Chapter 267: Chapter 59: Kuocang Mountain Vocational Technical School
Yangzhou, Kuocang Mountain.
Luo Yan held a scroll in his hands as he walked through the mountains. Despite it being winter, the scenery was still stunning, with a gentle stream by the road, its waters clear and transparent to the bottom.
In the Dongzhen section of the authentic Daoist canon, there was an anecdote recorded in one of the books:
It told of a man named Yang Yin, who lived in Jinyun County of Yangzhou. He was fond of the tranquility here at Kuocang Mountain and often came to roam and reside.
One day, while drinking with a Daoist priest from Jinyun Temple, he suddenly collapsed to the ground as if dead, awakening only after seven days.
When the priest asked him about it, he said that he had been invited by a fairy named Ling Ying to visit the Immortal Realm.
The entrance to the Immortal Realm was through a cave that had no name; Yang Yin dubbed it “Kuocang Cave.”
Inside the cave, he saw “magnificent towers and pavilions, phoenix and cranes soaring, the sky clear and the scenery warm, a realm distinct from the Mortal World” — clearly, it was a secret realm.
The fairy Ling Ying had him eat Green Cloud Ganoderma and took him to pay respects to the three masters of the secret realm: the relatively known King, the Grassy Sovereign of Huayang, and the Hidden Sovereign of Xuanxuan who received Heaven’s Mandate.
After the meeting, the three immortals told him, “You possess the bones of an immortal, but you have not yet cultivated to the realm of Ascension. Continue your practice in the Mortal World,” and then had Ling Ying send him away.
After Yang Yin left Kuocang Cave, he “lost taste for grains; drinking only three liters of water and eating a hundred lilies a day,” evidently with the help of the Green Cloud Ganoderma’s potency, he had skipped the three stages of Fasting and entered the Qi Refining Rank directly.
If the descriptions in the book were true, there must be a secret realm built by immortals within Kuocang Mountain.
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Find the entrance, and later on, it would be possible to lure Miss Shi here for an adventure.
Using half a day’s effort, Luo Yan finally reached Jinyun Temple in the mountain.
There were just a few Daoist priests in the temple, all with white, frosty hair.
Luo Yan used his Divine Sense to probe and discovered that all three priests were mortals and had not yet undergone Fasting.
He then disguised himself as a tourist and inquired about the old matter of Yang Yin.
“This matter is nothing more than casual gossip,” one of the priests chuckled as he stroked his beard, “Many have come to inquire about it, but in the end, they all returned without any fruitful results.”
“If the honored guest is interested, you may go and take a look at Ruan Lang Pavilion in the mountains. Our ancestors once drank with Yang Yin there.”
Luo Yan nodded and thanked him.
After not quite an hour had passed, he found Ruan Lang Pavilion along the mountain path.
The pavilion was built on a stone platform halfway up the mountain, next to a vast cliff, upon which countless inscribed characters could be seen.
According to the records, Yang Yin had drunk himself into stupor there, before entering into the secret realm.
Hmm…
Luo Yan first inspected for a while and found no Formation around.
Sitting down in the pavilion, he took out a jug of wine from his Storage Bag.
After a thought, he put the wine jug back into the bag.
Since the Daoist priests of Jinyun Temple said that many had visited before, they must have tried to emulate Yang Yin by getting drunk and collapsing.
However, those visitors all came back fruitlessly, which indicated that drinking was of no use.
The mechanism to enter the secret realm surely wouldn’t be so easy to uncover; only those with great wisdom, great determination, and great fortune could discover it.
With this in mind, Luo Yan spoke firmly:
“Ah Jing, help me scan!”
Kunlun Mirror: …
“What’s the matter?” Luo Yan asked again.
“Wait a moment.” The Kunlun Mirror was silent for a short while, then suddenly said, “The text on that wall is problematic.”
“Where?” Following the direction indicated by the Kunlun Mirror, Luo Yan finally found a piece of text in a particularly low hollow of the mountain.
The text was obstructed by shrubs and was situated very low. Additionally, due to the angle, one had to lie down on the ground by the side of the pavilion to see it.
Putting aside his dignity, Luo Yan laid on the ground and saw a five-character quatrain written there:
Where does the guest from Ruan reside? The entrance of the Immortal Cloud Cave lies across.
Places unreachable by mortals, today we tread into this realm.
Huh? Luo Yan suddenly thought, if Yang Yin really got drunk, could it be that he happened to fall right in this spot and saw this poem?
