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Chapter 153 The Big and the Small Secretaries and the Small Black and White Fishes

Li Ye looked serious. Even though Cui Keli was not taking the place of patriarch of the Cui family, he could be of great help in ruling the states and counties of Pinglu as long as he remained the Confucious master in his realm. Let alone other matters, just enlightening the people of Pinglu would greatly contribute to the promotion of his cultivation.

Cui Hucheng left in dejection. He could not defeat the rival either by force or by intelligence. There was no hope for him to contend anymore.

The elders had left the room. Cui Shulin went in alone. After praising his article, Cui Shulin asked Cui Keli, “Where did you invite Mr. Li from?”

Cui Keli answered, “Childe Li was not invited by me. He is the friend of Taoist man Su. I heard that they got to know each other on the way to Qingzhou.”

Cui Shulin thought for a moment before he looked at Cui Keli and said meaningfully, “Have you noticed something special about him?”

“Special?”

“Don’t you feel close to him?”

“Close? Maybe... Yes, I feel so.”

“I have a feeling that Mr. Li has a connection with our family.”

“Sure he does. Otherwise, he wouldn’t show up here.”

“...”

Cui Shulin waved his hands to stop this conversation and said, “Have you been giving financial help to the Taoist temple on the Dustpan Mountain all these years?”

Cui Keli nodded, “When I came back from Chang’an twenty years ago, I passed by the vicinity of the Dustpan Mountain and got to know the Great Taoist of the Taoist temple there. I was moved by his benevolence in helping local civilians. Knowing that the Taoist temple was short of money, I began to help it secretly... But what I could do was limited, so was the help.”

Cui Shulin nodded without saying more.

In fact, his mind was in a tumult.

The Taoist temple on the Dustpan Mountain... why did the supreme accept little two’s help?

He sent two disciples down the mountain. Why did he do so knowing that they could not really help little two with their limited cultivation?

This supreme’s style is still so unpredictable...

Cui Shulin shook his head. He didn’t dare to think more about it.

The Jianghu in Pinglu had been peaceful for decades. So it had been forgotten that there was a scruffy Taoist man who was behaved crazily over thirty years ago. He defeated everyone in the five states of Pinglu with a peach wood sword within five days.

That year, the mad scruffy Taoist man got onto the Penglai Island with only one jump from the beach of Dengzhou where the sea was rough. He stood on the highest peak of the Penglai Island and broke the Penglai Taoist sect’s mountain-protecting formation with his peach wood sword. As a result, all the master hands of the Penglai Taoist sect were forced out.

However, the Taoist man appeared on the beach of Dengzhou half a day later.

He stilled looked scruffy. The peach wood sword remained the same.

But he was not acting madly anymore.

Both Su Emei and Wei Xiaozhuang thought their master was just an ordinary old man who only had two of his front teeth left.

Actually, their master had only two front teeth indeed from that day on.

...

Dengzhou was close to the sea. An island of immortals lies to the east of the sea. It was named Penglai.

A thousand years ago, people were already saying that there were immortals on Penglai.

The immortals were not traceable. Neither was the island. An ordinary person had no way of seeing the island even if he traveled for thousands of miles by boat.

Through the years, people have continually tried looking for it but very few could really see Penglai Island.

The legendary Penglai Island appeared even more extraordinary with hundreds of cultivators and master hands gathered.

Penglai Island had always been listed as the top five shrines of the Taoist sect.

So it made sense that the Jianghu in Pinglu esteemed the Penglai Taoist sect as a god.

Penglai Island was covered with divine mist. The scenery was beautiful with mountains, waters, woodland and ridges, among which were houses of blue bricks and green tiles.

There was a high cliff behind the main temple which it was shrouded by mist at all times so that vegetation there could not be seen clearly.

Everyone in the Taoist temple knew that the high cliff was called Immortals-Expecting Cliff.

It was said that one could see immortals on top of the clouds as one cultivated on the high cliff when purple clouds, which was quite beneficial for his cultivation, came from the east. The cultivator could even obtain guidance from the immortals. As such, the high cliff was regarded as the blessed spot of Penglai Island.

Among this generation’s hundreds of the disciples of Penglai’s Taoist sect, only two could cultivate on the Immortals-Expecting Cliff.

All others were forbidden to step foot on the cliff and tresspassers would be executed!

To the Penglai Taoist sect, the Immortals-Expecting Cliff was a sacred and forbidden place.

In the morning when the cool wind was blowing, there were three persons, one standing in front of the other two, in the frog on the Immortals-Expecting Cliff.

This day, the sky was overcast. As a result, there was no rising sun nor purple clouds from the east.

The person in front had white hair and a youthful face. He was in a white gown and held a horsetail whisk. His features couldn’t be clearly seen in the fog.

But there was only one person dressed like this throughout Penglai. The master of the Penglai Taoist sect!

The two people at the back had elegant figures. They saluted the person with the white hair and youthful face. Then the taller one asked, “What orders have you, master?”

The voice was mature and mellow but a little shrill, which obviously belonged to a lady.

“The Convention of Immortals and Taoism is coming soon. There are people in Pinglu vainly trying to ignore the invitation. This is not good for Penglai,” said the person with white hair and a youthful face.

The taller lady answered, “Understood.”

The person with white hair and a youthful face waved his hands, after which a notebook appeared in the hands of the lady.

