The Lost Tomb : The Southern Archives Mysteries

(Extra Story: Southern Xinjiang Volume) Chapter 2: Man Who Waited For Arrows

A Taoist priest from Linqiong visited the capital. He was able to summon spirits with a focused mind.

The emperor asked the priest to search for her soul. The priest was moved by the emperor's anguish and attachment for his lover.

He ran like lightning as he parted the skies and rode high through the air. He ascended to the heavens and dove down to the earth, looking for her everywhere.

He searched thoroughly in the blue beyond, and down in the Yellow Springs below the earth, but didn't spot her in the vastness of either place.

——A Taoist Prepares [1]

The man who waited for arrows.

Zhang Qianjun Wanma was only four years old when he entered the mountains. His master told him that his only task in life was to wait for cloud-piercing arrows, and he was to comply with any request those who shot the arrows made. [2]

His master was a Taoist priest who only ever saw two cloud-piercing arrows shoot out from the depths of the mountains. His master became very energetic when he talked about the arrows and didn't look like an extremely old man who was about to die.

When his master turned a hundred and ten, Zhang Qianjun didn't think he would be able to make it through the year, since he no longer got out of the bed and didn't drink alcohol anymore. All he would do was sit at the door of the Taoist temple every day, looking at the white snow outside as if he was waiting for someone to pick him up. His master ate and spoke very little that year, and they often passed the evenings in silence.

When his master turned a hundred and fifteen, he was still the same. The winter of that year was extremely cold and the mountains were very cold and wet. Zhang Qianjun Wanma had a high fever for a month and felt as if his master just might outlive him. He was too weak to get food, but his master didn't seem to need food at all.

That night, there was a bowl of plain noodles with a few bitter radishes placed at the head of his bed. His master had made them. That was when he realized that not only could his master get out of bed, but he could also cook noodles.

He used to wonder why his master would want to live like this, but he immediately understood after thinking about it carefully.

At this stage in life, his master was in a very awkward position. Death could come at any time, so his time was running out. It was too late to do big things since he had no more strength left in him, but doing things that didn't matter was too annoying.

The most terrifying thing was that at this age, everyone—including himself and others—wouldn't make any demands of him. It was already a fortunate thing that he didn't bring trouble to others.

The hundred-and-fifteen-year-old man was definitely experienced, so his noodles tasted delicious.

Zhang Qianjun miraculously recovered in the spring, but his master finally died. Before he died, his master looked outside the door and said to Zhang Qianjun, "It turns out she's not coming back after all."

Zhang Qianjun knew who "she" was.

As the people from the subsidiary branch of the Zhang family, they were the main branch's reinforcements in the mountains.

When the first cloud-piercing arrow appeared in the sky, his master knew that a team from the main branch was in trouble and was asking for help. His master went alone and only managed to rescue one person, a girl surnamed Zhang. She stayed in the Taoist temple to recover and left four months later.