The Three Pure Ones' Secret: Expressing Spirit

In the sweltering summer heat, the two men, wearing only shorts, trudged through the grass, their feet sinking deep into the mud. By the time they reached the grass, they were soaked with sweat. Fan Biao simply took off his short-sleeved shirt, revealing a muscular, overweight body.

We pulled ourselves up a slope by the roots of a cypress tree and came to a grove of trees. It was very dark in the woods, and the moonlight couldn't penetrate them. I asked Fan Biao what to do. He took out his phone and turned on the flashlight. Although the light was dim, it was enough to illuminate the surroundings.

He glanced at the instrument in his hand, then determined his direction, carefully observing his surroundings as he made his way through the thorny bushes in the woods. After walking for a while, we heard the gentle sound of a stream; there must be a mountain spring not far away. Old Fan looked at the instrument on his wrist, which seemed to be pointing in the direction from which the sound of the stream was coming.

We groped our way toward the stream in the darkness, and soon we saw the moonlight. Deep in the forest, there was a towering cliff with a pool of water at its base. The water was not very deep, and the current flowed slowly from the bottom of the pool. The rocky walls of the pool were covered with vines that cascaded down the cliff face. And close to the pool, there was a man-made cave.

Fan Biao and I looked at the cave, which was covered with vines. A spring dripped from the vines, shimmering in the moonlight. I looked at Fan Biao and asked him uncertainly, "Did they hide in this cave?"

Fan Biao glanced at the instrument on his wrist, then nodded solemnly at me: "It seems this place is the lair of these monsters. I wonder if there are any other monsters here!"

Fan Biao then picked up a piece of tree trunk next to the pool and tried to insert it into the water to measure the depth. The water was not deep, only reaching his calves at most.

Fan Biao took off his shoes and then went into the water without hesitation, with me following behind him. The water was quite cool, and we walked slowly towards the cave. Our footsteps stirred up ripples in the pool, and the moon reflected in the pool was stretched into strange shapes by the waves.

Because it was less than twenty meters away, we soon arrived at the cave entrance. Below the entrance was a platform two or three meters wide, and along one corner of the stone wall was a small path that someone had built. Fan Biao and I looked at each other, speechless.

He looked into the cave and saw that the entrance was not very high, probably only about 1.5 meters high, and only about 1 meter wide. Looking at the marks on the cave walls where people had used steel chisels to chisel, he estimated that the cave was not very deep.

I took out a candle from my pocket and had Fan Biao light it. He turned off his phone flashlight, and the two of us bent down and walked into the cave one after the other. Although the entrance was a bit small, I was stunned when I entered the cave. The cave was huge. Apart from the entrance being man-made, the cave itself was naturally formed. At that moment, we saw the old man's body lying diagonally on the ground not far away, seemingly without any movement.

Fan Biao handed me the candle and then told me, "Brother, be careful. Stand here and hold onto this candle. I'll go up and check!"

I nodded and obediently leaned against the stone wall. Through the dim candlelight, I could see my surroundings clearly. Inside the cave was a very strange stone statue. The statue was large, probably two meters tall, and sat cross-legged on a stone platform. It somewhat resembled the Dragon King, but its clothing was different. It was half-naked, with a snake coiled around its shoulder, gazing forward along with the snake. The statue had a half-smile, but it didn't look frightening; instead, it gave off a very approachable feeling.

Fan Biao, while looking at his instruments, walked towards the statue. He seemed to have discovered something, and then said to the statue, "Stop hiding, come out!"

I originally thought that the white-haired old monster would come out, but instead, a man wearing a white T-shirt emerged from behind the stone statue. The man had his hair parted to the side, wore glasses, and looked very refined.

The man probably hadn't expected that two energetic young men would be out in the middle of the night, sneaking into this remote mountain valley. His eyes showed surprise and astonishment, and then he spoke in a deep, resonant voice, asking us, "Hey guys, what are you doing here so late at night?"

Fan Biao looked at him, lost in thought. There should be a monster behind him, so how could there be a living person? Seeing that Old Fan didn't speak, I was a little at a loss.

Fan Biao looked at the man and asked, "You're from the Hundred Immortals Sect, and this stone statue is the Hundred Immortals Daoist. Did you have these monsters capture Old Man Qiu's soul?"

The man glanced at the corpse beside him and shook his head: "I didn't. I am an outside disciple of the Hundred Immortals Sect. I had a chance encounter before and saved a fox that was about to become an immortal. This fox was the fourth-generation grandmaster of the Hundred Immortals Sect. He made an exception and accepted me as his human disciple, but he did not teach me any of the sect's secret techniques."

