Everyone burst out laughing at the sight, but after the laughter died down, no one dared sneak another peek at the two beauties. After all, the scene of Zhao Liya's fist wind sweeping up the leaves from the ground was still fresh in their minds. Who would dare invite trouble? Whether consciously or not, they all kept a little farther away from the two sisters.
"Sister Lin, that Daoist just now was amazing! It felt like my fists were hitting nothing but air, and I don't know what kind of spell he used. Then my fist suddenly couldn't move at all!" After regaining her freedom, Zhao Liya said, sounding somewhat dejected.
"Looks like what our uncles said was true. Wudang Mountain really is full of hidden experts. Even a Daoist so young has such astonishing martial skills. But I don't think I've ever heard Uncle Song mention that Wudang Mountain had such a formidable young Daoist. We know most of the Wudang Sect's younger disciples, and their martial skills are roughly on par with ours. We've never seen a young expert who could defeat you without even making a move!" Lin Ling shook her head in disbelief, then caught up with the group. However, Zhang Hupan's indescribable martial skills had filled her with deep fear, and she no longer believed herself to be among the outstanding members of the younger generation.
After moving away from the tour group, Zhang Hupan confirmed that no one was around. Though he really wanted to fly through the air, he knew that would make him too easy to spot. He had no choice but to activate the Earth Evasion Technique. In an instant, he arrived at an uninhabited spot near Yuzhen Palace, then burst out of the ground.
Yuzhen Palace stood four kilometers east of Wudang Mountain Town, backed by Phoenix Mountain and surrounded by mountains and water on all sides. It had once been called Huangtu City. At its height, Yuzhen Palace had four hundred halls and Daoist residences, covering more than fifty-six thousand square meters. Its main hall was a brick-and-wood structure with a hip-and-gable roof, and was one of the best-preserved buildings on Wudang Mountain, with the distinctive style of the early Ming Dynasty. What people praised most was that Yuzhen Palace had been built by the emperor specifically for a Wudang Daoist named Zhang Sanfeng.
Historical records stated that Zhang Sanfeng's given name was Zhang Quanyi, while Xuanxuan was his courtesy name. He was tall and imposing, with large ears and round eyes. Regardless of the season, he wore nothing but a straw rain cape. "Sometimes he lived in remote mountains, and sometimes he wandered through bustling cities." People all believed him to be an immortal.
In the early Hongwu Ming Dynasty, Zhang Sanfeng came to Wudang Mountain and built a hermitage here to practice cultivation. The Wudang Fist he developed and created became famous throughout the land. After being continuously refined and developed by successive grandmasters, it eventually became one of the most influential schools in Chinese martial arts. Since Zhang Sanfeng was revered as the founder of Wudang martial arts, Yuzhen Palace was also respected by generations of Wudang Fist disciples, who practiced their techniques here.
When Zhang Sanfeng was at Wudang, he once said that this mountain would surely flourish greatly in the future. Decades later, Emperor Chengzu of Ming indeed undertook a massive reconstruction of Wudang. In the twenty-third year of the Hongwu era, Zhang Sanfeng left Wudang and disappeared without a trace. Emperor Taizu of Ming, Zhu Yuanzhang, and Emperor Chengzu of Ming, Zhu Di, both issued imperial edicts and sent envoys to search for Zhang Sanfeng. In a letter to Zhang Sanfeng, Emperor Chengzu even wrote, "...The True Immortal's virtue and Dao are lofty, surpassing all things, and his divine mysteries are unfathomable. I am untalented and mediocre, yet my sincere desire to meet you has never left my thoughts, day or night..." But things did not go as hoped. No one managed to find Zhang Sanfeng, who possessed "the art of eternal life and the merit of transcending the mundane world and entering society." This Wudang master became a mysterious figure whom later generations admired. To express his sincerity, Emperor Chengzu personally ordered the construction of Yuzhen Palace and decreed that a statue of Zhang Sanfeng be placed in the center of the main hall for people to worship. From then on, Yuzhen Palace also became the headquarters of the Wudang Sect.
