The late-night visitor was a short, chubby old man with a large, round head. Beneath his heavy eyelids were a pair of tiny turtle-like eyes. Most peculiar was his robe, adorned with various-sized pockets, some bulging, others flat. In one hand, he held a lit torch, and in the other, a weighing scale. His expression was strange and stubborn, like that of an ancient shaman who simply refused to die.
Duan Wu called out for him to "come up," trying to bolster her own courage. She secretly opened her pouch, which was filled with prepared pepper powder.
The old man laughed dryly, "I'll be up in a bit!"
He bent down, examining the rows of corpses on the ground. Occasionally, he would lift the weight from the scale and tap it on the heads of the dead, each time producing a "thunk thunk" sound. Shaking his head and clicking his tongue, he muttered, "Tsk tsk, they're dead! Truly dead!"
In the dim hall, a large black shadow, resembling a calf, appeared. It was accompanied by two glowing green eyes—it was a massive wolfdog following the old man. The wolfdog sniffed at the bodies, extending its tongue and letting out mournful whines.
Facing a room full of corpses in the dark of night, the old man remained unfazed. Did he break into the inn just to play with tapping the heads of the dead with his scale? Duan Wu cleared her throat and forced a smile. "Hey, stop looking at the dead. There’s a living person right here. Aren’t you going to take a look?"
The old man shone his torch on her and grumbled, "Didn’t I say I’d be up in a bit? Ruru, you go on ahead!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the wolfdog leaped up the stairs, barking furiously as it charged toward Duan Wu.
Duan Wu didn’t have time to dodge. She gripped her sharp knife, mustering all her strength, and barked back at the wolfdog even louder than it had barked at her.
The wolfdog abruptly halted, sniffing around her before wagging its tail and barking joyfully twice.
Duan Wu hid her knife back in her sleeve and patted the dog’s head. The wolfdog, acting playfully, licked her fingers. With a sudden yelp, its fur bristled as it leaped back downstairs. Duan Wu, remembering her fingers were covered in pepper powder, couldn’t help but laugh.
The old man, displeased, shouted, "You little witch, why did you harm Ruru?"
Duan Wu spat on the floor. "Harm Ruru? I don’t even know who Ruru is! I should be asking you—why are you here in the middle of the night, tapping people’s heads with a scale? I, Duan Wu, studied under the immortal elders of Mount Xianshan in the South Sea for seven or eight years just to come to Kunlun Mountain to capture evil spirits and make a name for myself!" She said this so convincingly that even she almost believed it.
The old man, however, seemed skeptical. He pulled up a chair, crossed his legs, and said, "Quite impressive, making up lies at fourteen or fifteen years old! Do you know who I am? I’m a Mongolian doctor, name's A-Tai. In the Western regions, I’m the best there is. Do you think I enjoy wandering around at night just to look at a pile of corpses? If people are dead, what good is a doctor? Even if you brought your immortal master here, it wouldn’t make a difference! But my dog Ruru, it was born a righteous dog. If it smells a sick person, it will run straight to them. Tonight, it insisted on coming to this inn, and it didn’t find a patient, only a little witch like you! Did the bandits kill all these people? Why were you left behind, waiting for help? You look perfectly healthy to me, so I’m not here to save you. And since you’ve upset Ruru, I won’t save you either!"
Duan Wu’s eyes darted as she quickly thought up a response. "What a great Mongolian doctor and what a righteous dog! You don’t even know who the patient here is, so how can I expect anything from you? I’ve heard that Mongolian doctors are all frauds, and now I see it with my own eyes."
The Mongolian doctor chuckled, his little eyes squinting into slits. He pulled something from one of his pockets and dabbed it on the dog’s mouth, and Ruru immediately stopped whining. Then, from another pocket, he took out some powder, sprinkled it over the nearby lamp, and the room instantly brightened.
"The patient isn’t you. You stayed here for someone else, didn’t you?" A-Tai studied Duan Wu closely. "I see that you’re not the type to fall ill easily, but this past year hasn’t been kind to you. You’ve barely recovered from your wounds, and already you’ve forgotten the pain. It seems you’ve eaten the longevity-enhancing little white flowers from the Queen Mother’s Pool, which is why you could survive the poisonous fumes and still jump around among the dead bodies! Am I right?"
