Chapter 67: Metaphysics Five Vessels

The tea had been steeped several times, and the flavor was already as bland as water. However, the steam from the newly added hot water was still there, and the ups and downs of the past had already captivated my entire mind. Several times, I forgot to drink the tea when it was in front of my mouth.

Old Jiang had stopped talking and was smoking a pipe, puffing away. I was anxious and couldn’t help but ask, “Master, what happened next? Did you shoot him?”

“Yes, I did. At first I didn’t dare, but my master said that a real man should be able to take revenge for himself. There was no justice in that world. Later, my master took most of Liu San’s money and let the Zhao family distribute it to the villagers. I left the village with them.”

“Then what?” The story was so good that I couldn’t help but ask more.

“What then? I’m telling you this story to tell you that you have three more uncles, making four in total. We four have inherited several examples of your ancestor’s deeds, so that you can understand which branch of our school you belong to.” Old Jiang was impatient to answer my many questions and went straight to the point.

“There are three uncles, Li, Chen, and you. Why is there another one?” I was puzzled.

“Then I took in a younger disciple, Wang Lipu, who is your uncle Wang.”

“What about the master and the uncles? Why aren’t you with them? Aren’t they all together?” To be honest, I really wanted to meet these uncles. Life with just the master was lonely.

The old man Jiang stopped talking, and even forgot to smoke the pipe he had put to his mouth. His expression was once again as sad as it had been that night.

But the old man didn’t look like himself, and I didn’t know if he was really sad. I couldn’t help but ask, “Where is my master?” In my heart, my master was more fascinating than my cheap master. He was a man! A hero! He was so good at martial arts! He fulfilled all my dreams.

Thinking of my master, he was a wretched man who liked to look at young girls, liked to eat, and bullied children… the list of his crimes was endless.

But I didn’t expect that when I asked this question, the old man’s body shook slightly. I don’t know if it was an illusion, but I noticed that his eyes were red. But the next moment he flew into a rage, and he slammed a tobacco pipe down on me, shouting, “You little brat, why do you have so many questions? Do you believe I’ll make you copy the Tao Te Ching a hundred times? A hundred times! A hundred times!”

Because he was so excited, the old man emphasized the phrase “a hundred times” twice. The pipe also hit my head so hard that I admitted I was scared and I didn’t dare to ask again.

After a moment of calm, the old man said, “Your master was a genius. According to the five meridians of Taoist metaphysics, except for a few ancient masters, no one has mastered all five meridians over the past thousand years. But your master said that he had the opportunity to be lucky enough to have dabbled in all five meridians.”

“Which five?” In fact, I am blind to these basic common sense, and my master has not told me in detail. Today, it is rare for him to talk about it, and I am also very interested in listening.

“Mountain, medicine, life, divination, physiognomy! Medicine is the easiest to understand, that is, medical science and pharmacology, as well as some miscellaneous knowledge that exists in addition, such as attaching mental power to medicine. Spiritual healing and so on, this is the line that your uncle Chen inherited. The two branches of life studies and divination studies are inseparable. The successors of these two branches of knowledge are the most powerful in reading people’s lives, fortune, and divination. Your uncle Li is the successor of these two branches, and the successor of physiognomy is your uncle Wang.

I thought it was amazing. I was very interested in all the metaphysical skills I had heard about, and I never imagined that medicine was also a branch of metaphysics.

“Medicine is also a branch of metaphysics, Master?” I couldn’t help but confirm again.

“Why not? Bian Que was a Taoist, like Zhuangzi, and he learned from Chang Sangjun, the author of Huangdi Neijing, which is also a Taoist medical text. You can say that all of Chinese medicine belongs to our Taoist school of thought. Don’t you think so?” Old Jiang jumped up and said excitedly.

Unfortunately, I was only ten years old, and I didn’t know any of the people he was talking about. It was useless for him to get so excited, but I didn’t dare to show it, so I just nodded repeatedly, looking convinced.

Alas, what can I do? If you have a particularly thoughtless master, then it is destined that his apprentice will be particularly thoughtful.

