Chapter Ninety-Two: The Mist Clears and the Clouds Part

The two bodhisattva-level masters from the Immortal Flame Buddha Mountain came swiftly and left just as quickly. From the moment they entered the Qian residence to the moment they vanished into the eastern wing, hardly a cup of tea had passed. Even so, Lu Xin was still drenched in a cold sweat.

According to Hui Jing and Hui Neng, the reason the two had discovered his presence was likely that they had sensed the aura of the Crimson Lotus Great Compassion Seal. It was a supreme mantra of the Immortal Flame Buddha Mountain, immensely powerful. Even Wei Tunyun had once shown shock at it and did not dare take it head-on.

Yet Lu Xin had no memory of how he had managed to unleash that move. With his current cultivation, it was indeed still beyond him to wield such a formidable spell.

After the two monks left, Moon Black soon emerged from the inner room. The fox demon’s face now bore an unmistakably strange expression. It was neither fear nor worry, but rather something like a grudge buried deep in the heart for many years.

Lu Xin had long known that Moon Black had ties to Buddhism. Merely from the story involving the bodhisattva Shitao'an and the hand-seal alone, there were already countless threads linking her to the Buddhist sect. But Moon Black refused to speak of it, and Lu Xin naturally did not press. Still, from the way Li Chunfeng had just told Moon Black to hide in the inner room, it seemed that his master understood the fox demon’s origins even better than he did.

“My goodness! Brother Xin, just how many people have you offended? Even monks are coming to hassle you now. You nearly scared the baby out of me.”

Only after seeing Moon Black emerge did the scholar seem to come to himself. He immediately began hopping about the room in a flurry. After making a scene for a while, he must have grown thirsty, because he grabbed the entire kettle and started gulping water down. Lu Xin could not be bothered with him. He had intended to turn and speak with Moon Black, but the other party spoke first. Only, Moon Black’s words were directed at Li Chunfeng.

“Senior, did you tell me to hide just now because you were afraid I would die at the hands of those two monks?”

At that, Li Chunfeng did not answer immediately. Instead, his gaze darkened as he looked out toward the gloomy sky beyond the door. By then, the rain had stopped. But Chang'an City was still shrouded in a thick veil of mist, making everything hard to discern.

“The doctrines of Buddhism speak of dependent origination and emptiness, which are rather similar to our Daoist principle of nonaction. But the Immortal Flame Buddha Mountain is different. Its doctrine is one of arising and ceasing, of seals and impermanence. All dharmas arise from conditions, and all dharmas perish from conditions. Thus these monks do not abstain from killing; they vainly seek enlightenment through force. When they are pleased, they are naturally vast in compassion. When angered, they can likewise extinguish every good root and cast all beings under heaven into samsara, calling it transcendence. Little fox, with your present abilities, can you match their impermanent seals?”

“How does Senior know of this?”

After hearing Li Chunfeng’s words, Moon Black’s expression changed abruptly, shock flooding her face. Lu Xin did not understand the meaning of these words, but Moon Black clearly did. Yet Li Chunfeng did not answer. He merely turned and pointed at Moon Black’s forehead, then shifted his gaze to Lu Xin.

“The Divine Control Temple has set its sights on you, presumably in order to obtain the Yin-Yang Wandering Immortal Sword. I fear even the Son of Heaven of Tang is involved in this matter. I had originally intended to wait until your cultivation advanced a little before teaching you the method of refining divine weapons, but now it seems there is no time to wait.”

“Master?”

“No need to say more. Bring the Wandering Immortal Sword and come find me at Dragon Head Plain.”

After speaking, Li Chunfeng immediately left the room. Lu Xin did not dare delay. He quickly called on Moon Black and the scholar to fetch the sword. Seeing this, Wei Qing tactfully took his leave of the three and also departed from the Qian residence.

After the Yin-Yang Wandering Immortal Sword was taken away by Moon Black, it was hidden in the inn at Yining Ward. Wei Tunyun was highly cultivated, but he was not an omniscient god; naturally, he would never have imagined that the legendary divine weapon would be tossed into a bustling inn full of comings and goings. After Lu Xin obtained the Wandering Immortal Sword, he had Moon Black and the others immediately move to the Wei residence. First, with Wei Qing and Wei Zheng, uncle and nephew, there, safety could be assured. Even if the Divine Control Temple wanted revenge, it would not dare strike at the Wei residence. Second, the Yang sisters had already gone to the residence of the Prince of Hejian, and with Wei Qing there as well, contact would be easier to arrange.

Leaving Yining Ward meant reaching Kaiyuan Gate. Dragon Head Plain lay in the northern part of Chang'an, less than ten li in a straight line from the Taiji Palace. A plain, properly speaking, was simply a raised stretch of land. It referred to a place in the surrounding region that stood higher than Chang'an City. Such places were often barren and sparsely inhabited.

Chang'an was backed by the Qinling Mountains to the south and bordered by the Wei River to the north, with eight rivers encircling it. Judged by the art of geomancy, it was naturally an excellent land of feng shui, brimming with regal energy. But compared with the surrounding areas, Chang'an sat at a relatively low elevation and was ringed on all sides by water, making the climate especially damp. To live in the city was, in truth, not all that comfortable.

After leaving the city through Kaiyuan Gate, Lu Xin headed north and soon reached the foot of Dragon Head Plain. Because of the Book of Burial Grounding and Form, he knew a little about feng shui and could naturally read the shape of the land.

