At this moment, Song Lun also bowed deeply to the figure in the distance. When Ji Yuan and the figure in the distance both accepted the gifts, Song Lun took two breaths before slowly standing up.
"Mr. Ji, that is my master Zhong Pingxiu, who has lived in the barren and desolate Wuliang Mountain."
Song Lun introduced this in a low voice, and the sound of calm could be heard softly from the other side of the mountain.
"I have long admired Mr. Ji's great name. Zhong Pingxiu has been waiting for you in Wuliang Mountain for a long time!"
"Friend Zhong, I have also heard of you for a long time!"
As the cloud driven by Songlun descended, Ji Yuan and Zhong Pingxiu were able to look at each other up close for the first time.
In Ji Yuan's eyes, Zhong Pingxiu was wearing a fitted grey robe, had long white hair without a bun, had a ruddy complexion and did not look old at all. He looked middle-aged but also like a young man, much younger than his apprentice Song Lun. In Zhong Pingxiu's eyes, Ji Yuan was wearing a wide-sleeved green shirt with long hair in a bun, and had no extra accessories except a black jade hairpin. His eyes were lifeless and calm, as if he saw through the world.
The two men were of similar size, and they looked at each other for only a few breaths. Then Zhong Pingxiu extended his hand.
"There are no pavilions or towers in Wuliang Mountain, but since it is raining today, I would like to invite you to have a chat in the inner palace of the mountain where I live."
"The guest should follow the host's wishes. I am not picky."
Zhong Pingxiu nodded and invited again, and he and Ji Yuan walked forward together in the hazy rain.
Wuliang Mountain looks very desolate, but it is not without vegetation. There are still some wild grasses and trees, but there are really no animals to be seen, not even a single insect. In Ji Yuan's eyes, the most common color is the color of various rocks, mainly stone blue and stone yellow. They look extremely hard, and there are few individual blocks. Most of the stones and soil are connected as one.
The trees in sight were basically not growing straight, and they were all old trees with tangled roots and covered with scabs. When Ji Yuan passed by a tree, he reached out and touched it, and then knocked on it. The sound it made was like gold and iron, and it felt equally hard.
The so-called inner palace in the mountain is also a different world. Coming in from a cave, you can see a place for meditation and a bedroom in the cave. The place where Ji Yuan and the other two are now is even more special. Not only is the place spacious, but there is also a very wide crack in the mountain, which is more than one person tall and seven or eight feet long, and is very close to the mountain wall, so that it is like an open and unobstructed floor-to-ceiling ventilation window.
There was a low table and two cushions. Ji Yuan and Zhong Pingxiu sat opposite each other, but Song Lun insisted on standing on one side. There was tea on one side of the table, and a chessboard occupied the main position, but this was not for playing chess with Ji Yuan, but for Zhong Pingxiu to keep himself entertained when he was bored because he had been alone here for many years.
"Mr. Ji must have many doubts in his mind, and he wants me to answer them. I also have many doubts in my mind, and I hope Mr. Ji can answer some of them."
Ji Yuan frowned slightly and spoke.
"Please first tell us about Wuliang Mountain, Brother Zhong."
"Okay."
Zhong Pingxiu looked outside the mountain through the wide crack. He looked at Wuliang Mountain, which did not look steep but was absolutely magnificent, and spoke in a gentle voice.
"This Wuliang Mountain is named after its meaning of being vast and boundless. In fact, the mountain is divided into two realms, so its real name is Liangjie Mountain. Wuliang Mountain is just a name given to the outside world for convenience. The mountain has always been shrouded in a heavy pressure beyond the norm. The higher you go, the more exaggerated the weight you bear. Now, at a height of ten thousand feet, there is a Liangyi Suspended Magnetic Array that I personally preside over. That's why you felt light when you came to Liangjie Mountain. In fact, the higher you go, the heavier it is."
As he spoke, Zhong Pingxiu pointed to the hills that could be seen outside.
"In fact, this Wuliang Mountain once had numerous dangerous peaks, haha, but over time, the peaks were flattened, and the height of the mountain has long since dropped. Now the height of the mountain is less than one-tenth of the original height."
Ji Yuan was slightly stunned and looked outside. When he flew down from the sky, he had a definition of Wuliang Mountain in his mind. He knew that although the mountain was not very steep, it was definitely not small and the height of the mountain was also exaggerated. But now it is only one or two tenths of what it used to be.
"For a long time, whether it is the rocks, plants, or even the soil in the mountains, everything in the mountains has become extremely hard. No matter how high your Taoism is or how strong your magic power is, the Two Worlds Mountain is not an easy road to walk. Only those with a clear mind and a detached state of mind can transcend the immeasurable mountains to a certain extent."
Zhong Pingxiu slowly told Ji Yuan about the events of Liangjie Mountain, letting him know that this mountain had been hidden from the world for a long time. When Zhong Pingxiu was still not yet accomplished in his cultivation, he happened to enter the residence of a Taoist master. In addition to receiving the gifts that the master left for those destined to be with him, he also received a divine message in the master's cave.
