TAOIST PRIEST

 There was a scholar surnamed Wang in this county, who was the seventh among his brothers and the descendant of a bureaucratic family. He had loved Taoism since he was a child, and when he heard that there were many immortals on Mount Laoshan, he picked up his baggage and went out for an excursion to visit them. When he arrived at Laoshan Mountain, he climbed to the top of a hill. There was a Taoist temple, very quiet. An old Taoist priest sat cross-legged on a futon, his head full of silver hair draped over his shoulders, but his spirit was very healthy, and he looked very much like a man of the world. Wang Sheng bowed down and respectfully asked the Taoist priest for advice, the Taoist priest said the words, the reasoning is very deep and subtle, Wang Sheng asked to worship him as a teacher. The Taoist priest said, "I'm afraid that one who is so petulant and lazy as you are can't do hard work!" Wang Sheng hurriedly replied, "I can endure hardship." The Taoist priest had many disciples and they all came back in the evening. Wang Sheng paid his respects to them one by one, and stayed in the Guan.

 Early the next morning, the Taoist priest called him there, handed him an axe, and told him to follow the group up the mountain to cut firewood. He obeyed respectfully. After a month or so, his hands and feet were all worn out with layers of calluses, he could not bear the pain, and secretly had the idea of going home.

 One night, when Wang Sheng returned to the kwan, he saw two guests drinking with the master. It was already dark and there were no lights yet. The master then cut paper into the shape of a round mirror and pasted it on the wall. After a while, the moonlight illuminated the whole room, and things the size of a pinpoint could be seen clearly. The disciples stood around at the beck and call, coming in and out. One of the guests said, "On such a fine evening, a rare joy, we must not fail to drink together." When the Taoist priest heard this, he took a jug of wine from the table and rewarded the disciples, asking them to drink as much as they liked. Wang Sheng thought in his heart, "With seven or eight people and such a pot of wine, how can we all drink enough?" So everyone found their own cups and bowls, and scrambled for a toast, lest the pot run out of wine. However, even though everyone kept taking turns to pour the wine, the wine in the pot did not decrease at all. Wang Sheng was very surprised.

 After drinking for a while, one of the guests said, "I am grateful to the master for rewarding us with bright moonlight, but drinking mulled wine like this is not flavorful enough, so why don't we invite Chang'e to help us out?" So the Taoist priest took a chopstick and threw it at the paper moon on the wall. Only to see a little beauty, walked out from the moon. At first less than a foot tall, it landed as tall as a normal person. With a slender waist and beautiful neck, she lightly danced the "Neishang Feijie Dance". After a while and sang: "Xian Xian Hu, and also Hu, and the ghost of me in the wide cold Hu! The sound of the song was so clear and melodious that it sounded like the sound from a cave pipe. After finishing the song, she spun and danced, leaping onto the table. Under everyone's astonished gaze, that Chang'e turned into a chopstick again. All three of them laughed out loud.

 Another guest said, "I've had too much fun tonight! But I have a limited capacity for alcohol, so I can't drink any more. Will you give me a farewell in the Moon Palace?" So the three men left their seats and slowly melted into the moon. Everyone saw all three of them sitting in the moon and drinking, and even their beards and eyebrows could be seen, just like the human forms they saw in the mirror. Soon the moonlight dimmed, the disciples lit candles, and the Taoist priest was the only one sitting alone in the room; the guests had disappeared. The guests had disappeared. There were still dishes and fruits on the table; the moon on the wall was nothing more than round mirror-like paper. The Taoist priest asked everyone, "Have you all had enough to drink?" The disciples replied, "Enough to drink." The Taoist priest said, "If you have drunk enough, go to bed early and don't delay tomorrow's cutting of wood and grass." The disciples promised and retreated. Wang Sheng was happy and envious in his heart, and the thought of going home was dispelled.

 After another month, Wang Sheng couldn't stand the suffering any longer, and the Taoist priest didn't even teach him a little Taoist skill. Feeling that he could not stay any longer, Wang Sheng took his leave of the Taoist priest and said, "I have traveled hundreds of miles to learn the Way from the immortal master, even if he could not teach me the art of immortality, if he could teach me a little bit of magic, he could still comfort me for my pain in seeking instruction; now two or three months have passed, and I only get up early every day to go up to the mountain to fetch firewood, and return to the Taoist temple at dark, but I have never suffered like this when I was at home before. When I was at home, I had never suffered like this before!" The Taoist priest smiled and said, "I originally said that you could not do hard labor. Now it's true. Well, I'll send you away in the morning." Wang Sheng said, "I have been working hard for several months, and I just want to ask the master to teach me a little bit of magic, so I have not come here for nothing!" The Taoist priest asked, "What kind of spells do you want to learn?" Wang Sheng said, "Wherever the common master goes, the walls can't stop him. As long as I can learn this wall-piercing spell, I will be satisfied." The Taoist priest smiled and agreed. Then he taught him the mnemonic and told him to recite it accordingly. After he finished reciting, the Taoist priest shouted, "Go in!" But Wang Sheng faced the wall and did not dare to go in. The Taoist priest said again, "Try to go in!" Wang Sheng did walk slowly towards the wall, but as soon as he reached the wall, he was blocked. The Taoist priest said, "You lower your head and rush through, don't hesitate!" Wang Sheng took a few steps backward and really ran through with his head down; when he reached the wall, he felt empty, as if the wall did not exist; when he looked back, he was really standing outside the wall. He was so happy that he came in and thanked the master. The Taoist priest said, "When you go home, keep your heart pure and reject evil thoughts, otherwise the spells will not work." He gave him some money and sent him home. When Wang Sheng arrived home, he boasted that he had met a fairy and that no hard walls could stop him. His wife didn't believe him, so Wang Sheng followed the method taught to him by the Taoist priest of Laoshan last time, first leaving the wall by a few feet and then charging straight at it. As a result, with a bang, he hit the hard wall head on and fell to the ground violently. His wife rushed over to help him up, and at a glance, an egg-sized bag bulged on his forehead. His wife laughed at him for bragging, and Wang Sheng was ashamed and angry, but he could only yell at the old Taoist priest for having no conscience.