At the end of the Chénshí, gradually there were messengers from the Taoist family or disciples coming to offer their respectful wishes.
The first one to arrive was Zhang Jinfen, a close friend of Chen Yun and a practitioner from Longhushan.
Jiao Dao Ren sang a greeting at the door, "Mr. Zhang Jiwén from Longhu Mountain comes to extend his respectful congratulations on Teacher's transcendence to immortality."
Just as the voice fell, Liuhaidan led Zhang Jiwen into the guest hall inside.
Seated on the upper seat, Chen Yun saw this, and immediately rose to his feet to welcome the guest.
Unbeknownst to him, Zhang Jiwen stepped in immediately, placing his feet apart in a natural "butterfly" stance, with his head and waist curving naturally into an arch, resembling a crescent moon. His hands hung naturally at the Dan Tian, clenching into fists. He straightened his body while raising his hands, with the tips of his fingers reaching level with his mouth. Using an extremely standard posture, he bowed deeply and then knelt down to make three kowtows. He shouted loudly and clearly with each kowtow, "Zhang Jiwen from Longhu Mountain, salutations to Master Chen."
After speaking, he stood up and performed another bow.
In Daoism, the prostration ritual involves one bow, one kowtow, and then another bow, known as "one rite." This is a more solemn gesture compared to a bow.
Now, Zhang Jiwen bows once, kowtows three times, and then bows again, which is also called "one rite." This is an even more solemn gesture and is generally performed during incense burning to honor the gods or when paying respect to a master.
In addition, performing the "three rites and nine kowtows" ritual three times is called "three rites and nine kowtows." This is the most elaborate of all formalities and is only performed during ceremonies to celebrate the birthday or accomplishments of a sacred deity.
It can be said that the rituals performed by Zhang Jiwen today are the most elaborate ones for a Daoist practitioner in his daily activities, as the "one rite" with three kowtows is typically reserved for such significant occasions as celebrating a deity's birthday or grand ceremonies.
Chen Yun naturally noticed the change in Zhang Jiwen's way of interacting with him.
He smiled awkwardly and said, "Brother, between us two, do we really need to be so polite?"
Zhang Jiwen smiled wryly, "Rites and rituals cannot be ignored. Now that you have attained Dao and become immortal, I must follow the etiquette of immortals to honor you."
Speaking, he held the storage bag in his hand up to his chest, "Brother, my father has ordered me to bring these congratulatory gifts. Please accept them with joy."
"Thank you, Heavenly Teacher," Chen Yun replied, turning his head to Liuhaidan and saying, "Please accept it for me. Bring some tea."
Liuhaidan quickly accepted the storage bag, then invited Zhang Jiwen to take a seat and offered him tea.
Chen Yun was about to catch up with Zhang Jiwen and catch up on old times.
The sound of Jiao Dao Ren's greeting came from outside, "Mr. Han Ziming, a disciple of Jinquan Mountain's Xie Zhenren, comes to extend his respectful congratulations on Teacher's attainment of immortality."
Liuhaidan went out again to welcome the visitor in.
As soon as he entered, Han Ziming, like Zhang Jiwen, bowed three times in respect to Chen Yun, shouting out loud, "Han Ziming, a disciple of Master Xie Zhenren from Jinquan Mountain, greets Master Chen."
Chen Yun replied with a smile, inviting him to take a seat.
Once again, he asked Liuhaidan to accept the gift and offer tea on his behalf.
Following that, a continuous stream of greeting sounds carried on.
"The Chángshān Realm Master brings his disciples to extend their respectful congratulations on Teacher achieving enlightenment and becoming an immortal!"
"The young disciple of Master Chunyang, who is under the tutelage of the Pure Land Realm Master from Beiqi Mountain, has come to offer his congratulations on Teacher's attainment of Dao and immortality!"
"Under the tutelage of Master Li, the God of Medicine..."
"Master Hu, Lord Liu..."
"Master Han..."
By around the mid-morning, the guest hall was overcrowded.
Numerous Daoist masters or disciples of the Taoist family, divided into two rows, entered and took their seats.
On the left were seated the Chángshān Realm Master, Master Hu, and other Daoist masters who had achieved enlightenment.
On the right were seated Zhang Jiwen, Han Ziming, and others who had not yet achieved enlightenment or immortality.
Chen Yun ordered Liuhaidan to bring plate after plate of divine fruits to the tables of the various immortals.
During this period, as the object of congratulations, he continuously exchanged pleasantries with the immortals.
After a half-day of exchanging greetings, many immortals gradually took their leave.
