"Ding-ding-dang-dang..." There was no other sound in the mountains, only the sound of the bells echoed deep in the white clouds, clear and ethereal.
There were three people in the group and one donkey. A thin, middle-aged man, wearing a long robe, a bamboo hat and a beard, was riding on the back of a donkey.
The broad robe covered his legs. The man was weak, and the donkey was also weak, but there was a harmonious feeling between them.
What a frail literati image. There were two servants beside him, one was eighteen or nineteen years old, with a round face, carrying a bag and leading a donkey.
A man in his twenties, with a resolute face, a bow and arrow on his back and a long knife in his hand.
"Officer, there is someone in front."
"He seems to be a Taoist gentleman."
"Go over and have a look!" The man on the donkey looked over hard. He had been studying for many years and his eyes were dim and could not see clearly, but he still showed excitement.
Only when he got closer did he see it clearly. He is indeed a Taoist gentleman. The man's eyes immediately lit up - on this Yunding Mountain, could he be an immortal?
However, when he glanced at the horse grazing next to him and the quilt on the ground, he couldn't help but feel disappointed, but he didn't show it. Instead, he approached on a donkey, got off the donkey's back, and offered his hand to Song You: "See you." Please sir." Song You had no choice but to stand up and return the salute: "You're polite."
"My surname is Cui, my name is Shang, and my nickname is Nanxi Jushi. I am originally from Xuzhou. It is really fate that I met you here."
"My surname is Song, and my name is You, and my courtesy name is Menglai. I come from a mountain in Lingquan County, Yizhou."
"Don't you have a nickname, sir?"
"No code yet."
"this……"
"Don't misunderstand me, I just came down the mountain not long ago and haven't figured out what to call him yet," Song You said calmly.
"That's it." Cui Nanxi smiled and then asked, "Mr. Menglai is going to the mountain?"
"Exactly."
"Do you want to go to the top of the mountain?"
"Going to do it."
"The road to Yunding Mountain is difficult to travel, and it is difficult to reach the sky. The rumors are getting more and more mysterious, but fewer and fewer people dare to say that they have gone to the top of the mountain." Cui Nanxi cupped his hand.
"I have only seen you along the way. I wonder if I will be lucky enough to travel with you and go to the top of the clouds together?" He paused and looked at Song You's horse and cat: "If you encounter a jackal, tiger or leopard, that's fine. Take care of each other.”
"If they have similar foot strength, it would be good to go together." Unlike Cui Nanxi who focused on Song You, the guard behind him observed more carefully, and soon turned his attention to the bay red horse next to him, and noticed this The horse has no reins.
But he didn't say anything. This can only show that people did not rely on luck to get here, and accompanying it may be a good thing.
"Sir, please stop standing and talk. Sit down."
"Okay." They both sat down on the lawn, a distance apart, facing the sea of clouds in front of them, taking the openness into their chests.
Cui Nanxi looked left and right, looking for something to say: "Is this Mr.'s cat?"
"That's right."
"This cat followed Mr. up the mountain?"
"Yeah, I'm very tired." The calico cat lying on the ground immediately raised his head when he heard this and stared at Song You. If someone else hadn't been present, he might have retorted.
"Won't it run away?"
"Won't."
"I've heard people say that it's difficult to raise a cat to maturity. I wonder how Sir did it?"
"Treat it with your heart."
"What a treat!" Cui Nanxi couldn't help but clapped his hands, feeling that although this gentleman was young, he still had some wonderful qualities, and then said: "Sir, he must have come to Yunding Mountain to seek immortals because of his fame, right?"
"It seems that Shima is too."
"Aren't they all here?" Cui Nanxi looked up at the sky with a look of fascination.
"I heard that 20 years ago, Mr. Cheng'an met the gods on this mountain, and they talked over wine. How pleasant it was! Going forward, there are countless people who have met the gods in this mountain, but they don't know about my profession. Will I be lucky enough to find it? I wonder what that god is like..."
