Heaven Lake was legendarily the Queen Mother of the West’s bathing basin. Having arrived here, not taking a proper bath would be a disservice to all the hardships endured along the way. Climbing a mountain while being bitten by insects and blocked by wild men—in later generations there would be no such terrible circumstances.
Although those scenic area management personnel weren’t much different from insects and wild men, at least the management personnel wouldn’t take your life. A worm over a zhang long could swallow a person whole, then bury itself to slowly digest—just thinking about such things made one’s blood run cold.
The Great Tang had too few people, which resulted in primordial wilderness throughout the world. Countless ancient surviving species lived happily here. These species were stupid and single-minded—if they wanted to bite you to death, they would persevere relentlessly in doing so.
He had already told Yuan Shoucheng not to go near the lakeside for no reason. Even tourists in later generations could occasionally see water monsters. Yun Ye was very optimistic about the possibility of this lake being full of magical creatures.
So now when something resembling a plesiosaur appeared holding a Daoist in its mouth, swaying up and down as it swallowed, he wasn’t surprised in the slightest. The powerful crossbow in Yuan Shoucheng’s hands ultimately still displayed its formidable might. The old Daoist shot extremely accurately—all three crossbow bolts drilled into that monster’s nostrils. Estimating it was seriously injured, it spat out that Daoist in one gulp. Stepping with heavy footsteps, it came ashore. Yuan Shoucheng shouted loudly and turned to run. The remaining two Daoists also couldn’t care about that Daoist of unknown fate and ran swiftly following Yuan Shoucheng.
The veteran soldiers were astonished and together with Yun Ye buried their bodies in the pool, only exposing their heads to watch the three old Daoists desperately fleeing for their lives. Such a massive creature—let alone thirty people, even three hundred wouldn’t be enough for it to wreak havoc on. Once ashore, the first to suffer was that injured Daoist. With one tail swipe, the person disappeared. Watching this, Yun Ye’s heart trembled.
That fellow chased for two steps, perhaps feeling uncomfortable with its belly scraping against the rocks, and returned to the lake, walking toward the deep waters. Before long, only large circles of ripples remained on the water surface.
Wu She had a towel on his forehead, and a veteran soldier was helping him scrub his back. Comfortable enough to hum constantly, he drank a mouthful of wine and said to Yun Ye: “We’re bathing and watching this monkey show like this—how will you explain to Yuan Shoucheng later? Here you call the shots, but don’t forget you ultimately have to return to Chang’an. When you return to Chang’an, His Majesty will cause you trouble.”
Yun Ye shook his head and said: “He wanted to come to Heaven Lake, so I brought him. I helped him avoid the snow dragons and wild men, and told him he couldn’t approach the lakeside. He thought because he was a servant of immortals, those monsters wouldn’t eat him—ridiculous. What grounds does His Majesty have to criticize me? If they hadn’t engaged in all those miscellaneous nonsensical affairs and had bathed with us instead, how would such a tragedy have occurred?”
“You’re overthinking it. Maybe Yuan Shoucheng felt this trip was too smooth and deliberately sought trouble for himself.” After Yun Ye finished speaking, he burst into hearty laughter. Liu Jinbao and the veteran soldiers also laughed along.
Yuan Shoucheng struggled to climb up the rock wall and reached the place where Yun Ye and the others were bathing, his expression extremely sorrowful and indignant.
“Mister Yuan, don’t rush to handle affairs. Better to take a bath first to relieve your fatigue before speaking. This is an immortal land—you should still be more careful. Fortunately, you’re not under the Northern Court’s jurisdiction. Just based on your disobeying military orders earlier, your heads could be hung on flagpoles to dry.”
“Is this your reason for standing by and watching someone die?” That old Daoist called Benlei roared at Yun Ye with tears streaming down.