Duan Wu closed her eyes: this Mongolian doctor was indeed strange.
If he intended to harm her, he would have done so already. Perhaps he really wasn’t a bad person? Maybe this old man could help with Yan Zijin’s illness?
She pouted, "A doctor’s job is to treat illness, not to tell fortunes! If you can cure the person in that room, I’ll admit you’re the best."
A-Tai replied, "Admitting it isn’t enough. You’ll have to call me Grandpa and kowtow five times! And admit that Mongolian doctors are the best!"
Duan Wu smiled wryly, "Sure, sure!" She thought to herself: Even if I agree now, who says I have to keep my promise later?
A-Tai slowly ascended the stairs, the wolfdog following with a wagging tail. Duan Wu kept her hand on the knife hilt, ready for anything.
When A-Tai reached her, he studied her for a moment and asked, "Who’s in the room?"
"My master."
"Your mistress?"
"It’s a man."
"Hmm, as old as I am?"
Duan Wu replied, "Twenty years old."
A-Tai grunted, "Hmm, your master is indeed sick."
Duan Wu was taken aback. A-Tai explained, "There was an unpierced pearl placed beside him, and he wouldn’t even touch it, insisting on keeping the servant girls as virgins. Isn’t that a sign of illness? Your master is quite sick indeed."
Duan Wu was furious—what kind of talk was this?
A-Tai walked into the room uninvited. Duan Wu, being nimble, darted under the old man’s arm and quickly announced, "Master, a doctor has arrived! Let him take a look at you." She pulled out a long knife behind the old man’s back, silently hoping Yan Zijin would understand her signal.
Yan Zijin didn’t move. A-Tai took a step back from the bedside and exclaimed, "Oh? Yan, is that you?"
Yan Zijin, startled, suddenly opened his eyes and said, "Oh, it’s you, this Mongolian doctor."
He loosened the fist he had been holding by his side. Only then did Duan Wu realize that Yan Zijin and A-Tai were already acquainted.
Unexpectedly, A-Tai was furious, as if Yan Zijin owed him a debt from decades ago. Instead of examining Yan Zijin, he pointed at his nose and scolded, "No wonder I’ve been hearing crows these past few days, and now I run into you, you little plague god. Last time, I used up so many medicinal herbs just to save your life. You promised me that once you returned to the capital, you’d live a good life and never come back to the Western regions. But after only three years, here you are again! Do you think seeking revenge is that easy? You’ve wasted so many lives and are now half-dead yourself. How much more medicine do you want to waste?"
Yan Zijin, struggling, turned his back to A-Tai.
Duan Wu thought, Was it this Mongolian doctor who saved Yan Zijin three years ago? But his medical skills don’t seem that impressive, given all those scars...
A-Tai continued his tirade, "Don’t think all Mongolian doctors are willing to risk their lives and lose money for you. Unless you pay back the cost of the herbs from last time, I’m not going to treat you again..."
Duan Wu glanced at his scale and thought, Is he seriously haggling over prices at a time like this?
Yan Zijin was left with nothing but a mink fur coat, a dozen gold chains, a silver weapon, and—her...
After A-Tai finished his rant, Yan Zijin managed to utter a few words, "You... treat me or don’t!"
A-Tai jumped up in anger and glared at Duan Wu. Duan Wu grinned darkly, "The master isn’t in a hurry, so why should I be? If he dies, I’ll regain my freedom sooner. Doctor, you’ve been around long enough to know he’s stubborn as a bull. He was bound to come back here eventually. Now, what’s the point of scolding him after the fact? If you don’t have the skills to save him, then so be it. No need to nag, you’re giving me a headache."
A-Tai pointed to the sky, "Who says I don’t have the skills?"
Duan Wu, sneezing from the pepper powder, sat down and replied, "I said it. Otherwise, you would have already saved him!"
A-Tai stormed out of the room, leaving the wolfdog to hover around Yan Zijin, growling and snorting.
