Cultivators and ordinary people lived side by side here, and cultivation was not as mysterious as it was in the east. There were no restrictions around the immortal mountain where Azure Dragon Cave stood, either, so the three of them reached the foot of Spring-Gazing Mountain without any trouble.
Spring-Gazing Mountain looked small from a distance, but up close, they discovered how broad and lofty it was. A person standing at its foot was like an ant.
Beneath the cover of ancient trees and green vines, numerous stone stairways wound from the foot of the mountain to its summit.
They now stood before a wooden ceremonial arch at the mountain's foot. It was about twenty feet tall and twenty feet wide, with two inscribed plaques at the top, a smaller one above a larger one.
The smaller plaque above bore four characters:
Standing mighty in the eastern heavens.
The larger plaque below also bore four characters:
Divine protection over the southwest.
The couplet on the pillars to either side read:
The azure dragon coils, its divine spirit radiant; the grotto-heaven hangs on high, guarding home and nation.
Yunqi read the words softly, struck by the imposing grandeur of Azure Dragon Abbey. Looking again at Spring-Gazing Mountain, he thought it truly resembled an azure dragon coiled upon the earth.
Yet the wood qi here was extraordinarily abundant. Slender vines and wildflowers twined around the arch, lending a touch of delicate beauty to its unmatched majesty.
A thatched hut stood in front of either side of the arch, each with someone on duty inside. Neither stopped the three people and their dog as they ambled over.
As they approached, a Daoist emerged from the hut on the left. He looked to be in his forties and wore blue-green Daoist robes. His appearance was refined and scholarly, but his aura was withdrawn and his breathing long and deep, making it impossible to tell his cultivation realm.
"Ancestor!"
At the sight of the Daoist leaving the hut, Hu Jinliu's eyes lit up. He hurried forward a few steps, dropped to his knees with a thump, and kowtowed.
Yunqi jumped in surprise. What had happened to that reckless fellow who had seemed to care about nothing?
No wonder he had so casually said he had been inside both Azure Dragon Cave and Immortal Cave. So this was where his roots lay. Presumably, he had insisted on escorting Yunqi here because he wanted someone to smooth the way for him.
Lang Shanliu also knelt. "May our ancestor enjoy a long life!"
The middle-aged Daoist chuckled and helped them both up.
"What brings you here?"
Hu Jinliu nodded and bowed. "It's been so long since we last saw you, Ancestor. We missed you! We never imagined we'd happen to find you on duty. What tremendous good fortune!"
The Daoist pointed at Hu Jinliu and laughed. "You never do take anything seriously."
Just then, Lang Shanliu hastily said, "Ancestor, your descendants met a wandering Daoist from the east in the mountains. He said he wished to register with an abbey here in our Miao Borderlands, so we took it upon ourselves to bring him here and seek your permission.
"Ancestor, this young man saved the lives of children from our Miao Stockade. Look, someone even gave him a White Dragon."
Yunqi stepped forward. He held his left hand horizontally before his chest and formed a mountain with three fingers of his right hand above his left palm, saying as before,
"Boundless contemplation to you, Daoist Master. This humble Daoist is Cheng Qieqing, a cultivator of Azure Cloud Abbey on Green God Mountain."
The middle-aged Daoist's expression changed as he studied Yunqi. For some reason, his eyes seemed to fill with unexpected delight, which surprised Yunqi.
Then the Daoist Master also held his left palm horizontally before his chest. Turning his right palm upward, he curled his index, ring, and little fingers until their tips touched his palm. His thumb and middle finger pointed diagonally up to the left and right, forming a shape like a pair of ox horns. He then gently rested the back of his right hand upon his left.
"This humble Daoist is Tian Fang of Azure Dragon Cave in the Miao Borderlands, with the secular surname Liu. Boundless contemplation to you, fellow Daoist. We are both disciples of the Three Pure Ones; every Daoist abbey beneath heaven is a place where you may rest."
Lang Shanliu and Hu Jinliu did not understand what they were seeing and assumed it was simply an exchange of Daoist courtesies. Still, they were now all the more certain of the visiting Daoist's identity. So long as he was not some demonic cultivator in disguise, they could put their minds at ease.
Hu Jinliu whispered in Yunqi's ear, "Our Rong River Stockade is really something! We don't just have people in Azure Dragon Cave-we have them in Immortal Cave too!"
