Part-Time Taoist Priest 1

Celestial Bone

June was warmer than usual in Niuyang City this year. It hadn’t rained for a long time, and instead of refreshing coolness, the breeze carried with it the suffocating heat of summer.

On such a day, a student wearing a black-and-red hoodie and jeans dashed out of the Third Facility of Quedong College. He had delicate features and a fair complexion. His plump lower eyelids¹It means eyes with narrow under-eye bags, usually viewed as an attractive feature. Do not confuse with eye bags. made him look as if he was always smiling, and his appearance easily left people with a favorable impression.

As he passed the flower bed in front of the building, someone leaned out a window on the second floor and shouted, “Why did you slip away, Xie Lingya? You will have to treat everyone to dinner next time!”

The student called Xie Lingya turned around and said, “I have a family emergency, Teacher Fang! I will invite you to eat spicy food later!”

Teacher Fang watched Xie Lingya run off and moved from the window with a smile.

It was the day for students majoring in financial management to defend their graduation thesis. Xie Lingya finished the earliest out of the whole major—it seemed the teachers were notified and made appropriate arrangements.

Although Teacher Fang wasn’t a member of the thesis committee, he was one of Xie Lingya’s teachers and was interested in his matters. He saw his colleague come over and said casually, “I don’t think I’ve heard where Xie Lingya is going for his internship. How was his thesis?”

It was customary for internships to coordinate with the topics of one’s graduation thesis. While it wasn’t mandatory, most students adhered to the tradition.

Xie Lingya’s thesis advisor’s expression became strange. He flipped through the internship application and pushed it to the other man. “His thesis was well-written. As for the internship…”

Curious, Teacher Fang turned his head to look at the official seal on the document. The moment he saw it, he became baffled. “Baoyang Temple in Niuyang City, Queshan Province, Huaxia²Ancient name for China? What the heck? He’s doing an internship in a Taoist temple? Is that even possible?”

He looked through the thesis—its topic also related to Baoyang Temple. Even though the topics chosen were diverse and sundry, this was in a class in and of itself.

The thesis advisor scratched his head and said, “That’s what I thought at first. I didn’t even know Taoist temples could have official seals! But, after all, it is a formal institution and can provide jobs. Some of the students from other departments do their internships in the supermarket next to the school gate, so why not a temple? Besides, he once mentioned his uncle was a Taoist priest.”

Teacher Fang couldn’t decide whether he should laugh or cry. “This young man… It seems he didn’t want to work and asked his uncle for a favor. Didn’t he fail the Postgraduate Admission Test? Maybe he wants to concentrate on preparing for the retake.”

“I guess.” A few students walked in to wait for their thesis defense, so the two teachers stopped chatting, ending the topic of conversation.

Niuyang Central Hospital

Xie Lingya pushed open a door, and his gaze fell on the grey-haired, emaciated old man lying in a hospital bed. He gasped and rushed inside, stopping beside the bed. “Uncle?”

This little old man was Xie Lingya’s maternal uncle, Wang Yuji. He entered the temple at the age of fourteen and eventually became a Taoist priest. Now, he was the only remaining member of Baoyang Temple, which he had led for over ten years.

The last time Xie Lingya met his uncle was when he asked for help with the internship. He never expected that just a few months later, Wang Yuji would appear several decades older. He asked, horrified, “What happened to you?”

When Wang Yuji saw his nephew, he showed a look of relief and struggled to take something out from under the bed. Xie Lingya hurriedly bent down to help him get it. When he picked up the wooden box, he found it somewhat familiar. If he remembered correctly, it contained a wooden sword that Wang Yuji hardly ever allowed to leave his side. It was an antique magic instrument handed down in Wang Yuji’s sect—the Three Treasures³Basic virtues in Taoism. The term originally meant “compassion,” “frugality,” and “humility,” but it was later used to translate the Three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha) in Chinese Buddhism, and to mean the Three Treasures (jing, qi, and shen) in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Sword.

“Xiao Ya, uncle’s time is coming.” Wang Yuji’s opening sentence scared Xie Lingya even more. The old man did not have much strength to speak; he beckoned the young man closer.

“Hold onto the Three Treasures Sword. I already made a will: after I die, you will become the owner of Baoyang. You’ve nearly finished your studies, so there’s nothing to worry about. There’s only one thing I regret—I haven’t had time to accept a disciple to inherit my sect’s teachings. When you have some spare time in the future, you can help me look, but whether you can find the right person… Well, who knows?” A self-deprecating smile appeared on Wang Yuji’s face. “In the first half of my life, I was proud, arrogant, and aimed too high, and the second half is cut early; I have let my Master down. Not to mention, I don’t have a single apprentice. I’m afraid I won’t be able to rest in peace.”

