With mountain rocks serving as both table and seats, Yi Shuyuan unpacked his bundle and set out the pastries as drinking snacks, then sat down with the Mountain God for a leisurely conversation.
"So you really don't want to sit the examinations and earn an official rank?"
Huang Hongchuan was somewhat surprised. From what he had seen of Yi Shuyuan, the young man was certainly not someone without a hope of passing. Still harder to understand was his wish to become a storyteller wandering the world.
Well, Yi Shuyuan's ideas were actually much more complicated, but after Huang Hongchuan's simple interpretation, they had been reduced to the single word "storyteller."
Hearing Huang Hongchuan's surprise, Yi Shuyuan, who had relaxed considerably by now, smiled as well.
"Didn't you say yourself, Mountain God, that someone like me couldn't bear the filth of officialdom? Isn't it better, then, to find something that interests me?"
Huang Hongchuan shook his head.
"Those were words spoken at our first meeting, before I glimpsed your sincere and innocent heart. Were you to ask me again now, my answer might be different. If you became an official, I imagine you would be a worthy minister remembered for generations!"
Yi Shuyuan had a different opinion.
"You're mistaken, sir. I, Yi Shuyuan, am human too, and human nature sometimes cannot withstand being tested. The best approach, then, is not to test it. I'm very afraid of becoming the sort of person I now turn my nose up at. Why wade into muddy waters I already detest? Doing what I enjoy would instead allow me to preserve my natural disposition."
"Those very words make me willing to believe you could rise from the mire unstained!"
Yi Shuyuan gave a wry grin and put a broken piece of rice cake in his mouth. Why did this Mountain God keep trying to persuade him to become an official?
He made it sound as though anything else Yi Shuyuan pursued was frivolous indulgence that would ruin his ambitions, while focusing on the imperial examinations would guarantee him a rank. I'd still have to outdo all those other people!
"Let's leave that aside. My ambitions lie elsewhere. I am, however, very interested in the lives of all the beings in the mortal world, and was hoping to seek your guidance, Mountain God."
"True enough. What am I worrying about?"
Huang Hongchuan said no more on the subject and began chatting casually with Yi Shuyuan. Gradually, he came to admire the flights of imagination the young man occasionally displayed.
The pastries were nearly finished. Yi Shuyuan had been drinking water from the bamboo flask he had brought, while Huang Hongchuan poured and drank his wine alone. Their conversation never stopped, and the subject gradually shifted toward matters of the mysterious and supernatural.
"So that's how it is. If a yao's cultivation is pure and refined, its yao aura is faint. If it causes harm and accumulates evil karma, that aura may become dense and muddied. Different conditions produce different auras."
"Precisely. There are also methods of concealment, however. As for ordinary people, never mind telling them apart-not even one in ten thousand can smell such an aura."
At this point, Huang Hongchuan took a sip of wine and made a point of warning him.
"Although I said there are good and bad yao, if you encounter demons, ghosts, or monsters in the future, you should still stay as far away from them as possible. Ah, drinking alone really is dull."
Those words were clearly meant for Yi Shuyuan. After a moment's hesitation, he emptied the mountain spring water from his bamboo flask on the table, then took Huang Hongchuan's flask and poured a little wine into his own.
"I can only have a little taste, but I'll join you for a drink, Mountain God."
Huang Hongchuan nodded with a smile. After clinking bamboo flasks with Yi Shuyuan, he took a sip, then waited as though watching a show for the frowning young man to drink.
Though it was nothing particularly fine, this homemade rice wine was brewed with honest ingredients and had a very strong alcoholic smell. Yi Shuyuan had hated drinking in his previous life and had never touched it in this one. Still, since they had already clinked their cups, he steeled himself and took a sip.
Hm? Oh!
As the wine touched his lips and the tip of his tongue, it spread into a rich fragrance. Without thinking, Yi Shuyuan took another mouthful. Bitterness rolled across his tongue, accompanied by a spicy fragrance that filled his mouth, and a sweet aftertaste slowly rose. With these flavors lending it their charm, even the alcoholic fumes that had stung his nose began to smell pleasant.
