"He's reached the edge of Longen Village and is outside the schoolhouse."
In another house, Chuiyunzi stared out the window, then turned and asked, "Senior Brother, are you ready?"
The white-browed man let out a long breath. "Ready. If he declines the invitation and heads straight up the mountain, he'll lose his way in the woods. Then I'll go and set him straight. I'll make sure he understands that haste makes waste!"
"Exactly!" Chuiyunzi nodded. "The first time we set foot on Book Mountain, we were so eager to seek immortality that we had no mind to think more, reflect more, look more, or ask more. We lost sight of what mattered. When we saw Longen Village, we thought it had nothing to do with us and hurried to climb the mountain. None of us grasped its deeper meaning."
The white-browed man nodded. "That's right. I did the same thing back then and lost my way in the woods. Two whole years passed before I understood why. Only after I changed my thinking did I find my way back to Longen Village!"
Chuiyunzi glanced outside. "Here he comes, here he comes..."
Meanwhile, after a round of questions and answers, Chen Cuo understood that the handsome gentlemen and jade-like beauties said to dwell in books did not spring into being from nothing. Nor were they people made of paper. They were real people brought over from elsewhere.
It made sense. If a thought alone could conjure living flesh from nothing, no mortal body could bear it.
As Chen Cuo pondered this, Lu Yu said, "You've come a long way, Immortal Master. You must be tired. Why not rest in the village first? Climbing the mountain is important, but there's no need to rush. One must balance work with rest."
Chen Cuo