Then, he felt the world spinning, and the scene before his eyes dramatically changed.
He saw that the large patch of writing on the cliff had already vanished, replaced by a cave entrance.
The entrance was wide and didn’t seem man-made, with green moss growing in several places.
Yet Luo Yan didn’t rush to proceed, but rather discussed with the Kunlun Mirror:
“Can you analyze this entrance mechanism, Ah Jing?”
“It appears to be a visual mechanism,” the Kunlun Mirror fell silent for a few minutes before answering. “When you gaze at it, it pulls you into the secret realm.”
“And the way out?” Luo Yan asked again for confirmation.
“The same,” the Kunlun Mirror responded. “Look behind you at the rock wall, there’s writing there too.”
Luo Yan carefully searched and indeed, behind the vines on the rock wall, he found a line of extremely fine inscription that was difficult to notice without a close look:
Few pieces of immortal bone, hard to ascend to the Nine Heavens.
Return then to the Mortal World, to Weiyu Mountain next year.
Before he could fully comprehend it, he felt the world spinning, and found himself outside at Ruan Lang Pavilion.
Luo Yan then returned to the secret realm several times, confirming the entry and exit mechanism clearly.
“Ah Jing,” he asked in a low voice, “is there a way to cover up this line of poetry inside?”
“You plan to trap Miss Shi inside after she enters so she can’t leave?” the Kunlun Mirror pondered, “Yes, I can cover it with an illusion technique.”
“However, if she can’t get out, why could you leave to send a message to Master? This issue might still need some smoothing over.”
“No need to smooth anything over,” Luo Yan said. “Only Miss Shi entered the secret realm by accident, and I somehow stayed outside, unable to find the entrance, so I had no choice but to seek help from Master… How about that?”
“It could work,” the Kunlun Mirror sighed, feeling uneasy about Luo Yan’s swiftly woven lies. “But this way, Miss Shi will be trapped alone in the secret realm. Aren’t you afraid something might happen to her?”
“That’s why we will explore this secret realm first, to ensure we eliminate unnecessary risks,” Luo Yan replied firmly. “If this place doesn’t work, we’ll look for another secret realm.”
He continued walking forward, through the cave, and entered a valley.
Although it was winter outside, the valley was warm as spring.
The sky was clear, the sun was warm, the vegetation thriving, as if it was the beginning of spring.
Not far away stood three small buildings, constructed in a forest clearing surrounded by a stream.
Luo Yan walked directly into the woods and saw that the plaques in front of the three small buildings read “Little Heavenly King Mansion,” “Grand Huayang Thatched Hut,” and “Hidden Profound Heavenly Destiny Residence.”
“This looks like a trial-type secret realm,” the Kunlun Mirror guessed. “If it truly were the old dwelling of immortals, it wouldn’t be necessary to specifically turn it into a secret realm; moreover, it’s not likely to put the immortal’s title on the very outside.”
“Whether it is or isn’t, we’ll know once we enter,” Luo Yan said decisively.
He stepped straight into the “Little Heavenly King Mansion” on the left.
Inside, it was extremely spacious, very similar to the White Jade Capital Secret Realm. A Daoist stood with his hands behind his back and said indifferently:
“Another honored guest has arrived; come and test your Daoist magic with me.”
After speaking, he turned around, formed a spell with his hands, and immediately a black wind arose from the ground, sweeping towards Luo Yan.
Luo Yan’s brows furrowed ever so slightly. This black wind didn’t seem quite like the Daoist magic of the Three Pure Orthodox Sect, lacking that upright and proper aura.
But it also lacked the Demon Cult’s Six Paths’ sinister and brutal nature.
If he had to say, it was a bit like the other techniques of the Intercepting Cult from ancient times.
His thoughts moved slightly, and he began to have a vague guess about the background of the secret realm, then he directly pulled out the Postnatal Five Elements Great Extermination Divine Light, pressing it against the black wind coming from the opposite direction.
When the black wind hit the Five Elements Divine Light, it disintegrated immediately on the spot.
“Postnatal Five Elements Great Extermination Divine Light?” the Daoist asked with a slight frown. “Are you from Moon Island in the East Sea?”
Luo Yan: ?
Moon Island in the East Sea, wasn’t it wiped out some seven thousand years ago?
“Not yet in Core Formation, but to cultivate the Five Elements Divine Light to such a degree is indeed rare,” the Daoist nodded with satisfaction and continued, “However, in my view, your use of this Daoist magic still has many imperfections, specifically…”