The First Century

After leaving the Five Elements Mountain, Su Qing did not head anywhere else. Instead, she returned directly to Changbai Mountain.

As for the matter of pleading on Wukong’s behalf...

In a sense, she had indeed been bluffing. It was merely a thought planted in his head—something to sustain him so those five hundred years wouldn't be quite so wretched. After all, a monk named Xuanzang would surely come to rescue him in five centuries anyway. Even if she was technically misleading him now, he wouldn't be pinned beneath that mountain forever. As the saying goes, someone had to undertake the pilgrimage, didn't they?

Still...

Su Qing could certainly manage a visit every decade or two. Given the speed of the Somersault Cloud, she could reach the Five Elements Mountain in the blink of an eye without wasting much time.

Upon her return to Changbai Mountain, Leng Xiang headed into the kitchen to prepare dinner while Su Qing sat in the courtyard, playing games with Yudie and Gongsun Zhixue.

Years had passed, and Yudie had matured slightly. While her physical appearance remained unchanged, her spiritual intelligence had improved significantly; she was now comparable to an average four or five-year-old child. She might not have been exceptionally bright, but at least she was no longer as dazed and mindless as she had been at first.

“A sword spirit’s growth... truly is slow,” Su Qing murmured to herself, pinching Yudie’s chubby cheeks.

Yudie looked up at Su Qing with a confused expression and cried out in a milky, childish voice, “Mother, I will work hard!”

“How many times have I told you? Don’t call me that.” Su Qing’s eyes shifted as a thought struck her, and she pointed toward Leng Xiang in the kitchen. “She is the one cooking your meals—that’s your mother.”

Was this child foolish? Truthfully, after all this time, she was far more aware than she had been during her initial birth. However, for some reason, the girl stubbornly clung to this title, as if she had identified Su Qing as her mother beyond any doubt.

Su Qing found the situation quite helpless. Her attempt to shift the title to Leng Xiang wasn’t without logic, though; after all, in a strictly literal sense, it was Leng Xiang who had forged Yudie. Therefore, she was Yudie’s 'birth' mother!

Yudie blinked, stunned for a moment. After sinking into deep thought, she eventually nodded. “Mm! Then she’s Mother too!”

Then, she pointed at Su Qing. “And Mother is still Mother!”

Su Qing: “...”

She facepalmed, momentarily speechless. This girl... she was incredibly persistent! She had definitely grown smarter, but she seemed to be using that intellect in very strange places.

Exasperated, Su Qing asked, “If you call me ‘Mother’ and her ‘Mother,’ who exactly is your ‘Mother’? And calling us the same thing—how do you tell the difference?”

Yudie was dazed for a moment, contemplating the question for quite a long time. Finally, she replied with a beaming smile, “I can tell!”

“Well, we can’t tell the difference.”

“Yudie can.”

“...”

“What use is it if you’re the only one who can distinguish? We’re the ones getting confused!”

“It’s fine, it’s enough that Yudie can tell.”

Su Qing rubbed her temples. She finally understood why Gongsun Zhixue had been so frustrated when she was assigned to teach this child. The girl’s cleverness was being applied entirely to the wrong things!

Su Qing sighed and ruffled Yudie’s hair. “I wish you’d use that brain for something else. But tell me, why are you so insisted on calling me ‘Mother’?”

“I don’t know, but Mother is Mother! That’s why Yudie wants to call you that!” Yudie hugged Su Qing’s leg and said in her soft voice, “Mother, come practice the sword with Yudie!”

Su Qing’s lips twitched slightly, but she nodded with a helpless smile. It seemed correcting this child’s worldview was going to be a long and arduous journey.

“Fine, I’ll practice with you.” Su Qing reached out, and a short sword materialized in her palm. Yudie dissolved into a streak of light and returned inside the blade.

The 'sword practice' Yudie spoke of wasn't a spar; it was Su Qing wielding her. After all, if the little thing actually tried to duel Su Qing, the girl would likely have a miserable experience.

