History Set His Mind at Ease

Yunqi woke amid the rosy light of dawn.

He had drunk a great deal the night before, and the eastern sky had already turned pale when he drifted off in a tipsy haze. But the fine wine nourished the spirit rather than harming the body. He had slept less than two hours, yet his mind was remarkably clear.

He opened his eyes and found himself still in the courtyard. Apparently, he had fallen asleep slumped over the wine table after getting drunk.

Looking over at Feng Ji Hu, he saw that the young Daoist had already awakened and was exercising in the courtyard, dancing like a crane and climbing like an ape. After watching for a while, Yunqi realized that these exercises achieved much the same effect as the Meridian-Opening and Muscle-Stretching Exercise he had practiced since childhood. They must have shared the same origins.

He Bingkun was still fast asleep over the table, his snores rumbling like thunder.

Yunqi rose and began practicing the Meridian-Opening and Muscle-Stretching Exercise himself.

Whether it was because the mountain abounded in spiritual energy or because his own state of mind had changed entirely, he could distinctly feel the pure spirit qi within him growing thicker and more substantial as he practiced the same familiar routine.

After he completed the exercises twice, He Bingkun woke as well.

"You two are up early."

"We only just woke up ourselves," Yunqi said.

The three tidied the courtyard, and He Bingkun hurried off to attend a lecture at Yingyuan Prefecture. This time, Yunqi finally got a proper look at the Thunder Bird:

It was a Thunderbird, resting with its eyes closed and its silver claws hooked into a crevice in the rock wall above the courtyard. At He Bingkun's call, the bird pushed off with both claws, wheeled in midair, and soared upward with a beat of its wings, which spanned thirty to forty feet.

The Thunderbird had purple plumage with silvery-white shafts, while its beak and eyes were dark gold. It looked imposing indeed. Yet the row of upright white feathers on its head looked like ruffled hackles, lending it a slightly comical air.

He Bingkun leaped into the air and landed on the Thunderbird's back. With a beat of its wings, it became a streak of lightning and sped away.

Feng Ji Hu stopped exercising too and summoned his cloud mount. "Yunqi, I'm leaving the mountain today. This journey will take at least half a year, perhaps several years. I hope you'll have made something of your studies by the time I return."

Yunqi bowed with his hands clasped. "I will. May your journey be safe, Daoist brother, and may all your wishes come true."

Feng Ji Hu departed with a smile.

After the two left, Yunqi first went inside and carefully inspected the bookshelves to see whether they held all the books Instructor Sukong had mentioned yesterday. Sure enough, every one was there.

"I'm still missing a class schedule."

Yunqi stepped outside and returned to the place where he had collected his clothes the previous day. Seeing the old Daoist, he approached and bowed. "Daoist elder, I'd like to collect a class schedule and some meals and dry provisions to take away. Is this where I get them?"

Yao Jianming shook his head and explained, "Young Daoist, you get class schedules at the All-Teachings Institute. They handle everything concerning cultivation and learning. Head uphill toward the summit when you leave here. Food and drink are managed by the Culinary Affairs Court, below the mountainside. Ask people along the way, and you'll find it. You only need to come to this old Daoist for everyday supplies."

Yunqi thanked him, bowed, and left.

Afterward, Yunqi easily found both the All-Teachings Institute and the Culinary Affairs Court. Class schedules were free at the All-Teachings Institute, which pleased him greatly, but everything at the Culinary Affairs Court cost money. The cheapest white-flour flatbread cost two zhu of copper pieces, while the most convenient option, a Grain-Repelling Pill, cost one tael of copper. Yunqi did not dare ask the prices of the other meals.

The white-flour flatbread was also made from spirit grain. Like a Grain-Repelling Pill, it turned into vital essence after being swallowed and was completely absorbed by the stomach, leaving no need to excrete anything. But one flatbread only fed a person for a day, while a Grain-Repelling Pill lasted half a month and was far more convenient.

Cheng Yunqi was penniless, however, so he merely took three white-flour flatbreads on credit, owing six zhu of copper.

Carrying his schedule and flatbreads back to the courtyard, Yunqi entered his room and first hung the schedule on the wall. It was written in white lettering on ink-black spirit paper. According to the institute's steward, it employed a rudimentary form of the talisman way: the spirit script upon it could change, displaying each day's classes as they came.

