I served as Li Bai's page.

"Yuan Yan and Li Bai, I know your little schemes all too well. Yuan Yan is using the pretext of visiting me in Suizhou to actually go to Anlu to drink with Li Bai. You, along with Cui Chengfu and Yuan Danqiu, are having a great time singing and drinking at a tavern south of Tianjin Bridge in Luoyang. Everyone in the world knows, yet you still think you can hide it from me?" said Master Ziyang.

"Master, I didn't mean to hide it from you, it's just a pity you're not here, otherwise it would have been even more lively," Yuan said.

"How could I, your master, stoop to your level? Let's go cultivate at the Canxia Tower." After saying this, Master Ziyang led Li Bai and Yuan Yan up to the Canxia Tower. I arrived at the backyard of the Bitter Bamboo Courtyard, where Xuanmeng was sitting in front of the Primordial Heavenly Venerable, her eyes slightly closed.

I called softly, "Xuanmeng."

Xuanmeng opened her eyes and stood up from the futon: "Yuehua, when did you arrive?"

"Just arrived."

Xuanmeng stepped forward, warmly grasped my hands, her eyes shining with excitement and intelligence, as if the innocent boy from the top of Baizhao Mountain had returned.

"Yuehua, when did you return to Baizhao Mountain? Do you know how difficult it was for Miss Xu during childbirth? I happened to be looking for you that day and heard Miss Xu screaming in pain; the Li family was in complete chaos."

"I didn't hear my young mistress mention it when we got back. Did it scare you?" I said.

"It really scared me. Why would you have a baby if it's so painful? When I found you weren't here, I rushed back to Baizhao Mountain," Xuanmeng said.

"What did you want to see me about?" I asked.

"When Senior Brother Xuanzhen came to the Taoist temple, Master asked me to come to the Bitter Bamboo Courtyard. I didn't know if I should come, so I wanted to ask you for your advice. Since you weren't here, I decided to come on my own."

"You made the right choice coming here. You seem much more cheerful now; you must have learned a lot of new things."

"My master enlightened me on many principles I didn't understand before, such as childbirth. It's a necessity for human reproduction, and also a bittersweet experience that women must endure."

"Once you understand, that's enough. If you have questions, you should seek answers. Cultivation is about elevating our thoughts and actions in reality, transcending the ordinary."

"Yuehua, why don't you become our disciple and join us in seeking immortality?" Xuanmeng said.

"But I prefer traveling around with my young master," I said.

"When my cultivation is advanced enough that I can travel alone, I will go with you, and we will travel and cultivate together."

"Alright, then you must intensify your cultivation. Once you gain Master Ziyang's approval, you can travel the world. Do you know how beautiful your senior brother Yuan Danqiu's residence is on Yingyang Mountain in Songshan? It's like a fairyland on earth; it's his own residence, just as this place belongs to Master Ziyang. Don't you want a place of your own?"

"Actually, Bai Zhaoshan is quite beautiful, but my cultivation is too shallow to control it."

"Enlightenment takes time; no one can learn it without a teacher. Don't rush," I comforted Xuanmeng.

Xuanmeng and I talked in the backyard for a full hour. It wasn't until Master Ziyang sent someone to summon me to the Canxia Pavilion that I got up to take my leave.

I arrived at the Canxia Tower, where Master Ziyang was instructing Li Bai and Yuan Yan on a new method of inhalation and exhalation. Seeing me come upstairs, he said to me:

"Why don't you train with them? You might even grasp the concepts faster than they do."

I sat on the veranda on the third floor of the Canxia Pavilion, closed my eyes, and silently recited the mantra taught by Master Ziyang. Breathing in the fresh air of Xiancheng Mountain, I felt as if I had truly entered a fairyland, and my spirits began to float. There was no past, no future; love, hate, and all worldly desires were emptied. Suddenly, I felt as light as a swallow, my whole body exhilarated. Could I truly become an immortal? Or had Master Ziyang cast some kind of spell? A sense of unease began to creep into my heart.

I slightly opened my eyes and looked around. Then I heard Master Ziyang say, "How does it feel to feel refreshed all over?"

"It feels so good, I'm starting to wonder if I've become an immortal," I said.

"Have you two found that feeling?" Master Ziyang asked Yuan Yan and Li Bai.

Yuan Yan said, "No, just reciting the mantra you taught me makes me sleepy."

Li Bai said, "I don't either. I'm burdened with deep-seated sins; whenever I'm quiet, I think of the past and all I want to do is drink."

Master Ziyang sighed deeply and said, "Those who enter my sect lack innate talent, while those who possess it do not aspire to become immortals."

I quickly stood up, walked to Master Ziyang, knelt down, and said, "Master, with three thousand disciples, surely some will be able to comprehend your true teachings. Isn't Master Yuan Danqiu also a reclusive master? Please don't be sad, Master, I am destined to wander with my young master."

"I used this incantation to test all my disciples except Yuan Danqiu. Very few of them grasped even a fraction of it. Xuanmeng and Xuanzhen had some understanding, but the vast majority, like Yuan Yan, were just like that," said Master Ziyang.

"Isn't there still Yuan Danqiu? He definitely won't disappoint you. Yuan Yan and my young master drank too much and their bodies are full of turbid energy, so they're a bit slow to comprehend. The incantation you teach them will be useful to them," I said.

"You're so sweet-talking; you know how to appease Bendao. Everything is fate; let it be. I hope the truth I've come to understand won't be in vain."

"No, at least for now, Xuanmeng is full of confidence and wants to travel the world after she finishes her studies," I said.

"It's a pity he's a bit slow to understand. You can all make yourselves at the Bitter Bamboo Courtyard; I'm going to Ziyang Cave for seclusion."

Li Bai, Yuan Yan, and I stood up and followed Master Ziyang down from the Canxia Tower. Two disciples accompanied Master Ziyang as we walked towards Ziyang Cave.

The three of us stayed at Kuzhuyuan for one night, and the next morning we bid farewell to Kuzhuyuan and headed towards Suizhou. Xuanmeng saw us off to the gate of Xiangguo Temple, watching us leave with a heavy heart.

Upon returning to Suizhou, the first thing Li Bai and Yuan Yan did was find a tavern to drink. I advised them:

"Stop drinking. Think about what Master Ziyang expects of you. Don't you want to become immortals as soon as possible?"

Li Bai said, "Moonlight, do you know when I will become an immortal? It will be when I drink to my heart's content, forgetting everything. Wouldn't that be becoming an immortal?"

Yuan Yan added, "That's why we achieved immortality more often than you."

"You two are just being unreasonable." I was furious and walked out of the restaurant, leaving those two drunkards to drink on their own.

I strolled around the streets of Suizhou, experiencing the warmth of Shennong's hometown.

"Sir, how about a spring pancake? You don't look like a local. Spring pancakes are a local specialty; I guarantee you'll want more after you try them." I was stopped by a vendor who kept trying to sell me his spring pancakes.

I looked at his stall. It was noon, but no one was buying anything. Doing this kind of business, exposed to the wind and sun, must be quite difficult.

"Give me one," I said.

The vendor made me a spring pancake himself, and I tried a bite; it tasted good.

"It tastes good, give me six," I said.

The vendor happily said, "Okay, I'll give you another one for free."

When I returned to the restaurant with a few spring pancakes, Li Bai and Yuan Yan had finished their drinks and were waiting for me. I handed them the spring pancakes and said:

"Eat up, it tastes good, a specialty of Suizhou."

The two people, each holding a spring pancake, were burping and looking at me with long faces.