In the vast world, there are countless spiritual mountains, and the land is peaceful and prosperous.
Immortal traces often appear, and the pursuit of immortality and the Dao is a prevailing trend.
Among these, the regions of Bashu and Yuzhang are the most renowned.
The Yuzhang region is blessed with abundant resources and outstanding talents.
Famous mountains known far and wide include Mount Lu and Mount Mingyue of the Sword Sect, as well as Mount Dajue and Mount Zhenru of the Chan Sect.
As for the Daoist mountains, they are even more celebrated, with the ancestral temples of major sects standing tall and precious mountains of talismans left behind.
Thus, Yuzhang is also known as the Daoist capital of the world.
Yuzhang leads the Daoist sects of the east, with Mount Longhu and Mount Sanqing being the most prominent among them.
Mount Longhu was established during the Han Dynasty and is the ancestral temple of the Celestial Master Dao.
It has stood for nearly eight thousand years, making it the most ancient of its kind.
It leads the world in alchemy and controls the Five Thunders.
However, Mount Longhu has the strictest disciple selection process, and its disciples are few and highly esteemed.
The Celestial Master's residence is off-limits to ordinary people.
Mount Sanqing, on the other hand, was established during the Eastern Jin Dynasty and is the ancestral temple of the Ten Thousand Methods Sect.
It has stood for over six thousand years and practices a wide range of disciplines, including internal alchemy, external alchemy, swordsmanship, talismans, formations, astrology, thunder techniques, body refinement, medicine, and even corpse resurrection.
It accepts many disciples and even has a dedicated mountain and temple as its worldly entrance, welcoming countless pilgrims.
This worldly entrance is Mount Yuxiu, which runs north to south.
Its eastern, western, and northern slopes are steep cliffs, while the southern slope is gentle and beautiful, with a carved mountain path.
At the foot of the mountain path lies a large flat area, and a stream called Jinsha Creek flows from east to west.
About ten miles south of the creek is a small town called Zhangxiang Town, surrounded by mountains on three sides, with its opening facing Mount Yuxiu.
The town's back mountains are covered with red camphor trees, whose heartwood has a unique fragrance.
The villagers from the surrounding seven or eight villages make a living by cutting down these trees, extracting the heartwood, and selling it to the town.
The townspeople then use the camphor heartwood to make incense, which they sell to pilgrims.
The smoke from the camphor incense is fragrant and free of black ash, refreshing the mind and repelling insects.
Pilgrims coming to Mount Yuxiu to worship the Three Pure Ones always stop by the town to buy some.
Some out-of-towners even buy large quantities to take home, using it in their family temples or ancestral halls.
Besides making incense, the townspeople often rent out their homes to visitors coming to Mount Yuxiu for sightseeing.
As a result, the town is quite prosperous, with stone-paved streets and brick houses.
Late one night, a bright moon rose over the town's back mountain, casting its light over the town, illuminating everything clearly.
In a small alley in the town, lined with tile-roofed courtyards, a young man was carving under the moonlight.
The young man, with a handsome face and a tall, slender figure, was carving red camphor heartwood.
Beside him were over a dozen finished products—square plaques.
The plaques were exquisitely carved, and the young man's skillful hands had created unique patterns on each one: auspicious clouds, bats, spiders, goldfish, lions, and peonies, all eye-catching.
The words carved on the plaques were also beautifully done, with phrases like "Safe travels," "Fortune and prosperity," "Virtue and blessings," and "Rising fortune."
The young man had been carving these plaques for nearly four months, starting from the first month of the year.
He had completed sixteen and was rushing to finish the last one tonight.
When the moon reached its zenith, the young man completed the final plaque, which read, "A hundred blessings gathered, auspiciousness begins at the virtuous door."
He let out a long sigh of relief, went inside to fetch some prepared yellow tassels and his luggage.
He slung the luggage over his back and threaded the tassels through the plaques.
With that, seventeen door plaques were ready.
After cleaning the courtyard, the young man stepped out.
Hanging outside his own door was a plaque carved with the words, "A journey begins, joy and fortune arrive," made by his father when the young man was ten years old.
