Pear Garden Divine Palace: Anything Can Be Solved

The teleportation array left He Zhuoming so dizzy that she didn't get a single clear look at the Divine Palace from the moment she stumbled out of the formation to when Lin Qingyun carried her inside and set her on the bed. The white-robed woman who brought her warm water reminded her of the sect sisters back in Wen County—not in looks, but in dress and manner. Both were just as quiet, too.

After she drank, He Zhuoming thanked her in a weak voice. The woman smiled but said nothing, took the cup, and left.

Lin Qingyun stood by the bed with his arms crossed, a smile on his face, but he didn't let the moment pass. "Xiao He, why didn't you thank me?"

He Zhuoming pouted, lay back in the blankets, closed her eyes, and muttered, "I did say thanks... Don't slander me..."

She never heard if he replied. The moment she spoke, she was out cold.

She slept until hunger woke her. Climbing up, she looked around her new room. Her schoolbag and wooden sword sat on the bedside table, and the room was even bigger than the Wen County dormitory. She wandered from one room to the next, separated by sliding doors and folding screens. Some held calligraphy and paintings, some exotic flowers and fruits, and others were lined with bookshelves...

She was sure she kept moving forward, but when she pushed open the last door, she found herself right back in the bedroom where she'd started. Confused, she thought she'd taken a wrong turn and went back behind the silk door, only to end up where she'd begun again.

She stood there, blinking, taking in the gorgeous but silent room. Lin Qingyun was nowhere to be seen.

After a moment, she pushed open a window. Outside, a sea of crabapple blossoms stretched endlessly, deep red and pale pink, nearly swallowing the buildings in view until only faint rooflines showed. They were nothing like the houses in Wen County, where the most impressive structure was the Pear Garden dormitory—but compared to those fierce, beast-like rooflines, even that looked delicate.

Since the door wouldn't cooperate, the window would do. He Zhuoming climbed out, landed, clapped her hands, and turned around—face-to-face with a white-robed maiden holding a food box.

Their eyes met. Seeing the familiar white dress, He Zhuoming raised a hand uncertainly. "...Hi?"

The maiden smiled and, rare for her, spoke. "The door is this way. Please follow me."

She moved lightly ahead. He Zhuoming scratched her cheek, hurried to catch up, and asked, "Sister, do you know where my friend... do you know where Lin Qingyun is?"

The maiden replied, "Musician Lin has his own matters to attend to; I don't know where he is right now. This is the main door. Turn the compass, and it will lead you to whatever room you wish."

She demonstrated by turning the needle on the compass, which was marked with a ring of symbols. When the needle pointed to the bed, she pushed the door open—behind it was the bedroom where He Zhuoming had just rested. She closed the door, turned the needle again, and opened it to reveal a dining room.

He Zhuoming had never seen anything like it. Her eyes lingered on the magical compass, and she fiddled with it a bit as the maiden set out the dishes on the table. "My name is Li Shui. I'm a maidservant attending to the Earth Immortal here. While Musician Lin is away these few days, I'll look after your daily needs."

He Zhuoming asked, "What is Lin Qingyun busy with? Will he be gone for several days?"

Li Shui smiled. "From today until the end of the month is the fifteen-day Day of Divine Celebration. Every ten years, it's held at one True Deity's palace. This year, it's the Pear Garden Divine Palace's turn, so all sects that worship True Deities will gather here to celebrate, offer sacrifices to the Earth Immortal, and hold sparring matches. As for Musician Lin, he likely won't be able to see you until it's completely over."

He Zhuoming was still puzzled. "So what exactly does he have to do? Does he get no rest?"

Li Shui kept smiling, but her lips stayed pressed together, clearly unwilling to say more.

He Zhuoming had already learned these people's habit of going silent, so she gave up pressing and ate her meal in peace. Midway through, she tried to invite Li Shui to eat with her, but Li Shui declined gently.

After He Zhuoming finished, Li Shui packed the dishes back into the food box and said, "Musician Lin asked me to pass along a few words and show you the way. Please follow me."

Helpless, He Zhuoming followed her out. A long, winding corridor stretched outside, and beyond it lay the endless sea of crabapple blossoms. The trees grew so densely they formed a veritable forest, making it impossible to walk through the flower sea on foot.

