I became an immortal in the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 2 Bai Ke can guide you
The porter, who was sitting in front of the fire warming himself, immediately turned his head and looked at him sideways.

Yes, this young man wasn't even wet.

The rain was so heavy that he was soaked even though he was wearing a straw hat. How come his clothes didn't get wet after he walked for so long?
The porter stared at Jiang She for a few moments, then quickly came to his senses and dared not look at him anymore. He kept glancing at the pile of firewood and the corner of his clothes on the ground, occasionally looking at the rain outside the temple to see if the rain had lessened and it was time to leave.

Li Bai seemed to be lost in thought.

His eyes grew brighter and brighter, and he didn't even notice that he had spilled the wine.

The Taoist priests Yuan Danqiu and Meng Haoran exchanged a glance, their gazes also falling on Jiang She's dry clothes. He calmly picked up the wine cup that Li Bai had already filled.

Jiang She smiled and said, "With rain gear to protect me, my clothes naturally didn't get wet."

Do you think I've never walked in the rain?

Li Bai didn't believe it. "The rain falls at an angle. Even if you have rain gear to cover yourself, your clothes will still get wet. How could it be..."

"Taibai".

Yuan Danqiu interrupted him.

He picked up the wine pot and poured wine for Jiang She.

"Young Master Jiang has said so much, yet you haven't even had a chance to drink. The weather is damp from the rain, so why not have some wine to ward off the cold?" Yuan Danqiu said, and then told the servant beside him to prepare two more sets of bowls and chopsticks.

Li Bai smiled and picked up his wine cup.

"It was my oversight. Let me offer you a toast."

The two drank it all in one gulp, and Jiang She found it amusing.

When figures from a thousand years ago appear before him, they are no longer just explanatory texts in a book, but living, breathing people with flesh and blood, capable of surprise and curiosity.

Li Bai, Meng Haoran, and Danqiu Sheng sat in front of him.

Because of a heavy rain, they gathered together and drank around the fire.

The firewood crackled and burned, white raindrops danced outside the temple, and the verdant spring mountains were half shrouded in mist.

The servants prepared the soup and dishes, but the porter hesitated to accept them. Forgetting his earlier suspicion and fear, he subconsciously looked at Jiang She, only to see the other man nod slightly.

He inexplicably breathed a sigh of relief and, imitating the way this newly acquainted stranger ate, followed suit, but dared not take too much food, only eating the dishes in front of him.

Perhaps it was because they had talked all the way and walked together on the mountain road in the heavy rain that the porter subconsciously felt close to Jiang She and got along with her easily.

The group chatted as they ate.

First, Yuan Danqiu mentioned that the emperor had opened up new special examinations, which seemed to indicate an intention to select talented individuals, and asked Meng Haoran if he had any plans to take the exams.

Li Bai sat cross-legged, holding a wine cup:

"Brother Meng, it's worth a try."

“If even fools and mediocre people can become officials in the court, Brother Meng will surely be the first to succeed.”

He was the son of a merchant, and businessmen were not allowed to enter officialdom, so he had long given up on the idea of ​​taking the imperial examinations.

Meng Haoran was more carefree: "The imperial court recruits no more than twenty people each year, and they need to submit their applications in advance. There are no people like me in the capital. It's really difficult."

"Besides, being a lowly official in the court is nothing compared to the freedom we enjoy today."

Li Bai leaned against the stone wall, occasionally picking at two or three dishes, and had already drunk three cups of wine, feeling somewhat drunk: "If one were to be a minor official, burying oneself in official documents all day long, it would be quite boring."

He then turned to look at Jiang She.

"I see that you have an extraordinary bearing. May I ask who you are and what brings you to Mount Lumen in search of immortals?"

Jiang She listened to them speak with a relaxed tone.

“I have been away from my hometown for too long. I lived in Sichuan for a few years before. This trip is for travel.”

“I happened to be flipping through a book the other day and came across the story of Pang Degong meeting a fairy on Mount Lumen. The book only recorded the part about ‘never returning’. I was curious about the reason, so I came to see if it was true or not.”

"Traveling a thousand miles for a single word, what a refined taste you have."

Li Bai praised it.

Yuan Danqiu sat next to Li Bai, holding a bowl in one hand. He originally intended to fill it with meat and vegetables, but when he saw Jiang She sitting to the side, he shifted his chopsticks and picked up a few pieces of vegetarian food instead.

He is a Taoist priest, and we do not know where this person comes from or what his taboos are, so it is best not to offend him.

Yuan Danqiu asked, "Has Jiang Langjun ever seen any trace of immortals before? Pang Degong was a man from the Han Dynasty, which is hundreds of years ago. Even if the story of encountering immortals is true..."

How can we possibly know the truth?

Li Bai and Meng Haoran were curious, and even the porters standing nearby looked up.

