Chapter 13 Taoist Priest Descends from the Mountain
"I didn't expect that after practicing martial arts in the dream, I would suffer such punishment when returning to reality." Li Daoxuan rubbed his sore arms and swollen thighs, recalling what he experienced in the illusion with lingering fear.

Although Yan Chixia was a generous man with unrestrained behavior, he was extremely strict when teaching his disciples. Whenever Li Daoxuan made a mistake, he would be scolded.

That night, all he dreamed of was correcting his mistakes. His hands were shaking as he swung his sword, which made Li Daoxuan very tired.

Compared with Uncle Jiu, Yan Chixia is a strict teacher, while Uncle Jiu is like a gentle elder in the family. Even if Li Daoxuan made a mistake, Uncle Jiu would patiently point it out.

Compared with these things, Li Daoxuan was still happier about Uncle Jiu. Although he also knew that Yan Chixia did not do it on purpose, he just wanted him to learn more.

"I'll just look for Uncle Jiu next time." Li Daoxuan thought secretly in his heart.

A few days later, the New Year was approaching. Many Taoists in the temple went down the mountain and the temple became much quieter. Taoism is different from Buddhism. Many Taoist disciples will get married and have children, and even pass on their skills to their descendants. Of course, this matter is also divided into Taoist schools.

Maoshan is a branch of the Qingwei School of the Zhengyi Dao, so there are not many restrictions on marriage, childbirth, eating meat, and drinking alcohol. In fact, the temple even encourages Taoists to get married so that they can pass on the Taoist tradition.

If you are from the Quanzhen lineage, you must strictly abide by the precepts. You are not allowed to marry or have children, drink alcohol or eat meat. You also need to become a monk and live in a temple, rarely going out.

Li Daoxuan said goodbye to the Taoist priest and prepared to return to Jinling with his fellow apprentice. He only took some clothes and dry food for the journey, and did not take much else. However, the Taoist priest felt sorry for his disciple, so he not only gave him some money, but also gave him some magic tools for protection. These magic tools were a peach wood sword, a Bagua mirror, and three copper coins for divination.

Li Daoxuan looked at the Qianlong Tongbao written on the copper coin and curiously asked the Taoist about his current age.

The old Taoist replied: "It is probably the third year of Guangxu now."

Li Daoxuan: "..."

The third year of Guangxu? The end of the Qing Dynasty? Then wouldn't the old woman Cixi be in power now? Li Daoxuan was suddenly confused, because he could see with his own eyes the various disasters that this dynasty would face in the future. It was a disaster more tragic than the three disasters and six calamities, a disaster that affected the entire world.

If asked what Li Daoxuan would think of when hearing the word "Guangxu", he would think of the Reform Movement of 1898, the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the Eight-Nation Alliance, and many other stories of shame.

But for someone like him who has little knowledge of history, he was a little confused about what happened in the third year of Guangxu and when those famous historical events happened. He only knew that it would happen, but he didn't know when it would happen.

However, Li Daoxuan did remember one thing, that is, Guangxu was not returned to power until he was 16 years old. Now it is the third year of Guangxu, so Guangxu is less than ten years old now.

Therefore, those shameful things will take a long time to happen. Then he still has time to see and understand.

Li Daoxuan felt relieved, thinking that when the disaster really destroyed the country, he would be almost sixty or seventy years old, and probably would not want to get involved in such things. As for now, he still needed to think carefully about what he wanted to do.

After all, as the saying goes, if you don't rebel in the Qing Dynasty, you will be killed by a drill. But as a modern social animal, does he really have the ability to do these things? Li Daoxuan was a little confused and a little entangled in his heart. After tying his backpack, he followed his senior brother down the mountain.

The snow on the mountain steps had been cleared, but you could still see the white snow in the mountains. There were many people going up and down the mountain. Li Daoxuan and his senior brother chose to wear casual clothes. Although they both wore hats, you could tell at a glance that they were disciples of the Taoist sect. So on the way down the mountain, many pilgrims greeted them.

Li Daoxuan responded one by one, having seen many pilgrims with miserable faces. Everyone who came to the mountain to worship gods and seek immortality needed spiritual sustenance to some extent. Especially these poor people, they believed in gods and immortals even more deeply.

Li Daoxuan felt that there was nothing wrong with this. After all, compared to the empty and meaningless inner self, it was good to have some spiritual sustenance. At least people would have the motivation to live.

The way down the mountain was brisk, and it didn't take long for the two to reach the town at the foot of the mountain.

This town is located near Mount Mao, and most of the people living in the town are Taoist priests from the mountain. They usually wear ordinary clothes and are called scattered Taoist priests, or fire-dwelling Taoist priests. When their parents pass away, they will move to the foot of the mountain and are considered disciples of Mount Mao.

When Li Daoxuan and his senior brother arrived in the town, they met several familiar senior brothers. They were preparing things for the New Year and greeted them happily.

"Junior Brother Li, Senior Brother Chen, are you two going to go back?"

The Taoist priest named Chen Changyuan traveled with Li Daoxuan. He was sent to Maoshan Mountain by his parents to practice Taoism at an early age because of family reasons. He said that he had been in Baiyun Temple since he was twelve years old. Now he is almost thirty-six years old, and can be regarded as a senior Taoist priest in Baiyun Temple.

Although Senior Brother Chen was not good at literature and could not even write a few characters, he was proficient in chanting sutras and mantras, and was a master of fasting and offering rituals. At first, Li Daoxuan did not understand what was going on, until he started studying Taoist scriptures, and then he realized how difficult it was to write the evil traditional Chinese characters.

In this era without the aid of pinyin, being able to recognize characters is already very good. If it is not for education from childhood, it is really too difficult to write various characters. But the scriptures are different. You will become familiar with them by reciting them every day. It is also after these things that Li Daoxuan dare not look down on these brothers who can't recognize a few characters.

Hearing the greetings from his senior brothers, Li Daoxuan said goodbye to them happily. Now he looked plump, with a rosy complexion, and looked playful and cute, so his senior brothers liked him very much. After passing the town, he brought a lot more things with him. He was asked to take some pickled game and homemade sauerkraut home.

Hearing that Li Daoxuan had not returned home for many years, his senior brothers even sent him a few jade pendants for protection. This really touched him, and he could only express his deep gratitude to his senior brothers.

Carrying their things, they took advantage of the light before they got on the carriage and headed for Jurong. Perhaps it was the New Year, so there were quite a few people on the carriage, men and women, young and old. Even the huge carriage was packed with people without them noticing.

Just by listening to their voices and talking, most of them were going to Jurong, some were going to Tangshan along the way, and some were going to Jiuhua Mountain and Jinling.

The sound of the dialect made Li Daoxuan feel like he was at the market in his childhood. According to what they said, many of them also went to these places to go to the market. After all, the New Year is coming soon, and they really want to make some money to live a comfortable life. Life is not easy these days, and everything is difficult.

So three or four old horses pulled a cart with more than ten or twenty people, stumbling along the official road towards Jurong. Passing by Chishan Lake, the magnificent scenery also made Li Daoxuan feel much better.

He and his senior brother were squeezed in the crowd and almost suffocated to death.

(End of this chapter)