Chapter 86 Yuwu Mountain

All people, including the Confucian cultivators and Taoist cultivators in the human world as well as the monks who stayed out of the social life on the Buddhist land, liked to arrange in order of seniority, and there was no exception.

The Taoists in Liangxi certainly took Liangxi Dao Temple on Chenxie Mountain as the leader, which was a fact that all the Taoists in the world approved, but there were different opinions about the second and third most famous Taoist temple. Some people said that Wanshou Taoist Temple which was once in vogue for a period was ranked second. Those years, many Taoist saints came out of this temple and they were all top Taoist cultivators, and five of them were cultivators at the Ascending Stage, but later in the great war, the foundation was injured, and most of the Taoists died on the demonic land. Moreover, after that war, now the human world had been disintegrated and wasn’t as prosperous as before, so almost all the cultivators in the world looked up at the temple owner of Liangxi Dao Temple who was at the Ascending Stage. After the temple was injured greatly, there was almost no cultivator at the Ascending Stage in Wanshou Taoist Temple these years, so it was difficult for this temple to redeem its lost glory.

Besides Wanshou Temple, another famous Taoist mountain, Yuwu Mountain, was under discussion. This mountain had been also injured greatly in the great war. However, even though it had been injured, after the war, there was still a sage, Sage Chen, from Yuwu Mountain, which benefited the mountain and promoted its position, and it wasn’t inferior to Wanshou Temple. Instead, it was even more powerful than Wanshou Temple. So when people talked about the Taoist temples which were below Chenxie Mountain in rank, Yuwu Mountain would be mentioned besides Wanshou Temple.

But these days, Yuwu Mountain was not peaceful. None of the Taoists from this mountain was sent to take part in the Liangxi Taoist assembly. After the Taoist assembly was over, the people on Yuwu Mountain still didn’t do anything. This famous Taoist mountain which could be one of the top three in Liangxi seemed not to care about Chenxie Mountain. Yuwu Mountain lived peacefully in the cold winter, but when spring came, before the old trees on the mountain had new shoots, a Taoist dressed in a yellow and purple robe came up the mountain.

If it was an ordinary Taoist, the people on Yuwu Mountain wouldn’t be in a difficult position no matter if they welcomed him to the mountain or drove him down, but this Taoist was not ordinary. He came from Chenxie Mountain and was one of the few Taoists in yellow and purple. Although he was not at a rarely high stage, he must be at the Revelation Stage at least, and he couldn’t be treated randomly. So after the people on Yuwu Mountain judged and weighed, the host Ge Hong personally came to receive the guest. Zhang Shouqing didn’t seem to denounce them publicly for their crimes and just offered that he would play the game of Go with this host, and it didn’t matter if he won or lost.

Although Ge Hong was the host of Yuwu Mountain, he was at a stage only a little higher than Zhang Shouqing, and till now he was just close to the Ascending Stage. This host hadn’t cultivated for long. If his predecessor, the old host didn’t die too soon, it wouldn’t be Ge Hong’s turn to take over Yuwu Mountain. If they really fought against each other, Ge Hong was powerful enough to take Zhang Shouqing’s life on this mountain, but since Zhang Shouqing came up and said that he only wanted to play the game with the host, Ge Hong couldn’t start a fight randomly. Moreover, anybody knew that Zhang Shouqing came here, which was arranged by the people on Chenxie Mountain. If Ge Hong killed him randomly, even though Sage Chen came from Yuwu Mountain, when they faced Chenxie Mountain, they couldn’t get any profit. In Liangxi, the temple owner on Chenxie Mountain had a say since many years ago.

So Ge Hong invited Zhang Shouqing to play Go on the Cloud Terrace. The stone terrace on the peak of the mountain used to be the place where Sage Chen attained enlightenment. It was said that the old pine next to the Cloud Terrace was planted by Sage Chen personally and cultivated with him for several hundred years. After he became a sage, the old pine seemed to be enlightened. The pine nuts in it were picked up to make tea every year, and it could make people calm down and concentrate and promote their cultivation unexpectedly.

It happened that Ge Hong chose a stone table under the old pine to play the game. The cultivators on the mountain were not like the people in society. In fact, there were few cultivators who were in the mood to study other things after cultivating, but Ge Hong was an exception. He claimed to be a Go addict, and he was excellent at playing this game. Perhaps none of the cultivators in the Taoist temples on the famous mountains of Liangxi could threaten him in playing Go. Ge Hong even bragged that nobody in Liangxi could defeat him in playing this game. The only one in the world who could be his match at Go must be the champion of Yanling, Gu Shiyan. However, Ge Hong thought that his status was not low and he never made contact with the people in society, so he didn’t regard Gu Shiyan as his opponent and made himself the number one in the world. But if he learnt that a blind man in Luoyang City was better at playing Go than the champion of Yanling, nobody knew what he would think.

Zhang Shouqing knew little about playing Go and was not good at it, so he was naturally not Ge Hong’s opponent. Therefore, he would be defeated before insisting for one hour in a round. However, this Taoist in yellow and purple appeared to be in a good mood even though he couldn’t make things difficult for Ge Hong while playing the game.

After several rounds, even though Ge Hong had known earlier that this Taoist from Chenxie Mountain had ulterior motives, he still felt unhappy. But for the sake of Chenxie Mountain and the temple owner behind this man, Ge Hong patiently continued to play with him.