Yunqi gave it a cursory glance. The courses covered all manner of subjects, from cultivation arts and pill refining to the identification of magical implements and the care of spiritual herbs. He felt he ought to read first and clear up some basic questions about cultivation before attending lectures, or he would be going for nothing.

Then he stood before the bookshelf and drew out a thick volume titled Comprehensive History of Ten Thousand Years-Revised Annually by Three Pure Ones Mountain-Ming Year 400 Edition.

As the old sayings went, reading history made one wise; studying the past revealed the future; the lessons of bygone events, remembered, became teachers for what lay ahead. He had always enjoyed history and had read histories of the Mortal World as well. He knew that its current unified dynasty was called the Ming Dynasty, founded over four hundred years ago. Before it had come Yuan, and before Yuan, Song.

But the transitions from Song to Yuan and Yuan to Ming had both been wars that overturned heaven and earth. Moreover, the preceding Song Dynasty was said to have ruled for over a thousand years, leaving many matters impossible to verify.

He carried the book to the desk, sat down, steadied his mind, and opened the first page.

The first page contained the table of contents, which read:

The Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors

Cheng Tang Replaced Xia

Qin Unified the Warring States

Heavenly Han Conquered Chu

Three Houses Returned to Jin

North and South Stood Divided

Sui Died Young, Tang Lived Long

The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

The Two Songs Yielded to Yuan

Radiant Ming

This was the first time Yunqi had learned that so many dynasties had risen and fallen before Song.

He then turned to the first chronicle, "The Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors." It was brief and offered little detail about that era, recording only familiar events such as Fuxi devising the trigrams, Shennong tasting herbs, and the Yellow Emperor casting his cauldron. The history estimated that the combined reigns of these eight sovereigns totaled roughly five to eight thousand years.

After reading it carefully, he turned to the second chronicle, "Cheng Tang Replaced Xia."

Its general account was that Sovereign Yu the Great had earned unparalleled prestige through his successful taming of the floods and had naturally established the Xia Dynasty. However, King Yu overturned the system of abdication practiced during the era of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, introducing hereditary succession. Another clear difference from the first chronicle was that Xia's human kings seemed to live no longer than ordinary mortals. A change of ruler every few decades had become commonplace.

The Xia Dynasty lasted seventeen kings and four hundred and seventy years, passing down to Jie. Jie's tyranny cost him the realm, and the forefather Cheng Tang raised an army to punish him and destroyed Xia.

Five hundred years after Cheng Tang founded Shang, its reigning king was called Di Xin Zishou. According to the book, Zishou's reign combined the wisdom of a sage within with the rule of a king without, and the nation attained unprecedented strength. Yet a great vassal king, the Marquis of the West, suddenly rebelled and established the separatist Western Zhou regime. Histories also called the Shang kingdom before this point Eastern Shang.

The eastern and western kingdoms fought for fifty years. The book recorded that many ancient gods joined this mortal war, with the gods of heaven battling the gods of the human world and turning heaven and earth upside down. It also contained this line: "At its utmost extremity, sages emerged and reforged earth, water, wind, and fire."

According to the book, the gods of the human world ultimately won, securing self-rule for humanity. From then on, the winds and rains of the four seasons were no longer governed by heavenly gods. This was the last clearly recorded appearance of the Three Pure Ones Patriarchs, and the final immeasurable cosmic calamity.

Shang won the war. Its king enfeoffed numerous vassal states and ancient gods in their rightful stations, unifying the entire realm. Afterward, Shang endured another fifteen hundred years, known to history as Di Shang.

In Shang's final years, the central government weakened while local powers grew strong. The vassal states rebelled, and mighty contenders rose together to hunt the stag of dominion. History called this the Warring States era.

Qin brought the Warring States era to an end. But the histories recorded that after unifying the realm, the First Emperor of Qin attempted to break the convention that human kings could not attain longevity. He sought immortality, wishing to establish an Immortal Dynasty that would hold dominion over the world forever.

This enraged the immortals of every quarter. After a series of magical battles, the First Emperor died at Shaqiu in the lands of Yan and Zhao, and Qin fell under the Second Emperor of Qin.

This war also stripped human kings of their authority to invest gods. Thereafter, only immortals and ancient gods remained in the world; there were no new gods.

