When the visitor outside the cave announced himself as Zhu Changyuan, Yu Xiao did not recognize the name, but Huan Yu stood up and went to the entrance. "Did you come from Three-Bend Cliff to the west?"
"Indeed," the visitor answered.
Huan Yu smiled. "Then come inside. Fellow Daoist Su is in the inner cave, divining heaven's secrets. Please wait a moment."
He then led in a boy in his teens, dressed in a red robe over white.
Even the boy's gait differed from that of ordinary people: steady and composed, his back perfectly straight. He gave Yu Xiao a slight nod in greeting, then went to a bamboo chair and sat upright, his gaze never wandering.
Huan Yu told the boy, "My name is Huan Yu. I have long heard that an Elder Zhu lives here in the Taihang Mountains—a member of the Ming imperial family who attained the Dao and acquired the Hanxu Immortal Mansion left by the former Reverend Pure Yang. He cultivates here in seclusion, his attainment unfathomable. I asked Fellow Daoist Su some time ago to arrange a visit, but unfortunately, the elder often enters seclusion to contemplate the Great Dao, so I have never had the chance to meet him."
The boy inclined his body slightly toward Huan Yu in respect before speaking. "My grandfather has recently been deducing and reconstructing the calendrical systems, mathematics, investigation of things, chemistry, and various crafts of ancient times. He first traces their origins, beginning with the Wa Huang Clan and continuing down to our present dynasty, gathering all the works written by the great sages of each age. He intends to compile them into books and present them to the reigning court. Even my uncle and father are helping him, and none of them has gone out