Chapter 485

Sunset shone on the snow, and on the iron chain bridge of the isolated mountain Daoist temple, two figures, one tall and one short, walked slowly toward the temple.

"Was it fun following Third Shixiong Uncle?"

"Hmm..."

The little girl began to ponder.

In an instant, her mind was filled with the breakfasts she had cooked, the floors she had swept, the bowls she had washed, the mountains she had climbed, and the bone-chilling water of the small stream during this time. But the next moment, the vast and beautiful scenery of the mountain top, the slippery fish escaping from her hands, the water splashing on her face, the dew stained from picking tea, the fragrance wafting from stir-frying tea, and the bitterness tasted from drinking tea all surfaced.

And there was also the feeling of rising with the wind and overlooking the mountain forest.

The little girl scratched her head and still nodded heavily:

"Hmm!"

"I knew it."

"But Master, you were gone for such a long time!"

"There was no other way."

"Master, how could you be at ease leaving me with the Eighth Third Shixiong Uncle for so long?"

"Rest assured." Master turned her head and smiled at her,

"Because I was also practically raised by your Third Shixiong Uncle."

"Ah?"

"Ah what? Is there anything unbelievable about that?" The junior sister patted her head, "Have you seen the disciple your Third Shixiong Uncle took a fancy to?"

"I've seen him twice; he's a woodcutter in the mountains."

"A woodcutter, huh..."

A look of reminiscence could not help but appear in the junior sister's eyes.

Those were the two little Daoists who cut wood on Fuqiu Peak, Tianmen Peak, and Jiandao Peak.

The firewood burned by Fuqiu Temple back then, and the dead branches and rotten wood on Fuqiu Peak and the nearby Tianmen Peak and Jiandao Peak, were all cut by them.

"Cutting wood is good; cutting wood calms the mind." The junior sister said, and not knowing what else she remembered, she turned her head to her little disciple and said, "Regardless, your Third Shixiong Uncle has also taken root here. Even if he doesn't take this woodcutter as a disciple, he will take other disciples in the future. You are my disciple, and you entered the gate first and started cultivation first, so don't be outdone by your Third Shixiong Uncle's future disciples."

"Definitely!"

The little girl said without hesitation.

"Since that's the case, I have a task for you, which also happens to be a way to practice your magic!"

"What task?"

The little girl immediately became serious.

"This 'Stone-Turning' method is a relatively rigid magic, so it must be practiced diligently." The junior sister said, "Your Third Shixiong Uncle has just chosen Lingshan and set his cave dwelling. Who knows how many years he will live there in the future, yet there is still no road from us to there. So starting tomorrow, you take a hoe and build a road from here to your Third Shixiong Uncle's cave dwelling."

"Ah? But... Master, can't you fly?"

"One can't fly all the time. After all, humans are born to walk on their legs, not birds. Sometimes one always wants to walk a few steps. Besides, you can't fly, and it's not certain that everyone in the Red Leaf Temple will be able to fly in the future."

The little girl nodded repeatedly upon hearing this, thinking it made sense, but upon closer thought, she still felt it was very far.

Is this something a person can do?

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Although the road is long, one will arrive if one walks." The junior sister said, "That's what your grandmaster told me back then. My superb 'Stone-Turning' method was also started on that road from Black Mountain Fuqiu Temple to Xianyuan Temple. And even setting everything else aside, this matter itself is a form of cultivation."

"Okay!"

Upon hearing this, the little girl became determined.

If Master can do it, she can do it too.

Master is amazing, and she wants to be as amazing as Master.

"Remember, this road must be built straight so that you can walk fewer steps in the future."

"But Master, it's all mountains over there. How can it be possible to build a straight road?"

"The practice of magic lies right here." The junior sister pointed in that direction, where the mountain mist was dyed yellow by the setting sun and the mountain shadows were layered and indistinguishable, not knowing how far away it was, "If there is a hillside, build steps. If you can't climb over it, use the stone-producing method to blast through the mountain. Day by day, you will always be able to build a road."

The little girl looked in that direction, her expression blank.

Such tall and big mountains, such a long road.

Yet she saw her Master beside her shaking her head:

"It's a pity that this Fengshan is not as good as Yishan. Soil accounts for sixty or seventy percent, so even if you walk a straight road, stone mountains only account for thirty or forty percent. When I was building the road on Yishan back then, it was all stone."

After speaking, she turned her head and looked at her, saying:

"You're getting off easy."

The little girl reached out and scratched her head.

After pondering for a moment, she said to her Master:

"Then Master, don't tell Third Shixiong Uncle. Don't let him know that I'm using road building to secretly practice magic, lest he also tell his disciple not to be outdone by me, and make his disciple practice diligently too."

"You're quite smart!"

"Remember, don't tell him!"

The blue tiles and curved eaves reflected the sky, and a Daoist temple waited quietly for their return.

The next morning, deep mountain pavilion.

The two moved the table to the corridor outside the door, facing the cliff clouds and mist, watching the beautiful scenery of the deep mountains, blowing the wind, daydreaming, boiling tea, and chatting and laughing.

The junior sister told this story to her Third Third Shixiong, causing him to laugh out loud.

After laughing, Third Third Shixiong reached out and pointed at her to reproach her: "Xiao Xiao Shimei, oh Xiao Xiao Shimei, tell me, Zhang Ziyun is such a young girl, why are you putting so much pressure on her?"

"I don't urge her every day like the teachers in the mortal world or the parents of wealthy families. Is this one sentence considered pressure?"

"How is it not? Building such a long road, isn't she tired?"

"Then Third Third Shixiong, you must never learn from me!"

"..."

"..."

The two looked at each other, and Third Third Shixiong laughed again.

The junior sister held her cup and drank tea, covering up the joy in her heart.

