66: Chapter 66 The Old Mountain Remains
The ancient temple was still the same ancient temple.
The dilapidated mountain gate, the mottled courtyard walls, and that old cypress tree in the courtyard was still leaning as if it might fall at any moment, yet it had stood stubbornly for hundreds of years.
Lu Mingyuan stood before the mountain gate, motionless.
Five years ago, he had descended the mountain from here. At that time, Xuanweizi had seen him to the gate, pointing at the path down the mountain and saying, "Go. When you have finished your journey, come back."
Five years later, he was back.
The mountain gate was still that mountain gate, the stone steps were still those stone steps, and even the rust on the door knocker was exactly as he remembered.
"The old mountain remains the same."
Xuanweizi's voice came from behind him, gentle as ever.
Lu Mingyuan turned his head and saw the old man looking at him with something in his gaze that he couldn't quite understand—was it relief? Was it sentimentality? Or something else?
"Go on in," Xuanweizi said.
Lu Mingyuan nodded and lifted his foot to step over the threshold.
The fallen leaves in the courtyard were a bit thicker than they were five years ago, rustling underfoot. The old well was still in the corner of the courtyard, the moss on its rim a layer deeper. The hall doors were half-ajar, and the silhouettes of the Statues of the Three Pure Ones were faintly visible inside.
Everything was unchanged.
But he knew that what had changed was himself.
Qingyuan followed behind, looking left and right with a face full of disappointment.
Was this the place where the master of Zhongnan Mountain lived in seclusion? It was dilapidated, not even as good as a decent Daoist temple. The gold lacquer on the Statues of the Three Pure Ones was peeling off, and there wasn't even a single stick of incense in the censer.
He stole a glance at Xuanweizi—he was just an ordinary old man wearing an old Daoist robe, his hair as white as snow and his face covered in wrinkles. What could a person like this teach him?
Lu Mingyuan noticed his thoughts but didn't expose them, only saying, "Wait in the courtyard first."
Qingyuan gave an "oh" and sat down on a stone stool in the courtyard.
Lu Mingyuan followed Xuanweizi into the east wing.
The wing was still the same.
A wooden couch, a low table, and a few scrolls of bamboo slips piled in the corner. A branch from the old cypress tree outside the window reached in, casting a faint shadow on the table.
Xuanweizi sat on the couch and pointed to the prayer mat opposite him.
Lu Mingyuan sat down, momentarily unsure of where to begin.
Five years, nineteen places, countless sights, and countless questions—where should he start?
Xuanweizi didn't rush him, just watched him quietly.
After a long time, Lu Mingyuan spoke.
"This Disciple went to Longhu Mountain."
"Mhm."
"Immortal Master Yu Shu taught the Three Realms of Talisman Arts. This Disciple comprehended 'carrying the Dao through talismans'."
"Mhm."
"I went to Wudang Mountain. The Pavilion Keeper said, 'The True Martial Intent lies in protection.' This Disciple saved a child in the Needle-Grinding Cave."
"Mhm."
"I went to Mount Qingcheng. Perfected Master Changkong said, 'When the heart is open, all laws are open.' This Disciple left three strands of Sword Intent at Wenjian Cliff."
"Mhm."
"I went to Shaolin. Zen Master Huijue said, 'Snow just falls.' This Disciple sat for three days and thought of nothing."
"Mhm."
"I went to Daxiangguo Temple. I heard the tolling of the bell, recited the Buddha's name, and tried the Buddha-Recitation Samadhi."
"Mhm."
"I went to the Leiyin Ruins. I entered meditative concentration, heard the brahma sounds, and felt that the Dharmakaya is ever-present."
"Mhm."
"..."
He continued to recount things one by one, like a schoolboy reciting lessons to his teacher. He spoke of Yuelu, White Deer Grotto, Junshan Mountain, the Tang Clan, and Huashan Mountain. He spoke of the guidance from those masters, the spars with fellow Cultivators, the nights spent sitting alone, and the moments of Epiphany.
Xuanweizi just listened, occasionally responding with an "mhm," never interrupting.
It wasn't until Lu Mingyuan finished that he spoke.
"Are you finished?"
"I am."
"Are you tired?"
Lu Mingyuan was startled.
He had never considered that question. For five years, he had been walking, seeing, listening, thinking, asking, and comprehending. He had never thought—was he tired?
Now that Xuanweizi asked, he suddenly felt that he really was very tired.
It wasn't a physical exhaustion, but a weariness of the heart.
He had walked too many paths, met too many people, and pondered too many questions. His heart was like a room full of clutter, packed so tightly that there wasn't even space to turn around.
"I am tired," he said.
Xuanweizi nodded.
"If you're tired, then take a rest."
Take a rest?
Lu Mingyuan looked at Xuanweizi, not understanding.
He thought Xuanweizi would ask what he had comprehended, test his cultivation, or guide him on the next step of his journey. But Xuanweizi only said—if you're tired, then take a rest.
"This Disciple..." He wanted to say something, but didn't know what.
Xuanweizi smiled.
"In these five years, you've walked paths others couldn't finish in fifty years, met people others wouldn't see in five hundred years, and pondered questions others couldn't understand in five lifetimes. How could you not be tired?"
He stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the old cypress tree in the courtyard.
" Spiritual practice is not about rushing.. Too rushed， You'll miss the scenery along the way.. Thinking too much， We'll forget why we set off in the first place.."
Lu Mingyuan fell silent.
"All those questions of yours have answers. But you came back with the answers, and your heart is even more chaotic. Why?"
Lu Mingyuan thought for a moment. "Because there are too many answers?"
