The Way of Spiritual Journey

Chapter 12, On Mount Langya

Upon hearing this, Li Lang felt a lump of phlegm stuck in his throat and almost fainted.

The two were like gods, the Crouching Dragon and the Young Phoenix. Li Lang seriously suspected that they had traveled from Earth like him. Otherwise, there was no way to explain it.

"Where did you come from?" Li Lang asked tentatively, his words very cautious.

"This humble monk comes from Wolong Mountain," the Wolong monk answered first.

"And you? From Fengchu Mountain?" Before the Fengchu Taoist could speak, Li Lang asked again, his eyes gleaming with a strange sense of anticipation.

"Ahem. Sir, you are truly a remarkable person. To know my origins on our first meeting is truly admirable." The Phoenix Chick Taoist was taken aback at first, then revealed a look of shock.

This isn't the first time. When this person was able to predict the future and speak of the Tathagata Palm technique before, it might have been a coincidence, but not this time. It's a magical ability.

Wherever you are, ability always deserves respect.

The young Taoist priest's expression revealed respect, and he used honorifics in his speech. He didn't seem to be feigning it.

Li Lang breathed a sigh of relief, but also felt a little disappointed.

"Let's eat meat first." Li Lang's feelings were complicated. He had been in this world for over a year, and today was the first time he had encountered a living person. Moreover, the person didn't seem to be a particularly evil person. It wouldn't hurt to make friends with him and learn more about the current situation.

Upon seeing Li Lang's expression of approval, the Crouching Dragon and the Young Phoenix were overjoyed and immediately sat down on the ground to begin their feast.

Everyone was delighted with the meal. During the meal, the monk Wolong even brought out a jar of old wine, saying that he had found it some time ago and buried it under a jujube tree in the courtyard.

After downing the aged liquor and enjoying the sizzling roasted pork, the three of them were thoroughly drunk. Li Lang slept soundly until dawn broke again, when he awoke as if from a different world.

Looking at the Crouching Dragon and the Young Phoenix lying on the ground, Li Lang sighed inwardly, "The world is so vast, there are truly countless wonders."

The two mountains, Crouching Dragon and Phoenix Chick, are thousands of miles apart, uninhabited and unknown to the world. While their names are beautiful, they are, in reality, desolate wilderness.

There is a dilapidated temple on Wolong Mountain, with one abbot and no other monks. The abbot does not live in the temple but prefers to travel. He only returns to the temple every few years for a short stay before going on his travels again. He lives a very carefree life.

One day, the abbot returned home, carrying a baby crying for milk. So the abbot broke his vows and took a sheep into the temple. The sheep's milk was nourishing, and the baby came back to life.

Six years have passed, each day feeling like an eternity.

On this day, the abbot looked at the child before him, made up his mind, bestowed upon him the Dharma name Wolong, and then strictly ordered that he must not leave the temple before his return.

The child, knowing nothing, nodded in agreement. The next day, the abbot traveled again, returning twenty years later.

Twenty years passed in the blink of an eye. The old abbot, seeing the free-range, plump and healthy Wolong, couldn't help but shed tears.

"Dragon, I am so sorry. From this day forward, you shall descend the mountain. There is a Langya Mountain a thousand miles away, a very auspicious place. Go there and guard it, and do not leave it for even a moment." The abbot instructed him earnestly.

Upon hearing this, Wolong felt a wave of dizziness. Was he destined to be a mountain guard?

"Master, another twenty years?" Wolong asked tentatively.

"No need. A person of great fortune will appear within a year, and that will be the greatest opportunity of your life." The old monk stroked the young monk's head, his face kind and gentle. "Tonight, I will impart all my life's skills to you. Then I will wait for you to return in this temple after you have achieved your goal."

The next day, Wolong put on the abbot's robe and went down the mountain.

Furthermore, there is a Taoist temple on Phoenix Mountain. Coincidentally, this temple is also dilapidated, and the abbot is a lone old Taoist who also loves to travel the world and does not return for three to five years.

When he returned home that year, he also carried an infant. However, the old Taoist was wise and sent the baby to an elderly couple at the foot of the mountain who had no descendants, leaving behind a clear message.

"You are all virtuous and generous, and should not be without offspring. Heaven has taken pity on you and bestowed upon you a phoenix chick, which is not allowed in mortals, so that you may live out your natural lifespan."

The elderly couple, who had no children of their own, were overjoyed to have a baby in their home. They wept with happiness and gratitude. After thanking God, they cherished the child and raised him as their own.

The elderly couple, having conceived a child late in life, achieved their goal of a peaceful death more than twenty years later. On their deathbed, they revealed their true parentage to their son, who found it hard to believe until the old Taoist priest appeared and revealed the truth, which finally put his mind at ease.

The old Taoist priest was truly shrewd; he even wrote down the prohibition against mortals in the imperial edict, so that he could take her away today without any worries.

So, Fengchu gave away all his wealth and went up the mountain with the old Taoist priest.

The next day, Fengchu, dressed in a black Taoist robe, came down the mountain and headed straight for Langya Mountain.

This is Langya Mountain. It is located in the heart of the Great Yuan Kingdom, 800 li away from Yanming Pass.

Li Lang questioned the two men, but neither knew of the battle at Yanming Pass a year ago. Li Lang didn't care about it; he had transmigrated here and had no sense of belonging to this world. Just being alive was good enough; as for the war, let it drift away with the wind.

Li Lang could ignore the war because it was too far removed from his life, and he could let it go.

But those things closest to me are things I can't help but care about. For example, I was clearly on the battlefield of Yanming Pass, so how did I inexplicably end up in Langya Mountain? And why haven't I been able to get out of that strange mountain area for the past year?

These past few days, Li Lang has been able to relax and review all the details of the past year.

First, he climbed out of Yanming Pass, fell off a cliff, encountered a fight between a white wolf and a green python, and then ate a red fruit.

Red fruit, this is a key point.

The things that spirit beasts fight over are definitely not ordinary items. Okay, let's just say it's a spirit fruit, the kind that's very magical.

Within a year, he transformed himself from a frail scholar into a burly man; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he underwent a complete metamorphosis. Well, that can be explained by the tempering effect of the environment.

Several days ago, a herd of beasts gathered, and a strange phenomenon occurred: a wisp of green smoke rose from the earth, which was quite magical. The beasts became very agitated upon seeing it and fought each other for their lives.

The blue smoke—this is another key point.

The beasts were agitated, clearly recognizing this thing; their desperate struggle indicated it was valuable and worth risking their lives for. Could this wisp of smoke also be a spiritual object, of higher quality than the red fruit?

That's right. That wisp of smoke not only possessed sentience, but it was a living thing; otherwise, how could it have avoided being struck by lightning? That was the legendary divine punishment!

A living spirit, capable of escaping divine punishment, ultimately transformed into an arrow in the chaos of battle, piercing itself...

As Li Lang reviewed the events, his eyes widened suddenly, and a look of horror appeared on his face.

Wait, that thing that was struck by lightning is stabbing at me. Didn't I turn around and run away? I turned around, and then I felt a pain in the back of my head. Could this be the feeling of that thing entering me from behind?

"That's it, that's the feeling." Li Lang realized this and felt a wave of dizziness.