Fifteen, Tea Name 'Wu Dao'

  Xun Daozi hung his head and then heard Laozi ask: "Do you know what this tea is called?"

  "Quickly responding, Xun Daozi said: 'Returning to Master Bo, earlier I heard Masters Dou and Shu mention that this is Enlightenment Tea.'"

  The old man nodded and said: "Then do you know why this tea is called 'Wu Dao'?"

  "The disciple humbly replied: 'I don't know. Please, Master, enlighten me.'"

  The old man stroked his long beard, his expression distant and his voice low: "This has to be said from the beginning of heaven: when heaven and earth first opened, the vast wilderness was just established, and all things were just beginning to evolve. The traces of the great way were everywhere in the world, and various paths emerged. In the early days of the vast wilderness, all living beings could obtain some marks of the Tao without cultivation, and they were incredibly powerful, but often their spiritual wisdom was not open, and they fought each other endlessly, with most eventually perishing and disappearing between heaven and earth. However, among them, there were a few spiritual roots that were exceptionally gifted, had great opportunities, and obtained the marks of the Tao, achieving extraordinary accomplishments. Among the famous ones were Huangzhong Li, Rensheng Guo, Bodhi Tree, Panyu, Hulu Gen, Fusan Mu, Yu Zhong Gui, Ba Jiao Ye, Yin Xiang Shu... ...Among the many spiritual roots, there was one that was particularly strange - a tea tree born at the beginning of heaven and earth. This tea tree experienced the opening of heaven and earth, the evolution of the vast wilderness, and the establishment of the vast wilderness, and it actually imprinted the traces of the great way that crisscrossed the world at the beginning of heaven and earth, as well as the paths of the Tao that emerged during the early days of the vast wilderness. It also imprinted these marks on the 50 leaves that grew every 10,000 years.

  "These spiritual roots are hidden in the vast wilderness, unknown to cultivators. Currently, only a few are known: the ginseng fruit is in the Five Pavilions of the Town Temple Master, the Bodhi tree has transformed into the Western Pure Land due to karmic circumstances, the Paulownia wood is in the Tang Valley, where the Golden Crow resides, and the Osmanthus is on the Taiyin star. The rest are unknown.

  Cultivators in the wilderness have heard of their names but do not know their uses. Wilderness cultivators do not specifically search for these spiritual roots; those with low cultivation levels are unaware, while those with high cultivation levels know that they can be obtained through fate and do not need to be forcibly sought.

  Only one of these spiritual roots has been extensively searched for by wilderness cultivators over hundreds of millions of years without interruption. It was only mentioned briefly about 100,000 years ago."

  At this point, Laozi paused and turned to Xun Daozi and asked: "Do you know what the spiritual root that has been searched for hundreds of millions of years is?"

  Xun Daozi replied in a low voice: "Shibo, is this the tea tree we're searching for?" He pointed to the tea tree on the rock wall.

  The old man nodded and said, "That's right, the tea tree is what we're searching for." The old man continued to ask, "Do you also know why other spiritual roots don't have cultivators deliberately searching for them, but this tea tree makes the searching cultivators infatuated?"

  The disciple thought for a moment and replied: "I don't know."

  "This, I can tell you," said Yuanshi. He seemed to be recalling something. "In the beginning of the universe, when the world was still and life first appeared, living beings multiplied and evolved, some with spiritual intelligence pursued transcendence, sought the Great Way, and created various cultivation methods. But over billions of years, how many have transcended? How many have attained the Way? Alas, the Great Way is hidden, its tracks invisible, leaving those who seek it without a path to follow, seeking but finding no door. Only sighs are left for posterity." As Yuanshi spoke, the three of them couldn't help but sigh deeply.

  At this time, Tongtian suddenly changed his tone and said with a tinge of sadness: "Aren't we also struggling on this road!"

  The old man also sighed: "What's wrong with it?"

  Xun Daozi looked at the three of them with some surprise, never thinking that these three also had this side.

