Chapter 5: Lady Calico
Virtuous Duke Wang said, “I am a local village deity. My surname was Wang when I was alive. May I know your name?”
Song You replied, “I am Song You, and my master gave me the style name[1]Menglai.”
“Are you a Daoist?”
“I grew up in a Daoist temple.”
“Do you have a Daoist name?” the local village deity asked again.
“Not yet,” Song You said as he calmly met the gaze of this local deity. “What brings you to me, sir?”
“Very well, I will address you as ‘Mr. Menglai’.” Virtuous Duke Wang remained polite. "I apologize for disturbing your rest at this late hour, but this matter concerns the wellbeing of the local commoners. I see that you have profound cultivation skills and have come specially to seek assistance.”
“Sir, please speak directly,” responded Song You.
“This matter started ten years ago.” Virtuous Duke Wang hemmed and hawed, speaking in a long-winded style reminiscent of the previous dynasty. “Ten years ago, a great demon came to this land. It bewitched the hearts of the people and even made the locals build it a temple about twenty li from here.”
Upon hearing this, Song You almost understood everything.
The two looked at each other, not knowing what to do. Song You waited for him to continue, while he seemed to be waiting for Song You to speak.
Song You asked, “Why didn't you report it?”
Virtuous Duke Wang said, “Mister, please hear me out.”
Song You immediately looked helpless.
Most of these local netherworld deities had been humans who were outstanding in their morality and conduct when alive. Moreover, they were so old. As a junior, he should show more respect. It was not easy for a young man like him to criticize them directly.
Virtuous Duke Wang said, “Then I'll make a long story short.”
“Please do so.”
Virtuous Duke Wang said, “Although that demon had excellent magic powers, it was eliminated a few years ago by a master from Tianhai Temple together with Duke of Thunder Zhou. At the time, it seemed a pity to destroy the unauthorized temple since it was not far from the main road.
“Once the stone statue was smashed, it could still allow travelers to rest and shelter from the rain. Thus, it was left standing. When I toured Majia Bay recently, I unexpectedly discovered that there were incense and offerings in that temple again.”
“Did you go forth to investigate?”
“I’m ashamed but my powers are limited and I don’t know how to fight. When I saw the incense and offerings from a distance, I dared not approach.” Virtuous Duke Wang looked ashamed.
“You made a sensible decision.” Song You reassured him.
Virtuous Duke Wang said, “This time I was thinking of asking Mr. Menglai to go and investigate. If it's true, I will take advantage of the full moon in a few days to report it to the authorities.”
“Do you suspect that the demon has been resurrected through the incense and offerings?”
“I think it's likely.”
“I will go and see tomorrow.”
“You have a noble character and I thank you in advance on behalf of the nearby commoners.” Virtuous Duke Wang bowed deeply again. Then he said, “Your cultivation skills are impressive. Even if that demon was reborn, it would not have its former abilities. If you go during the day, it shouldn't be dangerous. It’s just that I would have to trouble you to make the trip. As for the address, I have already written it on a paper slip and placed it on the front of the altar.”
Song You bowed. “Sir, farewell.”
Virtuous Duke Wang was stunned for a moment before returning the bow.
As soon as Song You bowed, everything around him turned into clouds of smoke and disappeared instantly before he could even straighten his back. Song You's vision turned black.
When he opened his eyes again, he was still in the corner of the village temple.
The village temple was dark but the wooden door was not closed tightly. Moonlight shone in through the crack, looking like a long diagonal streak of white frost on the floor tiles. A row of deity statues could be vaguely seen.
The jianghu people’s snoring rose and fell.
Song You got up and searched the altar, but he didn't find the paper slip in front of Virtuous Duke Wang's statue. Instead, he found it in front of the statue of Great Emperor Chijin.
It was yellow rattan paper commonly used for drawing talismans and the calligraphy skills were decent.
He put away the paper slip and looked at the deity statues again.
This kind of village temple usually didn't distinguish between Buddhism and Daoism. Commoners couldn't afford to build a separate temple for each, so the deities all had to squeeze together without complaining.
