The Incense Burner and the Dream (Thanks to "Pine Nuts All Over the Mountains" for the Alliance Leader)

A light rain fell on the cool night, and a dream seemed to come.

The dream seemed to be set in a Daoist temple's guest room, furnished with a wooden bed, plain bedding, a desk and chair, and a meditation cushion on the floor. There wasn't even a television.

A young woman had lit an old-fashioned incense burner in the room. Wisps of blue smoke curled upward, lending the scene an elegant charm, while she slept.

The smoke swirled before the dreamer's eyes and swept him into a world made of mist.

That world seemed small, no bigger than a hall, yet it also seemed vast, with no boundaries visible through the swirling smoke. The smoke on the floor formed four designs in the four cardinal directions, each marked with an archaic character: east, south, west, and north. Three of them were already occupied.

The people, too, were indistinct figures made of smoke.

One of the figures, relatively tall and slender, was the young woman from that day. She stood on the character for "west," while the other two occupied south and north.

Chen Du couldn't help frowning in his sleep.

"Cough, cough! Cough, cough, cough! Which one of you used cheap incense? It's choking me!"

A voice drifted through the air above the hall.

"Xixi, didn't you say you wanted to visit one last place you'd just discovered before going home? How did it go?"

The person standing in the "north" position asked, in a somewhat mature voice.

"Cough, cough, it probably didn't pan out either! I said so ages ago: spiritual energy is getting denser and denser, and there's obviously been a gradual process. Working backward, there was practically no spiritual energy between heaven and earth before. That fits the historical record, too. And we might be among the very first people in the whole world in this era who can see spiritual energy."

The person standing in the "south" position had a younger voice. He spoke confidently, then paused:

"Besides, even if there really is someone like us, he's only just awakened too, maybe even later than we did. None of us knows how to cultivate, so he definitely wouldn't either. Look at it another way: other people don't have an incense burner like ours. Whether ours were passed down in the family or picked up somewhere, at least we can communicate with one another. If he awakened alone with nobody to talk to, maybe people have already taken him for a mental patient, or sent him off for internet addiction treatment."

"Don't rush. Let's ask Xixi."

"You really can keep your cool! Cough, cough, cough, cough. If my deduction is right, the earlier someone saw spiritual energy, the greater their talent. Xixi awakened a month ago, I did twenty-six days ago, and you did twenty-four days ago. We should be the earliest in the whole world. Don't you want to be among the first people of this era to start cultivating and refining qi, and walk at the very forefront of the world?"

An incense burner? What's that?

And who are these two?

What's going on now is...

Has the temple's self-defense mechanism activated again? Is someone "casting a spell" in the temple while I'm asleep? Is it that young woman?

Chen Du couldn't find his own figure in the smoke. It seemed he was only an observer.

And his frown had eased a little.

At first, he had thought a capable person from down the mountain had discovered something unusual about the temple and come to spy on him, perhaps even with a plan and accomplices. That would mean, on the one hand, that he might not have been the first to see spiritual energy, and on the other, that he was under threat. But listening closely, that didn't seem to be the case.

At last, the young woman's voice sounded:

"This time was different from before."

At those words, Nan and Bei fell silent.

"Xixi, why are you late every time?" the older Bei asked.

"Maybe my incense got damp."

"This isn't the time to worry about that," Nan said. "What did you just say? Go on."

"At first I thought this one was fake too, but as soon as I got close to the place, I could feel that the spiritual energy was much more abundant and dense than elsewhere. The closer I got, the denser it became. The difference was huge. After I arrived, I found a plant there that was actually breathing in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and the essence of the sun and moon, just like you said."

He didn't know whether she had told them the details the night before or was deliberately concealing them, but she referred to the treasure tree as a plant and didn't say it was a Daoist temple, or even that it was a mountain.

"Hm? Could it be a blessed immortal mountain left over from ancient times?"

"Was there anyone who might know how to cultivate?"

"Yes!"

The young woman's answer was simple. She had been drawn there by Yunzhi, who appeared to be casting a spell.

"Did he notice anything unusual about you?"

"Probably not."

"Tell us more! We'll help you figure it out!"

"Ahem." Bei stepped in and interrupted Nan. "Although the fate that brought us together is extraordinary, we haven't known each other long, so let's not ask for too many details. For now, let's just talk about spiritual energy and cultivation, nothing else."