Xie Lingya’s mother died early, and his father was often busy. As such, when he was a child, he often played with his uncle and was very attached to him. To see him like this, he couldn’t stop his tears from falling. “Stop scaring me, uncle, you aren’t going to die. Why are you acting so dramatic? If you lack an apprentice, then I’m willing to become one—I will kowtow to you right this moment. Didn’t you say I have what it takes to become an Immortal?”

Wang Yuji was both amused and sad. He scolded, smiling, “You little punk, you want to be an Immortal? I’m afraid your bones have grown wrong. If I accepted you as my apprentice, even if my Master didn’t come to find trouble with me in the Underworld, your mother would pinch me to death.”

Since he was in elementary school, Xie Lingya knew his uncle’s profession had little in common with the natural sciences he was being taught; it belonged to a field that Bill Nye, The Science Guy, could not explain. So, when he heard the man who could accurately foretell future talk about his impending death, it made him panic.

Xie Lingya forced a smile and asked, “Uncle, what’s the result of your exam? I’ll call my dad, he knows a good doctor in another hospital. Let’s transfer you there.”

Wang Yuji shook his head. “My life is running out, it’s inevitable. Let’s make use of the time I have left and talk some more.”

Xie Lingya could not believe this was really happening. “But how could this, so suddenly… Last time I saw you, you were perfectly fine.”

“My cultivation was not enough to deal with some things, that’s all,” whispered Wang Yuji. Unexpectedly, he found some strength to clap his nephew on the shoulder. “Take good care of the sword. If later, someone is lucky enough to become a disciple of my sect, pass it on to him. The notes too; they are in the usual place, you know where.
“Xiao Ya, do you remember that time when you were a freshman in high school? You were in a rebellious phase then. You and your classmate snuck out in the middle of the night, stole my Three Treasures Sword and went to his house to exorcize evil spirits. At the time, I actually regretted a little that I promised your parents not to take you as an apprentice. Someone with celestial bones is really a heaven-defying talent, just like the legends said—I had taught you nothing at all yet you could use the Three Treasures Sword after catching only a few glimpses of my technique.
“But then, for some reason, you changed your mind and turned into a diligent student. Your grades got better, and you went to college. This wasn’t bad either; your mother used to say children need to read more books.
“When I was young, I started by peeking at my master’s work too, but we weren’t as good as you…”

As Wang Yuji talked about the past, he became more and more energetic; he even regained some color in his cheeks. On the contrary, Xie Lingya’s face became increasingly pale.

Terminal lucidity—this thought appeared in Xie Lingya’s mind. He rang the bell to summon a nurse, then got up, saying, “Uncle, I’m going to call a doctor. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of your temple, we will accept dozens of apprentices, so much we won’t be able to accommodate them all…”

However, Wang Yuji grabbed his hand in a momentary burst of strength, preventing him from leaving. “Xiao Ya, you must tell him, cultivating the Three Treasures is cultivating the heart, not the sword.”

“He” had to refer to Wang Yuji’s as-of-yet-unknown apprentice.

Xie Lingya started to cry. He choked out, “I will!”

The architectural style of Golden Osmanthus Pedestrian Street was very uniform. From one end to the other, whether it was a clothing store, a handicraft shop, or a restaurant, all had the same grey-blue exterior walls, reddish-brown shop signs, and fly-eaves—loosely imitating historical streets.

Next to Golden Osmanthus Street was Dawn Square. In the place where the two met, there was a not-too-wide front wall and a gate, in the same style as the rest of the street. The three big characters on the sign read: 抱阳观 – Baoyang Temple.

In fact, if one were to stand a little further away and look carefully, they would find that while the front wall was indeed a modern imitation, the roof of the building inside looked quite old. However, precisely because the surrounding buildings were similar in appearance, it didn’t stand out. Though a large number of people passed by it every day as they shopped, no one took even a little bit of interest in it.

Baoyang Temple had been closed for the past few months. Xie Lingya and his father unlocked the gates only now, after the funeral. Per Wang Yuji’s wishes, the ceremony was simple.

The temple was much more spacious inside than it appeared, mostly because there was a small place in the wall next to the gate that was rented to a newspaper shop. Because of this, the front looked rather narrow. In reality, the front wall alone was more than fifteen meters wide, and the space inside was even bigger.

Unlike the wall, Baoyang Temple itself had an ancient air about it. The ground was paved with old-fashioned bluestone slabs. Passing through the gate was like stepping into another world.

The current owner of the title deed, Xie Lingya, hadn’t been here in a long time and went to look around.

Father Xie put down his son’s baggage. He didn’t bring any himself, because he worked in another town and only took a day’s leave. He had to go back tonight. “Have you made up your mind?” He asked.

Xie Lingya looked him straight in the eyes. “Don’t worry, dad, I’m not planning to become a monk. I’m going to retake the Postgraduate Admission Test next year. Living here is both convenient for me and fulfilling my uncle’s wish at the same time.”