This clash of divine and immortal powers was known as the First Immortal-Calamity War.

After Qin fell, the vassal lords rose once more. Han ultimately defeated Chu and established the Han Dynasty, known to history as Western Han. Western Han ruled for eight hundred years, but in its final years, the dynasty tottered amid wind and rain. Then Emperor Guangwu, Founder of Later Han, restored it and laid the foundations for another twelve hundred years of Eastern Han rule. Historians also called it Heavenly Han.

The book stated that in the early years of Eastern Han, Celestial Master Zhang Daoling came to a spiritual mountain in Yu Zhang to refine pills. When his pills were completed, a dragon and tiger appeared, and the mountain was renamed Dragon-Tiger Mountain.

At the end of Eastern Han, the realm split into three before all returned to a single house, forming Western Jin. Though Western Jin unified the realm, internal strife erupted repeatedly, and its emperors were dissolute. Just fifty years after its founding, signs of collapse and division had already appeared. Then Jin Zhongzu restored the dynasty, sweeping north from the south, plowing through enemy courts and uprooting their lairs to scour away corruption. He extended its rule by another nine hundred years, known to history as Eastern Jin.

The history recorded that at Eastern Jin's founding, Patriarch Ge Hong established a mountain sect in Yu Zhang: Three Pure Ones Mountain. The Eastern Jin Zhongzu Emperor had also honored Patriarch Ge Hong himself as the immortal elder of the age.

At the end of Eastern Jin, the country divided again, with the Northern and Southern Dynasties standing side by side before being reunited under Sui. But Sui founded its rule through military force, and its two generations of rulers imposed oppressive taxes and exactions. It ultimately fell in its second generation.

Emperor Gaozu of Tang raised an army in Jinyuan, destroyed Sui, and established his own dynasty, calling it Tang. The histories recorded that during the reign of Emperor Taizong Wen of Tang, the dynasty's second emperor, the Eight Buddhist Schools flourished side by side. The Tripitaka Master journeyed west and spread Buddhist teachings far and wide, while Sixth Patriarch Huineng advocated understanding the mind and seeing one's true nature to become a Buddha on the spot. He greatly revitalized the Chan Sect, whose influence overwhelmed the Daoist orders.

By then, the struggle between eastern and western Buddhism over orthodoxy had become as irreconcilable as fire and water. Attacking sacred mountains and destroying temples became commonplace, directly triggering the Second Immortal-Calamity War.

According to the histories, no golden immortal appeared in the world after this calamity.

Following Tang's founding, it passed through the reigns of Emperor Gaozu of Tang, Emperor Taizong Wen of Tang, Emperor Gaozong, the Holy Emperor, and Emperor Xuanzong. Its territories reached an unprecedented extent, and it established an empire unlike any before it. History called this High Tang.

In his later years, however, Emperor Xuanzong grew muddleheaded, clung to power, and favored frontier generals of foreign origin. The country descended into internal turmoil, and rebels marched on the capital. Emperor Xuanzong abandoned it and fled to Shu, bringing the dynasty close to destruction.

Then Emperor Xuanzong's youngest son, Emperor Daojun Wu Zhongzu of Tang, raised an army in Shu. He followed a long-abandoned ancient route across the Ba Mountains and Qinling Range, descending upon Guanzhong like a divine army from heaven and recapturing the capital. According to the book, Tang Zhongzu had been able to lead this surprise force across the ancient route only because the Daoist powers of Shu had given him their full support.

Thereafter, Tang ushered in another golden age. Its reign lasted a staggering twenty-six hundred years, unmatched before or since, earning it the historical name Long-Lived Tang. Meanwhile, the Daoist orders surpassed Buddhism in a single stroke. Those of Shu flourished especially, outshining Dragon-Tiger Mountain at the time and earning the region the name Western Daoist Capital. The now-famous Emei Mountain, Mount Qingcheng, Azure Goat Palace, and Crane-Crying Mountain all rose to prominence during Long-Lived Tang.

Long-Lived Tang endured, but even it had to end. In its final years, warlords carved up the realm, plunging it into chaos. Truly, the emperor's seat passed from hand to hand-this year, it came to my house. History called this the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.