The current Lord of the Heavenly Palace[2], Daoist deity Great Emperor Chijin was naturally in the center as well as the Buddhist deity, Lord of Ten Thousand Buddhas. There were other deities beside them. They were basically deities who were well-known in current society for various reasons. For example, there was previously a widely-circulated folk novel that mentioned the Duke of Thunder Zhou from the Thunder Division.[3] Thus Duke of Thunder Zhou's reputation grew in people's hearts. His position became prominent in many newly-built temples, especially those little ones spontaneously built by the people.
It's unclear whether Zhou benefited from it personally.
The development and evolution of gods were mostly like this.
Presently, there are local deities. Speaking of jurisdiction and authority, there are mountain gods, river gods, road gods, and also village gods. Most of them had once been humans.
After these individuals passed away, the people could not forget them. Empowered by the people’s wishes, they were naturally transformed into gods. The imperial court was also very likely to confer upon them the official positions of gods.
In this world, whether it is the Daoist Heavenly Palace or the Buddhist Western Paradise[4], the so-called Gods and Buddhas were essentially no different from these local minor deities that became gods through the power of wishes. This is despite their high status in the hearts of the people, especially believers.
Therefore, new gods would often become popular with a new emperor.
Take Great Emperor Chijin for example. It was rumored that he was born when the heavens and the earth were first separated. After enduring 1350 calamities, each calamity lasting 29,600 years, he finally attained the position of Celestial Emperor[5]. Many people deeply believed in this. Even those who didn't believe in him mostly thought that people had believed in him since ancient times. Actually, his name came into existence during the last two hundred years. Two hundred years ago, there was no one in this world who believed in him, and his name didn’t even exist.
It was necessary to maintain the lofty image of gods in the hearts of the people. However, Song You's master had always warned him that as a cultivator, he should have a correct and clear understanding of them, unlike ordinary people.
Yet she never told him specifically what this understanding should be, only letting him figure it out for himself.
Song You was still in the process of constructing this understanding.
After contemplating the statues in the moonlight for a long time, he couldn't sleep. He turned, opened the door and walked out.
The midnight air hit him, but it didn't feel cold, only refreshing. Looking up, he saw the clear dust-free night sky. The moonlight was like silver and gilded the edges of the clouds with a layer of silver, making them seem to glow. It outlined the undulating contours of the great mountains, creating a beautiful scene under the moonlight.
He sat under the moonlight until dawn broke.
Song You left Jinyang Road and entered a side road.
This was also a major road, but its name was unknown. It was less important than an official road connecting to the capital like Jinyang Road, but it was still spacious.
Song You was in no hurry. He stopped along the way, even asking for directions several times before finally finding the temple.
Although it was said to be not far from the main road, it was actually on the mountainside next to the main road. It could be seen from afar but it was probably two li away. Thinking that Virtuous Duke Wang had said that it was near the main road at first, Song You kept walking along the main road and unwittingly passed it. He only turned back after asking for directions.
By the time he arrived, it was already afternoon.
Song You hung his traveling bag on a tree branch about a hundred meters away. Then he walked along a little path towards the dilapidated temple, seeming completely fearless.
As he approached, he smelled incense and candles.
Indeed, there was incense burning.
Sniffing carefully, he could even tell it was probably local handmade incense with a scent close to that of mosquito-repelling herbs, both refreshing and invigorating.
This dilapidated temple was more or less the same size as the one last night. Its structure imitated the main hall of a regular temple, but was slightly smaller. Also, there was only one building. Most village temples built by the people followed this style and structure. Usually, there were no monks or Daoist priests administering them.
But it was much shabbier than last night’s temple.
Song You stopped at the entrance and carefully examined it.
Similarly, there was an entrance but no windows but this temple didn’t even have a door. There was just a bamboo fence blocking the entrance. The walls were originally painted red, but now there were many places where the paint had peeled off, as well as many cracks and scars. There were traces of damage caused by knives, axes, lightning strikes and fires, some of which even penetrated the walls.
Song You's eyes roved over these traces, as if delineating the scene of the battle in his mind.
Looking away, he walked towards the entrance.
