Don't farm, cultivate immortality!

About three years ago, Xuanqing Temple built a new pilgrim hall at the main gate to welcome the endless stream of worshippers, but there was no sign of expansion.

Many of the places he saw were different from the Taoist temples he remembered.

The current layout is more like the Taoist temple he visited ten years ago when he first came to the mountain. No... it's even smaller than the Taoist temple he visited back then. It's probably like the Xuanqing Temple from fifteen or twenty years ago.

Could it be that he woke up one day and went back to the past?

But why are Taoist temples so deserted now?

Or is this some kind of illusion, and he is still dreaming and hasn't woken up yet?

Zhuang Xing pondered his current situation. Something was very wrong. He gripped the hilt of his sword at his waist and thought he should go and look around somewhere else.

Just then, he heard rustling footsteps.

"Your Majesty, is that you?"

He looked down and saw a red panda.

The bell rang, and the one-eyed red panda squeezed in through the crack in the wall. Zhuang Xing's gaze met itss. Around the panda's neck hung a rusty copper plaque with words engraved on it, but the words had been obscured by green patina.

Zhuang Xing paused for a moment, then called out uncertainly, "Guanmu?"

The red panda in front of him looked very similar to the red panda in his house, but Zhuang Xing could also clearly see the differences.

Its fur was darker, and it had several scars on its back.

It walked very slowly, as if it could no longer move.

Even so, it slowly walked to Zhuang Xing's feet, squinted its eyes, bent its body slightly, and rubbed against Zhuang Xing's ankle.

"Your Majesty, I miss you so much," the panda whispered.

Zhuang Xing suddenly felt a pang of sympathy for it, so he squatted down and stroked its head.

...

"Shoumu, do you know where everyone in the temple has gone?" Zhuang Xing asked.

“They’ve all gone down the mountain to exorcise the demons,” Shoumu said.

"Go down the mountain to exorcise demons? Are there many demons down there?"

“There are so many,” Shoumu said. “When they can’t find food, the monsters go and eat people. Many people have been eaten by the monsters, and the monsters also eat other monsters. I remember that day the people on the mountain gathered on that grassy area, holding their swords and saying something before going down the mountain.”

"I asked the old man when they would come back, and he said they would come back after the demons were exorcised. But they haven't come back yet, so the demons down the mountain must not have been completely eliminated."

“But now that you’re back, Your Majesty, Grandpa and the others should be coming back soon too, right?” The panda’s voice was filled with joy. “Then the Taoist temple will be back to how it used to be.”

"What was this place like before?" Zhuang Xing asked.

“I used to be so happy,” the panda said. “Grandpa would give my brother and me candy, and sometimes we’d get cookies too.”

"Speaking of which, where are your brothers? Where did they go?" Zhuang Xing asked.

The panda paused, then said, "Your Majesty, let me take you to see them. They must miss you too."

"Mm." Zhuang Xing nodded.

The panda got up and led the way.

Zhuang Xing followed it forward. Among the weeds, there was a small path, which resembled a forest animal trail. It was just big enough for a panda to pass through, but Zhuang Xing found it a bit narrow.

They hadn't walked far when Zhuang Xing recognized the place. It was the dormitory for the new disciples, the place where he and Da Chun had lived when they first came up the mountain.

The big birch tree also withered and died, leaving only a lifeless dead tree.

The panda stopped in front of the big birch tree and said, "Second brother, third brother, fourth brother, fifth brother, the king has come back to see you."

At the base of the tree, there were four small mounds of earth. In front of each mound was a broken two-pronged branch with a rusty bronze plaque hanging from it, just like the one around Shoumu's neck.

Zhuang Xing was taken aback. He squatted down and gently stroked the rough signs. He fell silent and couldn't utter a word.

But what comes to mind is the image of the little guy playing around, and the day he was carving words one by one on the wooden sign with a knife.

"Your Majesty, I'm sorry."

Why are you saying sorry?

"I wish I could keep an eye on my younger brothers' training."

Shoumu lowered his head.

Red pandas have a much shorter lifespan than humans. Even if they become intelligent and gain supernatural powers, it is still difficult for them to outlive an ordinary person.

If they don't practice their skills properly, the panda spirit will only live seven or eight years longer than a wild panda. That's already doubling their lifespan, like someone who can live to sixty living to one hundred and twenty.

Therefore, Zhuang Xing always urged the little guys to exercise more, and even exchanged a method of internal breathing with Mr. Bai for them to practice.

Even so, Zhuang Xing knew that this day would eventually come.

He picked up Shoumu and asked, "How have you been all these years?"

“Yes,” Shoumu said. “I would be very happy to see the King again.”

