I became an immortal in the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 154 Finding a White Feather in the Dung

Jiang She looked at the Taoist priest, whose face was flushed and he seemed very excited.

"It's friendly."

The Taoist priest never expected to meet Mr. Jiang again. After the woman left, he hurriedly approached her.

Many questions were churning in his mind.

The Taoist priest wanted to inquire about the contents of the two calligraphy scrolls. He also sought guidance, wondering why, despite copying them thousands of times, he was still so far from mastering the Dao. Was it due to his dullness, or was it simply beyond the reach of ordinary people?

My mind was racing with a thousand thoughts.

finally.

The Taoist priest simply bowed respectfully once.

"It's a pleasure to meet you."

Jiang She led him to sit down under the eaves of the temple. The Stone Goddess Temple is now much more magnificent, and some people even want to expand it next to it, making the place much more spacious.

The Taoist priest seemed a little uneasy.

Jiang She reached out and beckoned over the many booklets he had copied, then sat down at the entrance of the temple and slowly began to look at them.

The Taoist priest held his breath and concentrated, not daring to make a sound.

His face flushed, and as he thought about the crooked and incoherent things he had written, his heart pounded, and he wished he could disappear into a crack in the ground.

A thick stack of paper, most of which was filled with ink stains, each character different.

Jiang She turned the pages one by one.

After a long while, he finally raised his head, his tone calm.

"Fellow Daoist wrote with great care."

The Taoist priest dared not admit it and hurriedly whispered, "This humble Taoist priest's writing is poor; please forgive his poor apologies, sir."

Jiang She did a rough calculation.

Even counting these, I've copied them over a thousand times.

He did not comment on the quality of the handwriting, but carefully arranged the stack of papers and set them aside. Then he chatted with the Taoist priest and asked him about his past before he began his cultivation.

The Taoist priest was lost in memories.

He said slowly:

“I was born into a poor family and have no connection with my ancestors. My mother suffered a difficult childbirth and unfortunately passed away. My family was poor, and my father made a living by chopping wood and could not afford to remarry. It was just the two of us, father and son, who depended on each other for survival.”

"From the moment I was born, I cried in order to survive."

"My biggest worry when I was a child was copper coins."

“Whenever I went to other people’s fields to pick up vegetable leaves and wheat grains, I was insulted and driven away. I was so indignant at that time that I even thought that my mother gave birth to me and died, and I had wronged her too much. It would be better to go with her and be filial to her in the afterlife than to be despised by people in this world.”

At that time, his father was seriously ill and needed to take medicine every day.

Despite his young age, he was forced to take on farm work, but lacking the strength, the harvest was meager. He and his ailing father endured a year of hardship, borrowing money from all sides to barely pay off their taxes.

The family often ran out of food and money, and could only barely survive by cooking soup and porridge with scraps of vegetable leaves they had picked up.

The Taoist priest sighed softly.

"I endured until I was fourteen, when my father also passed away."

"From then on, I had no relatives left in the world. I felt that although the world was vast, it was empty and desolate, and I had nowhere to go."

At this point, the Taoist priest felt somewhat ashamed.

"These are all mundane and trivial matters, which have annoyed you, sir."

"I suppose immortals... aren't like that."

Jiang She did not judge what immortals and mortals were like, only saying "How could that be?" Then he listened to the other person speak.

The Taoist priest continued:
"Later, I became a Taoist disciple."

"After entering the Taoist sect, there were many people in the temple, and I suffered some exclusion, but I also received a lot of kindness. If I think about it carefully, I still owe them more."

"I originally wanted to farm, sweep, chant scriptures, and perform rituals on the mountain. I wanted to spend my life in a Taoist temple."

When the Taoist Qiu Qi spoke of his past, his tone was always calm. Even when he talked about how poor he was in his youth and how he was called a thief, his tone remained composed. After years of cultivation, he had long since become indifferent to such things, unlike when he was young and found them harsh and unbearable.

