Chapter 203: Immortal’s Descent
Translated by Gumihou
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Lu Feng Yu looked at Su Dong Lou’s changing facial expression for a moment. However, he paid the man no mind, thinking that this idiot was probably stunned by his brilliance. Smug, he straightened his clothes and, like a puffed up rooster, strolled towards Duan Tingxuan and Su Nuan Nuan, looking as though he was about to say something when a voice cried out.
They all looked at the direction of the voice and saw it was King Xiangyang, pointing at the lush green mountain opposite them, “It’s the Immortal’s Descent… the Immortal’s Descent has appeared once more.”
“Immortal’s Descent?”
Duan Tingxuan and Su Nuan Nuan both walked over to look in the same direction. However, the only thing they saw was a lush green mountain range being slowly enveloped by thick white mist. The mist hovered in fits and starts, and kept changing shapes. It certainly looked as though a large white cloud had floated gently over the mountain. Neither husband nor wife have ever seen such a phenomenon before and could not help but stare.
“Why is it called Immortal’s Descent?” Su Nuan Nuan directed the question to Duan Tingxuan. As she looked in the direction of her husband, she accidentally caught sight of Lu Feng Yu’s agitated expression. Her eyes tracked his movements as he stepped quickly towards King Xiangyang and leaned over to whisper into the man’s ear. Whatever he said must not have pleased His Lordship, King Xiangyang nodded slowly, a grave expression on his face.
Su Nuan Nuan watched the interaction with some surprise and poked Duan Tingxuan to get him to look at the two co-conspirators too. However, there was no reaction to her pokes. When she looked up, she found that Duan Tingxuan was still staring up at the mist with fascination. She quickly asked, “What’s wrong?”
“What? Oh, nothing… nothing much.” Duan Tingxuan finally regained his former state of mind when his wife’s concerned voice finally reached him. He laughed sheepishly. “That is just… I’ve never seen anything quite like it before and was just too surprised. Isn’t it awe-inspiring? There are still so many mysterious things in the world… to see a cloud just descend like that, could it be that an immortal is really descending to the top of that mountain?”
Su Nuan Nuan jerked her chin once, and Duan Tingxuan cast his eyes in the direction she indicated, and saw King Xiangyang and Lu Feng Yu chatting happily together at the side of the boat. By now, many had gathered on the deck to stare at the odd natural phenomenon. Hush chatter hummed for a while, but suddenly, one of His Lordship’s hangers-on cried out loudly, “Today is the first day His Lordship sets out to offer sacrifices to the ancestors. To think that we would see such an auspicious sign, clearly His Lordship’s journey would be blessed with good luck and great fortune. May all his lordship’s wishes be fulfilled!”
Now that one had started, it was like a series of firecrackers had been set off as others awaken to the opportunity to flatter King Xiangyang. Wave after wave of good wishes and fine words flowed across the deck. However, it looked like Lu Feng Yu considered it beneath himself to participate in mass worshipping. Who knew whether it was true aloofness from politics and material pursuits or merely an affectation?
When he spotted Su Nuan Nuan and Duan Tingxuan hanging back from the crowd, he smiled and made his way towards them, “You’ve just transferred to Jiang Nan not long from the Capital, so I believe you’ve never seen such a sight before. Why not have a closer look? There’s no need to hide yourself here, are you afraid? That’s alright, I shall take you over personally. Other people would not dare to block us.”
“We thank master for his generosity.” Duan Tingxuan said quickly. “We have really never seen such a sight before, but we’ve already had our fill just now when there were less people. Surely there’s no need to rush forward just to look at it? Will the scenery change into something else again? To be honest, the sight just now was so breath taking that it had been seared right into my brain. I can never forget it for the rest of my life.”
Lu Feng Yu smiled, “A cloud has no form. Therefore the scenery would, of course, change. Enough with your nonsense, come quickly. Though this marvellous sight isn’t a rare, once in a hundred years sight, it’s still difficult to see it twice a year. On top of that, today’s cloud is unusually long and thick, and would change forms several more times. The most wonderful thing about it is how it changes its forms. If you miss it out, you might regret it for the rest of your life.”
