The Bazaar of Illusions and the Monkey Flute - Tao of the Mad Sage

The Path of Mischievous Winds

Lin Xiu walked through a forest of towering bamboo trees, their branches interwoven like the fingers of giants, blocking out the sun. He carried the remains of his broken broom—a wooden stick the length of his arm ending in a sharp splinter like a wolf's fang. He spoke to his shadow stretched along the ground:

"Do you know why they hate madness? Because it reminds them their rules can be broken..."

The shadow didn't reply, but waved its arm strangely as a sudden warm wind passed, carrying the scent of cinnamon and rust.

Then the wind stopped. A heavy silence descended over the forest, even the night crickets went mute. Ten steps ahead, a black crow perched on a rock, its eyes red as droplets of blood. It didn't flap its wings—just stared at Lin Xiu with unnerving intensity.

"Oh... today's observer wears black!" Lin Xiu laughed as he approached.

The crow opened its beak, but what came out wasn't a caw—it was a rasping human whisper:

Before Lin Xiu could reply, the crow exploded into a cloud of black feathers and thick blood, leaving behind a single pure white feather drifting downward.

Tianfu Market of False Wonders

After three hours of walking, he reached Tianfu Market—a place like a fever dream. Stalls made of coconut husks sold "sachets of moonlight," and hawkers shouted: "The Cloak of Borrowed Honor! Makes you a noble for a day!" In one corner, an old man offered "tickets to heaven" in exchange for a black hen's egg.

But the strangest thing: all vendors and customers moved at double speed, like a fast-forwarded film. Hands flitted during haggling, eyes flashed, even a fly that landed on a pie zipped off like a bullet.

"Time here... is drunk!" Lin Xiu muttered, dodging a man sprinting past with a talking fish.

In the center of the market, one decrepit stall caught his eye. Its sign was written in frozen animal blood:

"Fang Xian – Seller of Spirit Ceramics and Stolen Sounds"

Inside, a blind man sat behind a table covered in small clay figurines. Each had a mouth gaping unnaturally wide.

"Want something to make you laugh or cry?" the blind man asked without lifting his head.

"I want something that's good for nothing!"

The blind man smiled, as if he'd been waiting for that answer. He reached under the table and pulled out an ancient flute, carved from acacia wood and etched with the image of a monkey dancing in a circle.

"This is the 'Yi Bao' flute. They say the soul of a great monkey was sealed inside after it sang a song that made a god laugh until he wept."

Lin Xiu paid with a handful of dirt from his pocket (it was all he had). The blind man sniffed the soil and chuckled: "Soil from Inverted Yang Village... fair price!"

The First Whistle of Madness

Lin Xiu tried to play the flute, but no sound came out. He tapped it lightly against his forehead: "Come on, you wooden peasant! Show me your soul!"

Suddenly, the engravings on the flute trembled. A screeching sound emerged, like new shoes on marble:

Lin Xiu flipped it around. This time, when he blew, a high-pitched note rang out—like a child screaming.

And then something horrific happened:

The nearby fast-talking vendor froze like an ice sculpture. The fish he held dropped, its skin cracking to reveal tiny human bones. All around the market, time began to slow. The frantic bodies lost their manic pace, their eyes swelling with confusion.

The clay figurines on the blind man's table began to weep black mud. The blind man screamed: "What is this nonsense?! You broke the market's 'Seal of Speed'!"

Laughter erupted from the flute:

The Straw Hat and the Killer Shadow

Amid the chaos, a woman appeared at the market's entrance.

She wore a brilliant white robe that fluttered like a crane's wings, her long black hair bound with an icy clasp shaped like a flower. Her steps were calm, but each one froze the ground beneath her into delicate crystals. She was Yue Yan—the Cutting Snow Blossom.

Around her, time stopped completely. Droplets of water from a broken jug hung in midair like transparent jewels.

