Lanke Chess Edge
Chapter 161: The Great Taoist Master

When Qi Wen returned from fetching water to the top of the mountain, he was surprised to see that Taoist Qingsong was awake. He informed him that he had been sleeping for almost five days, and that if he hadn’t woken up, he would have personally carried his master down the mountain to find a doctor, even if Mr. Ji tried to stop him.

At his words, Taoist Qingsong was stunned. Ji Yuan found it funny. Fortunately, Qi Wen had believed in him, and in his estimate of “three to five days” that he had given that day.

However, what puzzled the two Taoists was the fact that, although Taoist Qingsong had been sleeping for several days, apart from being thirsty, he was not very hungry, despite his excellent appetite at lunch that day.

. . .

One afternoon over ten days later, Taoist Qingsong was practicing his health-improving exercises in the Taoist temple. Ji Yuan had dragged out a cushion from the main hall of the temple, and sat cross-legged at the door of the hall, reading “Imperial Discourse.”

Qi Wen had gone down the mountain with a bucket carrying dozens of copper coins. He wanted to buy some meat from a village near the base of the mountain, as the Taoist temple’s stock had been completely consumed.

Their meat selection mainly consisted of cured meats and pickled goods that were easy to preserve in the mountains, as well as some fresh meat. As for vegetables, there was no shortage of them, and there was even quite a bit of rice.

Although Ji Yuan was reading his book, he also carefully observed Taoist Qingsong. After seeing Qi Xuan finish a few rounds of his health-improving cultivation exercises, he glanced at the incense burner outside, smiled, and asked a question.

“Master Qingsong, your incense sales here at Cloud Mountain Temple are not doing that well. I have been here for a few days, and apart from Qi Wen, who lights three incense sticks in the morning, I have not seen any pilgrims outside.”

Taoist Qingsong answered Ji Yuan only after finishing his final posture in the exercise sequence.

“Mr. Ji, you must be joking. Our Taoist temple does not have any statues. What would the common people at the foot of the mountain come up to pray for? Occasionally, a wealthy family will come to ask for a name for their descendants and offer some sacrifices to heaven and earth. This Taoist temple is quite prosperous, by that metric.”

After Qi Xuan finished saying this, he added another sentence.

“Otherwise, why would I always be going down the mountain to tell fortunes? Isn’t it just to make money to maintain the temple?”

“Oh… the Taoist priest is quite principled!”

Ji Yuan gave a meaningful “Oh,” making Taoist Qingsong feel slightly embarrassed.

“Sometimes it’s a bit impulsive, only sometimes…”

Ji Yuan did not push further on this subject, but continued the serious discussion with Qi Xuan.

“Taoist Master, there are no statues of gods in your temple. Logically speaking, there is therefore no need to burn incense all the time. What is the incense for? This sandalwood also costs money.”

“What is it for… Naturally, it is for all the stars in the sky and all of heaven and earth in this world.”

Taoist Qingsong thought about it for a moment. He had been traveling with his own master, just as Qi Wen now did, since he was a child. He had lit incense sticks in any number of temples and Buddhist monasteries. Some Taoist temples that he had encountered even enshrined statues of gods. If he truly had to pinpoint what, or who, Cloud Mountain Temple, which had no statues of gods, was burning incense for, then the answer would naturally be all of heaven and earth.

“But this world doesn’t accept your incense.”

Ji Yuan looked up. As opposed to Qi Xuan’s mortal eyes, he could see the true “incense”.

“Ah? Heaven and earth do not accept it?”

Taoist Qingsong was stunned for a moment. He wanted to say something, but didn’t know where to start. After all, the person sitting in front of the hall was Mr. Ji. However, he was surprised for a brief moment.

“If they don’t accept it, then they simply don’t accept it. Even if heaven and earth do not accept the incense, we can’t be disrespectful!”

“The Taoist priest is right!”

Ji Yuan closed his book and bowed with cupped hands to Taoist Qingsong. Qi Xuan smiled brightly and quickly returned the salute.

. . .

