The man walked slowly into the house and studied us both. “Who drew the sword? What is your purpose of summoning me?” he asked. The then-Chen Yixuan stood forth and greeted him. “And you are…” The immortal cut him off, saying curtly, “You can call me Master Six, for I am the sixth in my family.” Immediately Chen Yixuan muttered reverently, “So it is thus, Master Six…” and he began telling the immortal of his story.

At the end of his story, Master Six pondered quietly. “The promise I had made so many a year ago to the founder of your order was that I will help to the best of my abilities if your order is in grave peril,” said the immortal at last. “Which is it you want, for me to help you with the case or to cure him of his sickness?” Chen Yixuan began bickering with his junior; he wanted the immortal’s help to cure his junior, but his junior insisted that the immortal should be helping him with his case. Master Six watched them quietly, until he spoke up. “How about this? I will help you cure your junior’s sickness and will also help you with your case. But I have one condition!” The immortal continued without allowing them to speak, magically extracting an urn from within his robes and tossed it to Chen Yixuan’s junior. “Take one tablet every day. In one month you should be fully cured!” He said before turning to Chen Yixuan. “I will help you find out the whereabouts of the item. But I will not help you retrieve it. As for the condition…” Master Six paused, “I’ll need a temporary identity as a police officer. We’ll need the cooperation of the local police force as our investigation continues. I’ll also need 2500 dayang coins, two strong horses, two police officer’s uniforms, and two German-made Mauser pistols, each with 200 bullets as ammunition!” Chen Yixuan gave his assent. He said his goodbyes to his junior and left with Master Six to take a train to Tianjin. Back at Tianjin, he arranged for Master Six’s lodgings at a hotel while he returned to the police station to make the requested preparations.

The next morning, when the sun was barely giving off a glimpse of its beckoning glimmer on the horizon, Chen Yixuan and Master Six rode on their horses towards Wu Zhong County. Once reaching there, Chen Yixuan left Master Six at their lodgings while he went to the local police station to present his case and enlisted their aid. The morning after that day, they went to the scene of the raid. The entire place was closed off by the police to keep the scene intact and there were officers standing guard. Strangely, Master Six did not linger long at the scene. Instead, he walked towards a weed-infested mound which was outside the enclosed area. The mound was filled with wild hop plants, and beads of morning dew glistened among their leaves. Chen Yixuan was looking elsewhere, and Master Six walked up the mound. He bent down and picked up something from the grass and wrapped it with a handkerchief. The immortal walked back to his horse and mounted it, saying to the policemen, “Return to your posts!” He then yelled for Chen Yixuan, and together they rode north.

They came on a narrow and dusty road, flanked by fields of sorghum plants on either side of the path, waving in the breeze like a shifting sea. Halfway, they encountered some large cotton bundles. The locals harvested their cotton and bundled them into huge wicker-baskets with square bottoms. These baskets were also sometimes used to carry firewood and herbs too. Upon close inspection, the two men found grain sorghum buds in the bundles. There were children running about in the fields. Realizing that two policemen were coming their way, the children were stunned, watching blankly at them without knowing what to do.

Master Six leaped off the saddle of his horse and wandered into the sea of golden sorghum, his hands reaching to pluck the buds off their stalks, leaving Chen Yixuan puzzled by his sudden behavior. The sorghum plants had yet to ripen, he thought. Why was he destroying the crops? But his was a profession that demanded a keen eye of observation; he could see that Master Six’s behavior was deliberate. He was not plucking every bud that came into his sight, rather, he was plucking on every few steps. The immortal returned moments later, cradling an armful of the buds, each with a leaf still attached to them. As he emerged from the midst of the golden and tall, tasseled stalks, striding slowly towards one of the children. With a loud “Wow!” he emptied all of the buds into the child’s basket, keeping only two. Chen Yixuan noticed that the boy was staring at Master Six, dazed and bewildered, unlike the rest of the children who were looking afraid. Evidently, the children were fearful that the policemen were here to punish them for their mischief. But this very child was different; he gazed at Master Six dreamily as if he was looking through his mind for a memory from a distant past! Chen Yixuan could not help feeling confused.

Master Six clambered back on to his saddle and tossed one of the buds to Chen Yixuan. “Taste it!” he said to the detective. What? Try this, you say, Chen Yixuan gasped to himself quietly. Just as he was still flabbergasted by the immortal’s instructions, he saw Master Six prying open his bud with his fingers and was astonished. What the… He thought quietly. From the insides of the bud, Master Six extracted something long and white like a cigarette! Was this how the sorghum seed looks like before it fully matures, Chen Yixuan brooded. It was the first time he’d laid eyes on it! As Chen Yixuan was still wrestling between fiction, Master Six put the “cigarette” into his mouth and began chewing on it, nodding reassuringly at Chen Yixuan. The investigator tried to pry open the sapling, avoiding from fumbling with it as best he could with his trembling fingers. Lo and behold, he too found the same pale-colored, mushy flesh inside. He nibbled a small bite at it and discovered that it was good, its soft but distinct aroma tingling his senses as he continued gnawing on it. He peered at the remaining of the flesh and saw that it was grey on the inside.

Master Six finished his “cigarette” with another bite. He held his horse’s reins and gently squeezed at horse’s sides, urging it forward. Chen Yixuan hastily finished his bud and followed closely behind. A hush silence followed as the horses trotted slowly ahead. Master Six was quiet all the way as if with thoughts swirling in his mind, and Chen Yixuan could only remain so, trying not to break the immortal’s train of thoughts.

They came to a bridge, where there was a small food stall at the foot of the bridge. The two men halted to have breakfast there; each of them enjoyed two meat buns with a bowl of soup made of goat offal. The food was good, or at least, that was how Chen Yixuan remembered as his story continued. When their meal had ended, Master Six was first to get up his horse and jogged merrily forward. “Where to next?” Chen Yixuan asked as he came from behind. “To Tangshan!” said Master Six, spurring his horse to a gallop.

