Ode to Chives

Xu Ying's eyes lit up, and he chuckled. "Sounds great! I've never grown chives before, let alone harvested them!" Smiling, he stepped forward. Li Xiaoke handed him a sickle. Xu Ying took it and examined it; it was an ordinary sickle, no different from one used by a typical old farmer, curved inward along the blade and quite sharp. The bronze bell hid inside Xu Ying's mind at first, then restlessly darted out, yet not daring to face Li Xiaoke, it ducked into Yuan Qi's Realm of Xiyi, only to be chased right back out by Yuan Qi. Steeling its bronze walls, the bell sluggishly drifted forward. After a moment of silence, it called out in a trembling voice, "Master..." Li Xiaoke looked at it for a couple of moments before recognizing it, smiling gently. "You are the Demon-Suppressing Bell I forged? You are..." He looked the bronze bell up and down, seemingly recognizing it yet somewhat hesitant. The bell hastily said, "Other runes have been stamped onto me, so no wonder Master didn't recognize me! I am the bronze bell from Little Stone Mountain!" It was filled with anticipation. Li Xiaoke came to an abrupt realization and laughed heartily. "So it's the bronze bell I left on Little Stone Mountain!" The bronze bell rejoiced. "Master recognizes me!" Li Xiaoke said, "Of course I recognize you. You are an exceptional treasure I forged. I used you to suppress a rampaging heavenly god. After descending to the mortal realm, that heavenly god committed heinous crimes and butchered the common folk of Yongzhou. It took immense effort for me to capture him, yet I could not kill him. So I suppressed him in Little Stone Mountain, erected a temple, and hung you there." This had been a battle of great pride for him, so naturally he remembered it vividly. The bronze bell said delightedly, "Master also suppressed that Qingbi demoness! That wicked woman committed countless evil deeds and harmed the loyal and good, so Master suppressed her alongside the heavenly god!" Li Xiaoke's expression changed slightly, and he said, "As for that matter, I don't recall it very clearly... Fellow Daoist Xu!" He turned his face and smiled at Xu Ying. "Come! It has been long since we last met, and I would love to have a good chat with you! Let's harvest chives and talk!" "All right!" Xu Ying sized him up. Li Xiaoke was quite tall, dressed in the style of the Han dynasty, favoring black robes with a red sash. He had some whiskers around his mouth, but they were trimmed neatly into an inverted V-shape, every hair tidy and in place. Even though he was working the fields, his clothes were as clean as new, without the slightest wrinkle or spot of mud. Even while walking through the chive patch, not a speck of grass-green stained his robes. He appeared to be in his thirties, showing no sign of being an old monster over three thousand years of age; his skin was fair and delicate, extraordinarily well-maintained. His fingernails were also trimmed neatly, each nail fitting flush against the flesh of his finger, not a fraction too long or too short. His eyebrows were symmetrically groomed as well—the number of hairs on the left brow was absolutely identical to that on the right! Though it was merely a brief glance, Xu Ying could already tell that Li Xiaoke was exceptionally fond of cleanliness, a man who pursued absolute perfection and symmetry. 'To Li Xiaoke, Lord Bell is no longer his beloved treasure, because Lord Bell is no longer perfectly symmetrical,' Xu Ying thought. 'What's more, Lord Bell has been branded with another person's imprint—something he must find unbearable.' Xu Ying had seen such people before, those who pursued absolute perfection, just like Pei Du, the patriarch of the Pei clan in Shendu. Observing this, Xu Ying kept it in mind, bending down to harvest chives alongside Li Xiaoke. Li Xiaoke smiled and said, "Fellow Daoist Xu must have never grown chives, have you?" Xu Ying asked humbly, "I would be glad to learn." Li Xiaoke said, "To grow chives, you must select the seeds carefully. The seeds you choose must be good and plump. Only with good seed can they have good growth prospects, and only then will the grown chives be tall, succulent, and fragrant." Xu Ying nodded gently and smiled. "Such good chive seeds are probably rare, aren't they?" Li Xiaoke sighed with emotion. "Indeed. When we farmers search everywhere and cannot find good seeds, we have to breed them ourselves first. We pick out some fine shoots from the chives that have been planted and harvested, leave them uncut, and let them grow, blossom, and bear fruit. Then we have good seeds. Rather than searching the mountains