Keeping friends at Wuzhuang Temple (II)

Now, Ao Tu arrived at Wuzhuang Temple and transformed himself into a Daoist.

Behold him: a Purple-Gold Flying Mountain Crown upon his head, an Eight Trigrams Dragon-Tiger Robe upon his body. A Post-Heaven Dragon-Binding Rope girded his waist, and Cloud-Riding Heaven-Climbing Boots shod his feet.

[Entered quest area]

[Current side quest: Keeping friends at Wuzhuang Temple]

[Quest requirement: Detain the Pilgrim within the Wuzhuang Temple area. Rewards will be calculated according to the duration of the delay.]

[Quest rewards: Three days / Spell · Earth-Escape Technique, seven days / Sixth-Turn Golden Elixir, half a month / Taiyi Purple-Gold Elixir, one month / Buddhist Art · Six-Character True Words, one season / Supernatural Ability · Rainbow-Transformation Technique, half a year / Ancestral Dragon essence blood, one year / Congenital Spiritual Treasure · Soul-Scattering Gourd, three years / Congenital Spiritual Treasure · Hetu Luoshu, twelve years / Chaos Bell, sixty years...]

[Current progress: Six days]

The quest rewards were quite generous.

Among them, the Sixth-Turn Golden Elixir and Taiyi Purple-Gold Elixir were precisely the pills Ao Tu urgently needed to improve his cultivation and magical power.

As for the Six-Character True Words, it was a jack-of-all-trades supernatural ability of Buddhism, useful in almost any situation.

It could be used in battle, to cure illness, avert calamity, or dispel misfortune.

Its sole drawback was that it only became powerful when the user's own magical power and cultivation were sufficiently profound. Otherwise, its effects were rather ordinary.

Besides the system rewards, this ordeal at Wuzhuang Temple offered something else.

The Ginseng Fruit, also known as the Grass-Returning Elixir: a single sniff granted three hundred and sixty years of life, while eating one granted forty-seven thousand years.

Naturally, Ao Tu wanted to get his hands on a couple of treasures like these.

Even setting aside their life-extending properties, refining them to improve his cultivation would be worthwhile.

Though Zhen Yuanzi was powerful, Ao Tu had no need to clash with him.

He still had the Three-Lights Divine Water he had obtained from Guanyin Bodhisattva. He could take her place in healing the Ginseng Fruit Tree, then ask for two fruits as payment.

Ao Tu transformed Tiger Vanguard into a young attendant and walked through the mountain gate.

To the left of that gate stood a stone tablet bearing ten large characters:

Longevity Mountain, a blessed land; Wuzhuang Temple, a grotto-heaven.

Once inside, he saw a couplet upon the second gate:

An immortal abode of everlasting youth; a Daoist home enduring as long as heaven.

This was the sanctuary of Zhen Yuanzi, the Ancestor of Earth Immortals, also called Great Immortal Zhenyuan and known by the epithet Peer of the Ages.

Earlier, Zhen Yuanzi had received a written invitation from Yuanshi Tianzun to attend a lecture on the primordial unity Dao fruit at Miro Palace in Shangqing Heaven.

The wandering immortals under Zhen Yuanzi were beyond counting. Forty-eight disciples still remained at his side, and that day he had taken forty-six of them to the upper realm to hear the lecture, leaving the two youngest to watch over the temple: one called Qingfeng, the other Mingyue.

Qingfeng was one thousand three hundred and twenty years old, and Mingyue was one thousand two hundred.

Before leaving, Zhen Yuanzi instructed the two attendants, "Take good care of the temple. An old acquaintance of mine will pass this way in a few days. Do not neglect him. Knock down two of my Ginseng Fruits for him to eat, as a small token of our old friendship."

The two attendants asked, "Who is this old acquaintance of yours, Master?"

Zhen Yuanzi replied, "He is a holy monk serving the sovereign of the Great Tang in the Eastern Land. His Dharma name is Sanzang."

The two attendants asked, "We belong to the Taiyi Daoist mysteries. How do we know this monk?"

Zhen Yuanzi said, "That monk is the reincarnation of Golden Cicada, Tathagata Buddha's second disciple. Five hundred years ago, at the Ullambana Festival, he personally served me tea as a mark of respect. That is why I regard him as an old acquaintance."

Hearing this, the two immortal attendants respectfully obeyed their master's instructions.

Zhen Yuanzi ascended with his disciples, heading straight for the celestial realm.

Now, only the two immortal attendants, Qingfeng and Mingyue, remained in the temple. Zhen Yuanzi was away.

Of course, even if Zhen Yuanzi had been there, Ao Tu would not have feared him. He had not come to steal fruit. With no wrong on his conscience, he naturally had no reason to fear anyone.

He knocked at the door, and two young attendants hurried out from within.

