Chapter 404 - 403: Ge Xuan Mountain’s Spiritual Treasure Sect
Gan Province, Ge Xuan Mountain.
As the last of the Talismanic Three Mountains, Ge Xuan Mountain was also the most obscure. Its lineage had even been broken at one point, and if not for the branch sects scattered elsewhere, its entire orthodox tradition might have been lost.
Take Taoist Qing Ye, for example. The man currently sipping tea in the backyard of Chongzhen Palace was originally from Min Province. However, because he practiced the Spirit Treasure Lineage, possessed profound Dao Practice, and held high seniority, he had been invited to become the first abbot after Chongzhen Palace was rebuilt.
However, Taoist Qing Ye didn’t remain abbot for long. Once he had ensured the smooth continuation of the lineage’s traditions, he passed on the position. He now spent his days casually strolling the mountain, meditating, and cultivating. Life couldn’t be more comfortable.
Although Ge Xuan Mountain had a great reputation within the Taoist Sect as the Ancestral Court of the Spiritual Treasure Sect—one of the Zhengyi Dao’s Talismanic Three Mountains—it was actually situated in a remote area. It wasn’t a well-known tourist destination and was far more secluded than Sanmao Mountain, Dragon Tiger Heavenly Mountain, or even Feiyun Mountain.
As a result, Taoist Qing Ye had always led a peaceful, leisurely life.
Lately, however, things had been anything but.
Too many people were coming up the mountain, especially those with the surname Ge, each one trying to claim kinship with Ge Xuan. One claimed to be a seventy-eighth-generation grandson, another an eighty-ninth-generation descendant—some even brought family trees!
"Isn’t this ridiculous?" Taoist Qing Ye shook his head, speechless.
"Master, can you really not fly?" a young Taoist beside him asked expectantly.
Taoist Qing Ye chewed on the tea leaves in his mouth, swallowed them, and even smacked his lips. "Of course not."
The young Taoist didn’t believe him. "Taoist Ming Chong of the Celestial Master’s Mansion can fly. How can you not be able to? You’re much more powerful than he is!"
Taoist Qing Ye pointed to the nearby cliff. "I can fly. Go on, jump off, and I’ll fly over and catch you."
The young Taoist shook his head like a rattle. "No way!"
"Then why even ask?" Taoist Qing Ye shook his head.
"I was just curious, that’s all," the young Taoist said with a laugh. "I’ve developed my Inner Breath True Qi, but I haven’t sensed any Spiritual Qi Revival."
"Our Ge Xuan Mountain is a famous Daoist mountain, too. It makes no sense that Qingcheng Mountain and Dragon Tiger Heavenly Mountain are undergoing a Spiritual Qi Revival, and even Lao Mountain is, while we’re just getting skipped over, right?"
"Spiritual Qi Revival?" Taoist Qing Ye chuckled dryly and shook his head. "That’s just someone who found a Grotto Heaven Blessed Land and took those old fogeys there."
"Huh?" The young Taoist jumped. "Master, you knew about this?"
Taoist Qing Ye took another sip of tea. "I am, after all, the Supreme Elder of Ge Xuan Mountain, one of the Talismanic Three Mountains. I know both Shen Hao from Sanmao Mountain and Ming Yu from the Celestial Master’s Mansion. How could I not know?"
"Taoist Shen Hao and Taoist Ming Yu can fly too?" The young Taoist’s eyes widened.
"Yes," Taoist Qing Ye said calmly.
"Then why didn’t you go to the Grotto Heaven Blessed Land?"
"Because my fated opportunity hasn’t arrived, of course."
"You need a fated opportunity to get into a Grotto Heaven Blessed Land?"
"Everything requires a fated opportunity," Taoist Qing Ye said with a smile. "Wasn’t it a fated opportunity that led you to become my disciple?"
The young Taoist couldn’t help but scratch his head, chuckling sheepishly. "I suppose that’s true."
The young Taoist’s name was Xiu Ming. Though only twenty-two and a recent university graduate, he had already been cultivating for nineteen years.
An abandoned orphan, he had been adopted by Taoist Qing Ye shortly after his birth. As a member of the Spiritual Treasure Sect’s "Xiu" generation, he was very young, but his seniority was high. Many of the middle-aged Daoists on the mountain, some in their forties or fifties who had joined the sect late, had to address him as "Martial Uncle."
