Early in the morning, Jiang Yuan and Xu Tao went to Chongyang Palace with their apprentices.

Ma Zhenren has a great influence on the rivers and lakes, people from all walks of life have come to mourn, and the crowd is surging along the way, everyone is silent, the mood is sad, and even the cicadas are much lower.

In front of the gate of Chongyang Palace, there were already disciples dressed in plain clothes to greet the heroes of all parties and maintain order. In fact, where is it necessary to maintain order, the people who fell into grief have already consciously lined up in long queues, and even some sects that usually have grudges have temporarily put aside their grievances. Jiang Yuan sighed: "The ancient sage died, the sage supported the coffin, and the world was vegetarian. Now Ma Zhenren is driving the crane to the west, and he can make the entire martial arts mourn. In a lifetime, it is not in vain to be able to end like this. Xu Tao stroked his beard and said, "You don't have to be too fascinated." In my opinion, many young talents of your generation, if the opportunity is right, the future achievements may not be under Ma Zhenren, and you must know how to walk the road under your feet. Jiang Yuan nodded in thanks.

After the three of them finished offering incense in front of the real spirit, Xu Tao's master and apprentice had a discussion with old acquaintances, and Jiang Yuan walked on Zhongnan Mountain when he was bored. I didn't know how to come to a small courtyard made of a fence, there was a thatched house in the courtyard, and the owner of the grass house planted some vegetables in front of the house, which was very green and beautiful. Jiang Yuan unconsciously pushed open the door and walked into the courtyard, slowly standing up in the vegetable field A thin old Taoist priest, Jiang Yuan took a closer look at the old Taoist, his body was rickety, his beard and hair were white, he was afraid that he was not only in ancient times, although his qi and blood were decayed, but he was in good spirits, and he was full of fairy wind and bones, which was amazing. Jiang Yuan thought about it, this person should be a few years old from Ma Zhenren, and he has such an extraordinary bearing, and his origin is not small, so he arched his hand and asked: "Dare to ask the seniors, Ma Zhenren died immortal, and the Chongyang Palace mourned, why did the seniors stay out of the matter?" The old Taoist invited Jiang Yuan into the courtyard to sit down, poured some tea, and said: "Don't hide it from the young man, Ma Zhenren is my senior brother." Jiang Yuan was even more strange: "Since they are senior brothers, why ......" "There is nothing to be sad about." There is one thing to do. Senior brother, he left first, in a few years, I will naturally go with him, at our age, life and death have long been seen," the old Taoist raised his teacup: "In the barren mountains and wilderness, there is only some coarse tea and fresh water, don't be surprised." Jiang Yuan hurriedly thanked him, picked up the teacup and drank it all, and said: "The seniors are open-minded, and the juniors are ashamed." The old Taoist chuckled lightly and said: "Cultivating the Tao and cultivating the Tao, cultivating is a heart, being in the red dust, not disturbing it, you can be at ease." When I was young, I didn't understand, I was not willing to be left behind in everything, and then I went crazy in practice, and after recuperating here for 20 years, I once attained the Tao, and since then I have lived here, no longer fighting with others, everything is natural, and I am also happy. ”

Jiang Yuan asked, "What happened to the seniors when they were young?"

The old Taoist smiled: "It was a long time ago. At that time, I had just arrived in Chongyang Palace, I was very talented, smart and diligent, I was quite loved by the teachers, and I was also highly respected among the senior brothers, but the senior brother was completely different, he was kind by nature, and his qualifications were mediocre. Later, the head of the family wanted to select eight people as disciples among the senior brothers and allowed them to practice "Innate Gong". I was full of confidence, I thought that the person at the top of the list was none other than me, how did I know that Senior Brother he would defeat me within ten moves, and what was even more surprising was that even the senior elder himself only ended up with him in a draw. Although in the end I also got the qualification to enter the house, but I was angry about the defeat within ten moves, and secretly regarded my senior brother as a competitor, and practiced more and more hard, "Innate Gong" was even more diligent, but the effect was very little, I didn't know what went wrong at that time, I didn't know what was wrong, I didn't know how to reflect, and I became more and more anxious for quick success. Under the anger of the heart, I finally went mad, and the violent true qi was running around in the body, and the meridians were damaged, but fortunately, the senior brother found it early and forcibly removed my true qi from the body, and pulled me back from the ghost gate. Later, I moved here to recuperate, and it wasn't until three years later that I realized that I had been working hard to practice the "Innate Gong", but I had neglected the most important point of the "Innate Gong" - a peaceful state of mind. The operation of true qi has its own track, and if you want to force it to speed up, you will get twice the result with half the effort, and at worst, you will go crazy. Later, I have been living here, with birds and beasts as companions, with mountains and rivers as companions, comfortable and content, and did not deliberately cultivate, "Innate Gong" is getting stronger and stronger, a few years ago the brothers and sisters often came to persuade me to go back to the palace to live, but I prefer to live here, there are mountains and rivers, why not? Over the years, the brothers have passed away, and I am the only one left, so I don't want to go back. Today, the senior brother is buried, I will say here that the senior brother can go well, if you want to return to Chongyang Palace, you can't help but see things and think about people, and only increase sadness. Jiang Yuan was silent.

The old Taoist priest gently put down the teacup, pointed at Jiang Yuan, and said, "Although I don't know who you are taught by, I can see that you are extremely talented and have a unique education. In time, something will be done. Seeing you is like seeing myself when I was young, and I would like to warn you: Cultivation must first cultivate the mind. Don't learn from me, you have to turn back after a detour. Life in the world is an experience of gaining and losing, if you want to go up, you have to learn to let go of something, too attached is not a good thing. Jiang Yuan lost his mind for a while, and the old Taoist's earnest advice made him not want to be perfunctory, but he didn't know how to answer. The old Taoist saw that Jiang Yuan was speechless for a long time, and said: "It's okay to take some detours, if young people are like me, how boring it should be, just don't do stupid things, you can't go back after doing a lot of things." Jiang Yuan saw what he said vaguely, thinking that he probably saw something, and said: "What the predecessors said is reasonable, but people in the rivers and lakes can't help themselves. Some obsessions can't be let go, can't be let go, shouldn't be put down," Jiang Yuan held the hilt of the sword, thoughtful, "Someone should always do it." The old Taoist priest seemed to want to say something, but when the words came to his lips and swallowed back: "Okay, the road is chosen by yourself, and it is useless to be persuaded by others." ”

Jiang Yuan got up to say goodbye, and the old Taoist priest sent him out and said to Jiang Yuan: "The rivers and lakes will not be calm for a few years, and what you think in your heart may soon have an answer." Jiang Yuan turned his head and asked, "How can the seniors see what I think in my heart?" The old Taoist priest pointed to the sword Jiang Yuan was carrying: "Twenty years ago, this Qingling Sword was a flash in the pan on the rivers and lakes, and then there was no news. Now in your hands, the things of the past...... It's not good. "Do you know this sword?" Jiang Yuan asked eagerly, "Do you know what happened back then?" Old Dao shook his head and said, "I have rarely gone down the mountain for decades, but I have only heard about these things, and I have not deliberately inquired. What you want to know, I don't know. ”

Jiang Yuan was unwilling to continue to ask, and the old Taoist priest turned around and left on his own. Jiang Yuan stood there for a while, knowing that there was no result if he asked further, and seeing that it was not early, he sighed and walked back. returned to Chongyang Palace, went down the mountain with Xu Tao's master and apprentice, returned to the tavern and asked for some wine and food, and waited for Liqing while eating.