Chapter 71: The Road to Kunlun

This answer shocked me. According to Chinese history, even the Shang Dynasty has a lot of history that cannot be confirmed by evidence. Grandpa Yuan gave me a general description of the existence of this place for thousands of years. I immediately imagined the Zhou Dynasty, and my head was dizzy.

In the era of the Shang and Zhou dynasties, it was a glorious era, with endless myths and legends, the famous Fengshen Bang… If I weren’t standing here in a spirit state, but a real person, I would have fainted from my heart beating too fast and my breathing being difficult.

Seeing my ever-changing expression, Grandpa Yuan asked me in surprise, “Kid, what are you thinking about?”

“Grandpa, I… that… no, that ancestor was from the Zhou Dynasty? Or…?” I was already a little incoherent.

Grandpa Yuan smiled and said, “That’s not so exaggerated. The ancestor your master is looking for is said to be an old figure from the Western Han Dynasty.”

Western Han Dynasty? Although this is not as exaggerated as I had imagined, it still surprised me. You see, the Han Dynasty was also an era when Taoism flourished. The great Han Dynasty made us Han people famous and also determined the inseparable relationship between the Chinese people and Taoism.

We are Han people, we are Chinese people, and Taoism is the belief and thought that we Chinese should have.

My emotions were stirred, but I had not yet lost all reason. After thinking carefully, I found something wrong with this statement, so I asked, “Old Master, why do you say it is according to legend? You are all here in this place, why…?”

“It can only be rumored. Do you think we little shrimps can see the secrets here? There are several ancestors here, but we have no way of knowing exactly what era they were from. It would be great if I could meet one of the ancestors from the Ming Dynasty.” Yuan’s mouth twitched, and he said with some helplessness.

It seems that the mystery of this place is not inferior to Kunlun. I thought to myself, but asked, “Old man, you told me this clue, meaning that I should follow in my master’s footsteps and find the ancestor?”

“This is certainly the easiest way. I’m just giving you a direction. But I can’t help you with this. The scope of my activities is also limited, and my authority here is also limited. You can understand this as a matter of the underworld. I can’t tell you too much! You may come here a few times and find opportunities in the real trading place.” Grandpa Yuan said to me.

I knew in my heart that meeting the Ancestor must be a big deal, and it certainly wasn’t something that someone like Grandpa Yuan could do. Otherwise, my master wouldn’t have caused a stir in the circle of Taoist old guys when he met the Ancestor. Some things can’t be rushed.

So I asked, “Master Yuan, I know this matter cannot be rushed, but you said an ancestor, and I have no way to find him based on this clue. Can you tell me the name of the ancestor?”

Grandpa Yuan nodded and said, “Of course, the name of the Ancestor is Pu Yuanzi.”

I was secretly shocked. Anyone who can be called a “zi” must be a Taoist with great achievements! However, thinking about my master, I had a black line on my face. He was also considered to be very accomplished, but he couldn’t be called “Old Plum”!

Putting aside my rambling thoughts, I respectfully asked, “Grandpa, can you tell me about Kunlun now?”

When it comes to this, the old man’s face became serious and he said, “As far as I know, Kunlun should be the same as our place of residence, not a specific place in this world! It’s another kind of abstract existence. Or it’s there, even with us, but we just can’t feel it.”

I was stunned, and suddenly remembered the scene where the bug man disappeared, and the overlapping of space that my master had once mentioned. Then I began to understand what the old man was saying.

Grandpa Yuan continued, “There is a reason why I am so sure. I can tell you a secret, a secret I heard.

This sentence from Grandpa Yuan made me perk up and listen attentively!

“You know that our family is a Taoist family that has been passed down from generation to generation! When I was young, I once heard my grandfather talk about the Kunlun people and also about this incident. My grandfather said that he knew a Kunlun person and knew that the Kunlun person’s lifelong wish was to return to Kunlun, and he almost succeeded! He was a very powerful Taoist formation master, and the inheritance he received in Kunlun was also about formations. He used formations and almost succeeded.” Grandpa Yuan said to me word by word.

My heart suddenly became excited. Maybe I could also use formations? But others are masters of formations, and they have received the inheritance in Kunlun. I can’t even complete some of the larger and more complex formations. The gap is not a little bit.

