The white snow messes with the slender hands, the green water clears the mind.
The clock has disappeared for a long time, and there is no sound in the world.
——Excerpt from "Listening to Lu Zishun Playing the Piano on a Moonlit Night" by Li Bai
…
Princess Qingluan was very interested in Bai Fu's past and wanted to ask more questions. But seeing Bai Fu's sadness, she quickly changed the subject.
Princess Qingluan asked: "When Master Mu Yunyi of Yunshangfang gave me the Xiangxiong Dzi Bead Necklace that day, why did you agree to let me accept it? Could it be that you expected to have a battle with an illusion master?"
Bai Fu smiled freely and said: "It is said that the Sixth Patriarch of Zen Buddhism, Master Hui Neng's 'Leaking Tong' can penetrate time and space. But how can I have such magical power?"
Your Highness, that day you disguised yourself as an assassin and fought me with a green bamboo stick...
At this point, I would like to ask one more question, Aunt Gongsun is famous all over the world for her sword dance, why don’t you use a sword instead of a bamboo stick?"
Princess Qingluan complained helplessly; "There are many rules in the palace. Except for the imperial guards, even the prince is not allowed to carry weapons with him. In order to facilitate practice, the master changed the sword technique to a stick technique and taught it to me."
Bai Fu nodded and said: "Mrs. Gongsun's martial arts is indeed unfathomable. I will tell you that your stick skills are superb and exquisite. Trip, split, entangle, poke, pick, lead, seal, turn, roll, fold, float, lift twelve
Jue is both hard and soft, and even I find it difficult to deal with it."
Hearing Bai Fu's praise, Princess Qingluan was filled with joy. She drew her eyelashes closer and said with a sly smile: "You're not trying to trick me, are you?"
Bai Fu said sincerely: "To be fair, I can't defeat you within ten moves just by fighting with bare hands!"
Princess Qingluan felt that every pore in her body was being blown by the spring breeze - so comfortable!
Princess Qingluan cocked her nose and couldn't help but feel a little proud. She imitated the appearance of a knight-errant, cupped her fists and saluted, saying: "Young Master Bai, I accept the offer."
Bai Fu laughed dumbly and said: "Don't be complacent yet, I haven't finished speaking yet. But it was this fight that made me aware of a hidden danger in your martial arts.
This hidden danger is very mysterious. Perhaps, the Xiangxiong Dzi Beads can make up for this flaw. I guess Aunt Mu also discovered this, so she gave you the Dzi Beads."
Princess Qingluan was very nervous and asked quickly: "What is the hidden danger? Why did my master never mention it to me?"
Bai Fu pondered for a moment and said: "Although your stick technique is exquisite, your internal strength is mixed with a trace of Xuanming's sinister aura.
At present, although there is no serious problem, when you practice for a certain period of time, this mysterious and violent energy will interfere with your practice, and may even lead to the risk of becoming a demon.
At first, I thought it was because all the female disciples in Gongsun's lineage wanted to achieve quick success and took the wrong approach. During practice, the true energy was focused on the Yin meridians, resulting in the imbalance of water and fire, and the failure of Yin and Yang.
It wasn't until I fought against Wu Daozi that I realized that this was because Aunt Gongsun was too obsessed with illusions:
Maybe at certain times, Aunt Gongsun herself couldn't tell which one was the real body and which one was the phantom body. When she was in the phantom body, she passed on your Kung Fu. So that part of your Kung Fu came from the illusion.
.
Although Aunt Gongsun did not teach you illusions, when you perform the martial arts you learned in the illusion, you will be involuntarily swayed by Xuan Ming's vicious energy and fall into the illusion. In this regard, you are more dangerous than those who have learned illusions.
.Because you don’t know whether you are performing martial arts or using illusion. You are not aware of whether you are body or shadow.
If you don’t have Dzi beads and other protective magic weapons to help you bless you, once you enter the dream-stealing realm and cannot distinguish your true body from the phantom, you will be trapped in Zhuang Zhou’s dreamland forever.”
Princess Qingluan's face changed drastically, she screamed and said: "Are you not being alarmist? Is there any hope left?"
Bai Fu said: "It's not that serious yet, but to be on the safe side, you need to wear the Xiangxiong Dzi Bead at all times.
