Person · Hidden Mountain

Wang Deqing

Birthday: 13th day of the Fifth Month

Spoilers

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Ties · 1

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Faction · 1

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Lone Cloud
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Their story · 2

Chasing Stars
Her parents used to say that as soon as she learned to walk, she wanted to run everywhere. Her little legs were still unsteady, so she was always tripping, stumbling, and falling. But every time she got back up, dusted herself off, and ran right on. Or perhaps it was not running at all, but chasing. She always seemed to have something to chase. Butterflies, drifting catkins, falling petals, fireflies... She loved to run after them, to watch them, to marvel at all the lively, unfamiliar things she had never known before. She never minded the bumps and bruises herself, but each fall made her parents' hearts ache. So her clever-handed father made her a little fishing rod and found a clear, gleaming piece of colored glass for bait. It was not meant to catch fish, of course, but his own little girl. In the sunlight, that shining glass stone was hung high above her, and she chased it for the longest time. At last night fell, and its glow began to fade. But this time, she did not lower her head to look for something else to chase. She kept looking up. And this time, what shone in her eyes was that ancient sea of stars. Had it truly never changed? No. The stars were alive. There were intricate star charts, crossing celestial paths, and star after star that paid no heed to prediction and wandered where they pleased. There was a sky so vast that one could spend a lifetime studying it and still never know it all. So above her was a living new world, full of vitality and endless mysteries, more than any one life could ever uncover... People grow up. And when they do, when they learn more and more, they begin to take such things for granted. That is a butterfly. That is drifting catkins. That is a falling petal. That is a firefly. That is a star. Once people know they might fall, they no longer like to chase. But she had already fallen for that sea of stars. She kept stumbling, bumping, falling, and chasing, just as she had when she was a child.
Beyond Reach Spoiler · Reach for the Stars
At nineteen, she followed her master and the others out of Mist-Hidden Vale and came to Hidden Mountain, the famed city of mechanisms, on a visiting exchange. When she first arrived on Mohist Hill, she was fascinated by the ingenious mortise-and-tenon devices scattered through the mountain. There were wooden eagles that soared through the air, wooden scarabs that scuttled along the ground, instruments that marked the hours, sky-reaching suspended structures... and, above all, that wonderful spot on Heaven's Threshold! where the stars could be observed. She had left home, yet the stars were still there overhead. All she had to do was lift her eyes. Only then did she realize that beyond Mist-Hidden Vale, within the secluded Hidden Mountain, there were so many others who were just as drawn to mathematics and just as filled with wonder for the boundless night sky. Together they spent night after night amid the sea of blossoms at Driftseed Moor, watching the heavens and eagerly sharing what they had learned with everyone who looked up at the stars. When her time of study came to an end, the fellow disciples who had come with her to lecture and exchange ideas all left Hidden Mountain. She alone stayed behind, still absorbed in observation and charting, and in time became a teacher of mathematics and astronomy. Before she knew it, she had found many kindred spirits there, and some who studied under her had even begun to call her Master. Later still, she made her home there. And yet, those stars... you can see them, but you cannot touch them, so why keep chasing after them? Just like those who rode the wind toward the stars, they always seemed beyond her reach. But people are like that. Even when they know they will never catch what they chase, they still cannot help but run a few steps more, rise onto their toes, and try anyway. Even now, old as she was, often forgetting the way, she would still wander out the door without thinking, still chasing the stars. Eh? Had she really never reached them? She paused. In her rough, weathered hand was a small, soft one, and beside her the little girl kept chattering away. Where were they headed again? Ah, right. They were on their way home. Yuelu. Yuelu. This was Granny's Yuelu. "Yuelu, do you remember how we used to soothe you when you cried as a child?" "With stars?" "That's right. Granny had a star-fishing rod when she was little, and you have one too. Shame we can't really reach the real stars." "Of course we can, Granny. You're being silly. Doesn't it say so in the storybooks? The Lord of Clouds plucked down stars and shared them with the world, so everyone got a star of their own. If you don't believe me, I can give you lots and lots of stars too." Had Yuelu prepared more "stars" at home again? Would it be the Twenty-Eight Mansions this time, or the stars of the Northern Dipper? But this time, Yuelu was right. Granny had already had many stars in her life. She gently squeezed Yuelu's little hand. The one in her hand now was Granny's brightest star of all. This time, Granny had reached one.
Spoiler · Reach for the Stars

In their own words · 3

Epithets of the Jianghu
Besides, the stars that fill the sky all have names of their own. Hmm... What do you think of "Lord of Clouds"?
Infatuation
Within these frail mortal frames, we harbor such pitiful, stubborn hearts, chasing after the vast, unreachable stars... Chasing them until our bodies wither and eyes dim, until kin and peers have all passed away... How brief a life, how deep the regrets. Yet, whenever we lift our gaze, there remains...
Homeward Path Spoiler · Reach for the Stars
Spoiler · Reach for the Stars

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