Wang Wei Seeks the Immortals

Lu Xiang was taken aback.

"You came after seeing the letter?"

Wang Wei sat opposite him, head bowed as he drank to quench his thirst. Dust still clung to his clothes. He had traveled all this way just for the letter Lu Xiang had written.

He nodded.

"Did more than ten people really share a dream, with forty years in it as vivid as life?"

Lu Xiang retold the story of Master Meng's visit to the Lu Family to celebrate a birthday. He knew it by heart; lately, whenever anyone brought it up, they made him tell it all over again.

At last,

Lu Xiang took the iced cheese his servant handed him.

He ate some, then added,

"You came too late."

Wang Wei raised his head.

Lu Xiang said, "Brother Haoran told me today that the immortal, Taibai, and Yuan Danqiu have all disappeared."

For once, Wang Wei's expression showed hesitation.

"What happened...?"

"Brother Haoran asked the neighbors and learned they had already left. They spent the whole afternoon loading their carts and horses a few days ago. Even the Xiang Prefecture Governor and the magistrate of Xiangyang County didn't manage to see them."

As Lu Xiang spoke, he sighed.

"You made the trip for nothing."

Wang Wei pressed him. "Do you know where they went?"

"Brother Haoran didn't mention it. I'll ask him tomorrow."

Only then did Wang Wei's brow relax.

Seeing this, Lu Xiang burst out laughing.

"Mojie, oh, Mojie! I never thought I'd see the day. I wrote to invite you to Xiangyang many times, and you never came. But I mentioned an immortal in passing in one letter, and here you are, rushing over at once."

"I only told you about the dream in my letter. I haven't even told you what happened afterward."

"There was more?"

Lu Xiang lifted his chin. One was a branch of the Fanyang Lu Clan, the other a member of the Hedong Wang Clan; both came from renowned families, and they had been close friends for years. Leaning against the armrest, Lu Xiang ate his iced cheese and recounted tales of the immortals.

"There's no shortage of immortal tales in Xiangyang lately."

"First, a hunter encountered an immortal. In the mountains, he heard the sounds of a Banquet of Ghosts and Gods at night. When he woke, he told the villagers what had happened. The story spread throughout Xiang Prefecture, and even I heard it."

Wang Wei leaned forward slightly.

"What did he say?"

Lu Xiang took his time, watching his friend's impatience with amusement. Once he had enjoyed it long enough, he said, "There was a Fierce Tiger roaring, and an ape wailing. Gods and ghosts attended a feast, while an immortal subdued a host of demons."

"He expounded the Dao to them and showed them the way."

"They drank until they were dead drunk, and the feast didn't end until dawn."

"If you meet Li Bai someday, he should know more about this. When the hunter from Chen Family Village encountered the immortal, there was a white-robed attendant beside him. That was Li Bai."

"Li Bai?"

Lu Xiang nodded. "'All the sages of old have passed away; only the drinker leaves his name behind.' Those are his verses."

"He's a poet?"

Lu Xiang agreed. "Taibai's poetic talent is astonishing. He writes of ghosts and gods as casually as if chatting with an old friend. Even I can't help feeling startled—and envious."

"Traveling with an immortal through the clouds must be a wonderful thing."

As he spoke, he sent a servant to fetch the poetry collection from his study, then pointed out a newly added poem for Wang Wei.

Wang Wei read it closely. It was a new poem, one he hadn't seen before leaving Luoyang.

The poem described the poet's dream journey to a Banquet of Ghosts and Gods. At the beginning, it explained that the day marked a deity's entry into the Dao, and that the poet had been invited.

The poem told of a giant serpent, half beautiful woman and half fierce beast; the Blue Bird, who had once carried messages for the Queen Mother of the West; and the Fierce Tiger, who studied the Dao. It told of an ape lamenting that it had made no progress in decades, weeping bitterly. Like humans, they had every kind of emotion and desire, and their path to the Dao was hard.

There was an immortal preaching the Dharma, and a Fierce Tiger attaining enlightenment.

There was fine wine and delicious food.

The poet asked: what were fame and fortune worth? The tombs of Emperor Wen of Han and Emperor Wu of Han were now no more than desolate mounds overgrown with withered grass, silent through the ages.

Only those who drank together at the feast that night could live forever and leave their names behind.

Wang Wei remained silent for a long time.

Pointing at the poem, Lu Xiang asked with a smile, "What do you think?"

After a long while,

Wang Wei said, "It's nothing special."

Then he added:

"But it does describe immortals."

