Night fell, the sky overcast.
The daylight dimmed.
Liyue Harbor lit its lamps early.
The Lantern Rite had only just passed, and the streets were still bustling.
Not a seat was empty before the stage of the Heyu Tea House. Everyone craned their necks in anticipation, waiting for the Yun-Han Opera Troupe's new play, "Splitting the Mountain to Save Mother II."
But mixed in with the eager voices were more than a few doubtful ones.
"Honestly, 'Splitting the Mountain to Save Mother' is already a classic for the ages. If they keep splitting-the-mountain as the main storyline, it'll be hard to recapture the feel of the first one, won't it?"
"True. The first 'Splitting the Mountain to Save Mother' is already a classic. On the same theme, even if the content surpasses the first, it still won't reach the effect the first one had."
"Yeah. Seeing Chen Xiang and the Third Holy Mother reunited as a family brought tears to my eyes back then. It'd been so long since I'd seen a play about family love."
"Same here. With the heavy snow, I originally hadn't wanted to head back to my hometown, but after watching it, I took a carriage back to Qingce Village the very next day."
"This second part—if they just go by the book, it probably won't reach that same effect."
"Sigh, what a shame. Today let's just come for Master Yun's name. As for the story—just listen to Master Yun sing and that'll be that."
"Now that you put it that way, sure. Fine, today let's just treat it as coming to see Master Yun."
The crowd buzzed with discussion.
Listening to the crowd's chatter, Fang Qiu picked up her faintly steaming teacup and took a light sip with a soft smile.
Mm... good tea.
Really nice.
Then she listened to the Traveler recount how they had been fishing for collectibles out at sea a few days ago.
Supposedly, they'd even run into a fish with tiger stripes. The fish had leapt out of the water and nearly smacked Paimon with its tail, giving Paimon quite a fright.
Hearing the Traveler mention this, Xiangling perked up at once and brought up the time they'd gone fishing out at sea together and run into Sister Beidou's fleet—back then she'd also caught a strange tiger-striped fish.
Beside her, Hu Tao nodded in agreement.
"Fishing? I've heard Master mention it."
Shenhe said.
"Cloud Retainer knows about fishing too?"
Fang Qiu was a little puzzled.
"Master says she knows a thing or two," Shenhe said. "She even invented an automatic fishing machine and an automatic fish-farming pond."
"What are those?"
Fang Qiu couldn't help feeling puzzled, and so were the others.
Even Kazuha and Beidou set down their teacup and wine cup and cast their gazes over.
Seeing their puzzlement, Shenhe told them the functions of the automatic fishing machine and the automatic fish-farming pond.
After hearing it, Fang Qiu couldn't help being a little astonished.
The automatic fish-farming pond integrated the entire farming process into one.
And the automatic fishing machine was a device that integrated and automated the whole act of fishing.
Automatically baiting the hook, automatically finding the best casting spot, automatically waiting for the fish to bite, automatically battling the fish, automatically stowing everything away.
The only thing missing was automatic cooking to complete the whole assembly line.
Truly worthy of Cloud Retainer...
Placed in her past life, which of these inventions wouldn't have been epoch-making...
Come to think of it, last time she'd asked Shenhe what Cloud Retainer usually ate.
It turned out Cloud Retainer ate anything—and moreover, favored the delicacies of the mortal world.
So, aside from inventing, Cloud Retainer also loved to cook.
The mechanical culinary marvel could be said to combine both hobbies.
"If she weren't one of the Adepti, I'd really want to buy a set to install on the ship. That way, I could save a lot of effort."
Beidou took a sip of wine and said, "Speaking of which, Fang Qiu, how's your new book coming along?"
The moment she said this, everyone present turned their gazes over.
"I handed it in to the publisher today. It should be out by the next release date," Fang Qiu said.
"That's Fang Qiu for you—finished a new book so quickly."
Paimon's eyes lit up slightly as she said, "I'm really looking forward to it!"
"Paimon, you're looking forward to the reward for delivering the books, aren't you?"
Lumine quipped from the side.
"How can you say that? Of course I'm also looking forward to Fang Qiu's book!"
Paimon put her hands on her hips and said grumpily, "The reward for delivering the books is clearly just a bonus."
"Then after we get the reward for delivering the books, let's go eat something delicious. Paimon, is there anything you want to eat?"
Lumine said with a mischievous smile.
"Something delicious? I want Boiled Black-Back Perch, dry-pot pork slices, Pagoda Pork, Crystal Shrimp buns, Jueyun Chili Chicken..."
Watching Paimon rattle off dish names like she was reciting a treasured list, many present smiled with their eyes.
"Reciting all these dish names is making me a little hungry, mm... wait, what are you all laughing at?"
Paimon was a bit puzzled, then looked toward the stage and said, "By the way, why hasn't it started yet? Last time, the play 'Splitting the Mountain to Save Mother' was just so good it got me really excited. Oh right, have you all eaten? After the play, let's go eat together at Wanmin Restaurant. I want Boiled Black-Back Perch..."
