The Mountain God

The Mountain God had gone far away. Beneath the clear moonlight, clouds billowed between heaven and earth, but the old friend was nowhere to be seen. Qi WuHuo remained seated upright, holding his wine cup in his right hand as he raised it in a distant toast. The full moon reflected in the cup, as though it brimmed with moonlight. He tipped back his head and swallowed the spirit liquid. It blazed down his throat like a line of fire. Though the drink could not make him drunk, it filled him with the sorrow of parting.

Qi WuHuo murmured to himself:

"In this life, I'll cultivate to become a great sage..."

"What kind of realm is a great sage, anyway?"

He looked at the Mountain God Talisman Seal on the table. It was a square seal, plain and unadorned, its surface a deep black. Qi WuHuo drained the last of the spirit liquid, then reached out and picked up the seal, holding it in his palm. Though it was small, it felt surprisingly heavy. He had no idea what it was made of. As he held the Mountain God Talisman Seal, his Primordial Spirit naturally flowed into it.

The silver talisman script on the seal lit up one character after another, slowly shifting and flowing. At last, several characters formed beneath the seal.

[He Lian Mountain · Qi WuHuo]

Qi WuHuo had never seen this script before, yet somehow he understood what it meant. Once the six characters had taken shape, they linked together completely and glimmered faintly, then immediately dimmed and disappeared. The seal looked just as plain and unremarkable as before.

In that instant, the Mountain God Talisman Seal's weight changed from surprisingly heavy to light as a feather.

At his current level, he should not have been able to control this object.

But the Mountain God had already separated the seal from himself and removed every imprint within it.

On top of that, Qi WuHuo's Primordial Spirit cultivation was exceptionally pure.

He followed the orthodox path of the Daoist school.

After spending about an hour, he still managed to bring the seal under his control.

When the last imprint merged with Qi WuHuo's Primordial Spirit, he again felt what he had felt when he awoke from the Yellow Millet Dream and his Primordial Spirit had flown free. But this time, unlike before, his Primordial Spirit did not suffer heavy damage from lacking the support of vital energy and essence. Instead, he felt an immensely powerful, gentle force lifting him up.

His Primordial Spirit and consciousness rose higher and higher, until they reached an exceedingly lofty and distant station.

When he came to, Qi WuHuo's "gaze" looked down below.

In an instant, he saw the wind flowing through the mountain forests, and clouds gliding over every winding path in the mountains like streams of water. The bright moon shone overhead, while even the distant cities of the human world lay within his reach. He could hear countless sounds without letting them disturb his mind. He could see ancient rocks standing firm, and feel the vitality of countless living beings in the winter cold.

The scene before him shook Qi WuHuo to the core. For a long while, he could not recover his wits.

Then he suddenly understood why the Mountain God had hoped he would take up the position.

To see all living beings through human eyes was one thing; to see them through a god's eyes was another.

Once his Primordial Spirit had connected with the Mountain God Talisman Seal, Qi WuHuo naturally learned what he could do with the Mountain God's divine station. The force lifting his Primordial Spirit was the vital energy of the entire mountain. With it, he could summon clouds and rain, breathe out gale-force winds, and scatter clouds with a wave of his sleeve. By drawing on the earth veins' currents, he could swiftly reach any place on the mountain.

He could also draw upon Earth Vein Qi to perform divine arts of limited power.

Within these mountains, his strength could roughly reach the level of a Daoist cultivator who had attained Primordial Prenatal Qi.

In terms of the power they could call upon, he was about on par with the three Earth Deities, Elder Tao and Luo Yizhen among them.

But their methods were naturally superior to his.

Qi WuHuo looked in the direction the tiger had gone and gave a slight bow. He rose, and with a small turn of his right wrist, the Mountain God Talisman Seal glimmered and sank straight into his palm, vanishing from sight. He tried to grasp the flow of the earth veins, then took a step forward—

It felt as if he had never known this little path was there.

Now he could see it, and walk along it.

By drawing upon the shifting earth energy, he used the art of earth-splitting. The solid mountain rock around him flowed aside like water, parting before him as though he were walking through a stream. In the blink of an eye, he had crossed dozens of miles. Before him stood a simple courtyard: the Mountain God's former home. It was entirely unlike Elder Tao's residence, and very quiet inside.