Li Shui led her first to the left end of the corridor, where a stone staircase climbed the mountain. The crabapple trees on both sides were so tall that their crowns had almost completely merged, and the dense flowering branches blocked out the light. So, day or night, the upward path was lit only by flower lanterns on both sides.

Li Shui pointed to the staircase. "Musician Lin asked me to tell you: no matter what happens, you can walk up this staircase. Once you pass through it, anything at all will be resolved."

He Zhuoming was skeptical. "Are you sure? Anything?"

Li Shui lowered her eyelashes, her smile gentle, but her tone firm. "Yes, anything at all. Even if you've caused a catastrophe that brings down the sky, as long as you walk up this staircase, it will be resolved."

That sounded too mystical. Anything can be resolved? As if an all-powerful True Deity sat at the top. If that were true, let it first solve her problem of going home. She remained skeptical but walked forward a few steps and set foot on the staircase.

The first sensation was cold—the instant she stepped onto the steps, it was as if summer plunged into an autumn-winter night, a faint icy chill seeping into her bones from every direction. He Zhuoming hugged herself and shivered, then quickly stepped off. When she looked back, Li Shui still stood on the corridor, not approaching the mountain path or the staircase.

She hurried back to Li Shui's side. "Did you notice that staircase is really cold inside?"

Li Shui said, "Sorry, I've never been in, so I wouldn't know."

"You've never gone in? Why not?"

Li Shui gently shook her head, but didn't answer. Instead, she turned and led He Zhuoming toward the right side of the corridor.

"This way out is the main hall of the Divine Palace. The palace musicians and the attendants who serve the Earth Immortal come here every day for morning prayers." The main hall was much larger than He Zhuoming's room. The ceiling rose high like the sky itself, and in the center stood an enormous crimson deity statue—the only other deity statue she'd seen since transmigrating was that corrupted one in the village. She'd thought that one was grand enough, but compared to the Earth Immortal's, it was nothing. Not only was the statue much smaller, but so were the offerings. Before the corrupted statue, there had just been a few plates of pig heads and a broken coffin. Before this True Deity's statue, the offerings were piled into small mountains—fruits, the five sacrificial animals in abundance, plus countless flowers and glittering golden talisman papers.

While Li Shui introduced the attendant deity statues, He Zhuoming secretly slipped a talisman from the bottom of the pile, rubbed her fingers hard against the sparkly gold, and scraped off a large patch of gold leaf that clung to her palm. She couldn't help thinking: Is this real gold or fake? If it's real, they must be loaded.

When Li Shui finished and turned around, He Zhuoming quickly shoved the talisman up her sleeve and, with the gold-leafed hand behind her back, wiped it hard against her clothes. A large patch of shimmering gold leaf stuck to the hem of her robe. She was completely unaware, facing Li Shui's gaze with an innocent smile.

Li Shui felt a sigh coming on but held it back, pretending she'd seen nothing, and continued her introduction. After all, the biggest boss had no objections, so she'd best keep her mouth shut.

"Even though it's the Day of Divine Celebration, the main hall will only be opened once on the night of the ritual to allow other sects in. At other times, entry is still forbidden to non-Pear Garden disciples." "If you'd like to watch the competitions or mingle with disciples from other sects, you'll need to cross the main hall square, go around East Bridge, and head to the east side. That's where the competition platforms are set up, and disciples from other sects also stay there. The western buildings are mostly for Pear Garden disciples. The musicians often rehearse pieces there—if you like, you can go and listen." After saying this, Li Shui took a jade token strung with red cord from her bosom and offered it to He Zhuoming with both hands. "As long as you carry this, you can go anywhere within the Xia Kingdom without obstruction."

"If you get lost, try to find a white-robed Pear Garden disciple to ask for directions. As soon as they see this jade token, they'll guide you."

He Zhuoming took the token and examined it curiously. It resembled the one Lin Qingyun had shown—the crane pattern was more or less the same.

Li Shui said, "That should be about it. You can now wander as you please, or return to the quarters behind the main hall to rest and practice your sword. Everything in those rooms belongs to... Musician Lin. He has instructed that you may use them freely, as if they were your own. I'll bring your dinner to you when it's time. Do you have any more questions?"

He Zhuoming was still digesting that long speech, so it took her a moment to answer. "No... nothing to ask."

Li Shui smiled. "Then I'll take my leave." Before He Zhuoming could figure out what to say in response, Li Shui disappeared, light and quick.

