Chapter 1: Mount Sanqing

It is said that in the Cosmic Realm, there are countless sacred mountains, the rivers are clear and the seas are calm, and immortal traces often manifest, making the practice of seeking immortality and inquiring about the Dao a prevailing trend.

Among these, the two regions of Bashu and Yu Zhang are the most magnificent.

The Yu Zhang region is rich in natural treasures and outstanding people; the immortal mountains famous overseas alone include the Jian Sect's Mount Lushan and Mount Mingyue, and the Chan Sect's Mount Dajue and Mount Zhenru. As for the famous mountains of the Daoist sects, they are renowned throughout the world, with both ancestral foundations of great sects standing tall and hidden talisman-treasured mountains left in the world.

Therefore, Yu Zhang is also known as the Daoist Capital of the World.

Yu Zhang holds the reins of the Eastern Daoist sects, among which Mount Longhu and Mount Sanqing are the most respected.

Mount Longhu was founded during the Han Dynasty and is the ancestral foundation of the Ancestral Ancestral Tian Shi Dao. Having stood for nearly eight thousand years, it is the greatest of the contemporary era, overseeing the world's alchemy and commanding the Five Thunders. However, Mount Longhu is the strictest in accepting disciples; its members are few and noble, and the Ancestral Ancestral Tian Shi's Mansion is a place where strangers are not welcome.

Mount Sanqing was founded during the Eastern Jin Dynasty and is the ancestral foundation of the Wanfa Sect. Having stood for over six thousand years, it practices internal alchemy, external alchemy, sword arts, talismans, array diagrams, astrology, thunder methods, body refining, traditional medicine, corpse-raising, and other methods, accepting disciples widely. In particular, it has specially established a mountain and a temple as a gateway to the secular world, opening its gates wide, with an endless stream of pilgrims.

This secular gateway is Mount Yuxiu, which runs north-to-south. Its east, west, and north slopes are extremely steep cliffs, with only the south slope being gentle and beautiful, carved with a mountain path.

At the foot of the mountain path is a large, flat area, and a Jin Sha Creek flows from east to west. About ten miles south of the creek is a small town called Zhangxiangzhen. The town is surrounded by mountains on three sides, and the opening faces Mount Yuxiu. The mountains behind the town are all covered in red camphor trees, the hearts of which have a unique fragrance. The villagers of the seven or eight villages near the town all make a living by felling trees, collecting the camphor hearts, and selling them to the town. The people in the town then use the camphor hearts to make incense to sell to pilgrims.

The smoke from the camphor incense is fragrant, curling up without black ash, refreshing the mind and repelling insects. Pilgrims who come to Mount Yuxiu to worship the Three Pure Ones always come to the town to request some. There are also people from other places who request a lot at once to take home and place in their family temples or ancestral halls.

Besides making incense, the town's residences are also often rented to visitors coming to play on Mount Yuxiu. Therefore, the people in the town are actually quite wealthy; the roads are paved with bluestone, and every house is a brick building.

On this day, when the night was deep, a bright moon leaped out from behind the mountains behind the town, its clear light radiating everywhere, falling into the town and reflecting the eyebrows and hair of the people.

In the town, there is a small alley, with uniform small courtyards with blue tiles on both sides. In the courtyard at the head of the alley, there is a young man with a delicate appearance and a tall, slender figure, who is carving by the moonlight.

The young man is carving red camphor hearts, and a dozen finished products are already stacked beside him, all square plaques.

The square plaques are exquisitely carved. The young man is skillful, and no two of the carved patterns are the same: ruyi patterns, bat-longevity patterns, happy spider patterns, goldfish patterns, lion patterns, peony patterns—each one is eye-catching. The words carved on the plaques are also very beautiful, all being auspicious phrases such as "Peace in Coming and Going," "Double Blessings of Fortune and Rank," "Accumulated Celebrations at the Virtuous Gate," and "Rising Prosperity and Gathered Blessings."

The young man has been carving these wooden plaques for a long time, nearly four months since the first lunar month. Now, sixteen have been completed, and only the last one is missing. By rushing, he can finish the last one today.

When the moon hung in the middle of the sky, the young man finished the last one, carving the eight characters: "A Hundred Blessings Gather, Auspiciousness Opens the Virtuous Gate."

He let out a long sigh of relief, returned to the house, and took out the yellow tassels and luggage he had prepared long ago. He put on his luggage and threaded the yellow tassels onto the wooden plaques one by one. Thus, seventeen peace door plaques were completed.

The young man swept the courtyard clean and went out. Outside the eaves of his own door, there also hung a door plaque, carved with the eight characters: "Yun Cheng Fa Ren, Joyous Celebrations and Blessings Come." It was made by his father, and it had not been changed since the young man hung it up when he was ten years old.

