A Tale of Encounters with Immortals: A Peach Blossom Temple in the Martial World

Zhou Qiushui was good at chatting about everyday things.

She resembled the old lady from Ma Sanjia, Zhang Zhengdao's hometown neighbor in his previous life. She grabbed your hand and told you some interesting stories about the sect and the daily lives of your fellow disciples, while gently patting the back of Hu Yunying's hand with a smile.

Hu Yunying felt a sense of familiarity, as if she had returned to twenty years ago when she was still a junior disciple, surrounded by admirers in the sect.

Good times are always short-lived.

Zhang Zhengdao entertained the high-ranking members of the Lingying Sect, eating, drinking, and chatting until evening before seeing Zhou Qiushui and his entourage off. In the end, Hu Yunying and Guo Lanying waved goodbye to Zhou Qiushui and several elders with tears in their eyes.

Zhou Qiushui and his group each used their movement techniques to climb up the snow and head towards the summit of Mount Hua.

"It's been half a year, and the sect leader... still hasn't improved at all!"

Hu Yunying sighed.

Back in his room, Zhang Zhengdao picked up the book "Lingying Xinjing" and started reading it.

Upon seeing the phrase "The tailbone is released, and it is not empty; the essence is formless, and the greatness can be contained," I couldn't help but tap the table with my finger before looking at Hu Yunying and Guo Lanying who had just entered.

"Master, the sect leader is so wonderful!"

Guo Lanying accepted the secret manual from Zhang Zhengdao, her heart filled with excitement.

Having already reached the Innate Realm, and after the battle, she felt a sense of enlightenment and was eager to practice this manual to see if she could achieve a breakthrough.

She was originally a member of the Lingying Sect, and had been practicing the Lingying Sect's cultivation methods since childhood.

Those mental techniques were also derived from this book, "Lingying Xinjing".

You watch it first tonight!

Hu Yunying said to Guo Lanying.

"I'll protect you tonight, just in case!"

What a wonderful master and disciple!

As night fell, the town was deserted due to the heavy snow.

Hu Yunying and Guo Lanying looked at the secret manual in the room and then discussed and verified it with each other. They could also exchange ideas when they didn't understand something, with Hu Yunying mostly giving guidance to Guo Lanying.

Zhang Zhengdao didn't go out to have fun either; he bought a few books and is reading them in his room.

With the window open, the view of Huashan at night, especially with a full moon hanging above the snow-capped mountains, truly resembles an ancient Chinese ink painting of mountains and rivers.

Zhang Zhengdao was reading a book when he felt something and looked up at the moon.

Suddenly, I felt a sudden, profound inspiration.

The cold wind blew in from outside, but dissipated by the window. It was as if a breath of spring had melted away the cold wind, making the room warm and cozy.

Perhaps influenced by the breath of spring, a branch secretly climbed over the wall and then cautiously peeked out and slipped a flower bud into the window.

Zhang Zhengdao looked at the flower bud, couldn't help but smile, and pointed at it with his finger.

"The spring chill lingers, but peach blossoms welcome the spring!"

After Zhang Zhengdao touched the flower bud with his finger, it suddenly swayed and bloomed.

Zhang Zhengdao smiled, turned around, and sat back down at his desk to read.

"In Kunlun there is a lake called Qixian, which gathers the spirit of heaven and earth and the essence of all things. There are exotic creatures within it..."

Word by word, line by line, Zhang Zhengdao tried to find a trace of information about Qixian Lake in Kunlun from ancient books. Fortunately, such records still existed in these books.

It's not really a secret; it's all folklore and stories about gods and immortals.

In his previous life, Zhang Zhengdao had also seen records of Kunlun Mountain in some Taoist classics. Kunlun Mountain was even described as a sacred mountain with many strange stories and myths associated with it.

Quite mysterious.

The more mysterious you are, the more excited I get!

I read for a while, then went to sleep.

The commotion next door is quite loud.

If you can't get it done in the room, go to the backyard to fix it.

However, Zhang Zhengdao shut out all the noise and slept soundly.

The following day, heavy snow continued to cover Mount Hua and the small town at its foot.

Prices in the town have started to go up.

Zhang Zhengdao was about to have breakfast when he went outside and saw that the door to the room next door was open. He peeked in and saw two women still having a heated discussion.

"have you eaten?"

Zhang Zhengdao asked a question.

The two women ignored him, sometimes frowning, sometimes reading, and sometimes gesturing.

"Not even close!"

Guo Lanying suddenly scratched her hair and said with some annoyance.

Hu Yunying smiled and patted her on the shoulder.

"Too anxious."

Guo Lanying shook her head.

"It's not that I'm too anxious, but some parts just don't make sense. Master... didn't you also not understand it? Could it be that this manual is fake?"

