Two Realms: Starting with transmitting the Taiping Jing to Zhang Jiao

Chapter 14 Nanhua Temple of Heaven

"immortal……"

Zhang Jiao's pupils were glazed over.

He glanced furtively at Yi Chuan beside him and saw that Yi Chuan was playing with the child who was clinging to the man's trouser leg.

Upon hearing this, the man was overjoyed: "What? My lord also knows about this!"

"I have indeed heard about it."

Seeing that Yi Chuan remained silent, Zhang Jiao pondered for a long time, tacitly refraining from revealing his identity.

"Even the lord has heard of this, so it seems it's not just a rumor. There's hope! My Hong'er is finally saved!"

The man buried his face in his hands and wept bitterly, as if a drowning person had finally grasped a lifeline.

"The talk of immortals is ultimately illusory, and that immortal may not stay at Lutang for long. I am also a Taoist practitioner and have learned a few folk remedies. If you trust me, I can give you a diagnosis or treatment."

Yi Chuan suddenly raised his head and smiled modestly.

The child was indeed in grave danger. The cold mountain wind was blowing in from outside the temple, but he was still sweating profusely, his sweat dripping like oil.

In those few minutes of lucidity, the child was already exhausted and lay down on his father's lap, ready to fall asleep.

"this……"

The man hesitated. He had noticed Yi Chuan was wearing a Taoist robe long ago, but Yi Chuan looked too young. In his mind, Taoists were more capable as they got older, and it was best if they had a white beard. So young, he was at most a Taoist novice, so he didn't take it too seriously.

These days, there are indeed quack doctors who mislead people.

"Although this Taoist priest looks young, he is truly skilled. Young man, you might as well give him a try."

Zhang Jiao spoke up, a hint of surprise in his eyes. He knew that since Yi Chuan said so, he was probably very confident in saving the child.

Only after the official from Sili spoke did the doubt in the man's eyes lessen somewhat.

"But this is a desolate mountain temple, with neither magic implements nor herbs. How can the Taoist priest heal us?"

"A bowl of water will suffice."

"A bowl of water will do?" The man hesitated, looked at Zhang Jiao, and only after seeing Zhang Jiao nod did he grit his teeth.

"Okay, I'll go find it right now!"

After saying that, the man immediately pulled a piece of firewood from the fire and walked out of the small temple. The white cat on the stone platform squinted and secretly observed the two-legged creatures, wondering what they were doing.

After a while, the man carefully walked in carrying a leaf of clear water.

Yi Chuan took the leaf, then began chanting incantations. He made a hand seal with his right hand and gestured twice on the water, then lightly touched the surface of the water with his index finger.

"That's fine."

"Is that all?" The man was dumbfounded as he looked at the leaf that Yi Chuan handed back.

Now he completely disbelieved it. If malaria could be cured so easily, he wouldn't have taken his child on a long journey to find the so-called immortal.

He held the leaf in his hands; the water was still the same, clear and transparent, which he had scooped from the river.

"Never mind, consider it as quenching Hong'er's thirst."

The man sighed, gently woke Hong'er who had fallen asleep in Zhang Jiao's arms, and held the edge of the leaf to his lips.

The child's lips were dry and chapped. He drank it all in a daze and then fell into a deep sleep.

There were still some water droplets on the leaf, but the man didn't pay attention and casually tossed it into a corner of the dilapidated temple.

At this moment, the white cat on the stone platform suddenly stood up, its amber pupils staring at the water droplets on the leaves, revealing a sense of confusion and an instinctive longing.

While the three were chatting, it gently leaped off the stone platform, its pink paws cushioning the impact so that not a sound was made.

The white cat circled the leaves on the ground a few times, scratching at them with its front paws, but in the end, it raised its head and leaped back onto the stone platform.

This is a proud cat.

The man didn't take Yi Chuan's treatment seriously. It was almost midnight, and the deep mountains were filled with the vital energy of Qi. Yi Chuan closed his eyes, sat cross-legged, and began to absorb the Qi.

Zhang Jiao was already used to this.

