It was a night when moonlight fell in a gentle curve along the riverbank.

A man knocked at the gates of an estate.

With his long ears and beautiful face, he looked beyond this mortal world. He asked for the master of the estate, offering his medical skills in exchange for a night's lodging as a guest.

His features were mysterious, his scent like blades of grass. The gatekeeper did not dare turn him away.

The master of the estate happened to have a newborn child. He admitted the long-eared man, intending to ask him to examine the baby's pulse.

Holding the child and gazing down intently, the man spoke.

“He will have difficulty living past twenty. That is the constitution he was born with.”

“You mean he will die young? He sent his mother to heaven when he was born. Is this divine punishment after all?”

The man furrowed his brow at the estate master's words, as though he could scarcely bear to hear them.

“You ask a physician such a thing? Even an ignorant country bumpkin ought to...”

“What is the nature of his condition?” the estate master asked, clearing his throat.

“So you do remember you're his father. This is similar to the Nine Yin Severed Meridians. Never in my life have I seen anyone with a Baihui point this excessively open. The top of his head is wide open, is what I'm saying.”

“I believe I heard that the Nine Yin Severed Meridians kills people when their acupoints harden.”

“You aren't entirely ignorant, then. This child will pass on because the acupoint at the crown of his head is too open. It's commonly called ascending to immortality.”

“Ascending to immortality? All of a sudden? Isn't that when a Taoist of great spiritual power departs for the immortal realm?”

“You believe that?”

The man stroked one of his long ears and launched into an explanation.

“I don't know whether you've heard that some supreme masters use the upper dantian in their heads. They become intoxicated by the energy of nature pouring down from heaven and earth, until they can no longer bear it and cross the River of Three Paths. That's what ascending to immortality is. The tale has been distorted in the telling.”

“It does seem to be divine punishment.”

“You turtle of a man. And you call yourself a father...”

The man frowned and clicked his tongue. The estate master sprang to his feet, pointing an accusing finger.

“I've heard quite enough. You seem to be a man of the martial world. What is your standing in its generations? Even if you are of the noble race, your manner of speaking is most offensive.”

“My standing? You dare question my seniority? Even if your grandfather's grandfather came here, to me he would be...!”

The man was thrown out for hurling abuse at the estate master, and word of their conversation never spread beyond the estate.

* * *

“Had he been raised among the wicked and unorthodox, he would have become the Heavenly Demon. Had he grown up in Shaolin, its Seventy-Two Supreme Arts would have doubled in number. Yet he was born an unloved child in this secluded place. With no other way to survive, he'll die young in this backwater.”

The man shook his head and went on his way.

“Unless he comes to enlightenment on his own...”