It couldn’t exactly be said that he came filled with anticipation, nor could it be claimed that he left in disappointment. Xu Fengnian remained in the guise of a wandering scholar carrying a book chest on his back, and the red-robed spirit still moved stealthily beside him. However, now there was an additional presence—a severed head, smiling even in death. After traveling three hundred miles, he encountered two riders galloping wildly toward a thatched cottage by the Ruoshui River. One of the riders, a man astride the horse, was elegant and graceful, possessing the stature of a northerner and the refined features of a southerner. Upon seeing Xu Fengnian, his face paled. He dismounted unsteadily, staggered forward, knelt, and clutched his chest, biting his lip while choking back sobs. He kept repeating, “I knew it would be like this.”
Xu Fengnian understood completely but offered no comfort, merely looking down coldly at this illegitimate descendant of Xu Huainan, who had once been filled with great expectations. Their first meeting, so cold and grim, was a great disappointment—utterly lacking the atmosphere of mutual admiration and instant camaraderie often described between wise rulers and virtuous ministers in historical records. The other rider was a youth dressed like a servant boy carrying books. Witnessing his master’s grief-stricken state, he naturally became deeply hostile toward Xu Fengnian.
Though the man had already reached adulthood, he had not yet turned thirty. After a brief moment of losing composure, he quickly masked his emotions, returning to a state of calm indifference. He waved off the servant boy’s attempt to assist him, stood up on his own, and ordered the boy to give up his horse. Master and servant shared one mount, and the three of them rode southward in silent agreement.
Along the way, passing through various cities and fortresses, the refined and courteous man managed to converse amicably with the local officers, though he rarely indulged in the overly familiar flattery of calling them brothers. As they passed through the southern tip of the Bottle Province, skirted the imperial capital of the Khanate, and approached the Jinchan Province, they stopped to rest at a small roadside inn in a desolate town. Finally, after days of cold silence, the two sides engaged in a candid conversation. The inn was nearly deserted, hosting only the three of them in its large courtyard-style compound. The night was cool like water, and Wang Mengxi, the young servant boy surnamed Wang, squatted on the stone steps at the courtyard entrance, sighing at the starry sky above. Inside the courtyard, a wooden table with a missing corner and several dilapidated bamboo chairs that creaked when sat upon formed the setting. Xu Beizhi did not drink, yet he had Specially purchased a pot of homemade wine from the innkeeper upon arrival. Now, he placed it before Xu Fengnian, watching him pour it into a porcelain cup. Xu Beizhi spoke in a calm tone, “They say turbid wine brings joy in reunion, but it seems we were never destined for such a fate.”
Xu Fengnian replied evenly, “Was this name given by your grandfather personally?”
Xu Beizhi tugged at the corner of his lips, “It wasn’t always this way. When I was six, I was reciting texts at the Xu family’s private academy. My grandfather happened to pass by the window, called me over, and we had a brief exchange. After that, he changed my name to Beizhi. As the saying goes, ‘An orange grown south of the Huai River remains an orange, but north of it becomes a trifoliate orange.’ Back then, I didn’t understand the meaning behind the name my grandfather chose. Now I realize he wished me to move southward, transforming from a trifoliate into an orange. My grandfather’s intentions were deeply thoughtful, and as his descendant, I must not disappoint him. Three years after the name change, at age nine, I began studying history and copying texts alongside my grandfather, growing distant from my parents. Perhaps the Young Master does not know, but my grandfather has been observing you for many years—especially since the Prince of Beiliang refused your request to enter the capital. From your two journeys, my grandfather devoted significant resources and manpower to obtain firsthand intelligence. I dare say he was the first in the Northern Wei to deduce your true identity.”
At this point, Xu Beizhi’s gaze shifted toward Xu Fengnian’s room. His hand resting on his knee trembled slightly, though the other hand on the table remained steady.
After a brief pause, Xu Beizhi resumed in a calm tone, “My grandfather carried a deep emotional burden for many years. As the saying goes, only the one who tied the knot can untie it. Naturally, the one who created the knot must also be the one to resolve it. When the Young Master personally came to the Northern Wei, it was even more shocking than the Prince of Beiliang’s refusal to act. To be honest, I once advised my grandfather not to wait until you reached Ruoshui but to eliminate you beforehand. If it was an unresolvable knot, then ending it with one party’s death would suffice.”
Xu Fengnian smiled slightly and drank the cup of wine in one go.
Xu Beizhi finally revealed a sorrowful expression, lowering his gaze to the empty table before him. “I just didn’t expect the knot to remain unbroken, only for it to be my grandfather who met his end instead. Before this, my grandfather even said that whether he or you would survive the encounter was a fifty-fifty chance.”
