Chapter 1: Farewell

me, when Ge Dongxu was protecting Ren Yao and got thrown into a mess again, Ren Yao suddenly woke up. She chased away the children and looked at Ge Dongxu for a long time. Then, she asked, "Would you..."Master, tomorrow I have to go to the county town to prepare for school. After that, I won't be able to come see you every day. This is your favorite flower wine, ten years old, and also the flowers you like to eat. Today, let's, master and apprentice, have a good drink and meal."

On Baiyun Mountain, in front of a grave, an elderly man held a five-jin jar of flower wine. In front of him was a lotus leaf wrapped flower and two porcelain bowls. He poured wine into the bowls while muttering to himself... 。

This year, the person's name is Ge Dongxu, a villager from Gejia Yangcun at the foot of Baiyun Mountain.

His master, Ren Yao, is buried in the tomb. 。Ge Dongxu began practicing with him at the age of eight and continued until Ren Yao passed away at the age of fourteen. 。Now, Ren Yao has been dead for two years, and Ge Dongxu is already sixteen years old. 。Because I was accepted into the county high school, I'm going to the county tomorrow. Today, I came specially to bid farewell to my master. 。When it came to Master Ren Yao, although Ge Dongxu had practiced with him for six years, he knew very little about his life. Even his name, he only learned just before the master passed away. 。Since Ge Dongxu knew his master, his master had been a sometimes-divine, sometimes-demented old man. 。Ren Yao didn't often appear in the village. Most of the time, she lived in an abandoned temple deep in Baiyun Mountain. 。Occasionally visiting my hometown, I usually find it a bit chaotic. 。The children in the mountain village were mischievous. Seeing the old man acting strangely, they giggled and chased after him, throwing rotten fruit paste at him. 。Ge Dongxu was kind and gentle, unlike other children who were mischievous. When his playmates threw things at the elderly for amusement, he would always step forward to protect Ren Yao. 。In the end, it was he who was thrown and left covered in filth. 。One time, when Ge Dongxu was protecting Ren Yao and got thrown into a mess again, Ren Yao suddenly woke up. She chased away the children and looked at Ge Dongxu for a long time. Then, she asked, "Would you be willing to become my disciple and practice with me"Ge Dongxu wanted to shake his head, but seeing Ren Yao's white hair and tattered clothes, he felt pity for her. Against his will, he nodded and agreed. 。Ren Yao was overjoyed and immediately took Ge Dongxu to meet her parents, wanting to formally accept Ge Dongxu as her disciple. 。Of course Ge Dongxu's parents wouldn't let their son worship a crazy old man as his master, even though he seemed normal at the time. 。

Perhaps it was stimulated by Ge Dongxu's parents' rejection. Ren Yao became disoriented again on the spot, muttering to herself as she walked away.

From then on, he would visit Ge Dongxu every few days.

When Ge Dongxu's parents saw Ren Yao acting erratically and clinging to their son, they became worried that she would harm him. After she visited several times, they couldn't stand it any longer and chased her away. 。No matter how much they chased him away, every few days Ren Yao would still come back, while Ge Dongxu's parents insisted on driving him away and keeping him away from their son. 。

Until one day, Ge Dongxu suddenly developed a high fever that wouldn't go away. The doctors were also helpless. Ge Dongxu's parents were so anxious that their eyes were filled with tears. They were about to send Ge Dongxu to the county town to find a doctor when Ren Yao suddenly appeared and took Ge Dongxu away.

Ge Dongxu's parents were naturally very worried and chased after him.

It was strange, Ren Yao, who was clearly a white-haired old man, ran with a child in his arms faster than Ge Dongxu's father. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared into the woods. 。At that time, Ge Dongxu's parents didn't think much of it. Seeing Ge Dongxu being carried into the woods by a crazy old man and disappearing, they were so worried that tears streamed down their faces. They thought their son had a high fever and was now taken away by this crazy old man, surely something bad would happen. 。

To their astonishment, just as they were frantically searching the mountain and calling out for their son, Ge Dongxu suddenly ran towards them from a small mountain path. Not only was he in good spirits, but he was also very agile, not at all like his feverish state before. Let alone being agile, his entire body felt heavy, lightheaded, and he couldn't even stand up straight.

After that, Ge Dongxu's parents made a major decision and allowed their son to apprentice under Ren Yao, the old man who was sometimes insane and sometimes lucid. 。

Strangely enough, ever since Ge Dongxu's parents agreed, Ren Yao suddenly became mostly lucid.

