Greed (one of the three poisons)

Greed (one of the three poisons)

Sixty-eight years later, when my charred corpse falls onto the stone bridge, I believe that on my back there will only be one word.

Until that moment, I still didn't know what I had been greedy for all my life.

She liked to lean against the couch on moonlit nights, holding a long, jade-mouthed, rosewood pipe, three fingers gently supporting it, her little finger as delicate as an orchid. She would take a deep drag, sinking into a long, melancholic, dreamless, heavy sleep. Light and shadow shattered through the window. She glanced back at the moon, exhaling a wisp of smoke. Her posture was one of infinitely charming, serene composure. Old green and crimson hues, warmly decaying to the point of melting. Yet her eyes and brows remained so young and clear. Her skin, like an untrodden snowfield, seemed untouched by mud or decay.

Ah Zi has a pair of large, round, clear eyes. Innocent and naive, they sometimes dart around with a hint of fear. Her pointed chin and full, red lips are as soft as flowers. No one but me knows that a thousand lies are sealed within them.

Azi said, "Xu Xingzhi, what do you want me to do? I wasn't originally human, what kind of person do you want me to become?"

Azi said, "Xu Xingzhi, you know best what I am. I also know what you are. You're nothing more than someone with a human skin on. Isn't that right?"

I could almost see her mocking eyes again, half-smiling.

Ah Zi's eyes often held a kind of disdainful look. Disdainful, yet enigmatic. Enigmatic, yet innocent. So innocent that it made one forget everything else.

Ah Zi, whose lips and teeth seem to hold a thousand lies at any moment, has the purest face in the world.

For the sixty-eight years after Azi left, I kept seeing it. That was her revenge on me.

Later, I became an elderly Taoist priest wandering between the north and south of the Yangtze River. Clad in a star-studded crown and robes, the shadow of a yellow banner concealed a stoic, aged face. Upon closer inspection, one would find this face covered in dust, yet its skin was a pale, radiant red, full of youthful vitality. Only half-hidden by white beard. I carried this peculiar face east and west. No one knew how, amidst the peachwood charms and wooden swords, some foul-smelling schemes slithered through the shadows, sustaining my waning, gray-haired existence. If that could be called a waning existence.

Or perhaps my life, as a wellspring of sin, has already been far too long.

Ah Zi said, "You're nothing more than someone with a human skin." I never escaped her mocking gaze. Even if she ultimately crumbled into dust in my hands.

Did Azi know that she had already taken her revenge on me? In a way that was imperceptible and inescapable. I think that in the last moments of her life, she never imagined it would be a form of revenge. Azi wouldn't live or die for revenge. Everything Azi did was for herself, whether she lived or died.

Only for herself.

In the many years since her death, I have finally come to understand her. She belonged to this free, selfish, and hedonistic race. She was born this way. She was destined to be this way. And she could only be this way.

A hundred years ago, Azi was the most beautiful fox spirit I had ever captured.

---hqszs

Reply [2]: Vermilion characters.

The talisman was tightly affixed to the mouth of the porcelain bottle, while white smoke from incense swirled around it like a dragon. The smoke, lingering and persistent, sounded like the wailing of a vengeful ghost, its words long and resolute. "I am not reconciled. I am not reconciled. I am not reconciled." This single phrase, repeated over and over for millennia. The moonlight, like water, could not wash away the toxic stench of the phosphorescent fire.

The soul within the bottle, too, seemed to share the same resentment. Its soft sobs, piercing to the ear, possessed an indescribable allure. So what? She was merely a fox spirit with two hundred years of cultivation. Having just gained human form, this little wild demon had already become arrogant and ignorant. Having fallen into my hands, she was nothing more than a thin piece of paper; how could I possibly suppress her and prevent her from rising to power?

I tucked the porcelain bottle into my sleeve and, without making a sound, quietly stepped down from the altar. The scholar's parents and uncles, who had been staring in astonishment, seemed to finally come to their senses and rushed forward to thank me profusely, yet dared not get too close. Their eyes darted fearfully at my sleeve.

I said, "The demon has been vanquished; your son will be safe from now on." Having said that, I picked up my magical implements and strode away. Truly a virtuous master! Evil cannot prevail over good; indeed, this Taoist priest subdued the demon as soon as he arrived. Now, our family is safe, and our son is saved! He is truly a living deity who vanquishes evil and saves us from suffering!

I could hear the crowd still praising me behind my back, but I didn't turn around. As far as I was concerned, since I had already set up this altar and gotten what I wanted, there was no need to look back at what others were saying. Besides, I knew that the living deity they were thanking for saving them was not me.

I have never been the person they described.

The soft sobs from her sleeve drifted away with each staggering step.

The sun sets on the main road. It's dusk again. I walk into this humble roadside inn beside the ancient road. The dust kicked up by my cloth shoes disappears like a wandering ghost in the fading light.

Master, what would you like some? Our place is remote, and we only have some dried vegetables and bamboo shoots. Would you like some vegetarian noodles to eat first?

Are there any rooms available? I'd like to rest for a bit first.

Yes! Yes! Business has been slow these past few days. Even with only four customers, we have plenty of empty rooms! I'll take you there; I guarantee it'll be quiet. This way, please, Taoist priest.

