Jiang She read the words that had suddenly appeared.
He studied the handwritten booklet. Its strokes flowed with lively grace; it was fine calligraphy. He had made the booklet himself, buying good paper from a bookshop and carefully binding it together. He had used some paper mulberry bark he'd saved to make the cover.
And when he'd returned from the Earth Deity's night banquet that morning, he really had encountered two hunters. From their conversation, they seemed to be relatives.
They should be the people from Chen Village mentioned in the booklet.
There had also been a tiger's roar. After that tiger spirit had gotten thoroughly drunk, it had let out several low growls.
Had it gained a spirit?
Jiang She picked up the booklet, thoughtful, and flipped through it. There was only that one passage. He put it back in his robes.
Never mind. He'd keep carrying it around and see what happened each day.
Across from him,
Yuan Danqiu carefully opened the medicine packets he'd just bought and examined the quality of their contents.
The Cinnabar was a pure color. The local pharmacies in Xiangyang County didn't stock the finest grade, but they could certainly provide an upper-middle grade.
Zengqing was a kind of mineral. It grew in layers of blue and could turn copper into iron, then become silver after seven days. The Baopuzi also said, "Take Zengqing by itself, and your gallbladder will burst, killing you."
That sounded dangerous.
Yuan Danqiu had already looked into it. If Realgar, Orpiment, Zengqing, Alum, Magnetite, Rong Salt, Cinnabar, Gold Paste, and Silver Liquid were mixed together, they would make a divine elixir. This recipe was recorded in a Han dynasty book. Take it, and you could ascend in broad daylight and command ghosts and spirits.
Jiang She examined the ingredients for a while.
"Are you planning to make elixirs?"
"Exactly," Yuan Danqiu said. "A few days ago, Daoist Lian Yue of Pure Void Temple returned from a visit to Taihe Mountain in Jun Prefecture. He came across some ancient elixir recipes and found them rather interesting."
"I thought I'd try making one."
Jiang She glanced at the Cinnabar and Zengqing on the table.
In fact, they were two of the Five-Colored Stone's ingredients, commonly used in many elixir recipes. They were highly toxic.
"Tell me the recipe," he said. "I'd like to hear it."
There was no need to keep secrets from an immortal such as him. Yuan Danqiu told Jiang She about the Realgar, Orpiment, Zengqing, Alum, Magnetite, Rong Salt, Cinnabar, Gold Paste, and Silver Liquid...
Then he added:
"The timing for adding each ingredient is different, but the recipe doesn't specify when. I'm afraid it'll take a long time to figure out."
"Gold Paste and Silver Liquid must be hard to come by. Have you found some already?" Jiang She asked.
Yuan Danqiu stroked his beard. "I entered the Dao when I was fifteen. I have a modest family fortune."
So Yuan Danqiu was a wealthy man.
It seemed that of Li Bai, Yuan Danqiu, and Meng Haoran, who had practiced the Dao together at Lumen Mountain, only Master Meng had been poor. The other two came from well-off families: one had a merchant household, the other a manor owner.
"Zengqing and Cinnabar are both poisonous. If you get the dosage or the heat wrong, you could hurt yourself."
"Don't worry, Young Master Jiang. I know what I'm doing."
Yuan Danqiu said, "I only plan to try making it. I won't take it myself."
"Taibai tried some, though. He told me his yang fire was too strong afterward, and he barely slept for several nights. So he stopped taking it."
Jiang She nodded. Since Yuan Danqiu wasn't going to take it himself, he didn't ask any more.
Thinking of all the extraordinary things about the man before him, Yuan Danqiu couldn't help asking, "Young Master Jiang, do you know how to make medicine?"
"I've never tried."
Yuan Danqiu suddenly perked up and invited him, "Pure Void Temple isn't far from Xiangyang. It's on the mountainside nearby. The day after tomorrow is the first day of the month, when Heaven and Earth harmonize. We'll hold a ritual, set up an altar, and pay our respects. It'll be quite lively."
"Would you like to come with me and have a look?"
Pure Void Temple was considered a major temple in the Xiangyang area, with nearly a hundred Daoists and young acolytes.
Jiang She had heard of it since arriving in Xiangyang, but he hadn't visited yet.
"That sounds good."
"Then I'll meet you here the day after tomorrow, Young Master Jiang."
Having gotten his agreement, Yuan Danqiu felt a peculiar rush of satisfaction. That scoundrel Taibai was always telling him and Master Meng about mysterious happenings, leaving them both filled with wonder and longing.
Now it was his turn to tell someone else.
Ah!
Thinking of Taibai, Yuan Danqiu still asked with concern, "Young Master Jiang, where did you go yesterday? Why hasn't Taibai woken up yet? Even if he drank, surely..."
"I was invited to a night banquet."
Jiang She recalled Li Bai singing and drinking wildly the night before, then estimated how much Three-Day Drunk he'd had.
