Wielding the Thunders Across Two Worlds

Gu Zhao gave a thumbs up. "The Wen Shi Sect."

"Good heavens, the Wen Shi Sect still has a lineage?" Taoist Yan Qi asked in shock. A thought then occurred to him, and he couldn’t help but ask, "Taoist Yuan He carries on the Pure Yang Sect’s lineage. So, do the Shaoyang and Zhengyang Sects still exist?"

There is a saying among the Taoist Alchemy Families: Wen Shi is the highest, Shaoyang is the greatest.

This was extremely high praise for the two Ancient Daoist Sects.

The founder of the Wen Shi Sect was Guan Yinzi, a contemporary of Oldzi and the Han Valley Pass Commander. He witnessed Oldzi’s Purple Qi from the East and invited him to write the Tao Te Ching. Through this, he entered the Dao and established the Wen Shi Sect.

It was based on nothingness and centered on nurturing one’s nature, directly Refining God and Nourishing Qi. From a technical standpoint, it resembled the Zhengyi sect, but it cultivated the Qi of True Yang. The Quanzhen Lineage also considered it a form of alchemy using Qi, a direct path to the Great Dao.

It was clear that before the schism between the Quanzhen and Zhengyi sects, the Ancient Daoist Sects had already chosen the path of Dual Cultivation of Life and Spirit, essentially deciding to have it all.

But whether it was the Tao Te Ching or the Wen Shi Sect’s Supreme Mysterious Dao Wen Shi True Scripture, both were incredibly difficult. The language was profound and mysterious. Although it offered a direct path to the Great Dao, if you couldn’t understand it, you couldn’t practice it!

Furthermore, the Wen Shi Sect followed Oldzi’s philosophy of carefree inaction. They secluded themselves in the mountains and wilderness, avoiding the mortal world, and were thus also known as the Hidden Immortal Sect.

But reality isn’t a novel. How could such a reclusive sect possibly maintain a stable lineage?

Thus, the Wen Shi Sect gradually faded from history. It was no wonder Taoist Yan Qi was so shocked to hear the news.

"They do still exist, right in South Mountain," Gu Zhao said. "I heard it from a Daoist at the South Mountain Tower when the Taoist Office was compiling a census of the True Dao. But that was three years ago."

The South Mountain Tower was actually the Wen Shi Ancestral Court, but it had long since fallen into decline over the course of history. It was now part of the Quanzhen Dragon Gate Sect, with one of the Dragon Gate Sect’s True Dao masters presiding there.

"I hear he’s an old Daoist. I want to go take a look," Gu Zhao said.

"As for the Shaoyang Sect..." Gu Zhao thought for a moment, then shook his head. "I didn’t see it in the Taoist Office’s census files, but I can’t say for certain that it’s completely gone."

The Shaoyang Sect was another branch of Ancient Daoism, passed down from Wang Xuanfu of the Han Dynasty, and it could be considered a predecessor to Quanzhen Dao.

According to the records in Daoist scriptures, Wang Xuanfu, known as the Purple Mansion Shaoyang Monarch, founded the Shaoyang Sect. He passed the teachings to Emperor Zheng Yang, Zhongli Quan, who in turn passed them to Ancestor Master Chunyang, Lü Dongbin. The Shaoyang, Zhengyang, and Chunyang lineages were passed down in succession. Ultimately, Wang Chongyang formed the orthodox lineage of Quanzhen Dao.

However, it was perhaps because of this orderly succession that after Quanzhen Dao was formed, the Shaoyang, Zhengyang, and Chunyang sects gradually died out, or rather, were absorbed into Quanzhen Dao.

Take Yunyang, for example. He was at the Eight Immortals Palace in Qin Province. As a Direct Disciple of the Quanzhen Dragon Gate Sect, he cultivated Zhong Lü’s Inner Alchemy Collection, which was actually a Dharma Gate of the Zhengyang and Chunyang sects, as well as a legacy of the Shaoyang lineage.

As the most famous of the Eight Immortals and the one who left behind the most poetry, Ancestor Master Chunyang, Lü Dongbin, was the most renowned Immortal. The Pure Yang Sect relied on this fame to pass down its lineage.

According to the Taoist Office’s census, besides Taoist Yuan He, there were two other Taoist Temples that also belonged to the Chunyang Lineage. They had True Dao cultivators who had achieved success in their practice and could serve as a reserve force for the Daluo Palace.

As for the Shaoyang and Zhengyang sects...

Gu Zhao didn’t dare to say for sure. After all, you could never be certain about anything in this world. People had thought the Fengyue Sect’s lineage was long broken, yet now the Daluo Palace had three of its inheritors.