Xu Fengnian slightly furrowed his brow while drinking his second cup.
Xu Beizhi pursed his lips, watching Xu Fengnian slowly sip his wine, and almost confrontationally asked, “If you have no desire to become emperor, why have you come to the Northern Wei? Why have you come to meet my grandfather, who has long withdrawn from worldly affairs? Which feudal lord’s heir apparent behaves as recklessly as you? What purpose does entrusting the military authority of Beiliang to Chen Zhibao serve?”
Xu Fengnian glanced at him, poured another cup of wine into an empty glass, and slowly pushed it toward Xu Beizhi’s table.
Xu Beizhi shook his head, refusing to lift the cup. After a pause, his voice softened with a hint of sorrow, as if talking to himself, “Right, I don’t drink, so I don’t know the taste of wine.”
Only then did Xu Fengnian speak, “Before I returned to Beiliang after my second journey, the night before I came to the Northern Wei, Xushao told me the truth. The first time I traveled with an old servant, a fat man named Chulushan secretly followed me, secretly contacting no fewer than fifty former subordinates of Beiliang. Whether the thirty thousand iron cavalry of Beiliang would rebel or not depended entirely on Xushao’s decision. Born in a chaotic era, he never became a dog of disorder. Xushao joked that even a desperate dog knows how to jump over a wall. As a poor Go player, if the emperor dragged him into a game of chess and he lost on the board, he would simply overturn the Go board and see who could be more ruthless. During my second, openly declared journey across the martial world, I only glimpsed the tip of the iceberg of Beiliang’s hidden forces. Xushao later said that this inheritance was too heavy for Chen Zhibao to bear. When the six kingdoms of the Spring and Autumn Period were conquered, Xushao was enfeoffed as the Prince of Beiliang. Chen Zhibao originally could have gone south to establish his own domain, leading nearly eighty thousand elite troops of Beiliang to the south, carving out a separate territory and becoming the second non-imperial Wang of Liyang. Since he refused the current emperor of the Zhao family at that time, he could not blame his adoptive father, who had already given him the opportunity, for being stingy. In Beiliang, there are family rules, and before there are national laws, there are family rules.”
Xu Beizhi remained silent in thought.
After a long while, he murmured, “Even when the breath seems to be cut off, it is reborn.”
Xu Fengnian changed the subject to something more casual and asked with a smile, “May I know the identity of the young Taoist boy? If I don’t find out, I’ll always feel uneasy.”
Xu Beizhi looked at Xu Fengnian, who was spinning an empty wine cup between his fingers, and replied honestly but distantly, “I don’t know the inner secrets either. I only know that the Taoist boy came to the Xu family ten years ago, and even after a decade, he still looks like a child.”
Xu Fengnian clicked his tongue and said, “Doesn’t that fit that mysterious saying?”
The two of them spoke in unison, saying two words:
“Longevity.”
After saying those words, the two men had different expressions. Xu Fengnian had a hint of resentment, while Xu Beizhi was filled with curiosity. Xu Beizhi had been immersed in the study of martial cultivation under his grandfather since childhood. He was naturally a perceptive and clever person, skilled in reading people’s expressions. Seeing the faintest traces of emotion on Xu Fengnian’s face, he took note but did not ask. Unexpectedly, Xu Fengnian revealed the truth himself, saying, “I have a grudge with an old tortoise who secretly attained minor immortality on Mount Longhu. If you really come to Beiliang and are willing to lower yourself to be a The Wraith for a tiger, then you can just wait and see the show.”
Xu Beizhi did not respond to that remark.
Xu Fengnian stood up and said, “We’re about to enter the Jinchan Province. With your grandfather’s influence, it won’t be as easy to pass through here as it was in the Bottle Province. We should all rest early.”
Xu Beizhi seemed to want to say something but held back. Even as Xu Fengnian turned to leave, he remained silent. Only after Xu Fengnian had walked a few steps did he finally speak, his voice hoarse, “Taking my grandfather’s head back to Beiliang to complete your journey is only fitting.”
Xu Fengnian, with his scholarly appearance, stopped and turned to look at this scholar, who was more genuine than himself.
Xu Beizhi tightly clenched his fists on his lap, refusing to look at Xu Fengnian, “I know my grandfather wanted to help you gain military prestige. After all, taking the head of a former Northern Court Grand Marshal is rarer than defeating a hundred thousand Northern Wei troops. I just want to see it once, just once!”
