Chapter 157: Tea Banquet

Chapter 157: Tea Banquet

"A stele inscription left to commemorate a banquet?" Shang Yunduo's interest surged, and he urged, "Read it, read it!"

Lou Dengge skimmed through it once, then read it carefully from the beginning. "No hurry, no hurry. I can only get the gist of it. The first few characters are a format for stele inscriptions. This character roughly corresponds to the word 'stele' today, or it can be understood as a genre. This entire line forms a dedicated format for recording events..."

Shang Yunduo understood. It was kind of like a ci poetry tune title, but the meaning was more fixed and not as broad.

Lou Dengge continued pointing. "This says 'on a certain year, month, and day'... Oh, this method of timekeeping should predate the Boundary. Even earlier, ancient cultivators had a broader perception of time, perhaps because they had longer lifespans and had no concept of time."

Pei Jie nodded upon hearing this.

When cultivators entered meditation or seclusion, it was often measured in years, decades, or even centuries. In ancient times, they were even more oblivious to the passage of time, lacking any sense of chronology.

The same went for humans, and even more so for the yao race. Many yao would wake up from a deep sleep covered in moss, looking like small hills.

Special yao beasts would die in their dreams, and their remains would petrify into mountains. The bodies of some demon beasts transformed into entire small worlds.

Lou Dengge continued reading, skipping characters he didn't recognize. He could make out half or more of the characters on each rubbing. After finishing one, he would pull out a stack of books and notes, flipping through them to find corresponding characters while explaining to Shang Yunduo how different characters had evolved and deducing what certain characters might be. Shang Yunduo's head was spinning from it all. Before long, he switched places with Pei Jie, leaving Lou Dengge and Pei Jie to reverse-engineer the characters together while Shang Yunduo cooked for them.

The aroma of food drifted around the cave, and they'd mostly cracked the first inscription.

The content recorded was actually quite simple. The author of the inscription had gathered spirit herbs and brewed fine wine with spring water from a spirit spring, then invited friends to taste it. The guests also brought their own fine wines and brews, debating and arguing over the brewing methods. Finally, they voted to select ten recognized fine brews. Among them, three were particularly delicious and not difficult to brew, so they decided to carve a stele recording the required ingredients and brewing methods for these three wines, as well as who had provided the recipes, who had carved the stele, and who had participated.

The three of them were all curious about the recipes for those three wines, but the sweet spring water, spirit grains, and spirit herbs used as fermentation starters were things they had never even heard of. Everything was pure guesswork.

The only thing they could confirm still existed was a certain fragrant grass root, and even that could only be found in auction houses.

These were described in the stele as "all common items," inviting any fated person who saw the inscription to gather them, brew the wines, and taste them, then judge whether the three flavors ranked the same as theirs.

Shang Yunduo sighed. "It's a pity we can't join their voting game."

Pei Jie and Lou Dengge both laughed.

Shang Yunduo said, "Their wine is gone, so let's drink my juices and tea instead! I have everything, guaranteed delicious!"

He had a huge stash of drinks: some bought, some dried himself, including proper tea, medicinal tea, spirit herb tea, and fruit tea. He also had various fruits stored for juicing, and even several types of wine, though he didn't particularly like drinking them—he bought them for cooking or mixing with juice. In high spirits, he laid out a big table with all his dishes.

Shang Yunduo said, "Though we're few, we can still call this a banquet!"

Lou Dengge had been talking all afternoon and was parched. He came over to taste Shang Yunduo's teas—some meant to be drunk cold, some hot. Sampling them one by one, he found that each truly had its own distinct flavor and was quite good.

He couldn't help but praise, "I think your tea banquet is just as good as a wine banquet."

Shang Yunduo handed them skewers of meat. "Then write an article about the tea banquet and carve it into a stele, following their format. After a thousand or a hundred years, people who see it won't know how I made my tea either. Hmm, write this!" He pointed to a cup of hot tea in front of Lou Dengge. "Even though it's made from common grass, it's fragrant and refreshing, clears your eyes and mind. Don't write down the name—let them guess!"

