Chapter 30: Goodbye

I coughed so badly, but the unscrupulous master laughed at me. I didn’t know what was so funny.

It took me more than a minute to calm down a little. I looked at my laughing master helplessly. He looked at me and pretended to be unaffected, staring into the distance and whistling, as if the person who had just laughed at me was not him.

I didn’t bother to argue with him. After all these years, if I still can’t get used to his occasionally unreliable personality, that would be ridiculous.

So I pretended to forget what had just happened and asked my master, “Master, you said that you could only truly open the door to Penglai in a secret religion in Tibet. I know that Penglai is on the sea, so how could it be in Tibet? Only by following the path of the dragon, and only if the path of the dragon is smooth, can you see the real Penglai!”

The master used a towel to wring out a handful of water, then wiped the water off his face and leaned back on a rock, very carefree. He then said to me, “Do you understand the meaning of the phrase ‘the sea has turned into a field of mulberry trees’? The deep meaning refers to the changes in time, but the superficial meaning is that a place that was once the sea will now become a field of mulberry trees… Tibet is now the highest place in the world, but fossils of ancient marine life have been found there. What do you think?”

At this moment, I also calmed down. I took the clothes and pants that were placed on the shore, took out the cigarettes inside, lit one for myself, and said, “I understand. What you mean is that Tibet was probably a sea long ago, right? Even if it was, it is now land. According to Taoist classics, Penglai can never appear on land.”

The master snatched the cigarette from my hand, took a hesitant drag, and then threw it back to me, laughing and scolding, “This stuff is a million miles behind the strength of dry tobacco. I’ll never get used to it in my lifetime.”

I smiled and didn’t say anything. In my memory, the master in my soul will always be the figure of a pipe smoker. If it were a cigarette smoker, I would feel very awkward.

That was just a small episode. My master just laughed and scolded me and continued, “I said that the meaning of being able to truly open the door to Penglai again is to open the door to Penglai there. The ancient sea will always leave something there. If you get those relics, you can truly and inevitably open the door to Penglai. So…”

The master didn’t continue, but I frowned slightly. If there really is such a thing in secret religions, it must be something that others are desperately looking for. Is it that easy to go to the door and ask for it? If we fight, won’t it seem that we are unreasonable? In fact, it is better to look for a dragon that is about to become a dragon!

Thinking about this, I couldn’t help but cry out, “Master, I think…”

Master seemed to see what I was thinking, and waved his hand and said, “I know what you’re thinking. First of all, you think that the dragon that is about to become a dragon is like a big cabbage, and you can find it just by asking for it? Moreover, the process of walking the dragon is a cruel process, and the hardships and trials involved can be written into a book. Moreover, the chances of success are not great… Last time we were lucky! In addition, the fact that we were able to get so close to Penglai by becoming a dragon through the process of walking the dragon is actually not permitted by heaven, so it won’t be so easy next time… In fact, it’s possible that none of us will ever have the opportunity to get this close to Penglai again. However, there are some things that cannot be delayed, and we must enter Penglai through this inevitable method.

“But, Master, unless that secret sect is particularly generous, you know that the relics of Penglai are not ordinary items. They will lend them to us. Otherwise, are we going to rob someone else?” This is my biggest worry.

It’s a bit funny to say, but as a disciple, I was worried that my master would be too radical for some things and take the “wrong path.” Although I knew in my heart that my master was a very special person,

The master said, “If it is a famous and righteous sect, I really don’t worry that they won’t lend this thing! Because what will happen will have some impact on the entire circle of cultivators or the world. All righteous cultivators know that cultivation is a matter of going against the heavens, and the reason why the heavens allow this group of special people to exist with one eye closed is because the heavens want us to take on more moral obligations. In this world, there are many wrong ideas. For example, if someone says that they want to save the world and give back to society, they will be seen as a fool… But I believe that one day, people will understand that in life, they should think about what they have done for society. My life is as short as a shooting star, but the meaning of life lies in the contribution I have made to the whole, even if it is just a small push.

