Now, it is told that Ao Tu arrived at Wuzhuang Temple and transformed into a Daoist priest.
Behold him: upon his head he wore a purple-gold Flying Mountain Crown; upon his body, an Eight Trigrams Dragon-Tiger Robe. Around his waist was tied the Houtian Dragon-Binding Rope; beneath his feet he wore Auspicious-Cloud Heaven-Ascending Boots.
【Entering mission area】
【Current side quest: Keeping Friends at Wuzhuang Temple】
【Mission requirement: Obstruct the scripture pilgrims within the Wuzhuang Temple area. Rewards will be settled according to the duration of obstruction.】
【Mission rewards: Three days/Spell · Earth-Escape Art; seven days/Six-Turn Golden Pill; half a month/Taiyi Purple-Gold Pill; one month/Buddhist Art · Six-Character Mantra; one season/Divine Ability · Rainbow Transformation Art; half a year/Ancestral Dragon Essence Blood; one year/Connate Spiritual Treasure · Soul-Scattering Gourd; three years/Connate Spiritual Treasure · Hetu Luoshu; twelve years/Chaos Bell; sixty years……】
【Current progress: Six days】
The mission rewards were fairly generous.
Among them, the Six-Turn Golden Pill and the Taiyi Purple-Gold Pill were precisely the pills Ao Tu urgently needed to raise his cultivation and magical power.
As for the Six-Character Mantra, it was a kind of all-purpose divine ability of the Buddhist school, applicable to almost any situation.
Combat, healing illness, dispelling disasters, resolving calamities—it could be used for all of them.
Its only shortcoming was that the power of this divine ability would only be formidable when the user’s own realm of magical power was sufficiently profound; otherwise, its effects would be rather ordinary.
Aside from the system’s rewards, the Wuzhuang Temple ordeal also held another treasure.
The ginseng fruit, also known as the grass-returning cinnabar: smelling one could grant three hundred and sixty years of life; eating one could grant forty-seven thousand years.
Faced with such a treasure, Ao Tu naturally wanted to get a couple for himself.
Leaving lifespan aside, refining them to increase his cultivation would also be good.
Though Zhenyuanzi was powerful, Ao Tu had no need to confront him.
He still had the Three-Light Divine Water he had obtained from Guanyin Bodhisattva. He could take Guanyin Bodhisattva’s place, heal the ginseng fruit tree, and then take two fruits as payment.
Ao Tu transformed Hu Xianfeng into a young attendant and walked through the mountain gate.
To the left of that mountain gate stood a stone stele, and upon the stele were ten large characters:
Blessed land of Longevity Mountain, grotto-heaven of Wuzhuang Temple.
Once inside, there was a couplet upon the second gate:
A mansion of immortals who live forever and never age;
A Daoist household with a lifespan equal to Heaven.
This was none other than the Daoist ground of Zhenyuanzi, the Ancestor of Earth Immortals, also called Great Immortal Zhenyuan, whose mixed name was Lord Equal to the World.
Earlier, Zhenyuanzi had received an invitation slip from Yuanshi Tianzun, inviting him to the Miluo Palace in the Heaven of Shangqing to listen to a discourse on the Dao-fruit of Hunyuan.
There were countless wandering immortals under Zhenyuanzi’s gate. At present, he still had forty-eight disciples remaining by his side. That day, he led forty-six of them to the upper realm to listen to the lecture, leaving behind the two youngest to watch the house: one called Qingfeng, and one called Mingyue.
Qingfeng was one thousand three hundred and twenty years old, while Mingyue was one thousand two hundred.
When Zhenyuanzi left, he instructed the two young attendants, “You two must be careful at home. In a few days, an old friend of mine will pass by here. Do not neglect him. Knock down two ginseng fruits for him to eat, as a token of our old friendship.”
The two attendants asked, “Who is Master’s old friend?”
Zhenyuanzi said, “He is the holy monk under the reign of the Great Tang in the Eastern Lands, whose Dharma name is Sanzang.”
The two attendants asked, “We belong to the Taiyi Profound Gate. How are we acquainted with that monk?”
Zhenyuanzi said, “That monk is the reincarnation of Jin Chanzi, the second disciple of Tathagata Buddha. Five hundred years ago, at the Ullambana Assembly, he personally passed tea to me in respect. Thus, I regard him as an old friend.”
Hearing this, the two immortal attendants respectfully obeyed their master’s command.
Zhenyuanzi led his disciples in ascension, heading straight for the heavenly realm.
Now, only the two immortal attendants Qingfeng and Mingyue remained in the temple; Zhenyuanzi was not there.
Of course, even if Zhenyuanzi had been there, Ao Tu would not have feared him, because Ao Tu had not come to steal the fruits. Having no guilt on his conscience, he naturally had no one to fear.
He knocked on the door, and from within, two little attendants hurried out.
Their appearances were most fine. As the saying goes:
Their bones were pure, their spirits fresh, their faces fair; their hair was tied in twin topknots, short locks tousled.