After lunch time, even the tea had been changed several times and become tasteless, and Zhang Shouqing finally took a sip of the tea made of pine nuts and sighed with emotion. “Yuwu Mountain is richly endowed by nature. With this old pine, you can drink such good tea every year. You make me jealous.”

Ge Hong spread his robe slightly and responded carefreely, “Zhang, if you want to drink, I will tell somebody to take out the pine nuts in stock later, and you can take all of them away.”

Zhang Shouqing waved his hand and refused, “No. Even your disciples can’t use your spiritual things on the mountain, Host. How can you have a reason to let me, an outsider, take them away?”

Ge Hong laughed and pretended to ask casually, “Zhang, if you didn’t come for my pine nuts, why don’t you get anxious after you lose so many times?”

Zhang Shouqing chuckled. “Host, don’t you know why?”

Ge Hong put a stone and paused for a while, but soon he returned normal. He looked at Zhang Shouqing, with scruple flashing in his eyes, but he laughed at once. “Zhang, I really don’t understand why you said that.”

Zhang Shouqing smiled and didn’t say more. He just continued to play with Ge Hong. At dusk, Ge Hong was fidgety, so he stood up and asked Zhang Shouqing to have a rest in the temple, but Zhang Shouqing shook his head and refused, saying that he came here just to play Go with Ge Hong. If the host felt tired, he could go to have a rest, and Zhang Shouqing would wait here for him to come again.

Ge Hong tried several times with tactful words to persuade Zhang Shouqing, but the latter remained unmoved. At last, Ge Hong kept his composure and went away with a smile, leaving Zhang Shouqing alone on the Cloud Terrace.

Anyway, it was the place where Sage Zhang attained enlightenment, and Ge Hong didn’t believe that Zhang Shouqing dared to do something that all the Taoist cultivators thought excessive, but Zhang Shouqing insisted on staying here, and Ge Hong thought it was difficult to handle.

But such a Taoist couldn’t be driven away, so it was more difficult to deal with.

When it was dawn next morning, Ge Hong who stayed awake for one night came to the Cloud Terrace with a big bag of pine nuts. He stated sincerely, “Zhang, if you want to investigate the case that the gifted Dao cultivator from Chenxie Mountain was attacked, you just came to a wrong place. None of the disciples on Yuwu Mountain, including the ones who went down the mountain to travel and the ones cultivating on the mountain, none of them did something so frantic these days. The register of all the disciples’ names is in the Founder’s Hall. If you don’t believe me, you can go there to check. Moreover, anybody should know that the gifted Dao cultivator is the blessing of Taoism and may become a Taoist sage. How can we kill her? Isn’t it to ruin the foundation of Taoism?”

Zhang Shouqing patiently listened to Ge Hong till he finished his words and then smiled impassively, saying unhurriedly, “Host, don’t bother to. Since Yuwu Mountain is the place where Sage Chen cultivated hard, it can certainly let us rest assured. I came this time because I want to learn from your capability of playing Go. Why did you say that?”

Ge Hong’s expression didn’t change, and he smiled. “In this case, I just worried too much. I think that Chenxie Mountain is a sacred place of Taoism and would never do something without foundation.”

Zhang Shouqing nodded with a smile and concealed his emotions all the time. The two famous big shots of Taoism sounded out each other from beginning to end and never said something real, but both of them showed that they were sincere.

Ge Hong and Zhang Shouqing started to play Go again, but this day, they talked more. They just talked about the insignificant things on the two mountains, but when they spoke, they seemed to mean something. After the sun set, Ge Hong stood up and said goodbye, but he didn’t take away the bag of pine nuts. Moreover, he left two young Taoist boys to serve Zhang Shouqing.

In the following days, Ge Hong and Zhang Shouqing played Go for many rounds on the Cloud Terrace. Zhang Shouqing didn’t win once, but he was still in a great mood. After all, he wanted to embarrass the other party, and anybody should be excited at this thought.

After several days, they played Go and seemed to have an agreement. They just played ten rounds every day and would leave as soon as they finished them. But Zhang Shouqing acted so weirdly, which made the disciples on Yuwu Mountain think that they didn’t know how to comment. However, all of them still feared this Taoist in yellow and purple from Chenxie Mountain.

When they played the first round after five days, Zhang Shouqing suddenly asked, “Host, how many Ghostly Talismans drawn by Taoist priests on Yuwu Mountain are left? The things left by Sage Chen need to be kept carefully. You waste them in this way, and it seems too much.”

Ge Hong frowned and expressed in confusion, “I don’t know what you mean by saying that.”

Zhang Shouqing still replied gently, “Since you don’t know, you need to think it over. Anyway, I stayed on Chenxie Mountain for too long and finally came to another place. I don’t want to leave here so soon.”

Ge Hong still asked with a smile, “Zhang, do the people on Chenxie Mountain want an answer?”

Zhang Shouqing responded calmly as before, “We have a child. Even if she is naughty, she is our child anyway. If she doesn’t listen to us, we can just teach her a lesson, but if she goes out to travel and doesn’t do anything wrong but she is beaten by others, what do you think the family would think about? Ge, you are the host of a mountain. If one of your disciples is bullied for no reason, you won’t stand by and do nothing, right?”

Zhang Shouqing spoke flatly and mentioned this matter, like a woman in society who sat at the door and chatted with another woman sitting outside her house. He didn’t think it was incongruous.