Qi Wen traveled down the mountain with the basket on his back, walking along the mountain trail that the master and disciple often used to pass through Yun Mountain. He crossed the mountain stream, and walked along the ridge. With his swift pace, he left Yun Mountain in just half an hour.

The nearest village at the foot of the mountain was called Yunkou Village, which was often frequented by Taoists from Cloud Mountain Temple. Sometimes, when the village held a wedding or a funeral, or when they needed the help of a fortune-teller or spiritual expert, they would seek help from the Taoists of Cloud Mountain Temple. The two parties were quite familiar with each other.

As soon as he arrived at the village gate, someone greeted Qi Wen.

“Young Taoist Priest Qi Wen, is it just you coming down the mountain? Is Taoist Qingsong not here today?”

“Yeah, Master is still on the mountain. I came to the village to buy some food.”

“Oh… My wife will soon be giving birth again, I would like to ask Taoist Qingsong to calculate their fortune please.”

“Alright!”

Qi Wen greeted the man briefly and entered the village, following the loud sound of chickens and dogs. Some familiar older individuals also greeted Qi Wen. Some of the younger people who had played with Qi Wen when they were young enthusiastically said hello.

As usual, he visited the village chief’s house, along with a few villagers’ houses that he knew well. Like this, he could buy quite a lot with just a few coins.

At an old farmer’s house, a young village girl came over to give Qi Wen a few eggs and other miscellaneous items, making Qi Wen blush bright red, very embarrassed.

“Hahahaha… Young Taoist Qi Wen, I heard that you Taoists can get married?”

The old farmer who was helping Qi Wen slaughter a chicken laughed, and asked the little Taoist priest with a smile.

Qi Wen had grown up by now, and his face was quite handsome. While practicing his health-preserving exercises, he had also been traveling with his master all year round. He had also been beaten by unruly customers from time to time, so his body was very robust.¹ He was quite popular with country ladies.

“Pro-probably, yes…”

“Hahaha, hey, little Taoist priest, if you can return to secular life and marry into another family, with your strength and looks, there are plenty of excellent girls in the village!”

There were also a few girls secretly peeking at Qi Wen and giggling from outside the fence of the old farmer’s house. Qi Wen blushed harder.

“Done!”

After thoroughly plucking the feathers and cleaning the guts, the old farmer wrapped the chicken and tossed it into the basket on the ground.

“Thank you, Uncle Shen. Here are the coins!”

Qi Wen handed over ten coins. It was much cheaper to buy chicken in the village here than in the county town. Moreover, chicken, duck, and the like was merely considered lesser meats in many places around Dazhen, while beef, mutton, and pigs were the superior meats. Naturally, unless a worker ox died of old age or some kind of accident, beef was hard to come by.

Just as the old man took the copper coins and was about to reply to Qi Wen, a voice came from outside the yard.

“Hey, hey… that’s him, that’s Taoist Qi Wen from Cloud Mountain Temple.”

“Oh, thank you so much!”

“You’re welcome, you’re welcome!”

The voice outside attracted Qi Wen’s attention. He saw two men, followed by four people who were clearly their servants, hurriedly walking into the old farmer’s yard from outside.

Qi Wen recognized one of the men: he was the one who had gotten very angry when he had asked his master to interpret his fortune the other day.

‘Oh my goodness, did he come here to fight me? ’

Qi Wen’s scalp went numb, and he glanced left and right. This was Yunkou Village. If he were beaten, the nearby villagers would probably help him out.

Fortunately, the visitor immediately stated the purpose of his visit.

“Young Taoist Priest, my name is Huang Xingye, this is my friend Li Mian. I haven’t seen your stall you set up in the county these past few days, so I came here to ask about the location of Cloud Mountain Temple. It’s great to see you! Is your master on the mountain? Thanks to your master’s reminder that day, I was able to surpass a difficult experience. I asked some vendors in front of the City God Temple, and they all said that you are Taoist priests from Yun Mountain, but they didn’t know where your temple was on that mountain. I came to this village here at the foot of the mountain to try my luck…”

The visitor said a lot in one breath. Qi Wen breathed a sigh of relief when he heard his words. He was glad the man was not here to start trouble.

