He kept the smaller room for himself and the larger one for Fairy Qinghua, although Fairy Qinghua never once moved in.
Here, time seemed to pass slowly and gently, as if even after thousands of years, it would remain the same.
One day, it poured rain, and the leaves of the giant tree in the wilderness were blown off the ground. Fairy Qinghua sat under the tree, drenched like a drowned rat.
Gu Caiyu peeked out from the thatched cottage, calling out to her from afar, “Fairy, come in and sit!” as if he were a kind-hearted neighbor.
Fairy Qinghua looked at the thatched cottage for a moment. Warm light seeped through the cottage’s windows, seeming to ward off all cold and storms.
After a moment’s hesitation, she finally stood up and walked towards the only light in the wilderness.
Gu Caiyu warmly welcomed this precious guest.
He closed the door, shutting out the wind and rain, then poured a cup of steaming hot water from the stove for Fairy Qinghua. Placing the cup in front of her, he eagerly said, “Fairy, what do you think? Did I do a good job building this house?”
Fairy Qinghua silently drank the water, saying nothing.
With a flourish, he trimmed the wick of the oil lamp, grumbling, “The problem is, there’s too little lamp oil grass, so the flame isn’t very bright. And the wooden bed is a bit hard too. If only I had some cotton, it would be much softer to sleep on… A clever woman can’t cook without rice.”
The white chicken clucked twice and strutted onto the table. Gu Caiyu swiftly plucked it off, saying, “Xiao Bai, stop messing around.”
Fairy Qinghua’s gaze caught sight of some paper and pens on the table against the wall, and she couldn’t help but be surprised. Gu Caiyu noticed her glance and immediately stood up, saying, “Those are my calligraphy works. Would you like to take a look, Fairy?”
Before Fairy Qinghua could say “no,” he had already dashed into the room and returned with his “calligraphy works.”
To be fair, the handwriting was quite beautiful, elegant, and free-spirited, but it was all filled with flattering words about ‘beauties,’ ‘goddesses,’ and ‘fairies.’
Fairy Qinghua looked at him with cold eyes.
Gu Caiyu held up the papers with poetry and prose to the dim oil lamp, examining them with great satisfaction. “Oh, the characters are so beautiful and elegant.”
“Where did you get the ink and brush?” Fairy Qinghua asked.
Gu Caiyu patted his waist, saying, “From my Qiankun Bag.”
Fairy Qinghua frowned, “In your Qiankun Bag, instead of useful talismans and spiritual tools, you store such pointless things?”
Upon hearing this, Gu Caiyu set down his “calligraphy works” and looked at the woman in white, saying, “Fairy, you’re not right about this. How can you call ink, brush, paper, and inkstone pointless?”
“It’s precisely because you only carry these pointless things that we’re still stuck here.”
Gu Caiyu clicked his tongue twice. “May I ask, Fairy, although your Qiankun Bag contains many high-level spiritual tools, aren’t we still trapped here, helpless?”
Fairy Qinghua was momentarily speechless.
“In your sect, it’s always like this.” He sat back in his chair, poured himself a cup of hot water, and took a sip, as if he were drinking some fine wine, sighing contentedly before continuing, “Cultivation, cultivation, cultivation… For some of you, it’s like risking your life for cultivation, without much enjoyment. But for others like us, it’s about being free and doing as we please. I cultivate just to be happy. I may not be able to leave, but here I have a house, a chicken, and hot water to drink. That’s enough to make me happy. All those spiritual tools you carry, can they keep you warm when it rains?”
With that, Fairy Qinghua slammed her cup onto the table and stood up, ready to leave.
Gu Caiyu grabbed her arm. “Hey hey hey, I was just joking. Why are you taking it so seriously? But I am genuinely curious about one thing,” he asked, “Fairy, what is your goal in cultivation? Is it to ascend to immortality and live forever?”
“Of course not,” Fairy Qinghua denied emphatically. After a pause, she continued, “Life is suffering for all beings. The true goal of cultivators is to attain perfection and protect the three realms for peace and stability.”
“Right,” Gu Caiyu applauded. “Ambitious goals, quite admirable.”
Ignoring his thinly veiled sarcasm, Fairy Qinghua looked at him and asked, “And what about you? Why do you cultivate?”
“Me?” Gu Caiyu reached out and cuddled the white chicken in his arms, stroking its bald tail as he spoke. “As I said, I cultivate for happiness. Wine and poetry make me happy. Ascending to immortality is just a side effect. Everyone talks about the immortal realm as if it’s so great, but who knows, maybe it’s not as comfortable as my humble thatched cottage, right?”
Fairy Qinghua turned her head away, sneering, “You’re overthinking.”
Zanxing also thought he was overthinking. Gu Caiyu seemed like a low-level cultivator, spending his days either raising chickens or building houses. He had a big heart, but if this were enough to ascend to immortality, the immortal realm would have been overcrowded long ago.
That night, Fairy Qinghua did not leave.
Like a guest seeking shelter in the wilderness, she stayed in the largest room of the thatched hut. There was only a rough-hewn wooden pallet in the room, without any bedding or pillows. She lay on the bed, while at the other end came the sound of ping pong pong, indicating Gu Caiyu was doing new carpentry work, occasionally accompanied by the intermittent muttering of the white chicken, creating a bustling atmosphere. Outside, the rain poured down heavily, dripping from the eaves of the thatched cottage and soaking the mud in the courtyard.
Despite its seemingly fragile appearance, as if a strong wind could blow the roof away, the room was surprisingly warm, with no chill at all.
Fairy Qinghua closed her eyes and fell into a peaceful sleep for the first time in days.
After that, the scenes became even more fragmented.
Zanxing saw that Fairy Qinghua had settled in the thatched cottage, spending each day trying to break through the barrier in front of the stone mountain. Gu Caiyu continued his usual idle activities, enthusiastically decorating the cottage and cooking.
In the wilderness, there were only wild grasses and fruits to eat, but somehow, he managed to bring out the flavors, even creating a table full of delicious dishes. Whenever noon approached, he would shout in the courtyard, “Fairy, lunch is ready!”
Fairy Qinghua then sheathed her sword and went back inside to eat.
She remained cold as ever, while Gu Caiyu, undeterred, continued his activities. He made a stone vase and filled it with some dogtail grass as decoration, perhaps for writing poetry.
He wrote one poem after another, the water in the courtyard’s stone basin was replenished, and yet the tailless chicken remained tailless. However, the giant tree in the wilderness began to bloom.
The flowers resembled flying phoenixes, burning fiercely on the branches with vibrant colors. Gu Caiyu pulled Fairy Qinghua over to see, exclaiming, “Biyi Blossoms, they’re actually Biyi Blossoms!”
“Biyi Blossoms?” Fairy Qinghua asked, puzzled.