Ding Shi glanced at his main task on the interface. The main task was still to attend the sacrifice, but while it had originally been marked with a ghost, it now bore an additional marker for a demon. The demon clearly referred to the shanxiao.
The mountain path grew steeper, turning from a slope into steps. These steps were carved out of the yellow earth with hoes, and because of rainwater erosion, what should have been right angles had been worn down into slopes. He had to dig his toes in hard with every step to get solid footing, further draining his stamina and making the climb even more arduous.
At this point, Ding Shi was entirely certain of one thing: Daoist Baiyun was no ordinary mortal. Ding Shi had cheated by using the system to convert his luggage into a card, lightening his load. Daoist Baiyun was seventy years old, yet he could carry thirty-five jin of luggage up the mountain. He had to possess at least a body lightening technique.
Every climb must come to an end. After nearly three hours of trekking, Ding Shi finally spotted Baiyun Temple.
Halfway up Mount Taoyuan stood a strange rock shaped like an inverted U, and Baiyun Temple was built right inside it. The mountain stone served as its roof and floor, with wooden walls erected on either side to keep out the wind.
Ding Shi stepped onto the final stair and stood at the edge of the strange rock. Hanging high before him was a plaque inscribed with "Baiyun Temple." The front entrance stood wide open, with no lintel, no threshold, and not even a door. Shining his flashlight inside, he immediately saw the statues of the Three Pure Ones enshrined on a stone altar.
The overwhelming impression Baiyun Temple gave Ding Shi was simplicity; it had practically no superfluous furnishings. To the left of the main hall where the Three Pure Ones were enshrined, a winding path led into secluded depths, its destination unknown. To the right of the hall was a makeshift stone bed, where an old Daoist with a black beard sat cross-legged.
Over a dozen oil lamps were lit within Baiyun Temple, so the illumination was not too dim.
The old Daoist's eyes were piercingly bright as he watched Ding Shi motionless while the latter looked around. Ding Shi acted as though he hadn't noticed him, picking up three sticks of incense from the altar and lighting them from an oil lamp in front of the offering table. Holding the incense in his left hand, he gave a wave with his right, using the draft to fan out the flame. Standing straight, he held the incense and bowed three times, muttering prayers under his breath in an image of absolute piety.
Whether it was an act or not, the old Daoist was very pleased with Ding Shi's behavior. He walked noiselessly over to Ding Shi, gave a Daoist salute, and said, "Greetings, lay devotee."
Ding Shi quickly turned and half-bowed in return. "Greetings, Daoist Baiyun."
Daoist Baiyun nodded. "What brings you to see me?"
Ding Shi replied, "My name is Ding Shi, and I am the assistant to the village chief of Taoyuan Village. A few days ago, a ghost haunted the village. Although Blind Zhao dealt with it, a villager still died. Pained by this bitter lesson, the village chief reflected on the matter and thought that Blind Zhao's aptitude was too poor for him to make further progress. Thus, he sent the smartest man in the village—myself—to Baiyun Temple, so that I might learn some arts of subduing demons and devils from you, Daoist Baiyun."
Ding Shi spun lies so effortlessly that it left Daoist Baiyun completely at a loss. It took the Daoist a good while before he said, "Lay devotee, please, this way."
To one side stood a large flattened stone serving as a table, flanked by two relatively level rocks as chairs. An oil lamp rested on the stone table.
Beside the table was a honeycomb-briquette stove. Once the two took their seats, Daoist Baiyun placed a kettle on the stove to boil water.
Daoist Baiyun studied Ding Shi for a moment in the light of the oil lamp, then said regretfully, "This old Daoist does indeed possess a bit of skill in suppressing ghosts and subduing demons, but you cannot learn it, lay devotee."
Ding Shi was unconvinced. "Why?" He picked things up remarkably fast. Skills like smoking, drinking, fighting, framing people, exploiting, threatening, intimidating, instigating, picking locks, surfing the web, and scaling walls had all been entirely self-taught.
Daoist Baiyun smiled without answering. "If we are fated to meet again in a few years, we might well talk late into the night over candlelight."
Ding Shi settled for second best, taking out the talisman paper and saying, "Blind Zhao owes me a favor and gave this to me. He said you could teach me the hand seals and how to draw the talisman."
Daoist Baiyun took the talisman paper, glanced at it, and handed it back to Ding Shi, gesturing for Ding Shi to watch his left hand. There were only two movements. In the first, he pinched his five fingers together. In the second, he flicked out his index and middle fingers, pointing them toward the talisman paper.
The movements were very simple, and Ding Shi imitated them convincingly on his first attempt.
