I became an immortal in the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 19 The Path of Immortals is Now Seen

After finishing his shift, Cheng Zhi returned home from the county government office and went straight to his study. Thinking about these matters, he picked up his brush several times, dipped it in ink, and felt increasingly relieved.

Suddenly, the door creaked open.

His wife came in, went to the table, and pinched him.

"I heard everything from Wang Er. You met a deity while on your errand today. Why did you go straight to your study when you got back without telling me?"

Cheng Zhi hissed.

"Madam, please have mercy, please have mercy."

Madam Zhao released her grip and glanced at the writing brush and ink on his table.

"Are you writing... a poem?"

After examining it carefully for a moment, Madam Zhao put the paperweight back, straightened the paper, and said tactfully, "Let's offer some payment and find someone else who can do it."

Cheng Zhi glanced down at what he had written and chuckled. He crumpled the scrap paper into a ball and threw it into the wastebasket.

He rubbed his neck and asked, "What did Wang Er say to you?"

Madam Zhao found a chair and sat down, her eyes filled with curiosity.

"Are there really gods?"

"It really couldn't be truer."

Cheng Zhi recalled what he had seen and heard that morning, and said with some regret, "I wish I could have studied immortality with one of them."

He pulled his wife from her seat, took out the book "Biographies of Immortals" that she had been reading during the day from the table, turned to the freshly written annotations and the inner booklet, and handed it to her.

"It is said that when that person came to the Lu family, no one noticed. He just walked over step by step, and no one saw where the immortal was before. His body was not visible at first, but gradually it became apparent."

County Magistrate Cheng Zhi had clearly inquired very thoroughly.

He explained in detail.

He further speculated: "The Huainanzi says, 'The soul is the spirit of Yang, and the spirit of Po is the spirit of Yin.' I have heard that some people who have achieved success in cultivating the Tao have the ability to have their soul leave their body."

"Do you think that person is like that?"

Wang Erlang didn't go into that much detail. Madam Zhao also bumped into him while playing cards with Wang Er's wife at the Wang family home.

At midday, everyone played a game of card games. This was a jade plaque specially commissioned by Madam Zhao; it felt cool and smooth to the touch and cost a considerable sum. At the table, the other three put aside their previous trivialities and comforted Madam Su, Wang Er's wife.

Madam Zhao has a special status here; she is the wife of a county magistrate, and her husband is a local prefect.

With so many people going missing in Xiangyang County, the county magistrate is the first person who should be held accountable. Especially since many of the missing people are wealthy gentry from the city, and they are related by marriage, so they have asked each other for help and have come to the county magistrate for his assistance.

Madam Su was Cheng Zhi's cousin, and Madam Zhao patiently comforted and persuaded her.

He agreed and ordered the squad leader to lead more men to search. Erlang is a lucky man, blessed by heaven; nothing bad will happen to him.

Coincidentally, no sooner had he finished speaking than a servant came stumbling in to report that the nineteen people who had gone missing at the Lu family's residence had been found. They were still at the Lu family's residence, having slept for seven whole days, and were now eating like starving ghosts reincarnated.

An hour later, Wang Anlan was already sitting at his desk.

He described them vividly.

I dreamt that forty years had passed, and I slept for a full seven days.

People are still alive.

immortal……

Is such a thing really true?

Wang Erlang added, "My brother-in-law knows a lot. He even talked to that immortal, saying he would personally visit him another day."

After thinking for a moment, he added a sentence.

"That man dislikes empty titles, so he taught us to address him as 'sir'."

Because of this, Madam Zhao returned from the Wang family early and ordered a servant to stand guard at the door, waiting for the master to return so he could inform her. However, Cheng Zhi returned from his official duties and went straight into his study without saying a word, leaving her to wait in vain for so long.

……

Madam Zhao thought for a moment.

"It's hard to say."

"We don't know anything about immortals. Putting everything else aside, in Xiangyang alone, who would have thought that there really is a mountain god on Mount Lumen!"

Cheng Zhi nodded.

He still remembered the mountain god, whose hair and beard were completely white, not a single hair or eyebrow was black. His demeanor was elegant and refined, like that of a celestial being.