“If you’re going to roar, might as well shout even louder. Shout a couple more times and it will rain here. Now it’s spring—if lightning is generated, your name will truly live up to its meaning.” Yun Ye spoke softly. On the plateau, some mountains were very strange. If you shouted a few times, it would immediately rain. If you were more unlucky, lightning would be generated. In his early years in the Northwest, Yun Ye had encountered such places more than once.
“Benlei, listen to Marquis Yun. We’re very unfamiliar with this place, so we should still heed Marquis Yun’s advice. Marquis Yun, just now this old man was reckless—don’t take it to heart. From now on, we will certainly ensure orders are prohibited and commands are followed.”
Yuan Shoucheng was ultimately an old fox who knew this wasn’t the right time to start an argument with Yun Ye. Since arriving here, he had already determined in his heart that Yun Ye was definitely not coming here for the first time. From how he dealt with snow dragons and scorpions, to luring away wild men, his methods were extremely practiced. To attribute everything to intelligence gathering seemed somewhat untenable.
As soon as he arrived at Heaven Lake, he prepared to bathe and easily found the hot springs. Staying here not only avoided danger but also allowed monitoring of the entire great lake. If not someone very familiar with Heaven Lake, one couldn’t accomplish this. Moreover, this was an excellent resting place.
Old Daoist Benlei wouldn’t comply. Perhaps the fellow who had just been slapped to death by the monster’s tail had deep feelings with him. He simply couldn’t listen to reason. Even though light rain had already begun falling, he still dared to raise his treasured sword and roar loudly about killing that monster.
Wu She picked up a rock and with a flick struck that fellow’s wrist. The sword in his hand was immediately knocked flying. Just as it flew up not far away, a lightning bolt accompanied by startling thunder struck the sword. Watching that sword drop to the ground emitting black smoke, the sword body twisted like a fried dough twist, Yuan Shoucheng’s mouth never closed again. (In depressions on high mountains, such things often occur. The water vapor here accumulates to a saturated state. As long as there’s vibration, it will rain. Thunder is the same. Many places named Thunder God Mountain or Thunder God Ridge will thunder at any time and place—very miraculous.)
“Bathe!” Yuan Shoucheng took the lead in removing his clothes and diving into the pool. The two Daoists also obediently drilled into the water. Their expressions were strange as they stayed motionless in the pool, afraid of attracting more lightning.
Rain was falling from the sky, and falling harder and harder. Everyone curled their bodies into the water, only exposing their heads to endure the beating rain and wind. The energy accumulated here had a process of release. Fortunately, this time wasn’t long. The ice-cold rainwater pouring on their heads wasn’t comfortable. Yun Ye felt his skin had wrinkled from soaking. This rain finally stopped. A rainbow hung not far ahead, seemingly within reach.
Climbing up from the pool, bodies completely weak and sore, stomachs rumbling, soaking in hot springs was very exhausting. Everyone including Wu She had been frightened by that startling thunder. The might of heaven and earth wasn’t something mortal flesh could contend with.
The greatest benefit was that Yun Ye’s ears were much cleaner. After the heavy rain, everything was wet everywhere. Unable to find firewood to light fires for cooking, but at this time they needed to eat a good hot meal. Yun Ye led the veteran soldiers carrying pots to near the spring eye of the hot spring. Braised eggs, braised meat, dried flatbread—all these things were thrown into the pot in one go, then the pot was set over the steam-emitting spring eye, waiting for the food to be heated through before eating. This spring eye was different from the one used for bathing—shockingly hot. Eggs thrown in could be cooked in no time.
While waiting to eat, Yun Ye said to Yuan Shoucheng: “This world is too vast, so any kind of thing can be encountered. You all think this is an immortal land, but have you seen any immortals? Here there are only wild men and monsters—only no immortals. This place isn’t suitable for human habitation either. This time we came quietly, and then we’ll leave quietly, not disturbing the creatures here. At least we’ve seen Heaven Lake—consider it coming to appreciate beautiful scenery. In a person’s lifetime, such opportunities aren’t many. Look around more—tomorrow we descend the mountain.”