Daoist Baiyun corrected Ding Shi's form, saying, "The five fingers form a lotus. When the five fingers gather together, none is higher or lower than the rest; the fingertips are like a lotus throne. This is also the opening stance for most talismans. Yes, just like that. In the second movement, the two fingers form a sword, drawn taut with power concentrated at the fingertips. Good, exactly like that."
Ding Shi formed the hand seal a few more times and earned Daoist Baiyun's approval. Ding Shi seized the momentum to bring up his second request: "Daoist, how do you draw this talisman? I've studied it for a long time, but it's hard to complete the whole talisman in a single stroke."
Daoist Baiyun chuckled, poured hot water into cups for Ding Shi and himself, then bent down to pick up a piece of coal cinder from the floor. He began sketching on the stone table, explaining as he drew: "This talisman contains the power of the Five Elements—Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth—drawn in the order of mutual generation. Metal generates Water, Water generates Wood, Wood generates Fire, Fire generates Earth, and Earth generates Metal. Any one element can serve as the primary focus, while the other four act as supports."
Daoist Baiyun divided the talisman paper into five sections. The four supporting elements were in the upper left, lower left, upper right, and lower right, with the primary element in the center.
A talisman dominated by Metal had to begin with the character for Water, progressing through mutual generation until finally drawing the central character for Metal.
This was the core framework, but there were many more nuances. For instance, in Water generating Wood, this talisman used the technique of raindrops. The key to the raindrop technique was dotting without breaking the stroke, which was the hardest part of Water generating Wood.
Only then did Ding Shi realize how much intricacy was involved. He and Blind Zhao had originally assumed that if you could find where the line began and follow it to the end, you could draw the talisman in a single stroke.
Back then, Ding Shi had even contemplated finding a photocopier to mass-produce talisman paper indefinitely. Now, hearing Daoist Baiyun break down and explain the talisman, Ding Shi realized that every character, every dot, and every stroke on the paper held its own purpose.
Daoist Baiyun had an exceptionally gentle temperament, patiently instructing Ding Shi on how to thoroughly master the talisman. Ding Shi, ever insatiable, lobbed a third question: "Daoist, what kind of talisman is this?"
The question stumped the good-natured Daoist Baiyun. Most people went: What is this? How do you draw it? Ding Shi's order was: How do you draw it? What is this?
Daoist Baiyun asked, "If you didn't even know what talisman it was, why did you want to learn it?"
Ding Shi explained, "The Master said: 'Is it not a pleasure, having learned something, to try it out at due intervals?'"
Daoist Baiyun was puzzled. "What does that have to do with this?"
Ding Shi explained further, "First you learn it, then you intern with it."
Daoist Baiyun did not quite understand, but felt vaguely impressed. Only after a long pause did he speak: "This is called the Five Thunders Talisman. Metal Thunder, Wood Thunder, Water Thunder, Fire Thunder, and Earth Thunder. If Metal is primary, it is Metal Thunder; if Wood is primary, it is Wood Thunder."
Ding Shi asked, "Is it very powerful?"
Daoist Baiyun answered, "That depends on the talisman maker's comprehension of the Five Elements."
Ding Shi said, "Please instruct me, Daoist."
Daoist Baiyun held nothing back, saying, "The Classic of Difficult Issues states: 'That which generates me is mother; that which I generate is child.' Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals states: 'Wood is the beginning, Water is the end...'"
It sounded simple, just the standard principles of mutual generation and overcoming. Yet it was far from simple, containing Daoist Baiyun's own unique insights into the Five Elements.
To give the simplest example, Fire overcomes Metal, which sounded like a bad thing for Metal. However, Daoist Baiyun believed that if Metal was not overcome by Fire, it could never be tempered or forged into a vessel. Fire overcoming Metal was what brought Metal to fulfillment. The same held true for Metal overcoming Wood, and so forth.
With question and answer back and forth, several hours slipped by.
During this time, Ding Shi also asked about materials for the talisman paper, which turned out to be another complex topic. In theory, cinnabar and yellow paper were sufficient, but in practice, materials could include Chinese ink, chicken blood, gold dust, white paper, green paper, gold paper, and more.
Taking the Five Thunders Talisman as an example, if Ding Shi developed his own understanding and grasp of the Five Elements, he could select the materials best suited to him. If Ding Shi's comprehension of the Five Elements was limited, Daoist Baiyun recommended sticking to cinnabar and yellow paper.
Although Chinese ink was not as effective at banishing evil as cinnabar, it could be infused with the talisman maker's spiritual awareness. For the Five Thunders Talisman, Chinese ink could enhance the strength of a particular element based on the talisman maker's individual nature. Cinnabar was versatile, but blending it required precise ratios, yet there was no single universally correct ratio. Only by tailoring it to the talisman's intended function and the talisman maker's abilities could one mix the cinnabar that suited the practitioner best.
Chapter 21