Chapter 126, Beyond the Mortal World

Translator: StarReader

 

Zhao Juzhen and the other officials had been waiting at Su Immortal Manor for several days, hoping Su Chen would reconsider and travel to Chang’an to take up the position of Imperial Teacher.

 

But he hadn’t appeared again.

 

They knew Immortal Su had made up his mind and wouldn’t see them again, and they couldn’t help but feel a sense of loss as they left the Zhou Village.

 

Envoy Wang, helpless, inspected the bandit situation within the Wu Region before returning to Chang’an to report.

 

Zhao Juzhen, unable to find Immortal Su, truthfully reported the situation to the Great Tang Emperor in a letter.

 

“Your Majesty, I led the officers and martial disciples to battle the Whale Gang pirates on the Vastest Lake and was defeated by the pirate forces led by the three pirate leaders, suffering heavy casualties and nearing complete failure. At a critical moment, Immortal Su descended and instantly killed the three pirate leaders, averting a disaster.

 

I know Your Majesty has a desire to seek the immortals and has repeatedly visited Immortal Su, conveying Your Majesty’s sincerity and earnestly requesting him to enter Chang’an, but Immortal Su has no lingering affection for the secular world.

 

“Your humble servant waited for days, but Immortal Su’s whereabouts are unknown. Rumors say he has already ascended to the immortal realm. I am powerless and unable to retain Immortal Su, and I beg Your Majesty to atone for my failure.”

 

Zhao Juzhen and the officials took a boat to Gusu County City, with Magistrate Wang and other officials following.

 

The massive fleet arrived at the west gate pier, and the various small officials clustered around Zhao Juzhen as he boarded a luxurious carriage, passing by the Han Mountain Daoist Temple that had been burned to the ground.

 

“Stop!”

 

Zhao Juzhen, in the carriage, saw this burned ancient Han Mountain temple, with charred remains of palaces and rubble everywhere, and he sighed in his heart.

 

This Han Mountain Daoist Temple was an ancient temple that had been around for hundreds of years and was a famous scenic spot outside the Gusu city west gate. Especially the inscriptions in the corridors were numerous, with the stone inscription of Zhang Ji’s poem Maple Bridge Night Harbor, which was invaluable.

 

Recently, the Daoist temple had been seized by the demon path, becoming a haven for bandits.

 

It was a pity that the Daoist temple had fallen into ruins.

 

Magistrate Wang, seeing Zhao Juzhen’s sadness, quickly tried to comfort him: “Governor need not lament. This Han Mountain Daoist Temple has suffered from war and fire many times over the centuries. It has met with war and fire before, been burned several times, experienced many changes, and been rebuilt countless times. With a bit of repair, it will be a brand-new Daoist temple.”

 

Zhao Juzhen pondered for a long while, instructing Gusu City Magistrate Wang: “If that is the case, send people to clean up the ruins, and have your Gusu County constable rebuild it. However, the demon path’s influence is great, and rebuilding the Daoist temple may not be permitted by the court. Those demon path disciples might resurface and stir up trouble. Better to change it to Han Mountain Shrine, to eliminate the hidden dangers!”

 

“Yes, sir, your consideration is comprehensive; I will keep it in mind.”

 

Magistrate Wang nodded repeatedly.

 

Zhao Juzhen dismounted his carriage and walked into the Daoist temple, stopping before the ruined corridor of steles, where he saw a stone stele carved with Zhang Xu Sir’s stele poem, “Night Departure at Maple Bridge.”

 

“The moon descends, crows cry, frost fills the sky,

 

Maple and fishing lights soothe my sorrowful sleep.

 

The Han Mountain Daoist temple outside Gusu City,

 

Midnight bell sounds to the traveler’s boat!”

 

Zhao Juzhen looked at the stele, his arms behind him, pausing in thought.

 

If this Daoist temple were rebuilt into a temple, Zhang Ji Sir’s poem, “Night Departure at Maple Bridge,” would be unsuitable and would need to be altered.

 

He instructed his subordinates to bring him ink and a brush, and with a flourish, he changed the temple character on the stele to shrine. He ordered them to find a renowned stone mason from Gusu City to recarve the stele.

 

Thus, the Han Mountain Daoist Temple was renamed Han Mountain Shrine.

 

Zhao Juzhen recalled that Immortal Su had once given him a message to properly handle the group of elderly, weak women and children of the White Lotus Society residing in Lou County.

 

He then instructed all the magistrates to find a piece of land within the Wu Region to build a new county town, specifically to house the large number of displaced people.

 

In a later generation, the Wu Region recorded: “Wu Region governor Zhao Juzhen cut off the southern border of Lou County, the eastern border of Jiaxing County, and the northern border of Haiyan County, establishing Huating County in the vicinity of Songjiang and resettling a large number of displaced people to quell banditry.”

 

The Gusu County recorded: “During the Great Tang period, Liu Hong, the leader of the Whale Gang bandits, gathered over ten thousand people as bandits, causing trouble in the prefectures and counties for more than ten years. Su Chen, a fisherman’s son from Gusu’s Zhou Village, exhibited unusual signs from a young age, wandered the Wu Region for seven or eight years, achieved the immortal path, beheaded the three bandit leaders, subdued the Vastest Lake fish monster, and ascended to immortality.”

 

The Han Mountain Shrine recorded: “During the Great Tang period, the demon path occupied the ancient observation post of Han Mountain, which was destroyed by fire. It was later rebuilt and renamed Han Mountain Shrine.”

 

The Zhou Village Su family genealogy recorded: “In the Wu Region’s Zhou Village, the Su family of Su Immortal Manor flourished for three hundred years. Their ancestor ascended to immortality.”