Xu Fengnian asked, “Xu Beizhi, don’t you hate me?”
The refined and calm man laughed bitterly, “How dare I hate you? Would I want my grandfather to die with regret?”
Xu Fengnian simply said, “Oh,” and turned to leave, softly adding, “If you want to see your grandfather, it will be difficult. I buried him by the Ruoshui River.”
Xu Beizhi was stunned.
In the deep of the night, the servant boy at the door, who had warmed the stone steps with his own bottom, turned his head at the sound, his face filled with disbelief. The master, who never touched alcohol, not only drank the cup of wine but also poured the remaining half of the wine into his stomach, his expression a mix of laughter and tears.
※※※——
At the gates of the Daode Sect, a middle-aged man with arms that reached past his knees once made the highly arrogant Leng Louzi of the Chess and Sword Music Bureau sweat profusely. Yet after leaving the Daoist temple and heading to the far north’s icy plains, this formidable figure encountered no disturbances along the way before crossing the Yellow River. As he approached the upper reaches of the river, he did not attempt any startling feats like leaping across it. Instead, he paid the ferryman in silver and calmly crossed the river on a raft, behaving like a clay Buddha with no trace of temper. It is said that among the martial cultivators of the world, the only one who could rival Wang Xianzhi was this man. When Wang Xianzhi, who had not left Wudi City for nearly fifty years, finally departed, the Liyang Dynasty was so anxious that they dispatched thousands of cavalry to tail him, fearing that this man, who liked to call himself the second-best in the world, would cause trouble. Both kingdoms believed the saying: if this man and Wang Xianzhi joined forces, they could easily kill the remaining eight of the top ten martial cultivators in the world, showing just how formidable this Northern Wei military god, surnamed Tuoba, truly was!
If one thought that all top martial cultivators had to be like fledgling martial artists who made the heavens and earth tremble with every fart, then even if one stood face-to-face with Tuoba Busa, one might mistake a true Buddha for an ordinary person.
It was well known in the Northern Wei that Tuoba Busa did not believe in Buddhism or Daoism, but he favored Buddhism and kept his distance from Daoism. Especially with the national teacher, the Qilin Real person, serving the female emperor together, they had not even met once in twenty years. It was quite similar to the situation in the rival Liyang Dynasty, where a feudal lord was forbidden from meeting another feudal lord.
On this day, the sky was clear and the breeze was gentle. Tuoba Busa, who had been tall and handsome in his youth, stepped off the raft. As soon as his feet touched the ground at the ferry, the surface of the Yellow River began to violently shake, as if a dragon was stirring beneath. The ferryman, frightened, quickly tied the raft and jumped ashore, unwilling to earn a few more coins. The people waiting at the ferry for a crossing felt as if they had blinked, and the middle-aged man was gone without a trace.
In the open space, the stern-faced Tuoba Busa saw an old Daoist priest.
Holding a whisk, the old man’s beard and hair were as white as snow, and his Daoist robe fluttered without wind, truly exuding a rare ethereal aura of a celestial immortal.
Tuoba Busa said in a calm tone, “National Teacher, do you know that whoever blocks me will die?”
The old Daoist waved his whisk and laughed carefreely, “I am the National Teacher, but the National Teacher is not me. Whether I live or die, it doesn’t matter to me.”
Tuoba Busa looked disgusted, “Pretending to be a deity.”
In the next moment, thunder seemed to explode throughout Tuoba Busa’s body, and his originally short and stocky figure grew to nine feet tall.
Those long arms no longer seemed awkward.
A clay Buddha crossing the river is truly a helpless situation for itself.
Tuoba Busa crossing the river, gods and spirits cannot stop him.
※※※——
It was said that the Daode Sect had a great mountain floating in the air, six hundred zhang above the ground, with thousands of palaces and pavilions. Li Dangxin pulled a river to flood the Daode Sect, and the water surged from the Heaven’s Gate, washing over the jade steps. The white-robed monk descended gracefully, walking through a narrow mountain pass filled with lush greenery. At the end of the pass, the view opened up, revealing no grand architectural complex as the world had imagined, but only a Daoist temple built against the mountain, with a circular plaza carved with a Taiji diagram. The yin and yang fish intertwined, making the entire plaza appear simple and natural. Clouds and mist rose from the pattern of the fish, reaching straight into the heavens. The white-robed monk looked up and saw dozens of giant white storks, different from their kind, circling upward. Daoists rode on them, their long-sleeved robes making them look like immortals riding cranes ascending to heaven. These Daoists of the Daode Sect were clearly originally staying at the temple, but Li Dangxin’s visit with the river forced them to flee into the sky.