All he saw was a bed, a table, and a bookshelf.

On the desk sat an object: the treasure the Mountain God had relied on in his youth to roam the world, a three-legged Bronze Cauldron.

Qi WuHuo froze. He had not expected the Mountain God to leave even this treasure behind. A letter lay on the table as well. Qi WuHuo picked it up and unfolded it. Its words were written with easy, unrestrained grace: "The position of Mountain God will help you behold the myriad aspects of living beings."

"I have left the Earthly Origin Body Refining Heart Art here. Remember this well: when you temper vital energy and essence into Primordial Prenatal Qi, come here and cultivate this divine art within the earth veins."

"When the time comes, you will discover its wonders."

"In battle, your body will be no less than a mountain rock, and you will naturally master several divine arts. Even if you set out to seek the Dao and lay down the Mountain God Talisman Seal, you will still be able to use the art of earth-splitting. This is truly the foundation for calming the spirit and protecting the Dao. I only learned of this method after becoming Mountain God. Alas, it was too late. The seed of Primordial Prenatal Qi had already formed, and my path was set. I had no desire to cultivate anew. You, however, still have time."

"You and I took to each other at first sight. I'm happy for you to have this opportunity."

"I leave you the Earthly Origin Body Refining Heart Art."

"Beside it are my cultivation notes. You may read them as you please."

"Once every three years, I gave sermons to teach the beasts of this mountain."

"As for this cauldron, it was once my treasure. It can refine all kinds of vital energy between heaven and earth into spirit liquid. It is of great benefit both to cultivation and to awakening intelligence. If you encounter an enemy, you can bring it out and refine them, too. I leave it to you; do with it as you wish. But there is one thing."

"When the time comes for you to leave and seek the Dao, you must set it down and leave it for the next Mountain God."

"I was once a tiger in the mountains, and I happened upon the Dao."

"I knew the suffering of ignorant beasts: they ate flesh and craved blood, knowing nothing of enlightenment."

"Without a master, without scriptures, they could not awaken. They shut away their own nature, gave free rein to their desires, sank into instinct and craving, and fell into suffering."

"Their six senses stirred recklessly; they willingly endured toil and hardship, wandering through life and death without end."

"I knew this suffering, so I left behind a method, hoping they might be spared it."

"And though I was but a passing traveler, this mountain sheltered me for three hundred years."

"So I leave behind this cauldron, to repay the mountain's kindness."

"One cause, one effect; one drink, one peck. The mountain owes me nothing, and I owe the mountain nothing."

"Such is the highest goodness."

The letter for Qi WuHuo ended there. The handwriting was graceful and unhurried. Qi WuHuo could almost see the man in a dark blue robe, carrying a spear and holding wine. Looking again, he saw the magical treasure and the cultivation notes were both here. Thinking back on those three hundred years, the man had arrived alone and departed after realizing the Dao, calm and unhurried. He had possessed a style all his own.

That was the god he knew.

Qi WuHuo put away the letter, then stored the cauldron as well.

"One day, we'll meet again."

He smiled faintly and turned to leave. The earth veins shifted, and in an instant he was dozens of miles away. The platform here was where the Mountain God had often meditated on the Dao. The other spirit beasts were gathered there, along with the two mountain divine generals who had served here. They still wore armor from several centuries ago. Their expressions were stern, but now they were all tense.

"The Mountain God has left. What are we supposed to do now?"

"Ah, this is so sudden."

Elder Tao stroked his beard and laughed. "Don't fret, don't fret. You two are the mountain's Guardian Divine Generals. Why are you so nervous?"

"How could we not worry?"

"He Lian Mountain is the largest in the surrounding ranges. If it suddenly has no Mountain God, won't others come coveting it?"

Elder Tao laughed. "You think of that, but do you think the tiger wouldn't? He already found someone to take his place."

The two Guardian Divine Generals brightened. "Who?"

Elder Tao stroked his beard, about to answer, when he suddenly sensed the movement of the earth veins. With a laugh, he pointed and said:

"Look, isn't he here?"