Duan Wu didn’t move. A-Tai returned shortly after and said, "Fine, I’ll show you I can save him!"
Duan Wu laughed, "I’m watching!"
A-Tai pulled some golden powder from one of his pockets, rubbed it on Yan Zijin’s neck, and observed for a moment, muttering, "Strange." He then smeared some red powder on his scale weight and placed it on Yan Zijin’s forehead, exclaiming, "Ah."
After a while, he produced a clay pill from another pocket, rubbed it until it turned into a sticky paste, and applied it to Yan Zijin’s temples. Duan Wu watched in amazement, thinking, Is there really a doctor like this in the world? If he kills Yan Zijin, it won’t be my fault, right?
A-Tai pulled her out of the room and asked, "Where have you been these past ten days?"
Duan Wu answered truthfully, omitting only the details about the Squirrel and the Blue Eyes. A-Tai pondered, "The desert... Yuchi’s house... Amber Beach... mountain roads... hmm, his illness is quite peculiar! A few years ago, many nobles and wealthy merchants in this area mysteriously fell ill like this and died within seven or eight days. But in recent years, this illness has disappeared. How unlucky he is to have it now!" Duan Wu shrugged.
"Did he take any medicine after he got sick? Specifically, did he take some ground black stone? How did you even get such a stone?"
Duan Wu replied, "How we got it... The master is a wealthy merchant. You’d have to ask him how he came by it."
A-Tai stared into her eyes, "Really? There’s only one place in Kunlun Mountain where such a stone can be found. You must have met someone from there. If you want me to save him, I need the truth."
Seeing no other option, Duan Wu told A-Tai about the Squirrel and the Blue Eyes.
After she finished, she added angrily, "Those people downstairs were definitely killed by them."
A-Tai muttered to himself, "He doesn’t have time for that."
Duan Wu countered, "Why not? I suspect that black stone they gave Yan Zijin was poisoned."
A-Tai shook his head, "It wasn’t poison; it was good medicine. But if you take too much of it, it becomes toxic. How much did Yan Zijin take?"
"One piece."
"One piece?" A-Tai rushed back into the room and shouted at the patient, "Are you out of your mind? How could you take an entire piece? Even if you’re desperate, you can’t be that reckless! The herbs I used on you back then... let me calculate, calculate... how much would they cost?"
Yan Zijin, struggling to listen, finally muttered stubbornly, "If I didn’t finish it... how would I know it was too much?"
Even Duan Wu couldn’t help but laugh and cry at the situation. She quickly tried to smooth things over, saying, "Master, don’t blame me for saying this, but when someone makes a mistake, they should admit it. Grandpa, you’re a kind man—why not see this through to the end? If you don’t save him this time, then all the effort from last time would be wasted, wouldn’t it? Losing Yan Zijin is a small matter, but tarnishing the reputation of Mongolian doctors would be a big deal!"
A-Tai hesitated, while Ruru licked Yan Zijin’s hand, whining softly. Duan Wu’s large eyes blinked rapidly, pleading.
The old man dug into his pocket, pulling out a handful of sand, which he then scattered on the ground. Duan Wu stretched out her hand, catching some of it. A-Tai sighed, saying, "The sand hasn’t fully fallen to the ground—this is fate. If we’re going to save him, we’ll need to go to a very distant place. But... I’ll have to blindfold you. If you learn how to enter this place, you may never come out again."
Duan Wu was curious, "What kind of place is it?"
A-Tai tapped her braid with his scale rod, saying, "Little devil, why should I tell you?"
Duan Wu pouted, "Even if you don’t tell me, I already know."
"Oh, and how would an outsider like you know that?"
Thinking of the wandering Squirrel, Duan Wu blurted out, "It was that rascal Squirrel who told me when he was injured!"
A-Tai’s eyes lit up, and he studied her closely. "By the way, how old are you exactly?"
"Fifteen."
A-Tai leaned in and whispered, "You and Yan Zijin... you don’t want to remain his slave, do you? Do you have anywhere else to go?"