"Mr. Cheng'an really met a god?"
"Who knows..." Song You knew after hearing what he said. Regardless of whether people in the past really met gods here, or pretended to meet gods here, whether they did not meet them at all, or they only met mountain elves and Qingxiu hermits who seemed to be gods, this Cui Nanxi hopes to meet them here. The fairy in your own heart.
Seeing him like this, I'm afraid it's the time of frustration. Since ancient times, poets and literati have loved looking for immortals when they were in poverty.
But Song You thought the same thing - judging from those rumors, he felt that there were probably no gods on Yunding Mountain, but he still hoped to find them here.
But what is a fairy? In other words, what does the god he wants to meet and see look like? When the two words "神仙" are separated, their meanings are actually similar and complementary, but there are differences upon closer inspection. Most people confuse them with the same meaning, and there is not much difference between gods and immortals.
Upon closer inspection, comparing the two, God is closer to words such as faith, responsibility, and power, while Immortal is more like a realm and a kind of cultivation.
If the god he wanted to find was naturally not the kind from Tiangong. But even if he is not an omnipotent god in a broad sense, he should still have unimaginable power and admirable merits and virtues.
If he is looking for an immortal, he should be someone who is far away from the world, has profound Taoism, has unique insights into worldly affairs, and has an extraordinary state of mind.
If the level of cultivation is really high, even if the Taoism is low or even non-existent, he is still willing to call him an immortal.
It’s just that it’s so easy to find. Just as I was thinking about it, Cui Nanxi's voice came from beside me: "It's a little chilly sitting here. Sir, why don't we continue our journey and try to climb to the top today."
"That's fine." Song You also stood up. Hearing them talking, the calico cat got up, stretched, and walked ahead.
In order to prove that she was not tired, she jumped up and down with her four little feet very fast. When she encountered some weeds blocking her path, she would not even drill through them, but deliberately jumped over them.
When Cui Nanxi saw that Song You was not riding a horse, he stopped riding a donkey and walked with him. He looked at the cat and smiled as he walked: "Mr.'s cat is really understanding of human nature."
"She's very smart."
"She actually looked back!"
"She heard it."
"Hey! My eyes are so dim that I just realized now that my husband's horse doesn't need a leash!"
"The horses are also obedient."
"Do you also treat it with your heart?"
"almost."
"Sir is also an expert." Not far from the front, he suddenly saw a red leaf. I don’t know what kind of tree it is, but its leaves are already red in the mountains, making it extremely eye-catching from a distance.
The cat arrived first and stopped to watch them. A group of people walked slowly, bells jingling. The red leaves not only dyed half of the mountain red, but also covered the ground. They were mottled with yellow and red. They were soft and crunchy when stepped on. It was really beautiful.
There were two voices talking deep in the mountains.
"What a beautiful autumn scene in the mountains! It's summer at the bottom of the mountain, and as you go up, flowers are blooming, just like spring. I thought it was getting colder and bleak as you go up, and it's autumn, but I didn't expect this autumn scene! I've long heard that there are four seasons in Yunding Mountain. I haven’t experienced it myself yet, but I don’t know how magical it is!”
"Is it cold under your feet?"
"Fortunately, I wear thicker clothes than sir."
"That's good."
"Sir, are you also from Changsheng County?"
"Exactly."
"Then he must have taken a boat from the opposite side yesterday morning, right? Did you go to the center of the lake for a night mooring the night before? Maybe our boat is not far away."
"We arrived at the ferry on the other side two days early, and stopped in the middle of the lake for the night. However, we returned the same way in the morning and later walked around the lakeside." Song You said,
"I started climbing the mountain yesterday morning."
"How far will it take to go around?" Cui Nanxi was surprised.
"Two hundred miles."
"Why not just come over by boat?"
"I thought the lakeside scenery is so nice, it wouldn't hurt to take a walk."
"Mr. Elegant!"
"There's just nothing to do."
"I heard that sir is from Yizhou, so why are you here?"