  After a moment of contemplation, the tone changed: "In the vast expanse of billions of years, countless seekers of the Way have emerged. Some with exceptional innate talents and noble character, through fortunate coincidences, caught glimpses of the Way's traces, and thus awakened to it, attaining its fruits. They left behind their insights, forming schools of practice for later generations to follow. However, on the path of cultivation, people's innate abilities differ, the wise and foolish are not alike, and opportunities vary. How difficult it is to attain the fruits of the Way! To attain the fruits, one must first awaken to the Way; to awaken, one must first embody the Way. But how does one embody the Way? Where can one find its traces? The difficulty lies in this: the Great Way conceals its tracks, and its signs are not apparent – where can they be sought?" Yuánshǐ paused again, seemingly sighing at the difficulties of cultivation, "There were those in ancient times who, through fortunate coincidences, picked up a few tea leaves. At first, they didn't notice anything unusual; but when they happened to brew and drink them, suddenly the subtle signs of the Way that they had been carefully observing became clear and distinct. They carefully remembered and thus came to understand this segment of the Way's signs, and were overjoyed – hence it was named 'Awakening to the Way' tea."

  "After that, some practitioners of the Hongyuan sect occasionally picked up this tea leaf and brewed it to drink. It was indeed effective. As a result, the practitioners of the Hongyuan sect rushed to seek it out, but it was hard to get even one piece. Those who got it were all due to clever coincidences, either in the south of the mountain or in the north of the sea, and there was no fixed rule on the vast land of Hongyuan. After countless years, a rule was finally found: after tens of thousands of years, some practitioners would pick up one or two pieces. This made this tea leaf even more precious. Later, some practitioners picked up similar tea leaves, but their effects were not as good as before. Fortunately, the quantity was slightly larger, and the practitioners named it 'Wu Dao Zi Cha' (Enlightenment Son Tea). The previous one was called 'Wu Dao Mu Cha' (Enlightenment Mother Tea) to distinguish between them. All these things made Wu Dao Mu Cha extremely precious. Getting one piece would often be cherished and stored away, only to be brewed and drunk at critical moments as a treasure for breakthroughs. Precisely because of this, the practitioners of Hongyuan sect searched everywhere without stopping, until more than 100,000 years ago, several great masters who were skilled in calculations jointly calculated that this treasure should not appear in the world. Every 10,000 years, it grows 50 leaves, and those with good fortune can get one or two pieces. After that, the wind of searching for Wu Dao Tea Tree gradually subsided. We never expected that 'Wu Dao Tea Tree' would still appear in the world." Yuanshi finished speaking with a sigh of emotion.

  Tongtian chuckled and said, "Now that the 'Wu Dao' tea tree has been born, you've drunk all the tea leaves accumulated over countless years. I really want to cut open your skull to see what's different about you."

  Xun Daozi now also knows a bit about Tongtian's temperament and cooperates with him to make a fearful face.

  Laozi smiled and asked Xunzi: "Now you know why?"

  "The disciple understood."

  The old man looked at Yuan Shi, Tong Tian, and opened his mouth: "In the past, great masters calculated that every 10,000 years, the Mother of Taoist Tea would grow 50 new leaves, coinciding with the number of the Great Way. The son tea trees were slightly more numerous, but their exact number was unknown. Today, seeing them, I realize that apart from the Mother Tea and Son Tea, there is also another type of tea called From Tea. Upon closer observation, I understand that the previous calculations were not wrong - this Taoist Mother Tea indeed requires 10,000 years to grow 50 new leaves, coinciding with the Great Way's number 50. Its two offspring, Son Tea, each grows 49 new leaves every 1,000 years, also coinciding with the Great Way's number 50 and Heaven's evolution of 49; one of them has escaped, which is a variable. Then, four more From Teas were produced, each growing one new leaf per year, combining with the Great Way's escaped number."

  "This tea has seven branches, but in reality it is one; the evolution of Tao, how wonderful!"

  Yuanshi also sighed and said: "It's no wonder that you're called 'Wudao', you can actually transform the operation of the Tao."

  Tongtian also said: "It's not just that, look at the position of these seven tea plants."

  Laozi heard this and watched the seven tea trees growing again.

  Xun Daozi was also curious and looked around, but couldn't figure out what it meant. Then he heard Yuanshi say: "This is the Pre-Heaven Seven Star Position."

  Tongtian Dao: "Yes, it is the Pre-Heaven Seven Stars Formation. With just a bit of arrangement, it can become the 'Pre-Heaven Seven Stars Killing Array'. If you further refine and merge the seven sword energies with it, it will transform into the 'Seven Kill Sword Array'."