and plains for good seed, it is better to breed them yourself." Lost in thought, Xu Ying glanced at Xue Ying'an. Xue Ying'an said excitedly, "Brother Xu, my master is amazing at breeding!" Xu Ying nodded, then looked at Li Xiaoke and asked, "And after breeding?" Li Xiaoke smiled. "Then you must find a good plot of land. This land must have fertile soil, abundant moisture, and plenty of sunlight for the crops to thrive. You must also fertilize it diligently and watch over it carefully to prevent wild beasts from ruining it—especially guard against pigs. Pigs love to root up chives; before you even have a chance to harvest them, the pigs will have rooted up the chives you worked so hard to cultivate." Pensively, Xu Ying glanced at Xue Ying'an again. Xue Ying'an's eyes were bright, and he laughed. "Brother Xu, even though Master is talking about growing chives, I feel there are many profound principles of life in it!" Xu Ying nodded and asked Li Xiaoke, "And after planting the chives?" Li Xiaoke replied, "After planting comes the harvest. Chives are perennial plants. Once you cut them, if you leave them alone, they will grow on their own; after twenty days or so, you can harvest them again. You must choose a sunny day to cut them, not an overcast day. Cutting on an overcast day makes the roots rot easily." He bent down to teach Xu Ying how to cut the chives, saying, "Take today, for example. It is a sunny day, so the chives are very happy today. They have grown tall and tender, perfect for harvesting. You must not cut them all the way down at once; you must leave a bit of root, leave some hope for the chives. Leave about this much." He gestured at the base of the chives with his fingers, about three fingers high, and said, "Cut to this height, and the chives will hurt, but not enough to kill them. Don't worry about them—their vitality is vigorous. It won't take long for them to heal themselves and sprout new shoots." Lost in thought, Xu Ying cast another glance at Xue Ying'an. Li Xiaoke taught with great earnestness, saying, "There is another knack to it: your blade. Your blade must be sharp enough, your swing must be fast enough, and your cut must be level enough. Sharp, fast, level—only then will your harvested chives avoid coming out uneven, and only then will the chives not die from it." Xu Ying smiled. "Even if the chives resent it in their hearts, because our blade is level and everyone is cut equally neat, they won't complain that we are unfair." Li Xiaoke laughed heartily. "Fellow Daoist Xu is truly an old immortal—one hint and you see through it all! In harvesting chives, there is one more step!" He smiled. "You must scatter some ash over their cuts—plant ash will do—to disinfect, reduce inflammation, and promote wound healing. Once the chives' cuts heal, they won't hurt anymore. Only then will they grow even better!" Xu Ying looked up at the surrounding chive patches and said with sighing admiration, "No wonder this place is called Jiucai Ridge. 'A mountain need not be high; it is famed if an immortal dwells there.' Fellow Daoist Li resides here and excels at planting and harvesting chives, so naming it Jiucai Ridge couldn't be more fitting." Li Xiaoke chuckled. "Fellow Daoist Xu, if you think the study of chives ends here, you are being superficial! The best part about chives lies in eating them." He handed his sickle to Xue Ying'an, stepped out of the chive patch, and beckoned a few disciples waiting on the ridges to gather the harvested chives and take them up the mountain to the kitchen. Li Xiaoke gestured invitingly and smiled. "Fellow Daoist Xu, the knowledge of eating chives is even more profound. First, you must guard your own fields, lest some blind fools set their sights on your chives and harvest them for you." Xu Ying nodded and clapped his hands. "Indeed, one must clearly mark one's own territory! First, you must put a mark on the chive patch to tell others: this is my chive patch, hands off!" Li Xiaoke laughed. "If others come to snatch it, first use kind words to persuade them. Only when persuasion fails should you fight. After all, less trouble is better than more. Once the chives are harvested, you can eat them. Eaten raw, they are crisp and spicy, still writhing as they slide down your throat, fresh and delicious." His throat bobbed as if he could hardly wait. "Cooked, they are even more wonderful. Eating them raw once in a while is fine to satisfy a craving, but cooked is the proper way. First, I recommend grilled chives." He smiled. "Prepare the oil, salt, and seasonings, skewer the chives, brush them with sauce, oil, and salt, and roast