It had never been replaced since.
The young man hung the plaques one by one at the doors of the other seventeen households in the alley as a farewell gift.
Tonight, he would leave the town, and it might be years before he returned.
The young man left a letter in his house for his neighbors, explaining that if he were accepted into the immortal mountain, he would not return until he had mastered his studies.
If he failed, he would travel the world, having read countless books, and now it was time to walk ten thousand miles.
As the young man walked away from the tile-roofed alley, gradually leaving Zhangxiang Town behind, he felt a sense of loss.
He had grown up in Zhangxiang Town but was not born there.
He was a foundling, left in a bamboo basket padded with old cotton cloth at the doorstep of the first house in the tile-roofed alley when he was six months old.
The house belonged to Mr. Cheng Tingxian, a teacher in Zhangxiang Town.
Cheng Tingxian was a scholar from another region who had once served as a local official.
He was well-versed in the classics and had a deep interest in Daoism.
After resigning from his post, he settled at the foot of Mount Sanqing with his wife.
The couple was deeply in love, and although they had no children, Cheng never took a concubine.
They were free-spirited and extraordinary, and even in their sixties, they had never adopted a child.
Fifteen years ago, the couple settled in Zhangxiang Town and, in their spare time, taught the local children.
They accepted all the children sent by nearby villagers.
Cheng's profound knowledge far surpassed that of the local scholars, and his reputation grew.
Two years later, a child appeared at their doorstep one day.
The couple believed it was fate and took him in.
Cheng, being a Daoist enthusiast, named the child Yunqi, inspired by a poem from the Southern Wuyi Mountain's inner alchemy master Bai Yuchan:
"Floating on the clouds, looking down at the world."
When Cheng Yunqi was eleven, his adoptive mother passed away due to congenital weakness and organ failure.
She had lived to her seventies, thanks to Cheng's meticulous care.
A month after her passing, Cheng, overcome with grief, followed her, leaving Yunqi with a house and the goodwill of the entire town.
The reason Yunqi chose to leave tonight was that news had spread from Mount Yuxiu in the first month of the year: a Daoist master from Mount Sanqing was preparing to take on a disciple, with only one spot available.
The test would be held on the day of Grain Rain.
The disciple selection process of Mount Sanqing was unique.
Unlike the Sword Sect, where masters searched far and wide for disciples, testing both their swordsmanship and their hearts, or Mount Longhu, which opened its doors once every few hundred years with a hundred challenges, Mount Sanqing offered a guide to health preservation through Mount Yuxiu, called the "Meridian-Stretching Exercise," free of charge.
Ordinary people who practiced it daily could improve their health, nourish their organs, and unblock their meridians.
Those with exceptional talent could even cultivate a pure energy within themselves, which had the miraculous effect of repelling toxins and curing diseases.
The primary requirement for becoming a disciple of Mount Sanqing was to possess this pure energy, and the candidate had to be under sixteen years old.
Those who met these criteria could take the test at the mountain.
The tests at Mount Sanqing were irregular.
In a lucky year, there might be three to five tests, but in an unlucky year, there might be none 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 exceptional.
Under his father's guidance, he had practiced the Meridian-Stretching Exercise daily.
His father had practiced it all his life and remained healthy, but he never cultivated the pure energy.
Yunqi, however, had started practicing at the age of two and had cultivated the pure energy by the age of five.
Now, at fifteen, he had the opportunity to take the test.
If he missed it this year, he would never have another chance.
Now, with no attachments and deeply influenced by his father's Daoist beliefs, Yunqi naturally wanted to give it a try.
Tomorrow was Grain Rain, and Yunqi feared that if everyone came to see him off, the sadness would be too overwhelming, so he decided to leave quietly tonight.
During the Grain Rain season, a light misty rain began to fall at night.
Yunqi walked from the stone-paved road to a gravel path, then to a dirt road in the countryside, finally stopping at a green hill.
The hill was surrounded by a stone embankment, with a pine tree on the left and a cypress on the right.
