Chapter 25 Chapter Twenty-Five — Daoist Taichong

Li Daoxuan looked at the corpse, somewhat puzzled — had he, perhaps, come to the wrong place?

He backed to the doorway to read the plaque.

Er — there was no plaque at all…

Li Daoxuan let out a breath. I knew it — the unfathomable Daoist Zhang Qianyang could never live in such a place.

Just as he prepared to leave, the coffin in the courtyard trembled suddenly.

Li Daoxuan went taut all over; in one hand he gripped a Five-Thunder Talisman, and with the other he closed upon the hilt of the Fish-Intestine Sword, staring hard at the coffin.

The lid was pushed aside, and Zhang Qianyang sat up yawning. "You brat — why is it every time we meet, you greet me with a Five-Thunder Talisman?"

Li Daoxuan relaxed and put away the talisman, smiling wryly. "Daoist — why is it every time we meet, you're lying in a coffin?"

Zhang Qianyang laughed heartily and leapt from the coffin. "A man must have his peculiar tastes. Aside from fine wine, what your Daoist master loves most is sleeping in a coffin!"

He lifted the corpse from the straw mat into the coffin and closed the lid. "This fellow went up the mountain for firewood, slipped and fell — came apart something dreadful. His kin brought him to me, for a last measure of dignity."

Li Daoxuan said in surprise, "Daoist, you do this as well?"

Zhang Qianyang shot him a look. "You think everyone's like you, who can stumble on three gold ingots? In hard times, an extra trade is an extra road." He chuckled. "You were given trouble on the way here, I'll wager — most in the county know me, think me ill-omened, and few would care to speak with you."

Li Daoxuan shook his head and smiled. "It's all right — I found the place in the end."

Zhang Qianyang beckoned Li Daoxuan inside. The room was very spare; at its center hung two portraits — one of Laozi riding a green ox, the other of a purple-robed Daoist holding a law-sword and a jade seal.

Zhang Qianyang brewed a cup of tea, sat at his leisure in the grandmaster's chair, leg crossed, composed and unhurried. "You came to me because the serpent demon proved too much for you, I take it."

Li Daoxuan started, about to explain, but Zhang Qianyang cut him off.

"Truth be told, I long since reckoned you'd come begging aid — the serpent's cultivation was no trifling thing; even if you found its weakness, the gap in power was too great to matter."

Li Daoxuan coughed. "That is… Daoist Zhang—"

"No matter. You are young, newly walk the Way; that you could not best it is natural, no disgrace. To be bested yet still throw away your life in stubborn fight — that would be the disgrace!"

Zhang Qianyang said with weight, "I set you to slay the serpent only to see whether you would keep your word, whether you had the courage to face it — not to send you to your death. That you knew to bend, and let go of needless pride, is well done!"

He drank a sip of tea, plainly well pleased with his own words.

This little turn had tested whether the disciple kept his promise, and taught him that all things require flexibility — and, most of all, let him thereafter subdue the serpent himself and plant an image of unfathomable depth in the disciple's heart.

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In his own day, the old master had reeled him in with just this trick.

Li Daoxuan's expression grew odd. "That is… Daoist. The serpent demon… I already killed it."

"Pwah!"

Zhang Qianyang sprayed a mouthful of tea; he stared, all but plucking out a few hairs of his beard. "You — you — what did you say?"

"The serpent demon is already slain. I came to you this time to take you as my master, and to ask after cultivation."

Fearing Zhang Qianyang would not believe, Li Daoxuan waved a hand, and a great serpent corpse appeared upon the ground — and though dead so long, a concentrated, lingering demonic qi still rose from it!

Zhang Qianyang was rooted to the spot.

When he glimpsed the twin horns upon the serpent's crown, his gaze sharpened; he leaned close to examine, and after a long while he looked at Li Daoxuan as if beholding a monster.

"This is my miscalculation. This serpent was no common serpent — but an aberrant breed bearing true-dragon blood!"