"He'll probably sleep for three to five days."
Yuan Danqiu remembered the strange fragrance of the wine he'd smelled earlier, crisp and mellow, with what seemed to be the scent of flowers and trees. His craving rose, and he swallowed hard.
The fifth month was considered an inauspicious month, when poisonous insects bred and many taboos were observed. From the first day of the month through the Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth, it was especially important to ward off evil and avert calamity.
The emperor issued an edict ordering Daoist temples throughout the realm to hold rituals. Many monks and Daoists began a month of fasting, abstaining from meat to pray for a safe summer.
The countryside was lively too, with people gathering to pick mugwort and calamus, and climbing mountains for an outing while they were at it.
Herb gatherers had also begun hawking mugwort on the streets, calling out as they went from lane to lane.
"Fresh mugwort! Mugwort to ward off evil spirits!"
"Nine-Joint Calamus from the banks of the Han River, its root like a dragon's whiskers, fragrant by the inch! Madam, would you like some calamus? You can take it home to steep in wine and ward off pestilence. Bathe your children in it, and they won't get sores!"
"Buy some today, and it'll be ready to drink by the Dragon Boat Festival."
As he spoke, his hands never stopped working. He deftly tied the plants into bundles with straw cord and set them in his carrying basket.
He called out, "Three coins a bundle, five for two! Ah, the fifth month brings evil and poisonous vapors!"
"Boil mugwort, bathe in fragrant orchids! Buy some while you can!"
The herb gatherers had booming voices. They might not know how to read, or even how to write their own names. When something important came up, all they could do was leave a thumbprint.
But after years of hawking their wares from street to street and trading in medicinal herbs, they knew just how to call out. Their words were clear and precise.
Jiang She made his way through the market.
It was the hour of the Dragon. The streets were crowded with people on every side, as though the whole city of Xiangyang had come out. Parents carried children on their shoulders. The little ones clutched their sweets tightly in one hand and looked around curiously, their heads tilted.
The temple Yuan Danqiu had mentioned was only a dozen or so li away. In ancient times, that really was close.
Mountains were hard to cross, and the Han River was hard to ford. To people of this era, a dozen li meant a walk of an hour or two.
To see a lively spectacle like this, to bring the family along for a rare outing, make a scented sachet from scraps of cloth, and watch the dragon boats race with their own eyes—walking another dozen li was well worth it.
Jiang She had gradually grown used to it too.
If he wanted, he could appear at the temple gates in the very next moment.
But only the road traveled step by step became a landscape of one's own.
He had plenty of time to look around at his leisure. Why rush with Daoist arts and miss the beauty along the way?
Otherwise, he might never have heard these hawkers' cries.
He, Yuan Danqiu, and Meng Haoran walked along together.
Yuan Danqiu wore Daoist robes, which drew curious looks. As they passed, quite a few people secretly watched him.
Yuan Danqiu was used to it by now. He glanced around and said, "Let's start over this way. There's a fair today, so it's at its liveliest."
Meng Haoran walked beside them.
"What kind of wine did Taibai drink? It was that potent? Back in the Jin dynasty, Du Kang brewed wine that Liu Ling drank, and he was drunk for three years. Could this have been that wine?"
Jiang She smiled.
"This wine is called Three-Day Drunk. If it kept you drunk for three years, it ought to be called Thousand-Day Drunk."
"I don't see why it couldn't," Yuan Danqiu said casually.
They walked for a while, and an hour and a half later, they arrived at Pure Void Temple.
A Daoist in a short-sleeved robe stood beneath a tree by the entrance, counting the tolls of a bell.
Hearing footsteps and laughter, he assumed visitors had arrived. He remained beneath the tree, gazing leisurely at the clouds drifting overhead as he counted along with the bell's solemn, ethereal chimes, unhurried.
Then he suddenly heard someone call out.
"Daoist Lian Yue?"
"How long have you been waiting?"
Lian Yue turned his head. It was Yuan Danqiu and two companions. Yuan Danqiu stood on the right, and he knew Meng Haoran on the left, but the man in the middle was a stranger.
After walking so far along the mountain path, Yuan Danqiu and Meng Haoran had dust and mud caked on their soles.
This man's clothes were spotless, not a speck of dust on them.
Daoist Lian Yue looked away, shifted his legs, and slowly walked over with a smile. "Not long."
He said, "Please, come in. And this gentleman is...?"
Yuan Danqiu had walked a long way and should have been tired, but he was full of spirit and in high spirits, without the slightest trace of weariness. Led by Daoist Lian Yue, they all stepped into the temple together.
"Young Master Jiang, this is Daoist Lian Yue."
Yuan Danqiu then turned and introduced Jiang She.
His tone carried respect.
"This is Master Jiang, the eminent man I told you about last time."
Daoist Lian Yue's eyes widened slightly.
For a moment, he couldn't speak.
Before you continue