Between the trees stood a tombstone, clearly visible under the moonlight: "The joint tomb of Cheng Tingxian and Zhu Mingjun."
Yunqi knelt before the tombstone, kowtowing deeply.
In the wilderness, the sound of sobbing could be heard, accompanied by intermittent whispers.
As the moon shifted slightly westward, the young man stood up, carefully wiped the tombstone with his sleeve, and checked the embankment before following the path toward Mount Yuxiu.
The next day, the rain continued to drizzle, and the sky was strangely overcast, yet the surroundings were bright.
Cheng Yunqi walked up the southern slope of the mountain, and as he ascended, the number of people increased.
By the time he reached the Yuzelin Temple at the summit, the crowd was shoulder to shoulder.
Yuzelin Temple, also known as Yuling Temple, was a Daoist temple established by Mount Sanqing for the secular world.
It was usually bustling with pilgrims seeking blessings, dream interpretations, talismans, medical consultations, or soul purification.
Today, however, was an exceptionally rare occasion.
Yunqi did not carry an umbrella, but walking under the umbrellas of others, he remained mostly dry.
In front of the temple was a large stone plaza, with a massive bronze incense burner in the center, emitting a faint glow.
The plaza was packed with people, their umbrellas forming a colorful canopy.
The temple gates were wide open, and the usually reclusive temple master, Elder Zhenwei, stood at the entrance, seemingly waiting for something.
The crowd naturally waited as well.
At the appointed hour, a young Daoist, around twenty years old, walked out from the temple and stood beside Elder Zhenwei.
He was tall and imposing, with an unfamiliar face, and his deep blue feathered robe was of a style never seen before at Yuling Temple.
The Daoist in the feathered robe bowed and said:
"Apologies to all the devotees who have come to offer incense. Today is the day our mountain master selects a disciple, and the crowd is larger than usual. Please wait a moment. Once we have sent off the chosen one, you may enter the temple to offer incense."
The crowd murmured in response, saying, "No need to apologize."
"Those with pure energy and under sixteen years of age, please follow me into the temple."
The crowd stirred again, and about a hundred young boys and girls stepped forward.
Yunqi, without an umbrella, also stepped forward.
Fortunately, the rain was light.
The hundred or so youths formed several lines, standing side by side.
Once in formation, most of them turned to look back at the crowd, where their closest family members likely stood.
Yunqi did not look back.
"Yunqi!"
"Little Scholar!"
"Child of the Cheng family!"
Suddenly, familiar voices called out from behind.
Yunqi turned to see that many familiar faces from Zhangxiang Town had come!
Aunt Zhang, Uncle Li, even Grandma Wang, despite her age, had come.
Yunqi raised his hand and waved vigorously.
At that moment, the line began to move, and despite their reluctance, no one dared to linger.
Yunqi waved repeatedly, urging them to go back, tears in his eyes.
He quickly followed the Daoist who had spoken earlier into the temple.
The temple ran north to south, with the main gate to the south.
Beyond the gate was the Hall of Wang Lingguan, followed by the Halls of Thunder God, Lightning Mother, Wind Lord, and Rain Master on either side.
Passing the bell and drum towers, one would reach the Hall of the Mysterious Capital Great Master, with the Halls of Guangcheng Daojun and Doumu Yuanjun on either side.
At the very end of the temple was, of course, the Hall of the Three Pure Ones.
To the west of the Hall of the Three Pure Ones was another hall, called the Hall of Ge Xian.
The group entered the hall, where a stone statue of an old man stood.
The old man, dressed in a green Daoist robe, stood with his hands clasped, his face full and kind.
Without needing an introduction from the guiding Daoist, everyone knew this was the founding master of Mount Sanqing, Ge Hong, also known as Baopuzi.
The guiding Daoist led the youths around the statue and had them stand before the back wall of the hall.
As the crowd wondered what was happening, the Daoist made a hand seal and chanted an incantation.
Suddenly, the white wall rippled like water, and in a flash of light, the wall disappeared.
To everyone's astonishment, an endless sea of milky white clouds appeared before them.
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(End of Chapter)