even though the edges of my lips twitched uncontrollably with slight irritation; I was nowhere near comfortable and accustomed to addressing a teenager with such respect and reverence. Yet despite his juvenile outlook, he spoke with the glacial pace of an elderly and that was what peeved me greatly.

Unexpectedly, the Celestial Master failed to not notice the look on my face but he took little heed in it, turning his attention to the Taoist priest now flabbergasted beyond words not far away. He was rooted to where he was standing with shock and bewilderedness. But that was only understandable, I guess. I, for one, might even go nuts if Father’s teacher would appear to me in such a fashion as well.

But the Celestial Master said nothing to the old priest. He merely held the priest in a long, serene stare before he promptly turned and walked into the crowd with all of us watching him wordlessly and disappeared among the copse of petrified people.

Big Sister whispered into my ear, “Who’s this brat?” “Celestial Master Zhang,” I uttered as a-matter-of-factly which elicited a greatly-startled “Ah?!” from her before I explained, “Not Zhang Daoling, I believe. The title of ‘Celestial Master Zhang’ is passed down through generations. This one, I believe, is the next greatest one after Zhang Daoling. One of the most illustrious and brightest among all of the Celestial Master Zhangs.” Big Sister could only nod, her eyes still wide with astonishment, although she quickly recovered and spun to face the nonplussed Taoist priest. “So,” she yelled, “What say you now?! Would you give up now?” The priest shuddered as if he woke up from a dream and his legs buckled as he sank to the ground, sitting dejectedly.

Chongxi walked back to the side of the wall where the three peach trees were standing. “Tell me what happened here,” he commanded and the three Peach Nymphs reappeared, kneeling on the ground and they began talking at the same time, leaving Chongxi confused with the muddled jumble of discombobulated gibberish until he waved them off exasperatedly. “One by one! Not all at once!”

The Taoist priest suddenly spoke, “Perhaps, I should be the one to do the asking.” He was already standing beside Chongxi. With a curt nod from the latter, he looked at the three Peach Nymphs. “The family of this residence has made a deal with the demolition team and they have received fair compensation. But the team could do nothing because of your meddling. Why?”

Edelweiss and I stood at the sidelines, watching the proceedings unfold with a cigarette each. Big Sister tapped on my head and asked, “What’s with these three Peach Nymphs? Why are they so special that we have to get ourselves into a fight for them, that even the great Celestial Master Zhang appeared too?” Edelweiss whirled her head around and gave me a prodding look too, expecting an answer from me as well.

I chuckled and said, “It’s simple, actually. These three peach trees were planted here by no than us so many years ago.” “WHAT?!” Big Sister, Edelweiss, and even Yuanyuan cried out as one. Lin Feng smiled and joined us, answering, “Well, it was during our quest of pilgrimage. We chanced upon these three Peach Nymphs and subdued them. Then we realized that Chongxi could use them as a means of protecting himself. So they became his weapon. We were not going to stay in the past forever, but we had no idea of bringing them back with us. So we came up with an idea. We planted them here as trees and bade them wait three centuries for our return.”

“Wait, that means that three little lassies of yours have magic even greater than mine?!” Big Sister blurted, her eyes as large as eggs. “Course not,” I shook my head and said, “In theory, all three of them together are still no match against you alone.” “No way!” She stammered with incredulity. I took a long swig off my cigarette. “Plants are different from animals when it comes to gaining sentience and magic of their own. Wood and plant nymphs require thousands of years to reach your level of magic, Big Sister.” And Big Sister nodded slowly in deep contemplation.

