“Although the Plum Blossom Sect’s movements are quite secretive, challenging each Taoist sect one by one is inevitably going to attract attention. What particularly caught people’s attention was the unique Taoist techniques used by Plum Blossom Sect members, which seemed completely unbound by the Five Elements and Yin-Yang principles. Therefore, in magical confrontations, they could almost completely disregard the characteristics of their opponents’ techniques, without any mutual restraint or weakness. This aspect became a matter of great interest to Taoist sects throughout the land.” Sixth Master furrowed his brows as he spoke, then turned to Mei Qing.
“I’ve heard from my subordinates that you have performed forbidden techniques on multiple occasions, techniques that strongly resemble the style of the Plum Blossom Sect. Although I don’t fully grasp the details, I believe there must be some truth to this. Additionally, we occasionally witnessed your mother practicing Taoist arts back then. At the time, our understanding was limited, so we couldn’t make sense of what we saw. But reflecting on it now, her techniques were precisely like the legendary magic of the Plum Blossom Sect—completely distinct from those of other Taoist schools.” Six爺 paused for a moment, then continued, “Not only that, but your mother never revealed her real name to us, nor could we trace her background. However, the name she asked us to use for her back then inevitably made us think of the Six Plums of the Plum Blossom Sect.”
“How did you address her?” Mei Qing asked curiously.
“She asked us to call her Wu Duo, which means ‘Five Plum’ in Chinese,” Six sighed in reply.
Mei Qing instinctively turned his gaze toward Uncle Zhong. His main chamber maid was named Duo Yun (Cloud Plum) and the younger maid was called Wu Er (Little Five). Previously, he hadn’t thought much of it. But now, considering the circumstances, it was highly likely that these names had been chosen by Uncle Zhong back then. Looking at these names together now, they seemed to carry a deeper meaning.
At that time, both among common people and in the imperial court, there was a strong tradition of avoiding ancestral names, absolutely forbidding the use of ancestors’ names for descendants. Even more so when naming servants.
As if understanding Mei Qing’s thoughts, Sixth Master shook his head. “I know about the names Wu Er and Duo Yun. Originally, they were the names of two maids who served your mother. Precisely because of this, we all felt that ‘Wu Duo’ couldn’t possibly be your mother’s real name; it was likely just a casual name she adopted.”
After hearing this, Mei Qing felt rather strange. In his own heart, he never believed that the names of relatives needed to be avoided as strictly as others did. Nevertheless, his mother’s behavior was indeed somewhat unusual.
“Then where is my mother now? Could it be that she has…” Seeing Six爺 and Uncle Zhong deep in thought, Mei Qing anxiously continued pressing them for answers.
Six爷和钟叔对视了一眼，最终钟叔艰难地摇了摇头。“我们也不知道。”
Six and Uncle Zhong exchanged glances, and finally Uncle Zhong shook his head with difficulty. “We don’t know either.”
Mei Qing was stunned, but seeing their expressions, he knew they weren’t lying to him. After thinking for a moment, he asked again, “Then what about my father? Who is he?”
Six’s expression showed clear hesitation. After a moment, he spoke with difficulty. “Your father is Xing’s Prince Xian, who is now His Majesty the Emperor.”
“What!?” Although Mei Qing had suspected that his origins were somewhat unusual, this answer still came as a huge shock. He shot straight up, pointing at Lord Six and exclaiming, “You’re saying I’m… the Emperor’s son?”
Although his manner was quite disrespectful, Sixth Master acted as if he hadn’t noticed, merely nodding slowly.
“You must be joking,” Mei Qing said with a dry laugh. “How could I possibly be the Emperor’s son? How could that old man Jiajing be my father? How is that possible? How could that be? Ha ha, you’re just kidding around, right, Uncle Zhong?”
Uncle Zhong’s face showed a hint of sorrow as he softly said, “Young Master, what Sixzi said is true. You are indeed the son of the Emperor.”
“How do you know that?” Mei Qing shook his head. “Uncle Zhong, don’t let him fool you. You actually believe what the head of the Embroidered Uniform Guard says?”
As he spoke, Mei Qing kept shaking his head, insisting it was impossible.
Sighing, Uncle Zhong said, “I didn’t hear this from him. Back then, I was the head guard of Prince Xian of Xing’s mansion in Anlu, Hubei, known as Ghost Hand Lu Zhong. Actually, Sixzi and I are from the same clan. However, my family was poor, and I had some unusual encounters from a young age, learning some martial arts skills. Later, with a recommendation from our clan elders, I was noticed and valued by the late Prince, joining the mansion as a guard. I followed the Crown Prince all along – the one who later inherited the title of Prince Xian of Xing, and eventually went to the capital to become the Emperor. You are indeed the Emperor’s son, without any doubt.”
“Well then, if my father is the Emperor, even if he was just Prince Xian back then, he was still a prince. How could he have married my mother? Moreover, if he really became Emperor, how could he not even be able to find out where my mother is?”
Sighing, Old Six said slowly, “This is a long story.”
“Back then, I was the Emperor’s companion reader. Actually, at that time, the Emperor was merely the Crown Prince of Prince Xian of Xing. Although he was destined to inherit the title of Prince Xian of Xing, our Ming Dynasty’s princes were nothing more than nominal figures. Especially after the rebellion of Prince Ning of Xing, the imperial court was extremely vigilant about the regional princes, stripping them of any power and refusing to grant even the slightest leeway. Therefore, the young Emperor had quite a leisurely life back then. Being young and impulsive, he often took Lu Zhong and me with him to go out in disguise.”
