◎ Strange Tales of a Lonely Studio
Once there was a young man called Wang Sheng who lived in the county. He was the seventh child in a rich family, and liked Taoism since he was a small child. Learning there were many immortals in Lao Mountain, he carried his luggage to look for immortals.
Wang Sheng arrived at a quiet Taoist temple, and saw a Taoist sitting on a patch of grass. With silver hair reaching his shoulders and an unworldly manner, the Taoist seemed like a true immortal. Wang Sheng hurried to kneel down and they had a talk. The Taoist was very eloquent and witty. Wang Sheng admired the Taoist very much, and wanted to learn from him. The Taoist said, “I am afraid you are spoiled and lazy, and are unable to tolerate hardship.” Wang Sheng immediately answered, “No problem, I can endure any hardship.” The Taoist had many students, and Wang Sheng met them in the dark when the disciples went together. Then, he stayed in the Taoist temple as a Taoist student.
Next morning, the Taoist called Wang Sheng, gave him an ax and asked him to chop wood in the mountain along with other dis-ciples. Wang Sheng accepted the order. More than one month passed, Wang Sheng endured various hardships, his once delicate skin grad-ually became very coarse, and his hands and feet had thick calluses. He could no longer endure the hardship of chopping wood every day, and had the thought of going home.
More than a month passed but the Taoist had not taught him a single skill. Wang Sheng could no long tolerate it, and said goodbye to the Taoist, “I have come here from a distant place to learn Taoist skills from you. Even if I can’t learn the theurgy of being immortal, I still want you to teach me the small skills to satisfy my thirst for theurgy. Now, I have been here for a month only chopping wood every day from dawn until dusk. When I was at home I had never suffered so many hard-ships.” Hearing what Wang Sheng had said, the Taoist laughed aloud, “I told you that you could not tolerate hardship, and this proved to be true. I will let you go home tomorrow morning.” Wang Sheng requested, “I have been here working for a period of time, so I want you to teach me a small skill so that my trip will be worthwhile.” The Taoist asked, “What do you want to learn?” Wang Sheng replied, “Each time I see you walk, even the wall will not stop you. If I can learn this skill, I will be satisfied.” The Taoist laughed and agreed to teach Wang Sheng the secret. Tak-ing Wang Sheng to a wall, the Taoist asked Wang Sheng to read the incantation, and cried, “Enter!” However, when coming in front of the wall, Wang Sheng didn’t dare to walk ahead. The Taoist cried again, “Try to enter!” Calming himself down, Wang Sheng was poised to step forward, but stopped by the wall. The Taoist instructed, “Lower your head and rush into it without hesitation.” Wang Sheng went several steps back and rushed towards the wall. He felt as if he had touched the wall, but the wall was empty and didn’t prevent him from moving forward. Looking back, he found himself already standing on the other side of the wall. Wang Sheng was overjoyed, and thanked the Taoist. The Tao-ist said, “You need to have a noble mind after you return home, or otherwise the theurgy will not work.” Then, the Taoist gave Wang Sheng some money as the travel expense, and let him go home.
After returning home, Wang Sheng told everybody he had met an immortal and learned the very powerful theurgy. He boasted that he could penetrate a wall, no matter how solid it was. His wife didn’t believe him at all, and Wang Sheng decided to display the theurgy to her. As instructed by the Taoist, he rushed to the wall from several meters away from the wall. However, his head hit the wall and he fell to the ground. He stood up with the help of his wife, and a lump like an egg appeared on his forehead. His wife laughed at his gullibleness at trusting others while con-soling him at the same time. Wang Sheng was very angry and blamed the Taoist for ill inten-tions.
