How Did Spiritual Qi Start Recovering?

Thin mist veiled the mountains, and a bright moon hung high overhead. Countless lights twinkled like stars at the foot of the mountain, while a single light glimmered on its slopes.

Civilization had developed to this point: skyscrapers rose from level ground, and a thousand miles could be crossed in half a day. Only this moon and these mountain forests remained just as they had been a thousand years ago.

The same was true of the Daoist temple on the mountain.

Pale yellow light shone through an outward-opening window. Outside were tiled eaves and an ancient pine, whose outstretched branches resembled a parasol, covering half the window. Inside stood a wooden table and a long couch, while the shelves were packed with thread-bound ancient books. A figure in Daoist robes sat with a slight frown, the gel pen in his hand scratching softly against the paper.

At first glance, the scene could have been from ancient times.

[It has been exactly half a year since I first saw those colorful, flickering points of light in the air last year. At first I only caught sight of them by chance, and they were easier to see at night. Now I seem to have grasped the trick: as long as I calm my mind and concentrate, I can always see them, even quite clearly in daylight.]

[These points of light are everywhere, but they are most concentrated on my mountain, far more so than anywhere else.]

[They are just like the spiritual qi of legend.]

[But even now, I haven't found anyone else who can see "spiritual qi."]

[Leaving that aside, there's another problem at the moment...]

The pen suddenly stopped.

A cat leaped lightly onto the table. She was slender and long-limbed, with short black-and-white fur and a delicate, tapered face. The markings on her face looked like side-swept bangs, making her look exceptionally pretty and well-behaved, just like a little girl with her bangs parted to one side. Paying no attention to anyone around her, she focused intently on hooking the pen in the Daoist's hand with her paw.

The pen paused briefly, then continued-

[My cat seems to be turning into a spirit.]

After writing that sentence, Chen Du didn't know what else to write. He sat by the window with his pen in hand, lost in thought.

Mist rose and fell among the mountains, and moonlight flickered over the ground. The lamplight outlined the pine branches, which occasionally swayed in the wind. It was a secluded place, seemingly removed from the mortal world.

This was a Daoist temple.

Many years ago, a mudslide had struck the mountain. With government assistance, the villages on the mountain had relocated one after another. Only his master had refused to leave, no matter what.

Chen Du couldn't persuade him otherwise.

Three years ago, the old Daoist had "shed his mortal body and ascended as an immortal," leaving Chen Du alone in the temple. Fortunately, he had a cat. Otherwise, after enough time, he could hardly have avoided feeling lonely.

About three months ago, Chen Du had noticed that the cat he raised seemed able to understand what he said. Her eyes also often showed a humanlike thoughtfulness.

He also often saw her standing atop the temple eaves, shoulder to shoulder with the chiwen roof ornaments, basking in the sun by day and bathing in moonlight by night. As she breathed, the points of light lingering around her grew noticeably denser.

He still didn't know what was going on.

In his spare time, he had also tried to control and absorb the spiritual qi, but it had no effect at all.

As a practitioner of an obscure folk ritual tradition, Chen Du had neither cultivated life and nature together nor received a ritual register and been formally initiated. His master had taught him a few simple methods, but he had tried them all. Just as when he had learned them before, they were good for bluffing people and nothing more.

What he wanted to find out more urgently now was whether this was happening to him alone.

Unfortunately, even after half a year of intensive online searches, he hadn't found any definitive accounts of similar occurrences, nor had there been any news reports.

It almost seemed as though these strange things had begun in this very place, with him.

Oh, and there was the cat, too.

Chen Du reached out and stroked the cat's soft fur.

Fortunately, although his cat seemed to be turning into a spirit, she hadn't changed much apart from becoming a little smarter. Her disposition toward him was the same as ever.

Chen Du wasn't wary of her.

Still, he couldn't help frequently wondering about another question-

Since spiritual qi really did exist between heaven and earth, and animals really could become spirits, was there truly a way to become an immortal? Were there really gods and buddhas, demons and devils in this world?

He hadn't exactly shown much reverence for the divine statues in the temple.

Would the gods and buddhas blame him?

His temple was deep in the mountains. All the villages on the mountain had moved away, and even the nearest town was several kilometers away at the foot of the mountain. It was rather remote.

Could there be other spirits in the mountains?

"Come on, time for bed."

Chen Du put away his diary, placing it on a shelf in the study alongside the many ancient books, and headed out.

The cat was remarkably nimble. She slid off the desk in a leap and followed him with quick little steps.

Man and cat slept side by side.

Spiritual qi descended through the night, and all things came back to life.

