On the second day, when they went to climb Tongbai Mountain, they met a tour guide at the foot of the mountain, and Zhou Xiang asked the tour guide to serve them.
The tour guide is a local and knows all the legends of Tongbai Mountain.
The famous Yuntai Temple on Tongbai Mountain is one of the birthplaces of Taoism in the Central Plains, and Shuilian Cave is the 44th of the 72 Taoist blessed places.
It is said that Wang Ziqiao, the son of King Ling of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, once practiced Taoism at Tiantai Temple on Tongbai Mountain. During the Warring States Period, Guiguzi, a Chu man, practiced Taoism here, and Taibai Jinxing achieved enlightenment through practicing Taoism here.
These are all legends related to cultivating immortals. Zhou Xiang thought that he should go back to Huai County to look for them. There are too many and too confusing legends here. There is no need to go to other tributaries. No suspicious places were found at every sharp turn along the way.
Zhou Xiang’s request to the tour guide was to see the source of the Huai River.
The tour guide took them all the way to the mountain gate of Yuntai Zen Temple. There was a stone pavilion here, and under the pavilion was a well called Xiaohuai Well. The well mouth was only the size of a plastic basin, and the well was bottomless.
The tour guide said, "Only the longest and highest sources are the source. In the entire Tongbai Mountain, there is no higher outlet than this. The altitude here is 1,140 meters. This well runs 30 miles underground and only emerges at the Huai Pond in the Huai Temple at the foot of the mountain."
Following the direction of the Huaiyuan River, the tour guide brought the four people to the Huai Temple in Huaiyuan Town at the foot of the mountain.
Inside the Huai Temple, we found the Huai Pond, a small pond surrounded by stone railings. The water was very clear, completely different from the turbid water of the Huai River.
"This is the first time that underground water at the source of the Huai River has surfaced. There are springs underneath. When the Ministry of Water Resources determined the length of the Huai River, this was designated as the zero-kilometer origin."
Zhou Xiang was disappointed. Was this the source of the Huai River? Before she saw it, she had thought it was at least like the huge lake in the hotel owner's legend. How could such a small well and pond have created the Huai River, which had always been difficult to control?
Ling Ran held her hand and said, "Let's go! Go down the mountain."
"good!"
The tour guide couldn't understand these tourists. They didn't want to look inside the Yuntai Temple or the Water Curtain Cave, but only wanted to see the source of the Huai River.
The tourists didn't want to watch anymore, so the tour guide had to take them down the mountain.
After paying the guide, Ling Ran drove back to the hotel. The climb and the 15 kilometers from Xiaohuaijing to Huaici Temple took more than six hours. By then, it was already three in the afternoon. After a meal—well, afternoon tea, I guess—it was already four o'clock.
So, stay one more night and go home tomorrow.
At night, in the space, Zhou Xiang took out the box that belonged to his aunt in the ring, opened it, took out the jade pendant, and looked at it over and over in his hand.
If this jade pendant was really left by that Taoist priest, is it hinting at something?
Immortal cultivation? Jade pendant? Jade slip?
It seems that the way to use jade slips in novels is to stick them on the forehead, right?
She raised her hand and placed the jade pendant on her head, but there was no response, so she took it off and looked at it again.
Ling Ran grabbed the jade pendant in her hand and asked, "What are you doing? What did you do just now?"
"I'll try to communicate with the jade pendant. Yes! I'll try using my mental power."
Zhou wanted to raise his hand, but Ling Ran pressed it firmly, "I don't understand! Explain yourself."
Zhou Xiang could only tell him the method of using jade slips taught or passed down by masters in novels about cultivating immortals.
Ling Ran asked: "Can I?"
"Are you as strong as me? If you really need mental strength, I'm afraid you'll be crushed into a fool by the other party's mental strength in an instant."
Ling Ran was still worried, and Zhou Xiang was annoyed. "You're too nagging, fussy. You must have been born into the wrong family. Be a woman in your next life!"
Ling Ran nodded seriously, "Okay! Then you be a man."
"I don't care. Even though women have to endure more hardships, I still like being a woman."
"Then I still want to be a man, your man."
"Okay, okay, let go. Let me see if it works. Don't bother me."
Ling Ran agreed solemnly.
Zhou Xiang placed the jade pendant on his forehead again, summoned his mental power, and probed into the jade pendant.
As soon as the mental force touched the jade pendant, the mind was flooded with a wave of information. The information seemed incoherent, perhaps because it had been too long. The jade pendant, no, the jade slip had lost its spirituality, just like flipping through a book with many pages missing.
Zhou Xiang patiently sorted it out and found that it was indeed the immortal cultivation inheritance left by the Taoist priest. He skipped the cultivation part and looked through it to see if there was any useful information for him. The jade slip mentioned a place at the end that Zhou Xiang had never expected.
That is, there was a formation set up under the riverbed in a certain section of the middle reaches of the Huai River. The things and spiritual energy inside were insignificant to the Taoist priest at that time. He was not interested in them and ignored them.
The Taoist priest said that if anyone who inherited his legacy has no more spiritual energy to absorb from the outside world, they can go to that place.
Zhou Xiang sighed and opened his eyes, only to see Ling Ran's worried look. "Why are you like this?"
"You've been sitting here for a long time. Did you gain anything?"
Zhou Xiang nodded and said, "Wait a moment, I'll try the Wang family's jade pendant again."
He took out another box, opened it, took out the jade pendant, and probed out his mental power. He also received a wave of information, but the amount of information here was even less.
The old lady's jade pendant was placed in a box and buried underground, so its spiritual energy was lost slowly. The Wang family's jade pendant was often taken out and played with, so it was lost quickly.
The only complete piece of information in it made Zhou Xiang smile.
This time, when she opened her eyes again, Ling Ran told her that almost an hour had passed. However, "What are you laughing at?"
"I was laughing at the Wang family's stupidity, which allowed us to take advantage. The two jade pendants are indeed jade slips, but they have lost their spiritual energy due to their age, and the information is incomplete. However, I got what I wanted most.
Anyone in the Wang family who knows how to read this jade slip will receive two storage rings and the bracelet's space. That space can be used for storage, not planting. Perhaps it's because my bracelet is the main one and the other is the auxiliary one! The Wang family's ancestors didn't know that the bracelets were a pair.
As for the jade slip that Auntie had, "Speaking of this, Zhou Xiang sighed for a few days, "It is the inheritance of the legendary Taoist priest that Auntie mentioned. He should know, or all practitioners know, that spiritual energy is becoming less and less, but they still pursue their path to becoming immortals.
He mentioned that there was a formation under the riverbed in the middle reaches of the Huai River, and that the formation contained things and spiritual energy that he despised.
"Is it Huai County?"
Zhou Xiang nodded, "Yes! It's a little southeast of Auntie's village, downstream. It's exactly where the Taoist encountered it when he was setting up the formation on the Huai River."
Ling Ran asked, "Then do you know how to get in?"
"I know. The Taoist priest has a trick up his sleeve. As long as I have his jade pendant, I can open the formation. But why should I go in? I'm not going to practice, so let the spiritual energy there continue to be preserved!"
"Are you stupid? Go see if there's anything we need! If not, just come out again."
"Then let's go and have a look!"
It took him about two months to get there, but only about ten hours to get back. When the dark and thin Zhou Xiang appeared in front of his mother, he was hugged by her and cried.
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