Their Daoist robes naturally gathered mist at the lapels; their feathered garments seemed especially to send wind fluttering from the sleeves.
Ringed sashes tightly bound in dragon-head knots; hemp shoes lightly wound with silken floss.
Their bearing was extraordinary, no common sort—these were indeed Qingfeng and Mingyue.
When Qingfeng and Mingyue saw Ao Tu, they bowed and said, “Daoist Master, forgive us for failing to welcome you. Please come inside and sit.”
Ao Tu entered. Qingfeng and Mingyue served tea and asked, “May we ask the Daoist Master’s immortal title, and whence you have come?”
Ao Tu said, “This one’s Daoist title is Fuzhu Zhenshi Tianzun. I have come from the west to seek your master, Great Immortal Zhenyuan.”
Hearing this, Qingfeng and Mingyue did not know who this Fuzhu Zhenshi Tianzun was, and so they said:
“Immortal Elder, our master was invited by Yuanshi Tianzun and has gone to the Miluo Palace in the Heaven of Shangqing to listen to a discourse on the Dao-fruit of Hunyuan. He is not at home. If the Immortal Elder has some matter, you may as well tell the two of us, and we will pass it on in your stead.”
Ao Tu said, “There is something you two do not know. This one has calculated that in a few days, someone will come to topple Great Immortal Zhenyuan’s ginseng fruit tree. Thus, I have specially brought a method for healing the tree, and have come to treat it for the Great Immortal.”
When Qingfeng and Mingyue heard this, they said angrily:
“You Daoist, we received you with goodwill. Why do you curse our family’s immortal tree?”
Ao Tu said, “You little attendants truly know nothing of courtesy. This one has traveled a thousand li out of kindness to heal your family’s tree, yet you turn around and blame me.”
Qingfeng said, “You mad Daoist! Our family’s immortal tree is a spiritual root born innately when chaos first divided, when primordial mist first separated, before heaven and earth had even opened. In all the vastness under heaven, only our Wuzhuang Temple possesses this precious tree. Who would dare harm it in the slightest?”
Ao Tu said, “You little attendant—how could you know the divine calculations of this one? Your family’s spiritual root will soon face a calamity of overthrowing!”
Mingyue said, “Still you dare spout nonsense! Leave, leave! Our family’s immortal tree has verdant branches and rich fragrance. It has no need for a mad Daoist like you to heal it.”
Ao Tu said, “Very well. You two little attendants do not know my abilities, so I will not blame you. For the next few days, I will dwell on the mountain outside the temple. If you have need of me, shout three times, ‘Fuzhu Zhenshi Tianzun,’ and I will come.”
Qingfeng and Mingyue said, “Who would have need of you? Go on, leave!”
Ao Tu took Hu Xianfeng and went out, casually finding a tall mountain nearby to settle on, waiting for Tang Seng and his disciples to arrive before long.
As for Tang Seng and his disciples, they ate in the wind and slept beneath the dew, traveling for many days, until at last they reached the region of Longevity Mountain and Wuzhuang Temple.
Entering that mountain, they found it was indeed a fine mountain.
The high peaks rose to the utmost, their vast presence rugged and imposing. Their roots joined Kunlun; their summits brushed the heavens. The sun shone upon clear forests; wind rose from shadowed ravines. Before the cliffs the grasses were lovely; upon the ridges the plum blossoms were fragrant.
Countless streams of colored clouds drifted and flew; billowing auspicious vapors rose in shimmering layers.
Flowers bloomed and flowers fell upon the mountain scenes; clouds came and clouds went around the peaks upon the ridges.
It was truly a blessed land of immortal households.
Tang Seng said happily:
“Disciples, ever since I came west, I have passed through many mountains and rivers, all of them steep and perilous places. Now that we have encountered this precious mountain, I imagine we cannot be far from Lingshan. Let us compose ourselves and be solemn, that we may properly meet the World-Honored One.”
Wukong laughed and said, “Too early! Too early!”
Sha Seng said, “Senior Brother, how far are we still from Lingshan?”
Wukong said, “One hundred and eight thousand li. Of ten parts, we have not yet traveled even one.”
Bajie said, “Senior Brother, how many years must we walk before we get there?”
Wukong said, “As for this road, if we speak of you two junior brothers, you could arrive in ten-odd days. If we speak of me traveling, I could make fifty round trips in a single day and it still would not be dark. But if we speak of Master walking—do not even think about it!”
Tang Seng said, “Wukong, tell me, when would your master be able to arrive?”
Wukong said, “If you walked from childhood until old age, then from old age back to childhood again, repeating old and young a thousand times, it would still be difficult. Yet so long as you perceive your nature and hold sincere resolve, then wherever thought after thought turns back, there is Lingshan.”
Hearing this, Tang Seng recited Amitabha and said no more.
The party ascended the mountain and arrived at Wuzhuang Temple, where Qingfeng and Mingyue came out once more to welcome them.