The three Peach Nymphs bowed their heads to the ground before Chongxi and Xiao Yu. Elder Peach first began to relate their story, “It has been three hundred years since you left us here, Master.” “About a hundred years ago,” Second Peach continued, “A settlement was founded here and we became part of this house’s compound.” Younger Peach threw a long look at the old man who was peeking out of the modest, little hut sitting at the center of the expanse and said, “Through the years, we watched him grow up, from a baby to a child, and from a child to a man. Now’s he’s old. His children might have agreed to move away, but they did not ask him before making that decision, nor was he happy even though he had received the compensation.” “Then came one night,” Elder Peach took over and said, “We appeared to this man, he who was once the boy we watched upon, in his dreams and we asked him if he was really happy with the notion of having his ancestral home being torn down…”

“But he was actually unhappy about it, eh?” A testy Chongxi interjected and continued the sentence in their stead. “So it was the children’s own selfish decision after all and this old man could not bear to object to it, isn’t it?” The three Peach Nymphs bobbed their head together. Chongxi said to the Taoist priest, “So you understand now?”

The priest nodded wearily, finally enlightened yet he could still not speak, feeling both shameful and speechless for his prematurely judgmental brashness. I walked up to Chongxi, smiling, and said to the three Peach Nymphs, “To your original forms then. We’ll take care of the rest.” I gave Chongxi a knowing nudge with my chin which he returned with a curt nod and produced a thick rubber band and tossed it into the air right in front of the Peach Nymphs.

All three of them rose together quickly. Elder and Younger both caught the rubber band at both ends while Second hugged them at their legs and they jumped together, turning into a Y-shaped forked branch before falling into Chongxi’s grasp, fully transformed into a slingshot.

This was what the trio of Peach Nymphs became after they joined us: Chongxi’s slingshot. This was when Chongxi truly owned a weapon of his own.

And right when Chongxi’s fingers closed in on the handle of his slingshot, Time began to flow normally once more and noise rose again from the crowd outside the walls. Puzzled looks of disbelief and confusion could be seen on the faces of the people outside. None of them knew what happened as if our fight with the priest and the advent of Celestial Master Zhang himself had never occurred.

Lin Feng, Chongxi, and I shared a wry smile and my companions followed my lead as we moved towards the little hut. The old man wobbled out unsteadily when he saw us coming, leaning heavily on his stick. He looked worried for he did not yet know our purpose. I smiled at him gently and said softly to him, “We know all about your plight, old man. Tell us. Since you’re not happy with moving away, how’s this? We will speak to the developers on your behalf and have them build you a new house so that you can still stay here. What do you think of that?”

A dubious expression broke upon his face as his head pivoted slowly to look around his compound. His eyes scanned the site where the peach trees once were and the stunned look that passed over him was just unmistakable. Still wearing my smile, I said to the old man, “Look no further. Here they are now.” Chongxi intuitively took out his slingshot and show it to the old man who immediately broke into tears as soon as he laid eyes on it. The sweet voices of the three Peach Nymphs hummed through the air to a lofty tune, like a song of lamentation for their imminent parting, “Little one, little one, don’t be so gray; Long we waited and watched for this day; From winter to summer then winter again; We have shared much rapture and pain; A mournful ending to our perfect start; This, we’re afraid, is where we part; But fear not, little one; For our lord will make justice done…”

The old man’s hand raised to wipe off the beads of tears on his wrinkled cheeks. I consoled the wizened man gently, “Please don’t be…” But he cut me off with a weary wave of his hand, sobbing, “I, I knew… I knew this day would come. The peach trees have been here even before I was born. I grew up watching them. Wondering why did they never once bore any fruit. I asked the adults but none of them knew the answer to that. Until one day when I was playing, I grew tired and I fell asleep under the trees. Then they came to me in my dreams, telling me that they were waiting for someone, and how would their long wait finally bear fruit come the day their watch has ended…” His voice broke. Perhaps it was tiredness due to old age, or it could be the sorrow of having to lose the only company he had had in many years.

He said nothing else. He hobbled quietly back into his hut with his stick, the view of his lonesome figure so wretchedly dreary and heart-wrenching. The Nymphs had been the only companions he had since the departure of his children. And by taking them away, we were draining away the remaining colors of his monotonous life.

I felt a knot tightening in my gut. Standing beside me, Edelweiss could find no words to console me and behind her, the pithless Yuanyuan and Xiao Yu were already choking with tears.