Chapter Ninety-Three: Illusions Like Flowers in a Mirror, Moonlight on Water (Today's update concludes here—wishing everyone a joyful weekend.)

The next day, I went to Mount Qingcheng. Xiao Lianshan accompanied Gu Anqi to meet Lan Qing, so only Yue Qianling, Qiu Nuo, and I headed to Mount Qingcheng together.

Yue Qianling didn’t like Qiu Nuo; I was well aware of that, though I never quite understood the reason. However, since the other volume of the Luo Xuan Divine Strategy was given by Qiu Nuo, Yue Qianling, though frustrated, held back from causing any trouble. My mind was preoccupied with Wei Yong’s affairs, so I failed to notice the subtle rivalry between the two women.

Mount Qingcheng is renowned for its profound tranquility, a quality that has defined it since ancient times.

Surrounded by lush greenery, the peaks, valleys, and temples are all nestled within dense, verdant woods. The Taoist temples and pavilions are crafted from natural materials with minimal embellishment, seamlessly blending into the mountains, forests, and springs, embodying Taoism’s reverence for simplicity and nature.

Yet, I had no leisure to enjoy the scenery. According to the Western Sichuan Celestial Vault Map and information provided by Fang Yanan, all the focus seemed to converge on the Celestial Master’s Cave of Mount Qingcheng.

Also known as the Changdao Temple, the Celestial Master’s Cave is the principal Taoist temple on Mount Qingcheng. Legend has it that during the late Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhang Daoling, the founder of the Celestial Masters sect, once practiced and preached on the sheer cliffs of the Third Hunyuan Peak at the mountain’s mid-slope—hence the cave’s popular name.

At the cave’s highest level is a stone niche housing a statue of Zhang Celestial Master carved during the Sui Dynasty.

The statue, with three eyes, bears a solemn expression. Its left hand is extended outward, clutching the treasured seal that guards the mountain—the Yangping Zhidou Gong seal.

Yue Qianling almost spoke incessantly, explaining the relatively small Celestial Master’s Cave in great detail. According to her, the original temple had long since been destroyed, and the current structure was rebuilt in the Qing Dynasty. It was clear that any clue related to the Ming Dynasty’s Fourteenth Tombs would not be found within these buildings.

The cave itself was naturally formed, so if any clues existed, they would be inside. But after silently examining the cave for some time, I shook my head in disappointment. There was nothing unusual.

I looked down at the wooden dragon head in my hand. I had asked Wei Yong to have Fang Yanan retrieve it. This dragon head wood was found in the Celestial Master’s Cave, and the group of people who had gone to great lengths to reclaim it suggested its function was extraordinary. But what exactly was this wooden dragon head for?

“Brother Yan Hui, could it be that our calculations were off? Maybe the clue to the Ming Fourteenth Tombs isn’t in the Celestial Master’s Cave?” Qiu Nuo said calmly beside me.

I thought it over and firmly shook my head.

“It shouldn’t be. According to the Western Sichuan Celestial Vault Map, the clue should be in the Celestial Master’s Cave.”

“Why bother pondering? If it’s not inside the cave, maybe it’s outside,” Yue Qianling said, bored after failing to join the conversation for a while.

My eyes lit up, and I smiled at Yue Qianling, nodding thoughtfully.

“The Celestial Master’s Cave... it probably doesn’t simply refer to the cave itself. I must have been thinking too simply,” I said, then glanced around the cave’s interior again. My gaze finally landed on the stone niche with the Sui Dynasty statue of Zhang Celestial Master—the three-eyed figure with a solemn expression, left hand extended outward.

I tried standing beneath the statue, looking along the direction of the outstretched hand. A slow smile crept onto my lips.

Exiting the cave, I followed the direction the statue’s hand pointed. Among a lush, verdant forest, a tall and majestic tree stood out.

