Yuan Danqiu hadn't come to his senses yet when he and Meng Haoran were suddenly surrounded by Taoist priests.
The one standing closest to him, Daoist Lian Yue, was the most eager to ask questions.
"Was that breeze just now because of Mr. Jiang?"
"Lay Buddhist Yuan, do you know that great master? Where did that commotion come from? What was he doing in the alchemy room? Could you introduce us?"
"Could he be an expert in alchemy?"
"Perhaps even true immortals are no more than this!"
"I've never heard of such a person. I imagine he's a Mist and Cloud Hermit, living in seclusion somewhere and keeping company with the clouds and mist!"
Yuan Danqiu and Meng Haoran were besieged by question after question. Faced with such a miraculous event, the Taoist priests were even more fervent than ordinary people—one might even call them fanatical.
Yuan Danqiu was so overwhelmed by the questions that his head spun and throbbed.
"How would I know? Mr. Jiang never said he knew how to make pills..."
"Master Meng, hurry and tell them!"
The forest brimmed with verdant life. Many creatures had just received no small benefit.
Old Deer Mountain God offered his thanks.
This verdant energy hadn't been drawn and gathered out of thin air. It was a gift of vitality born from the response and harmony of Heaven and Earth. Though the breath of Heaven and Earth would soon blow it away, scatter it, and carry it beyond Xiang Prefecture, it was still an exceedingly rare blessing.
The spirits of mountains, rivers, and marshes, as well as mortals, ghosts, and gods, all benefited from it.
Jiang She smiled. "I've been hearing a lot about alchemy these past few days. It struck me as interesting, so I took the notion and decided to give it a try on a whim."
"I did it on a whim, and I'll stop when the mood passes."
"Why thank me so formally, Mountain God?"
The Mountain God gave a wry smile. "A whim, and yet such a tremendous commotion. It gave this little god quite a fright."
Jiang She had only meant to gather some verdant energy and draw a little spiritual essence from the mountains to see whether he could make a pill.
He hadn't known that Heaven and Earth would respond in harmony, not only gathering the verdant energy of the entire mountain but affecting all of Xiang Prefecture and even several neighboring prefectures.
Fortunately, it hadn't been a bad thing.
Having thought this over, Jiang She let the matter go.
He took two medicine bottles from his sleeve: one made of green jade, the other of white porcelain.
Old Deer Mountain God watched and wondered: Mr. Jiang's sleeve wasn't very large, and he hadn't heard the clink of bottles earlier. Where had those things come from?
Could it be some profound Daoist art?
As he was wondering,
Jiang She tipped out a green pill.
It gleamed with radiant light, perfectly round and full.
Jiang She asked, "This is my first time making a pill. I don't know how it turned out. What do you think, Mountain God?"
As the pill appeared in the wilderness, a wonderfully pure, fragrant medicinal aura suddenly spread through the air. Birds fluttered from the forest and circled overhead. The bushes and trees rustled as mountain beasts eyed the pill covetously, only to be driven away with a wave of the Mountain God's hand.
"If this isn't a superior pill, then this little god doesn't know what could be called one."
Seeing the earlier commotion, Jiang She understood a little more.
He had some idea of what was in the remaining jade bottle, too, and didn't ask about it.
The Mountain God and Earth Deity watched helplessly as he tucked both bottles back into his sleeve. From beginning to end, they never learned what was in the other bottle.
Suppressing the miscellaneous thoughts of curiosity with difficulty,
the Mountain God raised a hand. "Congratulations, Mr. Jiang, on obtaining this method of pill-making."
The Earth Deity offered his congratulations as well.
As they were speaking, a tiger's roar suddenly came from the distant forest.
Lumen Mountain.
The Fierce Tiger lay sprawled atop a boulder, eyes narrowed.
Its tail swished impatiently.
After listening to the Red Fox, it asked, "Did they really say that?"
The Red Fox snorted. "The story's spread all over the foot of the mountain. I heard it from some people burning incense at the temple."
"Does the immortal know?"
