Chapter 673: Sending a Friend Off on a Crane

Although it was only a country estate outside the city, it had gathered half the court’s civil and military officials, as well as countless eminent scholars and refined gentry.

People brought medicinal herbs and gifts, waiting outside the gates.

They nearly blocked the village road entirely.

Flutter flutter flutter...

A swallow flew over and landed on the eaves.

A Daoist, leaning on a bamboo staff and carrying a brocade pouch, walked over with a young girl at his side, the girl also carrying a cloth satchel.

Faintly, they could hear the murmur of people’s discussions.

“If not for Mr. Yu founding charity halls and free schools, and throwing open his doors to welcome all, how could we ever have made something of ourselves?”

“During his ten years as Prime Minister, Mr. Yu governed with integrity and uprightness. With the court filled with treacherous men, it was Mr. Yu who held everything together. Only a few months after he resigned this year, the government has already descended into chaos...”

“Mr. Yu must recover quickly!”

“There’s no one left to carry on his mantle in the entire court...”

“Heaven must open its eyes...”

“Teacher...”

The Daoist stood at the very back of the crowd, still a fair distance from the end of the throng, and looked toward the old estate.

From within, they could already hear the sound of loud weeping.

“Mr. Yu, please,” the Daoist called toward the residence.

Then he stood still, patiently waiting.

Suddenly, the wailing inside rose sharply; someone cried out “Father,” and someone loudly announced the time. It was the third quarter of the Wei hour[1]. Whether in the courtyard or out on the road, everyone who heard immediately understood. Before the house and behind it, people covered their faces and wept, their grief filling the air.

Creak...

The front gate opened, and all those outside surged forward, eager to see Mr. Yu one last time.

But among them, there was one who walked the other way, the only one moving against the tide.

He was a man with snow-white hair and a beard streaked with grey, dressed in plain clothes. His features were as composed as ever, still carrying a trace of the bearing he had in his youth. His expression was calm; he walked slowly, carefully avoiding everyone. As he moved, he took in every face, such as those hurrying in, those who lingered respectfully at the door for lack of status, as though he meant to look upon them all one more time and fix them deeply in his memory.

The sunlight outside the gate shone bright, yet it did not burn him. A sigh escaped his lips as he finally stepped out past the threshold of the old house.

Looking up, he saw the Daoist in the distance. He saluted first, then walked quickly over, and saluted again.

“Greetings, sir.” Yu Jianbai spoke as he bowed, then turned slightly toward the young girl in tri-colored robes at the Daoist’s side. “And this must be Lady Calico?”

“That’s right!”

“Greetings, Lady Calico.”

“Greetings to you too.” The girl bent at the waist, imitating his bow while secretly sizing him up.

“Greetings.” The Daoist returned the courtesy as well, then pointed to the swallow perched on the eaves. “This is the descendant of the Swallow Immortal of Anqing, his name is Yan An.”

“Oh...” Yu Jianbai quickly bowed toward the eaves as well.

The swallow lowered his head in return.

“Mr. Yu, is there anything you have yet to entrust? I can pass it along for you.”

“There’s not much worth entrusting, what needed to be said I’ve already said. As for the rest, even ten more years would not be enough to say it all.” Yu Jianbai sighed. “I only regret my own foolishness, that I lacked the ability of the former State Preceptor Chang Yuanzi, and could not restore to Great Yan the glory of the late emperor’s reign. Instead, I’ve allowed the world to grow ever more chaotic, and the dynasty to totter in the wind and rain.”

“Mr. Yu, you underestimate yourself. In the late emperor’s time, Great Yan was indeed prosperous and strong, but that was not only due to the preceptor’s support, it was also because the emperor, in his youth, was shrewd and capable, and because the tides of the age had turned in his favor.

“Now the current emperor is biased and gullible, far less wise than the late emperor was in his youth; the State Preceptor Miaohuazi delights in political scheming and factionalism; and with the turning of the times, tensions have built up across the realm. Great Yan’s fortunes are already in decline. You, as a prime minister who cannot dictate all in court, could hardly hope to turn the tide by your own strength alone.”

The Daoist paused for a moment, looking toward the courtyard ahead. “Many of the people here today are neither your followers nor your disciples, yet they have still come. The measure of your merits and faults has long been decided in the hearts of the people.”

“Ah...” Yu Jianbai let out another sigh. “Sir, you are an immortal, can even you not stem the surging tide, nor prop up a great hall that is on the verge of collapse?”

