Heaven Official's Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu (Novel) Vol. 2(11)
The last line was uttered in contempt, and Xie Lian smiled. “The Wind Master is a defender of justice.”
Shi Qingxuan laughed. “You’re not bad yourself! I’d heard rumors here and there about Banyue Pass but never had the time to investigate. Plus, my brother would yell at me about it. With so much on my plate, I’d forgotten. When I heard you ask about it in the communication array the other day, it reminded me that there was such a case pending, and so I went to check it out. Turns out that not only did you ask, you even went there yourself! So I thought, dang, what a guy! Ha ha ha ha ha…”
This Wind Master certainly had an extremely straightforward and interesting personality, and Xie Lian could understand now why he was so popular in the heavens. He smiled, surprised to have made the acquaintance of such a heavenly official in the Upper Court. But just as he turned his head to face him, the white-clad cultivator beside him had transformed into a lady Daoist in white. It was so sudden, Xie Lian almost stumbled in his step.
“Lord Wind Master, why the sudden transformation?”
“Oh. Truth be told, Your Highness, I’m actually more powerful in this form.” Shi Qingxuan preened her long hair.
As was mentioned earlier, the Wind Master and the Water Master were often worshipped together. However, this also produced a bizarre accident. Perhaps people thought that a single temple worshipping two male gods together was lacking something. Lords and Ladies go hand in hand, so people thought having one male god and one female god would make it seem more complete. Thus, someone took a certain initiative, and that initiative was to sculpt the Wind Master as a goddess.
But it didn’t end with the goddess statue; they had to make up stories to go with it too—things like the Water and Wind Gods being brother and sister. There was even a version where they were husband and wife. After a few centuries, the falsehoods spread, and from them came even more outlandish legends. The two heavenly officials once read through the tales on a whim and cringed so hard their goosebumps practically spilled off them. Nonetheless, there were more than a few who believed in those outrageous stories, and thus did the Wind Master’s gender become confused. “My Lady, prithee watch over me” could be heard all over the place. Thus, Shi Qingxuan was also known by the moniker “Lady Wind Master.”
Although silly, such absurd occurrences were not rare. Ling Wen, for example, had a similar experience. She was a lady heavenly official, but she never dressed flamboyantly like the other celestial maidens. She was often dressed in black attire, she was competent and efficient, and she spent her days working madly through stacks and stacks of administrative scrolls at her palace. If one should ask any mortal “Is Ling Wen a man or a woman?” any one of them would respond with confidence: a man. And although her personality was partly to blame, much of it was due to another reason.
Come now, of course a civil god must be male! For that alone, when Ling Wen ascended, she suffered brutal disadvantages. She was a civil goddess, but many in the Mortal Realm thought: How could a woman ever reach that position? How could a lady possibly ensure good fortune in scholarly pursuits? She must not be effective! Thus, no matter how hard she worked, she still had only a few devotees.
As time went on, some of her temple attendants were so upset by this treatment that they rebuilt her statues into male forms, transforming Ling Wen-yuanjun to Ling Wen-zhenjun, and crafted their own astonishing legends and backstories. After this change, her temples became prosperous, and everyone praised how effective Ling Wen was. But in truth, it was still the same heavenly official, her spiritual powers never changed, and the legends were all fake. Still, the people ate them up. Since then, whenever Ling Wen needed to appear in dreams or show herself to mortals, she could only do so in a male form.
By the same logic, because the people believed that it had to be a man and a woman together holding down the fort in the Temple of Wind and Water, that was how it became. Who cared whether you were a god or a ghost? You were whatever people believed you to be. Appearances could be a million miles off the mark from the real thing, and people would still see what they wanted to see. It was something the Upper Court heavenly officials had long since stopped fretting over.
As for Shi Qingxuan, from Xie Lian’s own observations, he didn’t appear to mind at all. In fact, he was completely immersed and enjoying himself. Not only that, he was even passionate about dragging others into it, making Xie Lian wonder about the real gender of the lady in black who was with the Wind Master before. In the four hours that they spent traveling down from the Heavenly Realm together, Shi Qingxuan had tirelessly tried to persuade Xie Lian to disguise himself as a woman, with extremely convincing reasons such as:
“Women have stronger yin energy—therefore, it’ll be much easier for you to hide in the Ghost City crowds.”
Xie Lian thought about it but then courteously rejected the idea. “I don’t have enough spiritual energy to transform.”
To that, Shi Qingxuan replied enthusiastically, “I’ll lend you mine! Isn’t that the whole reason why the Heavenly Emperor appointed me to this mission?”
“My lord, please save your powers for when we’re actually fighting the enemy…”
Shi Qingxuan couldn’t persuade Xie Lian, so she stopped pushing. By that time, the two had reached a wild field in the middle of nowhere. The night had deepened, and crows cawed raucously in the pitch-black woods. The air was ominous and desolate.