Its breathing was slow and loud; its dark fur was actually a sign of aging, and it was drier and more prickly than before.

No wonder it walks so slowly; it's very old, already in its twilight years.

Zhuang Xing carried it back to the room. On the stone bed was a small nest made of bedding and straw. This was the only clean room Zhuang Xing had seen on his journey.

Beside the bed was a small wooden basin filled with murky water. In the place that should have been used to store miscellaneous items, there were some freshly picked tender grass and wild fruits. Some of the fruits had lost their moisture and become very dry.

Near the inner room, there was a small hearth with unburnt charcoal inside. Around the hearth were five pits covered with cloth, which looked like seats. One could imagine a flame burning quietly inside the room while it was snowing outside.

The five little pandas might sit around the fire pit, huddled together for warmth.

But that was a long time ago.

"Your Majesty, I haven't had your pancakes in so long," the panda in my arms suddenly said. "Could you make me pancakes again?"

"Okay." Zhuang Xing gently lowered his eyes.

“I’ve saved some rice.” Shoumu pulled a cloth bag out of the corner. “Sometimes we can find some rice on the mountain, but we can’t bear to eat it.”

Zhuang Xing opened the tightly tied cloth bag, which contained some loose rice grains that had not yet been husked.

He circulated his true qi to shatter the husks of the grains, and carrying the bag of "rice" he had painstakingly collected, he went outside to chop some firewood and came to the kitchen where his disciples boiled water.

The pot on the stove was rusty, but the stove hadn't collapsed yet. He took a piece of new wood to use as a cutting board, gathered water using a water-based method, and used a whittled rolling pin to grind the rice into powder.

The panda lay motionless on the table, listening to the sounds of him cooking and burning firewood.

It closed its eyes and completely relaxed, as if everything reassured it.

Dynastic change

The red sun set behind the earth, and night fell, enveloping the desolate mountain.

The frosty moonlight shone down, and the stars twinkled in the misty clouds. Zhuang Xing gathered firewood and lit a fire in the hearth of the old house.

The firewood crackled and popped as it burned, and a little warmth emanated from the firelight and the panda in my arms.

Shoumu ate the rice cake made of mixed grains in his arms, wagging its tail and eating with relish.

Zhuang Xing asked, "How many years have passed since I came down the mountain?"

“It’s been many years,” Shoumu said. “You haven’t come back since Your Majesty took that bird up the mountain.”

"Is that bird a wild goose?" Zhuang Xing asked.

“It looked like a wild goose,” Shoumu said. “I can’t quite remember.”

"It's called the North Wind?"

"That's it, that's it."

The flickering flames were reflected in Zhuang Xing's pupils as he added a piece of firewood to the fire.

He still didn't know why he had come to this place, but he had a general idea of ​​his situation.

This is not where he should be. He was wondering how he should go back. At least it turned out that the wild goose did go back. But many years had passed since it went back. Zhuang Xing was a little worried. Even if he found the way back, would there still be people he knew waiting for him there?

He recalled those two dreams again; he had started having these strange dreams even before he met the goose spirit.

He always felt that the dream was related to himself, and that he had actually experienced that bone-chilling cold feeling once when he was very young.

The blood-red tiger demon grabbed him, but the female warrior severed the tiger demon's hand, and he fell into the snow.

It was a bitterly cold night, and he was almost naked. The icy white snow engulfed him, and the wind felt like knives cutting into his skin.

It was a cold day, but the coldness in my dream was even worse.

Why are there so many monsters in the world?

So many disciples from the entire Xuanqing Temple sect have gone down the mountain?

His mind was racing, and he gradually began to form some guesses.

That night, he rested in the house, covering himself and the panda with the straw-stuffed blanket. The next morning, he picked up his sword and prepared to go down the mountain to take a look.

"Your Majesty, are you leaving again?" the panda asked.

“Yes, I want to go down the mountain,” Zhuang Xing said.

"Your Majesty, please wait patiently." The panda stood by the door, looking at him.

"Do you want to come with me?" Zhuang Xing asked.

“If I go, I will cause trouble for the King,” the panda said.

Zhuang Xing hesitated for a moment, then squatted down and stretched out his hand: "It's okay, nothing will happen."

The panda's ears perked up: "Then I'll go with the King!"

"If there's anything you want to bring, you can pack it up."

The panda paused for a moment, then suddenly went back into the house. It took out half a rice cake, and Zhuang Xing didn't even notice that it had left half a cake last night.

It placed the cake under the roots of the big birch tree, in front of the four small branches, and ran back to Zhuang Xing.

"Your Majesty, let's go."

"Mmm." Zhuang Xing picked up the little guy.

He rummaged around in the kitchen and found a barely usable old bamboo basket, which he then put the panda inside.