"Lin Xiu, the Mute Dog." Her voice was as clear as a bell, but cold as a blade of ice. "Surrender the Heavenly Tiangu Seal and walk away—or..."

Lin Xiu suddenly screamed and pointed to a straw hat on the ground:

"Look! A hat that wants to become a bird!"

He tossed the flute at the hat. Instinctively, Yue Yan fired ice blades from her fingers, slicing the flute in two!

But instead of wood, thick blue smoke poured from the broken flute and formed a transparent monkey the size of a child. It grabbed the hat and shouted:

Yue Yan didn't hesitate. She drew a circle with her hand, forming a long ice sword. But before she could strike, Lin Xiu cried out:

"Yi Bao! Remember: nonsense is an unbreakable shield!"

The transparent monkey leapt into the air and began to sing a ridiculous song about a banana wanting to marry a mountain.

Battle of Logic and Absurdity

The ice sword pierced Yi Bao's transparent body—no blood, no pain. Just the monkey's voice rising:

Yue Yan's brow furrowed for the first time. She raised her palm, unleashing a frost storm that turned everything to ice: stalls, weeping statues, even the air began to freeze.

Lin Xiu raised his broken broomstick. Instead of fleeing, he drew childlike doodles on the icy ground—circles and deformed birds. Wherever the stick passed, the ice melted into warm puddles that sprouted tiny flowers.

"Discipline is beautiful like a glass window..." he said, scribbling a smiling face on Yue Yan's foot. "But madness is the wind that wipes off its dust!"

Yue Yan grew furious. She slammed the ground, launching spikes of ice in every direction toward Lin Xiu. But he hopped like a grasshopper, dancing between the spears and laughing. Each spike that hit the ground released an air bubble holding a frozen laugh—returning to echo through the space.

Suddenly, Yi Bao stood atop the blind vendor's stall (now a frozen statue), shouting:

He pointed to Yue Yan's shadow—it wasn't a woman's shadow, but a three-horned ice beast!

Yue Yan screamed: "Enough!" and slammed the ground with all her might.

Escape in a Boat of Autumn Leaves

A blast of frost exploded like a nuclear detonation. Lin Xiu leapt behind Yi Bao, who had suddenly grown into a giant transparent monkey. Yi Bao grabbed him and fled through the collapsing market.

"Chatterbox monkey! Where's your real body?"

He pointed at a pile of dry autumn leaves.

Yi Bao blew on them, shaping them into a fragile boat. They jumped in, and the boat lifted into the air, floating as if on an invisible river. Yue Yan blew a sharp icy whistle, and ghostly frost spirits began chasing them.

In the boat, Lin Xiu held up the white feather left by the crow. "This feather… smells like that icy woman. But older… and sadder."

Yi Bao took the feather and sniffed it:

Lin Xiu stared at the feather, then peeled the Tiangu Seal from his forehead (now dim) and pressed it to Yi Bao's transparent chest.

"Take this piece of the angry sky... maybe it'll help you remember."

Suddenly, Yi Bao froze. His transparent eyes filled with cascading visions: snowy mountains dyed with blood, cages of moonlight, the screaming of phoenixes.

The paper boat exploded from one final ice blast from Yue Yan. They fell into a real river beneath the market, leaving Snow Blossom standing on the edge, eyes locked on the monstrous shadow that Yi Bao had seen.

Beneath the Bridge with Ghosts of the Past

The river carried them under an old stone bridge. Lin Xiu pulled the now-shrunken Yi Bao from the water.

"Everything is a common stone until we give it meaning… or peel it away."

Yi Bao trembled. The seal on his chest glowed a strange violet hue.

Before Lin Xiu could respond, they heard whispers. Under the bridge, a group of vagabonds sat around a faint fire. One of them, an old man with a face carved by wrinkles, was telling a story:

"…And so, ten years ago, the sky over the Zhao Kingdom shattered. Rain of molten iron, people turning into singing salt statues…"