After drinking more than half of a glass of milk, Sun Suhe told him all the details of what he encountered tonight. The old man took the trouble to ask about every detail of the trick. He pondered repeatedly, pondered for a long time, and suddenly said solemnly: "Xiao Suhe, you have met the 'Immortal'." ”

"Immortal man, master, you won't tell me that he is the reincarnation of an immortal, right?"

"How can there be immortals, and some are man-made. "It's just a romantic rhetoric, Romantic, you know, we always need some mystery and solemnity to bring the finite back to the infinite." Of course, there is also the influence of Taoist belief in immortals, just as Buddhism calls such people 'weeping masters' and considers them to be the incarnation of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. In fact, it would be more accurate to say that this person has the 'assets of an immortal'. Or, to put it in a less romantic way, to put it more easily as the magicians put it, this person has the possibility of becoming the 'first'. ”

Sun Suhe nodded: "Hmm...... I can probably understand the meaning of 'Immortal' and 'Trace Master', but what does 'the first generation' mean?"

"You're a straw bale. Old Man Tanuki scolded with a smile.

"Knowing is knowing, not knowing is not knowing, your old man taught me. Sun Suhe gave a thumbs up and slapped his ass: "Only if you are so knowledgeable and knowledgeable, Master Tanuki, can you speak in simple terms, so that my stupid boy can understand it as soon as I hear it." ”

Master Tanuki smiled when he heard this, and his tail wagged slightly: "It's a little reasonable, it's a little reasonable, it's teachable, I'll give you a little bit, master." Let me think where to start? Meow...... By the way, let's start with Taoism and magic, Xiao Suhe, do you know the difference between Taoism and magic?"

"I know that. I've talked to Alice before, and I remember it was ......."

Before Sun Suhe finished speaking, Master Tanuki couldn't wait to interrupt him and continue his tirade: "There is no difference between Taoism and magic in essence, especially in the years after the war, under the leadership of Yuan Yuandao, Taoism and magic have been increasingly studied under the same framework. What is the difference between you wielding a staff and me dancing a sword? And the geographical stuff is not a big difference. ”

Sun Suhe deeply agrees, this is indeed a view that goes straight to the essence. He dabbled in both magic and Taoism, and was particularly impressed by Alice's knowledge from another world.

"Taoism and magic, the reason why it is customary to mention the two separately is because ......" Master Tanuki paused for a moment, and his round fat claws patted the tatami mat: "It lies in inheritance." Magic is mostly inherited by blood, focusing on the purity of bloodline and kinship of blood. And Taoism is mostly inherited from master and apprentice, looking at talent and understanding, and looking at the temperament of master and apprentice. ”

Sun Suhe nodded quietly, he and Alice had a long conversation about the similarities and differences, Alice said when talking about this, because of this, she did not call herself a "magician", but chose a more obscure "magician", a word difference, a slight difference.

Master Tanuki continued: "Of course, this is the old man's formulation, and it is not absolute, for example, the Zhang family of the Heavenly Master Mansion of Longhu Mountain, known as the second family in the world, is a lineage, and the Lu family of 'Regent Thoughts', you know Lu Xiaozi's baby daughter, I see that she always sends beautiful clothes to little Alice." ”

"Haha, it's all piled up in two rooms," Sun Suhe said with a smile, "I know that Alice won't wear it." I sometimes feel quite distressed. He immediately thought to himself, Lu Weishuang should be in Kyoto at the moment, and he doesn't know where she is, she hasn't been seen on social networks recently, and she doesn't post selfies.

Old Man Tanuki took a sip of milk to moisten his throat, stroked his beard and continued: "In the same way, there are also great masters and apprentices in the history of magicians. But these are special cases, and what matters is why there is such a difference, and why it is gradually blurred. ”

Sun Suhe knew that he had reached the key point, and his spirits perked up, and he filled the milk for Master Tanuki, and then sat down and listened.

"At present, the most common view in academic circles is to interpret this from a historical and religious perspective. I have heard people say: 'Confucianism fears the destiny of heaven and cultivates one's self, and the Buddha also says that the roots of this body are transformed into dust, and there is no escape from karma, and life is endless; Taoism only wants to live forever, change and rise, and it does not believe in karmic results, and resists nature, and is brave! (1) 'This courage still guides Taoist practitioners to study all things and improve day by day. ”

It is precisely because of this inseparable relationship with Taoism that the inheritance of Taoism is naturally based on the teaching of master and apprentice, and generations of high Taoist real people have gone forward and left many good stories in order to explore the truth of life and the secret of immortality. However, it is also because of the influence of Taoism, the inheritance of Taoism is often confined to the views of sects, doctrinal disputes, and becomes a secret transmission in a small circle, which not only greatly hinders the development of Taoism, but also because of the extremely high qualification requirements for the person who transmits the Dharma. ”

The old man took a sip of milk, shook his head and sighed, and even forgot to pay attention to the milk stains on his beard. He was silent for a while, took another sip of milk, and continued:

"The history of magicians is a history of struggle against theocracy. They live in a theocratic land, facing a monotheistic religion that believes in the one true God, where man and God are completely separated, and man can never become a god, but can only repent of his sins under the absolute authority of God. Thus, for a long time, magicians have been denounced as heretics of trade with the devil, as the culprit of drought, the source of pestilence, and the embodiment of fornication...... Not only were they hunted down by the clergy, but even the secular powers spared no effort to strangle them. Many bloody witch hunts remain appalling to this day. ”

"Strong external pressures have made it possible for only flesh-and-blood relatives to be trustworthy, and blood-based inheritance has naturally become the mainstream way of magical inheritance. In this way, the inheritance of magic is endured by the family unit, and many of the magical achievements of the previous generation can be directly inherited by the next generation, and the achievements are outstanding after the accumulation of time. ”

"But over time, a deformed cult of blood has developed among magicians. It's all about pure blood. The children born to magicians and laymen were called mixed-blood, and were even dismissed as mongrels. And those nascent magicians whose ancestors have been laymen for generations, but who have figured out the secrets of magic by themselves with their own shocking talents, are regarded by the mainstream pure-blood magicians as dirty foreign objects that have rashly broken in, and are even contemptuously called dirty blood by them, and are viciously discriminated against and oppressed by them. Although those nascent magicians are amazingly talented, after all, their roots are shallow and there is nowhere to learn advanced magic, how can they compete with the achievements accumulated by the pure-blood family for generations or even dozens of generations with their own exploration? You humans love to do this kind of thing. ”

Master Tanuki paused for a moment, straightened his sitting posture, and then solemnly continued:

"Until the world war in the last century, these trite boundaries of the sect family were shattered by the flames of the world's provocative wars, and in order to fight against the group of madmen who called themselves 'gods' in the Xuandong Heaven, a large number of originally secret Taoist magic began to spread. As the saying goes, the Roc rises with the wind one day and soars up to 90,000 miles, and with this wind, several new magicians have risen to prominence in the Great War with their own brilliant talents, and have achieved great feats that are difficult for many pretentious pure-blood magicians to achieve. ”

"Since then, no one has dared to openly use the terms pure-blood, half-blood, and dirty blood, and magicians have always referred to themselves by their generations, and the 'first generation' has become the exclusive title of the new magicians, which has become a great honor. ”

Sun Suhe had goosebumps when he heard this, and every breath seemed to be breathing a thick piece of history, and an indescribable excitement made his heart pound. Sun Suhe finally calmed down a little and asked, "Master, what is the matter with the You Xuan Cave Heaven and the madman who calls himself a 'god'?"

"Hmm......" Master Tanuki rubbed his hands a little embarrassedly: "This information was stored as an absolute seal after the war, and I was just a fledgling handsome guy back then, so I really can't answer your question." ”

After he finished speaking, he seemed to feel a little embarrassed, and quickly added: "I'm afraid there are not many people in the world who can answer your question." ”

Sun Suhe was a little disappointed, and couldn't help but complain: "How can anyone say that he is a handsome guy." ”

Master Tanuki didn't blush, but said seriously: "Master, I'm just telling the truth, and I'm still very handsome now." ”

Sun Suhe couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Master Tanuki's beard shook and shook: "Xiao Suhe, what are you laughing at, isn't what I said wrong?"

"Yes, you're right. Sun Suhe said with a smile.

Master Tanuki touched his stomach, and suddenly felt a little frustrated: "You stinky boy, hey, okay, okay, master, I admit that I have been a little bit negligent in body management recently, but the foundation is still very handsome." ”

Sun Suhe finally couldn't hold back a smile and asked, "Master, do you mean that Ye Mingshan is so powerful?" But even so, I still don't think that my sword intent will lose to him, I really don't understand why my invisible sword qi was shocked out of the crack at that time. ”

"I just sensed from your description that he had this possibility. However, the immortal is a human being and not an immortal after all, the higher the talent, the easier it is to be blinded, if he can't solve it himself, then the achievement will only end there. As for why your invisible sword qi was shattered, you kid didn't lose to him, but to yourself. ”

"What do you mean by that?" Sun Suheqi said.

..............................

(1) This sentence is from Mr. Fu Qinjia's "History of Taoism in China"

(2) This chapter deals with more important settings, so a subtitle has been added

(3) The first family in the world is naturally the Qufu Confucian family, a descendant of the sage. However, in reality, the "31st Yan Shenggong" and the "63rd Generation Zhang Tianshi" were taken to Taiwan by Chiang Kai-shek, and now there is no Confucian family lineage in the mainland, and the title of "Yan Shenggong" has stopped at the 31st generation. "Zhang Tianshi" has 64 or even 65 generations, but there are both sides of the strait, the ancestor Xuantan is here, and the jade seal sword is there, and no one can tell who is orthodox. In that era of turbulent mountains and rivers, no matter how noble and glorious you inherit for thousands of years, after all, you can only be an involuntary wave in the torrent of the times.