The fence only covered the entrance lightly and he lifted it away easily.
Song You stepped into the temple and took a deep breath. He did not smell any unpleasant odors, only the herbal scent of handmade incense.
He looked at the altar.
The original deity statue was long gone, leaving only traces of where the statue once stood. Now, a clay statue of a cat stood there. It was the size of a normal cat. Compared to the original statue which was at least human height, it seemed particularly small.
In front of it, there was a clay brick with numerous incense sticks inserted into it. Most of them had burned out. Only three incense sticks were still burning but they were also more than half-burnt.
Indeed, it was homemade indigenous incense.
It was the kind that contained herbal powder and a bamboo stick wrapped in red paper. It burned for a long time and had a pleasant scent.
There were also offerings displayed.
There was cooked meat and a raw fish about the width of a finger.
Song You stood in the middle of the temple. He turned his head left and right, looking all around the entire temple. Then he walked up to the altar and picked up a strand of fur. He looked at it carefully for a long time before throwing it away. Then he found a place to sit down.
It seemed that no one was in the temple.
Was it out on official business?
But he couldn't determine what the situation was yet.
Perhaps a local animal had become a spirit and coveted the incense and offerings in the human world. Seeing a temple here, it audaciously made this temple its own.
Incense and offerings held a fatal attraction for mountain spirits and monsters.
Or maybe the locals had done it spontaneously and it just so happened that a wild cat from the mountain made it its lair.
In this era, some places indeed worshiped cats as gods. They hoped they would catch all the mice, thus leaving more food for the family.
Or maybe the demon from back then had really been resurrected.
After waiting for about an hour, he saw the sun slanting more and more. The golden rays of light shone through the entrance and advanced inside little by little. Song You was seated cross-legged and the sun was about to shine on his legs when there was finally some movement outside.
Song You got up calmly and looked outside.
A cat was walking slowly along the little path in the sunlight. The overgrown weeds on the path were as tall as the cat and it often pushed them aside. When it encountered a ditch, it gracefully leaped over it lightly as if its body was weightless.
It had already known that there was someone in the temple, but it wasn't wary. It continued to strut over until it reached the entrance. It placed a paw on the threshold and raised its eyes to see a human in a Daoist robe inside. Its eyes suddenly narrowed, gradually becoming wary.
It looked left and right.
It muttered to itself, contemplating.
The paw on the threshold was retracted and then replaced. Finally, it decided to come in.
He saw it cross the threshold agilely and lift its head, meeting Song You's eyes. Its eyes were like amber and enchanting even without any artifice.
It asked, “Are you a Daoist priest?”
The structure of the vocal cords of demons and monsters was different from that of humans. If they did not transform into humans, it was impossible to distinguish between male and female even if they spoke human language. At most, one could distinguish its original form from the voice or perhaps guess its age.
This cat spoke with a clear, delicate voice.
“How may I address you?” Song You bowed politely.
“I am Lady Calico.” she replied.
Song You said, “My surname is Song, Lady Calico. Greetings to you.”
“Why did you come to my temple?”
“I stayed overnight in the village temple yesterday and was asked by the local deity to come examine the incense and offerings in this temple.” Song You stood up straight but lowered his head. “May I ask if Lady Calico has been officially permitted by the imperial court to gather incense and offerings here?”
“What is that?”
“That is...” Song You met her gaze but paused.
This little cat demon’s cultivation level was low and had probably only recently become a demon[6]. Looking at the clear foolishness showing in her eyes, he probably needed to word things more carefully.
1. An additional name that is bestowed upon reaching adulthood. Refer to https://kongming.net/novel/names/#nomenclature ☜
2. Daoist heavenly court that governs all gods in the world. ☜
3. One of the Eight Divisions of the Heavenly Palace. ☜
4. Buddhist concept of afterlife. Refer to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukhavati ☜
5. Daoist title for the Lord of the Heavenly Palace. ☜
6. The term demon here doesn't mean the same as the English definition of demon/devil. They are usually creatures or even objects that have cultivated for years and achieved some sort of enlightenment. ☜
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