The young man hung the wooden plaques one by one on the doors of the other seventeen households in the alley as his parting gift.

Tonight, he is leaving the town. Within three to five years, he is afraid he will not be able to return.

The young man left a letter in his house for these neighbors. The letter stated clearly that if he were to enter the immortal mountain, he would inevitably have to wait until he had achieved success before he could come down the mountain to visit his relatives. If he could not enter the immortal mountain, he would go out to study, and having read ten thousand books, he would naturally have to travel ten thousand miles.

The young man stepped on the smooth bluestone street, gradually moving away from the Blue Tile Alley and gradually moving away from Zhangxiangzhen, feeling reluctant in his heart as well.

He grew up in Zhangxiangzhen, but he was not born to the locals. He was an abandoned infant. When he was half a year old, he was put in a farmer's bamboo basket lined with old cotton cloth and sent to the first house in Blue Tile Alley, the residence of Mr. Cheng Tingxian.

Cheng Tingxian was a teacher in Zhangxiangzhen, a visitor from another place, and had also served as a local official. The teacher understood the classics and loved the Dao. After resigning from office, he brought his wife to settle at the foot of Mount Sanqing. The couple was deeply in love. Although they had no children, Mr. Cheng never took a concubine. The couple had free-spirited personalities, unlike ordinary people, and even when they reached the age of sixty, they had never adopted any children.

It was not until fifteen years ago that the couple settled in Zhangxiangzhen. In their spare time, they enlightened the children in the town, and they did not refuse any children sent by nearby villagers. The teacher's learning was heaven-defying, and his knowledge was far beyond what the local old scholars could reach, so his reputation gradually grew.

Two years later, one day, a child suddenly appeared in front of the door. The couple thought it might be heaven's will, so they took him in.

The teacher loved the Dao and named him Yunqi, taken from the poem by the Southern Wuyi Mountain internal alchemy immortal Bai Yuchan:

"Floatingly riding the cloud Qi, looking down at the world."

When Cheng Yunqi was eleven years old, the old lady passed away due to congenital physical weakness and organ failure. The fact that the old lady could live past seventy was truly due to Mr. Cheng's meticulous care.

One month after the old lady passed away, Mr. Cheng fell ill from longing and followed her, leaving Cheng Yunqi only a residence and the human sentiments of the whole town.

The reason Yunqi chose to leave tonight was that news came out from Mount Yuxiu during the first lunar month that an immortal elder in the Sanqing Xianshan was preparing to accept disciples. There was only one spot, and the examination would be on the day of Grain Rain.

The way Mount Sanqing accepts disciples is peculiar, unlike the Sword Sect where masters search for disciples all over the world, asking about swords and hearts, nor like Mount Longhu where the mountain gates are opened once every few hundred years, setting up hundreds of barriers.

Mount Sanqing provides a type of guiding health-preserving technique to pilgrims through Mount Yuxiu, called the "Vessel-Clearing and Tendon-Stretching Technique." It is free of charge. If ordinary people get it and practice according to the diagrams every day without stopping, it has the effect of regulating Qi and blood, nourishing the internal organs, and clearing the meridians. If there is a person with heaven-defying talent, they can even cultivate a strand of clear Qi in their body, which has the miraculous effect of dispelling poison and curing diseases.

The primary condition for the immortal mountain to accept disciples is to possess this strand of clear Qi, and secondly, the age must not exceed sixteen years old. Only those who meet both can go to the immortal mountain for the examination.

And the examinations in the immortal mountain have never had any regularity. If you are lucky, you can encounter them three or five times in a year; if you are unlucky, there might not be one for two hundred years.

The last time Mount Sanqing publicly recruited disciples was twenty-eight years ago.

Cheng Yunqi's talent and luck were both extremely good. Under his father's guidance, the young man practiced this guiding technique every day. It was just that his father had practiced it for a lifetime, and although his body was very healthy, he never saw the clear Qi. Cheng Yunqi started practicing at the age of two and cultivated the clear Qi at the age of five. This year he is fifteen years old, and he just happened to encounter it. If he passed next year, it would be impossible. Now, alone and without any worries, Cheng Yunqi, who had loved the Dao since childhood under his father's influence, naturally wanted to give it a try.

Tomorrow is Grain Rain, and Yunqi was worried that the sorrow of everyone seeing him off would be too strong, making it difficult to control himself, so he decided to leave overnight.

During the Grain Rain season, rain and mist slowly drifted at night. Cheng Yunqi walked from the bluestone road to the gravel road, then to the country dirt road, and finally stopped in front of a green hill.

The green hill was surrounded by slope protection built with pebbles. In front, left and right, there was a pine tree and a cypress tree. Between the pine and cypress stood a monument, and the inscription was clear under the moon: "Joint Tomb of the Deceased Father Cheng Tingxian and Deceased Mother Zhu Mingjun."