Duan Wu put on a sorrowful face, "I have no choice. I just want to repay a favor. Who in their right mind would want to be a slave? I originally planned to follow Yan Zijin to the Prince of Nomin’s estate to broaden my horizons and then find some noble to work for. But now everything’s ruined, so I’ll just have to take things one step at a time."
She spoke with a bitter tone, though part of it was just an act.
Even if things were tough, she wasn’t about to walk around with a gloomy face and bring herself more bad luck.
She continued, pleading, "The master is gravely ill, and he’s not one to open his eyes often. As for me, I’m a living person—if I’m blindfolded, wouldn’t that suffocate me? Esteemed doctor, let me sit next to you and listen to your stories about the past. Maybe I can show off a bit and tell you about my days selling pearls in the South Sea."
A-Tai chuckled, "What’s your name?"
"Duan Wu."
"Duan Wu, a good name. Do you like reading poetry? Do you enjoy listening to stories?"
Duan Wu shook her head, thinking, Who has time to read poetry when they haven’t even eaten? But she did like listening to stories because they were about other people, which saved her the trouble.
A-Tai smiled again, saying, "Perhaps one day you’ll grow to like poetry. And if you’re lucky, you’ll get to hear stories often!"
With that, he hoisted the unconscious Yan Zijin over his shoulder, beckoning Duan Wu and Ruru to follow him out of the inn.
The stars in the vast wilderness seemed so close, as if one could reach out and grab them. Duan Wu glanced back, but A-Tai said, "Don’t look back. Someone else will take care of things. This is the first time bandits have dared to raid an inn on the official road. This matter is too big to go unresolved!"
He struck his scale rod with the weight, and from the inn’s side, eight wolfdogs as large as Ruru emerged, pulling a sled-like carriage.
The old man placed Yan Zijin inside the carriage, lined with fur, and said to Duan Wu, "You squeeze in next to him."
Duan Wu eyed the narrow carriage and thought, Squeeze in next to him? You might as well say squeeze on top of him!
She waved her hand, "No, the master is weak from illness—I’m afraid I might crush him. I’ll sit next to you, Grandpa."
A-Tai burst out laughing and let her sit beside him. With Ruru leading the way, the eight dogs followed, racing toward Kunlun Mountain.
Duan Wu chatted with A-Tai for a while before asking, "Grandpa, how did you meet Yan Zijin?"
A-Tai, knowing Yan Zijin was still unconscious, lowered his voice anyway, "Three years ago, Ruru and a man found him at the bottom of a cliff nearby. That man carried him to me. It seemed Yan had been traveling with his new wife when they were attacked by bandits. His wife resisted the bandits and threw herself off the cliff to her death. The bandits not only robbed him of his belongings but also tortured him for several days in their lair. Thinking he was beyond saving, they tossed him off the cliff, but he ended up in our hands... It took me three months to heal his wounds, but I couldn’t heal his heart. He was dazed and lost all the time... I advised him to leave the Western regions and start over, never to return. The bandits in Kunlun are ruthless, each with their own methods—how could one man kill them all? He said his only acquaintance in the Western regions was Yuchi, the lord of Hetian. Once he was able to walk again, I brought him to Yuchi’s estate and left him at the gate..."
"You didn’t meet Lord Yuchi, Grandpa?"
"I’m just a Mongolian doctor; I wouldn’t mix well with a noble like Yuchi," A-Tai laughed heartily. "I did think about asking Yuchi for some money for the medicine, but Ruru was quite fond of Yan. So I thought, forget it, I’ll just treat it as curing this dog’s little brother."
Duan Wu wanted to laugh but couldn’t quite bring herself to. The Mongolian doctor was alright, Ruru was alright, but Yan Zijin...
She glanced back at Yan Zijin, who lay quietly in the fur-lined carriage, looking almost like a porcelain doll.
Morning came, with pigeons and antelope moving through the forest. Kunlun Mountain stood like a fortress beneath the blue sky, its snow glowing with a faint purple hue.
Wrapped in Yan Zijin’s mink coat, Duan Wu didn’t feel cold at all. She held a wine pouch, occasionally offering some to the old man.