At this point, the master paused and said with a smile, “I’ve digressed. I just can’t stop talking about this. In any case, they are not a reputable sect, and they have no sense of moral responsibility! On the contrary, this sect should have been eliminated long ago… According to secret rumors, the things they do are inhuman. Even if it’s not for Penglai, let’s do something righteous.”

When the master said this, I suddenly remembered Tao Bai and Lu Shan, and our encounter at the border of Tibet. I couldn’t help but feel a stirring in my heart, and I was about to say something.

But I saw that Master’s face suddenly became a little strange, a little excited, a little cautious, and the whole person was frozen there, more nervous.

Why did Master suddenly do that? Seeing Master’s expression, I was suddenly unable to say anything, and Master’s eyes were staring at a place. I didn’t dare to ask Master anything when I saw him like that, and I could only follow Master’s gaze and look in the same direction.

It was near a waterfall in a deep pool. There was a rock there, about the height of a person, and my master’s gaze was fixed on it.

At first glance, I didn’t notice anything unusual there, but when I looked more closely, I couldn’t take my eyes off it.

Because there was a snake there, not big, only 1 or 2 meters long, and it was very inconspicuous, blackish in color, so it was not easy to notice.

But once you see it, you can’t take your eyes off it… Just like many people know about enamel, the same color, enamel gives people the feeling of flowing light and overflowing color, because the color of enamel is made from crushed and fired minerals. If you use ordinary pigments to fake something, you won’t have that feeling of flowing light and overflowing color at first glance.

Similarly, the black-tailed snake gives the impression of being ordinary, a dark mass, but this little snake gives the impression of flowing light and color beneath its skin, not light, but a gorgeous gemstone color.

The black color contains a red reflection, and when you look at it in a trance, it looks like a ball of fire wrapped around the little snake.

In fact, my master and I were not unfamiliar with it. During our hasty escape, we had a fleeting glimpse of it and judged it to be a black snake!

At this time, my master and I looked at it. It was crouching with its body and looking at us with its head raised.

Compared to the stiff posture of my master and I, the movements and expressions of this snake were both laughable and saddening. How could a snake be looking at people with its head tilted to the side while its neck was raised? Especially since the eyes of this snake were a little bigger than the eyes of an ordinary snake, it looked a little like the snake that was deliberately cute in the movie.

Of course, others (perhaps it should be “other snakes”) are born this way. Although their eyes are bigger than the snake’s, they are not as exaggerated as the snake’s. However, the emotions revealed by these eyes are too rich. The way it looks at us is playful and a little curious, full of a certain sense of freshness, but not malicious.

However, I don’t know if it’s intentional, but when my master and I don’t move, it will move its neck back and forth slightly, as if it were about to attack.

My master and I are Taoists, and we already have a sense of awe for the existence of the cobra, so seeing it like this, we are even more afraid to move.

The water in the deep pool was originally very cool, and my master and I were half-submerged in the pool, which should have been very cool and comfortable, but after the appearance of this strange snake, my master and I were both covered in fine beads of sweat on our foreheads.

I don’t know why, but the air outside the pool felt a little hotter.

“This snake is extraordinary,” my master suddenly whispered to me.

Isn’t that nonsense? Is there any ‘ordinary’ snake? This stiff posture is really uncomfortable. I also whispered, “Isn’t this the snake? The sacred snake that Xiaoding said he would protect should be it. By the way, before I left, Xiaoding once told me to pretend not to see anything and not to care about or provoke it. If I really can’t help it, I’ll call out to him… I think we might have seen this snake?

“I’m not sure if it’s the snake, after all, it’s the secret of the snake clan, but it should be their sacred snake. If Xiaoding said that, then let’s go? Why do I feel so weak when I’m being watched by this little guy?” As the master spoke, he was already tentatively getting up. I felt the same way, and at the same time, I was also tentatively starting to stand up straight… But I always had a feeling that something was going to happen? But what would happen? After all, I still don’t feel the snake’s ill will.