At the end of the Tang Dynasty, there was a scholar named Zhu Yuanshan in Gaoping County, who was upright, learned to be rich and rich, and was only eight buckets high, but because of the prevailing style of favoritism and fraud in the imperial examination at that time, he failed to succeed in repeated attempts.

But said that this year again off the list, depressed and depressed, so often climb the mountain to look far away, indulge in the landscape, in order to relieve sorrow, this day and climb the nearby Huayin Mountain, just to the top of the mountain, then see the sky is full of dark clouds, thunder roaring, seeing that it is about to rain, Zhu Yuanshan hurriedly went down the mountain, in a hurry, actually took the wrong way, strayed into a dead end.

There is no road ahead, but a steep cliff, when Zhu Yuanshan was secretly scolding himself for being stupid in his heart, he vaguely saw that there seemed to be something on the edge of the cliff in front of him, and when he looked closely, he was suddenly shocked, it was actually a skeleton, I saw it sitting cross-legged on the edge of the cliff, his hands on his knees, vines and moss clinging to his body, his bones were white like snow, shining with luminous light.

Zhu Yuanshan suddenly remembered that his grandfather had mentioned when he was young that there was a white bone on the desperate road of Huayin Mountain. Ran away from the wilderness and almost fell into a cliff.

In this way, it seems that the age of this skeleton should be very old, but I don't know who sat here.

At this time, only a thunderclap was heard, the heavy rain was coming, Zhu Yuanshan came back to his senses, raised his eyes and looked around, looking for a place to shelter from the rain, but deep in the mountains, how could there be a place to shelter from the rain, he was sighing for bad luck today, and suddenly looked up and saw that there was a cave on the mountain wall not far behind the skeleton, and he was immediately overjoyed, and secretly rejoiced in his heart, and hurried to shelter from the rain.

As soon as I came to the cave, the rain poured down, the air flashed and thundered, the thunder roared, the cave buzzed, the rock under the skeleton on the edge of the cliff had been exposed to the wind and sun for many years, and had already cracked a gap, and now it was washed by the rain, and the thunder trembled, and it was already crumbling.

After Zhu Yuanshan saw it, he was stupid in his heart, and he felt pity for the skeleton who didn't know what dynasty it was, and couldn't bear to see it fall to the bottom of the cliff and break his bones, so he took the risk of moving it back to the cave in the rain, and felt that the skeleton was extremely heavy when he moved, not like dry bones.

Zhu Yuanshan placed it on a rock in the cave, bowed and said: "Today, I see the bones of the ancestors standing next to the cliff, afraid of falling to the bottom of the cliff, so move to the cave, if there is an offense, please forgive the sin." He bowed three more times before he got up.

After a while, the heavy rain gradually stopped, and Zhu Yuanshan went down the mountain.

Wu Feitu left, for three years, Zhu Yuanshan finally won the big exam, won the post of Yi Ling, and went to other counties to take office, and then when a high-powered traitor was in charge, he only knew how to collect money, go up and down, and the officials under his rule were all greedy, and the people were fishy, Zhu Yuanshan did not go along with it, and wanted to ask for his life for the people, and purge the corrupt officials, but there were many obstacles, the officials were small and powerful, and they were powerless.

However, a small edict written by the song, if you want to present it to the Son of Heaven, it is not easy to talk about it, the letter was intercepted by the traitor, and immediately ordered the arrest of Zhu Yuanshan, Zhu Yuanshan was unwilling to be captured, fled to his hometown, officers and soldiers pursued along the way, Zhu Yuanshan fled to the vicinity of Huayin Mountain, and was forced to the mountain.

The officers and soldiers surrounded the mountain to search for people, Zhu Yuanshan fled to the top of the mountain, and suddenly remembered the cave at the cliff of the desperate road, where the location was remote, the mountain road was rugged and difficult to walk, or he could avoid the search, thinking of this, he walked to the cave.

Came to the cave, everything in the cave is the same, the skeleton is still there, for many years, there is no sign of decay, Zhu Yuanshan hid in the depths of the cave, stayed for two days, saw that no officers and soldiers came, thought that the danger had passed, the officers and soldiers withdrew, and were about to go down the mountain, suddenly heard a noisy sound outside the cave, it was the officers and soldiers who searched here.

