I feel like the explanation from the author might be a bit of a let down but the breakdown at the end of the chapter. My favorite has to be urbanscrappy about the time of death and the green to red transformation of the old Qu Qing Ju to the new present Qu Qing Ju.

This chapter has been provided to you by me, ororomunroe90 and leecherleechleech.

Chapter Sixty Two Reality

The Spirit Master didn’t notice He Heng passing the stick over to Qu Qing Ju. He gave them another Taoist bow, “Two honored ones, no other guests are coming here today. This Taoist bids you farewell.” He left the place, stroking his beard.

Before Qu Qing Ju could react, Spirit Master Xuan Ling had already walked into the forest. She could only see the back of his figure as he quickly disappeared from her sight.

He really did look like a powerful master, leaving so gracefully and only showing the back of his figure. Qu Qing Ju lowered her head to look at the stick in her hand. She might not understand the meaning of what was written but she could still detect what was wrong with the stick.

Most sticks were part of a set amount, the writing of a particular style. The one she received had the wrong type of coupling, the topics were unrelated and the tone was wrong. Even the poem was constructed randomly with no rhyme or reason.

Perhaps this stick had been a practice stick of one of the junior Taoists of the monastery? No wonder the Taoist looked profound but couldn’t explain the stick. Did he also think the stick wasn’t right?

“Nine mountains quiet and green tears flower red, three geng fire five geng chicken .. …” Qu Qing Ju toyed with the stick as she recited the two unrelated lines. She raised her brow and stood up, “Wang ye, I don’t think there is anything more to see here. Why don’t we leave?”

He Heng saw that she didn’t seem to care about the stick since she’d handed it over to Mu Jin behind her. He smiled and agreed: “Let’s leave then.” The Taoist said that they were some honoured persons and that the number of Jing guests had lessened after that incident in Jing City. He must have noticed their status from their high-quality clothing and the assassination attempt had only occurred a few days earlier.

As for that part about them climbing up the mountain, he turned to look at the rosy blush that still hadn’t faded from Qu Qing Ju’s face. It was a very visible fact. Ghosts and gods, it was just that one saw what one expected.

What nine mountains quiet and green tears flower red, three geng fire five geng … … He Heng’s expression suddenly changed. He stopped dead in his tracks and turned to look at Mu Jin, who was supporting Qu Qing Ju, “Let ben wang see the stick again.”

After seeing no objections coming from wang fei, Mu Jin carefully gave him the stick. She noticed that wang ye’s expression was slightly strange.

“This stick has nonsense written on it. Don’t waste any effort in keeping it,” He Heng threw the stick to Qian Chang Xin beside him, before turning to speak to Qu Qing Ju, “The road down is more difficult, we’ll use the sedans this time.”

Qu Qing Ju didn’t look at his actions and only smiled and nodded in response. The couple walked ahead of He Ming, who was perplexed by his brother’s actions. He Heng said: “A stick that has no rhyme or reason, it seems that your er sao’s hand isn’t very lucky.”

Qu Qing Ju smiled as she replied: “I asked you to come along this time. You didn’t join me because you said that I was requesting for the both of us. Now you disdain my hand for being unlucky. That’s not fair.”

“Fine, fine, good men don’t fight with women,” He Heng smiled as he waved his hand, “We should still descend. There’s a small stream at the foot of Bai Yun Mountain. We can have a picnic beside it.”

“That’s good,” He Ming acted as though he didn’t see the flirtations between the two, a sincere smile on his face, “Yu di had always wanted to have a meal in the midst of nature.”

As the three talked, they walked along the black stone path. Somehow, the topic switched to the matter of He Ming being attacked when he went to Jiang Nan.

“The Royal Court might be fighting heavily but this matter will eventually reach a conclusion,” He Heng understood his predicament, patting his shoulder as he comforted sympathetically, “There is always difficult matters in the world. You just have to endure them.”

“Er ge is right, even if fuhuang is honoured of the nine-five ,九五之尊: the numbers nine and five come from possibly the most influential Chinese Classics I Ching (Yi Jing). It is a book on divination taken in part from Zhou Jing (of Western Zhou Dynasty) which was based on oracle bones. The divination is done on a set of 64 hexagrams(each with six horizontal lines, unbroken ones are yang, broken lines are yin). The first and best hexagram is Qian (six unbroken lines) which is the most masculine and also represent Heaven or the Sky. The first two lines represent the earth, the second pair the people, the third pair heaven. The first, third, and fifth lines are yang (the position, unrelated to whether the line is broken or not). The second, fourth, and sixth lines occupy a yin position. Five is the most masculine and the best representation of heaven. The nine (jiu) isn’t an actual number, it’s a symbol that indicate (yin/yang) of the number. Hence, nine-five representing the Mandate of Heaven and the Emperor – creating the nine dragons on the emperor’s robes with five feet, the construction of the Forbidden Palace and was one of the reasons the first Zhou Emperor (as king) marched on the last Shang Emperor when he interpreted an solar eclipse.

[ii]选女: women (girls) chosen for the draft into the palace. They will either end up as palace maids, or concubines.