Thinking about this, I was a little depressed, but Grandpa Yuan continued, “At the time, my grandfather wanted to prove to me that Taoist cultivation was not a mirage, and he also wanted to prove to me that some myths and legends actually had some factual basis, so he cited this example! He told me that the formation at the time was already a formation that defied the heavens, and he was lucky enough to be called to be the one who suppressed the formation, so he witnessed a scene where the extremely strong spiritual fluctuations of the formation tore open…”

At this point, Grandpa Yuan frowned slightly, as if he was organizing his words to describe it, but he was troubled by the fact that he could not find the right words to describe the scene.

I said, “Grandpa Yuan, you don’t have to describe it. I should have seen it! It was like the space we were in was ripped open, wasn’t it?” Because I remembered the scene when the bug man disappeared, the fog I saw, and even the corner of a pavilion!

“That’s the feeling! But there was no clear opening. In short, my grandfather said that in that instant, which seemed like an extremely long instant, or an extremely short instant, he saw a different world, or he saw nothing, just a piece of fog!” Grandpa Yuan said to me with certainty.

Then the two of us fell silent at the same time. Yes, we are both cultivators. What is the goal of a cultivator? Our silence was a longing, a deep longing.

I don’t know how long we were silent for, but Grandpa Yuan sighed and said, “You don’t know how much this matter has affected me. I was so unwilling to die that by chance I was willing to stay in this prison-like place.

I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know much about this place, and I was asking myself, if my life was over, would I choose to reincarnate and end this life, or would I choose this place?

Grandpa Yuan said that the Li family was free-spirited and would not choose to live in such a place. Or maybe the answer was already in my heart at this time…

But I still couldn’t help but ask, “Master, since this place is like a prison, why would you choose it? That person almost succeeded, but what happened in the end?”

Master Yuan looked a little sad. He said to me, “I can’t tell you much about what goes on here. I can only say that there is still a little hope of enlightenment here. Here, the end is just outside the door! The end for us cultivators is just to be able to walk out!”

I didn’t understand what Grandpa Yuan meant, but I felt the determination in his eyes, or rather, his obsession.

It is often said that obsession is bad, and Buddhists are the most transparent and the most willing to let go of their obsessions. But Taoists like me are practitioners who go against the grain. If we don’t have a little obsession to support us, how can we continue on this bitter path?

Kunlun is my obsession. At this moment, it is not only for my master, but also for the result of my life, right?

“Haha, see, I’m clearly obsessed,” Yuan laughed at himself, then continued, “You asked me about the outcome of that person. I can tell you that at that moment, for some reason, the great formation suddenly stopped! Later, I learned that at the moment of success, he died. He died silently, his body still sitting there! His soul was extinguished in an instant.” Yuan sighed.

The meaning behind this is that the person’s behavior was too rebellious.

I asked, “Or, instead of his soul being reduced to ashes, it went to Kunlun?”

“I also asked my grandfather this question. My grandfather, for some reason, was so sure that he said to me, ‘No, it’s completely gone.’ Master Yuan’s tone also contained a hint of regret.

I was silent, and at the same time I began to worry. The road to Kunlun is so difficult. What about my master and the others? Can they succeed? And what about myself? Can I succeed?

“Actually, this is exactly what I want to tell you. After all, I said I would tell you everything I know about Kunlun! How? I once heard a saying that some top Kunlun people actually know how to return to Kunlun, and even know some specific methods. Unless you find those Kunlun people, or find those Kunlun people,” said Grandpa Yuan with great certainty.

This statement suddenly reminded me of my master. Could it be that he was a Kunlun man who knew how to return to Kunlun? Could it be that my master and the others were Kunlun descendants who knew a little about the way back? What kind of story was behind all this?

If Kunlun is a goal for Taoist practitioners, there is no reason why my master would not tell me about Kunlun. Why is he so secretive about it and never mentions it to me?

I found that, just like solving a difficult puzzle, the more clues I got, the more I realized that I knew nothing, and the more the mystery involved!

This made me think of Master Liu, who was as dry as a dried orange peel. Could it be that he…?

I frowned and thought hard. Master Yuan didn’t interrupt me. How could I have known at that time that I would face such a difficult journey? I would probably encounter more magical things on this Kunlun journey!