Reaching to the Sky - Chapter 5

The Transformation

The scene before his eyes is indeed stunning. The drained canal is more than two feet wide, and the woman is right in the middle of it. She is looking up to him with her strange, mysterious eyes.

“What are you doing in the water? How are you doing that?” asked Nanfeng. She is still young and her hair is very smooth and long. She looks so condescending.

“My things fell into the river, and I went looking for it. Please return my clothes to me.” The woman asked again, this time in a softer voice.

He did not understand what’s happening so Nanfeng climbed down to the ground, and looked at the woman. Judging from her looks, she must be 18 or 19 years old. She has a fair skin and her face is beautifully sculpted.  Her face looked pale though maybe because of the cold water.

“I didn’t mean to take your bag. I just thought someone left it here.” Nanfeng said determinedly. Despite the appearance of this mysterious woman, he doesn’t feel any fear. If the woman’s attitude is good, he will return his things to her. If she would be tough and arrogant, he will get away from here without returning anything to her. The woman is actually naked so he knew that she would be unwilling to chase after him if he runs away.

But the woman seemed to know what he is thinking. “I’ll give the silver coins to you but you have to return to me my clothes and my bag.”

“Are you sure of that?” Nanfeng wanted her to make a promise.

“I am.” The woman persuaded. “You have my word. Give it to me.”

Nanfeng thought about it and changed his mind. “You know what, I don’t want your purse. After you go ashore, accompany me to buy clothes, and then buy some food for me. Will that be all right?”

The woman was anxious to get back her clothes and just agreed.

As a sign that he is fulfilling his side of the agreement, he put the bag on the shore, took the purse and walked back a few steps. He turned his back to the other side. “Okay, come on here now.”

After a while, he heard the sound of garments being put on. Nanfeng did not look back at her.

“Let’s go.” The woman is already standing behind him.

Nanfeng turned and saw that the woman is already dressed and is currently brushing her beautiful hair with her hands. He just noticed that the clothes were blue a while ago. Now that the woman is wearing it, he discovered that it is actually a robe.

“We agreed to it before. You have to accompany me to buy clothes.” Nanfeng said. The only reason why he asked the woman to come with him is to hide from people’s attention. He is a beggar, and it is doubtful that a Hanako would have the money to buy clothes.

The woman intently observed him, and finally talked to him. “Are you a Taoist?”

Nanfeng nodded. “Yeah. You are too?” But the

woman did not answer back. “If there is nothing else to say, follow me. I will take care of you.”

Dao’s sudden invitation surprised Nanfeng. He immediately felt cautious. After thinking about it, he  agreed. “Okay.”

“Let’s go then.” Daogu Chongfeng stretched out her hand and waved him over.

“I’ll just follow you.” Nanfeng hesitated a bit. Although he is still not an adult, he is not that young either. It is somewhat awkward to be led by a woman.

Dao took the initiative to pull his hand and stepped forward.

Her very smooth hand made Nanfeng awkward and uncomfortable. Plus, there is

nothing to say . “Did you find something?”

“What?” Dao asked.

“You said that your things fell into the water.” Nanfeng looked around his surroundings. The workers had already decorated the venue and prepared everything. Some young women were sorting out the tables and chairs in the fields. They might be the usherettes of the event.

“Well, I found what I was looking for.” Daogu said casually.

The maturity of a person does not depend on his or her age, but on the amount of experience. Although he is still young, Nanfeng has always lived in the market and the streets. He has a wide range of knowledge and understanding about life. He judges people by looking into their eyes and listening intently to their voices. He knows that something else was going on earlier with Daogu and he wants to find out why and how she was in the water.

The clothes shop in Xicheng only sells fabrics. There is no ready-to-wear garments. However, the cloth shop in Dongcheng has ready-made clothes for sale. Daogu picked a piece of blue robe for Nanfeng.

Aside from new sets of clothes, Dao generously gave him a pair of shoes. She also helped him wash himself on the sink.

Daogu looked up and down at him and nodded with satisfaction.

He is also very satisfied. Even his closest friends would not recognize him anymore. He looked so sophisticated right now.

“What is your name? You haven’t told me yet.” Daogu pressed his shoulder.

“Nanfeng.”

“We should go and have something to eat.” Then Daogu took him to a food shop not far away from where they were.

At the entrance to the bakery, Nanfeng hesitated and stopped. “I don’t want to go in. Just buy something for me and I’ll wait for you outside.”

Daogu stared at him, but she did not let go. She took him inside and bought biscuits.

“Why don’t you eat?” Nanfeng took a bite of the biscuit.

Daogu said casually, “I have eaten already.”

“Do you go out often?” asked Nanfeng.

“Why do you ask?” Dao looked back at him.

“You just spent so much money.” Nanfeng said

Daogu smiled and didn’t answer.

It took just half an hour to find a shop to buy clothes and shoes. When the two returned to Zhengyangmen, there were already a lot of people gathering in the field. The seats on the wooden platform and below it were still empty. However, there are already people at the sheds.

There are words written on the sheds. The colors of the slogans are varying and their lengths are different. However, Nanfeng is illiterate and he cannot read the words on it.

He roamed his eyes on the outskirts of the venue. He looked around again and tried to find Lu Pingchuan and the others from the crowd. Last night, everyone said that they will be here today. Maybe they all thought of going here as a meeting place.

“What are you looking at?”

“I am looking at those words written on the sheds.”

“Information about the martial arts event.” said Daogu.

“Why are there so many colors on it? What for?” At this time, at least thousands of people gathered outside the court. It is easy to find someone to talk with.

“Banner colors represent the different people coming from different camps.”

He did not understand these words. The strips are in six colors namely: deep red, light blue, blue, dark blue, light purple and purple. The blue sheds account for the majority, followed by the red ones. The light purple sheds are lower in count, while there is only one purple shed located on the east side of the field.

Nanfeng’s heart is full of doubts, but he doesn’t know what to ask. It’s a matter of asking people to know answers to your questions, but asking more people will be annoying. If you ask less, you just rely on your own observation and guess what is happening through your mind.

“People in the purple shed is the most powerful, the blue ones are almost the same, and the red is the weakest, right?” Nanfeng asked, drawing conclusions through his own observations.

Daogu nodded.

After observing, he came to another conclusion. “Isn’t the Taoist martial arts the most powerful? Then the monks are not as good as the Taoist priests?”

“Why do you say that?” Dao asked.

“There are four sheds with purple cloth strips. Two of them are monks, and only one of them is a martial artist.” Nanfeng said.

Daogu shook his head. “It can’t be assumed that the Taoist priests practiced spells. The monks and the nuns realized the beauty of magical powers, while martial arts were the skills that originated from the Taoist people. These three groups of people have different powers.”