"Stop right there, you two little brats."
Only after chasing them all the way into Xia County did Chen Xugu catch up with Zhang Qingyuan and Zhang Junbao.
It was not that he could not catch them, but that he did not want to catch them so soon.
As he chased them, he kept looking back, as though he were the one being pursued.
They returned to the inn and entered their room.
Zhang Qingyuan and Zhang Junbao bowed together. "Thank you for lending us a hand, senior brother."
"You certainly know how to serve different dishes to different guests."
Chen Xugu gritted his teeth. He dearly wanted to say that he had never seen anyone so utterly shameless.
"What do you mean by that, senior brother?" Zhang Qingyuan asked innocently.
Chen Xugu laughed despite himself. Zhang Junbao hurried forward to serve tea, while Zhang Qingyuan brought over a stool.
Looking at Zhang Junbao, Chen Xugu asked, "So you're that Great Emperor Zhenwu descended to the mortal world?"
"I wouldn't dare claim that," Zhang Junbao replied solemnly.
Then he turned to Zhang Qingyuan, looked him up and down, and said, "Then you must be the reincarnation of the Perfected Lord of the Wondrous Dao?"
"Nothing but wild rumors. People pass falsehoods along until they become accepted as truth. You can't take them seriously," Zhang Qingyuan said with an apologetic smile.
"Heh. Martial Uncle Xuanzhen believed them," Chen Xugu said.
"I wanted to ask about that too. I did write to Daoist Xuanzhen of Mount Laojun to ask for his help, but how did you end up coming here, senior brother?"
Back when Zhang Qingyuan had asked the waiter to deliver a letter, he had addressed it to Taiqing Palace on Mount Laojun.
Because if their talks with Shaolin fell through, someone from the Daoist sects would have to come fish the two of them out.
In Central Province, not a single martial Daoist sect could wrestle with Shaolin. The Three Pure Ones Temple did practice martial arts, but its temple master simply did not carry enough weight.
Taiqing Palace on Mount Laojun was different. As a sacred realm unmatched beneath heaven and earth, on the foremost immortal mountain in the world, Mount Laojun carried enough weight to be called the leader of all Daoist sects.
Taiqing Palace on Mount Laojun was said to be the sacred seat of the Taiqing Sage, the founding patriarch of Daoism, and was also called the ancestral court of all Daoist sects beneath heaven.
Although the Daoists of Taiqing Palace were not particularly good at martial arts, most being scholarly Daoists, and even those who practiced martial arts only learning health-preserving exercises, they held little standing in the martial world.
But as the ancestral court of Daoism, Mount Laojun held an exalted position among Daoist sects.
The Daoists on Mount Laojun might all look too weak to truss a chicken, but throughout the dynasties, who had dared refuse Mount Laojun its due respect?
What founding emperor of any dynasty had not had to visit Taiqing Palace on Mount Laojun to pay homage to the Daoist patriarch?
If anyone dared lay a finger on Mount Laojun, every Daoist sect beneath heaven would rise up against them.
Daoist sects knew how to rebel!
That phrase, "carry out justice on heaven's behalf," was more than mere talk.
Although the various Daoist sects followed different lineages, they all revered the Three Pure Ones as their ancestral patriarchs.
Whether Quanzhen, Pure Yang, Supreme Mystery, Wuji, Taiyi, Supreme Yin, or any other Daoist sect, whoever their founding patriarch might be, they all had to enshrine the Three Pure Ones.
The Three Pure Ones were their ancestors. The sages had existed first, and only afterward had those founding patriarchs appeared.
Thus, although Mount Laojun stayed out of the jianghu, it could still sway its affairs.
Zhang Qingyuan had written a letter and asked the waiter to send it to Mount Laojun.
Its general thrust began with how he and Zhang Junbao had long admired the sacred realm and wished to become Daoists.
Unfortunately, the two brothers lacked sufficient blessings and could only study Daoist scriptures on their own, describing their many difficulties and how they had even derived martial arts from the scriptures.
Whatever dangers they encountered while traveling the jianghu, nothing could change their hearts' devotion to the Dao.
The wording was ornate and the prose flowed smoothly, mostly expressing their single-minded devotion to the Dao.
Within it, he had also subtly conveyed that the two brothers were exceptionally gifted, rather like the monkey outside Three Stars Cave and the three-eyed one on Jade Spring Mountain.
Originally, the two of them had wanted to enter the Daoist fold.
Unfortunately, seeing their outstanding talents, the Buddhists wanted to force them to change their faith.
Their devotion to the Dao remained undying, and they begged the patriarch to descend to the mortal world and help them.
Zhang Qingyuan's thinking was that, as Mount Laojun was the ancestral court of Daoism, and the two of them believed so fervently in the Dao, surely it could lend them a hand for the sake of their piety.
Seeing how devout the two of them were, Mount Laojun ought to send someone to help. Moreover, since this involved competing with the Buddhists for disciples, they would have to send a disciple of some standing.
He had never expected that the visitor would not be someone from Mount Laojun, but the Pure Yang Daoist Chief, the top dog among Daoist sects in the current martial world.
Chen Xugu had not expected it either. He sighed.
"A month ago, I heard that Martial Uncle Xuanzhen was in poor health and might not be far from ascending, so I came to visit him.