Although he had been told those things by his advisor during the day and knew that being taken in as a disciple by an immortal was a pipe dream, he had given up on the idea. But if there really was such a miraculous person in Xiangyang, Magistrate Cheng still couldn't help but feel a little tempted.

The magistrate, captivated, couldn't help but exclaim:

"Tell me, how should I handle things when I go to see that gentleman tomorrow?"

Madam Zhao thought for a moment and asked him to describe in detail the temperament of the person from earlier that day. She stroked her bracelet and pondered for a moment before saying, "Wang Erlang also said that the immortal disliked fame. You also said that as a local official, you were thanking the people of Xiangyang on their behalf. So, it wouldn't be appropriate to be too respectful in your response."

"In my opinion..."

"Just talk to a reclusive hermit as you would any other person."

"Respect resides in the heart, not in the temple."

"Treat this person the same way you used to talk to those wise men."

Madam Zhao spoke with great interest, adding, "That gentleman is traveling around here. Why don't you ask around and see if there's a place for him to stay? Or perhaps we could invite him to stay at our house?"

Cheng Zhi pondered.

Madam Zhao thought for a moment, then added, "Didn't they say that besides the mountain god of Lumen Mountain, there was another person beside him? I heard from Wang Er that he was a talented scholar from Sichuan. To be able to stand beside a deity, they must have a relationship."

"Try to find out if you can get any information out of them."

Cheng Zhi stroked his beard.

“My wife is right. I almost forgot about Li Bai. Let me give it a try.”

The magistrate listened to his wife's advice and readily accepted it, so he quickly put it into practice.

Noon on the second day.

Meng Haoran was having a meal with several friends at the shop. The four of them, all scholars who lived nearby, sat at the table. Among them, Meng Haoran was closest to Lu Xiang and Zhang Zirong, and they were known as the Three Friends of Xiangyang.

Lu Xiang put down his wine cup and said jokingly, "It's a pity that Zi Rong is now the magistrate of Lecheng and is very busy with official duties. Otherwise, if he knew about this, he probably wouldn't go home and would stay at the Immortal's Gate instead."

Meng Haoran also laughed.

“Such a miraculous event must be told to him. I have already written a letter, and when Zhang Ba replies, we’ll have something to see.”

Lu Xiang was from the Lu family of Fanyang. Unlike the Lu family of Xiangyang, whose origins are unknown, he had a wide circle of friends.

"You're right, I should write a letter too."

As he picked up some food, he said, “It just so happens that Wang Wei wrote to me. He is now in Luoyang, associating with princes such as the Prince of Qi and the Prince of Ning. He has lost the melancholy he felt when he was demoted. I told him about it.”

Meng Haoran asked.

"Wang Wei?"

Lu Xiang said, "Otherwise, who else could it be but Wang Wei?"

“You were there that day, and you disappeared along with me. I almost wrote a letter to the Prefect of Xiangzhou, asking him to send someone to investigate. Fortunately, it was all a dream, and you weren’t taken away by the bandits. That saved me from offending the magistrate.”

"Tell us exactly what happened."

A strange look appeared on Lu Xiang's face.

"I have lived this long and have never seen a real immortal."

At the table, the other two people paused with their chopsticks, pricking up their ears to listen carefully.

Xiangyang is only so big, so news travels fast. The story of the missing people encountering immortals after returning home spread like wildfire throughout Xiangyang.

Meng Haoran thought for a moment.

He put down his chopsticks and said:

"The way of immortals has now been seen by Haoran."

Meeting the three pairs of longing gazes above, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that the diners nearby were also not touching their chopsticks, clearly taking the words to heart.

Meng Haoran smiled and then spoke in detail.

"I spent forty years in a dream. This country was called the Ancient Locust Kingdom. Its customs and products were different from those of the Tang Dynasty. When I looked up, I could not see the moon or stars..."

As he was speaking, a diner at the table behind him stopped eating and listened attentively, stroking his beard.

After I finish speaking.

A diner asked with a smile, "Are you perhaps Meng Haoran, the great scholar from Xiangyang?"

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(End of this chapter)