For a fleeting moment, Yi Shuyuan seemed to sense the brewer's emotions through this cup of wine, as though he could feel the painstaking effort and joy two generations had poured into their home brewing. This went beyond mere taste.
Yi Shuyuan stared blankly at the bamboo flask holding his wine, then looked toward Huang Hongchuan's flask.
Was the wine in this world different? Had this stuff always tasted so good? Or was it because I had changed?
"One cup of wine, like a whole lifetime!"
The spectacle Huang Hongchuan had been eagerly anticipating never materialized. This was hardly the expression of someone drinking for the first time-it was unmistakably the intoxicated delight of a wine lover.
"Let me try some more!"
Yi Shuyuan immediately picked up the flask opposite him and poured himself some more. Seeing Huang Hongchuan's odd expression, he hastily returned it. The two exchanged smiles, then clinked their cups and drank together.
Their conversation continued without pause. Yi Shuyuan spoke whatever came to mind and brought up many things that interested him. He asked whether immortals existed, and because of that case, inquired in greater detail about the Netherworld. They also discussed things such as past and present lives, and even spoke of the Heavenly Realm.
Unfortunately, the Heavenly Realm and the Celestial Court were not what Yi Shuyuan had imagined. There was not even just one of them. Though the several celestial courts had their differences, they were largely alike, and those above were all Divine Cultivators. Huang Hongchuan was rather guarded and did not say much, but their discussion of incense offerings still made Yi Shuyuan understand that life up there was not so free.
So there were this many kinds of gods. So gods were this complicated too. So even among gods, there were those who cultivated the divine path alongside another, and those who pursued it as their main path.
"Heh. If the day comes when my allotted span draws to its end and I still cannot advance any further, perhaps I'll have to ascend to the Heavenly Realm myself."
After this self-mocking remark, Huang Hongchuan glanced at his bamboo flask and discovered that the wine was nearly gone. Turning toward Yi Shuyuan, he saw that the young man was already visibly drunk.
Huang Hongchuan could not help smiling. He did not know what had come over him today, chatting so much with this young fellow, but he felt it was time to leave.
His face flushed with wine, Yi Shuyuan divided the last of it evenly between their bamboo flasks and raised his final question of the day.
"Life is bitterly short. Even if I devoted my entire lifetime to it, I fear I could never see all of this mortal world. May I ask, Mountain God, whether I, Yi Shuyuan, can cultivate immortality and attain the Dao to extend my lifespan? Could you offer me any guidance?"
"Mr. Yi, you're drunk!"
Huang Hongchuan shook his head. It was his first time drinking, after all, and he certainly could not hold his liquor.
"Seeking immortality and attaining the Dao is one of the many fanciful dreams of mortals. Yet the Immortal Dao is boundless, with countless methods seeking truth. Immortal affinity is difficult to obtain, and the Immortal Path is more unfathomable still. Those who would ascend to immortality must examine their own hearts. Your aspirations lie in the stories of the mortal world, but even here in the mountains, you have yet to make your heart as still as water. Once you enter the mortal world, how will you keep your heart steady on the Immortal Dao? Upon waking, it will be nothing but a bubble!"
With that, Huang Hongchuan stood and sighed softly as he looked at Yi Shuyuan, who had already fallen into a drunken stupor.
"I am merely a Divine Cultivator. Though I possess no wondrous methods of the Immortal Dao... never mind. I'll lend you a hand. Examine your own heart!"
As he spoke, Huang Hongchuan touched a finger between Yi Shuyuan's brows. Only after drinking the last of his wine did he slowly depart, leaving Yi Shuyuan sprawled on the ground.
Yi Shuyuan was lost in a drunken haze, but he had still heard Huang Hongchuan's words.
Only by examining my heart could I make it as still as water?
If he truly thought about it, there were indeed places within Yi Shuyuan's heart that he dared not examine, or even think about. Propping himself up with his hands, he lifted his head. The sky was already full of stars.