From the terrain, Dragon Head Plain was a mound of earth stretching from the southwest to the northeast. Its lower stretches were only twenty or thirty meters high, and even the tallest rise was less than a hundred meters. Such a formation could hardly even be called a mountain. Lu Xin guessed that Dragon Head Plain had likely been formed by the Wei River to the north, which over long years had washed away the surrounding loess to create this elevated ground, rather than being something that had existed from the beginning.

One was innate, the other acquired. Though there was only a single word between them, the difference was immense. In Daoist theory, when heaven and earth first opened, dragon veins proliferated, and only after that did the essential qi of the five elements evolve all things, with sun, moon, and stars filling out the cosmos.

In other words, dragon veins were the origin of heaven and earth, a force that had existed since the splitting of chaos and the opening of creation. The arts of feng shui and geomancy arose from theories based on dragon veins. For this reason, throughout history people had been obsessed with searching for dragon veins, hoping to obtain the myriad inconceivable powers hidden within them. From this perspective, although Dragon Head Plain possessed a dragon-like landform, if it were not born innately, then it would not truly count as a bloodline of the earth in the strict sense. Lu Xin could not make sense of why Li Chunfeng would suddenly come here.

After wandering around the foot of the mountain for a good five or six minutes, Lu Xin finally found a path up through a patch of weeds. This only showed that very few people had ever set foot in this place. Since Li Chunfeng was not below, he must already have reached the summit of Dragon Head Plain. Lu Xin climbed the narrow dirt path slowly. The rain had made the mountain trail muddy and rough to begin with. Added to that, the thick fog had reduced visibility to almost nothing, so even though his movement technique was excellent, he could not fully make use of it. By the time he reached the highest point of Dragon Head Plain, he was soaked through and filthy.

The terrain at the summit, by contrast, was remarkably level. Aside from a few slight undulations in some places, it was almost no different from flat ground. A fine rain was still falling there, and thin mist drifted among the trees and flowers, lending the scene a faint poetic charm. Lu Xin looked around and soon spotted a figure sitting amid the smoke-like clouds, his back turned toward him.

As he approached, he saw Li Chunfeng seated cross-legged at the edge of a cliff. Looking outward from there, one could overlook the entire city of Chang'an. Though the vast city was veiled in mist, its full outline could still be seen.

“Climb high and gaze far—does the broadened horizon also bring some change to the spirit?”

Li Chunfeng’s eyes were closed, and he did not open them as he spoke. Lu Xin could clearly feel a powerful force of magic gathering within Li Chunfeng’s body. He did not know what his master intended to do, but as Li Chunfeng said, when a person stands at a height and sees more clearly and farther, his state of mind does indeed become different.

“Reporting to Master, when this disciple was in Chang'an, what I saw with my eyes was surging crowds and dazzling brilliance. What I held in my heart were the bonds of kinship and the old acquaintances of distant places. Thus I fell into danger, taking one fearful step after another, not only harming myself, but nearly harming others as well. But now that I stand here, what I see before my eyes is the great mortal world and the boundless realm of the mountains and rivers. This heaven and earth are so vast that even a city like Chang'an is but a drop in the ocean. When storms rise and the winds lash about, it too is no different from a human life, precarious and uncertain.”

“Hahaha, well said—precarious and uncertain.”

Li Chunfeng suddenly laughed aloud. After a brief silence, he abruptly opened his eyes. Then, with a wave of his hand, the sky above Chang'an underwent a dramatic transformation. The boundless layers of cloud began to disperse at incredible speed, and the thin mist shrouding the city seemed to be swept far, far away by a great wind.

In an instant, sunlight poured into the city, illuminating everything.

Looking again, every ward and lane of Chang'an was now clearly visible. Lu Xin could even see the countless pedestrians moving along Vermilion Bird Avenue. The sight left him utterly stunned.

A mere wave of the hand, and the mist disperses while the clouds part—what kind of divine power was this? Lu Xin could not help but think of Ao Tian, who could raise his head to swallow clouds and exhale mist, changing the weather in an instant.

For a person to casually command the shifting of the skies—Lu Xin truly could not imagine what manner of realm that was.

Yet Li Chunfeng took no notice of his astonishment and said calmly, “Clouds come from wind, rain from water. The changes of wind, cloud, rain, and snow are nothing more than minor arts. On the night the Western Market caught fire, someone even moved an entire river to extinguish it. My meager skill amounts to nothing.”

Having said that, Li Chunfeng rose and looked toward the north. Seeing that clouds and mist also lingered there, he waved his hand again, and wherever his gaze passed, all clouds and fog dispersed. Very soon, a vast river appeared before Lu Xin’s eyes.

“On the Wei River lies the ancient capital of Xianyang, and at the northwest corner of Dragon Head Plain, the broken walls and ruins of Chang'an from the Han dynasty are still plainly visible. This place is surrounded on all sides by water and seems blessed by heaven. But when water is full, it overflows; when the moon is full, it wanes. It is not a place of stability.”

“What does Master mean?”

Lu Xin did not understand what Li Chunfeng was trying to express. At least in his view, Chang'an’s feng shui might not be the very best, but it was certainly a place of great wealth and rank. At the very least, there was nothing improper about the Li father and son establishing their capital here.

“You come from the future, and yet you can think of nothing? Look further this way.”

Li Chunfeng fixed Lu Xin with a look, then turned in another direction. Following his gaze, Lu Xin saw another river in the distance. Though it was not as broad as the Wei River, it too stretched beyond the eye could see.

“Beside that river once stood the extravagant Epang Palace of Qin. Yet within only a few short years, it was reduced to ashes.”