A storm surged in his heart. Such a deeply cultivated serpent, with true-dragon blood besides — and this boy had done it alone?

Li Daoxuan nodded; the Heaven-Subduing Demon Scripture had long told him this serpent bore the bloodline of the ancient Black Dragon — likely born of some true dragon mating with a rattlesnake — of no ordinary origin.

"Master — have I brought great trouble upon myself?"

Li Daoxuan was in truth a little afraid; if slaying the child provoked the parent, and some day a true dragon came for revenge, he could not withstand it.

Zhang Qianyang sneered. "A creature of such evil — were it but a thread of true-dragon blood, nay, were it a true dragon itself, it should be slain all the same!"

He paused, and shot Li Daoxuan a glance. "You took up the Way midway, and know not certain secrets. From the Wei and Jin onward, the response of immortals and Buddhas to the mortal realm has grown ever fainter; by now, even the founding patriarch Zhang Daoling no longer answers us of Mount Longhu."

"Indeed this is an open secret: many gods and Buddhas, demons and immortals — including the Dragon Lords of the Four Seas and the Ten Kings of Hell — no longer answer mortal sacrifice. The art of evoking gods and dispatching generals among the Daoist gates has near failed; save for the Earth Gods and Mountain Gods, the mortal realm can scarce find a trace of the divine."

He clapped Li Daoxuan on the shoulder. "So set your heart at ease. Even had this serpent a true-dragon father, he is like as not vanished by now. And should he truly come — is there not your master here?"

Li Daoxuan started, then a gleam of joy rose in his eyes. "Master — you mean…"

Zhang Qianyang stroked his beard and smiled. "You brat — still 'Daoist'?"

Li Daoxuan hastily knelt and performed the disciple's bow, brewing a cup of tea to offer.

Zhang Qianyang took it and drank, a trace of feeling in his eyes — after many years, he was at last prepared to take a disciple again.

"Go offer three sticks of incense to the patriarchs and kowtow."

Li Daoxuan reverently lit incense and bowed to the two portraits at the center.

"The left portrait is the Daoist Ancestor Laozi; the right is the patriarch of our Mount Longhu line, Zhang Daoling. In the Eastern Han he received the heavenly scripture and wondrous method from the Taishang Laojun, founded the Way of the Celestial Master, subdued demons all his life, and at last attained the Dao and ascended!"

Zhang Qianyang himself bowed to the portraits, abandoning his usual arrogance for deep reverence.

"Eighth-generation disciple of Mount Longhu, Zhang Qianyang, presents this address: today I open the altar and perform the rites, and am graced to take a fine disciple — of lofty bone and pure heart, fit to be received as a true heir; I confer upon him the secret Celestial-Master method of Mount Longhu, that he may subdue demons and bless all living things!"

…

The rites done and the patriarchs honored.

Zhang Qianyang's gaze toward Li Daoxuan grew at once much warmer.

"Master — is that all, then?"

Zhang Qianyang nodded. "There are many formalities besides, but abroad we keep all things simple. When we return to Mount Longhu, you shall kowtow to the old master."

He mused a moment, then said to Li Daoxuan, "From this day you are the ninth-generation true disciple of my Mount Longhu. The ninth generation takes 'Tai' as its honor-mark — hmm… your dao name shall be Taichong."

"Taichong?"

Li Daoxuan coughed. "Master, might we pick a pleasanter one?"

Zhang Qianyang glared. "I give you this name to lend you more of the breath of purity and emptiness, that you may achieve the Dao-fruit. If discontent, then call yourself Taixu!"

Taixu…

Li Daoxuan smiled wryly. "Very well — Taichong it is. It is fine."

From this day he was the ninth-generation true disciple of Mount Longhu, Daoist Taichong.

"Ah, Master — what is your own dao name?"

In an instant Zhang Qianyang seemed struck to a sore spot, and roared, "Off to sleep with you! Up at the yin hour tomorrow, and train!"