Watching Paimon start rattling off dish names again, Fang Qiu couldn't help smiling.
It was making her a little hungry too.
"Kazuha, what's wrong?"
Beidou looked toward Kazuha, who was sitting beside her, and saw that Kazuha was gazing up at the pitch-black sky.
She took a sip of wine and asked.
"The snow is coming."
Kazuha said.
"Snow?"
Beidou was slightly taken aback, and before she could react, members of the Yun-Han Opera Troupe took the stage.
"It's starting, it's starting!"
Paimon immediately stopped reciting dish names and watched the stage with some excitement.
"Mm."
Fang Qiu nodded with a faint smile.
The Heyu Tea House, which had been slightly noisy, suddenly fell quiet.
Seated in the private booth on the second floor, Zhongli too set down his cup of precious tea—valuable enough to buy ten pots of the tea on the tables downstairs—and cast his gaze toward the white-haired woman sitting beside his own Director downstairs.
He too was a little curious about how the homogeneous "Splitting the Mountain to Save Mother" would be presented as a story from that child's pen.
He hoped that child wouldn't disappoint him.
Thinking this, he turned his gaze to the stage and quietly waited for "Splitting the Mountain to Save Mother II" to begin.
And so, amid everyone's anticipation, "Splitting the Mountain to Save Mother II" began.
The first to appear were Yaoji and Yang Tianyou.
Yaoji was a celestial maiden of the heavens who, longing for the mortal world, had fallen in love with a mortal.
"Ah, this... this opening... isn't it exactly the same as before?"
"You can't say exactly the same—just that there's not much difference."
"The names and places are different, but aside from that there's not much difference—it's all about a celestial descending to the mortal world and falling in love with a mortal."
"Who'd have thought—the prophecy came true, it really is the same..."
"Never mind, let's just listen to Master Yun sing. I wonder when Master Yun will take the stage."
Watching the performance on stage, the audience below sighed and wrung their hands in regret.
Although the audience below was restless, the members of the Yun-Han Opera Troupe on stage were highly professional and remained utterly unaffected.
The story continued. Yaoji and Yang Tianyou soon married and had three children.
When they heard the names of those three children, everyone present couldn't help being taken aback.
The second son was named Yang Jian.
Yang Jian?
The crowd was a bit puzzled.
Why would the big villain from "Splitting the Mountain to Save Mother I," that detestable Yang Jian, appear in "Splitting the Mountain to Save Mother II"?
And Chen Xiang's mother was in it too?
Could this installment have Yang Jian as the protagonist?
Did Fang Qiu not know how hated the character of Yang Jian was?
Just as they were puzzling over it, the Jade Emperor learned that his younger sister Yaoji was in love with a mortal.
So he sent heavenly soldiers and generals down to the mortal world.
The heavenly soldiers and generals found Yaoji while Yang Jian and his younger sister were out.
Just as they thought the heavenly soldiers and generals would seize Yaoji, the soldiers instead struck to kill—slaying Yang Jian's father and elder brother, then dragging Yaoji away.
Seeing this scene, the crowd froze.
"Ssss... I don't know if it's just my imagination... but why do I feel like the plot's a bit off..."
"I feel it too... I have a feeling the plot ahead will far exceed our imagination..."
"This play's story... was written by Old Thief Fang Qiu... this isn't going to pull some kind of trick, is it... I've got a bad feeling..."
"Now I suddenly feel like homogenization wasn't so bad after all..."
The crowd swallowed nervously.
Paimon couldn't help gripping a lock of Lumine's hair, a bit tense.
On the second floor, Zhongli also frowned.
On the stage, to demonstrate heavenly might, the Jade Emperor used his supreme authority to imprison Yaoji beneath Mount Tao.
It was not like how Yang Jian imprisoned the Third Holy Mother, who was still left space to move about freely.
This time, Yaoji was bound up, unable to move at all.
Yang Jian and his younger sister were saved by Master Yuding, and to avenge their blood-soaked feud, they became disciples under Master Yuding and cultivated diligently.
Ten years passed in the blink of an eye.
Yang Jian had grown into a young man, looking exactly like the detestable figure who had stopped Chen Xiang from splitting the mountain to save his mother.
Though his divine skills were now complete, his eyes were filled with sorrow and pain.
Seeing this, everyone present couldn't help feeling a pang of sympathy for this character they'd so despised not long ago. Only, apart from Yun Jin and Fang Qiu, everyone present was a little puzzled.
Why, having personally suffered the pain of losing his loved ones, would he still imprison the Third Holy Mother with his own hands?
Holding onto their doubts, they kept watching.
His divine skills complete, Yang Jian journeyed all the way to Mount Tao. After enduring countless trials, Yang Jian finally arrived at Mount Tao, and after a fierce battle, he finally subdued the mountain's guardian divine beast, transforming it into the weapon in his hand.