"They said it right in front of the immortal."
Humanlike fear and fury appeared on the Fierce Tiger's face. Its tail swung uneasily as it paced back and forth through the woods. "Did the immortal believe them?"
"How would I know?"
"Would you dare ask the immortal?"
The tiger roared and cursed, "Ever since we gained wisdom, we've never eaten a person, let alone done what they said—ruining someone's property and even killing their whole family!"
"And they're blaming me for what happened to the Lu Family, too!"
"What will the immortal think of me now?"
A mountain stream flowed along, while the Han River ran through Xiang Prefecture, giving the two cities on its banks their distinctive character. Xiangyang lay to the north, Fan City to the south.
One river, two banks; the same moonlight shone over both.
At the same time, the Han River served as a natural barrier, while Xian Mountain and Lumen Mountain stood as defenses, making this land easy to hold and hard to attack. In ancient times, it had been a battleground contested by many generals.
The Han River flowed through the region, its shipping thriving and merchant caravans coming and going without end. This had also made Xiangyang exceptionally prosperous. Jiang She had once read a poem that went, "Straight through the Ba Gorge and Wu Gorge, then down to Xiangyang and on toward Luoyang."
The mountain stream eventually flowed into the Han River.
Chen Family Village stood beside one of the Han River's tributaries, where the land was well suited to farming. The Chen clan's main household owned seventy percent of the village's land and held sway over the area. Even among the local gentry, they were wealthy.
Chen Erniu belonged to a collateral branch that had split off an unknown number of years ago. To the main household, he was more like an unindentured servant.
These past few days, Chen Erniu had been living much better.
The main household had specially invited him to their home for a talk. Even servants from the county seat had come to treat him to tea. All they wanted was for him to recount, in detail, everything that had happened that day, so the young masters and mistresses of the household could enjoy the tale.
As he told it over and over, Chen Erniu had compared notes with his nephew and added many details to earn a little more tea money.
He didn't dare make things up about ghosts and gods.
He merely embellished the scene: how lavish the banquet his nephew had heard that night sounded, what snippets of conversation they'd overheard, and a few lines he'd filled in himself.
He also described the music and singing he'd heard, even trying to hum a bit. The servant listened with a furrowed brow, enduring it without interrupting.
"That's all?"
"How did the immortal subdue the tiger?"
"I didn't see the immortal subdue the tiger, and I wouldn't dare say more."
"I didn't dare look closely at what the immortal looked like. I just remember he was very handsome and wore a blue robe with long sleeves. Yes, yes, those wide sleeves you mentioned. We country folk don't know much about that."
"When he came out of the bamboo grove, Dalang and I thought we'd run into a ghost."
"There was a person in white following behind the immortal. I couldn't make out his face. He walked alongside the immortal and had an exceptionally fragrant smell of wine about him."
Chen Erniu had gone over what he'd seen that night countless times these past few days. It was already etched in his mind.
"I was too scared to think about it then. Now that I think of it, that wine smelled wonderful. It must've been the wine the immortal drank."
The servant listened carefully.
He was a servant in Magistrate Cheng's household and had driven all this way especially to investigate the matter. Tales of immortals were rare indeed.
Recently, though, Xiangyang had been abuzz with strange stories.
They had so tormented the magistrate that he could hardly bear it. He'd practically written three letters a day, urging his friend to finish the essay soon so he could have a craftsman engrave it on a stele.
"Tell me more. Think carefully—did you leave anything out? I have to return to the city before nightfall."
The city...
Chen Erniu suddenly remembered.
"Oh, right! The immortal was heading north, toward the city!"
The servant was startled.
Was the immortal Chen Erniu had described in Xiangyang?
Chen Erniu was lowering his head to drink tea. Too many people had questioned him these past few days. From morning to night, he'd been telling the story—first in the village during the day, then again at home or at his maternal uncle's place in the evening. His throat was so dry it felt like smoke was coming out of it.
Suddenly, a tiger's roar rang beside his ear, deafening.
"Roar—"
Birds scattered in every direction.
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