Even the Wen Shi Sect had an inheritor living as a hermit in South Mountain. Heaven only knew if there were inheritors of the Shaoyang and Zhengyang sects hiding in some forgotten corner, just waiting for the Spiritual Qi Revival.

...

「Qinling, South Mountain.」

This place was known as the Xian Capital, the Cave Heaven Crown, and The First Blessed Land in the World. The idioms "Longevity South Mountain" and "Zongnan Shortcut" also originated here. The Quanzhen Sect from a certain wuxia novel was also located atop South Mountain.

What many ordinary people didn’t know was that the lineage of the Ancient Daoist Wen Shi Sect was also located within South Mountain.

A lone white cloud drifted lazily across the sky. Gu Zhao lay upon it, floating leisurely north from Nanling. He passed over Xuefeng Mountain, Wushan, and Dabashan before entering the South Mountain region.

But before he could even release his Divine Sense to search for the old Daoist of the Wen Shi Sect—not knowing where he was or even if he was still alive—he saw plumes of green smoke drifting up from the monasteries and Taoist Temples surrounding South Mountain.

At the same time, some young people, and even some middle-aged ones, were donning hiking shoes, grabbing trekking poles, and shouldering backpacks to embark on a journey deep into South Mountain, seeking immortals and the Dao.

"South Mountain has lots of hermits, so there must be cultivators here!"

"There have always been legends about the South Mountain Hermits. It was even on the news. Later on, they say more and more random people showed up, so the hermits gradually vanished."

"You think they might’ve said that on purpose to keep normal people from bothering them?"

"It’s very possible. And what about that Ao-Tai trail? Maybe that’s where the cultivators are, and that’s why it’s closed off to the public?"

"Yeah, yeah, that makes sense!"

"Should we go check out the Ao-Tai trail?"

"What kind of damn sense does that make? Haven’t enough people died on the Ao-Tai trail already? We came to the mountains to find immortals, not to find death!"

"Use your brain, will you? Taoist Ming Chong, Taoist Yuan He, Taoist Yan Qi, and Taoist Xu Ning... They’re from Dragon Tiger Heavenly Mountain, Jin Province Lüzu Temple, Qingcheng Mountain, and Lao Mountain, respectively. All of those are Taoist Temples in scenic areas. Which one of them is hidden deep in the mountains?"

"Then why are we here?" a woman asked, bewildered.

"Because those places are already packed, obviously!" the man who spoke said, exasperated. "If we go there to offer incense, we’ll just be a drop in the ocean, completely lost in the crowd."

"But if we find a cultivator deep in South Mountain, it’ll prove our perseverance and willpower!" another man said.

The other two men readily agreed, while the two women with them could only nod in bewilderment.

"But this path we’re on is still part of the tourist area, right?" one of the women asked, pointing to a nearby trash can and then to a group of figures barely visible in the distance. "Are they here looking for immortals too?"

The men, "..."

"I doubt the cultivators would hide too deep anyway," the first man said, trying to save face. "Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been legends about hermits back in the day. As long as we search diligently here in the mountains, our chances have to be better than going to places like Qingcheng Mountain or Zhenwu Mountain."

The group of four men and two women wandered through the mountains. They did indeed encounter many mountain folk living there, city dwellers who rented local houses, and even a business owner who had opened a guesthouse right in South Mountain.

Then, they heard about two old men living nearby who were self-sufficient and had been there for several decades.

"They’re really just two ordinary old men who’ve lived on this mountain for decades. They don’t have any family. They go out for a stroll now and then and sometimes teach the village kids or tell them stories."

"They used to treat the villagers’ illnesses, too. But later, conditions in the village improved, we got a village doctor, and they weren’t needed for that anymore."

"During holidays, a few of the students they taught in the village still come to visit, bringing meat, eggs, and milk. No one really visits otherwise. It’s just the two old men growing vegetables and playing chess."

"Could they be..."

"Let’s go check it out before we jump to any conclusions!"

So, the six of them bid farewell to the villagers and made their way to a secluded spot on a mountain two peaks behind the village. Sure enough, halfway up the mountainside, they saw a few simple dwellings. As they walked closer, they saw two old men playing Go under a large tree.

One of the men started to go forward to greet them but was pulled back by another.

"Did you forget what it says in all the stories?" the man reminded him. "Don’t interrupt the refined pastimes of a master. Wait until they’ve finished their game to greet them."

"Right, right!" The others nodded in agreement.

Even Gu Zhao, watching from his cloud, was impressed. ’I can’t believe they actually found some masters, and two of them at that.’