Looking at the ancient Daoist temple before him, Zhang Hupan seemed to see his master building a hermitage here, cultivating, and teaching his disciples. He could not help feeling secretly sorrowful, while also secretly resolving to make Wudang flourish. After passing through the gate, he immediately saw Zhang Sanfeng's statue. Seeing that familiar likeness once again, tears unconsciously moistened his eyes. Zhang Hupan bowed deeply to Zhang Sanfeng, then walked toward a path behind the side hall. The winding path led into seclusion. On either side stood jade bamboo, green from top to bottom, while the path itself was paved with smooth goose pebbles. After winding along for nearly a hundred meters, an ancient wall blocked the way. Zhang Hupan, however, showed no intention of stopping. He simply passed through the ancient wall and vanished along the path. If any tourist had seen it, they would certainly have been shocked, thinking they had witnessed a ghost walking through a wall.
In truth, it was merely a Daoist seal, while the ancient wall had only been set up as an illusion to keep tourists from being startled. The Daoist who had established the formation should have possessed considerable cultivation, but to Zhang Hupan, who was already at the Nascent Soul Stage, it was nothing more than a child's game. At the foot of Yuzhen Palace's mountain, Zhang Hupan had already sensed dozens of energies of varying strengths. Those energies were extremely familiar and comforting—the kind that could only be emitted by people who cultivated the Wudang Celestial Arts. After arriving at Yuzhen Palace, Zhang Hupan clearly sensed that those familiar energies were emanating from behind the right side of the main hall. Thus, after paying respects to Zhang Sanfeng's statue, Zhang Hupan headed straight toward the back right side of the main hall.
After passing through the ancient wall, Zhang Hupan saw a vast garden planted with all kinds of rare flowers, exotic herbs, and precious medicinal plants. A path ran through the center of the garden and stretched into the distance toward a simple Daoist temple. In front of the temple, two fifteen- or sixteen-year-old Daoists were lightly sweeping the fallen leaves with brooms. When they looked up and saw Zhang Hupan, they were instantly dumbfounded, and their brooms slipped unconsciously from their hands.
"Junior Brother Lin, am I seeing things? How can there be a young Daoist walking toward us?" The slightly plump Daoist on the left rubbed his eyes in disbelief, then stared blankly at Zhang Hupan as he drew closer.
The two young Daoists had grown up here. In all their years, aside from Daoist Master Qingmu, the current head of the Wudang Sect, occasionally coming here to consult the Wudang Sect's past masters or pay his respects, no one had ever entered this place. As Wudang disciples who had cultivated here for more than a decade, how could they not know that their predecessors had placed a restriction here? Not to mention ordinary people—even cultivators without a certain level of strength could never enter, no matter what they tried. Yet now, a young Daoist who looked barely in his twenties was actually walking toward them. How could they not be astonished?
"Greetings, gentlemen! Could you please call Kuye and tell him that someone has come to visit from Ascension Cliff?" Seeing that the two Daoists merely stood there in a daze, without the slightest intention of coming forward to greet him, Zhang Hupan had no choice but to calmly explain why he had come.
Since Zhang Sanfeng founded the Wudang Sect, generations had been arranged according to the characters Xuan, Yun, Kong, Wu, Ku, Zhen, Xu, Zi, Qing, Ming, Hao, and Yuan. As Zhang Sanfeng's final disciple, Zhang Hupan belonged to the Yun Generation despite being only a mere hundred years old. He was seven generations senior to the current head, Daoist Master Qingmu. Even Daoist Master Kuye, currently the highest-ranking member of the Wudang Sect besides Zhang Hupan, had to address Zhang Hupan as Grand Martial Uncle. Although Zhang Sanfeng had not taught Zhang Hupan the ways of mundane life, he had never stopped instilling in him the traditional etiquette of this ancient civilized nation—respect for seniority, reverence for teachers, and emphasis on education. Though Daoist Master Kuye was now the oldest and most highly cultivated surviving disciple of the Ku Generation in the Wudang Sect, to Zhang Hupan he was still merely a junior. Naturally, Zhang Hupan had no qualms about calling him Kuye directly.
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