According to Yue Qianling, this was the Sacred Immortal Tree of Mount Ling—a ginkgo tree, to be exact. The Celestial Master’s Cave was the site where Zhang Celestial Master practiced cultivation, founded his sect, revealed the Tao, ascended to immortality, and was laid to rest. This tree was said to have been personally planted by Zhang and was regarded as the mountain’s treasured guardian by Taoism, now standing for over eighteen centuries.

Though the legend could not be verified, the tradition of Taoist tree planting and forest cultivation on Mount Qingcheng had been passed down through generations, shaping the mountain’s fame. A thousand-year-old tree gathered the mountain’s spirit; the temple on the sacred mountain nurtured the master’s energy. Taoism’s principle of natural harmony connected root and branch.

We stood before the tree, all three of us unconsciously gaping in astonishment. Perhaps none of us had ever seen such a magnificent tree. I was somewhat stunned.

Frowning slightly, I quickly pulled out the Western Sichuan Celestial Vault Map from my bag and excitedly pointed.

“Look, this tree is on the map too.”

“What’s so strange about a tree on a painting? This is a landscape painting, and trees are naturally part of it. Why are you so amazed?” Yue Qianling glanced dismissively.

“From the overall composition, although it’s a landscape painting, this tree clearly dominates the scene. Judging by the brushwork, the painter should be skilled in landscapes, but this tree is clearly a flaw,” Qiu Nuo said confidently after examining it.

I smiled and nodded in agreement.

“My thoughts exactly. I always felt something was off about this painting, and now I understand. This tree is intentionally prominent, disrupting the entire painting’s harmony.”

“Brother Yan Hui, an important painting like this can hardly have a flaw!” Qiu Nuo’s eyes brightened with delight. “Could it be a deliberate flaw? Maybe the clue is related to this tree!”

I smiled and looked up at the Celestial Master’s Cave.

“That’s what I think too. Inside the cave, the direction indicated by Zhang Celestial Master’s outstretched hand points exactly to this tree.”

“Then why don’t you ask the tree where the Ming Fourteenth Tombs are?” Yue Qianling pouted teasingly.

I circled the ginkgo tree and then glanced at the surrounding trees. Judging by their size, the others were clearly much smaller, though likely planted long ago.

Without hesitation, I began climbing. Having grown up in the mountains, climbing trees and picking bird nests were common childhood activities, so it wasn’t long before I was over ten meters high. Looking down, I noticed the trees surrounding the ancient ginkgo were not planted at random. From this height, I clearly saw they were arranged around the ginkgo according to the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams.

“That’s nothing unusual. This is Mount Qingcheng, the birthplace of Taoism. Planting trees according to the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams makes perfect sense. Why are you so excited?” Yue Qianling shouted, tilting her head back.

I climbed down, holding up the dragon head wood with a smile.

“Of course, I’m not just excited because the trees are planted according to the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams. Judging by the wood’s texture and color, this dragon head wood is made from one of these trees. We really found the right place!”

Qiu Nuo had just smiled happily but then looked around and said quietly,

“If it’s truly related to these trees, there are at least a thousand phoenix trees here. How will we know which one is the right tree?”

“Let’s combine all the clues we have and reason it out,” I said calmly after some thought. “The one who left this clue hid the secret in this forest, but the one pointing to this forest is the statue of Zhang Celestial Master in the Celestial Master’s Cave... Zhang Celestial Master’s statue…”

“I looked carefully at the statue earlier. There’s nothing special about it,” Yue Qianling said.

“There is!” I interrupted. “The seal the statue holds!”

“The Yangping Zhidou Gong seal?!” Yue Qianling asked curiously.

“The Yangping Zhidou Gong seal is one of the seals used by the Celestial Masters of the orthodox Taoist Zhengyi sect, said to have been passed down from the ancestor Zhang Daoling. The Five Pecks of Rice Taoism established twenty-four administrations, with Yangping Zhi as the Celestial Master’s headquarters. The seal was personally held by the Celestial Master, symbolizing Zhang’s authority and identity,” Qiu Nuo, knowledgeable about artifacts, answered without hesitation.