Chen Du was awakened by something digging into him.

He reached out and felt around until he found a piece of wood. He pulled it out and peered at it through narrowed eyes, only to discover that it was the seal his master had left behind.

To be precise, it had been passed down from the temple's forebears.

It was said to be proof of the temple master's position.

The seal was half the size of a palm. Its top was shaped like a mountain peak, carved with the sun, moon, clouds, and thunder, with dragons and phoenixes coiling around them. All four sides were covered in intricate little patterns, like countless tangled tadpoles. On the bottom were two elaborate characters in ninefold seal script: "Earth Saint."

Chen Du remembered keeping it in the back of a cabinet. The cat must have been unable to sleep and, wanting to play, dug it out during the night and left it on the bed.

"You little rascal!"

Chen Du gave the cat a pat on the back.

He looked out the window. The daylight was dim and the fog was thick. Droplets of dew had gathered on the glass, making it even harder to see. It only seemed that the weeds by the wall and along the courtyard had grown a little taller, and that a bamboo stalk had even sprung up.

"The ecology has really been getting better and better these past few years. There's even bamboo growing in the courtyard now."

He got up and pushed open the door. Sure enough, mist covered the mountain. Every tiny needle on the ancient pine's branches in the courtyard was covered in dew, and the weeds by the wall and the bamboo stalk, which was about as tall as a person, were drenched in moisture too.

A current of cool, damp air hit Chen Du in the face. He shivered, waking up considerably before he had even washed.

"That's not right!"

Only then did he realize it wasn't bamboo.

It was a small tree.

The tree was about as tall as a person and looked somewhat like a cypress, but its leaves were round. Among ordinary plants, that should have been a characteristic found only in those growing in water-starved deserts.

Even more astonishingly, the little tree seemed to have sprung up out of nowhere and grown this tall overnight.

A normal tree couldn't grow that fast.

It even seemed to have already flowered. Its petals, yellow as osmanthus blossoms, lay on the ground, and it now bore unripe fruit. The fruit was round as well, just the size of mung beans.

A fragrance still lingered in the mist, refreshing the heart and lungs.

Chen Du concentrated slightly, and countless tiny points of light immediately appeared in the air, like dust drifting through a beam of light. They were as colorful as stars on a clear night. Though they weren't dazzling, they were dreamlike and magnificent.

One place where the points of light gathered was the little tree before him, which had sprung up, flowered, and borne fruit overnight.

Even around the fallen petals on the ground, rings of light could be seen gathering when he concentrated.

"One strange thing after another..."

Chen Du circled the tree several times and examined it for a long while, but found nothing else of note. He could only see points of light continually gathering around it. Rather than growing fewer as the tree absorbed them, the points of light throughout the temple had actually become somewhat denser, seemingly because the tree was also drawing them in from farther away.

Simply staying here made him feel refreshed and at ease.

Standing a little longer amid the mountain mist and spiritual qi, he felt as though he had left modern society behind and arrived in an ancient age that existed only in legend, vast and mysterious and rich in spiritual qi.

Before long, the sky grew increasingly overcast.

The mountain mist grew thicker. Looking out from under the eaves, he found his vision blocked after less than two or three meters. Even the ancient pine and the little tree grew hazy, like something in an old painting.

Chen Du thought that in weather like this, there probably wouldn't be any tourists or worshippers coming up the mountain. He returned to his room and curled up in bed, letting his thoughts wander to pass the time.

Gradually, evening came again.

"This sword goes right here, to ward off evil and avert disaster. Don't touch it without a good reason!"

Chen Du hung the long swords left in the temple in several rooms where he often spent time. He also drew a few talismans and pasted them on the doors.

Of course, the swords weren't sharp. Some were even rusty. They could kill a chicken, but they wouldn't be much use against a formidable opponent. The talismans were even less promising. Neither Chen Du nor his master observed the precepts or received ritual registers, and after drawing the talismans, he hadn't performed the prescribed rites or rituals. By any measure, they had no effect.

They were all just a comfort to him.

"Rumble..."

A muffled peal of thunder seemed to explode right overhead, bringing with it an immense sense of pressure. It rumbled on and on, startling even the cat.

Shortly afterward, rain began to fall.

It pattered and clattered against the temple eaves.

"It's the Awakening of Insects today."

Chen Du had seen the reminder on his phone.

Sitting beneath the eaves, he gazed into the distance. The downpour had quenched the thick fog between heaven and earth, revealing the faint outlines of distant mountains, stretching on and on, deep and unfathomable. Moisture gathered into misty clouds that coiled through the mountains like dragons and serpents, making them look like the dwellings of the immortals and spirits of legend.