Their features were exceedingly fine, as the verse went:

Fine-boned and clear of spirit, their faces fair; short, tousled hair crowned with twin-knotted buns.

Mist naturally wreathed the collars of their Daoist robes; wind fluttered through the sleeves of their feathered garments.

Braided sashes cinched tight in dragon-head knots; silken floss softly bound their straw sandals.

Their bearing was extraordinary, far removed from common folk: these were Qingfeng and Mingyue.

Seeing Ao Tu, Qingfeng and Mingyue bowed. "Forgive us for not coming out to greet you, Daoist. Please come inside and take a seat."

Ao Tu entered, and Qingfeng and Mingyue served tea before asking, "May we ask your immortal title, Daoist, and where you have come from?"

Ao Tu said, "My Daoist title is Vozhu Zhenshi Heavenly Venerable. I have come from the west to see your master, Great Immortal Zhenyuan."

Qingfeng and Mingyue had no idea who this Vozhu Zhenshi Heavenly Venerable was, so they said:

"Immortal, our master accepted Yuanshi Tianzun's invitation and went to Miro Palace in Shangqing Heaven to hear a lecture on the primordial unity Dao fruit. He is not at home. Whatever your business, you may tell us, and we will pass your message on."

Ao Tu said, "There is something you two do not know. I have divined that someone will soon topple Great Immortal Zhenyuan's Ginseng Fruit Tree. Thus, I have made a special journey here with a remedy to heal his tree."

At this, Qingfeng and Mingyue said angrily:

"You Daoist! We welcomed you kindly, so why do you curse our immortal tree?"

Ao Tu said, "What an ill-mannered little attendant you are! I traveled a thousand miles out of kindness to heal your tree, yet you turn around and blame me."

Qingfeng said, "You mad Daoist! Our immortal tree is a spiritual root born before heaven and earth opened, when chaos first divided and primordial chaos first separated. In all the vast world, only our Wuzhuang Temple possesses this precious tree. Who would dare harm so much as a hair of it?"

Ao Tu said, "Little attendant, what do you know of my wondrous calculations? Your spiritual root will soon face the calamity of being toppled!"

Mingyue said, "Still spouting nonsense! Leave, leave! Our immortal tree has green branches and luxuriant fragrance. It needs no treatment from a mad Daoist like you."

Ao Tu said, "Very well. You two little attendants do not know my abilities, so I will not hold it against you. I will stay in the mountains outside the temple for the next few days. If you need my help, shout 'Vozhu Zhenshi Heavenly Venerable' three times, and I will come."

Qingfeng and Mingyue said, "Who would need your help? Get going!"

Ao Tu left with Tiger Vanguard and casually chose a high mountain nearby to stay on, waiting for the fine show that would soon unfold.

Tang Sanzang and his disciples had dined on wind and slept beneath the dew, traveling for many days before finally reaching the area around Longevity Mountain Wuzhuang Temple.

Once they entered the mountain, they found it truly magnificent.

Its lofty heights soared, its mighty slopes stood rugged and imposing. Its roots joined Kunlun, its summit brushed the heavens. Sunlight lit the clear woods, and wind rose from shadowed ravines. Grasses flourished before the cliffs, and plum blossoms scented the ridges.

Ten thousand colored clouds drifted through the air; shimmering, surging auspicious vapors rose.

Flowers bloomed and faded upon the mountain; clouds came and went around its ridgeline peaks.

It was truly a blessed land of immortals.

Tang Sanzang said joyfully:

"Disciples, throughout my westward journey, we have crossed so many mountains and rivers, all rugged and perilous places. Now that we have encountered this precious mountain, I imagine Spirit Mountain cannot be far away. Let us straighten our attire and compose ourselves, so we may meet the World-Honored One."

Wukong laughed. "Too soon! Far too soon!"

Sha Wujing said, "Senior Brother, how much farther is it to Spirit Mountain?"

Wukong said, "One hundred and eight thousand li. We have not yet covered even a tenth of the way."

Bajie said, "Senior Brother, how many years must we walk before we get there?"

Wukong said, "For you two junior brothers, this distance would take only ten days or so. For me, I could cover it fifty times in a day before night fell. But for Master on foot-don't even think about it!"

Tang Sanzang said, "Wukong, how long do you say it would take your master to walk there?"

Wukong said, "You could walk from childhood into old age, then grow young again, and repeat that a thousand times, yet still struggle to arrive. But so long as you perceive your true nature and remain sincere in purpose, wherever you turn your thoughts back to their source, there lies Spirit Mountain."

Hearing this, Tang Sanzang recited "Amitabha Buddha," and said no more.

The party climbed the mountain and reached Wuzhuang Temple, where Qingfeng and Mingyue came out once more to welcome them.