I nodded and smiled.

“This seal is said to restrain ghosts and spirits, the main talisman of the Zhengyi sect’s altar, used to stamp official petitions and talismans. Only documents stamped with this seal are believed to command spirits.”

“What does this seal have to do with the Ming Fourteenth Tombs clue?” Yue Qianling still didn’t understand.

“The seal on the statue is carved from stone, but the real seal isn’t made of stone.”

“The Yangping Zhidou Gong seal is made of jade, seven-tenths of an inch thick, one and a half inches wide, with a golden dragon knob,” Qiu Nuo said, clearly possessing remarkable expertise in artifact appraisal.

“Qiu Nuo is right. The seal is jade. The statue’s hand points in a direction, and this seal actually tells us where the clue lies,” I said, nodding. “The other trees around the ginkgo are planted according to the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams. Jade belongs to metal in the Five Elements, and metal corresponds to the west. That means we need to look westward.”

“Even knowing it’s westward, there are many trees there. How do we know which one?” Qiu Nuo shook her head.

“How many faces does the Zhang Celestial Master statue have?” I asked in return.

“Three... three faces!” Yue Qianling suddenly smiled excitedly. “I got it! Starting from the ginkgo tree as the center, the third tree to the west! The clue is right there!”

Following this reasoning, I quickly found the third tree to the west. It looked no different from the others, except next to it was a large rock with a hollowed stone basin beneath it, filled with clear, bottomless spring water.

The rock was densely inscribed with Taoist scriptures. The inscriptions reflected in the water. Beneath the basin was a stone aperture. I touched it, then took out the dragon head wood and compared its size with the aperture. It fit perfectly. Carefully, I inserted the dragon head wood.

The dragon head wood was hollow. Once inserted, spring water flowed from the dragon’s mouth. The water level in the basin slowly dropped. When the flow ceased, I saw that the inscription reflected on the lowered water surface was completely different. In the exposed part of the rock basin, four characters were carved:

“Flowers in the Mirror, Moon in the Water.”

Previously, the entire rock face’s inscriptions were visible in the reflection, but now only the Buddha statue carved in the middle of the rock remained visible.

Yue Qianling looked up at the Buddha statue on the rock but found no clue after a long while.

“We looked for a long time and found nothing!”

I stared intently at the statue’s reflection in the basin, then casually asked:

“What do you see in the reflection?”

“Isn’t it just a reflected Buddha statue?” Yue Qianling replied.

“‘Flowers in the Mirror, Moon in the Water’... don’t worry about the other characters. Just look at the reflection—what do you see?” I asked thoughtfully.

Yue Qianling walked over, peered down for a long moment, then tilted her head.

“Looking at it this way, it really looks like a Buddha statue carved into a mountain.”

“A Buddha statue carved into a mountain, reflected in water... is this pointing to a place?!” I furrowed my brow and said quietly.

“Brother Yan Hui, I... I know a place that looks exactly like this reflection,” Qiu Nuo said uncertainly from behind.

“What place?” Yue Qianling and I asked simultaneously.

“The confluence of three rivers. There’s a world-famous Buddha statue carved into a mountain there. The difference is that the mountain itself is a Buddha, and the Buddha is a mountain.”

“The Leshan Giant Buddha!” I looked at the reflection in the basin, then suddenly slapped my thigh excitedly. “This clue is truly ingenious—without a single explicit word, the clue was passed down. It must be the Leshan Giant Buddha!”

After hearing this, Yue Qianling looked again at the reflection in the basin and finally understood the meaning of “Flowers in the Mirror, Moon in the Water.” From the reflection alone, it was indeed a Buddha statue carved into an entire mountain, reflected in water—exactly like the Leshan Giant Buddha reflected in the waters of the Three Rivers.

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