"As soon as I arrived at Taiqing Palace, martial uncle summoned me.
"He said two junior brothers of his had run into trouble and asked me to come help them weather their tribulation."
Zhang Qingyuan and Zhang Junbao froze. He couldn't mean us by his junior brothers, could he?
"I asked him who these martial uncles of mine were, and he said the time had not yet come."
Chen Xugu continued, "A few days later, a letter suddenly arrived on the mountain. Martial Uncle Xuanzhen said the time had come and told me to descend the mountain.
"We took a look at the letter. Heh, you're certainly full of little schemes, you brats!"
He looked at the two of them. Zhang Qingyuan had long since developed a thick skin and saw nothing wrong with it, but Zhang Junbao was thin-skinned and felt terribly awkward at having their scheme exposed.
They all knew what the letter contained: a thousand or so words, with eight hundred little schemes tucked inside.
It amounted to saying, "We want to join the Daoist sects, and we're very talented. Hurry up and come snatch us, or the Buddhists will take us away."
Though it had not said so outright, putting its hidden meaning bluntly, was that not precisely what it meant?
"Wait, didn't Daoist Xuanzhen say we were his junior brothers? How did we become yours instead?" Zhang Qingyuan caught the loophole.
Chen Xugu was so annoyed that he laughed. "With Martial Uncle Xuanzhen about to ascend, did you think I was the only one who came?"
"Uh..."
"Among all the Daoist sects beneath heaven, which person of standing, which sect's Daoist chief, could fail to come?
"He wanted to take junior brothers on his master's behalf, but the rest of us would have to agree.
"At your age, you two would have dropped out of the sky and become martial uncles to our entire generation. Daoists have tempers too!"
"Understood, understood." Zhang Qingyuan nodded and bowed. They could not go too far.
It was the same reason Young Master Ma in the crosstalk world of his previous life had not taken disciples. His seniority was too high. If he took a teenage disciple, he would be giving Old Guo's generation an uncle. Who would be happy about that?
Daoist sects were not free of worldly desires, nor were they without conflicts of interest. How could they allow Zhang Qingyuan and Zhang Junbao to sit above their heads?
Chen Xugu took a sip of tea. "We tried persuading him, saying that if necessary, he could take you two as his own disciples. But the old gentleman said that the living could not become teachers to immortals.
"In the end, with no other choice, you became disciples of his late senior brother, Daoist Xuanxin.
"Remember, your master's name was Li Xuanxin. He was the previous palace master of Taiqing Palace."
"Understood, understood. Your disciple Zhang Qingyuan (Zhang Junbao) pays his respects, Master." The two of them bowed to empty space.
What puzzled Zhang Qingyuan, however, was whether this martial uncle he had acquired so easily could truly commune with heaven and earth.
He did not know whether he himself was the reincarnation of the Perfected Lord of the Wondrous Dao, but no matter which world he was in, Zhang Junbao was respectfully called Great Emperor Zhenwu descended to the mortal world.
He believed that immortals existed, but this was his first encounter with someone so profoundly mysterious.
As he understood it, different planes operated under different rules.
His previous life, for instance, might have been in a world without gods or demons.
Some planes were ruled by immortals, while other worlds were ruled by martial arts.
Every world was different, with different rules. They could not all be lumped together.
Hearing that such immortal-like figures truly existed in this world, perhaps Daoists who had cultivated the Dao to Li Xuanzhen's level really could sense something.
Zhang Qingyuan remembered that some Daoists in his previous life had been rather mysterious too. They could live past a hundred, sense their own approaching ascension, or leave bodies that did not decay after death.
Not to mention that this was already a high-martial world. The existence of a few extraordinary individuals was hardly surprising.
This world did not practice immortal cultivation, but that did not mean it had no access to the mysteries.
"Pack your things in a while and come up the mountain with me. Your martial uncle will ascend within the next few days."
"Understood, senior brother." Both bowed again.
Zhang Junbao did not care whether he was Zhenwu descended to the mortal world. His outlook on life was to live well in the present and think less about useless things.
Even if he truly was Great Emperor Zhenwu reincarnated, he had no memories of his previous life that would let him soar through heaven and delve into the earth, capable of anything.
He still had to eat, work out martial arts for himself, and then cultivate step by step once he had figured them out. He would still face birth, aging, sickness, and death, along with the seven emotions and six desires.
So why think so much about it?
It was not as though considering himself an immortal reincarnated meant he would not die if someone slashed him with a blade.
Much less that he could live his whole life without eating or drinking...
"Senior brother, you and that Qin Shuangjiang..." Zhang Qingyuan suddenly asked, changing the subject so sharply that Chen Xugu nearly wrenched his back.
We're talking about you two. Why are you asking me about that?
Chen Xugu suddenly put on a stern face and said with utmost seriousness, "Whoever asks about that dies."
"Oh."
The two of them sheepishly packed their luggage.
After a while, Zhang Junbao still could not help himself. "Do many people in the jianghu know?"
Chen Xugu dearly wanted to draw his sword. "I said, whoever asks about that dies!"
"Oh."
The two shut their mouths, but sparks of gossip flashed in their eyes.
"Shall we visit the Joyous Union Sect when we have time?"
"Mm. Let's have a look."