"So what’s the real story? Can you tell me?" Xiu Ming asked curiously. "You never said a word about it before. If Taoist Ming Chong hadn’t publicly revealed his powers, I’d still be completely in the dark."
"Because your fated opportunity hadn’t arrived, there was no point in telling you," Taoist Qing Ye said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"As for the specifics, neither Shen Hao nor Ming Yu told me," Taoist Qing Ye said. "I was worried about old Shen Hao’s health, so I gave him a call. It was his disciple, Han Zheng, who answered and vaguely mentioned something about it."
"Shen Hao called me back later, but all he said was that practitioners of the True Dao who have developed Inner Breath True Qi would have their chance, and that I should just focus on my Cultivation."
Taoist Qing Ye pursed his lips. "I thought he was just getting senile in his old age. So then I called Ming Yu, but he wasn’t around either. It was Zhi Qing who picked up, and he gave me the same old excuse about the patriarch being in seclusion."
"We’re all old foxes who’ve lived a thousand years; what’s the point of acting out some ghost story?" Taoist Qing Ye sneered. "He talks as if I don’t go into seclusion myself, but that doesn’t stop me from eating, sleeping, or answering the damn phone!
Later, Ming Yu called me back and told me the same thing as that old fogey Shen Hao. Not long after that, people from the organization came to Ge Xuan Mountain to register information on practitioners of the True Dao. I could sense Spiritual Qi on them."
Xiu Ming, the young Taoist, was taken aback. "They can cultivate too?"
"They can’t cultivate, but they carry Spirit Talismans—the kind drawn by a True Cultivator." Taoist Qing Ye shook his head. "Your master has been cultivating for fifty or sixty years and still can’t create that kind of Spirit Talisman.
Putting all the pieces together, along with Shen Hao and Ming Yu’s habit of vanishing without a trace, I’m guessing someone discovered a place filled with Spiritual Qi—something like a Grotto Heaven Blessed Land—and has been taking them inside.
Furthermore, this Grotto Heaven Blessed Land must have its limits. Either it’s small, or its Spiritual Qi production is finite. Either way, there’s definitely a limit on the number of people they can bring inside.
From what I can figure, Ming Yu must have gone first, followed by Shen Hao and Ming Chong. When I tried to contact them again later, I found that Zhi Qing and Han Zheng had also disappeared. It’s obvious they’re taking people in batches.
But I suspect the Spiritual Qi in this Grotto Heaven Blessed Land must be sustainable. Otherwise, Shen Hao and Ming Yu wouldn’t have given me hope over the phone, and the people from the organization wouldn’t be equipped with Spirit Talismans."
Xiu Ming, the young Taoist, felt a little indignant on his master’s behalf. "I can understand Martial Uncle Shen Hao, Martial Uncle Ming Yu, and Martial Uncle Ming Chong going, but how did Senior Brother Zhi Qing and Senior Brother Han Zheng get to go ahead of you?"
Taoist Qing Ye simply smiled without a word.
Xiu Ming, the young Taoist, grew a little embarrassed. "I was just talking."
Taoist Qing Ye nodded. "You are accomplished in your Cultivation. You shouldn’t be saying things like that."
Xiu Ming poured his master another cup of tea, then asked expectantly, "Will I get a chance to go?"
"You’re asking the wrong person," Taoist Qing Ye chuckled. "I don’t even know which way the gate to that Grotto Heaven Blessed Land faces, so how would I know if you can go?"
"You’re mistaken about that. Since when does a Grotto Heaven Blessed Land have a gate?"
Taoist Qing Ye and Xiu Ming, the young Taoist, snapped their heads around to see Taoist Ming Chong approaching, walking side-by-side with a young man.
Xiu Ming immediately shot to his feet and bowed. "Greetings, Martial Uncle Ming Chong!"
Taoist Qing Ye’s eyes lit up. He knew instantly that his fated opportunity had arrived. He first exchanged greetings with Taoist Ming Chong, then turned his gaze to the young man in casual attire beside him.
"Qing Ye, of Ge Xuan Mountain’s Spiritual Treasure Sect. Greetings, fellow Daoist."
"Gu Zhao, of Daluo Palace. Greetings, Taoist Qing Ye."