This young man has many strange traits; his demeanor is clearly that of an extraordinary person, even more like a deity than the Taoist priest who is currently munching on a steamed bun. The porter thought to himself.

If you put yourself in his shoes, it seems that after he met this young man, strange things happened. The herbs he carried always felt lighter than before, and there was no less stuff in his basket.

All four of them were waiting for an answer.

This question is not difficult to answer. Jiang She pondered for a moment.

"If there really was an encounter with a deity, and some extraordinary event occurred, there must be traces. We can simply follow the clues."

Li Bai sighed. "I advise you to abandon this idea."

He spoke frankly: "To be honest, I have lived in Lumen Mountain for some time now, and I have explored the whole mountain. I know every plant and tree in my heart. Brother Meng is a local and has lived here for many years. Apart from the beautiful scenery, I have not found anything magical about this mountain."

Jiang She smiled but didn't say anything.

Li Bai said, "If you really want to witness it for yourself, I happen to have some free time today. I am quite familiar with these mountains and forests, and I can show you the way."

"It's just talk about immortals..."

Li Bai paused, stared into his eyes, and sincerely advised, "I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you."

Jiang She showed no disappointment, only expressed his gratitude:
"Then it's annoying."

After the group finished their meal, another quarter of an hour passed. Seeing that the rain outside the mountain temple had lessened, Li Bai lit three incense sticks in front of the temple to thank the mountain god for taking them in.

Jiang She said, "I'll also offer a stick of incense."

He asked a servant for incense, then bowed respectfully before the dilapidated, cracked, and moss-covered statue in the mountain temple.

Li Bai was about to ask, "Do we need to start a fire?"

Then they saw a stick of incense stick, its smoke curling upwards along the cracked statue.

"Did you bring the message?" Li Bai put down the firewood he had picked up and bid farewell to Yuan Danqiu and Meng Haoran. They were originally supposed to go down the mountain to return and offer birthday wishes at noon, but Li Bai was impatient with that and ran off halfway.

"Yes."

Jiang She bid farewell to the others and picked up the rain gear that was placed aside. Outside the mountain temple, only a misty rain remained. The clouds parted and the sun shone, and birds landed in the woods, shaking their wet feathers and chirping.

He and Li Bai embarked on the mountain path together.

After the two left, the remaining people in the mountain temple began to talk.

Yuan Danqiu said with a smile.

"Tai Bai is just spouting nonsense; he doesn't like the old lady from the Lu family."

Meng Haoran also laughed.

He looked towards the rugged mountain path where the two had left, but they could no longer be seen. "That Jiang She doesn't seem like an ordinary person. I wonder what Taibai went with him to seek immortality."

Yuan Danqiu was also pondering this.

"I think so too. This young master Jiang probably possesses some kind of supernatural magic. Otherwise, why wouldn't the rain get on his clothes? He might be a master from our Taoist sect."

The porter, feeling uneasy, recounted the strange events that had occurred before.

"When we first met Jiang Langjun, we noticed he didn't have any rain gear, so we invited him to come to the mountain temple to take shelter from the rain. Later, when he saw us struggling to carry the medicine, he offered to shelter us from the rain. Why didn't we see him bring an umbrella before..."

"It's strange, after Jiang Langjun opened the umbrella, not a single drop of rain touched us. We thought his umbrella was too big."

Yuan Danqiu found it strange as well.

He said regretfully, "This is an extraordinary man, perhaps a hermit living in the mountains. If I weren't going to the Lu family to offer birthday greetings, I wish I could have gone up the mountain with him."

Meng Haoran also felt a little regretful, but important matters came first.

"When Taibai returns, we'll ask him about the situation."

"We should ask more questions!"

The rain has completely stopped.

The group had gathered because of the rain, and now that the rain had stopped, it was time for them to leave.

The porter lifted the lid of his basket, preparing to sort through the medicinal herbs inside, shaking off the rainwater, selecting the good ones, and heading down the mountain to the pharmacy to sell them.

But inside, it was perfectly dry, without a trace of rain. The roots and leaves of the medicinal herbs looked as fresh as if they had just been picked, without any dents or damage, and without any signs of being wetted by rain.

It's as if a hand has swept away all the rain, allowing buds and withered trees to spring back to life.

It's top-quality stuff.

With a thud, the basket fell to the ground.

The porter was stunned.

The other two went to see what was happening.

We need to find out the details.

Inside the mountain temple, there was a Taoist priest, a scholar, and a porter. All three were dumbfounded, staring at each other in disbelief at the tattered basket on his back.

a long time.

The three left one after the other.

Unnoticed by anyone, the incense sticks on the altar in the mountain god temple suddenly burned rapidly, sending plumes of blue smoke rising straight up.

The cracks on the mountain god statue gradually grew.

(End of this chapter)