He was struck by a sudden inspiration. "Maybe the people who see it will think this kind of grass grew naturally in the secret realm, and they won't be able to find it anywhere. Then, one day, they'll discover it in some mortal's small herb shop. Oh, so it's just 'Bright-Eye Grass'!" He slapped the table. "Isn't that like high-fiving someone across time and space?"

Lou Dengge laughed heartily. "It is! That's exactly how I feel every time I decipher a difficult character or understand an ancient text!"

Shang Yunduo reached out his hand. "High five!"

Lou Dengge laughed and high-fived him, then felt even more amused. How did drinking tea get them acting all drunk?

Shang Yunduo gnawed on his meat with relish and kept peeling shrimp for Pei Jie.

The shrimp from the Ancient Origin Secret Realm were truly sweet and delicious—no doubt about it!

Pei Jie, surprisingly in a good mood, asked him, "What if they don't high-five you back?"

"Huh?" Shang Yunduo was taken aback, then laughed. "If they don't, that's fine too. At least we get to show them how happy we were eating!"

He started urging Pei Jie to write an article. "Let's carve one too! Tasting tea and appreciating ancient steles, translator Daoist Lou, stele carver and writer Senior, tea maker me, chef me, shrimp peeler me, and if needed, zither player me too!"

Pei Jie laughed.

He was just joking around, but to his surprise, after they were stuffed and happy, Pei Jie actually wrote a long poem—one that Shang Yunduo could barely understand, full of unknown characters. He even carved it into the cave wall with his sword. Lou Dengge praised it highly, though whether sincerely was unclear. Shang Yunduo craned his neck and read the culturally rich inscription a few more times, grasping the general meaning.

It recorded how they analyzed the ancient stele that day, lamenting that the fine wine was no more and that fleeting youth was easily lost. Though they couldn't share the wine with future generations, and future generations couldn't taste the past, the joy of drinking and eating with friends in the present was no different from that of the ancients or those yet to come.

Shang Yunduo summarized, "So, cultivators are not eternal, nor are stele inscriptions. Only this kind of happiness is eternal!"

Pei Jie laughed for a long time after hearing that.

Shang Yunduo said, "Am I wrong? My Chinese grades in school were pretty decent."

Pei Jie said, "Right."

Time changes everything, it's all just a dream. Once-glorious things turn to ashes. What people thought was invincible ends up gone. The spirit herbs that were once common for brewing wine are nearly extinct. The Spirit Rhinoceros Clan, bearing the bloodline of the Sacred Clan, is on the brink of extinction. The immortality that cultivators seek is like an illusion. What really lasts forever are the joys and sorrows, loves and hates that pass between different lives.

Pei Jie said, "You're more suited for the Xiaoyao Sect than your master."

Shang Yunduo was momentarily stunned. Master? After thinking back, he remembered that he did indeed have a nominal master whose memorial tablet he had never seen. Recalling that Pei Jie knew him, Shang Yunduo put down his brush and asked, "Was he not suited for the Xiaoyao Sect?"

Pei Jie said, "No. He was stubborn and headstrong, not as perceptive as you."

Shang Yunduo silently thought about his master's honorific title, "The Persistent Daoist," which sounded very obstinate. "Senior Sister said Master was very gentle."

Pei Jie also silently recalled the persistent one he remembered, who had cursed while composing songs even after having his cultivation crippled. "Maybe raising disciples changed his temperament."

Shang Yunduo instinctively thought of many doting fathers, like his own. When his father talked to him as a child, it was different from how he talked to his sister. "Yeah, Senior Sister was a girl, so she must have been cute and well-behaved as a child."

Pei Jie gave him a look full of meaning, and Shang Yunduo got creeped out.

???

What does that mean?

Pei Jie looked away, thinking that even the not-so-cute-and-well-behaved kinds could test a master. Ever since he started looking after Shang Yunduo, his own temper had gotten way better than it was a thousand years ago.

"..."

Or was it just because he was getting older?

Shang Yunduo, confused and suspicious, asked, "Do you think it would be even better if I were cute and well-behaved? Am I not cute? At least I'm lively and cute, right?"