“The rise and fall of dynasties is the way of the world and unavoidable. The Great Yan has stood for over two hundred years; it should have reached its end decades ago, but Grandmaster Tiansuan forcibly prolonged its life.” The Daoist turned and began walking back the way he had come, speaking as he went. “The unprecedented prosperity and strength of the late emperor’s reign was fated to be but a brief flare before the end.”

“I can only lament that when dynasties change, the realm falls into chaos, and the people are once again driven from their homes,” Yu Jianbai said with feeling. “The affairs of the world are ever thus,

when it prospers, the people suffer; when it falls, the people suffer.

”

“Mr. Yu, you truly have the people at heart.”

“I have a question I wish to ask you, sir.”

“Please, speak freely.”

“Since you are a lofty immortal, do you know if there has ever been a time when the people did not suffer? Has there ever been a dynasty that did not fall for all eternity?”

“I am not an immortal, nor am I all-knowing or all-powerful,” Song You shook his head first, then replied, “The chaos of the realm lies in the human heart. The human heart is complex, there has likely never been a time when the people did not suffer at all, but there have certainly been times when they suffered far less. As for a dynasty that lasts for all eternity, it’s unlikely. A dynasty that lasts much longer than most, that is more achievable.”

“When will that be? And what kind of world will it be...?” Yu Jianbai stood frozen in place, his gaze unfocused, his expression a mix of yearning and puzzlement.

“Mr. Yu, you are now already a divine spirit, you will be the Lord of one of the palaces of the Underworld. I recall back in Yizhou, when we were chatting idly, you spoke of immortality. Immortality without aging is no longer possible, and you are already old. As for living as long as heaven and earth, as long as the sun and moon, or for a thousand autumns and ten thousand years, that is hard to achieve. But so long as you carry out your duties well and no calamity befalls, your time will still be long indeed.” Song You said, “When the time comes, Mr. Yu, you may see it for yourself.”

“See it... for myself...” Yu Jianbai was briefly taken aback, but then his eyes brightened.

“It is the future,” the Daoist said calmly.

At that moment, a contingent of underworld officials appeared beside them. There were quite a number, both civil and military. Apart from the guards surrounding them front and back, the civil officials all wore full ceremonial robes, and the military officers had armor under their red outer robes. No one knew where they had emerged from, but the procession was grand.

Seeing Yu Jianbai, and then the Daoist, they were startled, and quickly bowed.

“Greetings, Master.”

“Greetings, Palace Lord.”

“We are underworld officials of the Second Palace, here to respectfully escort Mr. Yu to take up his post.”

Yu Jianbai was visibly stunned, while the Daoist returned their salute.

“My thanks to you all. However, Mr. Yu is an old acquaintance from many years ago, and I owe him the courtesy of a personal send-off. Now that he has passed from the mortal world, allow me to accompany him to the underworld myself.”

“We will follow your wishes...”

“You may return.”

“We take our leave.” The many underworld officials withdrew once more.

“The underworld was only recently established, everything is still new. Aside from Divine Lord Yuewang, the Ghost Emperor, there are for now only three palaces, each overseeing different matters. The Second Palace governs rewards and punishments, rewarding virtue, punishing wrongdoing, and thus requires a Lord who is upright, just, and who has rendered merit to the mortal realm. You, Mr. Yu, have always been upright and just, and in the latter half of your life devoted yourself wholly to the people. Naturally, this seat was kept for you.”

Song You continued, “Once you go, you will no longer be human. You will be both an underworld official and a divine spirit.

“Underworld officials and spirits are more unique than the gods of heaven. During your tenure, you will meet many people, perhaps the current State Preceptor Miaohuazi, perhaps the present emperor, perhaps old friends or rivals from your official career, perhaps even former wives, children, nephews, and descendants.

“In the underworld, all mortal identities must be shed. Whether one was an emperor, a general, a minister, or a noble, all begins anew. This is the great equality between life and death.

“Even a mortal emperor, upon reaching the underworld, is just another ghost. Only their virtues and misdeeds are weighed, status and rank are nothing. Mr. Yu, you must also let go of mortal ties and feelings, and act impartially as always. If it is too difficult, you may simply recuse yourself. I will personally escort you there.”

Yu Jianbai listened quietly until the very last sentence, then cupped his hands and said, “I must trouble you with this journey, sir.”

“Eighteen years ago, outside Yizhou City, we have never forgotten the farewell you gave us.” The Daoist rubbed the little girl’s head, finding she was no longer as short as before and no longer so easy to reach. “This time, as you pass from life to spirithood, it is only fitting I come to repay that bond.”

The girl did not raise her head, but she understood. So she looked to the left and right, and seeing that the village was now empty, most having surely rushed to the Yu family’s ancestral home, she reached into her cloth satchel and pulled out a small flag.