Chen Yun personally sent each immortal to the Laojun Pavilion's door to bid them farewell as they left.
At the end, only many northeastern Daoist masters remained seated without saying their farewells.
Chen Yun had just sent off his disciple, the Chángshān Realm Master.
He was the disciple of Lu Dongbin, known in name as Chen Yun's nephew. However, in reality, Lu Dongbin had already formed his own school of thought, and the Chángshān Realm Master had also developed his own system.
The other party addressed him respectfully as his elder master.
If not showing respect, they could be referred to as fellow disciples.
Chen Yun was not an impolite person and would naturally personally send off the Chángshān Realm Master.
Returning to the guest hall inside.
Chen Yun addressed the various northeastern immortals with politeness, "I apologize for keeping you all waiting."
Master Hu, dressed in Daoist attire and smiling amiably, said, "Master Chen is too polite."
Lord Liu, Madam Bai, Second Elder Huang, Gray Master, and Gray Grandma, among other immortals, all greeted him with smiles.
Chen Yun noticed that these northeastern immortals did not leave immediately as the others had, realizing that they must have something else to discuss.
However, since they did not bring it up, he decided not to ask either.
They chatted for a while longer sitting there.
At this moment, Lord Liu seemed to be unable to keep still and asked, "Master Chen, please forgive my impolence, but may I ask if you have any disciples under your tutelage?"
Upon hearing this, Chen Yun immediately understood what the northeastern immortals were up to.
He replied truthfully, "The Taoist has only two disciples recorded in his name so far; I have no disciples who have entered the hall and learned from me."
Lord Liu smiled and said, "Given that your disciples are few, I have a request that I hope the Master Chen can grant me."
Chen Yun said, "Please proceed."
Lord Liu said, "The one under my tutelage, Chang Wei, admires Master Chen's path of Tao greatly and wishes to become your disciple. I do not seek formal discipleship; being listed as a named disciple would suffice."
Lord Liu's words were still quite refined. On the surface, he was asking for permission to become Chen Yun's disciple, but without putting any pressure on him, he only mentioned becoming a recorded disciple.
What does it mean to be a recorded disciple?
A recorded disciple is a nominal disciple who has not been officially recognized, but is acknowledged as a student.
This kind of disciple, the master does not necessarily have to pass on any Daoist doctrines.
Nor does it entail any obligations or responsibilities on the part of the master.
When pleased, they might give a few words of advice.
When not happy or uninterested, they might ignore it and not make a fuss about anything.
Of course, corresponding to this, a recorded disciple, while respecting the teacher and Tao, also does not have many obligations as a disciple. They can change their affiliation to another school or master at any time.
If the master thinks highly of this recorded disciple, they can also choose to officially include them in the hall and make them a formal disciple.
Chen Yun understood that Lord Liu's intention was not to truly have Chang Wei become his disciple, but rather to strengthen the bond between the northeastern Daoist masters and himself through this form of relationship and friendship.
He wasn't someone who didn't understand social cues, and since the other party had an intention to befriend him, he naturally took the gesture in stride.
Chen Yun smiled and said, "That's fine. If you can persuade Chang Wei to come here in the future, I will certainly impart some Daoist techniques to him when I have the time."
Lord Liu was overjoyed and stood up to bow, "Thank you, Master Chen."
Master Hu, Second Elder Huang, Madam Bai, Gray Master, and Gray Grandma, among other immortals, saw that Chen Yun was willing to be friends with them and each of them showed a look of joy on their faces.
Since the purpose of the immortals has been achieved, there is no need to continue staying here.
They chatted with Chen Yun for a bit longer and then all rose to bid farewell.
Chen Yun, as before, saw off these northeastern immortals to the door.
...
Returning to the guest hall again.
Liuhaidan and Jiao Dao Ren were chatting leisurely.
The two quickly presented the many congratulatory gifts they had received when they saw Chen Yun return.
Chen Yun has not yet discovered what extravagant gifts the Daoist masters have presented him with so far.
He is about to examine them one by one, so that in the future, when these Daoist masters who have sent gifts have any matters, he can also offer corresponding generous gifts in return.
Just put the storage device filled with congratulatory gifts into the Taoist technique space.
Jiao Dao Ren quickly pulled Chen Yun aside, "Master, since you have now achieved enlightenment and immortality, should I hold a banquet on Daomian Peak in Qingcheng Mountain to announce to the world that Master has attained immortality?"
Such an event is actually very common. For example, when someone within a sect attains enlightenment and immortality, it is natural to invite fellow Daoists from all over to celebrate, which also serves to boost the sect's prestige.
