Chapter 341 — The Daoist Sect's Mathematical Heart-Method

The Imperial Preceptor of Jingping set Bian Zhenyun's head down properly and went to look at the bones upon the ground, and his heart gave an involuntary shudder. Bian Zhenyun had laid out the remains of the soldiers of Qingmen Pass in neat ranks; the rain had not ceased for more than ten days, and the old general must have been out in it all the while, gathering his own soldiers' bodies together. He also saw that beside every set of bones lay a wooden tablet, and upon every tablet was written the name of that soldier. The Imperial Preceptor walked on: bones of the Qingmen Pass soldiers on either side, each with its wooden tablet, each tablet bearing a name.

Bian Zhenyun had known every soldier under his command; he could call every one of them by name!

"You were a general worthy of the name. " The Imperial Preceptor halted; he did not walk on.

He turned, and as his robes whirled, countless bones rose into the air and followed him away toward Jingping.

In distant Jingping their families were waiting for them to come home: among them were young sons, and aged fathers, and husbands gone out to war, and daughters, wives, and mothers dearly loved at home.

He would send them home. "The Golden Palace of Loulan.

" The Imperial Preceptor looked to the west, then turned his head and walked toward Jingping. Night fell, and another world met this one; ghost lamps and ancient boats came sailing in, and bit by bit in the lamplight old men appeared, fashioning paper figures, paper horses, paper boats, and one by one the souls upon the battlefield quietly boarded the boats, making no sound at all. The Imperial Preceptor passed by their side and did not disturb these envoys of the Ghost Capital.

These heroic spirits fallen in war, and the grassland herders who had died of witch poison and of the rainstorms and floods, would be guided to the secret Ghost Capital; what awaited them there, no one knew.

The Daoist sect.

Shen Mu climbed Kunlun's Mount Yuxu.

This place was called the Yuxu Grotto-Heaven; it did not seem to be the true world at all, but everywhere had the look of an immortal holy land; even the great snow disaster that shrouded the Kingdom of Jingping had not touched it in the least. Unlike the Daitingming Temple on Mount Sumeru: Sumeru stood high above, its countless Buddhist temples all gold and glory, so that from far off one saw them and was awed in heart by the vastness of the Dharma. The Yuxu Grotto-Heaven, by contrast, lay amid fold upon fold of mountains, hidden deep; to come here on pilgrimage one must cross a thousand mountains and ten thousand rivers, and even then might never find this holy ground of the Daoist sect.

The Daoist sect was made up of cultivators, who dislike outsiders disturbing their purity, and these Daoists seldom went abroad.

When the dragon qilin came to the foot of the mountain, before the gate of Mount Yuxu there were no guardian beasts either, only a thatched hut, in which lived an old Daoist, kindling a fire to cook. Shen Mu leapt down from the dragon qilin and saluted the old Daoist, saying, "The Heavenly Sage Cult Leader has come to see the Daoist Master; please, senior brother, go in and announce me.

" The old Daoist was surprised; he gave him a look, then glanced at the medicine basket on his back and at the lame old man wreathed in smiles, and said, "So it is the Nether Demon Cult Leader.

In that battle at the capital, the Nether Demon Cult Leader killed a good many of this old Daoist's senior brothers.

" Then he looked the lame old man over twice and showed a dubious look. Shen Mu smiled.

"A Daoist dreads disturbance to his own purity, yet comes to destroy the purity of the world. Such a one deserves to die.

" The old Daoist shook his head. "For the sake of the world's people, Daoists too must take a hand.

Nether Demon Cult Leader, I will not argue with you.

Go up the mountain yourselves; only do not disturb my cultivation. " The lame old man laughed.

"The Daoist sect has always been idle and slack; it does not forbid others to climb the mountain. There aren't so many rules as that.

" The old Daoist looked at the lame old man again, and his face changed abruptly. "You may go up the mountain," he shouted, "but this old man may not. He must stay here!

" Shen Mu was puzzled.

The old Daoist said angrily, "I did not recognize him before! It was hearing his voice that brought it back.

The Shadow Thief of those years ran up Mount Yuxu and turned the place upside down, and all but carried off my Yuxu Mountain itself!

" The lame old man stammered, "How many years ago was that? All these years I have turned over a new leaf and mended my ways.

" "Here!

Here! Here!

" The old Daoist paid him no mind and began calling his dog, and a big yellow dog came ambling out of the latrine, wagging its tail. The old Daoist shouted, "A dog can never change its taste for dung!

" The lame old man was enraged within: "This old Daoist is cursing me in every way he can think of!

" Furious as he was, his face still wore a smile that was like a warm spring breeze. Shen Mu's heart gave a lurch, and he silently offered up a prayer for the old Daoist.

He carried the headman on his back and led the dragon qilin up the mountain, when the lame old man suddenly flickered like a ghost and vanished, laughing aloud: "You won't let me up the mountain? Then stop me if you can!

" The old Daoist hurried in pursuit, and the two disappeared into Mount Yuxu.

A while later, halfway up the mountain, Shen Mu came upon the old Daoist crouched stark naked and free of all encumbrance on a cliff; seeing him riding the dragon qilin up the slope, the old Daoist hastily hugged his arms around himself. Shen Mu pretended not to see and walked past.

The old Daoist let out a breath of relief, and then suddenly Shen Mu turned back.

"How does one get to see the Daoist Master? " The old Daoist, ashamed and angry at once, said, "Daoist Master Lin is in the Yuxu Temple at the summit! " Shen Mu thanked him, took out a garment, and tossed it to him; the old Daoist caught it in a fluster and was about to give thanks when Shen Mu had already passed by the cliff.

At the summit he found flying waterfalls and flowing springs, and many disciples of the Daoist sect practicing sword beneath the falls; beside the waterfall lay the sect's Fourteen Chapters of the Daoist Sword, set out there, open to anyone who wished to look.

The disciples practiced in a strange, outlandish way, first running calculations with all manner of computing tools; Shen Mu saw that they had refined the Diagram of No Ultimate, the Diagram of the Great Ultimate, the Diagram of the Four Symbols, the Diagram of the Five Elements, the Diagram of the Eight Trigrams, and other calculating tools into treasures, joining them into three-dimensional spatial calculating instruments, endlessly running their computations.

"These Daoists look like masters who read feng shui," Shen Mu thought.

When a result came out, the disciples would leap up, their flying swords whirling, their swordsmanship quite remarkable. Shen Mu could not help but halt and watch a while, praising them inwardly: "The Daoist sect is worthy of being a holy land; the scholarly spirit runs deep.

" A young Daoist nun, stuck on a problem she could not solve and scratching her ears and cheeks in her impatience, caught sight of Shen Mu and hurried over, greeting him: "Senior brother, who are you looking for? " Shen Mu jumped down.

"Is Daoist Master Lin Xuan in? My name is Shen Mu; I have business with him. " "The Daoist Master is in the Yuxu Temple; he only came back from Lesser Jade Capital two days ago," said the young nun, pointing at a temple nearby. Shen Mu glanced at her computing tools, reached out a finger, and flicked it twice over her bagua board.

"The sixty-four hexagram celestial numbers - solve it this way and it will come out.

" The young nun hurriedly looked at her board, stared for a moment, and was overjoyed.