Under the glow of the setting sun, Su Qing brandished the short sword in the courtyard, her movements elegant and heroic. In the kitchen, Leng Xiang prepared food, curls of cooking smoke rising into the air. Nearby, Ao Ying, Zhixue, and the sparrows played Go, filled with childish banter and laughter.

In this courtyard atop the mountain peak, far from the eyes of the world, everything was harmonious and serene. It felt as though all the noise and chaos of the outside world had nothing to do with this mountain summit.

And so, time slipped away. Without realizing it, the residents saw day after day and year after year pass. Such a quiet, tranquil life made it easy to lose track of the calendar, especially for species blessed with vast lifespans.

Time was a fleeting thing.

Spring turned to autumn, cold winter gave way to summer heat, and the days marched on. In a blink, a century had passed.

To a demon with an immortal lifespan, a hundred years was hardly long, but it was certainly far from short. Within this century, countless events—great and small—had transpired on the mortal side of Changbai Mountain.

As the Mountain God of Changbai, Su Qing witnessed a whole generation of pilgrims grow old and pass away, followed by the birth of a new generation. She saw magistrate after magistrate take office in Long County, with each passing year bringing more prosperity to the region.

Similarly, she saw her shrines multiply from a single structure to many. She watched as her image shifted from being exclusively housed in temples to being placed on altars in common homes. Her following spread from a single county seat until the residents of every town surrounding Changbai Mountain began to worship her.

Over the course of a century, she had unknowingly become a totem—the guardian deity of the people around Changbai Mountain. As her devotees grew in number, her incense power naturally became more abundant.

In just a hundred short years, the realm of the Heavenly Immortal was no longer an unreachable dream. She was now a single step away from attaining that level of divinity.

Unfortunately, that final step was always the most difficult to cross. Thankfully, Su Qing was never in a rush. She had plenty of time to slowly elevate her cultivation and gather faith. Regardless of the changing times, Changbai remained a mighty peak, and those who believed in her remained legion.

However, because her incense fire grew stronger, she also became aware of more mortal suffering. When people hit a dead end in life, they often turn to the gods. As a deity, she unintentionally overheard countless tales of misery.

Regrettably, those she could actually help remained the minority. Even as a divine immortal, there were rules to follow, and she had no intention of transgressing them to become a universal wishing machine.

She helped some, but many she could not—and would not—aid. Her true duty as an immortal was to protect the land and its waters, ensuring the peace of the region and preventing demonic intrusions.

Speaking of demons...

In this century, because the spiritual energy of the world had suddenly surged, the number of demons in the world had spiked. Even her own Changbai Mountain had birthed quite a few.

She didn’t know what happened in other regions, but the new demons appearing in Changbai were mostly highly aggressive. Had it not been for Su Qing’s presence, the mountain likely would have fallen under the reign of monsters long ago.

One day, in early spring.

Su Qing sat atop the body of a massive tiger, idly playing with her Yudie short sword. Although the tiger was pinned down, its body was unusually large—rising nearly five meters tall like a small mound, looking quite terrifying. Yet, this beast, which should have been a source of horror, now crouched obediently like a kitten. It was covered in wounds and dared not move an inch.

It didn't dare! The person currently sitting on its back possessed a terrifying power. In a single exchange, she had completely subdued it. How could it possibly provoke her again?

“Lately, the mountain folk have been talking about a man-eating tiger. That would be you, wouldn't it? Tell me, why did you eat people? You should be well aware of the rules here on Changbai,” Su Qing asked, her voice calm and level.

Though she was a god, she was also a demon. Thus, she hadn’t wiped out the mountain's creatures; instead, she had established a set of rules, giving them a chance to live. As long as they followed the rules, she would even provide protection to ensure they weren't hunted down by mortal cultivators.

In the end, rules had to go both ways. Su Qing couldn’t just manage humans and ignore the demons. She was of their kind, after all, and naturally felt some affinity for them. However, rules were rules—there were always those who followed them and those who didn’t. And this tiger belonged to the latter group.

“You... how exactly did you find me?”