According to custom, Chen Yun should indeed hold a banquet like this.
However, when Zheng Wenshu attained enlightenment and immortality, the pass observatory did not hold such a banquet.
As for him, he himself prefers seclusion, so he naturally declined.
Moreover, Chen Yun has not yet reached the peak of his current cultivation.
He needs ample time to strengthen himself.
Where could he find the time to hold such a banquet?
Chen Yun merely instructed Jiao Dao Ren to bring Liuhaidan back to Qingcheng Mountain to practice Daoism and left the Laojun Pavilion as a temporary "abbot."
...
In the meditation room.
Chen Yun examined the gifts one by one in the meditation room.
He was preparing to memorize which Daoist masters had given what gifts so that he could return them in the future.
He randomly picked up a storage bag, "This is the congratulatory gift from Longhu Mountain, let's see what's inside."
Chen Yun opened the storage bag and took out the contents inside.
It's good that it wasn't taken out.
Upon taking it out, he couldn't help but feel a bit strange.
What he saw was a small, red fruit, about the size of his thumb, lying quietly.
Chen Yun was taken aback, "This is the Scutellaria baicalensis Essence Fruit, how generous Longhu Mountain really is."
The Scutellaria baicalensis Essence Fruit is not an ordinary fruit.
It is a rare and valuable object that greatly aids practitioners in the stage of Cultivating Vital Energy and Transforming into Immortality.
Upon consumption, it can aid in the "cultivation of qi" or inner energy refinement.
Although "Cultivating Vital Energy and Transforming into Immortality" is a term for a level of cultivation, it actually consists of two stages: cultivating vital energy and transforming into immortality.
Cultivating vital energy is a stage of human immortals, and during this stage, although the spiritual fetus has been formed, it still needs a large amount of energy to nurture the spirit in order to be able to refine a divine being at the stage of earth immortals.
But these are not the real reasons for Chen Yun's strange expression.
The reason for Chen Yun's strange expression was entirely due to the Scutellaria baicalensis fruit. It is one of the core herbal ingredients in the vital energy refining soup used to prepare the soup for cultivating vital energy and transforming into immortality.
"Is this not considered an unexpected blessing?"
Chen Yun felt happy but also somewhat perplexed and amused, thinking it was too coincidental.
He had just broken through to the stage of human immortals.
He might collect the herbs needed for the Vital Energy Refining Soup in the future.
And as it turns out, Longhu Mountain just happened to send over one of the core herbs?
Satisfied, Chen Yun carefully stored the Scutellaria baicalensis fruit away.
Continue to examine the other congratulatory gifts from the immortals.
The second one he opened was a storage ring.
Chen Yun remembered that this was a gift sent by his nephew Han Xiangzi, delivered by one of his disciples.
To be honest, he didn't have much contact with Han Xiangzi and hadn't really expected him to send himself such good treasures.
What surprised and puzzled Chen Yun was that when he opened the storage ring and took out the congratulatory gift, he discovered it was another core herb needed for the Vital Energy Refining Soup.
A series of gray-black fruits appeared before him.
Chen Yun was taken aback, "This isn't Xianhui?"
How can two consecutive "blind boxes" be opened, yielding exactly two core herbs needed for the Vital Energy Refining Soup?
At first, he was somewhat puzzled.
However, after careful consideration, Chen Yun felt that something was not ordinary.
To verify his thoughts, he opened several more "blind boxes" in succession.
In an instant, a pile of herbs needed for the Vital Energy Refining Soup appeared before him: Green jade loquat fruits, spiritual peppers, spiritual osmanthus grass, and so on, all in abundance.
Chen Yun was truly stunned. He carefully reminisced and found that the herbs before him, as well as the ones he had collected at the Yueyue Lake Cave, and the ones transplanted from the Preaching Hall, only lacked the two core herbs needed for the vital energy refinement soup: Golden Crow Saliva and White Cloud Grass.
Most importantly, so far, he still had many "blind boxes" that hadn't been opened.
"How did these immortals happen to send so many herbs needed for the vital energy soup at the same time?"
Chen Yun muttered to himself, "Could it really be like the Western Queen Mother said, that the Dao is unseen and yet controls everything?"
He wasn't certain.
If the next "blind boxes" he opened truly managed to gather the remaining two herbs, then that would confirm it!
Chen Yun hoped to gather all the herbs needed for the Vital Energy Refining Soup, but also hoped that he wouldn't be able to gather all of them.
He decided to open all the "blind boxes" to verify whether his guess in his mind was correct.
(Chapter ends)