In such a small roadside inn, the innkeeper also served as the innkeeper's companion. This plump man with a small mustache eagerly led me to a room that was reasonably clean. He brought me a pot of strong tea, and a moment later, he brought me vegetarian noodles. I told him not to bother me again, and then asked where the well was.

I can fetch my own water to wash my face; don't bother me. I'm getting old, sigh, and I've become withdrawn and don't like interacting with people much.

Yes! Yes! Daoist Master, the well is in the backyard, please make yourself at home. I will not disturb you. Before closing the door, the innkeeper smiled again, "As expected of someone who cultivates, even at such an advanced age, and after all the travels on the path, your spirit is still so vigorous. You look wonderful!"

I untied the cloth bag from my waist and placed it on the table. Yes, I'm so old, yet still wandering the roads. North, south, east, west, endless drifting. I looked like this a hundred years ago. I'm so old now. White hair, youthful face. Such good health. The innkeeper wouldn't know that it's simply a matter of transferring the crimson of the crane's crest to my face.

---hqszs

Reply [3]: Support

---Looking back, a hundred years have passed.

Reply [4]: I opened the cloth bag. Porcelain bottles, large and small, were bathed in the gradually fading twilight. The west-facing window could not hold back the last rays of the sun. People say that even immense wealth cannot buy back the fleeting years. Birth, old age, sickness, and death are things no one can defy. I have this rosy, wrinkle-free face, but it must be hidden among my messy white hair; ultimately, it cannot see the light of day. It was an abnormal red sun in the night sky that should have set but did not. The west-facing window exposed my secret. The sun of a wanderer always falls into the dust. People say that the setting sun is the end of the world. And home is something that cannot be seen even when looking to the ends of the earth. Over the years, my home has long been carried on my back. I, this wandering Taoist priest, am so old that my hair has turned completely white. All I possess is an invisible home carried on my back, and these porcelain bottles.

I suddenly remembered the first time I saw Azi many years ago; she also emerged from a porcelain vase that was gradually disappearing into the twilight.

The sunset was like gilding peeling away, revealing the underlying darkness beneath any beautiful scene. The woman appeared after removing the talisman from the bottle. "I knew you wouldn't kill me," she said. These were her first words to me. The struggle before being trapped inside the bottle had left her hair disheveled, and a faint streak of blood ran down her cheek. In the dim room, I saw her bright eyes roll for a moment, then the fear vanished, replaced by a sudden calm. Some people seem destined to exist in the darkness. Only in the night can they move freely, as naturally as fish in water. That night, Ah Zi, whose life was in my hands, disheveled and dressed in rough clothes, with a bloody scratch on her face, was released from a small porcelain bottle, revealing her innate allure.

I haven't forgotten that she wasn't actually human. Her charming smile was nothing but an illusion. She was just a beast. A wild fox with sharp claws and a long tail, roaming through tombs, perhaps having devoured corpses.

But Azi said, "I knew you wouldn't kill me when I saw you. Taoist priest, you and I, we are all the same kind of people."

Her eyes were fixed on me intently in the darkness.

I can't beat you. But you need me. Don't think I'll believe you really want to save that child. Someone like you is destined to be with me. We're a perfect match.

How far can a fox spirit bring pleasure to a man? Azi knew her life and death were in my hands, so she spared no effort in using her methods. Otherwise, how could she have drained the lifeblood of so many men? Though their bodies were beautiful and their lips delicate, their passionate pleasure was nothing but an illusion of flesh. She was nothing but a beast.

But why must people see the truth?

---hqszs

Reply [5]: When I left the inn the next morning, I rode a donkey and led four others by the hand. I can sell them when we get to the market ahead.

The donkey walked listlessly through the dust, its head drooping. These animals seemed resigned to their fate. Perhaps being an animal wasn't so bad. Even if it wasn't, there was nothing they could do.

The inn is empty. The owners and their three guests have vanished without a trace. No one will know.

The donkey walks slowly, but it's very strong. It will be sold quickly. That's enough. Why do you think people have to see the truth?

From that day on, Azi became my woman. She wasn't originally human, but I don't know what other words could better define her identity in my life.

I can't forget waking up the next morning in Azi's arms, feeling completely relaxed. The sunlight was blinding through the snow-white window paper. Azi's face, on the blue and white floral coarse cloth pillow, looked at me with a half-smile. "You're awake," she said, a hint of mockery in her dark eyes.

Her long hair was spread out on the pillow. Soft, cool, smooth black silk gently supported the skin of my back. A graceful arm pressed down on the blue silk quilt, its lines extending upwards to her prominent collarbone. At the end of that path, red lips bloomed. But I hadn't forgotten what she was. This beautiful face I shared a pillow with could transform at any moment into a furry, sharp-toothed beast.

If you want to live.

No need to say anything more. I know I'm already in your hands, and I'll obey your orders. Azi gently stroked her forehead with one finger, down the contours of her nose to her chin. Her eyes shone brightly.

"Taoist priest, do you think I don't know how you got this face?" She picked up a strand of white hair from my temple, blew on it, and giggled. "You and I are evenly matched; it's just a case of the big fish eating the small fish. What do you think of my methods?"

You're just a two-hundred-year-old fox.

I know. Your cultivation is naturally far superior to mine, otherwise how could I have fallen into your hands? But... what do you think of my methods? Azi raised her pointed chin, her expression possessing an innocent charm. Taoist, of course you are also a man.

I hurriedly put on my Taoist robe, got out of b

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