  Laozi said, "Not bad, with these seven tea trees as the array eye, you can draw on the power of the stars in the sky. Normally, it nurtures the sword energy, and with this 'Pre-Heaven Seven Stars Seven Kill Sword Array' power, even ordinary great divine practitioners will have to swallow their regret."

  Xun Daozi listened to the three old men discussing, but was shocked and dizzy by wave after wave of surprises: The tea tree that wasn't valued by himself was actually the Wudao Tea Tree that the practitioners of the Hongyuan had been searching for; the tea leaves that he had carelessly wasted were actually the precious treasures of the Wudao. On one hand, he was excited, on the other hand, he regretted it - why didn't he cherish them more? Those tea leaves took tens of thousands of years to grow just 50 pieces! And the ones that took a thousand years to grow 49 pieces were almost all gone too. What a pity! Just as he was feeling sad and happy at the same time, he heard Tongtian say that he could use the tea tree as an eye patch for the Xiantian Seven Star Killing Sword Array. According to Laozi, this Xiantian Seven Star Killing Sword Array was not ordinary. He made a mental note to ask Tongtian to set up this array for himself.

  Yuanshi said, "Elder brother, third brother, this tea tree can set up the 'Pre-Heaven Seven Stars and Seven Kills Sword Array', the Nine Dragons Snow Jade Pine in front can set up the Pre-Heaven Nine Palaces Defensive Great Array. These two arrays, one attacking and one defending, can complement each other as yin and yang. The Nine Dragons Snow Jade Pine absorbs the earth's vein power to become yin, while the Wudao Tea Tree summons the heavenly star power to become yang. With these two Pre-Heaven great arrays as the array eye, we can also set up the Pre-Heaven Yin-Yang Great Array. Elder brother, third brother, take a look and see how it is?"

  Xun Daozi was about to speak and ask Tongtian to set up the formation, but didn't expect that his own master Yuanshi had something to say. He immediately stopped speaking and wanted to hear what his uncles had to say.

  Tongtian clapped his hands and laughed: "Right! In that case, even if you have great abilities, without a protective treasure, there's nothing you can do!"

  "Less pause, Tongtian said: 'In this way, can still combine these two arrays with the pre-heavenly mysterious fog array, lay down the three talents big array, form a pre-heavenly linked ring big array and not very good?'"

  The old man on the side also smiled and said, "In that case, even if we brought the treasure with us, it would only be a disappointment to return."

  The three of them looked at each other and smiled.

  Xun Daozi also smiled on one side, but in his heart, he was thinking about how to ask his master, Shifu, Shibo, and Shishu to set up an array for himself. Before he could think it through clearly, he thought again about how to find some spiritual tea to save the situation. These few tea trees were beyond hope; even if the four tea trees with the most leaves grew one leaf per year, that would only be four leaves in total - how could that be enough? Those two tea trees each grew 49 leaves every thousand years, for a total of 98 leaves. After offering some to Shifu, Shibo, and Shishu, how many would be left? The mother tea tree only grew 50 leaves every ten thousand years; it was impossible to have another satisfying drink. From now on, if he could save up 10 leaves every ten thousand years, that would be something to rejoice about secretly. Thinking this way, Xun Daozi couldn't help but feel some regret - why hadn't he been more frugal? And what about the Jiulong Snow Jade Pine? Every ten thousand years, it only produced 6,561 pine seeds, which was less than one seed per year on average. Alas! His beloved... where could he find such good pine seeds?! Xun Daozi was in a state of distress.

  The busy and worried Xun Daozi did not notice that during his hesitant moments, the three Yuanshi had already descended from the clouds and stood under the rock wall, smiling but not quite smiling as they watched Xun Daozi's changing expression.

  Yuanshi couldn't help but speak up, "Xun Daozi, take us for another walk."

  Xun Daozi suddenly woke up, saw the appearance of Yuanshi and the three others, knew he had lost face, his face immediately turned hot, and hurriedly apologized. Then, under Yuanshi's hint, he led Laozi and the three others to stroll in the valley again.

  After seeing the Jiulong Snow Jade Pine, especially after seeing the Wudao Tea Tree, the strange flowers and weeds in the valley could not arouse much interest from Yuan Shi and the other two. Even when they encountered a few rare and precious spiritual flowers and fruits, they couldn't make the three of them slightly moved. The old man still carefully explained to him the various characteristics of each strange flower, spiritual wood, and immortal grass.

  Until I met those few cloud-sized lingzhi mushrooms...