"'Become an immortal and roam the skies, bearing my soul aloft; parting the floating clouds, I ascend.'"

"'Riding the clouds, driving flying dragons, I roam beyond the four seas. I traverse the four wilds and wander the six vast regions.'"

"There's something to be gained from it."

Lu Xiang smiled, leaning lazily against the armrest with a bowl of iced cheese in one hand. "Aren't you a Buddhist?"

Wang Wei glanced at him, sleeves drawn neatly together, his bearing graceful and composed.

"Don't tease me about it. Both Buddhism and the Dao have their merits. I take what is useful and make up for what I lack."

The next day, Meng Haoran received that letter and read it through. Lu Xiang happened to be asking about Li Bai.

"They're heading to Luoyang," Meng Haoran said.

Lu Xiang couldn't help smiling.

Seeing his odd reaction, Meng Haoran asked, "What happened?"

Lu Xiang shook his head and only said, "I was thinking how some people can travel all this way only to miss them by a hair. I suppose fate had a hand in it."

Wang Mojie had rushed all the way from Luoyang for the immortals, only to find that the immortals were on their way to Luoyang.

The two had just missed each other.

When he got back, he told Wang Wei what had happened.

Wang Wei turned and went to pack his things.

Lu Xiang was stunned. "Where are you going?"

The white-robed scholar stood in the main hall, his garments fluttering. Handsome and graceful, he stood head and shoulders above the rest. The servants in the room quietly sized him up, thinking he looked like a divine being.

"I'm returning to Luoyang."

Wang Wei asked again, "Did the immortal take Li Bai as a disciple?"

Lu Xiang shook his head.

"I never heard anything of the sort."

That very night, Wang Wei left.

Lu Xiang told Meng Haoran about it, his words tinged with disbelief.

"Why such a hurry? Couldn't he even take a rest? When the Xiang Prefecture Governor heard that a son of the Wang Family had arrived, he sent someone to ask whether Wang Wei would attend a banquet. He refused even that."

"He left before the city gates closed. The night road isn't easy to travel."

Meng Haoran laid down his chopsticks.

"You said the other day that it was Wang Wei, Wang Mojie?"

"He came to Xiangyang hoping to meet the immortal?"

"Exactly." Lu Xiang and Meng Haoran had always been close, so he confided in him. "He was demoted to Ji Prefecture before. This year he resigned from office and has been associating with people in Luoyang, visiting renowned scholars."

"Whenever he writes to me, his words are unrestrained, lofty, and free of worldly cares. He's a gifted poet, too."

"I thought he'd finally let things go, but who would have thought he'd..."

Unlike Lu Xiang, Meng Haoran had witnessed the immortal's affairs firsthand.

He understood their mysteries even better.

"Matters of immortals and gods aren't so easy to explain..." Meng Haoran said. "I didn't know Taibai and the others had left. If I'd known then, I might have knelt at their door."

"I'd have begged to travel with them through the clouds, too."

Lu Xiang thought so as well.

"I wonder whether Mojie will meet the immortal. Ah, he was too late!"

It rained again.

Green stretched as far as the eye could see. Now that the rain had stopped, it had washed the mountains clean, leaving them clearer and suffused with a spiritual air.

The Tang Empire's territory was vast. From the Anxi Protectorate and Beiting Protectorate to Monan, east to the Bohai Kingdom and west to Nanzhao, it was a third larger than the lands of Jiang She's previous life.

The population was around forty million.

A few carts and horses occasionally passed along the post road in Ru Prefecture. Here and there, commoners pulled handcarts, but the road was mostly deserted.

Jiang She and the others rested beneath a tree.

After eight or nine days on the road, their carts and horses reached a village on the outskirts of Ru Prefecture. They were already close to Luoyang; another two or three days would take them there.

They had heard plenty of stories along the way, but here they found the custom of making offerings widespread, so they stopped to take a look. They borrowed a place to sit, took out steamed buns, opened a jar of pickled vegetables and cured meat they had bought, and each poured himself a cup of wine.

That was enough to soothe the road dust and weariness.

The village children curiously gathered around. They didn't know who these people were. Their clothes were unlike anything worn by the villagers, so the children watched from a distance, timid and curious, yet afraid.

The aroma wafted through the air, and they swallowed hungrily.

As they watched, a tall carriage came down the post road and stopped in front of them.

A white-robed scholar pushed aside the curtain and stepped down from the carriage.

He saw people making a fire, resting, and eating.

He stepped down and clasped his hands in greeting.

Then he asked:

"Have you heard of an immortal appearing in these parts?"