Actually, it was she who learned from him.

It was also on this day that the deep mountains had human traces.

It was a woodcutting boy.

Today, the boy still only brought a woodcutting knife, a shoulder pole, and two worn-out old hemp ropes. He walked into Fengshan, looked at the big trees with all their side branches cut clean and the almost invisible small trees, sat blankly for a long time, and decided to walk deeper into Fengshan.

It was indeed as that person said—

The firewood that was easy to cut nearby, the firewood that a ten-year-old boy could cut, had almost all been cut away.

What remained were big trees.

But it is very difficult for a ten-year-old boy to cut down a big tree. What that person said also made sense; it is not easy for them to grow so big, so it is a pity to just cut them down for firewood and sell them for so little money.

How could someone who could say such things be a harmful demon or ghost?

But it was not just because there was no firewood to cut.

There was also the tossing and turning last night, the wild thoughts, the wonder of this encounter, the pleasantness of every conversation, the boy's yearning for immortal stories and magic legends, and of course, the cold-as-iron quilt, the drafty walls, the rarely full stomach, and the clean bottom of the water vat at home for nearly a month.

Various reasons, difficult to count one by one, mixed and messy, together contributed to this decision.

Fengshan is very big, and the dense forest is very deep.

Fortunately, his woodcutting place was already near the deep mountains, and he was already familiar with the mountain roads.

Moving slowly forward, chopping wood to open a path.

In his heart, there was both some timidity and some curiosity, both some fear and some expectation.

The forest is deep and the snow is heavy; one step down, and the knees are invisible. It is truly difficult to walk.

In the dark, it seemed as if someone was guiding him in the right direction.

The mountain mist was enchanting, and the miasma was obscuring. Just when he couldn't distinguish the direction, a breeze blew away the mist and miasma, and the sun shone through the forest.

Not knowing where to go, he saw human footprints in the forest.

The forest was dim, and just as hesitation arose in his heart, he suddenly saw a plum tree in full bloom in the forest, cold and fragrant, dispelling the gloom.

Suddenly stepping into the air, it was a slope, and the boy couldn't help but slide down.

"Ah..."

When he stood firm, panting, still shaken, he found that he had slid out of the dense forest and was standing at the edge of a cliff. The view before him suddenly opened up, but it was also shocking.

Deep in Fengshan, layers of green mountains were covered in snow, with no human traces. Yet, on that vertical cliff, a classical and elegant wooden pavilion was suspended, no one knew how high off the ground, with clouds and mist beneath it. There were ancient pines rooted in the rock crevices stretching out their branches, as if welcoming guests, and huge white egrets flew slowly across the sky, incomparably leisurely.

Is this not the legendary immortal palace?

The boy opened his eyes wide and looked.

Suddenly, his vision blurred—

There were huge six-tailed white foxes jumping and running on the vertical cliff, and fierce tigers bigger than water buffaloes jumped from afar, turning into human form and sitting cross-legged in the snow.

"Hiss!"

The boy was startled, retreated repeatedly, and almost couldn't help but turn around and run away.

But when he looked closely—

Below that cliff, in the snow, there were not only the people transformed from fierce tigers, but also several other people, all sitting cross-legged.

Directly in front was a stone, on which a meditation cushion was placed, and a young Daoist wearing a gray Daoist robe was sitting, seemingly lecturing on scriptures and passing on the Dharma, while everyone below was sitting and listening attentively.

That person was exactly the one he knew.

The snowy day was especially quiet, and the sound of breaking branches could be heard for a mile. The voice naturally drifted over, and there seemed to be an echo in front of the cliff:

"The ancient scriptures say: When the heart has no distracting thoughts, the body is as light as the wind, roaming the six directions without knowing it..."

"The body is as light as a swallow, wind is born under the feet, walking on snow without leaving a trace, walking on water without sinking, walking on branches, stepping on grass like flying, a thousand miles a day, fluttering like an immortal..."

The voice reached the boy's ears, making him listen blankly.

The immortal stories heard since childhood and the immortal arts yearned for seemed to be right before his eyes.

It turns out that this Fengshan really is home to immortals.

But the immortal stopped speaking when he reached this point.

He saw him, and his gaze fell upon him.

So everyone sitting below, including the person transformed from a huge fierce tiger, and even a colorful civet cat, all turned their heads and cast their gazes over.

The boy was a little timid for a moment.

He only saw that person smiling and waving at him: "Little friend, you've walked all the way here?"

"You... you are..."

"Little friend, do you not know who I am?"

"I... I..."

The boy was young after all, and couldn't say anything.

"Hahaha, I don't blame you, I don't blame you. We've met so many times on the road, and I've never asked your name." Lin Jue said with a smile, "My surname is Lin, given name Jue, and I once lived and cultivated in the capital for a period of time."

"Lin..."

The boy widened his eyes, and a simple "True Man Lin" was stuck and couldn't be spat out.

But this actually couldn't be blamed on him.

Nowadays, the deeds of True Man Lin had long spread throughout Qinzhou. He didn't know how loud it was elsewhere, but in the vicinity of the capital, everyone had heard the three words "True Man Lin" countless times.

There was no boy who didn't know.

The story of True Man Lin attaining immortality through alchemy and even the legendary immortals coming to offer gifts was already a household name, and even embellished.

With such an immortal in front of you, the three words "True Man Lin" were really not that easy to blurt out.

"I have also never asked the name of the little young master."

"My name is Xu Yi."

"Xu Yi, a good name."

With a clatter, the woodcutting knife was buried in the snow.

"I, I also want to follow the immortal to learn magic." The boy took a deep breath and immediately performed a grand salute to Lin Jue.

He was more direct than Lin Jue had imagined.

Upon closer thought, it was also human nature.