“Lu Zhong was a few years older than us. Every time we went out, he would dress as a servant. Thinking back now, Lu Zhong was at the stage of cultivating external qi back then, and he probably had ‘bodyguard’ written all over his face. How could he possibly look like a real servant? I suppose you must have known this at the time, but you just played along to humor us?” Six smiled and said.
“It wasn’t entirely like that,” Uncle Zhong shook his head. “Back then, the Emperor loved going out, and although we couldn’t stop him, we had to take precautions. Besides, we didn’t have many people available at the time. If someone reckless caused trouble, what could we do? You know that back then, the Prince Xian of Xing’s mansion could only intimidate ordinary people. Those with real power probably didn’t take the mansion seriously at all. If something really happened, although we could handle it, it would still bring trouble to the mansion. My presence, being somewhat intimidating, actually prevented those reckless people from acting rashly. After all, not every family could have a tough guy like me serving as a servant.”
“Indeed. No wonder we never encountered any trouble whenever the three of us went out back then. Thinking back now, it was indeed your careful planning.” Sixth grinned.
“Unfortunately, we did get into one incident, which almost became uncontrollable.” Uncle Zhong muttered gloomily.
Shaking his head, Sixth Master said, “It’s hard to say. There might have been some elements in that incident we couldn’t fully understand. Anyway, let’s not dwell on it for now. Actually, at that time, I had already begun practicing Taoism. My path into cultivation was somewhat accidental. Thinking about it now, it’s somewhat similar to your experience, young man. However, I started cultivating at a much younger age than you. But back then, I didn’t learn any genuine techniques—I was merely fumbling around. Later, I met A Bi’s mother, entered into a cultivation partnership with her, and under her guidance, my progress quickened. If it hadn’t been for the Emperor summoning me to the capital later on, I probably would have long abandoned worldly matters and secluded myself deep in the mountains for cultivation by now.”
“At that time, being young and impulsive, after learning some skills, I naturally had a competitive mindset. As it happened, one day a prince from a concubine provoked me, and I couldn’t directly teach him a lesson. Alas, out of momentary anger, I used a magical technique to make him suffer a bit.”
“Unfortunately, this incident was discovered by the Crown Prince. At that time, he was still just the Crown Prince, only about a dozen years old, and at an age where he was curious about everything. Seeing such a thing, how could he not want to learn it himself? I had no choice but to tell him that the key to cultivating immortality lies in fate and opportunity. I also told him that my cultivation method was a dual cultivation technique, all taught by my cultivation partner, and due to sect regulations, I couldn’t teach him.”
“The Crown Prince was naturally unhappy, but he knew I was telling the truth and couldn’t do anything about it. However, after that, whenever he went out to play, he insisted on going to remote mountains and secluded valleys. I knew his intention was to hope that he might accidentally encounter his own immortal fate and thus enter the path of cultivation. In addition, the mansion secretly dispatched people to search for cultivators.”
Actually, various sects also have their mountain gates in the secular world. With the Crown Prince searching like this, naturally there were people claiming to be immortals from various sects coming to the mansion to teach Taoist techniques. However, these techniques were somewhat shallow, and some so-called great immortals who came to the door were even just江湖charlatans. The Crown Prince followed them to learn for a few days, naturally achieving nothing, which made him somewhat impatient. At one point, he stubbornly decided to run away from home and directly go to Dragon Tiger Mountain to study under the Celestial Master Sect.
“Lu Zhong and I tried our best to dissuade him, but the Crown Prince was determined to learn Taoist techniques. Later, we had no choice but to worry that he might really run away if he got impatient. At that time, Prince Xian was seriously ill, there was no one to take charge of the family, and we couldn’t come up with a plan. Just when we didn’t know what to do, Prince Xian passed away.”
“That was the fourteenth year of the Zhengde era, when the Crown Prince was only about thirteen or fourteen years old. With the old prince’s death, although the Crown Prince couldn’t immediately inherit the title while still in mourning, he was now the acting ruler of the principality. This time, he couldn’t indulge in his fantasies anymore. Lu Zhong and I both breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that from then on, the Crown Prince would no longer indulge in wild dreams. However, we were still mistaken.”
“I remember it very clearly. It was the fifteenth day of the first winter month that year. I don’t know why, but that year was particularly cold.” Sixth Master turned to Mei Qing as he spoke. “You might not know, but the coldness there was different from the coldness we experience here in winter. Here, the cold is dry and piercing, but there it was damp and bitterly cold. That year was unusually frigid, and a heavy snowfall had suddenly arrived a few days prior. It wasn’t until the fifteenth that the weather finally cleared. On that day, we were just overseeing the servants in cleaning the courtyard when suddenly a Taoist priest arrived at the door, claiming he had heard the Crown Prince was seeking eminent Taoist masters and stating that he wished to recommend himself as the Crown Prince’s teacher in Taoist cultivation.”
I was still under twenty at that time, with limited experience. I couldn’t really judge that person’s character, so I led him to see the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince was still in mourning, so it wasn’t convenient for him to appear publicly all the time. When he met this Taoist priest, the man claimed to be from Maoshan, introducing himself as Master Maoyang of the Shangqing Sect, boasting about his abilities in exorcising ghosts and demons, turning stones into gold, and so on. At first glance, the man looked exactly like a wandering charlatan. However, he immediately turned a stone that the Crown Prince had found into gold, which convinced us.
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