"This divine will was placed in the spiritual energy and air currents in the cave, and was repeatedly passed around in the cave until Zhong arrived and received the divine will. He learned a lot of magical or terrifying knowledge that ordinary practitioners could not understand...
The master was a long-bearded elder from the Tianji Pavilion long ago, but the Taoist tradition of this long-bearded elder was independent of the orthodox inheritance of the Tianji Pavilion, and he had his own exploration and mission. According to the records of his Taoist tradition, they first found the Liangjie Mountain thousands of years ago. At that time, the Liangjie Mountain still had edges and corners, and it has been slowly changing since then...
Ji Yuan couldn't help but frown and asked when he heard this.
"From what Fellow Daoist Zhong said, that lineage is broken?"
"good!"
Zhong Pingxiu nodded.
“That lineage is broken. Although Zhong has taken over some things, that lineage is indeed broken, because the long-bearded elder and several disciples worked together over the years to glimpse a glimpse of the great secret, and their souls and bodies could not bear it and were torn apart. The long-bearded elder only had time to leave behind a portion of his divine will, which explained seven parts of the true meaning and three parts of exhortation. The shocking words in it are difficult to explain to outsiders… Even I, a disciple, hehe, only know one part of it and not the other. I dare not tell the truth!”
Having said that, Zhong Pingxiu looked at Ji Yuan seriously again.
“In the southern part of Yunzhou, there is an ancient immortal sleeping in the mortal world. Every time a Jiazi year changes, he becomes a monk, a Taoist, a commoner, a powerful person, or a nobleman… It seems that he can bypass the way of heaven. Even after death, his soul does not disperse, but he can live again. However, he is still a mortal, not an ancient immortal. He may wake up, or he may never wake up. If this immortal comes to the mortal world, it can add three points of life to the calamity, and the two world mountains must not be broken.”
Zhong Pingxiu counted on his fingers, then shook his head and smiled.
"Zhong has been here to stabilize Liangjie Mountain for more than 1,100 years. Liangjie Mountain is under too much pressure. If no one stabilizes the mountain, the rocks on the mountain will not be able to hold together and will be more likely to collapse under the infinite pressure. In recent years, the changes in the mountain have also been unstable, so it is even more inconvenient for me to leave the mountain."
"Alas... I have been imprisoned here for thousands of years, and the two worlds outside the mountain are only in my dreams..."
When Zhong Pingxiu said this, Ji Yuan was deeply shocked. He found that he had felt the artistic conception of this sentence before, which was in "Dream in the Clouds", but the artistic conception in the book was free and easy, while this one was desolate.
After saying this, Zhong Pingxiu was in a daze for a while, then turned to face Ji Yuan. There seemed to be fear in his eyes. His lips moved slightly, and he finally asked the question in his heart in a low voice.
"Mr. Ji, I can't predict you, let alone your depth. Even now you are sitting in front of me, you are almost like a mortal. For more than a thousand years, I have searched for countless people in various ways, but never, never like today... Are you, are you the ancient immortal?"
Over the years, Songlun has been traveling the world on behalf of his master, carefully searching for spiritual people, regardless of age or gender. If he is sure that they are special, he will sometimes observe their entire lives, and sometimes directly accept them as disciples and pass on their skills. The southern part of Yunzhou is the focus of his attention.
Ji Yuan listened to Zhong Pingxiu's words. Although he heard many things that he was eager to solve, they were somewhat different from what he had thought before he came. But no matter what, it was a great thing for him to come to Liangjie Mountain and meet Zhong Pingxiu.
Facing Zhong Pingxiu's question, Ji Yuan actually wanted to tell the truth from his heart. Even after countless speculations in his mind, Ji Yuan was more inclined to believe that he might be the so-called "ancient immortal", but he did not want to say it for sure. But facing Zhong Pingxiu at this moment, Ji Yuan remained silent.
Ji Yuan closed his eyes slightly and concentrated for more than ten breaths. Then he slowly opened his eyes and looked down at the chessboard on the table. Not surprisingly, it was an endgame. After all, he was playing against himself, and this would often happen.
"When I woke up, the world had changed drastically. The world before my eyes was no longer the one I was familiar with. To be honest, at that time, I had no special strengths except my good ears. I had no magical powers at all. My soul was unstable and I couldn't even move my body. I was almost eaten by a tiger in the mountains. I don't know if I would have a chance to wake up again if I was unlucky. Decades have passed in the blink of an eye..."
As Ji Yuan spoke, he took a chess piece from the chess box with his sword finger and then dropped it somewhere on the chessboard.
"Pah~"
The crisp sound of the chess pieces falling brought an echo in the mountain mansion. A sense of heroism rose in Ji Yuan's heart, and a clear air emanated from his body the moment Ji Yuan smiled, as if sweeping away the dust.
"Since it's an unfinished game, I'll break it!"