Tangshan? Why were they going to a destination seventy miles away, Chen Yixuan thought doubtfully. But there was no time to think; the immortal was far ahead, hence he could do nothing but catch up. With a casual pace, they traveled northbound and reached Tangshan before noon. Same as before, Chen Yixuan arranged for accommodations for them both before he went alone to the Tangshan city police station and enlisted their help. The chief of the local police came looking for them that afternoon and treated them for lunch before leaving them at their lodgings for a rest while their horses were taken care of by the local officers. The two men spent the uneventful afternoon resting in their chambers until it was four in the evening. In a stroke of boredom, Master Six suddenly decided to take a walk, accompanied by a few of the local officers. After a brisk walk through the town and a light dinner, Master Six had a sudden inclination for culture and arts, insisting to watch a local folk performance and listened to a storytelling oratory. Chen Yixuan, however, was left disinterested; the oratory was in no way better than the ones in Tianjin. But Master Six seemed to enjoy the performance very much, hence Chen Yixuan could only choose to linger, despite whatever misgivings he had for the speaker, until the end, only which Master Six rose from his seat, feeling contented and returned to their lodgings for the night.

The remainder of the night passed by peacefully without anything of note. When they woke up at 9 in the morning, a few local officers had come a few times, asking if the two would want some breakfast, although Master Six declined their offer. The two men met after their morning rituals and the immortal instructed Chen Yixuan to set aside five hundred dayang coins and put the remaining two thousand coins into a box which they will bring with them. Before they left, the immortal reminded Chen Yixuan to bring along the two pistols and the extra ammunition. They went to collect their horses and led a band of police officers, all wielding their rifles, who followed closely behind. After traveling for a distance, they encountered a cart drawn by a donkey by the side of the road. A man, looking fifty of age, was barking orders at three younger men who were loading things on to the cart. Master Six stopped his horse. “Wait for them to finish loading their things and invite them all to a Yufeng Restaurant (literally, the Abundantly Prosperous Restaurant). Bring along that cart! Tell them I’m buying them lunch and do nothing to frighten them!” He said to one of the officers, his finger pointing at the men and the donkey cart.

I interjected suddenly. “Why not the Hong Yan Restaurant (literally, the Lavish Banquet Restaurant)?” The old man giggled and replied, “In those days, the Yufeng Restaurant was the largest and most expensive restaurant around. Both Hong Yan Restaurant and Dashijie Restaurant (literally, the Great World Restaurant) weren’t around yet!” But the true purpose of my interjection was to allow the old man a brief pause to drink some tea. I fished out a cigarette and offered it to the old man before I light it for him, then I gave another one to my Third Uncle and lighted it for him as well. The old man peered at me and remarked, “Not bad! He’s smarter than you!” The old man was referring to my uncle. Third Uncle burst out laughing, “Of course he is, as are most people. I am but merely a maintenance fitter, hahaha! We must be satisfied with what we have, no?”

The old man and my uncle shared a short and joyful banter for a short while, before the former returned to his tale.

Chen Yixuan followed Master Six and reached the Yufeng Restaurant where they requested a private room and prepared a table, waiting for them inside. A little more than a half hour later, they could hear the sound of bells ringing outside; it was the bell which was hanging on the neck of the donkey pulling the cart. The men were here. Looking frightened and fearful, the men were ushered into the room. Master Six went forward to receive them. Seeing the old man, the immortal called, “Grandfather, you’re here!” What was going on, Chen Yixuan was aghast beyond words. The old man stammered meekly, “We’ve done nothing wrong, good sir!” But Master Six was still addressing the man as “grandfather”, saying, “No, no, no. There’s no problem here. I’m just treating you to lunch! Have no fear! Come in, come in!” He beckoned to the others, calling the tallest of the three young men, “You too, Brother! Come in, come in!” The tall man was bewildered, mumbling, “But since when did we have such a relative…”

The men shuffled inside warily. Bringing up the rear were the final two of the three, a man looking in his early twenties and a boy in his late teens, whom Master Six greeted and addressed respectfully as if they were his senior. The men entered the room, but they did not dare sit. Chen Yixuan too did not know what was going on! Master Six gestured the men to the chairs, motioning them to sit down. Still, the men remained on their feet. Master Six opened a bottle of liquor and filled their cups. Several servers drifted in and out, laying the table with dishes of food. When a dish of pig’s trotters was placed on the table, the tallest of the three, still standing, went for a pair of chopsticks and began eating. The old man, whom the immortal had addressed as “grandfather”, slapped the tall man on his wrist, chastising him, “You dare eat now?” Master Six giggled and consoled them gently, “Please, eat up!” He rose up and scooped some meet off the dish, and filled the tall man’s bowl with a piece of meat. Unable to hold himself back any longer, Chen Yixuan tugged at Master Six’s sleeve. “A word please, sir!” He whispered to the immortal.

When they were out of the room, Chen Yixuan grumbled to Master Six, saying, “We are supposed to investigate the case. Why are we entertaining them to a meal and treat them so nicely? We could just interrogate them or torture them for information! For all my years of working as an investigator, I had never had to speak so gently to suspects! But here we are…” The immortal cut him off and snapped, “None of your business, go get the two thousand dayang coins!” With that, he turned and returned to the room.

Chen Yixuan went to his horse and took out the box. When he returned, Master Six, as if he had cast an enchantment over his guests, was chatting casually with them like friends of old! As the final ounce of his dignity as an esteemed police investigator ebbed away, Chen Yixuan began to wonder if Master Six was indeed related to these men…