Pei Jie took a deep breath. "Just copy your poem."

Shang Yunduo: "..."

The next morning, Lou Dengge, who had studied all night, energetically translated the second stele inscription for them. He also subtly criticized Shang Yunduo for having jumbled up the rubbings—

"I spent half the night rearranging them. Otherwise, I could have translated another one."

Shang Yunduo: "..."

It was a mess when I got it!

Who knows if those demon cultivators who compensated him flipped through it, or if those Foundation Establishment cultivators who went to make rubbings of the inscriptions hadn't sorted them properly?

Shang Yunduo: "What does this one say? Is it about a banquet again?"

Lou Dengge: "Exactly, this time it's about a sword duel."

Shang Yunduo: "..."

They are so idle!!

Turns out he spoke too soon; they could be even more free.

Drinking and carving steles, flower-gazing and carving steles, moon-gazing and carving steles, sword-dueling and carving steles, game-playing and carving steles...

Besides narrative inscriptions, they also wrote poetry and songs, composed drinking games, and wrote long argumentative essays.

The advantage was that the historical materials were rich, and it confirmed that their sect was indeed the Xiaoyao Sect. In one go, Shang Yunduo learned ten different ways to write the Xiaoyao Sect's name.

The downside was that the place names, personal names, spiritual herbs, and artifacts mentioned were almost all unfamiliar to them.

But judging by the names, the participants at the Xiaoyao Sect gathering included both humans and yao.

Moreover, judging solely from the inscriptions, there was no sign of species conflict. Whether it was because the Xiaoyao Sect was inherently inclusive, or because the distinctions were not so pronounced at that time, their main debates and repeated references were all about the path to Ascension.

Two broken steles both centered on the question: does cultivating immortality equal cultivating spirit? Should spiritual cultivation be the main approach? The author, as a disciple of the Xiaoyao Sect, had a clear stance—he completely disagreed, vehemently denouncing spiritual cultivation as a shortcut that put the cart before the horse, letting technique overshadow the Way, and shaking the essence of cultivation. If, after thousands or tens of thousands of years, the world's spiritual energy runs dry, what technique would cultivation rely on? Cultivation should be about cultivating a carefree heart.

But what is Xiaoyao? Even within the Xiaoyao Sect, there was no universally accepted definition. Almost every inscription had related discussions, and some were specifically devoted to arguing this point. The conflicts among Xiaoyao Sect disciples over the definition of "Xiaoyao" were even greater than the differences between humans and yao, and the diversity of schools of thought was enough to give a glimpse of how fractured they were.

Shang Yunduo thought to himself: No wonder the Xiaoyao Sect later disbanded and didn't even have a fixed mountain gate.

As for the even bigger topic—what is an immortal—it was written so vaguely and confusingly that Lou Dengge stumbled over the words, and he listened totally dazed.

At least he understood the reason why the Xiaoyao Sect never reestablished a new mountain gate: The core problem was that no single branch could command universal respect, and another major practical reason was that nearly half of the Xiaoyao Sect's disciples came from the yao race.

The stele closest to the era of division said that the relocated Xiaoyao Sect was no longer the Xiaoyao Sect, and no one could represent the true Xiaoyao Sect. Therefore, the disciples decided that as long as one's heart was set on the Way of Xiaoyao, they were a disciple of the Xiaoyao Sect, but they would not establish another mountain gate. The author, drunk and wistful, carved this stele, lamenting that gatherings like this for moon-gazing and discussing the Way would probably never happen again.

Shang Yunduo was deeply shaken.

He looked again and again at the inscriptions that Lou Dengge and Pei Jie had jointly translated and pasted on the wall. His eyes swept over a phrase casually thrown in among the heated debates: "The world has no inexhaustible resources; after thousands or tens of thousands of years, when spiritual energy is exhausted, what technique will we use, and what will we revere as the Way?" He read it several times over.

Cultivation using spiritual energy is just a technique—so what is the Way?

Author's note:

Yunduo: My head's itchy.