Just one bamboo flask of wine, just a few pastries, and I actually spent an entire day talking with the Broad South Mountain God?
In his drunken state, Yi Shuyuan watched the scattered stars seem to trail afterimages as his gaze wandered, like streaming light.
As he watched, Yi Shuyuan rolled over to lie on the rock, slowly closed his eyes, and gradually fell asleep.
The next morning, however, Yi Shuyuan did not wake.
Birds chirped in the mountains, and laughingthrushes flitted about beside him, but Yi Shuyuan remained asleep. It was the same on the second day, and again on the third. If not for his faint snores, one might have thought something had happened to him.
Throughout this time, no mountain bird or beast came to harm Yi Shuyuan's body.
At that moment, Yi Shuyuan was dreaming. He had returned to the world he knew, returned to Zhushan County, and fallen into the Du River while reciting "Peach Blossom Spring Record."
The streaming light receded, now close, now distant. Yi Shuyuan's eyes widened. Despite the intense fear in his heart, he still reached out his hand just as he had before, and gripped even more tightly.
Boom!
The streaming light exploded, scattering countless rays across heaven and earth. The impact sent Yi Shuyuan tumbling through the water, but light still lingered in his tightly clenched hand. This time, he did not lapse into a daze. He faced that terrifying pressure head-on, as though heaven were collapsing and earth overturning.
This was the fourth day, at the hour of midnight. The Awakening of Insects had arrived!
Rumble!
Wind and cloud trembled in the highest heavens, and the first thunderclap of spring's return exploded above Broad South Mountain.
Whoosh, whoosh.
Suddenly, fierce winds raged across Broad South Mountain. Thunderclouds packed the sky in an instant, and rolling thunder flashed within them.
Crack-rumble!
Lightning illuminated the entire mountain wilderness, and even all of Yuanjiang County. Spring thunder had rarely displayed such power in many years, and every living thing between heaven and earth trembled in fright.
Boom!
A bolt of lightning struck the edge of South Hill Ridge, only a few steps from Yi Shuyuan. His eyes flew open, and he stared blankly at the thunderous sky, endless lightning reflected in his eyes.
The thunder was not only in the sky, but in his heart as well. His organs seemed to be pierced by heavenly light, while within his inner scenery, it was as though ten thousand horses were stampeding. His eyes shone blue-green as thunder and lightning ran rampant, then overflowed from his body like blood, bathing him from head to toe.
"Aah!"
Having endured it all by sheer force of will, Yi Shuyuan finally let out an agonized scream. Yet in the next instant, he rose and faced the heavens in fury.
Rumble!
And yet all of this seemed to be nothing more than a dream, for had an outsider been present, Yi Shuyuan would still have been lying asleep on the ground-
At that same moment, a figure staggered out of the Mountain God's temple on Broad South Mountain and looked up at the sky in horror. This was no ordinary thunder, yet he could not discover where the anomaly lay.
But as the Orthodox God of Broad South Mountain, Huang Hongchuan was connected to the earth veins and shared the mountain's senses. He could clearly perceive that Broad South Mountain lay at the center of some sort of storm. There was no tribulation lightning, but the aura of the Awakening of Insects Solar Term was stronger than anything he had witnessed in hundreds of years.
This was the feeling of wind and thunder gathering their might!
But whence came the tribulation, and where was it? Who was undergoing it?
"Could it be!"
An absurd possibility suddenly occurred to Huang Hongchuan. He looked toward South Hill Ridge in horror, but at that moment, he did not even have the courage to go there, much less divine its causes and consequences!
Crack!
A bolt of lightning descended, and Huang Hongchuan instantly fled underground.
Boom!
The roof of the Mountain God's temple exploded as lightning struck the divine statue squarely. The robes draped over the statue tore apart, and Huang Hongchuan himself felt heaven and earth spin around him.
PS: Though it doesn't seem to do much good, I'll still ask for monthly votes and recommendation votes. What really matters is keeping up with the latest chapters and the time spent reading, since those affect the book's future recommendations, my friends!
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