Zhu Yuanshan hid behind a rock in the cave, heard the footsteps coming, sighed, and said in his heart that this time it must be difficult to escape, and it is not a pity that he died, but he failed to bring down the traitor and save the people of Li from fire and water, which is really a pity.

When he was in despair, he suddenly heard the officers and soldiers in the cave screaming, chaotic, and their voices trembled, and they looked very frightened, as if they had encountered something extremely terrifying.

Zhu Yuanshan poked his head out to take a look, and was immediately stunned, and was also shocked, only to see that the skeleton on the rock actually stood up, stared at the officers and soldiers with dark eye holes, and then shook the dry vines and moss on his body, and walked towards the officers and soldiers step by step.

These officers and soldiers are all greedy minions, and they are the best at oppressing the people on weekdays, which one of them does not bear a few innocent lives, and now they see such a terrible scene, they only think that the unjust soul is begging for their lives, and they are all frightened and frightened. Many officers and soldiers were too frightened, and when they fled, they panicked, and they stumbled and fell into the cliff and died, and in an instant, there was no one in the cave except Zhu Yuanshan.

Although Zhu Yuanshan was frank and upright, he couldn't help but be shocked when he saw this strange thing, and when he saw the skeleton looking at him, he was so frightened that he retreated again and again.

"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, I'm not a demon. ”

An ethereal voice came into Zhu Yuanshan's ears.

Zhu Yuanshan was stunned, "That...... Then what kind of "person" are you? Why can you walk as a skeleton?" A skeleton stood in front of him, but said that it was not a demon, Zhu Yuanshan really couldn't believe it.

"It's a long story. The voice said slowly. Then he told his life experience with Zhu Yuanshan.

It turned out that the skeleton was originally a person of the Jin Dynasty more than 300 years ago, practicing enlightenment in this mountain, as the Tao became more and more profound, it was only one step away from the realm of feathering into immortals, but the time was coming, and the Taoist could only survive in the world with the art of refining the shape of Taiyin.

Those who perform this technique, after death, the bones will not rot, the three souls and seven spirits will not fall into the netherworld, and they will continue to practice in the bones, at least a few decades, or more than a few hundred years, and then they can preach the Tao, and then the white bones will give birth to flesh, and they will soar in a hundred days, and they will become immortals.

The soul of the Taoist has been practicing in the bones for more than 300 years, and he will be able to preach the Tao in a few days, but he saw that Zhu Yuanshan was in trouble, and in order to repay the kindness of the day, he had to go out of the customs in advance and scare away the officers and soldiers.

Zhu Yuanshan listened, and hurriedly knelt down to thank him for saving his life. The skeleton said, "Since you and I can see each other, it is fate, and I will give you one more thing." There is a concave hole in the stone wall in the southwest corner of this cave, there is a box inside, there is a book and a few pills in the box, the book is my Taoist self-cultivation exercise, you can prolong life with diligent practice, no disease and no disease. ”

Zhu Yuanshan was very happy when he heard this, and thanked him, and the skeleton told Zhu Yuanshan to live in seclusion in the mountains temporarily, and then go down the mountain after three years, and eat a box of pills when he was hungry. Then he sat down cross-legged and said no more.

Zhu Yuanshan came to the southwest corner of the cave, and sure enough, he got a box from the small hole on the stone wall, there were books and seven or eight pills in the box, his parents were dead, and he did not marry a wife and have children, so he listened to what the Taoist said, lived in the mountain, practiced Taoist exercises when he had nothing to do, and ate a pill when he was hungry, and he didn't feel hungry for half a year.

After three years, Zhu Yuanshan went down the mountain, and heard that some time ago, the Son of Heaven purged the dynasty, and the traitor had been punished, and Zhu Yuanshan was also rehabilitated, and the official was reinstated.

Later, because of the incorruptibility of the official, fair and selfless and appreciated by the Son of Heaven, he entered the court as an official, and was a scholar, because he knew the suffering of the people, and often asked for the people's life, and was deeply loved by the people.

In the twilight of his life, he resigned and returned to his hometown, often climbed Huayin Mountain to visit the bones of the man, climbed the mountain again one day, suddenly saw the top of the mountain in the sunset, and vaguely saw someone lifting the glow and soaring, and disappeared outside the nine clouds under the support of Yunxia. When he came to the cave, the bones of the Taoist disappeared.

Zhu Yuanshan was in his old age, but he still did not show his old age, he had a childish face and was in good spirits, and he did not die without illness until he was more than 100 years old.