Zhenwu's eyes opened.
The thread of Taotie that was going through his mind had snatched him out of sleep like a rock falling into calm water. Four hours. His eyes had not been shut more than four hours, but his system--accustomed to one hundred thousand years--was already deaf to rest.
Sleep. What a forgotten thing.
Sleep was waste in the field of cultivation. Sleep had been better than waste, a sort of death, in that original savage world into which he had been hurled as a youth. Temporary, but, as the strong fed on the weak, temporary was all it required to put you permanently out of business.
A millennia of unremitting care. And now, after all that time, his body had now remembered how to get its eyes closed and get to sleep.
He was looking at the ceiling of his childhood room with its recognizable cracks. The clock read 3:17 AM.
Zhenwu got up and went to his father and mother. He was able to view them sleeping calmly through the half-open door. His father heaved and pitched his chest without any more struggle. The lines of anguish had been smoothed out of his mother. The treatments were a perfect success.
The next thing that his consciousness touched was down the village, to the house nine doors away. Lin Xue slept badly, and her dreams had been disturbed in spite of fatigue. And Xuanxuan--his daughter--was sleeping. The loophole corruption was purged out of existence. Her little physique was already starting to mend.
Let the village gossip. Allow them to talk of the miracle of recovery. Xuanxuan was his daughter. That was all that mattered.
The condition of his parents might be attributed to good medicine, to natural recovery. But the transformation of Xuanxuan would be more difficult to hide. The energy of nothingness did not just disappear one day. Still, Zhenwu didn't care. He had not lived one hundred thousand years only to have his blood dry in his hair lest he be a subject of village talk.
He went to the wardrobe and took out his Earth clothes--old blue cotton shirt and dark pants. They were out of place in so long in cultivator robes, yet they fitted quite too well.
Zhenwu moved out into the pre-dawn darkness.
The front courtyard was filled with the osmanthus tree, which was gnarled and its trunk always stood in front of him during his childhood. It was planted by his grandfather when Zhenwu was born--the old man had felt the need of rooting something that would live long after him.
Zhenwu breathed deeply. The lack of humidity corresponded to the coolness and freshness of the air, which was saturated with moisture brought by the rain last night. His lungs filled with the smell of moist soil and vegetation. This was home. Not the qi-filled airs of immortal worlds, not the nothing between worlds. Just ordinary air.
The rain had done its work. The grass was much higher in the night, and each blade hung down with drops. The soil looked rich and dark. That rain was a spiritual energy that would enrich the land weeks later even though no one would have known why their crops were more alive this season.
Zhenwu walked up to the little pond in the corner of the courtyard and dipped his fingers in cold water, the discomfort bringing him back to the present.
He proceeded to the back garden.
Before him lay the little piece of land belonging to the family--close rows of vegetables and fruit trees surrounded by bamboo fence. Everything was more healthy than it ought to be. The tomatoes were thickly-fruited, the cucumber vines revolved furiously round their trellises, and the squash growth was like green carpets. All glistened with rain.
In front of the garden were the animal enclosures. The chicken coop was silent and the coop inhabitants had not yet woken up. Some ducks in the muddy place swam off where they were sheltered. The animals were also in better health.
On the extreme end was the cattle shed.
Zhenwu was approaching more slowly. Fei Niu was lying in there on old straw.
Fat Ox. This name had been true, in its time, when the cow was young and round as a barrel. The name was ironical now, fourteen years old, and time-worn.
Ever since Zhenwu was ten, Fei Niu had been a member of the family. The old man split the two cows to his sons when his grandfather passed away--one to Uncle Weiming, and one to the father of Zhenwu. The animal had been faithfully serving more than ten years. Razing fields, hauling carts, supplying the muscle which kept a farming family alive.
The village had acquired modern machinery, but its father never had any complete confidence in it. "Tractors break down," he'd say. All Fei Niu needs is grass and water.
Fei Niu woke up, as Zhenwu was coming. The head of the cow raised up twitching its ears. His eyes chanced on Zhenwu and there he knew him.
The cow was slain to his feet and brought to the fence, squelching down in the mud. He gave a low plaintive note--a rumbling greeting that was tinged with feeling.
Stroke, stroke, Shhh," Zhenwu said, stroking the forehead of the cow. "You'll wake my parents."
Fei Niu leaned his head on the hand of Zhenwu, and the gesture was desperate. Four years. Four years of waiting, of seeing the gate, of whether or not the young man would come back.
The cow looked terrible. His coat which used to shine with unique black and white patches was faded and spotted. He was ribbed up through the sides, and his eyes were sunken and sore.
"I know," Zhenwu murmured. "I'm sorry, old friend. I'm back now."
