A Gift of Books to My Fellow Teachers and Brothers

  The so-called Taoist school is the gateway to attaining the Tao. Through cultivating these Taoist methods, one can enter the house through the gate and attain the Great Tao.

  Since it is a gate, there is a main gate and a side gate.

  Like Emei, Kunlun, Wudang and other sects, they start by refining their Qi to lay the foundation, condensing the Golden Elixir, achieving the state of a Dispersed Immortal, then giving birth to the Original Infant in the elixir, achieving the state of an Earthly Immortal, and finally using the infant to return the elixir to the Yin, refining it into the Yang Spirit, ascending to the Heavenly Palace, and achieving the state of a Heavenly Immortal. This is the Orthodox School.

  However, some people do not obtain the orthodox Dharma methods and only seek out scattered words and phrases through clever coincidences, painstakingly pondering and analyzing them. Or they have inherent flaws, such as being a plant spirit or a ghost, and are unable to cultivate on the correct path, so they blaze their own trails and use different methods as substitutes, which is what is called a side door (heretical) method.

  The main gate of cultivation, step by step, smooth sailing, few difficulties, mostly ending up as a yang spirit ascending to heaven. Some with extremely good innate qualities even achieve the golden immortal realm and ascend in their physical bodies, such as the Pure Yang True Person. The founder of Wudang, Zhang Sanfeng, and the Long Eyebrowed True Person of Emei also achieved this. However, most people lack such enlightenment and opportunities, only able to ascend as a heavenly immortal.

  Apart from these two, there is the worst kind, which is Yuanying Feisheng. At the time of Di Xian, it was impossible to thoroughly remove the primordial spirit and store it in the yin and yang, cultivate the Yang Shen, and finally shed the shell and ascend to the immortal realm. This is also called a celestial being. Since there is a word "Shen", it is destined to be bound, not free, and when arriving at the heavenly realm, it must be subject to the constraints of the Heavenly Covenant, and abide by its duties, such as Fengshen, Yushen, Tudi, Shanshen, etc. are all like this. Many practitioners, even if they ascend to the next life and reincarnate, do not want to ascend in this way.

  However, for scattered immortals like Mingyi Zi and Liu Quan, even this last method of cultivation is not available. At most, they can only cultivate to the level of Yuanying, achieve earthly immortality, and then continue to cultivate until they ascend to heaven. If they cannot make it through, they will be reduced to nothingness when the heavenly calamity arrives, unless they are lucky enough to survive and immediately prepare for the next even more severe heavenly calamity. If they do not want to face the calamity, they must resolve their physical body before the arrival of the heavenly calamity and reincarnate from scratch in order to avoid it.

  So for them, a method that can be refined into a Golden Immortal is how important! Although they may not have the same enlightenment and qualifications as Lü Zu, the hope of becoming a Golden Immortal is very slim, but even if they become a Heavenly Immortal, or take a step back, being able to become an Immortal, they are still unable to attain it!

  The two of them couldn't wait to agree immediately, but they both didn't dare to believe that Yue Qing would actually give them such a big pie out of thin air, and were afraid there was some ulterior motive, so they hesitated slightly.

  Yue Qing smiled and said, "The two Taoist friends didn't say it, so I'll choose for you." He pushed the Dan Jing in front of Ming Yi Zi, "Please accept the orthodox Dharma from Lü Zu, and establish the Pure Yang Sect here!"

  Ming Yizi was overjoyed, but also a little worried. He grasped the soft Dan Jing and thought about pushing it back with restraint, but he couldn't bear to part with it. Instead, he simply stroked the pages gently with his hand.

  Liu Quan felt dejected after hearing this, but also thought it was only natural. After all, he had just met Yue Qing, so how could he possibly give him such a precious thing? He hadn't expected that Ming Yi Zi and Yue Qing were so close, even giving away the Dao book that could help one become a Golden Immortal. At the same time, he secretly admired Yue Qing's magnanimity.

  Yue Qing said to Liu Quan: "I have a predestined relationship with Liu Daoyou, and I also have some plans in my heart, but I don't know whether I should talk about it or not."

  Liu Quan hastily said: "Yue Dao you have something to say, Liu Quan will listen with a humble ear."

  Yue Qing sighed before speaking: "Since the passing of our former master, the teachings of our sect have collapsed and the lineage has been broken. I had hoped to revive the former glory of our sect, but unfortunately, I am alone and lack the power to do so. Although we have just met, Liu Daoyou, I have heard stories about you. You were originally a disciple of Xili Old Buddha, but after his passing, you joined the school of Kuti Longlao. Your skills are a mix of demonic and Buddhist practices, which makes it unsuitable for you to continue practicing the pure Yang method of Lüzu. The teachings of our Wutai sect originated from Chen Poyuan and are also an orthodox school of Xuanmen, comparable to the pure Yang ancestral master. If you are willing, I can take you on as a disciple in place of my master, lead you into Wutai, and together we can re-establish the rules of our sect, revive our mountain gate, and make our Wutai sect flourish once more. What do you think?"

  Not only was Liu Quan stunned, but Ming Yizi was also stunned. Neither of them had expected that Yue Qing would actually want to pull Liu Quan into the Wutai faction.

