Chapter 145: Once upon a time there was a mountain

Once upon a time there was a mountain called Wudang.

There was a peak on the mountain called Lotus. On the peak once lived a young Taoist priest who wanted to go down the mountain but didn’t dare to do so, and his name was Hong Zaixiang. Only after that young master made a trip down to return to the mountain, I heard that he left the world.

Then the new and even younger Master, Li Yuaxe, brought back a young child with soulful brows and eyes, named Yu Fu. His name was Yu Fu. His parents hoped that the boy would save up some good fortune every year, and if a poor family wanted to live a long and stable life, it was all about the word “savings”.

Lantern is a big festival, in order to meet the auspicious Fu two years of the Lantern Festival, Wudang Mountain on the Taoist regardless of seniority, everyone is splitting bamboo to build bamboo lanterns, and then paste the rice paper, that is, Chen Carefree Yu Xingrui, these seniority of the highest big real people have no exceptions, but unfortunately the mountain of the oldest ancestor of the oldest uncle Song Zhiming passed away last year, that is to say, died, nothing like a rainbow ascension and nothing like a feather to ascend to immortality, the old real people walked very peacefully, just The old man died peacefully, but he just thought that if the youngest master was still alive, he would have been able to refine a few really good pills. Then there is the old man dying that month, often see Song Zu ShiBo standing in the big lotus peak of the mountain gate, looking at the foot of the mountain, no need to ask know is waiting for that palm teacher nephew. Wudang since the old man’s master Huang Man Shan, to the eldest brother Wang Chonglou, then to the youngest brother Hong Zaixiang, and finally to the current head teacher Li Yu axe, Song Zhiming in addition to that a picture of the ancestor of the picture does not say, live two a, have seen four Wudang head teacher, and therefore walked very peacefully. Older generation of real people are fading, in charge of the precepts of the great real Chen Carefree is also difficult to hide the old, good in the Wudang Mountain on the old, sick and dying has always been very light, and now Wudang Mountain incense flourishing, several peaks on the mountain have organized a few not grand but not lose the solemnity of the “open mountain” ceremony.

Even near the Lantern Festival, before dawn, there are still many good men and women began to climb the mountain to burn incense, unlike many Taoist temples and monasteries in the Liyang specifically for the back door of the officials and dignitaries, the people burned a lifetime of incense can not be burned on the first incense, in the Northern Liang you as long as you catch the morning, the people can be burned on the first incense in the Wudang Mountain. In the Wudang Mountain South Divine Road, incense, and even a lot of foreign accents of the foreigners, at the time of the North Mang army to the south, the entire Northern Liang three states is like a funnel, the population has been sharply reduced, lined up with these inbound foreign visitors is quite like that against the current of the carp, can be seen now Wudang’s prosperity, there are rumors that the imperial court is soon to be the title of the ancestral court of the Longhu Mountain of Taoism will be transferred to the Wudang, to pacify the Northern Liang. In the incense-burning army, there is a small couple of young men and women, probably because of the small family, there is no brocade clothing sable fur, there is no daunting robust escort, and even a lantern is not. They hiked in company with another family they met by chance at the foot of the mountain, borrowing that family’s lamps along the way to make their way up the mountain. The young man introduced himself as Xu Qi, a native of Beiliang, his wife surnamed Lu, his hometown in Qingzhou, in his words is to marry the chicken with the chicken and the dog with the dog to the Beiliang to suffer. With their counterparts in the family with four generations of sixteen grandchildren, the old man surnamed Yan, eighty years old, said the Guangling Road, when the Beijing officials have also done the local officials, last year, only to return to his hometown. The old man talk funny, extremely talkative, all the way with that Xu Qi chatting about the anecdotes of the north and south of the Yangtze River, for the boring hiking trip to add a lot of laughter, and that Xu Qi, although there is no surprise words, but also time and time again are able to pick up on the old man’s words.

In addition to the old man, the Yan family the remaining two generations of men originally started on this so-called Northern Liang barbarians and do not treat, which can not be blamed for their high-minded, away from the sun in many of the regional disputes, when the Xu Snapdragon town of Northern Liang and Yan Zhi King Zhao Bing’s main administration of the South Border, has always been the big brother not to mention the second brother, are all up and down the barbaric land, and even the two Liao can not afford to be compared to the temple that year, made a big joke, remember that the first scholar of Northern Liang in the imperial examinations, the first scholar in the imperial examination of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The first Northern Liang scholar in the imperial examinations in the carp jump dragon door, to be able to enter the first degree, so that the city of Tai’an doubly surprised, wondering the Northern Liang will also have readers? So many people helped the scholar to check the genealogy, until it was difficult to see that the person’s ancestry in the Central Plains, Jianzhou, and then relieved, but did not care about the fact that the person for several generations have been born and raised in the Northern Liang Lingshou. Until Yan Jiexi become a royal relative and then become the temple cabinet scholar, Jin Lanting all the way to the blue clouds, as well as science master Yao Baifeng into the capital to preside over the State Scholarship, this kind of bad impression of the Northern Liang uncivilized only slightly changed, hold your nose and admit that the Northern Liang is also a farming and reading of the family.