Yunqi knelt in front of the monument and kowtowed deeply. Sobbing sounds echoed in the wilderness, accompanied by intermittent whispers.

The bright moon shifted a few degrees to the west. The young man stood up, carefully wiped the monument with his sleeve, and circled around to check the slope protection before leaving along the small path, heading towards Mount Yuxiu.

——————

The next day, the rain was still drizzling. The celestial phenomenon was a bit peculiar; the top of the head was gloomy, but the four directions were bright. Cheng Yunqi walked on the mountain road on the south slope, but there were more and more people. By the time he reached the Yuze Peilin Temple at the top of the mountain, it was already shoulder-to-shoulder.

Yuze Peilin Temple, abbreviated as Yulin Temple, also known as Yuling Temple, is the Daoist temple specially established by Mount Sanqing for the secular world. On weekdays, it is used for pilgrims to pray for blessings, interpret dreams, make talismans, diagnose illnesses, or transcend souls, and the incense is extremely prosperous.

There are many pilgrims and believers in the temple on weekdays, and today is a rare grand occasion. Cheng Yunqi did not hold an umbrella, but walking under the umbrellas of others, there were few rain stains on his body.

In front of the Daoist temple, there is a huge bluestone square, and in the middle of the square stands a huge red copper incense burner, glowing with a faint radiance. At this time, the whole square was crowded with people, and the umbrellas converged into colorful clouds.

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The temple gate was wide open. The temple master, the old Daoist Zhenwei, who is rarely seen on weekdays, stood still at the gate, as if waiting for something.

The people in the square were naturally waiting as well. When the time of Chen Zheng arrived, an extremely young Daoist walked from inside the temple to the side of Daoist Zhenwei. He looked about twenty years old, with a heroic spirit, but his face was unfamiliar, and he had never appeared in Yulin Temple before. The dark blue feather robe on the Daoist was also of a style never seen before.

The feather-robed Daoist bowed and said:

"I am truly sorry to all the lay practitioners who have come to offer incense. Today is the day for the masters in the mountain to accept disciples, and there are indeed too many people. Please wait a moment, lay practitioners. After sending off the fated people, it will not be too late to enter the temple to offer incense."

The crowd became noisy, replying: "Dare not, dare not."

"Please, young lay practitioners who possess clear spiritual Qi and are under sixteen years old, follow me into the temple."

The crowd was in a commotion again. Some young boys and girls walked out from the crowd, about a hundred people.

Yunqi did not bring an umbrella and also walked out from the crowd. Fortunately, the rain was not heavy.

The hundred people stood side by side in several rows. After forming a team, most of them looked back at the crowd, presumably because their closest relatives were there.

Yunqi did not look back.

"Yunqi!"

"Little Master!"

"Cheng family kid!"

Suddenly, familiar shouts came from behind. Yunqi turned his head and saw that the acquaintances from Zhangxiangzhen had actually all come!

Aunt Zhang, Uncle Li, and Great-Grandmother Wang, who was so old, why did she come too? Yunqi raised his hand high and waved it vigorously.

At this time, the team also moved. No matter how reluctant everyone was, they dared not stay for a moment. Yunqi waved his hands repeatedly to let them go back. He didn't even have time to wipe the tears from the corners of his eyes, and hurriedly followed the Daoist who had just spoken into the Daoist temple.

The Daoist temple runs north-to-south, with the temple gate in the south. After passing through the temple gate, you walk inside to the Wang Lingguan Hall. Behind it are the four divine halls of the Thunder God, Lightning Mother, Wind Earl, and Rain Master standing on both sides. Passing the Bell Tower and Drum Tower, you reach the Xuandu Great Master Hall. The Guangcheng Daoist Hall and the Doumu Yuanjun Hall stand on the left and right. At the very back of the Daoist temple, it is naturally the Three Pure Ones Hall.

And on the west side of the Three Pure Ones Hall, there is another hall, named: Ge Xian Hall.

Everyone entered the hall. Inside the hall, a stone statue was enshrined, which was the image of an old man. The old man stood with his arms crossed, wearing a green Daoist robe, with a full forehead and a kind face.

Without the introduction of the leading Daoist, everyone knew that this was the founding ancestor of Mount Sanqing, the Immortal Ge Hong, with the Daoist name Baopuzi.

The leading Daoist guided the young boys and girls to bypass the ancestor statue and stand still in front of the back wall of the main hall.

While everyone was confused, the leading Daoist pinched a hand seal and chanted a spell in his mouth. Suddenly, the white wall rippled like the surface of a lake, and in the flickering waves, the wall actually disappeared.

In the astonished eyes of everyone, a surging, boundless milky white sea of clouds appeared in front of everyone.

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(End of this chapter) ===== CHAPTER 2 =====