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

In the third year of the Yanxi era of the Han Dynasty, at Lutang Mountain.

In March, the snow that had covered Lutang Mountain for a cold winter finally began to melt. The grass roots and tree bark on the mountain had been dug up by the starving people, and the white covering the mountain gradually turned into the gray-brown of the exposed rocks and soil.

The blazing sun hung high in the sky, and at the foot of the mountain, the yamen runners of Mianzhu County beat gongs, going from house to house warning that a plague was raging there and that they should never go there.

To the surprise of the yamen runners, the county town, which had been deserted and quiet after several conscriptions, was bustling with activity today. The people of the county were walking in groups of three or five, their expressions full of reverence, heading towards Lutang Mountain.

As the sun rose higher, by the time the last group of people arrived at the mountainside, the area outside the gate of Lutangzhi Mountain was already packed with people.

Those who arrived late couldn't squeeze in and could only stand on tiptoe behind the dense crowd, peering reverently into the Lu Tang Zhi compound.

"Is this it? I heard that a celestial being has descended to earth and manifested their power for several days in a row!"

"That's not all! That blind scholar Zhang in the county received a drop of divine sweat a few days ago, and he was able to see again that very night!"

"You ignorant fool! This is Lutangzhi, passed down from Zhang Tianshi of Sichuan. It's a place where immortals originally lived!"

The common people chattered amongst themselves, their stories vivid and detailed, further fueling their excitement. Everyone wanted to see what the legendary immortals looked like, but unfortunately, they were firmly stopped by Lu Tangzhi's disciples and could only stand outside the mountain gate, craning their necks in longing.

These people were all attracted by the recent rumors about the "immortals" in Lutangzhi on this mountain.

In the quiet room in the northwest corner of Lutang County, Magistrate Fei Shi listened to the discussions of the people at the mountain gate, his face darkening as he looked at the middle-aged man with a long beard and black face opposite him, and slammed his hand on the table.

"Zhang Xiu, don't resort to this every time the incense offerings aren't going well. This is called inciting a disturbance and inciting public unrest!"

Faced with the magistrate's questioning, the dark-skinned man in the quiet room, dressed in a blue robe, seemed to have suffered a great injustice: "Magistrate, please don't wrong me! This time, it truly feels like a deity has descended to earth to enlighten the people!"

The man's name was Zhang Xiu, and he was the chief priest of Lutangzhi in this area.

Fei Shi sneered, "Why do immortals always seem to come to your Lutang Clinic for treatment?!"

Zhang Xiu shook his head, looking quite composed: "Perhaps my Mianzhu Lutang has been a blessed land since ancient times."

Seeing that Fei Shi's expression remained unpleasant, Zhang Xiu slammed his hand on the table, glared at her, and made a vow by pinching his fingers:

"Anyone who lies to you is a monk's son!"

The two were staring at each other when suddenly a cry of surprise rang out from the crowd gathered at the mountain gate. Magistrate Fei, too lazy to argue with this unruly fellow, stepped out of his chamber and looked intently towards the Lutang administrative area.

The much-discussed deity has finally made his appearance!

In the center of the Chongxu Hall, several people dressed in brightly colored robes appeared on the Chongxuan Terrace atop the hall. They had painted faces and stood with their arms around each other.

At first, I seemed a little timid, but then I started chanting loudly and mysteriously, something like, "The world is at peace today, I've traveled here in my pilgrimage, the nation is prosperous and the people are safe, I manifest to save people," and so on.

Later on, things fell apart. Everyone started talking over each other, and some even started performing backflips. One of them even fell down after a mishap.

Fei Shi's face turned ashen. She turned and looked coldly at Zhang Xiu: "Is this what immortals look like?"

"Exactly!" Zhang Xiu looked at the 'immortal' tumbling on the Chongxuan Platform without blushing or skipping a beat, his expression completely matter-of-fact.

"Your Excellency has seen the real thing, hasn't you? Otherwise, what makes you say mine is fake?"

Fei Shi: "..."

Upon seeing the scene on Chongxuan Terrace, the crowd gathered at the entrance of Lutangzhi Mountain was stunned at first, and then some people started cursing.

But some people cheered and threw in coins, hoping the deity would flip another one.

For a time, the scene at Lutangzhi was extremely chaotic, with cheers, curses, and applause. It didn't seem like a celestial being descending to earth, but rather like a folk opera performance.

Fei Shi couldn't stand it any longer. His face turned ashen, and he summoned the yamen runners to prepare to return home.

"That's how immortals are. You haven't even seen an immortal, so why do you say my story is fake?"

"Even the gods are happy to be approachable!"

"Who among the average person can do several somersaults on the rooftop in one go?"

Zhang Xiu excitedly called his disciples to run out of the quiet room in the corner to collect copper coins. Just as he was having a good time, the noisy sounds around him suddenly stopped, as if the whole world had stopped.

"What are you standing there for, trying to pick up money?"

The disciple next to him stopped for some reason. Zhang Xiu cursed and reached out to pull him up, but the disciple suddenly squatted down on the ground with his mouth open and his eyes wide open, staring in the direction of Chongxu Hall.