Distance from the main peak of the Wudang Golden Peak, the South God Road up to twelve miles long, but also the mountain road, the Yan family has the old and young have women and children, weak feet, walking slowly, until the mountain rang the first morning bell, they have only gone to half the distance, in the pavilion dedicated to travelers and tourists resting feet rest. The old man took advantage of the morning sun to raise his eyes far away, Xu Qi and his wife stood side by side to enjoy the scenery of the mountain, the old man back to the line of sight after sitting down, immediately there is that young great-grandson ran to help him knock legs pinch feet, the old man laughed heartily, pampered the child a hold on his lap, pointing his finger to the east, said: “This scene, called ‘the sky opens up the blue and white ‘.”

The child is obviously not interested in what the sky open green and white, raised his head and asked in a childish voice: “Grandpa, there really are immortals in the mountains, as my mother said? Can that god fairy move through the clouds and fog?”

The old master of the Yan family laughed loudly and touched the child’s head, not giving an answer, but just turned his head to look at the cloud-covered mountaintop and softly lamented, “I don’t dare to speak loudly for fear of scaring the people in the sky.”

Did not get the answer to the child a strong pouting pestering, the old man had to say: “my generation of people who read, we need to abide by the sages said not to talk about the strange force of God. However, too grandpa and you this little child or can say something off topic, too grandpa I ah, in fact, when I was young, also had to play the flag of the book tour, to secretly do that green shirt sword climbing to visit the immortal things, perhaps no chance, did not seek to see the world in the eyes of those who are the cranes hair boyish face of the gaoliang, just middle-aged with a lot of people together to go to Longhu Mountain Tianshi House, and the generation of old masters have had a one-sided, but there was no opportunity for in-depth conversation, after all, there is no chance to talk to the old master. Have not had the opportunity to talk in depth, after all, at that time too grandfather’s official hat is too small, just to accompany the last seat. At that time, I only felt that the official is not as good as the cultivation ah, the world’s readers how much, before the death of too Fu Wenzheng how difficult, the world’s cultivation of people is not much, to do that one official body of the feathered minister is also relatively easy.”

The child was greatly disappointed, “too grandpa, then we came a long way to Wudang Mountain to do what ah? My father said that his bones would fall apart from the bumpy ride.”

A nearby Confucian scholar, who was not very old, blushed.

The old man stroked his snow-white beard and smiled, “Great grandfather has never seen a fairy, but when he was herding a party, he met a Taoist priest of the same age in the Path Jurisdiction realm and had a pleasant conversation, that Taoist taught me a set of techniques to nourish my body, and great grandfather can live to this age thanks to the Taoist’s favor. Although after so many years, I still remember very clearly that Taoist’s appearance, tall in stature, benevolent and bold, with the style of an ancient wanderer, compared to the Yellow Purple Nobleman of the Heavenly Master’s Mansion, there is really no frame to speak of.”

The old man sighed, “That Taoist is the last previous headmaster of Wudang Mountain, called Wang Chonglou. It was only after a long time that I realized that he was the Sect Leader of Wudang Mountain in Northern Liang, so I rushed here to take a look before my body was completely buried in the yellow soil. By the way, I also want to see how high the sky is in the northwest of Northern Liang. Because when Great Grandfather used to be an official in Tai’an City, there was a speech writer and royal historian who impeached a person, saying that after that person arrived in Beiliang, when he had a big banquet, he even pointed to the chair under his buttocks and said to the crowd, “This chair is not a dragon chair, but it’s much taller than the one in the capital city.”

The old man’s son, who was also almost a year old, laughed after hearing this, “Mostly nonsense.”

The old man nodded.

That Bei Liang Xu Qi, who had been watching the old man holding his great-grandson, didn’t say anything and turned around to look into the distance silently.

His wife held his hand, turned her head sideways and asked softly, “Is it true or not?”

Xu Fengnian’s “Xu Qi” softly said, “It’s true, I was still small at that time, I was sitting on my father’s lap, he actually said this to me, probably to tell me that being an emperor is actually meaningless.”