With that, he led the two forward. Sure enough, the imperial guards who had been crowding a section of the boat immediately parted like the tide at the sight of Lu Feng Yu. This scene nearly made Su Nuan Nuan’s head spin. Wei, are we plague carriers, ah? Why do you all clear out so cleanly? Wait, of course, the reason why these people got out of the way was not because of her or Duan Tingxuan, it was to run away from Lu Feng Yu. Clearly, this walking disaster had probably brought calamity down on some of these poor bastards’ heads just because he didn’t like them.
The boat had anchored just for the crowd above deck to enjoy the scenery. White clouds continued to undulate and roll along leisurely, dipping along the mountain ridges. The scene was quite spectacular indeed. Su Nuan Nuan was amazed. She hated that there were no cameras or video recorders in this era. Otherwise, she would have taken all sorts of panoramic shots and videos. Even the ‘Sea of Clouds’ at Huangshan Mountain [1] lost to this Immortal’s Descent scene. Because the at Huangshan, one could still see that it was covered in undulating mists, but the mists here is so thick that it really looked like the cloud had descended on the mountain ranges to meander lazily around the green hills. This kind of scenery was definitely unheard of in modern times, due to climate changes and global warming.
“Master, this Immortal’s Descent is really amazing. Are there any legends or folklore attached to it?” Su Nuan Nuan asked curiously, looking up at Lu Feng Yu.
The scholar laughed, “But of course, we have several dozens in fact. When you’re free, you may ask Lu Qi about it. She’s from Suzhou, and have lived around here most of her life, and therefore is very familiar with all related folklores.”
Duan Tingxuan looked up in astonishment, “What? Isn’t all that just towering mountains and cliff edges? Could people actually live there?”
Lu Feng Yu laughed, “Well, they don’t actually live around towering mountains or cliff edges. There are valleys between those mountains and a few small villages sprouted among them. Lu Qi is from one of these mountain villages.”
“Oh, I see. Didn’t I just say that it’s impossible for people to live around cliff edges?” Duan Tingxuan laughed awkwardly. Then, he asked, “Just now, master said that this Immortal’s Descent is quite rare. Only twice or thrice a year, but do you know why? Surely the clouds didn’t actually come down? That white thing should be… mists, right?”
Lu Feng Yu laughed, “That I do not know either. A scenery like Immortal’s Descent would match better with a poetic legend, don’t you think? For you to seek logic behind such a wonderful sight, how common of you.”
Duan Tingxuan immediately laughed ingratiatingly, “Master is correct, this commoner is more common than dirt itself. How could this one be compared to master’s literary grace and culture?”
Lu Feng Yu’s eyes flashed over at Su Nuan Nuan. He made a little hehe laugh and said, “So what if you don’t have literary grace or culture? Your heaven defying luck is extraordinarily strong, to be able to marry such a talented wife, I’ll say you’re much better off than this master by a hundredfold.”
Duan Tingxuan continued to laugh stupidly along, but said nothing else. His eyes watched as the mists gradually dispersed. Then, he said to Su Nuan Nuan, “Just now you kept nagging me about wanting a breath of fresh air. Well, surely you’ve breathed enough air and seen a wonderful scenery on top of that. Why aren’t you preparing lunch for master?”
Lu Feng Yu quickly urged, “That’s right. Quick, go and prepare lunch. Make several good dishes. Today, I shall be inviting both His Lordship and Master Su over for a meal. Though I am not at good terms with Master Su, since I had snatched you two out of his hands, if I don’t at least treat him to a good meal, he’d be even more unhappy with me.”
Su Nuan Nuan laughingly agreed, and made her way towards the kitchen with Duan Tingxuan. Once they were at the kitchen, the little marquis looked around to make sure there was no one around before dragging Su Nuan Nuan close to whisper, “Just now, when you tugged at my sleeve for attention, what was it about?”
Instead of answering, Su Nuan Nuan made her way towards the chopping board. She took out a piece of pork and began to julienne the meat. Then she got Duan Tingxuan to slice a scallion for later use. Finally, she said, “Just now, I noticed that surnamed Lu person had a grave expression on his face when he went over to whisper something to King Xiangyang’s ear. For a moment, even King Xiangyang’s expression looked bad, but then, by the time you looked over. They both already recovered, looking as though nothing untoward happened.”
[Gumihou: …uwooh, intrigue, intrigue! What is the secret behind this Immortal’s Descent?]
[1] The Sea of Clouds phenomenon at Huangshan Mountain is a very beautiful Real World Spot in China ^_^
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1r1z9Vz-po
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Translated by Gumihou from kitchennovel dot com.
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