At the farthest side of the seashore, where the small waves clash against the rock and return once more, only to clash once again as if strings of a pipa* reverberating when plucked….
A woman sits on top of a boulder, singing her heart out.
She was truly playing the pipa as she sang a local song. In this scene full of solitude and passion, she felt less human and more like an ethereal entity. But the young master knew very well that she was human.
Once.
She was a ghost. The only question was whether or not she was aware of that.
Her hair was golden, just like Junior Fu's. Her eyes were also blue, although the shade was closer to the color of the water rather than the sky. Her skin was also porcelain white, and so Young Master Quan Neng thought it must be likely that she was also a descendant from An Xin sect.
Still, he asked the woman to confirm this rather than just make assumptions.
"Young lady, may I know where you hailed from?" He asked as his foot met with the ground, hands behind his back.
He flew to the mortal realms on his sword. He had named this one Yan Tong. It meant 'Eye Sore'.
This led to many questions of the origin of the name. Why 'eye sore'? Did he achieve this sword at the cost of getting an eye injury? Did the sword itself cause injury to his eye? Does it shine so bright when imbued with spiritual energy that it becomes painful to look at?
Young Master Quan Neng never answers their questions, and just wears a cheeky smile asking them to keep guessing.
But the truth was…..
He only named it that as a joke.
It was a testament to the nature of sentient beings to make assumptions. He deliberately named it such and did not give any explanation knowing well that the minds of the people he encountered would already come up with explanations of their own.
And each one was true. Because what they believed was their truth.
Only when he speaks and breaks this truth does it become 'untrue', because they lose their belief in their old assumptions. Therefore, truth can change quickly just from perspective and knowledge acquired. And truth makes up reality.
If reality was a culmination of truths we believe, then does that mean that…..
Simply changing beliefs will change reality itself?
Ah, his mind wandered off again. It has been a common occurrence in his life, and yet everyone around him saved for Junior Fu and his father assumed that there was nothing that bothers his mind. That he had achieved enlightenment and inner peace.
When truly, he just learned to accept himself. Accepted that this was who he was, always questioning….
And accepted that the questions will keep going, and he may never find answers in this life or all the next ones.
He tried to return his focus to the female ghost with a pipa. She did not answer his questions and instead continued singing, which was why his mind wandered off in the first place.
Young Master Quan took Yan Tong by the hilt and returned it to its scabbard. When sheathed, the design of the hilt joins with that of the scabbard to form a crimson eye.
"Young lady." He called out again.
The woman continued going on with her 'Wu…. Wu…. Wu….', and it seemed like she would not be stopping any time soon.
It was likely that she was a ghost that only knew to sing and play the instrument, and nothing else. Like a figment of a memory stuck in place, going for a loop. She could not remember who she was, where she was, how she died, what her likes and dislikes were, who her family was…..
She was an empty shell. Beautiful, but still hollow.
Young Master Quan exhaled deeply. "Isn't she pitiful? These are one of the things I fear."
He was followed by Junior Fu with his own sword. He had not named this one, and it was relatively new to him. He does not seem to hold any deep connection with this sword, which was quite a great disadvantage as a cultivator.
"You fear being a ghost with no memories, young master?"
"Even if I was not a literal ghost, yes. I fear that I will become empty and hollow like this. Over the years, I will continue to live on as an immortal. Mountains will turn into plains, seas will turn into barren deserts. And yet I still live on, and the passage of time itself disappears. And so will you, and father, and everyone I have ever loved…."
Young Master Quan looked at the skies. "I don't know how the gods do it. Perhaps it was because some of them had a family of gods as well, so they are not alone. But what of those who ascended to godhood as a mortal?"
"They must be…."
He smiled, and corrected himself. "Well, I do not want to make assumptions. But if it was me, I would feel rather lonesome. Like I am transversing endless paths trying to find an end, but never finding it. All by myself."
Junior Fu pondered over this as well, then approached the ghost woman with a pipa. He placed his hand atop her shoulder.
His hands do not pass through due to his cultivation, and he can interact with spirits freely. The ghost had no eyes. It must have been plucked out.
"Did she die from having her eyes plucked out? Or did she lose them a long time ago, and now it manifests even in her spirit?"
"Wu…. Wu…. Wu…." The woman continued humming with the same cadence and dynamic as the sea breeze.
It rises and falls in a consistent yet unique rhythm. Junior Fu tried to perform a spell to gain any information from this ghost. It was the Soul Searching technique that was one of the most basic yet most difficult to master as a member of the Hui Xin sect.
The Hui Xin sect was made to be Overseers of Truth and Justice, after all.
It was important for them to have skills that allow for the unveiling of the truth, thus they were also called the 'All-Knowing' sect.
"Her name is Jinzhu, for 'gold' and 'bead'. She existed hundreds of years ago, as one of the 10 princesses from the tribe where the followers of An Xin had sprung in its early days." Junior Fu gathered. "She had died along with two of her sisters in order to protect her family from an uprising of smaller tribes."
"And why does she play the pipa?" Young Master Quan Neng asked, though he already anticipated the answer with his great intuition.
"She decided to sit on this rock as enemy fleets arrived at the coast. She started playing and singing, having no fear as they yelled at her and asked where the rest were. Her two other sisters also made distractions of their own, but it was Princess Jinzhu's loud voice that gathered most of the attention of these attackers."
Her voice truly rang out across the whole area, but it was not unpleasant. Young Master Quan's hunches were proven. And as for the eyes….
"She got her eyes poked out by the claws of a rabid animal, right?"
Junior Fu nodded. "Yes. A strange creature from the sea, a monster that became an enemy chieftain's pet. However, I don't understand how she ties in with An Xin at all."
Young Master Quan simply said. "I do."
He listened to the woman's song again. It was full of melancholy, and also...
Guilt.
"It was her tribe where the founder of An Xin formed more spawns and descendants. That tribe was the one that had light skin, light hair, and light eyes. Her distraction was unsuccessful, and they…."
"Have been swallowed by these demonic cultivators that can tame monsters and control them."
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A/N: *A pipa is an instrument often reffered to as the 'Chinese lute'. It has a pear shape and four strings. See picture in the comments.
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