In Li Dangxin’s line of sight, besides the Daoists and the white storks, there was indeed a great mountain floating in the air.
As the Daoists rode their white storks upward, a young Daoist descended gently from the floating mountain high in the clouds.
This Daoist, carrying a sword, landed at the junction of the black and white fish of the yin-yang, standing alone at the pass.
The Daoist looked to be about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, with a very effeminate appearance, even slightly alluring.
Li Dangxin looked at him once and sneered, “No wonder the Qilin Real person, who has reached the realm of a sage, is so skillful. He even figured out the secret technique of manifesting three forms from one essence. What, do you want me to pull out the nine worms and cut off the three corpses? But where are the other two false immortals? Aren’t they going to come out to greet the guest together? That’s too stingy. Now, the three teachings each have one sage. My master doesn’t count, but even Ru Sheng Cao Changqing dared to treat the imperial palace like a toilet. Compared to you, the Northern Wei national teacher who hides his head and tucks in his tail, you’re really not impressive.”
The young-looking Daoist smiled gently, “Li Dangxin, who has no Zen to meditate on, is also showing his wrath? I won’t argue with you in words. I’ll just stand here and wait. The monk Longshu cultivated the Diamond Sutra into the unshakable Chan. Since you insist on causing fear, today I won’t move at all and will let you strike first.”
Li Dangxin simply said, “Oh.”
Without saying another word, he extended both arms toward the floating mountain, his white robe suddenly clinging tightly to his mighty body. Then his feet sank into the ground, past his knees.
The white-robed monk pulled the entire floating mountain down!
It crashed down on the young Daoist’s head.
Li Dangxin entered the Heaven’s Gate alone and left it alone.
He flew past a thousand steps, squatted on the ground, and carried his golden Master on his back.
The senior disciples of the Daode Sect dared not stop him.
The old monk was already near death.
The old monk smiled and asked, “Did you win the fight too?”
The white-robed monk nodded.
“Disciple, isn’t there a saying on the mountain that deep feelings don’t last long? I don’t know whether agreeing to let you marry was right or wrong back then.”
“That’s not the kind of reasoning a monk should say.”
“Reasoning doesn’t distinguish between worldly and otherworldly. If it makes sense, it’s reasoning. Buddhist teachings are not necessarily all in the sutras, and the words in the sutras are not necessarily all Buddhist teachings. East and west, north and south, especially your daughter, is very good at reasoning. I understand it, so I willingly let her trick me into giving her candied haws. When I didn’t understand it at the time, I didn’t give them to her in a hurry. Sometimes, after thinking slowly, I remembered to give the little girl some food, but the little girl had already gotten angry and didn’t want it anymore.”
“Master, can’t you say a few less words? You can talk about these things with my daughter when you get back to the temple.”
“There’s no time left.”
Li Dangxin’s figure moved again like a white rainbow, rushing across the surface of the Yellow River.
“A lot of senior monks in our Chan Temple understand Buddhist teachings better than your master. Many of them can also interact with the government, being free in both the worldly and otherworldly. Your master being the abbot is really just occupying a toilet without doing anything. Sigh, these years have been worrying, and it’s also a pity that monks have already shaved off their three thousand Worry hairs.”
“Compared to my master, those of his generation have less human touch. Since they have not yet become Buddhas, they are still humans.”
“That’s not something you can say. It will hurt the harmony.”
“Master, that’s a compliment to you.”
“I know, but I’m afraid that you will say it in front of others in the future. Neither you nor your master will be able to get along well.”
“Master, you’re rarely confused. North and South are both like you.”
“To be honest, I’m not afraid of the destruction of Buddhism, burning countless temples and scriptures, or driving away monks. What I fear is that the Buddha’s mind and teachings will not endure. The Chan of one Chan is still Hinayana, and whether it can enter Mahayana in the future, I won’t live to see.”
“Master, I don’t want to see that day.”
“Hehe, as the master of North and South, I actually don’t want to see that day either, but this is something I can only say to you.”
After saying this, the old monk Longshu, whose body was dry and golden, recited Amitabha once and fell silent.
The white-robed monk Li Dangxin stopped, tore off a piece of his robe, tied up his master, closed his eyes, and joined his palms in prayer, heading toward the ninth heaven.
On this day, hundreds of Daoists and thousands of pilgrims at the Daode Sect looked up at the radiant Buddhist light from below, all hearing the chanting of the Diamond Sutra descending from the heavens.
On this day, thousands of people who believed in Daoism turned to devoutly believe in Buddhism.
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