them over the fire. Ah, they sizzle as they roast! Take a bite, and golden oil dribbles down the corners of your mouth, hot and spicy, scalding your tongue." Yuan Qi's mouth watered as he listened, thinking, 'Is Li Xiaoke really talking about chives?' "If you don't like eating them that way, you can stir-fry them. Stir-fry them with meat, with eggs, or even plain—they carry a marvelous savory flavor, not meat, yet better than meat. You can also make dumplings, steamed buns, or pan-fried flatbreads with them, using plenty of oil and salt—bursting with aroma!" Li Xiaoke continued, "The best way to eat chives is with glass noodles. Chop the glass noodles finely and pair them with chives; a mouthful of glass noodles and chives is so fragrant it will keep you awake at night!" Bewildered, Yuan Qi asked, "Senior Li, are you really talking about chives?" Li Xiaoke laughed heartily. "What else did you think?" Yuan Qi chuckled. "I thought you were talking about people." Li Xiaoke blurted out, "Wouldn't that be cannibalism? Preposterous!" Xu Ying inquired, "Fellow Daoist Li, why do we harvest and eat chives?" Li Xiaoke gave a faint smile. "Chives are delicious, chives are easy to raise, and once you cut a batch, another batch grows right back. Eating chives also boosts our yang and enhances our strength, so why not eat chives?" Hearing this, Xu Ying hesitated for a moment and asked, "Is Fellow Daoist Li truly speaking of chives?" Li Xiaoke laughed loudly, shook his sleeves, quickened his pace, and strode up the mountain, saying leisurely, "Just think of them as chives." The bronze bell was still unable to hide its excitement. It floated forward swiftly, hovering over Li Xiaoke's head to shield him from the sun. Lost in thought, Xu Ying hurried after him. Xue Ying'an caught up from behind, smiling. "Doesn't my master speak with great philosophy?" Xu Ying sighed with feeling. "Indeed. A single conversation with your esteemed master is worth more than ten years of reading books." Yuan Qi could not resist chiming in, "Ah Ying, you've never read ten years of books, so don't flatter yourself. You only started reading when you began following me; before that, you were completely unlettered." The corner of Xu Ying's eye twitched, and he thought, 'Maybe I shouldn't undo that enclosing Dao rune after all. Let's leave it alone for now.' They reached the mountain. Though Jiucai Ridge bore an unrefined name, it was in fact an extraordinary and wondrous mountain, replete with strange pines, bizarre rocks, surging springs, and cascading waterfalls, its peaks sheer and steep. Most peculiar of all was a horizontal mountain ridge spanning across a chasm. Below lay a bottomless gorge, while the other end of the chasm was concealed within dense mist. Li Xiaoke walked ahead and passed through the fog, his figure vanishing. Xu Ying followed, stepping through the mist, and immediately felt as though he were crossing a thick spatial barrier, which stirred his thoughts. When he emerged from the fog, a setting sun hung in the sky before him. This was another world! Back then, Li Xiaoke's generation of Qi Refiners achieved Heaven-Human Induction, establishing connections with mysterious and powerful entities from another world in the abyss. Those mysterious and powerful entities had taught them more profound communion arts. As a result, when the Qi Refiners of that era combined those arts with Nuo arts, the Heaven-Human Induction they developed warped the sky and tore the earth asunder, causing heaven and earth to plunge into the great abyss. Those mysterious, powerful entities were different from the heavenly gods of the Heavenly Realm; people called them aberrant gods. Xu Ying paused and looked out at this alien world. The other half of Jiucai Ridge thrust out from the sky, hanging down at an angle, still a dozen li above the alien ground! He looked into the distance. In the far reaches of the sky, mountains, lakes, and even an ocean appeared within the fractured sky of this alien realm. The sky was not blue, but tinged with a reddish-black hue like fouled blood. The air here was also extremely foul, suffused with the stench of sulfur, causing a wave of discomfort in the throat with every breath. 'The worldly spiritual energy here seems extraordinarily thin.' Xu Ying sensed his surroundings, but could barely feel any worldly spiritual energy at all, and even that setting sun possessed little solar essence! The world where Jiucai Ridge sat seemed completely unsuitable for cultivation! 'Could it be that the Qi Refiners who sealed the world back then were also someone else's chives?' he thought to himself.