Fei Niu uttered another, more prolonged, nearly conversational sound. It would have been mere animal noise to anybody. But Zhenwu knew it all in a word. Not one who had strolled among spirit animals a hundred thousand years could have imagined that the language of beasts was strange.
*Where were you? I waited. Every day. I believed you had no more use of me. I stopped eating. Why be strong not to come here?
Zhenwu was more moved by the words than he thought. All this time this little creature was grieving over his absence.
I never ceased to desire you, Fei Niu, Zhenwu said within himself. "I was just very far away."
The ears of the cow pricked up and his eyes. *You... understand me?*
"I do."
*You can hear me?*
"Every word."
The whole attitude of Fei Niu was different. His eyes lost the grayness and a bright excitement came in its place. He knocked, and made a loud noise, which rolled over and over.
*Young master! You really can understand! The east road field--we sold that, did you know? Your father cried. And the rice paddy down the river, that went. I made myself work more, plow more, become more worthy--but now I'm old, and--
Peace, old friend, said Zhenwu in a voice that gave an order that instantly quelled the excited creature. "I know about the fields. It wasn't your fault. It was mine."
He put his hand in his dimensional ring and pulled out one fruit.
The Misty Mango had been revealed in his palm, which was about as large as an ordinary mango with the inner glow that gave the sense that it had been filled with liquid gold. The fruit throbbed and the spiritual energy that it gave out was so strong that even a mortal person felt it.
The reaction of Fei Niu was quick. His nostrils swelled up, and his eyes were fixed on the fruit, and his body started trembling. Drips of saliva were pouring down his mouth and he attempted to reach out to his tongue with the fence slats.
Easy, Zhenwu said, I can never put that out of my mind. "It's for you, but listen first."
The cow stood paralyzed, all his muscles rigid, yet submissive.
It is on your years of service, Zhenwu said again with the formalism of his voice. On account of your faithfulness to this house. For waiting for me. Feed on this, Fei Niu, and I give you a vow--live to a hundred. Live and I shall make it right. The rice paddy, the east field--I shall have them back. All of it. Nothing will go wanting in this family again, and you will be plowing those fields again. Not that you need to, but you want to.
The eyes of Fei Niu were wet.
Zhenwu held out his hand across the fence, and offered the fruit.
The cow took it very carefully and bit into it. Juice fell down his chin and it was glowingly bright. He ate gradually, one bite at a time, and with such a delight that his eyes were shut.
The revolution had started.
Fei Niu, her plain coat began to change and its colors darkened, as though someone was changing the intensity of a painting. The black patches with smudged grey and cream had been restored to violent contrast. His ribs started to fill up and muscle and good fat started developing at unimaginable rate. His eyes were cleared, which were dark, and bright as a polished stone.
The whole existence of the cow changed. He had looked weary and conquered where now he was erect and firm, with neck a-raised and head hoisted up.
Fei Niu opened his jaws and gave a call unlike that of any mortal cow--a deep, echoing bellow, which gave the notes of triumph and strength and thanksgiving. The noise started rolling out of the village.
The hand of Zhenwu made a simple movement, and a wall was placed round the shed that caught up the sound and caused it no longer to become diffused. The bellow kept on, but was filled.
As Fei Niu at length subsided, he gazed at Zhenwu very nearly in the manner of a god.
Young master--the cow said--his mind was now strong and clear. I think I would move a mountain. like I could plow all the province in a day. What was that fruit?*
"A gift," Zhenwu replied simply. "And a promise kept. You've served well, Fei Niu. And now you will have the strength to serve many years to come.
Provided that any of the cultivators in the eternity worlds had been present, they would have been apoplectic. The Misty Mango was a gem and even the masters of the Golden Core had to fight to possess it. It would be regarded as criminal waste to give one to a farm cow.
But Zhenwu felt no regret. There were treasures to be bequeathed, and faithfulness was to be rewarded. Fei Niu had waited, had grieved him, had done his best, even to old age. More than any spirit-stone was that faithfulness.
The eastern horizon was just lifting its black off, and turning deep blue. Soon the village would wake.
Fei Niu received one more pat on the head by Zhenwu. "Rest now. Grow strong. I shall be requiring your assistance at some coming days.
The cow nodded--he really nodded--and dipped down in his straw, more contented than he had been in years.
Zhenwu reversed, and walked back into the house, without any sound on wet grass. His father and mother were sleeping indoors. Lin Xue and Xuanxuan slept. The village slept. But Zhenwu could not sleep, but stood guard as he had stood guard One hundred thousand years he stood.
The sky kept on getting brighter and Qingshan Village was ready to face another day.