When meditating and practicing, when you are not sure whether it is your real body or a phantom, hold the Dzi Bead in your hand and pour your thoughts into the Dzi Bead. The blessing power of the great practitioner in the Dzi Bead will be like a diamond armor, which will protect your true body.
Your internal strength is relatively shallow and you have Dzi beads to protect you, so it shouldn’t be a big problem. On the contrary, I’m worried about your senior sisters in the “Thirteen Hairpins in Colorful Dresses”..."
Princess Qingluan said sadly: "Although master and senior sister were acquitted, my father expelled them from the capital and went to Yangzhou. I only saw them off at the Baqiao pavilion and saw them for the last time."
…
Bai Fu took Princess Qingluan's green bamboo stick in his hand and tasted it carefully. He saw that the bamboo stick was as crystal clear as jade, hard and flexible, and he couldn't help but admire it.
Seeing that Bai Fu liked this thing, Princess Qingluan proudly showed off: "You really know the goods! This green bamboo is the 'Bamboo Emperor' that is only one of ten thousand in the bamboo sea in southern Sichuan! It is said that it is the daughter of the Antarctic Heavenly Official, Fairy Yao Qing.
When he was demoted to the mortal world, he planted it with his own hands, and there were only a few of them in the whole bamboo sea in southern Shu.
The Jiedushi of Jiannan gave it to Grandpa Huang to make a crutch. When Grandpa Huang saw that I liked it, he asked the imperial workshop to transform it into a bamboo stick for me."
Bai Fu praised: "It is indeed something with a history. This bamboo stick is light and fairy-like, soft yet strong, which is suitable for Wu Daozi's writing style of 'Wu Dai Dangfeng'."
Having said that, Bai Fu combined Wu Daozi's brushstrokes and passed on to Princess Qingluan the method of using strength that he had just realized, "using softness to overcome hardness".
Bai Fu asked Princess Qingluan to break down the stick technique, and pointed out the areas that could be improved and improved in the stick technique one by one. After an hour, Princess Qingluan benefited a lot.
…
Before leaving, Princess Qingluan asked cautiously: "Master Fu, the hand scroll you copied - "Eighty-seven Immortals" is lifelike and wonderful, can you give it to me?"
Bai Fu smiled heartily, wrapped the long scroll in his hand with oil cloth, and handed it to Princess Qingluan. Princess Qingluan was overjoyed.
When the scroll was handed to Princess Qingluan, Bai Fu said without warning: "Your Highness, if you see someone in the palace who looks similar to the character in the painting, please do not make any announcement and remember to inform me in time."
Although Princess Qingluan didn't know what Bai Fu meant by what he said, seeing Bai Fu's incomprehensible look, she didn't ask much and hurriedly agreed.
After paying for the tea and paying for the furniture damaged by the whisk, the two of them went downstairs, said goodbye one by one, and went their separate ways.
The skinny diner just now also followed him out of the tea house and followed Princess Qingluan from a distance.
Two Beggar Clan disciples who were catching lice on the street corner saw the thin eater following Princess Qingluan. They looked at each other and followed her.
…
At dusk that day, the thin diners sneaked into a rice shop, where the shopkeeper was fiddling with his abacus on the counter.
The thin eater pretended to pick corn and rice. After looking at two or three kinds of rice, he went to the counter to discuss the price with the shopkeeper.
Seeing that no one was paying attention, the thin diner whispered: "Shopkeeper Sun, the murals in Bodhi Temple in Pingkangfang have been copied."
Shopkeeper Sun crackled the beads on the abacus and said disdainfully: "Gou San, this isn't the first time this painting has been copied, so why are you panicking?"
Thin Eater Gou San said: "Do you know who the person who copied the painting is? Bai Fu!"
There was a trace of panic in Shopkeeper Sun's eyes. He stopped his calculations and asked, "Why is it him? This master is not easy to deal with. Has he discovered any clues?"
Gou San, a thin eater, said: "I don't know. After he finished copying, he talked with a young man disguised as a man for a long time in a tea house. When they broke up, he gave the painting to this girl."
"Have you found out who this girl is?" Shopkeeper Sun's eyes flashed fiercely.
"I don't know, she took the scroll and entered the palace city." Gou San, the thin eater, said.
"What? She is from the palace?" Shopkeeper Sun was shocked.