“Poof...”

A crane of immortal bearing spread its wings from behind the bamboo-covered hill.

“This...” Yu Jianbai looked up in a daze.

“Didn’t you spend the first half of your life yearning for the Immortal Dao? Then please, take the crane for your journey. From here to Fengzhou is still several thousand li, you may as well look upon the lands and people you have guarded for more than a decade.”

The Daoist made an inviting gesture toward him, and the crane also lowered its body.

Yu Jianbai stared fixedly at the crane, his eyes flickering with shifting emotions.

It was as if he had truly remembered the Yu Jianbai from many years ago, remembered the yearning in his heart back then for cultivation, for magic, for eternal life, but that had all belonged to the first half of his life.

In the second half, he had suddenly awakened. Immortality was but a distant mirage, eternal life hard to attain. Sweeping away the languor and indulgence of his youth, he devoted himself wholly to the people. In eighteen years, he rose from Prefect of Yizhou to Prime Minister of Great Yan, witnessed its peak prosperity, endured imperial succession, rebellions, and uprisings, saw with his own eyes its decline and instability.

Every day he had been filled with worry, and the Immortal Dao and eternal life he had once clung to so stubbornly in his muddle-headed youth had long vanished from his heart.

Eighteen years had passed in a blur; the body aged, and the heart aged with it. He had never expected that eighteen years later, with no thought of the Immortal Dao, Yu Jianbai would become a Palace Lord of the Underworld.

After death, casting off the mortal shell, the body became weightless, and even the heart seemed to grow light. At this moment, gazing upon the great crane before him, it felt almost as if he had returned to the past.

That long-buried obsession he had pursued so bitterly for so many years yet failed to attain seemed to stir faintly to life in his heart once more.

Thus, he stepped forward and mounted the crane. The Daoist followed.

“Swoosh!”

The crane straightened its body, making him nearly lose his balance.

“To ride the crane away... will the people see it?”

“Mr. Yu, you're now a Palace Lord of the Underworld, destined to have your name remembered in the mortal realm, sung upon the lips of the people. To be seen riding a crane after death, surely that is a fine thing?”

“Screech!”

The crane spread its wings wide, lifting its neck to let out a clear, resonant cry that seemed to pierce the clouds, then took a few running steps and effortlessly soared into the sky on the wind.

𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Wind rushed head-on, filling his robes. The earth shrank beneath his eyes, revealing vistas he had never seen before.

“Ha ha! How swift, how joyous!” Yu Jianbai could not help but stroke his beard and laugh.

Without the wild arrogance of youth, without rising to his feet with a dramatic sweep of his sleeves, yet within his heart surged boundless heroic joy.

The living are but passing guests, the dead are those returning home; heaven and earth are but a wayside inn, together we grieve for the dust of ten thousand ages!

His voice rose high alongside the crane’s cry, carried away on the wind.

The rivers and mountains of the mortal realm lay before his eyes.

***

In the old Yu residence in the village below, the mourners stopped their wailing. Those who had been crowded around Yu Jianbai’s sickbed all came out, standing in the courtyard or outside the gate, craning their necks to look toward the distance, where a giant crane was beating its wings, riding the wind and parting the clouds, destination unknown.

“An immortal! Truly an immortal!”

“A sign of auspicious fortune!”

“Mr. Yu was indeed a virtuous prime minister!”

“There’s someone on the crane!”

“Perhaps an immortal has come to escort Prime Minister Yu!”

The Yu children stood frozen, their expressions blank. Only now did they realize that the words their father had spoken on his sickbed earlier had been neither lofty comforts to ease their grief, nor the confused ramblings of a fevered mind; they had been true.

Others began murmuring in low voices, saying they had seen a Daoist earlier outside the gate, with a little girl in tow, exuding an otherworldly air. Some added that just before entering, they had seen the Daoist standing off at a distance, behaving oddly, as if bowing and conversing with a ghost.

Minister of Rites Liu Changfeng personally asked what that Daoist and the girl looked like. The officials described them respectfully, and after hearing, Liu Changfeng said nothing more.

It was also at this moment that the Yu children remembered that they had heard before that when their father had served as Prefect of Yizhou, it had been a Daoist who had enlightened him, sparking his awakening. And in later idle chats with Minister Liu, he had spoken of this lofty immortal several times.

1. In traditional Chinese timekeeping, Wei hour (未時) corresponds to the hours of 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM. It is associated with the zodiac animal, the Sheep. During this time, sheep are believed to be pasturing, enjoying the diminishing heat of the afternoon. ☜