Xu Fengyen held Lu Chenyan’s cool little hand tightly, and said in a low voice, “It is the rule of the Liyang court that an official should retire at seventy, and to be able to retire at the age of seventy-nine is not something that anyone can do. The old man is Yan Song, when the Beijing official maximum to do the Ministry of Rites left minister, and the Chief Minister Zhang Julu political views do not agree, and then was sidelined to the Jiangnan Road Luzhou, disillusioned, it will be in the local peace of mind to do the study. This time, Zhang Ju Lu’s defeat, the court and the field is silent, Yan Song is one of the few who dare to fight for the chief minister of the Lord, can see that he was with Zhang Ju Lu is a bright and open gentleman’s fight. The reason why I traveled with him is because Xu Snapdragon’s outlook on this person is not bad, saying that of all the people who scolded him, Yan Song scolded him Xu Snapdragon scolded him fiercely, but in reason.”

The old man suddenly smiled at Xu Fengnian, “Xu Qi ah, before I entered the Northern Liang territory to come to Wudang Mountain, I visited a few academies, and the scene there surprised me, it seems like your new Liang King is a bit more bookish than the old Liang King, which is really rare.”

Lu Shengyan looked at Xu Fengyen who unprecedentedly showed a slight sweaty look, she would smile.

Xu Fengnian turned around and then said, “It must be knowing that martial arts is inferior to Xu Snapdragon, so he can only retreat to the next best thing, and check for flaws in literary governance.”

The little child was confused and tugged on the old man’s sleeve, asking, “Tai grandpa, didn’t my eldest uncle say that that King of Northern Liang’s martial arts is very powerful?”

A middle-aged man cried and laughed, “The martial arts of civil rule is not about the ability to fight.”

After chatting, a group of people restarted climbing, nowadays come to Wudang Mountain to burn incense, there is one thing that has become a visitor must do, is to see with their own eyes on the mountain many Taoist priests regardless of age and generation collectively participate in the morning and evening two homework, the reason why Yan’s family old and young so early climbed the mountain is that they want to go to enjoy the scene, hundreds of thousands of Taoist people in the plaza practicing boxing, rumor has it that that set of boxing by the last head of the Hong Chuixiang first creation! The rumor was that it was first created by the previous master, Hong Chuxiang, and that anyone who practiced it could learn it and benefit from it.

When a group of people finally came to the top of the mountain outside the square of Wudang’s main observatory, finally did not miss it, otherwise they would have to wait until dusk.

As expected, as the outside world rumors that, countless standing sparse and dense Wudang Taoist priests in the square together to practice boxing, that is, again layman’s common people, can also see that set of boxing comfortable, yes, is comfortable. There are no too profound movements, nor do they make the humming and hawing noises that come from unusual martial arts practice, quiet and peaceful.

The old man, Yan Song, exclaimed, “What a flowing cloud.”

Sitting on his father’s neck, the child pointed to the distance, as if he had discovered some unimaginable immortal character, full of surprise and leaping: “There is a child about the same age as me is also playing boxing it, there there, he is in the forefront!”

Although the old man could not see the situation over there clearly, he was also a bit surprised when he heard, “Didn’t you say that the person leading the fist is the current Sect Leader Li Yu Axe?”

Xu Fengnian explained, “Li Yuaxe has taken on a disciple.”

In the position behind those Taoist priests there were many other incense, also followed the fist, maybe not the meaning, even the shape can not be called, but one by one are very energetic, just they can not see the leading Taoist priest’s stance clearly, can only follow the front or the nearby incense, it looks a little bit unorthodox, but all of them are very serious. Then the Yan family saw a young Taoist priest who did not seem to be of high rank slowly walking from the front to the back, all the way, constantly giving careful instructions to the incense learners, which movements were too hard, or which techniques were not in place, or the collapsing of the wrists was not enough, or misunderstood the back-pulling, would smile and help to correct them.

Xu Fengyen looked at the young Taoist monk at the very front who was meticulous in every movement of leading the fist, and his expression was a bit abnormal.

That young Taoist priest saw Xu Fengyen, smiled faintly and walked quickly.

Lu Chengyan said softly, “Do you want to play boxing too?”

Xu Fenian asked, “You want to watch?”

Lu Chengyan nodded with a smile.

Xu Fengyen slowly walked forward and stood at the very back of the line, then leisurely began to punch.

The young Daoist froze for a moment, then stood together with Xu Fengnian.

The two men’s movements were the same, round and round, pleasing to the eye.

Xu Fengnian closed his eyes.

Back then, there was an unlucky guy who every time he saw himself, knowing that he would be beaten up, he would bitterly squeeze out a smile and say “You’re here ah”.

Xu Fengyi softly muttered to himself, “Bull rider, I’m coming.”