It was the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Blade well known to everyone present. Then, with a single axe blow, he cleaved open Mount Tao and finally saw his mother.
Yaoji had been bound by chains, suffering endless torment.
Yang Jian finally beheld his mother Yaoji.
Seeing this, the crowd couldn't help nodding.
Splitting the mountain to save his mother had succeeded.
Although they still couldn't quite bring themselves to like Erlang Shen Yang Jian, he could at least be counted a man of true feeling—no longer so detestable.
Still, they were very puzzled.
If Yang Jian had split the mountain to save his own mother, then why would he later imprison the Third Holy Mother?
It didn't make sense...
Just as they were puzzling, Yang Jian discovered that no matter what he did, he couldn't break that chain. At the same time, the Heavenly Court discovered that Yang Jian had split the mountain to save his mother.
In his fury, the Jade Emperor dispatched ten golden crows, ordering them to scorch Yang Jian and his mother to death.
Yaoji soon fainted from the heat. To protect his mother, Yang Jian hoisted a stone slab onto his back to shield her from the sun, but he himself was scorched until his skin split and his flesh tore open.
Yet Yang Jian never moved.
When Yaoji awoke, she begged her elder brother to spare Yang Jian's life, and Yang Jian likewise begged his uncle to spare his mother.
"Brother, Yaoji knows her wrong. All of it began because of me. I am willing to bear every punishment—I beg you, please spare Erlang and all the living beings of the world!"
"Your Majesty, spare my mother, and I would gladly descend into the eighteen layers of hell!"
"Hmph, it's too late. You must pay the due price for your sins."
However, the Jade Emperor paid no heed at all, and burned Yaoji alive.
"Erlang, I'm leaving now. For me, this too is a kind of release. You must protect your sister well, and never let her come to harm."
"No!"
Watching Yaoji breathe her last in Yang Jian's arms on stage, and seeing Yang Jian's trembling body and despairing sobs after his mother's death, many present were stunned...
Yang Jian lifted his head to the sky and roared in fury.
"Jade Emperor, this hatred cannot share the same sky! Watch as I trample the Heavenly Palace to dust and take your life in payment! Never scorn a young man for his poverty!"
And so, wielding the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Blade, he soared up into the sky, fought his way up to the Heavenly Court, wreaked havoc in the Heavenly Palace, and slaughtered nine of the suns. Just as Yang Jian was about to wipe out the last sun, the Jade Emperor seized his younger sister—none other than the Third Holy Mother.
Yang Jian remembered his mother's dying words, and for his sister's sake, he had no choice but to submit to the Heavenly Court.
Until one day, while drinking, he learned that his sister had secretly consorted with a mortal. Yang Jian, who could have kept his composure even as Mount Tai crumbled before him, was in that moment as panicked as the day he'd come home to find the corpses of his father and brother. The wine cup in his hand fell to the ground, spilling wine everywhere.
The actor playing Yang Jian portrayed that terrified expression to the fullest, but Yang Jian soon calmed down. He found his sister and took it upon himself to imprison her.
At the very moment he watched the Third Holy Mother be sealed within Mount Hua, a single tear fell down Yang Jian's face.
"Forgive me, sister."
His voice trembled.
Just as his words fell, snowflakes drifted down across the sky, landing on the actor playing Yang Jian, making Yang Jian look especially lonely.
The opera came to an end.
Silence. Utter silence.
The entire hall was deathly still, with only the faint sound of sobbing echoing.
Before long, the whole hall erupted in thunderous applause, eyes red and streaming with tears, weeping uncontrollably.
"Wuu... Lord... my Lord Erlang... so this is what happened. No wonder Lord Erlang stopped Chen Xiang from splitting the mountain to save his mother."
"So Brother Erlang carried such a tragic past—this explains everything."
"So I wrongly blamed Yang Jian all along. Yang Jian is a true man—to protect his sister, he shouldered everything alone."
"Buddy, you're crying awfully hard—did it remind you of some sad memory?"
"Yang Jian's 'Forgive me, sister'... my father once said something similar to me, telling me to forgive... him..."
"I remember your father, he already..."
"Yeah, he's already gone..."
The young man's face was covered in tears.
"What happened?"
another person asked.
"It's nothing..."
The young man, tears streaming, fell silent for a long while, then finally shook his head.
That day had been his birthday, and his father was about to head out.
He asked his father where he was going, but his father wouldn't say.
So he assumed his father simply didn't want to spend time with him.
Only later did he learn that his father belonged to an intelligence organization under the Qixing and couldn't reveal his identity. At the time, his father had received an urgent notice to undertake an extremely dangerous mission.
Back then, his father had said this to him:
"Forgive me, child."
However, not only did he not listen to his father, he even kicked him.
He told him that if he left, he shouldn't come back—and after that day, his father never returned... until the Qixing brought news of his father's death...
Like Yang Jian, his father had shouldered everything alone—a true man.
It was just that he had misjudged Yang Jian as a rotten person... just as he had once misjudged his own father...
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