“Here’s the name list of those people,” the person with white hair and a youthful face said, “This is going to be your debut in Jianghu. Remember that you’ve all been the hidden immortal cranes of Penglai for years. The cranes are supposed to amaze the world with a single brilliant feat and let the world remember you, thus standing in awe of Penglai!”

“Understood.”

“One more thing.”

“Please tell.”

“The Cui family in Qingzhou has sent a scholar of Confucianism this time to attend the Convention of Immortals and Taoism. People of Confucianism only care about fame and fortune. They enjoy no Immortal’s fate and have no right to tread on Penglai Islands.”

“Yes.”

After the two people had gone down the mountain, the master of the Penglai Taoist sect continued standing in the clouds on the high cliff, saying nothing as he immersed himself in the breeze.

He looked in the direction where the sun rose and sneered suddenly, “The commissioner of Pinglu? The Senior and Junior Secretaries will make clear who has the call in Pinglu!”

“Pinglu?” the master of the Penglai Taoist sect waved his horsetail whisk causing the mist to vanish, “Penglai’s target is the whole world!”

...

The stone steps in front of the Taoist temple on the Dustpan Mountain were twists and turns. They were made of bluestones by lazy workers since the steps were different from one another in length. Probably they seldom had any visitors here. The bluestones were surrounded, even covered by weeds. However, the edges of the bluestones were oddly glossy and smooth as though, worn down by years of many people treading on them. People were amazed at the contradiction.

The brown-skinned old Taoist man with only two of the front teeth curled his body, his back towards a young man who was almost as thin as he was. The young man was shaking and his face was pale as a sheet. The old Taoist man walked on the bluestone steps surrounded by weeds and whispered, “I’ve seen so many shaking people but few shook as severely as you. Almost all of those died. While you are lucky to be alive thus far, your situation is not optimistic. Your family has even dug a hole for you. I presume that if it were not for my prompt appearance, you would have been long buried. Haha! But don’t expect too much. I may be a Great Taoist, but my clothes are shabbier than yours. It’s hard to say if I can drag you back from the Palace of Hell, in which you’ve already stepped foot.”

The young man had been in mental confusion for a long time. He laid on the old Taoist man’s back without moving. No one knew if the young man was asleep or had passed out. Climbing up to the gate of the temple with great effort, the brown-skinned old Taoist man immediately sat down on the stone step, setting down the man on his back and crying out towards the temple, “Disciples, I’m back. Come and carry this man inside. Treat him according to usual practices. Disciples...”

His stopped suddenly. He turned his head to look at the temple which stood silent and desolate. He slapped his forehead and sighed, “I’m getting old. What a poor memory! When I was young, I could remember quickly everything I read. It was even better for remembering women. Even just a glance at a lady far away is enough for me to recognize her daughter ten years later... Ugh, I’m old indeed!”

Leaning against the bluestone as he stood up, the brown-skinned old Taoist man staggered to a place near the temple. Around the corner, he saw a field of vegetables. The brown-skinned old Taoist man frowned bitterly. He whispered in dissatisfaction, “The girl left only two days ago but the weeds in the vegetable field have grown profusely. Can’t you just leave me alone? Fortunately, I’m clever enough to distinguish the weeds from the vegetables. Otherwise, the new guy would have to eat grass!”

The old Taoist man dug in the soil and grabbed some vegetable. Then he returned to the gate of the temple, lifting the young man by the collar, he kicked the gate open and went into the temple. The poor young man was still shaking. His butt hit on the stone threshold several times. It was good that the young man was in unconscious or he would be terrified by the old Taoist man’s healing skills and morals even if he did not shout abuse.

As soon as they entered the gate, the chickens and ducks in the grass shelter quickly gathered at the fence. They waved their wings and shouted as if they were about to fly. The old Taoist man glanced at them bitterly. He lowered his head and stared at the vegetables for a while. Then he picked several yellow ones to throw them into the chicken house, “Eat this first. I’ll get the young man settled before I release you to feed.”

The old Taoist man was about to take the young man through the gate when he suddenly frowned. He looked up at the two water tanks at the front of the bell tower and turned his face immediately. Throwing the young man onto the bed in the room, he quickly approached the two water tanks. He bent his body into the water tanks to take a look.

It was hard to tell how old the two water tanks were.

There was one small fish swimming in each of the tanks.

One black and one white, the two fishes looked special as if they came out from a painting, which made them look like something between dream and reality. Right now, they were swimming round and round in the tanks.

Some golden mist was being released from the black and white fishes, and Spiritual Qi was spreading around.

The dry and withered face of the old Taoist man relaxed like water ripples and finally formed into a big smile.

He held his sleeves with his eyes blinking and said proudly, “For twenty years I’ve raised you. Now you are finally matured.”

Suddenly, two shadows, like two lines of ink, shot towards the black and white fishes from deep within the water. The two frightened fishes began to flee helter-skelter.

The old Taoist man frowned.

He raised his head and looked to the east, his eyes turning cold, his fingers touched his two front teeth unconsciously, “Coming here so aggresively, aren’t you looking down on Qi Changfeng?”

However, his coldness began to turn into a meaningful smile, “One of them caused heavy snow in March and made all the peach blossom; the other could drink up a tank of wine in one breath and was granted my peach wood sword. Do you really believe they are only at middle level in Qi-refining?”

The black and white fishes suddenly stopped swimming and began to float unmoving on the water.

No one could tell how deep the water was, nor saw the bottom of it.