I was completely baffled, but Fan Biao seemed to understand what he was talking about, so Old Fan asked him, "These three monsters were able to cultivate and attain enlightenment, so they must be juniors of the Hundred Immortals Sect, right?"

The man nodded: "Yes, they are the grand-disciples of the Hundred Immortals Sect. Actually, this matter may be a misunderstanding."

Fan Biao lowered his guard, took out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and then tossed it to the man next to the statue not far away. The man took the cigarette, lit one himself, and said to Fan Biao and me, "Brothers, you should let them go first. They won't cause trouble while I'm here."

I was a little unsure why Fan Biao seemed completely unfriendly, so I slowly walked over and whispered, "Are you going to release Lao Fan or not?"

He nodded, then gestured for me to untie the raccoon dogs that were tightly bound in my hands. Fan Biao and I loosened the raccoon dogs we were holding, but to our surprise, these two hairy beasts had been playing dead the whole time. As soon as we untied them, they hurriedly ran towards the man's direction.

The man gestured for them to lie down to the side, and then summoned the white-haired fox spirit from behind the stone statue. It was estimated that the old white-haired fox had been frightened by Fan Biao and had lost its arrogant demeanor when it first scared the guys. It looked at Fan Biao with wariness and fear in its eyes.

The man then slowly recounted the story of Old Man Qiu to Fan Biao and me. It turned out the story began much like the one told by the old woman we'd met yesterday afternoon: Old Man Qiu had wanted to eat wild game, and these three raccoon dogs were practicing their spiritual cultivation in the mountains, never interacting with humans. A few months ago, when his son was building a logging camp on the mountain, the workers accidentally caught the raccoon dogs. The workers initially intended to release them, but the old man took them. Because he was the boss's father, the workers didn't dare say anything.

This man was from the same village as Old Qiu, and it just so happened that he saw them. He was originally an outer disciple of the Hundred Immortals Sect of the Demon Clan, although only in name. But when he saw the old fox with three snow-white stripes on its body, he knew in his heart that this fox was probably not an ordinary mountain animal. In addition, he had been saved by animals from the Hundred Immortals Sect before, so he couldn't bear to see these three foxes suffer such a terrible fate.

The man, with a kind heart, sneaked into Old Qiu's house and released the three raccoons while the old man was taking a nap. Originally, this was just a good deed, but raccoons are known for their strong sense of revenge and often bully animals much larger than themselves in nature.

After the man released them, the white-haired old foxes took revenge on him every night. The old man was too old to bear being frightened and tormented by them, and he died not long after.

During this time, the raccoon appeared in front of the man. The man could tell that the white-furred raccoon of the tailed beast had become intelligent. It told them that it was from the Hundred Immortals Sect and asked them to leave the vicinity of the village and go into the mountains.

But the already ferocious raccoon was unwilling to let Old Man Qiu go so easily. It transformed into a demon and captured Old Man Qiu's soul. Only after the man patiently persuaded them did they agree to stop. However, when they came to return Old Man Qiu's soul, they happened to run into Fan Biao and me, who had come to handle the funeral arrangements for the Qiu family. In the end, they were beaten up by Fan Biao and had no choice but to flee for their lives.

The man took the last drag of his cigarette, threw the butt on the ground, and stomped it out. "I never expected to meet two fellow Daoists at the end. It's truly rare to find a genuine Yin-Yang Master in this day and age!"

Fan Biao, with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, cupped his hands in greeting: "Not at all, brother. The Hundred Immortals Sect of the demon race has been of great help to our ancestor, the Three Paths Dao Lord, in attaining immortality. As long as these three demons stop harming people, this matter is understandable. After all, that old man Qiu brought it upon himself, and we cannot control the length of his life."

The man was somewhat surprised, then smiled and said, "I didn't expect that you two brothers are actually the successors of the Three Paths Dao Lord. You must know the authentic Three Pure Ones Technique. Afterwards, I would like to ask you two to do me a favor. I wonder if you two young brothers can spare some time?"

Fan Biao looked at the middle-aged man: "Then, brother, you'll have to wait until we've finished dealing with this old man Qiu."

Seeing that Fan Biao was willing, the man said to us, "Then let's talk when you two brothers are free. My surname is Bai, Bai He, and I live at the fork in the road at the village entrance. Today is my meditation day, so I can't accompany you two back. Go down the mountain to the right of the cave entrance, and you'll soon reach the paved road. Turn left and keep walking until you reach the village. I'll have them take the body back to you later!"