She felt that being blindfolded or not made little difference since she couldn’t keep track of how many twists and turns they took or how much of the landscape they passed. The scenery seemed to repeat itself yet constantly change, eventually lulling her from chatter to yawns, and then into the drowsiness of the night. At some point, she fell asleep leaning against the old man. She vaguely remembered A-Tai applying some cooling ointment to her nose before placing her inside the sled as well. She might have said something, but only the sound of the wind and the barking of dogs responded.
When she woke up, she found herself sitting in a large room, illuminated by warm candlelight, with soft white sheepskin rugs spread across the floor.
Ten or so elderly men, all with white beards and black turbans, faced her.
Duan Wu's first thought was: Where are the Mongolian doctor and Yan Zijin? Could they have already arrived at that place?
"Don’t worry, A-Tai brought you here. The patient you brought will recover," one of the elders said.
His voice was full of authority, but it didn’t inspire fear. In the candlelight, the elders' gazes were gentle.
Duan Wu stood up and bowed deeply to them. "Thank you. I have nothing to offer but my sincere gratitude to you all."
One of the elders asked, "Isn’t that patient your master? You’re thanking us for him? You must know that once he recovers, you’ll be a slave again."
Duan Wu’s eyes twinkled as she replied, "He is my master now, but he won’t always be. He once saved my life; I can’t leave a debt unpaid..."
She briefly recounted her journey from Pearl Sea to Kunlun Mountain, and the elders sighed in sympathy.
The elder who had spoken first said, "The Divine has guided you to this place. Here, we have no slaves."
Duan Wu wasn’t particularly religious, but out of politeness, she smiled and said, "Yes, thank the Divine. No slaves—just like the true paradise I once glimpsed in a mirage. I hope that once my master recovers, he won’t be so stubborn anymore. And I won’t remain his slave—I want to save up some money so that one day I can return to the South Sea and find my mother."
The elders nodded and asked her many questions. Having honed her quick wit in the trading house, Duan Wu answered with ease.
Her face radiated youthful beauty, and the liveliness in her eyes added to her charm.
Two chubby children ran over and grabbed onto Duan Wu’s sleeves.
One said, "Sister is mine."
The other said, "No, sister is mine."
Duan Wu couldn’t help but laugh at the two adorable children. There were no such plump and carefree children among the slaves she knew. She bent down, holding both of their hands, and said, "I’m both of your sister."
The children pulled her along, and Duan Wu, caught off guard, had no choice but to follow them into another room to avoid hurting them.
The room was filled with even more candles. Layers of silk drapes, like screens, separated the space.
The children led Duan Wu into one of the sections of silk. She sat down, and one of the children handed her a flower while the other placed a bowl at her feet.
"What’s this for?" Duan Wu asked, but the children just giggled.
Duan Wu looked around, noticing that in the surrounding sections of silk sat young women, all dressed in elegant attire with their faces partially covered by white silk that concealed their mouths, noses, and hair. Unlike Duan Wu, their eyes were shy, with happiness glowing in them.
What was going on here? Duan Wu wondered. Since everyone else was quiet, she decided to follow suit and not break the silence.
After a while, the elders she had seen earlier filed into the room in a dignified manner, despite their age, moving with the grace of wise men.
Each elder passed by the waiting girls and dropped a stone into the bowl at the feet of certain young women.
The first elder to drop a stone into Duan Wu’s bowl said, "A girl of humble origin will not be arrogant."
Another elder passing by Duan Wu said, "She may not be a rare beauty, but she is just beautiful enough." A stone fell into her bowl.
By the time eight stones had accumulated in Duan Wu’s bowl, she was eager to know if this was some sort of good fortune.
The last elder to pass by her spoke in a humorous tone, saying, "She is brave and playful, and she likes listening to stories."
Duan Wu recognized the voice as A-Tai’s and whispered excitedly, "Grandpa, Grandpa, it’s me."
The old man chuckled, "Who else would it be?" He dropped a stone into her bowl and walked off.
As Duan Wu stood there hesitantly in the middle of the hall, she felt the eyes of everyone on her.
The scent of bergamot and jasmine filled the air, making her feel dizzy with happiness. A kind-faced old woman approached her, holding a bowl of clear liquid, and said gently, "Young girl from afar, you are now our daughter. Drink this sweet water, and true happiness will descend upon you."