After all this, I remembered to ask about our lineage, saying, “Master, then we are the Shan lineage, isn’t it also very powerful?”

“Our lineage, alas…” The old man sighed, stopped making a fuss, and after a long time of deliberation, he said to me, “Our lineage has a good reputation. It is the first of the five schools of metaphysics, and the skills of the other four lineages revolve around our lineage. However, those who are able to make a living in the world are those of the other four lineages. Our lineage has declined greatly, and the feudal superstition is basically our lineage.”

“What’s wrong with our school?” When I heard this, my heart followed my master’s bitterness, but I didn’t believe it. In my eyes, my master was actually quite capable.

“What is the most important pursuit of the mountain-character lineage? To become immortal! The development of the medical lineage is to provide oneself with medicine to strengthen the body and mind. The fate and divination line is to ward off evil and avoid calamity for oneself, and the second is to make money by walking the rivers and lakes. Because poverty does not cultivate the Dao, especially the self-cultivation of the mountain lineage is a bottomless pit, precious medicinal materials, and various materials for practice are like burning money. The development of the physiognomy lineage is better understood. It is to give oneself physiognomy disciples, to cultivate in a place of good feng shui, and to raise money. All of this is for the cultivation of the mountain vein.” Old Jiang sighed.

My mouth is wide open. What am I learning? Am I learning to become a fairy? Although I have seen ghosts and goblins, I have never seen a fairy, and I have never heard my master mention it. I don’t think I have the fate to become a fairy. Isn’t this nonsense?

“The idea of becoming a fairy, alas…” Old Master Jiang sighed and continued, “Anyway, Taoist health preservation techniques almost all come from our Shan Zi School. In fact, our Shan Zi School has the most secret techniques. Fairy, Tao, illusion, spirit, martial arts, all refer to the secret techniques of our Shan Zi School. The techniques of becoming a fairy, Taoism, illusion, cultivation Spirit, martial arts, palm soldiers are talking about this, and then a little more detailed, talisman techniques, pressure formation techniques, praying for help from the stars, hand gestures, walking the five elements, sword cultivation, etc., all of which are the secrets of our mountain lineage. In short, catching ghosts, exorcising demons and capturing monsters in the folk world are also things that only people from our mountain lineage can do.

I now understand why our Shan Zi Mai is said to be feudal superstition. It’s all fucking hanging, becoming immortal, catching ghosts, who do you not believe in?

The Mountain School’s abilities are indeed unmatched by the other four schools in this world, and it is also a money pit. No wonder it is so miserable.

“The ultimate pursuit and goal of Taoism is to become a great master of the mountain. Not to mention anything else, it would be fine to become a personal immortal. Unfortunately, how many such people can there be in a thousand years? Are you not feeling aggrieved by following me, disciple?” When the old man Jiang said this, he looked at me with great expectation, like a little child.

“No, it’s not a grievance. It’s quite impressive to catch ghosts and demons.” I quickly said, it’s quite impressive. No matter what, I still have a sense of superiority psychologically. The five meridians of metaphysics, we are still the boss in the end, aren’t we?

“Good, good…” Old Jiang was quite pleased, and kept rubbing my head with great force, almost giving me a concussion.

“Speaking of which, when I inherited the mountain vein, alas… my fellow disciples also wanted to inherit this vein. Forget it, I won’t talk about that anymore.” Old Master Jiang stammered and spoke obscurely. God knows what he was talking about, but I understood one thing: this most psychedelic mountain vein was actually a hot commodity among his fellow disciples.

“From today on, I will pass on to you the secret arts of cultivation, and I will also begin to slowly teach you some methods of cultivating qi and internal alchemy.” Old Master Jiang was moved for a while, and suddenly became serious.

“The art of cultivating the secret?” I was curious.

“Well, don’t you envy my skills? The art of cultivating the secret is drawing talismans, hand gestures, and so on. I’ll teach you from today onwards.”

I was overjoyed. After all these years of learning, I was finally learning what I wanted to learn most.

“But I have to tell you one thing about my identity,” said the old man Jiang.