Only when he spoke of this moment did his eyes suddenly light up.

It was as if I had seen the most beautiful and magnificent thing in the world.

The Taoist priest's eyes shone brightly as he meticulously recalled:

"But one day, as I was rolling up my trousers to compost fertilizer on the mountain," "I suddenly saw a white crane fly by."

"The crane's feathers were snow-white, and one of them had fallen into the muddy compost. It looked light and bright in the sunlight."

"Floating and swaying, as if in a dream."

“I returned to the temple covered in filth and overheard my fellow practitioners talking about it. I learned that a practitioner had been passing through and had been staying at the temple for the past two days.”

That night, the man performed his magic in front of the temple wall.

“He said that a person with a pure heart can pass through the temple wall by reciting incantations. He demonstrated this to us Taoists—he could indeed pass through the wall with ease and without any hindrance.”

"He took the crane and flew away in a carefree manner. With a light leap, he covered several feet and soon disappeared from sight."

"The practitioner said that this is the art of flying."

The two sat down in front of the stone steps.

As they chatted, the scent of incense wafted from the temple, its smoke curling and perfuming the brightly painted murals of deities. Many people passed by the two, some praying for wealth, some for marriage, some to make money, and some simply to join in the fun.

The sounds of crying and laughing lingered in the temple.

The Taoist priest spoke solemnly.

"In the third year of Jinglong, I saw the Great Way of Cultivation in my small temple on the mountain."

Just like in the book—there really are people in the world who can fly, disappear into the earth, pass through walls, enter the clouds, and ride the wind.

Jiang She listened.

He heard the Taoist priest say that he lost his mother shortly after birth. He also heard that he was poor when he was young, his father was sick, and the two of them depended on each other for survival, and were looked down upon by others.

It is also known that his parents died early, and he was all alone at the age of fourteen, not knowing what the future held, so he entered the Taoist sect.

He was ostracized in the temple and did odd jobs for many years. He usually did tasks that other senior disciples didn't want to do.

Farming.

Fertilizer.

Sweep and clean.

Carry water to clean the idol.

I was young and humble, my life as insignificant as a weed.

But amidst the filth, excrement, and sludge, a single white feather was found fluttering about.

From this point on, the path of spiritual practice was revealed.

Jiang She was silent for a moment, then asked.

"How did you continue your cultivation after that?"

The Taoist priest said:
“I wanted to become a disciple of that cultivator, but he said that I was of mediocre talent and too old. He always took on disciples from childhood, raising them in the temple to build a solid foundation. There was no precedent for taking on someone my age.”

"I had no choice but to leave the Taoist temple. I sincerely begged for many years and followed him day and night. Finally, I obtained a few words of incantation."

“I regard him as my teacher in my heart, and along the way, following the strange and wonderful things in various places, I have learned from many other teachers.”

"I gradually learned a few skills."

"Now, I am thirty-six years old and have been fortunate enough to comprehend some of the Daoist arts. I can refine elixirs and write talismans."

The Taoist priest spoke earnestly, and then said...

"Having heard that the Prince of Qi is seriously ill, the Emperor has issued an edict to search for extraordinary people and talents. I happen to be nearby, so I have come to try my luck and see if I can meet a true cultivator of the Dao."

"And that's how I came to see this Buddhist talisman in front of the temple."

The Taoist priest copied the text many times, and often, his mind couldn't handle it, and he would faint. The first time he fainted, he was overjoyed.

Because he had heard that the true Dao is difficult for ordinary people to understand and comprehend.

If one cannot enjoy it, one will faint.

Some of these wondrous methods will even disappear on their own. Even if one obtains them, one will not be able to view them.

After saying all that, the Taoist priest finally mustered up his courage.

He bowed respectfully and asked:

"I wonder what you mean by what you wrote?"

【Ask for monthly ticket】

(End of this chapter)