Lang Shanliu caught Hu Jinliu by the ear and dragged him away, bowing to Daoist Tian Fang as he said,
"Sorry for troubling you, Ancestor. Your descendants will take their leave."
He also waved to Yunqi. "Come visit Rong River Stockade when you have time, young man. It's not far from here!"
Yunqi nodded in agreement and thanked him with a smile.
Once the uncle and nephew had left, Daoist Master Tian Fang smiled at Yunqi and said,
"Green God Mountain of Kuaiji is already a resounding name in today's cultivation world. If you want to travel under an assumed identity, you'd better think of another one."
Yunqi scratched his head. Nobody had told him that.
"Did Wen Sukong tell you that you could come to Azure Dragon Cave? Wen Sukong belongs to the same lineage as you, so you ought to know her, yes? Didn't she tell you?"
Yunqi's eyes widened. "Daoist Master, you know..."
"Hmm?"
"Wasn't she the one who sent you here?"
The Daoist Master looked quite surprised.
Yunqi shook his head. His coming here had been entirely by chance.
Daoist Master Tian Fang paused in astonishment before saying, "Then what a coincidence. Wen Sukong has always been careless, but what about Chen Suxing? Didn't he tell you either?"
"Huh?"
Yunqi was at a loss. What was going on?
"Never mind. It seems I truly have an affinity with your sect. Come up the mountain with me first," Daoist Master Tian Fang told Yunqi with a smile.
Then he addressed a young Daoist in the hut on the right. "Lad, I'm heading back into the mountain for a while. Please inform Heavenly Pivot Hall and ask them to rearrange the watch."
The young Daoist hastily bowed with clasped hands and agreed.
Daoist Master Tian Fang nodded and led Yunqi up the mountain.
"Whose disciple are you, then? What is your relationship to Sukong and Suxing?"
"Daoist Master, I have not yet been formally registered. For now, I am a nominal disciple under Teacher Sukong."
"Oh!"
Daoist Master Tian Fang paused in his stride. "So you're the disciple of an old acquaintance. She's taking disciples now! Ha ha, excellent, excellent."
"What about Suxing? He belongs to Sukong's generation, so he should be your martial uncle. Has he taken any disciples?"
A hundred thoughts twisted through Yunqi's mind as he answered, "I haven't been with the sect long, and I'm only a nominal disciple. I have yet to meet Martial Uncle Suxing. I rarely even see Teacher Sukong."
Daoist Master Tian Fang laughed at that. "She's the laziest of them all. If she can shirk something, she won't lift a finger. With your name under hers, you'll have plenty of hardships ahead if you become an inner disciple."
Yunqi laughed along, but did not dare agree. Instead, he took the initiative to ask, "Daoist Master, how did you and my teacher meet?"
Daoist Master Tian Fang fell briefly silent at the question, then said, "That was quite a few years ago."
"I had just entered the Second Realm then, and my star apertures had yet to be divided into their celestial domains. Oh, in your inner dao of alchemy, I believe you call that gang-refining and baleful-intent transformation. That year, fighting broke out again between the Miao Borderlands and the Southern Wastes, with the Northern Demonic Cult coordinating from the rear. The situation was dire. My master ordered me down the mountain to eradicate demons, while Sukong and Suxing happened to be traveling through the Southern Wastes under the name of Green God Mountain. They were still at the threshold of the First Realm then and had yet to reach the Second Realm."
"They lost their way in the Miasma Forest and became surrounded. I went in and brought them out, and that was how we met. We were all about the same age, so we traveled together and became friends."
The Daoist Master climbed the steps at an unhurried pace. At this point, he tilted his head up slightly, his fingers shifting behind his back, and said,
"It must have been a full sixty-year cycle!"
"Back then, we said we would meet again. I would go to Yu Zhang, and they would return to the Miao Borderlands. But cultivation in the Second Realm left us so pressed for time that we all forgot in our busyness! We parted sixty years ago and never saw each other again. Now I've met their disciple out on his travels. Ha ha."
Here is the first chapter.
The Azure Dragon Cave hand gesture described in the text forms a pair of horns, signifying the "horns of the azure dragon." The first of the seven eastern mansions is the Horn Mansion, while the star chart of the second, the Neck Mansion, forms a pair of horns.
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