Xuanweizi turned to look at him, a hint of relief in his eyes.
"Yes. When there are too many answers, you don't know which one is right. It's like a fork in the road; one path is easy to walk, two paths are hard to choose between, but with three or more, a person doesn't know where to go."
He walked back to the couch and sat down again.
"But do you know why there are so many answers?"
Lu Mingyuan shook his head.
"Because the questions you asked never had a single answer to begin with."
Never had a single answer to begin with?
Lu Mingyuan was stunned.
Xuanweizi looked at him and said slowly, "You asked Longhu Mountain 'What is the vessel of the Dao,' and Immortal Master Yu Shu said 'Talismans'; you asked Wudang Mountain 'What is the essence of protection,' and the Pavilion Keeper said 'the heart'; you asked Mount Qingcheng 'When the heart is open, all laws are open, so what is openness,' and Perfected Master Changkong said 'all laws are open'—what they said was all correct."
"All correct?"
"All correct." Xuanweizi nodded. "The Dao can be carried by Talismans, it can be carried by a sword, it can be carried by a fist, and it can be carried by all things. The essence of protection lies in the heart, but also in the sword, in Talismans, and in every thought that arises. Openness is when all laws are open, yet not a single law is open. All are correct."
Lu Mingyuan became even more confused.
"But they are clearly different..."
"If they are different, does one have to be right and the other wrong?" Xuanweizi countered.
Lu Mingyuan was speechless.
"Have you seen a mountain?"
"I have."
"A mountain has a north and a south. If you climb the southern slope, the scenery is like this; if you climb the northern slope, the scenery is like that. Which one is correct?"
Lu Mingyuan seemed to understand something.
"Have you seen a tree?"
"I have."
"A tree has Yin and Yang. The side facing the sun has lush foliage, while the side in the shade has sparse foliage. Which one is correct?"
Lu Mingyuan's heart stirred slightly.
"Have you seen water?"
"I have."
"Water can be clear or murky. Clear water allows you to see the bottom, while murky water can sustain fish. Which one is correct?"
Lu Mingyuan suddenly understood.
"They are both correct."
Xuanweizi smiled.
"Do you understand?"
"I do."
"What do you understand?"
Lu Mingyuan was silent for a moment before saying slowly, "When this Disciple asked questions before, I always wanted to find a single answer. If I found it, I thought I was right; if I couldn't, I thought I was wrong. But this Disciple forgot that a question can have many answers, or even no answer at all. What matters is the person asking the question, not the answer itself."
Xuanweizi looked at him, his eyes full of relief.
"The five-year journey was not in vain."
Qingyuan's voice came from the courtyard, though it was unclear who he was talking to.
Lu Mingyuan suddenly remembered him and asked, "That young man..."
"Do you want to take him as a Disciple?"
Lu Mingyuan shook his head. "This Disciple is still learning himself; how could I be qualified to take a Disciple?"
Xuanweizi smiled. "Then let him stay. Sweeping, boiling water, chopping wood—someone has to do those things."
Lu Mingyuan was startled. "You're going to take him in?"
"I won't." Xuanweizi stood up and walked toward the door. "If he wants to stay, he stays. If he wants to leave, he leaves. The Dao is not in this mountain, nor is it in me; it is in his own heart."
He pushed open the door, and sunlight streamed in, filling the room with warmth.
"We can talk about your experiences over the last five years another day. Rest today. Starting tomorrow, give that heart full of clutter a good cleaning."
Lu Mingyuan rose and bowed.
"Yes."
Qingyuan was arranged to stay in the west wing.
That room hadn't been lived in for years and was covered in dust. He grumbled as he cleaned, thinking that some master, some immortal mountain—it didn't even have a decent place to live, not even as good as the woodshed at his home.
But despite his grumbling, he still obediently cleaned the room.
For no other reason than for that Cultivator named Lu Mingyuan.
He didn't know what Lu Mingyuan's cultivation level was, but he could tell that he was someone truly walking his own path. Being with such a person, even if he only learned a little bit, would be worth it.
By the time he finished cleaning the room, it was already dark.
He walked out of the west wing and saw that the light was still on in the east wing. The lamp light reflected on the window paper, and he could vaguely see a figure sitting there, motionless.
That was Lu Mingyuan.
Qingyuan watched for a long time and suddenly seemed to understand something.
Cultivation, perhaps, was not what he had imagined.
The night grew deep.
Lu Mingyuan sat cross-legged on the couch, not circulating his power or entering meditative concentration, but simply sitting.
Xuanweizi's words echoed in his heart.
"Give that heart full of clutter a good cleaning."
Yes, it was time to clean it.
Five years of sights, five years of questions, and five years of answers—it was all piled up in his heart, packed too full. If he didn't clear it out, how could he fit new things?
But how to clear it?
He thought for a moment and suddenly smiled.
He wouldn't clear it.
It wasn't that he wouldn't clear it, but that he wasn't in a rush to.
Those bits of clutter were the path he had walked for five years. If he cleared them away, the journey would have been in vain. But if he kept them piled up, he wouldn't be able to move forward.
So he would just leave them there for now.
Leave them, look at them, and slowly sort through them.
One day, he would sort them all out.
He looked up at the moonlight outside the window.
The moonlight filtered through the branches of the old cypress tree, casting mottled shadows on the window paper. Those shadows moved about as if they were alive.
He suddenly remembered the words Zen Master Huijue had spoken.
"Snow just falls."
Yes, snow just falls.
The heart just moves.
People just live.
He watched those swaying shadows, and as he watched, he suddenly stopped thinking about anything at all.
He just sat there.
The moonlight fell upon him like snow.