“Naturally, Master is in Cloud Mountain Temple. Uh, Sir Pilgrim,² do you need me to ask the Master to come down the mountain to see you?”

“No, no, we’ll just go to your temple to pay a visit. How can we trouble you to come down the mountain? I also brought some small gifts with me, we can take it up the mountain with us!”

It was only then that Qi Wen realized that the group of people were carrying two large loads on their shoulders. He had not noticed until just now due to his nervousness.

“Then… visiting pilgrims, please follow me up the mountain!”

Qi Wen had no choice but to bid farewell to the villagers, then guide the group of people up the mountain. It was rare for Cloud Mountain Temple to see such country gentlemen bringing things up the mountain.

On the way, the man spoke with Qi Wen about the specific reasons for his visit.

It turned out that Mr. Huang was considered the head of one of the wealthier families in Dongle County. He had recently experienced a setback and almost lost his life, but fortunately he had found Taoist Qingsong, who had interpreted his fortune in front of Dongle County’s City God Temple that day.

Although he had been very angry that time, Taoist Qingsong at the very least had succeeded in making the man more vigilant to things around him, particularly when the Taoist had mentioned “men’s hidden intentions.”³ Combined with his fortune, it at least proved the accuracy of the man’s suspicions.

In addition, to honor the seemingly perfunctory words of reminding him to do good deeds to avert disaster, the man simply did a good deed after arriving in the town. He paid the remainder of the funds missing in order to be able to renovate the Land God Temple in one go, and even personally purchased and delivered an incense burner.

To be clear, most incense burners were made of copper, and copper was what money was made out of, which made it very valuable. These two sums of money could greatly accelerate and improve the renovation of the Land God Temple.

During that period of time, the man was even more cautious in his every action than before, but even so, he almost didn’t survive when disaster struck.

I didn’t expect the other party to be so desperate that he would dare set fire to his friend’s house while he was staying there overnight.

Strangely enough, that night, when Huang Xingye and his friend who knew martial arts were sharing a room at the friend’s farm, a servant had been standing guard outside. In the middle of the night, a teapot on the table suddenly fell to the ground, waking both Huang Xingye and his friend.

At that moment, they could smell smoke coming from outside. When the two rushed out, they found that the fire had already started. One of the Huang family’s servants was unconscious outside of the house, and the other had disappeared.

The two men immediately woke their friends and family members, carried the Huang family’s servant out, and then found someone to put out the fire. In the end, although the fire had not been extinguished, at least no one had been hurt.

Afterwards, Huang Xingye and his friend reported the case to the police. Because they had a clear account, and with the help of their family wealth, the county government made great efforts to solve the case, stirring up a lot of excitement, from Dongle County’s capital all the way to Maoqian Town.

Although Huang Xingye didn’t realize it at first, after the fire, he grew more and more certain that the broken teapot had been a life-saving signal. The more he thought about it, the more mysterious it seemed. His friend ‘s family was not poor, and all the tables and chairs in the room were stable. The teapot would not have fallen for no reason, so he could only believe that it was the aid of ghosts or gods.

He also believed that it just happened to be in response to his donation to the Land God Temple.

Today, Huang Xingye came to express his gratitude, but that did not mean the problem had been solved. On the contrary, there were still some odd and difficult points. That was why he had thought of looking for the Taoist who had interpreted his fortune that day.

Before coming here, Huang Xingye had inquired about the fortune-teller in Dongle County. In the end, he found that although this fortune-teller was sometimes disliked, and even beaten due to his fortune-telling, his predictions were truly accurate. Even those who had beaten him had no choice but to admit it in the end.

Strangely enough, although this Taoist had been beaten several times, he still enjoyed setting up a stall. This seemed a bit unusual to an intelligent man like Huang Xingye. A skilled Taoist who behaved so strangely… Could he be some hidden master?

1. T/n: LOL
2. The word used to refer to the man roughly translates to “this believer”
3. 心中 (xīnzhōng): central point/in one’s thoughts/in one’s heart, 方向 (fāngxiàng) direction/orientation. A more literal translation would be “the direction of one’s heart,” but it refers vaguely to the implicit understanding that you can never know other people’s hearts.