They never considered whether it was because they hadn't read enough books or had limited comprehension.

Hu Yunying rolled her eyes at her.

"What kind of person do you think the sect leader is?!"

Guo Lanying also thought it was impossible, but it was clear that as she practiced, things just started to go wrong.

"Let's go eat first!"

Hu Yunying also knew that martial arts training should be done step by step. The more you rush, the more you will get stuck in a rut. She understood the principle that haste makes waste. Therefore, at this time, she asked Guo Lanying to stop and not break through for the time being.

Guo Lanying was dragged downstairs by Hu Yunying.

The inn prepared one less item than yesterday: dried radish and a plate of stir-fried pork with bamboo shoots. The old innkeeper smiled apologetically and said cautiously, "Due to the heavy snow, things are a bit more expensive, but there's really not much left. Some items are simply unavailable. We couldn't procure them, so we can only ask our esteemed guests to make do with what they have."

"It doesn't matter!"

Zhang Zhengdao said he didn't care.

It is estimated that food will only become more scarce in the future.

Many martial artists are now unable to resist and are beginning to explore ways to leave the small town of Huashan. Apart from some sects that have held competitions, some smaller sects that have finished their competitions and whose rankings are not very good, as well as wandering martial artists, are starting to return home.

After all, prices here have been rising as the mountains have been closed off by heavy snow.

Nobody wants to be the sucker anymore.

Martial arts practitioners are not worried about the mountain being closed; they can come and go as they please.

After breakfast, the two women went back to their room.

Zhang Zhengdao went along too, since there weren't many people in the town anyway, and shopping wouldn't be interesting. The two of them huddled in Guo Lanying's room, and when Zhang Zhengdao went in, she didn't even glance at him.

He was completely absorbed in martial arts.

"Breakthrough?"

Zhang Zhengdao asked with concern.

"Don't make trouble!"

Hu Yunying rolled her eyes at him and replied with a single sentence.

"Oh ho, my temper," he said, stretching out his hand towards Hu Yunying.

"Give me the book!"

Hu Yunying handed over the manual and calmly looked at Zhang Zhengdao.

Zhang Zhengdao was not skilled in ordinary martial arts, which both she and Guo Lanying knew, and they didn't know why he wanted the book.

"Can you understand it?"

Hu Yunying still had a touch of arrogance.

Zhang Zhengdao remained silent, opened the book, and pointed to a sentence in it, which was the same sentence he had read yesterday: "When the tailbone is drained, it is no longer empty; the essence is formless, and the greatness can be encompassed."

"Add one word and try again!"

Hu Yunying looked at the spot where Zhang Zhengdao's finger was pressing.

Frowning.

Guo Lanying also came over, looked at it, and read aloud: "The most refined has no form, the most vast can be encompassed. What word should we add?"

He looked at Zhang Zhengdao with anticipation.

She was more superstitious about Zhang Zhengdao.

Zhang Zhengdao said, "It is true that the most refined and formless is correct, but the most vast and encompassable is a big problem."

Hu Yunying straightened up slightly.

"The most refined is formless. Formlessness is subtlety. Subtlety is imperceptible and ungraspable. The most expansive, however, cannot be contained; it is the vastness of the universe, boundless and limitless..."

Guo Lanying stared at Zhang Zhengdao in a daze.

Hu Yunying also suffers from some form of dementia.

Zhang Zhengdao was furious at their lack of ambition and said, "Then what kind of nonsense were you discussing all night?"

Hu Yunying said, "Essence is vital energy, which has no form. If vital energy becomes too large, it should be drawn into the dantian and contained within it."

Zhang Zhengdao was shocked.

"I think I could make a lot of money by opening a cultural training class in the martial arts world, the kind that specializes in explaining secret techniques, and of course, I could also write letters for you..."

Suddenly, a strange thought popped into Zhang Zhengdao's mind.

Lao Tzu... This humble Taoist priest read a fake copy of "Autumn Floods"?

"It is so vast that it cannot be besieged!"

Zhang Zhengdao was too lazy to say anything more.

"You can practice according to this!" With that, he turned and left.

Now I understand why no one from the Lingying Sect has reached the Grandmaster level in the past few decades.

No wonder Zhou Qiushui, the leader of the Lingying Sect, was so generous in giving away the secret manual to Guo Lanying. It turns out none of them succeeded in mastering it.

No wonder the Lingying Sect can come and go as they please; they probably don't have much of a future.

Even at night, the room remains warm and cozy.

Several peach branches that had climbed in through the window had actually blossomed with several peach flowers.

"Bam—"

Suddenly a loud bang came from the backyard, and then a figure soared into the sky, twisting and turning in the air before landing on the ground.

"Hahahaha!"

“I’ve mastered it!”