Controlling the Five Thunders and the Two Worlds

Chapter 294 May I ask if you Taoist priests know any magic?
Master Xu Ning chuckled and gave Jingyi a kind look, waving her hand to sit down. "Sit down and rest. Let these old folks pour themselves some water."

Jingyi just smiled, but still brewed another pot of tea on the small stove before sitting down. "Thank you, Master. It's alright."

As soon as she finished speaking, she glanced curiously at Gu Zhao.

The young man had come to rest earlier and hadn't attracted much attention; they just assumed he was an ordinary tourist.

They had been chatting for quite some time and their tea had been refilled twice, but why was the young man still sitting there resting?
Although the scenery here is nice, it is neither as grand and magnificent as Taiqing Palace, nor as open and vast as Laoding. It is not even close to being quiet and serene; it is just a pavilion for resting along the way.

Because the Taoist priests in the area often relax here, it was built a bit larger. In fact, since it's not far from Shangqing Palace and the journey isn't too tiring, very few tourists rest here.

This young man doesn't look weak at all, so why can't he walk anymore?
Then she saw the young man throw his empty water bottle forward, the bottle arcing through the air before landing in a nearby trash can.

"Oh!"

Empty water bottles are precisely placed into the bucket.

Then the young man stood up, but instead of leaving, he walked with a grin to the pavilion on his side.

"Greetings, fellow Daoists!" Gu Zhao bowed respectfully. "I've run out of water. May I have a cup of tea?"

"Of course!" Master Huaiyi smiled and shifted his position to make room for Gu Zhao. "Please sit down."

"Thank you, Daoist Master." Gu Zhao thanked him and sat down, then smiled and said, "I can smell the aroma of tea from afar. Is it top-grade Mao Feng?"

Master Taixian, who also loved tea, had a bright idea in his eyes and chuckled, “Young friend, you have a good nose. But this is not Mao Feng. It’s just a local green tea from Laoshan, though it is indeed a tea variety from southern Anhui, which can be considered a branch of Mao Feng.”

"Oh?" Gu Zhao asked with a smile, "I thought it was the legendary Laoshan tea."

Master Tai Xian knew that Gu Zhao was referring to one of the legends of Laoshan, and couldn't help but shake his head and chuckle, "Perhaps there was good tea in the past, but now Laoshan green tea is all from tea plantations that were introduced from the south to the north decades ago, relying on the people and professional knowledge."

After a pause, Master Taixian concluded, "Legends can't fill your stomach; you still have to honestly get the project done."

Gu Zhao couldn't help but chuckle, "I see. I really didn't know that. Please forgive me."

“There’s no need to apologize for this,” Master Tai Xian waved his hand.

Jingyi glanced at Gu Zhao curiously again, then took out an empty cup, rinsed it with hot water, placed it in front of Gu Zhao, and then picked up the teapot to make him a cup of tea.

"Thank you!" Gu Zhao tapped the table.

"You're welcome," Jingyi nodded in response.

With a tourist arriving, the old Taoist priests naturally stopped talking about the Taoist office and instead, through Gu Zhao, started discussing tea.

"Young friend, where are you from? What kind of tea do you usually drink?" Master Taixian asked.

“I’m from Guangzhou, and I drink a variety of teas, both black and green. Recently, I’ve been drinking a new tea called Luo Cui, which is basically not available on the market,” Gu Zhao replied.

Luo Cui tea is a type of tea tree that grows on the back mountain of Cui Luo Mountain. Unlike ordinary tea, it has a slightly light and delicate fragrance, making it taste better than the tea grown here.

“Luo Cui Tea?” Master Tai Xian shook his head and said honestly, “I’ve never heard of it.”

Master Huaiyi laughed and said, "There are many kinds of tea in the country, just like this cigarette. In many places, the cigarettes are not even sold outside the city, let alone outside the province. You simply cannot buy them unless you go to that place." Master Huaiyi picked up the cigarette in his hand and smelled it under his nose, which made Master Taixian laugh. "Smoke it if you want. It will dissipate in the wind."

Master Xu Ning disagreed, saying, "Why smoke? Secondhand smoke is harmful to your health. If you want to smoke, go back home."

"No, no, I just want to smell it." Master Huaiyi carefully put the cigarette back into the cigarette case.

"Yangcheng?" The short-bearded Taoist looked at Gu Zhao, not expecting that a tourist from Yangcheng would arrive just as they were talking about Yangcheng. It was quite a coincidence.

“Yes, Guangzhou.” Gu Zhao nodded. “When I read ‘Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio’ before, I found that Pu Songling wrote mostly about Shandong Province, and there wasn’t a single story about Guangzhou. I was upset about that for a long time. Later, when I grew up, I learned that he was actually from Shandong Province.”

Upon hearing this, Master Taixian smiled and asked, "Is there also a 'Taoist of Laoshan' in there?"

Gu Zhao nodded. "That piece was indeed unforgettable."

Master Huaiyi also laughed and said, "The fame of Laoshan is indeed largely due to 'Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio,' and we have to acknowledge that."

The old Taoist priests then chatted casually about the folk tales of Laoshan, including legends of Laoshan and the Taoist priests of Laoshan.

"There's also a Pu Songling Book Pavilion inside the Taiqing Palace. Legend has it that he wrote 'The Taoist Priest of Laoshan' in the book pavilion and even witnessed the Taoist priests' skills firsthand on Laoshan Mountain," said Master Huaiyi, pointing towards the Taiqing Palace at the foot of the mountain.

"Mirroring the moon, an ever-flowing wine jug, drinking wine while in the mirror, and even the ability to walk through walls?" Gu Zhao raised an eyebrow and smiled.

Master Huaiyi raised an eyebrow and smiled, "What, young friend, do you also want to learn the art of passing through walls?"

"What 'wall-penetrating technique'? It's just the earth-遁法 (earth-遁法, a technique for escaping underground) used horizontally!" Gu Zhao waved his hand. "Actually, I can explain all these spells."

Master Huaiyi asked in surprise, "How do you explain that?"

"Mirroring the Moon should be a spell similar to the Taoist Golden Light Mantra, except that it can be cast on objects," Gu Zhao said seriously.

"Oh?" Several Taoist priests looked at Gu Zhao.

"It's even easier to explain why the wine pot isn't empty. It's like a world within a pot, with a small space inside that could probably hold a pool of wine."

Gu Zhao explained in turn, "It's a bit difficult to drink wine in the mirror. Either it's a spatial magic, or it's an illusion that simply projects one's own shadow onto the mirror."

Master Huaiyi smiled and nodded, "That makes sense."

Gu Zhao smiled as well, "Laoshan is a famous Taoist mountain, known as the number one mountain by the sea. The Taoist priests here look like immortals. I wonder if they know any magic?"

Several Taoist priests laughed upon hearing this, and even Master Xu Ning and Jing Yi shook their heads and chuckled.

Although they all possess magical powers, which, if unleashed, would be enough to amaze and impress ordinary people, they could never achieve the level of the Taoist priests of Laoshan.

Leaving aside things like the ability to walk through walls and the world within a pot, what Gu Zhao considered the most difficult was drinking while in the mirror. This could be achieved by using magic to create illusions, similar to hypnosis or sleight of hand.

However, they naturally wouldn't tell Gu Zhao or show him, even if Gu Zhao was somewhat handsome and had a good chat with them.

(End of this chapter)