Under One Person: The End of Technique, Company Building

The next morning, Zhuge Qi was awakened by birdsong.

The mornings at Longhu Mountain are different from those in Beijing; here, the morning unfolds in layers.

First came the birds, then the rustling of the wind through the bamboo forest, then the faint echo of the morning bell from the Taoist temple in the distance, and finally the sunlight squeezing in through the cracks in the window, casting a long, thin golden stripe on the pillow.

Zhuge Qi opened his eyes, stared at the ceiling for three seconds, and automatically went through his work schedule for the day in his mind.

In the morning, I followed Dou Le's group to conduct an on-site inspection of the Luotian Grand Ritual site and defense points. At noon, I had a vegetarian meal at the vegetarian hall on the mountain. In the afternoon, I went to the Celestial Master's Mansion to formally pay my respects to the Old Celestial Master. In the evening, I returned to the guesthouse to organize my notes.

He sat up, wearing a vest and shorts, and walked to the window to pull back the curtains.

The lush greenery of the bamboo forest is refreshing, carrying the dampness of dew and the sweet, earthy scent of soil.

After washing up and changing his clothes, Zhuge Qi pushed open the door to his room. Just then, he heard Ma Hong yawning from the other end of the corridor. It was loud and long, like the mooing of an old ox.

"Old Ma, did you go thieving last night?" Zhuge Qi walked to the door next door and saw Ma Hong leaning against the door frame rubbing his eyes. His T-shirt was on backwards, and the label was sticking out of the collar.

"No, Section Chief, it's too quiet up here, I'm having trouble sleeping." Ma Hong yawned again, "My head keeps buzzing."

Zhuge Qi couldn't help but chuckle: "Then drink a couple more cups of strong tea during the day to keep yourself hydrated, and you'll be able to sleep well tonight."

The two walked into the courtyard, where Liu Yanyan was already stretching under the osmanthus tree.

She was wearing a white short-sleeved sweatshirt and black sweatpants. Her ponytail was tied high and neatly, and her cheeks still had the wet glow of freshly washed face, making her look very energetic.

"Good morning, Section Chief. Good morning, Brother Ma." She stopped what she was doing and stood up straight as soon as she saw the two of them come out.

"Good morning." Zhuge Qi nodded. "How did you sleep last night?"

"It's great!" Liu Yanyan smiled, her eyes curving into two crescent moons. "I grew up in the mountains, and this place is similar to my hometown. I sleep very soundly here."

Feng Baobao was the last to appear.

She was wearing an oversized gray hoodie with the hood pulled up over her head, her hands in the front pockets of the hoodie, looking like an old doll hanging on a hanger that hadn't quite dried out yet.

She walked into the courtyard and stopped, her gaze sliding from Zhuge Qi to Ma Hong, then from Ma Hong to Liu Yanyan, before finally saying expressionlessly, "Is there noodles for breakfast?"

"...I think so," Zhuge Qi said.

Feng Baobao hummed in agreement, then fell silent, standing still like a bamboo stalk that wouldn't sway even when the wind blew.

At 7:30, Dou Le appeared in the guesthouse courtyard on time.

Today he was wearing a dark blue NTDTV uniform, with a name tag pinned to his chest, a bunch of keys and a walkie-talkie hanging from his waist, and his sparse hair on top of his head was blown even more wildly by the wind.

"Section Chief Zhuge, good morning! Have you eaten?" Dou Le greeted him with the signature warm smile of a grassroots cadre.

"Not yet, we're about to head to the cafeteria," Zhuge Qi said.

"That's perfect. I've reserved a table in the dining hall. Let's eat and chat, and then we can start moving on to the next venue." Dou Le pulled out a folded map and unfolded it. "This morning I divided the entire Luo Tian Grand Ceremony venue into five areas. Let's go through them one by one, focusing on three key places: the evacuation routes around the main arena, the key passes between the mountain gate and the back mountain, and the emergency exits for the audience seating. How does this route look?"

Zhuge Qi took the map and glanced at it.

Dou Le drew the map very carefully, marking each point with a number in red pen and adding notes next to it. The entire route circled the back mountain area of ​​Longhu Mountain and finally stopped at the main hall of the Celestial Master's Mansion.

"That's fine, let's follow your route." Zhuge Qi folded the map and handed it back to Dou Le. "Let's go, have breakfast first."

The group walked along the stone steps leading to the dining hall.

The morning at Longhu Mountain was much more lively than they had imagined. Long queues had already formed at the entrance of the scenic area on the front of the mountain. Ordinary tourists carrying cameras and sun hats surged up the mountain, while tour guides waved small flags and weaved through the crowd. The recording of "Dear tourists, please pay attention to safety" was playing on a loop from the loudspeaker.

At the boundary of the back mountain, a gatehouse with white walls and gray tiles stands in the middle of the road, with a wooden plaque hanging above the gate that reads "Tourists Keep Out".

However, the handwriting was so rounded and gentle that, if it weren't for the middle-aged Taoist priest in a Taoist robe standing next to it, most people would probably think it was just a decoration in the scenic area.