He only hoped there weren't any other strange things in the mountains.

Lightning in the sky illuminated his face, making it look pale.

Boom!

Deep in the mountains, no moonlight could be seen on the rainy night, but thunderbolts lit up the sky. The rain grew heavier, triggering a mountain torrent that washed away a mountainside and revealed an ancient tomb. Something, too, seemed to have been startled by the might of heaven and earth.

A wisp of smoke rose from the ancient tomb in the forest.

As the lightning faded, the smoke vanished into the dark woods. When lightning flashed again, it had transformed into a human figure.

The figure seemed to have only just awakened. Bewildered and at a loss, she stood in place for a long time. Then, sensing something, she drifted lightly to one side. At that very moment, a thunderbolt crashed down. She turned to look and found that the place where she had just stood was now split earth and molten rock.

Only then did the figure seem to come alive. She looked around, instinctively seeking shelter.

A tall mountain stood before her, its spiritual qi exceptionally dense. Even without living on the mountain, merely walking in its direction seemed enough to make her feel comfortable all over.

As it happened, a light glimmered on the mountain.

And the presence of a living person was just what she needed to avoid the heavenly lightning.

Thunder and lightning flashed again, and she had transformed into a figure of peerless beauty. She wore a long, high-collared, cross-fronted jacket of fine silk gauze and satin, and a horse-face skirt that swayed gracefully with her steps. She was tall and slender, with fair skin, a small face, exquisitely beautiful features, and a long, elegant neck. She was too beautiful to look human.

She broke off a banana leaf with one hand to shelter herself from the rain and conjured a lantern with the other to light her way. Unaware that the world had long since changed as seas became mulberry fields, she thought she had dressed very much like a human and floated toward the light on the mountain.

Knock, knock, knock!

A knock sounded at the temple gate.

"Who is it?"

Chen Du almost thought he had misheard.

But his cat had already turned to look toward the door. After staring for several seconds, she turned back to the Daoist.

This was her way of communicating.

It meant someone had come to the door.

"It's been raining so hard today. No one came up the mountain, and no one came to the temple all day. Now the rain's getting heavier and it's dark. How could anyone be here?"

The more Chen Du thought about it, the stranger it seemed.

Half a year ago, he wouldn't have worried at all.

Now he could only strap on a long sword and go bolster his courage.

There was no need to find an umbrella. The courtyard was enclosed by the shrine, the living quarters, and the walls, all with eaves to shelter him from the rain. He could reach the gate by following the wall around.

The gate had eaves over it too.

One person knocked anxiously; another opened the door anxiously.

"Creak..."

The temple gate opened, and their eyes met.

Chen Du got a clear look at the "person" standing outside.

His expression instantly grew grave.

To his eyes, an extraordinarily beautiful woman in ancient dress stood outside the gate, carrying a lantern. Even celebrities and internet personalities with makeup, beauty filters, and adjusted body proportions on their phones could hardly compare to her.

Even on Chunxi Road or at Taikoo Li, a woman like this would have stunned the crowds of fashionable people, let alone here at a remote mountain temple on a stormy night.

And she was wearing ancient dress and carrying a lit lantern.

The lantern showed no sign of having been caught in the rain.

This...

Had the very thing he feared come to pass?

Chen Du couldn't help freezing on the spot.

The woman was equally startled!

The person who had opened the gate for her was a Daoist!

Having only just awakened, she had been muddled and had fled here in a panic. In the dark, she hadn't looked closely at all. Only now did she discover that a shrine stood directly behind the Daoist. Four guardian deities stood on either side of the entrance hall, each more than a zhang tall, holding sabers, spears, swords, and halberds. Fierce-faced, they looked down upon the visitor at the gate.

This was a Daoist temple!

She recalled what she had observed on her way here-

This was a deep mountain wilderness without a trace of human habitation, save for this one Daoist temple. The mountain was where the spiritual qi of the surrounding lands was most concentrated, and the temple was where it was most concentrated on the mountain.

Could it be a coincidence?

Stories of spirits and ghosts, gods and immortals that they had read and heard since childhood welled up in both their minds.

Boom!

Lightning illuminated their faces once again.

Rain pattered down without cease, and a wild wind howled through the mountains, accompanied by the sound of things being broken and swept away and the rolling thunder. The two stood by the gate, staring at each other for a long time, neither daring to speak first.

A new author and a new book. I hope everyone will give me plenty of support. It's double monthly ticket time at the end of the month, so please give me a monthly ticket.

I bow and bare my chest!