So only Zhang Jiao and the men remained in the dilapidated temple, chatting idly.

Inevitably, the two discussed the Temple of Heaven for sacrificial rites. After Zhang Jiao described the characteristics of a suitable location for the Temple of Heaven, the man slapped his thigh in surprise.

"I think I know of a place where smoke rises into the sky, the peaks reach the clouds, and even a flag planted there doesn't go against the wind or spin."

"Really?!" Zhang Jiao was overjoyed upon hearing this.

The location of the Temple of Heaven is not chosen randomly; there are many rules to follow. It must have auspicious water and soil features, and the orientation must be due south, with the peaks receiving the clouds and the mountain shape resembling a Dharma altar.

"Where is the place you're referring to?"

The man immediately pointed to the south side of the dilapidated temple:

"It's located just a few miles outside Pengzhou City, and we locals call it Nanhua Mountain."

-----------------

As the first rays of sunlight shone into the dilapidated temple, Yi Chuan, who had been absorbing Qi for a night, slowly opened his eyes.

The white cat on the stone platform has disappeared; it must have gone out to forage for food.

The child was still fast asleep, carried on the man's back, and the group said their goodbyes.

"Oh, are there any places that meet the criteria?"

"Yes! If the investigation confirms the facts and the report is accurate, I can return to my post."

At the entrance of the ancient temple, Yi Chuan saw Zhang Jiao's face full of excitement, but Yi Chuan's expression was strange, and he didn't want to point it out.

You are a great and virtuous teacher, how could you possibly be reinstated? If you were reinstated, who would toll the death knell for the Han Dynasty that has lasted for four hundred years?

Zhang Jiao was unaware of Yi Chuan's thoughts. At this time, Yi Chuan was still just a young man, and becoming an official and standing out from the crowd was still what he pursued and was passionate about.

Moreover, he had a thought in his mind that he had never told Yi Chuan.

If I were an official, I would certainly be able to change something.

"Let's go. According to you, Nanhua Mountain is not far from here. We can get there by noon."

As Yi Chuan and Zhang Jiao left the small temple, he suddenly remembered something, stopped, picked a leaf, and collected a small pool of dew in the dense forest.

"Master, what is this...?"

Seeing Yi Chuan's strange actions, Zhang Jiao was puzzled.

"It's nothing, it's just that one of the little guys seems to be very clean."

Yi Chuan lightly touched the dew with his finger, a smile appearing on his face. He returned to the dilapidated temple and placed the leaf on the stone platform.

From his vantage point, he could see the mountain of rat remains piled up behind the statue...

Not long after Yi Chuan and Zhang Jiao left, the dark-skinned, thin man suddenly ran back to the dilapidated temple, panting, carrying the child.

The child now had rosy lips and white teeth, and bright, piercing eyes. There was no trace of the weak and listless state he had been in the previous night.

"Hong'er, do you think... this wooden plaque was given to you by that brother in the blue robe last night?"

The man, holding the child's hand and clutching a wooden sign in his left hand, spoke in a trembling voice.

The child didn't understand why his father had that expression. He had woken up and his head wasn't so sleepy anymore; he could walk again. Shouldn't his father be happy?

He nodded: "Yes, that brother in the blue robe secretly woke me up last night and gave it to me. He told me to take this with my father to the place we were going, and then give this wooden plaque to a dark-faced uncle."

"Where are we going..." The man frowned, looking up blankly at the north.

Yes, Zhang Jiao and Yi Chuan came from this direction last night...

Finally realizing something, the man sighed, pulled the child along, kowtowed several times to the distant god, and headed north.

The wooden plaque in his hand gleamed strangely in the sunlight, bearing two newly carved seal characters.

The man recognized these two words as "peace and tranquility."

……

Not long after the man left, a white cat carrying a mouse sauntered back to the ancient temple.

The white cat lightly leaped onto the stone platform and saw the dew on the leaves.

The white cat circled the leaf in confusion, scratched at it a few times with its front paws, then narrowed its amber eyes, lowered its head and licked the dew off the leaf, making a happy gurgling sound in its throat.

That was a fine two-legged creature.