The two children tugged at Duan Wu’s skirt, urging her, "Sister, drink it, drink it."
Duan Wu was moved by the warmth of this place. It was a shame it was night; she couldn’t fully appreciate the beauty of it all.
With a graceful gesture, she drank the sweet water, and her smile became even sweeter than the honey. She was then led by the children and the old woman into a white tent, where someone handed her a bouquet of roses. Hugging the flowers, she drifted off into a dream filled with the scent of sweet roses...
Pale morning light knocked gently on the window, and a mountain sparrow softly sang on the windowsill as Duan Wu awoke from her rose-scented dream.
She exhaled deeply—this was no dream. She was lying in a place where there were no slaves, resting on the most comfortable bed she had ever known.
Her head rested on a warm arm, and her entire body felt as light and free as that of a newborn baby, bare and unburdened.
She inhaled the lingering scent of roses from her fingers and licked her still-sweet lips. Her long hair cascaded around her, and she brushed the dark strands away from her face.
All she wanted was to drift back to sleep, to keep sleeping... But suddenly, she let out a gasp, fully jolted awake.
She stared at her hands, her whole body trembling, because she had just realized that the arm she was resting on belonged to someone else!
She turned over and froze in shock.
Before her was a chest with pearl-colored skin, a smooth and toned torso, a slender waist, and broad shoulders...
It was a beautiful young man, still asleep.
If the angel Gabriel ever descended to Earth, he would surely choose this young man's body as the vessel for his pure and unsullied soul.
His immaculate beauty was like a patch of snow on the peak of Kunlun Mountain, seemingly on the verge of melting yet remaining untouched.
And at this very moment, this earthly angel was holding Duan Wu in his arms, lying with her under the same blanket.
She could hear his heartbeat, smell the faint fragrance of orchids on him. She quickly pulled back the bare foot she had unknowingly placed on his leg, her mind reeling in confusion.
Duan Wu stared at his nose—she knew this person. But from where?
The wind blew open the window, and apricot blossoms, wet with rain, shimmered like crystals before the exposed young man and woman.
A song drifted down as if from the clouds:
“This is the most beautiful place,
This is the most beautiful time,
This belongs to a beautiful name,
This is the Gulisdan of Ye Zhongxue.”
Ye Zhongxue? This really was Gulisdan—the true paradise from the mirage!
And then she remembered who he was. Ye Zhongxue—he was Ye Zhongxue!
She suddenly moved, and the young man’s long brows twitched. Their noses were almost touching.
He gazed at her with his azure eyes, as clear as the sky and as deep as the sea.
From this moment on, Duan Wu was lost to the Kunlun Mountain bandits, plunging into a fate from which there would be no return.
(Prequel Is Complete. Thank you for reading.)
The following is the author's announcement from February 2nd:
During the serialization of this prelude, I can't say that everyone wasn't supportive, and I can't say that I didn't persist.
However, after the internal and external challenges of January, I've realized that I truly don't have the energy to fully and earnestly work on both stories at the same time.
"The Little Person Who Reaches the Sky" has been serialized for a year, with over 60% of the story completed. It's not something I can abandon. After careful consideration, I've decided to focus on completing that project first.
"Jade of Kunlun" has been serialized for only a month, with just the prequel finished. This story's main narrative will clearly require the author to be fully focused and to put in a lot of effort.
There's an old saying: "Better to lose one arm than to injure both hands." While it's impossible to make a story perfect, the author should at least strive to maintain quality.
Rather than keep everyone endlessly waiting in this pit, or update so slowly that it "lingers" on your enthusiasm, I'd rather mark the prequel as complete.
It took me ten days to come to this decision. Now that I've shared it, I finally feel at ease.
Indeed, the author is the master of the story. But every person is the master of their own life.
People write stories and read stories ultimately to make life more interesting and more beautiful.
With this, I express my gratitude to all my friends and bow deeply.
The Spring Festival is approaching, so let's all enjoy the holiday. I wish everyone a bright future and happiness for the entire family in the coming year.
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