Although Ren Yao mostly remains lucid, he hardly remembers anything from his past and has no idea what his name is. 。Later, Ge Dongxu's parents found a scar on Ren Yao's back of the head and guessed that he must have had some brain trauma, which was why he behaved this way. They wanted to take Ren Yao to the county hospital for a check-up, but Ren Yao was very stubborn and refused to go. There was nothing they could do. 。Fortunately, Ren Yao, besides occasional moments of confusion, remembered her cultivation practice even though she couldn't recall anything from her past. 。He taught Ge Dongxu how to paint talismans, how to recognize various herbs, and how to identify acupuncture points. He even taught him how to breathe and cultivate Qi. 。When teaching these things, Ren Yao always took Ge Dongxu to the dilapidated Taoist temple on the mountain and forbade his parents from watching. 。Fortunately, after Ge Dongxu followed Ren Yao to practice cultivation, not only did he never get sick again, but he also seemed to become extraordinarily smart and quick-witted. He learned anything much faster than other children his age, and was also much stronger than them. 。Thus, Ge Dongxu's parents also followed Ren Yao to teach their son. Sometimes they felt a little curious, but thinking that Ren Yao should be an extraordinary person from the Jianghu, with his own rules, they held back and didn't ask Ge Dongxu what he learned from Ren Yao. 。As long as the son is healthy, everything else is secondary. 。Two summers ago, Ren Yao finally couldn't resist the ravages of time and passed away. 。In his final moments, perhaps as a reflection, he suddenly remembered some past events. 。It's a pity that the time he had was too short. Ge Dongxu only learned about some things intermittently, and it wasn't until then that Ge Dongxu found out his master's name. 。Remembering bits and pieces of his past with his master, Ge Dongxu was momentarily lost in thought until the wine in his porcelain cup overflowed. Only then did he snap back to reality, wiping a tear from his eye corner. He picked up the porcelain cup filled with flower-scented rice wine and poured it before Ren Yao's grave. Then, he lifted his own cup and drained it in one gulp. 。A flush of color, tinged with youthful innocence, rose on her simple features, but quickly faded away. 。"Master, after you left, I have diligently practiced every day without slacking off." 。I do not flaunt the skills you taught me in front of others, nor do I use them for evil. 。Rest assured, no matter where I go, I will always keep your teachings in mind. 。“As he spoke, Ge Dongxu poured another bowl of flower wine for Ren Yao and drank one himself. He also ate some seeds.” 。"Oh, by the way, Master told you some good news. This morning during practice, I finally broke through to the third level of Qi Refining." 。You definitely didn't expect my progress to be this much, did you It's all thanks to that gossip furnace pendant you left me. 。There is another world within, containing the lifelong cultivation insights of my Dan Fu school's ancestor Ge Hong, and a complete copy of "The Classic of Nine Essences, Huapu." 。It's a pity that this discovery came too late. Had it come sooner, perhaps you would have found inspiration in this scroll of the Tao Te Ching and not left your disciple so hastily. 。"Ge Dongxu said, taking down a small peach wood sword pendant from his neck. The peach wood pendant looked ordinary, but as Ge Dongxu touched it, a streak of green flowed on its surface, emitting the fragrance of sandalwood." 。Actually, there was also another ancient-looking gossip furnace pendant hanging on it originally. It was left to him by Ren Yao when she passed away. 。Once, Ge Dongxu accidentally dripped a drop of his essence onto it. The gossip furnace unexpectedly reacted with him, and without a trace, he disappeared. 。However, at the same time, Ge Dongxu's mind inexplicably gained a lot of knowledge related to cultivation, with the most being knowledge about alchemy and elixir refining. 。Originally, Ge Dongxu had trained with his master Ren Yao for six years before he just barely broke through to the second level of Qi Refining. Since obtaining the cultivation knowledge from the八卦爐 pendant and practicing the complete version of 《The Nine Profound Scriptures of Holding Simplicity》, his cultivation speed increased dramatically. In just two years, he had broken through to the third level of Qi Refining. 。

As he mumbled to his master and ate and drank, the five-jin jar of wine unexpectedly ran out. The sixteen-year-old Ge Dongxu, besides having a slightly flushed face, showed no signs of intoxication.

Seeing an altar of wine run dry, Ge Dongxu finally stopped muttering. He respectfully kowtowed three times to his master's grave, then rose and walked down a mountain path. 。The path was overgrown with weeds, clearly a well-trodden route. 。At the end of the path lies Gejiayang Village. 。Gejiayang Village used to be a very poor and closed mountain village. However, in recent years, Changxi County has vigorously developed tourism, and people from the city also like to go to the mountains for summer vacation and recreation. Gejiayang Village is located at the foot of Baiyun Mountain, the first highest peak in Changxi County, so it has been lucky enough to benefit 。In recent years, not only has the village been connected by roads, but also because of tourists coming to play, villagers have opened small shops in their own homes or farmhouses or guesthouses. They can make money just by sitting at home. 。To attract tourists, villagers even wrote about the village on ancestral halls, claiming that Gejiapang Village is the descendant of Ge Hong, a legendary Taoist scholar, alchemist, and physician from the Eastern Jin Dynasty. 。

Before, Ge Dongxu naturally didn't believe it. He thought that the old people in the village were just making up stories to attract tourists. But ever since the gossip stove pendant disappeared from his home and many things appeared in his mind afterwards, he realized that he was really a descendant of Ge Hong. That's why the drop reacted with the gossip stove pendant passed down through the generations of the Danfu school ancestor Ge Hong.

Ge Dongxu's mother, Xu Suya, is a primary school teacher at a private school in the village. His father, Ge Shengming, runs a farm-stay business at home and works as both a chef and an owner.

It's the end of August now, and it's still sweltering weather in Jiangsu province. 。However, the mountains are cool and children are still on summer vacation, so people from the city like to come to Baiyun Mountain for a respite from the heat this time of year. 。With the increase in tourists, Ge Shengming's farm stay business has also improved significantly. 。Remembering these days the family business was good, now that it's just mealtime again, his father needs help urgently. Ge Dongxu didn't quicken his pace. 。Before even reaching home, Ge Dongxu saw several people gathered outside his yard, pointing inside. 。

ps: New book released, please vote and leave lots of comments to support it. Thank you very much.these days the family business was good, now that it's just mealtime again, his father needs help urgently. Ge Dongxu didn't quicken his pace. 。Before even reaching home, Ge Dongxu saw several people...