As Dou Le and his group approached, the Taoist priest nodded slightly in greeting: "Director Dou, good morning."

"Good morning, Master Zhang." Dou Le returned the greeting, then stepped aside to introduce, "This is Section Chief Zhuge from the Department of Extraordinary People Affairs at headquarters, here to assist with the security work for our Luo Tian Grand Ceremony."

Master Zhang's gaze fell on Zhuge Qi, and he looked him up and down. His expression changed from polite to slightly surprised, probably because he didn't expect the "section chief" from headquarters to be so young.

But he quickly composed himself, cupped his hands in a respectful bow, and said, "Section Chief Zhuge, I've long admired you."

"Master Zhang, you're too kind." Zhuge Qi returned the greeting, his movements so precise it looked like he'd practiced hundreds of times. "If there's anything the Celestial Master's Mansion needs our assistance with, please let me know."

Master Zhang nodded and stepped aside to make way: "Please come in, everything has been arranged inside."

After passing through that gatehouse, the scenery immediately changed.

The front mountain is a tourist attraction, complete with artificial hills, pavilions, shops, and photo spots, while the back mountain presents a completely different scene.

The stone steps have become more rustic, with specks of moss growing on the bluestone slabs, and the trees on both sides are taller and denser, their branches intersecting to form a natural corridor.

The smell of incense in the air was much stronger than on the front mountain, and the faint sound of chanting could be heard drifting on the wind from afar.

The dining hall is a two-story building with blue bricks and gray tiles. A couplet hangs at the entrance: the first line reads "A world is hidden in a grain of rice," and the second line reads "The universe is cooked in half a pot." The horizontal inscription reads "Eating is the most important thing."

When Zhuge Qi saw the horizontal scroll, he couldn't help but laugh. It must have been written by some unconventional Taoist priest.

Breakfast consisted of porridge, steamed buns, pickled vegetables, and boiled eggs—simple but filling.

When Feng Baobao saw that there was no noodles, her expression dimmed for a fraction of a second, but she still silently ate two steamed buns, drank three bowls of porridge, wiped her mouth clean with a tissue, and returned to her expressionless face.

After breakfast, Dou Le spread the map on the table and began the official "Longhu Mountain Day Trip".

The entire site survey lasted nearly three and a half hours, from 8:00 a.m. until 11:30 a.m.

When the group returned to the inn, everyone's shoes were covered in dust and mud, and Ma Hong had beads of sweat on his forehead.

Zhuge Qi was the cleanest one; his shirt didn't even have an extra crease.

"Let's take a break at noon. We'll go to the Celestial Master's Mansion to pay our respects to the Old Celestial Master at 2 PM." Zhuge Qi patted non-existent dust off his trousers and said to everyone, "You all can do as you please. I'm going to wash my face."

After saying that, he turned and went into his room. The moment he closed the door, the expression on his face relaxed slightly.

He squatted down, used his little finger to pick out the pebbles, threw them into the trash can, then straightened up, walked to the basin, scooped up a handful of cool water, and splashed it on his face.

During his lunch break, Zhuge Qi intended to close his eyes and rest for a while, but after only five minutes of lying down, he heard Ma Hong's snoring coming from next door through the wall.

The sound was deep and drawn out, like the heavy breathing of an old ox plowing the field, interspersed with occasional gasps, as if it had tripped over a large rock.

Zhuge Qi stared at the ceiling for a while, then thought that this was probably a kind of cultivation.

At exactly two o'clock, Zhuge Qi pushed open the door on time. As he stopped on the threshold, he saw Ma Hong peeking out from next door, a tuft of hair sticking up, as if he had just been woken up from a dream by the sound of snoring.

At 2:15, the group set off.

It takes about twenty minutes to walk from the guesthouse to the main hall of the Celestial Master's Mansion. Along the way, you pass through a dense forest on the back mountain. The ancient trees on both sides of the stone steps block out the sun, and the sunlight can only seep through the gaps in the branches and leaves, casting dappled light spots on the ground.

The scent of pine resin in the air grew stronger, mixed with the faint smell of smoky residue from burning incense and candles.

The Celestial Master's Mansion on Longhu Mountain is indeed magnificent. The main hall is located halfway up the main peak, built against the mountain, with layers upon layers of red walls and gray tiles, flying eaves and upturned corners. Under the afternoon sun, it exudes a sense of solemnity that is completely different from ordinary Taoist temples.

That sense of weight and solidity is not supported by the building itself, but by the accumulation left behind by countless extraordinary people who have stepped over its threshold, lit incense and candles here over the centuries.

When Zhuge Qi and his entourage stopped in the square in front of the main hall, the scene before them stunned everyone.

A large group of people were standing in the square.

To be precise, it was a large group of ordinary tourists, holding up their phones and cameras, forming a semi-circle.

At the center of the circle is Zhang Zhiwei, the Celestial Master of the Celestial Master's Mansion on Longhu Mountain and a "top" figure in the world of supernatural beings.