Though it didn’t dare move, and behaved as tamely as a housecat, its words still carried a trace of defiance.

Su Qing smiled faintly. “That? If you were somewhere else, perhaps I wouldn’t have found you. But unfortunately, this is Changbai Mountain. Here, law-abiding demons are always the majority—because the ones who don't follow the rules are all dead. As for how I found you? Well, the rule-abiding demons tell me everything.”

The tiger demon froze for a second before snarling, “Damn it... we are all demons! And yet they chose to be lackeys for an immortal like you!”

“Lackeys? No... they are simply residents of this mountain who respect the law.” Su Qing shook her head. “I am not merely a god for humans; I am a guardian for demons as well. As long as you follow the rules, I protect you!”

The tiger demon fell silent.

A few moments later, however, its indignant protests rose again from beneath Su Qing. Hearing its refusal to listen, she sighed and shook her head.

“Never mind. I won’t waste any more words with you. I've spent too much time here already. I don’t care why you chose to eat humans, but since you violated the rules, you must die.”

“My apologies, but rules are meant to be kept. We cannot allow an exception to take root.”

“So, I’ll have to trouble you to be the example I set for the others.”

With those words, Su Qing’s palm struck the tiger’s head without mercy. A soft thud rang out, and the life vanished from the beast instantly. It wasn’t a painful end—in a fleeting second, the tiger demon was dead. Its soul would eventually be collected by the Underworld emissaries to be led into reincarnation.

“A pity... if you had cultivated properly, you might have transformed one day,” Su Qing muttered with a slow shake of her head.

She hopped off the tiger’s head and used the Sleeve Universe technique to store the massive corpse. The tiger's remains would serve a purpose elsewhere. Once that was done, she called out to two other demons hiding nearby and tossed each a medicinal pill.

These were their rewards for informing her of the tiger's location. Rewarding those who contributed was essential to maintaining order. In any case, she never lacked for pills.

“Right. That should wrap things up. It’s time to head back.”

Su Qing formed a hand seal, conjured an auspicious cloud, and flew back up toward her peak.

Returning to her courtyard, she sat back in the reclining chair beneath the Bodhi tree. She let out a long sigh. “Ugh, maintaining the balance between humans and demons is truly exhausting work.”

“Master, you’ve worked hard.”

Seeing the weariness on Su Qing’s face, Leng Xiang stopped her chores and walked over to massage her shoulders. “Lunch will be ready in just a little while.”

“Good...” Su Qing nodded, staring up at the leaves of the Bodhi tree, drifting into a long contemplative daze.

As she pondered, Yudie manifested from the short sword and curled up on Su Qing like a small kitten.

“Mother... don't be troubled. You didn't do anything wrong,” Yudie said softly, resting her head on Su Qing’s chest.

Su Qing snapped out of her trance and gave a helpless smile. “I don’t feel I did anything wrong... I just feel that there’s more and more work lately. Even a lazy person like me is getting busy!”

As for the title 'Mother'...

Su Qing had long since stopped fighting it. A hundred years had passed without the brat changing her tune. If she couldn't accept it, what else was there to do?

Su Qing actually felt a bit frustrated. She hadn't expected changing a simple name would be so difficult. She had wasted so much time trying, only to be the first one to cave in. One could only say the girl was remarkably persistent. Even a bull wasn't as stubborn as this child.

“It’s true... there have been many more demons on Changbai lately. That tiger makes the third lawbreaker killed this year, right?” Yudie counted on her fingers. Indeed, it was the third rule-breaker they had dealt with in a single season.

Su Qing nodded and sighed. “Yes... three already. It’s a lot compared to previous years, and spring has only just begun.”

“Mother... why is this happening?”

“I’d like to know that myself, you little rascal.” Su Qing rolled her eyes and pinched Yudie’s cheek. “But I have a feeling there will only be more from now on...”

“Eh? Even more?” Yudie blinked.

“Of course. After all, this is only the first century,” Su Qing said pensively. “This is merely the beginning. As time passes, an increase is inevitable.”