Fan Biao glanced at the three raccoon dogs beside him and thought, "This man is pretty impressive. He actually came to this remote mountain valley to meditate in the middle of the night. Can't he meditate at home? Does he have to come to this statue mountain to show his sincerity?"

Fan Biao didn't dwell on it much. He seemed to know something about the Hundred Immortals Sect the man mentioned, and then he called me and him back: "Let's go, Lao Pu, we don't need to worry about what's going on here. He's from the Hundred Immortals Sect, we can rest assured!"

Afterwards, Fan Biao and I walked out of the cave. As we walked, Fan Biao kept looking back. He checked the instruments in his hand to make sure there was nothing unusual around him, and slowly said to me, "Bai He from the Hundred Immortals Sect probably didn't tell us the truth. We need to be more careful around us these next few days."

I was taken aback for a moment, then asked him, "Huh? So you agreed when he asked you for help?"

Fan Biao reverted to his usual carefree demeanor: "Whatever, let's just take a look first, treat it as fun!"

I was speechless, thinking, "What's so interesting about this?" And what exactly was this Hundred Immortals Sect that Bai He mentioned? Was it some kind of cult? So, I curiously asked Fan Biao, "Hey, Lao Fan, what's this Hundred Immortals Sect you guys are talking about?"

Fan Biao followed the path Bai He had told us and walked down the mountain, slowly telling me the story of the Hundred Immortals Sect and Jiang Zhengyang, the patriarch of the Three Pure Ones Technique.

Long ago, in the realm of gods within the Three Realms, there lived an enlightened immortal. This immortal was a demon who cultivated and ascended to heaven. Demons, like humans, have their own indigenous Taoism, with many famous immortals and countless stories. He, however, was a demon who achieved enlightenment through cultivation, and he also established a sect within the demon race, which is now known as the Hundred Immortals Sect.

The Hundred Immortals Sect has many powerful folk immortals, also known as wild immortals, who are monsters who have cultivated themselves from animals. They do not do evil and maintain certain areas of nature that are not touched by humans.

Humans manage their own sphere of activity, and they often stay in deep mountains and forests, managing environments that people rarely come into contact with or enter. Animals that develop intelligence can gain the recognition of the Hundred Immortals Sect, thus gaining a greater chance to cultivate and attain enlightenment.

As for why Jiang Zhengyang, the Daoist Lord of the Three Paths, knew their Dao Ancestor, it all started when Jiang Zhengyang was young and searching for the first volume of the Three Pure Ones Heavenly Book. At that time, Jiang Zhengyang had divined the first volume of the Three Pure Ones Heavenly Book. The court and the country were in turmoil, and demonic events and disasters were frequent. In order to quell the imbalance between the Three Realms and the Human Realm caused by the chaos of demons and ghosts, Jiang Zhengyang made up his mind to find the first three volumes of the Three Pure Ones Heavenly Book in his lifetime and use the Three Pure Ones Formula in the first volume of the Three Pure Ones Heavenly Book to quell the demons and monsters that arose from the turmoil in the Human Realm.

At that time, the Hundred Immortals Sect had just been established, and its prestige was not high. There were not many demons who followed it, and most of the intelligent demons who had attained Taoist cultivation were unwilling to submit to each other. Many wild immortals were unwilling to join, and only wanted to hide in the deep mountains with their own races and teach their cultivation in a family-style manner.

The patriarch of the Hundred Immortals Sect happened to know some of the whereabouts of the Three Pure Ones Manual, but he told Jiang Zhengyang on the condition that if Jiang Zhengyang encountered any remorseful monsters on his journey to find the Three Pure Ones Manual, he should persuade them to join the Hundred Immortals Sect to obtain the orthodox path of cultivation.

And it was this very story that brought the two old men together by chance. The Hundred Immortals Sect became a religious sect among the demon race, and Old Man Jiang also gained the opportunity to become a god by quelling chaos and enlightening many demons to the right path during his journey to find the Three Pure Ones Manual.

After listening to Lao Fan recount their entanglements and fates, I realized that the world can be quite wondrous at times. I was already shocked by the inclusion of yin-yang masters and ghosts in my world, but I never imagined that not only humans could establish their own schools of thought, but even animals in the mountains and forests could.

After hearing all this, I suddenly realized that the world is actually quite fair, at least the balance of the three realms that Lao Fan mentioned is relatively fair. I originally thought that humans were very powerful and dominated all the animals in the world, but I didn't expect that these animals just didn't want to integrate into the scope of human life. They only wanted to avoid people and hide in the mountains and forests to live a free and unrestrained life.