Father Xie’s mouth twitched. Feeling a bit guilty, he explained, “…I’m just afraid you will have a hard time. Your uncle’s temple is completely deserted, it won’t be easy to recruit anyone.”

“That’s true,” Xie Lingya agreed. “Nowadays, both Buddhist monks and Taoist priests have the basic salary requirements. Still, I’ll try my best.”

After seeing his father off, Xie Lingya tidied up Wang Yuji’s room and put the box with the Three Treasures Sword inside. The sight of it reminded him of his uncle’s last moments, making him sad.

He also put the notes his uncle mentioned in order. They were the legacy left behind by the previous generations of Wang Yuji’s sect. When the future apprentice learned the basics, he would depend on them. Before he died, Wang Yuji allowed Xie Lingya to take a look at them—well, if he didn’t, it would be impossible to find a suitable candidate.

There was a great number of notes written by many different predecessors. As such, the knowledge they contained was a motley collection confusing for an amateur. Fortunately, when Wang Yuji copied them, he also sorted them out, labeling and tagging them.

Xie Lingya flipped to the part about physiognomy. The first sentence was: There is a Yan bone in the chest, it is called a celestial bone.

This familiar term caused him to be lost in thought for a while.

The last time he heard the words “Yan bone” was in the first year of high school when he was rebellious and looking for trouble all the time. Wang Yuji said it by accident, which led to him finding out he had an additional bone in his chest.

What was the Yan bone?

It was also called the celestial bone. The Taoist theory said: anyone with a celestial bone had his name recorded in the Book of Immortality. They were destined to become an Immortal!

Perhaps this explanation was too vague. However, it was said that thousands of years ago, the people recorded to have celestial bones were extremely formidable. In fact, many of them founded their own sects and were written into history as influential figures.

At the time, Wang Yuji had sighed with emotion. “My master told me, Common people have to cultivate for a lifetime, but are unable to pass through the door; wise men meditate for decades to achieve enlightenment; the talented need but sixteen steps to become immortal!
“The easier you learn the basics, the more gifted you are. With such talent, Xiao Ya could be called a genius who needs no teacher!”

“‘Genius who needs no teacher’ my ass! He still can’t read English!” Father Xie had rebuked, slapping Xie Lingya, who was self-satisfied with his uncle’s words, in the back of the head.

This was a new era. Naturally, cultivating immortality couldn’t hold a candle to getting into a good university.

For some time, Xie Lingya floated about like an immortal. Then, some things happened, and he immersed himself in studying, not peeping in on his uncle’s superstitious activities anymore.

His grades were so bad it was better not to mention them, but “a fault confessed is half redressed.” After burying himself in the books for a year, he managed to get into a rather good public college.

One thing led to another—when he went to college, he was plunged into the sea of knowledge so deep he couldn’t extricate himself from it for a long time. Celestial bones? Taoism? Forget it.

Xie Lingya came back to himself, sighing sadly. His hands tightened on the notes, and he promised silently, You can rest assured, uncle. People with such an ultimate physique like mine may be rare, but I will do my best to find someone as close to it as possible!

That person would not only be Wang Yuji’s disciple but also his inheritor. As such, he would become the master of Baoyang Temple. This did not conflict with Xie Lingya’s identity as its owner, and if the other party was really reliable, he would transfer the ownership to him later.

His father was right, however—Baoyang was pretty much abandoned, with no believers coming to burn incense. This made recruitment difficult.

Xie Lingya took a look at the ledger. The accounts of Baoyang Temple were simple: while his uncle had some other earnings occasionally, the only regular income came from the newspaper store’s rent. After deducting the expenses such as water and electricity fees, joss sticks and candles, food, and so on, not much remained.

There were many places in need of repairs that were put on hold because of limited funds.

Xie Lingya collected the temple’s official seal, wondering how to obtain another source of revenue…

Translator’s Notes:

1. “The plump lower eyelids made him look as if he was always smiling” – lit. lying silkworm eyes [卧蚕眼]. It means eyes with narrow under-eye bags, usually viewed as an attractive feature. Do not confuse with eye bags. (Source)
2. Huaxia [华夏, huá xià] – an ancient name for China.
3. The Three Treasures [三宝, sānbǎo] – basic virtues in Taoism. The term originally meant “compassion,” “frugality,” and “humility,” but it was later used to translate the Three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha) in Chinese Buddhism, and to mean the Three Treasures (jing, qi, and shen) in Traditional Chinese Medicine. (Source)

Translator: Eques
Editor: Bet

Eques:

I translated the name of the street, but tell me if you prefer the Chinese name – Jingui (Pedestrian) Street. I’m going to leave the “pedestrian” out later, it only means it’s a car-free zone.

I imagine Xie Lingya looks something like this…

…And Baoyang like this (only smaller and not so cared for, as of now):