Then Emperor Taizu of Song unified the realm, founding Northern Song. It ruled for one hundred and seventy years before every aspect of the state grew exhausted, its borders shrank, and its emperor fled. Emperor Shizu of Song then restored the dynasty, building a great enterprise anew while in flight and extending Song's rule by fifteen hundred years. History called it Revived Song.

During the two Song dynasties, the Daoist orders flourished. Wang Wenqing, Master of Lofty Emptiness and the Wondrous Dao, founded the Divine Empyrean School on Swordpoint Mountain in Yu Zhang, opening another lineage of teachings for the world's Daoist cultivators.

At the end of Song, a foreign people descended from the north, scouring mountains and searching seas, and established Great Yuan. After a hundred years of Yuan rule, the people's grievances filled every road. Then Emperor Taizu of Ming raised an army, advancing like a blade splitting bamboo. He drove the foreigners to the northern sea and unified the central plains, founding Radiant Ming.

Now the Ming Dynasty had stood for more than four hundred years, and the realm enjoyed peace and prosperity.

When Yunqi finished reading, he let out a long breath and closed the book. Hunger surged through his belly. Instinctively, he reached for the flatbreads on the desk, but his hand found nothing. Looking up, he discovered that he had eaten them all, and a lamp had been lit on the desk at some unknown point.

It was a beautiful lamp, milky white throughout and seemingly made of stone. Its shape was that of a standing white crane, one foot planted with four toes spread, the other raised with its toes curled together. Its wings were folded, its long neck curved, and its head bowed. Its beak held a long-necked bottle filled with clear lamp oil, with a flame suspended just outside the bottle's mouth.

The lamplight was bright yet gentle, casting a white glow as though someone had plucked the full moon from the sky. Only belatedly did he look out the window and realize it was deep into the night.

He rose and went to the window. Brilliant moonlight played against the lamp's glow on the desk. Gazing at the bright moon that had shone over both past and present, he still felt the grand, surging tides of history churning through his mind.

Thinking it over carefully, he seemed to glimpse the shadow of mountain powers behind every dynasty's rise and fall. Yet those shadows were vague and indistinct, impossible to see clearly. Even his own patriarch seemed deeply entangled in Eastern Jin's founding, but those connections remained obscure, as though they could not be spoken of openly.

Even now, the imperial family of the great Ming Dynasty seemed to hold Mount Wudang and True Person Zhang Sanfeng in a peculiar sort of reverence, granting strings of titles, each longer than the last.

Then there were those who had become deeply embroiled in dynastic struggles: the war of ancient gods during Shang and Zhou, the war over the Immortal Dynasty during Qin, and the Buddhist-Daoist conflict during Tang. As the fighting went on, these great divine figures vanished without further word. The most recent example was Tang Zhongzu leading the Daoist Army out of Shu to seize the realm. Yet the book said that after he left Shu, rain fell there continuously for half a year, and an immortal mountain withered and died. After the Daoist Army entered Guanzhong, nothing more was ever heard of them.

The hidden workings of it all chilled him the deeper he thought.

Yunqi had made up his mind. When he traveled through the mortal world in the future, he would be wary of the imperial court, avoid worldly struggles, and entangle himself in as little karma as possible.

But Mother's surname was Zhu...

"Yunqi!"

The call interrupted Yunqi's reverie. He turned his head and saw that the door was open, with He Bingkun standing in the courtyard.

He Bingkun opened his mouth and inhaled, swallowing a cloud of cold mist that had gathered lunar essence in midair. He smiled. "You've finally come around. Do you know how long you've been reading?"

Yunqi looked puzzled. "Wasn't it just from morning until night?"

He Bingkun shook his head. "No. It's already the evening of the third day."

Yunqi was astonished. Had that much time really passed?

"If you hadn't come around soon, I would have called you. Too long, and you'd damage your mind and spirit."

Yunqi nodded.

"Since you enjoy reading, you can have that lamp on the desk. The method for refining it is written on the slip of paper underneath it. Try refining it once you've begun feeding on qi."

Yunqi was rather surprised. "Daoist brother, I can't accept a reward I haven't earned."

"What's all this about rewards and earning them? Just take it. It's not worth much. Consider it a welcoming gift."

Yunqi accepted it and bowed in thanks.

I've received a contract invitation.

Here's my new book. Please leave plenty of messages and comments.