At the same time, from the square across the way came a long, drawn-out bell tone, and from numerous arched gates around, white-robed Pear Garden disciples began to file out in a steady stream. Earlier, Lin Qingyun had casually remarked that Pear Garden was a new sect, looked down upon by the old, established, prestigious sects. That had given He Zhuoming a lingering first impression of Pear Garden as a 'small, pitiful little sect.' But now she saw it—what kind of small sect was this? Just the main hall square alone was nearly as big as her middle school!

The disciples came in all ages, men and women, young and old, and there were a lot of them. The ones she could see now alone could fill more than a major concert. But as He Zhuoming strolled through the crowd, she couldn't find many girls who looked around her age. She didn't really want to talk to boys or people with too much age gap—it always felt strange—so she just decided to head back to her room. It happened to be the weekend, and she hadn't done her homework yet. She'd go back and get it done now, so she wouldn't fail to hand it in after transmigrating back.

But the crowd was too dense. Jostled around in circles, He Zhuoming passed through whatever door she saw, and as she walked, she noticed the buildings around her becoming more and more unfamiliar, while the number of people dwindled. She had a feeling she'd taken a wrong turn. She hesitated, stopped, and was about to head back the way she came when she heard several malicious voices in the distance.

"I really didn't expect you to dare follow us all the way to Moyi. Are you really not afraid of death?" "So what if you've come to the Pear Garden Divine Palace? You think you'll get to compete? What a delusion!" ...

He Zhuoming followed the sound to its source and found herself facing a wall. She rubbed her hands, took a breath, jumped up, and grabbed the top of the wall to look down: a few arrogant teenagers were surrounding a plainly dressed young woman.

Despite looking at a disadvantage, the plainly dressed woman showed no fear and sneered in response, "I made it to Moyi because I passed the trial set by the elders—of course I'm nobler than you garbage, who are nothing but accessories. Whether I can compete has nothing to do with you one-round-tourist spectators!"

The youths surrounding her were instantly provoked—one girl viciously said, "Today we're going to show you a thing or two!" With a whoosh, she drew a long whip from her waist and lashed out, the whip producing a harsh crack. But the plainly dressed woman, who'd been so sharp-tongued, didn't resist, letting the whip draw a bloody wound across her shoulder.

He Zhuoming couldn't stand watching a group bully one person. She fished a handful of copper coins from her pouch and flung them over. Thanks to her persistent breathing exercises and sword practice, her wrist strength and eyesight had improved greatly—the coins she threw hit each of them right on the head. Everyone yelped and turned to find the culprit—but the wall was too high, and on their first look around, no one spotted her.

He Zhuoming, straddling the wall, let out a whistle. The people below finally looked up. The girl with the whip fumed, "Who are you? Attacking from behind! How shameless!"

He Zhuoming replied, "I wasn't behind you—I hit you from above with coins, and it wasn't an ambush; I wasn't being sneaky. You're the shameless ones, ganging up on one person." Her voice was loud, her presence imposing. With her dark, ink-like brows and cold expression, she glared down at the group—because He Zhuoming had already deduced from the fact that they all got hit on the head by her that they weren't strong at all. Even if they did outnumber her, they weren't wearing white, so they didn't look like Pear Garden disciples. This was the Pear Garden Divine Palace! Her best friend was a well-respected musician here! She wasn't afraid of these outsiders!

With both moral high ground and local advantage, He Zhuoming's mentality was now terrifyingly strong. The people below were all intimidated by her bearing. The girl with the whip's face shifted between pale and green, and finally she gritted her teeth and declared loudly, "My father is Daoist Chiri of Xuanhua Cave! Who are you? Let me tell you, this little wretch is also a Xuanhua Cave disciple. This is Xuanhua Cave's private business—you'd better stay out of it!"

He Zhuoming frowned. "So your dad's a Daoist—so what? I'm a successor of communism, the future of the motherland, the eight or nine o'clock morning sun, top 200 in my grade on mock exams, champion of the community table tennis tournament, school sprint record holder, and I've never failed a math test..."

"Stop, stop, stop—what are you babbling about?!" a boy interrupted irritably. "Which sect are you from, anyway?"

That stumped He Zhuoming a bit, since she hadn't joined any sect at all. After thinking it over, He Zhuoming pulled out the jade token and showed it to them.