  This is an even bigger pie than the Pure Yang Dan Jing, with a large family business and a centuries-old reputation as the leader of the Central Plains Dao Gate. It is said that the Wutai Sect has a secret recipe for becoming a Golden Immortal - although from its founding to the present day, not one person has achieved this state, nor even ascended in the state of a Spiritual Immortal, yet everyone remains completely convinced of this possibility, and many believe that Taiyi Hunyuan Zushi is most likely to achieve Golden Immortality, following in the footsteps of Longmei Zhenren as another great ancestor of the Xuanmen Sect to ascend bodily. Alas, he fell midway, leaving people to lament and sigh.

  Apart from the ultimate Taoist orthodoxy, there are various refined resources, hundreds of years of accumulated experience and connections. Counting back several decades, the person with the most friends is naturally Zhang Bao, but if we talk about the sect with the most friends, it is undoubtedly the Wutai Sect.

  Liu Quan knew that Yue Qin had been cultivating for over 300 years, and his magical powers and insight far surpassed his own. If he could join the Wutai Sect, it would be a rare opportunity to have him as a master, let alone as a fellow disciple. What Liu Quan was worried about was that in recent years, the Wutai Sect had produced several evil disciples who had committed many atrocities, and were secretly leaning towards the demonic sects. If that was the case, joining them would be like boarding a pirate ship, and when the Wutai Sect eventually sank, he would likely suffer the same fate of being destroyed together with them.

  Yue Qing saw his concerns and repeatedly said that he was going to reorganize the sect's rules: "I plan to collect enough materials and then return to Wutai Mountain, open the Tian Gong furnace left by my predecessor, refine two Taiyi yin-yang swords, and hand them over to fellow Taoists to take charge. If anyone in the sect violates the rules or is evil and unrepentant, please behead them with the sword!" He also took out a black jade gourd, "This was refined by Zhu Hong, a traitor of our sect, who was killed by me at Simen Mountain."

  Ming Yizi said: "But wasn't it Zhu Hong who stole books and treasures on the eve of the sword fight at Huangshan?"

  Yue Qing nodded: "Not bad! The stolen Taoist scriptures and treasures have been recovered, and I was just about to return to the mountain to make a big move. Please ask the two Daoist friends to help me with this effort. If the Wutai Sect is rectified, the Taoist community will be purified and orderly!"

  Ming Yi stroked his beard and sighed, "Brother Dao is so generous and magnanimous, sending me the Xianfu Danjing. If I were to stand by and watch as you handle your affairs, forgetting kindness and righteousness, wouldn't that be no different from being a beast?" He stood up, slightly bowed, and said with great solemnity, "As long as Brother Dao can truly do as he said earlier, revive the Daoist tradition, and rectify the precepts, my Pure Yang Sect is willing to submit to your authority!"

  Liu Quan also stood up and bowed, his waist bent even deeper than Ming Yizi's: "What virtue or ability does Liu Quan have, to be favored by Daoist friends like this! From now on, if the elder brother treats me with sincerity, I will definitely treat the elder brother with sincerity, help the elder brother restore the Five Platforms, and die without regret!"

  "Good! Good!" Yue Qing was also very happy. On the spot, under the witness of Ming Yizi, Liu Quan gave Yue Qing a bow and offered tea, Yue Qing accepted him as a disciple on behalf of Taiyi Hunyuan Zushi, and taught him the master-disciple tradition of Wutai Sect and the 108 precepts, then took out the Fenghuo Double Swords collected from Wu Yuanzhi and gave them to him, and also gave him a Hunyuan Golden Elixir.

  Liu Quan called Wei Xiao over to pay his respects to Shifu again, and Yue Qing also pulled over Si Tu Ping to kowtow to Shishu. Liu Quan took out a stack of fine, silky objects and handed them over: "This is something my master, Ku Tie Long Lao, made before he became a Buddhist monk. He collected fire silkworms from the Fire Cave under the Thousand-Seeker Ice River on the North Silver Island in Xiao Xian Yuan, South Pole, and wove them into this Degree-Evil Immortal Robe. When not in use, it can be folded up like this into a small stack of fine silk. Worn on the body, it can cover from head to toe, like a silver-white cloud protecting the body, making it seem as if nothing is there. Once attacked, it automatically emits fierce flames, specifically able to counter the evil magic treasures of other sects. Today, you're kowtowing to Shishu for the first time, so I'll give it to you as a gift!"

  Yu Qing realized this was a treasure and hastily asked Sito Ping to thank him again.

  In the following days, Yue Qing and Liu Quan helped Ming Yizi move house from Zhongnan Mountain to Taihang Mountain. Since Liu Quan had joined the Wutai Sect, he no longer wanted his original cave dwelling, so everything was moved to the Fangxu Xianfu. At first, they were very cautious on their way back, fearing that a large army of Emei Sect would come and kill them. Fortunately, nothing happened for three consecutive days, and all the things were moved to Taihang, only then did they feel at ease.

  Ming Yi Zi studied the Pure Yang Dan Jing, while Yue Qing transmitted the Liu Quan Tai Yi True Explanation. He also passed on the Five Elements chapter of their school's entrance to Wei Zhan. Sometimes they would study together the Tian Yun Jian Jue left behind by the Pure Yang True Man, mutually refining and benefiting each other.