"All right."

Nan fell silent for a moment before continuing:

"But I stand by my analysis!

"Spiritual energy most likely only began to revive a little over a month ago. There can't possibly be any cultivation experts yet.

"I've also met many renowned masters of the two religions in our country. I have to admit that some of them have attained a high level of cultivation and refinement, but that's mainly reflected in their realm of thought. In this era, that's what they cultivate too. None of them can actually see spiritual energy, and the methods of cultivating it have long since been lost or distorted among them.

"Of course, I hope one of us can find an expert who understands cultivation. At the start of this spiritual energy revival, it's far too difficult to find our way forward alone. But I also advise you to be careful, Xixi, and not be taken in too easily."

"Mm, I'll take a closer look tomorrow."

"Ahem, if he really is an expert and you're sure he's a decent person, Xixi, you could try to get some pointers from him. Be sincere and polite."

"First make sure he's a decent person. There's nothing wrong with being careful," Bei said as well. "If you get started, help us out too. We won't let you suffer a loss."

"I understand."

"Cough, cough, cough. Why is it that the last few times I've come up here, I've gotten dizzy and felt like throwing up every time?"

"I feel a little like that too."

"I'm getting off, getting off. My incense is almost burned out..."

"Since this has come up, let's talk again tomorrow night and follow up on Xixi's situation."

With a sudden pop, the blue smoke forming the human figures burst apart and turned into ordinary smoke.

Bei and Nan disappeared.

What kind of incense burns so fast? Don't they all burn through the night?

"Cough, cough..."

Xixi coughed hard twice, then dissolved into smoke and vanished.

Chen Du woke up.

He smelled mosquito coil incense at the tip of his nose and felt something hot and soft pressing down on his chest.

He reached out to touch it, and sure enough, it was his cat.

He got up and checked the time. It was still very early.

It seemed this really was some kind of protective mechanism left over from the temple's ancient past. If someone secretly "cast a spell" in the temple at night while the temple master slept, they couldn't hide it from him.

Just like the study and the back courtyard's meditation rooms were shielded from prying eyes.

"An incense burner?"

Chen Du had a vague memory of hearing a similar story.

It went roughly like this: in ancient times, someone found an antique resembling an incense burner at an antiques market. He lit it at night, and the smoke curled upward, forming a stairway. His soul left his body and followed the smoke up, floating into a palace of bliss. There, ethereal immortal music played, delicacies filled jade platters, and beautiful women danced gracefully. Then the incense smoke broke off, and he fell from the sky, waking with a start and falling gravely ill.

The two seemed to have a similar charm despite their differences.

"Four directions..."

What are those for? What do they signify?

Passed down in the family, picked up somewhere, communicating with one another-it sounded a lot like something out of a story. People like that were usually the protagonists.

By now, Chen Du's brow had completely smoothed out.

As he listened to the rest of their conversation, he had realized that not only did these people have no scheme or ill intent, they were also polite and ignorant.

They had simply seen spiritual energy because of its revival, happened to come together and communicate, then begun searching separately for an expert who could show them the way in cultivation.

As for the young woman from today, he had no particular impression of her beyond thinking that she was young and a little aloof.

With the threat gone, this sort of eavesdropping instead left Chen Du's conscience at war with itself. On one hand, he found it somewhat interesting; on the other, he felt it was a little improper. But he didn't seem able to refuse it of his own accord.

Chen Du rolled over, tossing the cat off his chest, and continued sleeping on his side.

He had never expected that someone else in the temple had stayed awake all night.

"The Great Five Elements Evasion is truly amazing!"

Yunzhi turned the pages, reading with great relish.

Although it was only a basic application of Five Elements techniques, a glimpse of the leopard's spots revealed the whole beast. Through bits of related knowledge, she could even catch a glimpse of the more profound Great Dao of the Five Elements.

The fly in the ointment was that she cultivated yin-yang spiritual energy, which didn't quite match. She could learn it, but mastering it in depth would be difficult; she could use it, but not as effortlessly as someone who cultivated Five Elements spiritual energy.

If she had known this technique earlier, she could have escaped underground when the Door God trapped her in the temple that day.

Yunzhi could hardly contain her excitement.

Before she knew it, day had broken.