Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 973 Wang Zhan's Answers (Revised)

On Mount Qingcheng, dense raindrops fell, turning the entire Wuliang Temple into a traditional Chinese ink painting.

In the main hall of the Wuliang Temple's back courtyard, Master Wen was meditating when suddenly he flicked his whisk, opened his eyes, stood up, and walked into the courtyard through the rain. His eyes looked towards the cave with the bronze gate on the back mountain, as if a subtle change was taking place there. Master Wen couldn't help but smile and murmured to himself, "The opportunity has arrived. Have I finally found it?"

Inside the Snow Void Cottage, the brother and sister, having just woken up, quickly tidied up the main room and kitchen, washing and putting all the items back in their original places. Wang Zhan then took his sister to the study, wanting to know where they were and, most importantly, how to get out.

He had come in earlier when he was looking for the restroom. He hadn't paid much attention to the items in the study, but he knew it was a study. There was a desk, a bookshelf, and a long table. The room was rather simple, but the only difference was that on the main table, three animal hides were neatly arranged. Wang Zhan walked over. The animal hides had been treated and were very thin, with some writing on them.

Wang Li pointed to one of the sheets and asked, "Brother, what kind of writing is this? I can't understand it at all!"

Wang Zhan was also carefully examining it. It looked like seal script, but it was different. Wang Zhan could recognize some of the characters, but others required further investigation. Wang Zhan was a little troubled. It was obvious that this was left by the owner of this place.

After watching for a while, Wang Li lost interest and ran out. Wang Zhan thought he should calm down and read it slowly. He went out of the study, found his bag in the middle room, took out a notebook and a pen, and returned to the study. He started translating word by word from the first piece of parchment.

Wang Zhan was familiar with Small Seal script. The old Taoist priest Wang had left behind many ancient books and Taoist scriptures written in Small Seal script, and Wang Zhan had even studied them for a period of time.

When Wang Li got tired of playing, she ran back and lay down on her brother. When Wang Zhan saw this, he immediately cleaned up the table, laid out the quilt he had brought, and let Wang Li sleep on it.

The amazing thing was that it slowly got dark outside, just like the day and night cycle outside. All the rooms, those with people in them, were brightly lit, while the empty rooms were dark.

Although Wang Zhan was curious about these things, finding a way out was the most important thing. So Wang Zhan sat down at his desk and started thinking about it again, and he did this for three days.

Finally, Wang Zhan understood the meaning of the three animal hides. The three hides were actually a letter written to a destined person, and now Wang Zhan and Wang Li were that destined person.

This is a mustard seed space created by ancient cultivators. The main control jade tablet is in a cave in the back mountain of the courtyard. In addition to the jade tablet, there is also a hot spring there. It is said that long-term soaking can strengthen the body and transform one's body.

To control this space, a destined person needs to communicate with it using spiritual power. In other words, the person needs to communicate with the jade tablet. Once the spiritual power merges with the jade tablet and they become one, the person can control this mustard seed space and enter and exit at any time.

At the end of the letter, a short exercise was written, which is a method to train mental strength. It requires concentration and careful memorization of the patterns on the jade tablet. This requires a person to keep staring at the jade tablet and carefully tracing the patterns in their mind. When the brain can remember the entire pattern of the jade tablet, that is when you can control this space.

Once Wang Zhan understood the contents of the letter, he couldn't wait any longer. He pulled his sister towards the back mountain, and Wang Li asked as they walked, "Brother, where are you going in such a hurry?"

“I know how to get out of here. Let’s go to the hot springs in the back,” Wang Zhan said.

Wang Li blinked and said, "I know, I felt so comfortable taking a bath there."

Wang Zhan suddenly stopped and asked, "When did you go?"

Wang Li said with a smile, "You haven't been paying attention to me these past few days, so I've been traveling around by myself. I also know a big secret, brother, do you want to know?"

"What secret? You can't tell your brother?" Wang Zhan asked. "Brother, didn't you notice? There's not a single person breathing here except the two of us, not even an ant or a mosquito."

"Uh, I really didn't notice." Only after hearing his sister's words did Wang Zhan realize that there really wasn't a single living creature in there.

Wang Zhan led Wang Li to the cave behind the mountain. Wang Li enthusiastically pointed the way ahead, skipping and hopping along. Wang Zhan was amazed at how energetic his younger sister was.

Arriving at the hot spring, it was small, about the size of the main house, only about twenty square meters. Steam swirled around it, giving it a fairyland feel. Behind the hot spring was a stone platform, half a meter high. At the very back of the platform, close to the mountain, was a jade tablet.

The entire cave was brightly lit, and the stone platform was spotless. Wang Li looked at the hot spring with great anticipation, but Wang Zhan said, "Alright, we'll be staying here for the next few days. I'll go get the pack. You've been running around for so long, and there's not much food here. We didn't bring much rations, and I'm afraid we won't last more than a few days."

Wang Li waved her hand and said, "It's okay. The mountain next to us is full of fruit trees, all kinds of them. I don't recognize any of them except for apples and pears, but they look edible. I'll take you to see them."

Wang Zhan was taken aback and asked, "Have you eaten?" He was worried that his sister would eat random things, and who knew which ones were safe to eat and which ones were not.

“I eat them every day. Oh, and grapes too, though they’re different from the ones we grow,” Wang Li said casually.

"You little ingrate, why didn't you get some for your brother? Besides, don't eat things indiscriminately, what if you get sick from eating them?" Wang Zhan said.

Wang Li rolled her eyes and said, "That's a big courtyard with a wooden fence, and I can still recognize the words 'orchard' on the gate."

Upon hearing this, Wang Zhan realized his worries were unnecessary and turned to leave. Behind him, Wang Li's voice came from behind, saying, "I'm going to take a bath first."

Wang Zhan didn't turn around; he waved and went to get his backpack.

After retrieving her backpack, Wang Li took a shower, got dressed, and led Wang Zhan to the orchard on the left hill. Wang Zhan hadn't explored these mountains much before, but it was only after Wang Li took him that he realized each of the three mountains was different.

The house to the left of the cabin has a large orchard that covers almost half of the mountain. It is surrounded by a wooden fence, and there is indeed a plaque above the gate that reads "Orchard".

The mountain to the right is a forest full of towering trees. It was only after arriving here that Wang Zhan learned where the timber used to build the wooden house came from.

After that, Wang Zhan and his sister began their life in the cave. Wang Zhan spent almost all his time, except for eating, studying martial arts techniques. Actually, these techniques were more like teaching people how to concentrate and strengthen their mental power.

Wang Zhan overestimated his learning ability. He always thought that his comprehension, memory and learning ability were very strong, but this time, he really suffered a lot. Until one day, when he returned empty-handed, Wang Li took him to soak in a hot spring. After Wang Zhan finished soaking in the hot spring, he ran to the jade tablet to comprehend it. He was surprised to find that he had suddenly entered the door of enlightenment.

Wang Zhan then understood why there was a hot spring in front of the jade tablet; it was to help him train his mental strength. So Wang Zhan began to try to draw the patterns on the jade tablet in his mind. He spent more than two months trying to comprehend it, and it became more and more difficult as he progressed.

Three whole months later, on this day, Wang Zhan knew that he was about to achieve victory. He was only one stroke away from completing the patterns on the jade tablet. He sent Wang Li away, calmed down, took a good soak in the hot spring, changed into clean clothes, and sat cross-legged in front of the jade tablet, starting to redraw the patterns in his mind from the very first stroke.

(End of this chapter)