"Wandering around the world, passing through Pingzhou."
"It's so comfortable! If I were younger, I should devote myself to this world like my husband!" Cui Nanxi shook his head.
"Why should I be constrained by this political dispute..."
"Why is Shisama here again?"
"To be honest, I unintentionally offended the powerful people in the DPRK, and was implicated in party disputes, so I was demoted to this point."
"I see."
"Alas..." Cui Nanxi couldn't help but sigh.
"Please be cheerful even if you take this step. The ups and downs in life are normal." Song You also casually offered some words of advice.
"I'm not afraid of being demoted. Even if I'm demoted to a desolate place, wouldn't I still be able to appreciate the landscape in a different place? I was once a landscape lover." Cui Nanxi sighed helplessly,
"It's just that when I was young, I was determined to leave my name in history. Haha, I'm not afraid that my husband will think Cui is arrogant. Over the past few decades, Cui has read thousands of books and traveled thousands of miles. He thinks that he is knowledgeable about the past and knows everything about astronomy and geography. I don’t know, even though I have been an official in Changjing for a few years, I have gained quite a reputation among the literati and hermits, but it is really a pity that I cannot realize my ambition.”
"Everything is unpredictable, and the future is still long."
"Sir, don't be comforted. It's hard for me to be praised all over the world for my poetry, and it's hard for me to be recorded in the history books for my political career. This doesn't matter. How many people can leave a name in history? But if I had known this, I might as well spend more time. Traveling all over the world, looking for immortals and asking questions! As the saying goes, you never have to travel a thousand miles to find immortals. Wouldn't it be nice to travel to famous mountains all your life?" This is the reason why scholars love to talk to monks and Taoists.
They think that monks and Taoists are outsiders. Even monks and Taoists they meet by chance on the roadside are happy to confide their thoughts and find solutions to their sorrows.
It's even easier to talk to someone you meet on the roadside. Later, Song You focused on listening. Walking through this red leaf adds another layer to your clothes.
Cui Nanxi was out of breath after walking, and with the persuasion of his entourage and Song You, he got on the donkey again. I saw a mountain spring blocking the road ahead.
The water in the spring is about as high as a person's knees, and it is somewhat turbulent. The road is slippery, and it is on a slope, diagonally facing the abyss below.
To get over, you have to take risks and wade through the water. Cui Nanxi sat on the back of the donkey, while the two servants took off their shoes, rolled up their trousers, and prepared to lead the donkey through the water. Looking at the way they stepped in the water, they knew that the mountain spring water was biting.
Song You wanted to take off his shoes, but before he could take them off, the bay-red horse lay down beside him and stared at him with a pair of dark eyes.
Looking ahead, Cui Nanxi also turned around to see how he was going to cross this section of water. It seemed that even though he couldn't ride a horse, he wanted to ask the guards to lead the donkey twice to carry him across.
Song You thought for a while, then thanked the horse and got on its back. The person leading the donkey was changed from a follower to a guard. The guard held the donkey's reins tightly with one hand, and had to use one hand to hold the other follower to prevent him from slipping.
The horse is taller and should walk more steadily. With a Taoist on your back, you will walk more steadily.
"Sir, this horse is truly magical."
“Thanks to it all the way.”
"Speaking of which, we are very lucky. On the way before meeting Mr. Cui, he also encountered wild beasts and mountain monsters. Thanks to Xu Le, we were able to pass safely. Along the way, we were getting farther and farther away from the world under the mountain, but we were completely There are no poisonous insects or beasts to disturb us, and there are no mountain spirits or ghosts to visit us at all. We should be closer to the gods." Cui Nanxi was a little excited.
"We will probably find the gods today."
"Maybe." After passing this wading road, there is a cliff in front, and there is an iron cable leading to the other end of the cliff.
The fog here is particularly thick. Until here, it has been a path of seeking immortality that countless people have walked. It is this iron rope in front of me that stops most of the immortal seekers who want to go to Yunding Fairy Mountain.