Yuan Shoucheng shook his head: “You’ve got it exactly backwards. This is precisely the immortal land. Down the mountain are strange worms, demons about to transform into humans. In the lake are monsters. In the garden are countless butterflies and rare flowers and plants. When Benlei began showing disrespect toward immortals, rain descended as punishment. When he roared again, startling thunder descended. To dare draw a weapon in an immortal land truly deserves punishment. This time we’ll descend the mountain tomorrow. Upon reaching the city, I’ll immediately compose a letter. Immediately countless Daoist masters will come to this place. This old man wants to build a Daoist temple beside Heaven Lake as a place to promulgate the law to the world.”
“Marquis Yun is a worldly expert who doesn’t know about our Daoist teachings. Ge Hong’s ‘Book of the Pillow’ records: Before chaos opened, there was the essence of heaven and earth, called ‘Yuanshi Tianwang,’ who roamed within it. Later when the two principles divided, Yuanshi Tianwang resided above the center of heaven, looking up to inhale celestial energy, looking down to drink earthly springs. After several more eons, he united energy and concentrated essence with Taiyuan Jade Maiden, giving birth to the Celestial Emperor, the Queen Mother of the West. The Celestial Emperor gave birth to the Earthly Emperor, and the Earthly Emperor gave birth to the Human Emperor.”
“The Queen Mother of the West was formed from the condensation of primordial yin energy. In heaven above and earth below, throughout the three realms and ten directions, all women who attain the Dao and ascend to immortality are under the Queen Mother of the West’s jurisdiction. According to the ‘Classic of Mountains and Seas,’ in ancient times, when the Yellow Emperor punished Chiyou’s violence, Chiyou transformed in many ways, summoning wind and rain, blowing smoke and spraying fog. The Queen Mother of the West then dispatched the Mysterious Woman of the Nine Heavens to bestow upon the Yellow Emperor the Three Palaces and Five Intentions, the strategies of yin and yang, the arts of Taiyi Escape Armor, Liuren Step Dipper, the mysteries of the Yin Talisman, and the texts of the Five Talismans and Five Victories of the Spirit Treasure. The Yellow Emperor thus defeated Chiyou in central Ji. After Sage Shun ascended the throne, the Queen Mother of the West again dispatched envoys to bestow white jade rings, white jade tubes, and maps. Shun then expanded the Yellow Emperor’s nine provinces to twelve provinces.”
“Having heard the allusions about the Queen Mother of the West, does Marquis Yun still not understand why this old man wants to establish a temple at Heaven Lake? Even if we have no fortune to see the Queen Mother of the West, this old man still wants to preserve this opportunity for the Daoist sect. The Queen Mother of the West is not only an immortal but also the ancestor of earthly immortals. His Majesty’s imperial succession derives from the Yellow Emperor, and the Yellow Emperor received the Queen Mother of the West’s grace, so His Majesty will empathize. This place holds great significance for our Daoist sect—it cannot be easily abandoned.”
Looking at Yuan Shoucheng’s sorrowful face, Yun Ye was speechless. Perhaps Yuan Shoucheng had always devoutly believed in the countless gods and Buddhas filling the sky. Over a hundred years of self-hypnosis had already caused him to sink deep into it, unable to extricate himself.
Bending down to look at the pool of Heaven Lake water beneath his feet, watching the monsters happily swimming back and forth in the water in a carefree manner, they didn’t know that disaster would soon befall them.
Once the massive Daoist sect entered this place in force, the worms down the mountain would be eaten clean, the wild men on the mountain would be kept in captivity, and the monsters in the lake might even be subdued by Daoist masters to serve as mounts. Yun Ye only hoped that when he came again, the Daoist masters wouldn’t charge him exorbitant entrance fees.
Another famous mountain and great river was ruined…