Sensing something was wrong, Zhang Xiu stood up and glanced at the people at the mountain gate. He saw that they had just been shouting and cheering, but now they all had bulging eyes and looked as if they had seen a ghost, craning their necks to peer inside.

"Master...Master...Look what that is?!"

"What is what?"

Zhang Xiu was pulled by his trembling disciple on the ground, who was drawing his robe to look in one direction. There, amidst heavy clouds, a half-circle red shadow had appeared on the Chongxuan Platform, several meters high.

The red shadow flickered in and out of sight with the mountain wind, gradually appearing and growing larger.

The halo was initially faint, but gradually became as intense as the sun, like a huge crystal mirror, with a ring of rosy light tightly surrounding it.

The "immortals" performing backflips on the Chongxuan Platform were completely bewildered, and several of them lost their footing and fell off the platform.

Zhang Xiu's eyes widened instantly.

No, where did this come from?

The disciple came up with a new trick? This wasn't part of the rehearsal.

颂！

Zhang Xiuzheng was filled with doubt and suspicion, but then an even more horrifying scene unfolded before him!

A bolt of lightning flashed across the gloomy sky, and in an instant, the halo on the three-meter-high platform solidified.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, a young Taoist priest dressed in a blue robe slowly emerged from the halo of light, his entire body covered in a layer of golden mist.

Ok?

Um? ! !

"It really... worked like a miracle?"

Zhang Xiu swallowed hard, and cold sweat broke out on his brow.

Everyone stared blankly up at the immortal bathed in rosy light on the Chongxuan Platform. Magistrate Fei Shi, who was about to leave, stumbled and fell from his sedan chair, his voice trembling slightly.

"Chancellor Zhang, this was also arranged by you..."

He looked at Zhang Xiu in disbelief, only to find that Zhang Xiu was already kneeling down, drenched in cold sweat, completely oblivious to the copper coins he had picked up scattering on the ground.

Zhang Xiu felt as if his head had exploded:

Although he used the guise of a deity to recruit disciples and preach in Mianzhu County every day, and often had his disciples impersonate immortals to attract worshippers when incense offerings were low...

but!

but!

He himself had never seen a real deity! Perhaps his deceased master Zhang Daoling could be considered one, but he had never displayed such supernatural powers in front of him!

Like a drop of raw water splashed into boiling oil, the entire Lutangzhi was thrown into chaos!

"An immortal has descended to earth! An immortal has truly descended to earth!"

One person speaks out, and a hundred respond!

After a brief moment of bewilderment, the crowd in front of the mountain gate, ignoring the mud and gravel on the ground, knelt down in waves, just like Lu Tangzhi's disciples.

The Han Dynasty was already rife with beliefs in gods and prophecies. During the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, the witchcraft scare killed tens of thousands of people. Now, seeing this incredible sight, the people at the mountain gate were so afraid of offending the gods that they kept kowtowing. Many of the fervent people had their foreheads rubbed raw by the gravel on the ground, and blood was flowing freely.

"I beg the immortals for mercy, and grant my son, who is fighting for the Western Barbarians, freedom from axes, halberds, and swords!!"

"Immortals above, please bless me with many wives and concubines, free from illness, disaster, and plague..."

Throughout the entire Lutang County, only a few of Fei Shi's bodyguards did not kneel down, but they were all panicked and looked at the magistrate, not knowing what to do.

"Oh no, oh no! We really shouldn't stage these 'divine interventions' too often. How did we attract a real deity?!"

Zhang Xiu, lying on the ground, was lost in thought. He secretly looked up at the Taoist on the high platform. At this moment, many rays of light were still surrounding the Taoist, and he could not see the Taoist's expression. He was even more alarmed.

"Are there really such true cultivators in the world?"

"I wonder if they know my master, Zhang Daoling, and if they could do me a favor..."

"We can't really be that stingy, can we?"

A few minutes later, the sky returned to normal, the haze disappeared, and the clear light shone brightly. Zhang Xiuzheng was terrified when he suddenly heard a cry of alarm from the people.

"A deity! A deity has fallen off the roof!!"

He looked up and saw that the radiant immortal had slipped and fallen off the Chongxuan Platform, with several of Lu Tangzhi's disciples below scrambling to help him up...

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

The news that Lu Tangzhi had impersonated a deity and attracted the descent of a real deity spread quickly throughout Mianzhu County and several surrounding counties. That afternoon, large groups of people rushed to Lu Tang Mountain.

The magistrate of Mianzhu County, Fei Shi, wanted to suppress the news, but someone still reported the news of the miraculous appearance at Lutang Mountain to the prefect.

When the large crowd arrived at Lutangzhi, they found the gates of Lutangzhi tightly closed, and not a single person could be seen.

At this moment, in Lu Tangzhi's Chongxu Hall, Yi Chuan clutched his injured waist, expressionless as he looked at the throng of people below and the dark-faced man at the front. Only six words echoed in his mind.

"who I am?"

"Where am I?"