Everything was red for the New Year, for good luck and prosperity.
But blood is also red.
Yun Miao stood outside the hall with sword in hand. A woman's shrill cries could be heard from within.
He slashed open the door with one stroke and looked inside at the chaotic scene. With complex emotions, he muttered, "Master."
The woman hurried to wrap up her clothes and smiled at Yun Miao, "Visiting your master on New Year's Day like this? What a good disciple you are!"
"The sect has become too corrupted. Some cleansing is in order on this festive occasion," Yun Miao replied heavily as his sword let out a humming vibration.
"Bold nonsense!" The woman yelled as she stood tall, fine hairs bristling all over as she faced off against Yun Miao.
Yun Miao was conflicted to see his master cultivating such sinister arts, transformed into neither human nor ghost.
"Too dirty," he repeated gravely, raising his sword high toward the sunlight.
The pure and clear sword glow illuminated it entirely.
The woman shrieked as the pinnacle of her golden core energy erupted without restraint, pouncing viciously at Yun Miao.
With one stroke, half of the great hall was gone.
The woman tumbled aside, frightened and admonishing, "You're courting death, cutting me with your life force!"
"It's long overdue," Yun Miao was pale as he forced himself to hold up his flying sword. His entire being seemed drained as he moved to slash again!
Though signs of turning into a monster were upon her, the woman was still no match for Yun Miao's strike fueled by his own lifespan.
Horrified, she tried to dodge.
But the sword seemed to have locked onto her. No matter how she evaded, she remained enveloped in killing intent.
In despair, the woman faced the idol of Grand Celestial Venerable and screamed out in collapse,
"Save me, Grand Celestial Venerable!"
Black and white spread through heaven and earth as time slowed to an extreme crawl.
Chen Xia appeared between them, looking over the frozen scene. He shook his head and adjusted the woman's posture slightly for a more dignified death.
As for Yun Miao, he would probably perish after this strike, having emptied his own lifespan.
But he seemed to have glimpsed a shred of the Dao, so his next life's achievements should be noteworthy.
Chen Xia's figure disappeared as the black and white retreated.
The merciless stroke slashed down completely.
On this day, half of White Floating Mountain was sliced off.
The news of the head disciple killing his master shocked all directions.
The rest of the disciples looted the sect's food stores, money, and secret manuals before fleeing down the mountain.
Even the two gatekeeping disciples had run away, likely never to return.
Perhaps the world would never see White Floating Mountain again, only its ruins.
Yet two people remained on the ravaged mountain.
The dazed young girl, Xia Chan, newly admitted to the sect, stared blankly at Chen Xia.
The two looked at each other speechlessly.
"Elder brother, why haven't you left?" Xia Chan asked curiously.
"I have nowhere to go, so I stayed," Chen Xia answered honestly.
"Haha, me too," Xia Chan laughed but sadness was evident on her childish face.
At just five years old, she had already lost her family.
She wiped the remaining tears from her face with her sleeve and tottered into the rubble, sifting through the debris repeatedly in hopes of finding her elder martial brother's corpse.
Chen Xia sat by silently. He felt the young girl had to take care of some matters herself.
Like now. With the sect gates in ruins, naturally there was no food left.
When night fell and hunger overcame her, Xia Chan's stomach growled but she said nothing. She continued slowly shifting through the rubble while tender hands, already cut and bleeding, kept digging.
"Aren't you going to eat, martial sister?" Chen Xia asked.
"It's fine, it's fine, elder brother. I'm not hungry. You can eat by yourself," Xia Chan quickly replied, afraid to be seen as a burden.
Yet her traitorous stomach kept howling, twisted in agonizing hunger as if her intestines were writhing for sustenance.
Chen Xia remained seated, unmoving.
At daybreak when the sunlight shone down, the exhausted Xia Chan finally sat atop the debris. Dried sweat stained her back but still she knelt facing the sunlight and respectfully called out,
"Greetings to Grand Celestial Venerable."
This was always when she would bow to the idol.
Chen Xia rose and produced two plain white buns from somewhere, offering one to little Chan.
Xia Chan hurriedly stood up and wiped her dirty bloodstained hands before saying, "Thank you, elder brother."
Only then did she accept the bun and curiously ask, "Where did you get these, elder brother?"
"Grand Celestial Venerable gave them," Chen Xia stated matter-of-factly.
Xia Chan laughed crisply, "Grand Celestial Venerable is so kind."
The five year old girl quickly devoured the bun and, without resting, resumed sifting through the rubble.
Around the third day in the afternoon, Xia Chan finally uncovered elder martial brother Yun Miao's mangled corpse, soaked in blood and gore, barely recognizable.
Silently she tidied up his remains before grasping a sharp stone and starting to dig, intent on burying him.
"You're going to bury elder martial brother?" Chen Xia asked from the side.
"Mm," Xia Chan nodded heavily. "Elder brother always said returning to the earth is peaceful. He said he owed master, so I want to do right by elder brother."
Chen Xia nodded. As before, he did not help, only bringing Xia Chan food each day.
When the young girl finally buried Yun Miao's corpse, the celebratory new year atmosphere had completely faded away.
She sat dazed amidst the debris, only now taking in the full extent of White Floating Mountain's destruction, at a loss for what to do.
"What's next?" Chen Xia asked with a smile.
Xia Chan's frail petite frame stood tall facing the sunlight, gazing over fractured White Floating Mountain. With exceptional resolve, she declared,
"Cultivation!"
The two thus stayed on White Floating Mountain, and despite the ruins, managed to eke out an existence.
Chen Xia taught the young girl how to farm so they could be self-sufficient.
The youthful Xia Chan wanted to learn everything, especially cultivation, but Chen Xia did not teach her and she had no path forward.
Xia Chan molded a clay figurine, unrecognizable, and bowed to it daily, mouthing greetings to Grand Celestial Venerable.
Chen Xia observed bemusedly from the side.
At fourteen, Xia Chan asked Chen Xia a question.
"Elder brother, I heard catching a cicada captures a whole summer."
"But that is a cockroach," Chen Xia replied.
Xia Chan never asked again after that.
At twenty, Xia Chan declared she would leave the mountain to seek the Dao.
Chen Xia remained silent and gave her all the treasures he had salvaged from the ruins over the years for her to barter with.
Xia Chan accepted them and departed without looking back.
Only Chen Xia was left on the mountain.
He picked up the mud figurine that had fallen under the bed years ago and carefully dusted it off before placing it on the table.
A simple bronze mirror on the table reflected Chen Xia.
Unknowingly, his hair had turned white.
Cold joke time.
Little Ming said to his dad, "Dad, I'm so cold!"
Dad tenderly replied, "Then hurry to the corner!"
Little Ming asked, "Why?"
Dad said, "Because corners have degrees."
Now collecting hell jokes in full force. Send them out if you have any.
(Hell jokes make you lose virtue if you understand them and laugh.)