At noon, Mo Tiange went back to the ancestral hall to make lunch.
In the morning, the old master taught all the children in the clan how to read, but in the afternoon, only the children with high hopes came.
Since Mo Tiange was a woman, she couldn't take the imperial exam, and it was inconvenient for her to work in the city. Originally, she didn't need to learn much. However, the old master admired her father's knowledge very much, so he treated her differently.
In addition, her mother also thought that since her father was knowledgeable, she should also study more instead of being like an ordinary village girl, wasting her time on domestic trifles.
The afternoon lessons were much more casual than the morning lessons. The five or six children were either reading or practicing calligraphy by themselves or being taught by the old master alone.
Mo Tiange came in, saluted the old master, and then entered the library.
The Mo family wasn't a big family. The ancestral hall only had a main hall, a courtyard, and east and west wing rooms.
The main hall enshrined the spirits of the ancestors, the backyard was a place for drinking wine in the ancestral hall during the New Year, the front half of the east wing was changed into a school, the back half was a library, and several lonely old people lived in the west wing. Usually, they were responsible for guarding the ancestral hall.
The library wasn't big. There were six bookshelves against the wall, and there were thousands of books passed down through the generations of the Mo family.
Mo Tiange pulled a stool to the east. The books on this bookshelf were all travel notes. They were written in common words and had many pictures, which were suitable for children who had just started school like her.
The old master didn't say anything about her liking to read these miscellaneous books. As a woman, it didn't matter what books she read since she couldn't take the imperial exam.
Mo Tiange picked a book, found a Dictionary of the Great Jin, and put it on the side. Then she sat by the window and started reading.
This book was called Brief Notes on the Celestial Pole.
It was said that the world was so big that there were countless lands and oceans. The one they lived in was called the Celestial Pole.
The Celestial Pole was so big that it included Jin and a dozen other countries, big and small. There was a vast forest in the northeast, a desert in the west, a glacier in the north, and a continuous mountain range in the south.
This book recorded the strange people and stories of the Celestial Pole.
According to legend, there was a mountain range at the southern end of the Celestial Pole called Kunwu.
From east to west, Kunwu stretched for thousands of miles. Since ancient times, no one had been able to pass through it.
Mortals who were not far from the mountain range could occasionally see the purple clouds in the mountains, flickering with five colors. If they went into the mountains to search, they would be lost in the clouds. Only by turning back could they find the way out.
Gradually, people began to say that this mountain was an immortal mountain, and that only immortals could enter.
The Immortals who lived on Kunwu Mountain absorbed dew in the morning and devoured the essence of the moon at night. They could go up to the heavens and go down to the earth. They were omnipotent.
If they found someone with spiritual roots in the mortal world, they would bring them back to the celestial mountain to cultivate. Once they succeeded, they would become immortals.
Once they became immortals, they could summon clouds and rain with a flip of their hands. They could travel thousands of miles on clouds, move mountains and drain seas, fly up into the sky and dive into the ground. They could also maintain a youthful appearance and live forever.
There was no one in this world who did not wish to enter the Celestial Mountain and refine the Celestial Bone. Unfortunately, the Spiritual Root was hard to find. As for the Celestials, most people had only heard of them in legends.
This book recorded a story.
In ancient times, there was a monarch of the State of Chu who was passionate about the Dao and wanted to cultivate to become an immortal. He summoned all the Daoists in the world to the capital and found a person with profound Dao to be his teacher.
Just as the Daoists of the State of Chu were competing in the Dao, a beggar covered in dirt walked into the Dao field and said, "You all are not fit to carry my shoes." The Daoists were furious, but the beggar laughed heartily. He raised his finger, and a deep pool suddenly appeared in the center of the Dao platform. With another wave of his hand, the deep pool disappeared and a great fire ignited.
Everyone present was shocked. The King of Chu wanted to make him the teacher of the State, but the beggar disappeared like a cloud of dust.
It was also recorded that there was a scholar in the State of Liang who came from a poor family. He studied hard and finally became the zhuangyuan. However, at the Jasper Forest Banquet, he offended the nobles of the court and was sent to manage the Hanlin Academy's library.
The dignified zhuangyuan stayed in the library for ten years without a bright future. However, ten years later, because he found an immortal technique in the library, he comprehended the Dao in one night.
When the nobles that he offended learned about this, they panicked, but the zhuangyuan just laughed it off and left with the wind.
Mo Tiange was reading with relish when someone suddenly stood in front of her. She looked up, closed the book, and stood up. "Master."
The Old Master nodded, took the book from her hand, and flipped through a few pages. He asked, "Do you know everything?"
Mo Tiange replied, "I didn't know some words, so I looked them up in the dictionary. As for the ones I couldn't find, I wrote them down and will ask you next time."
The Old Master handed the book to her. "Good. Reading more is the best way to learn characters. You can continue."
"Yes, Master."
The sun was setting in the west. Mo Tiange put the book back on the shelf and went out to clean the school.
The other children had already gone back, and the Old Master had gone to the back hall to eat. She was the only one in the front hall.
After wiping the tables, sweeping the floor, and taking out the garbage, she stopped when she passed by the back door of the hall.
There seemed to be light inside.
After looking for a while, she put down the dustpan and went closer.
Women were not allowed to enter the ancestral hall. Even if they were married, the husband must enter the ancestral hall first. Therefore, Mo Tiange had never entered the hall with the memorial tablets.
At this time, the door of the hall was closed. The hazy light seemed to be light, but it also seemed like smoke. She couldn't see clearly.
She looked around and found no one was around. After hesitating for a while, she couldn't help but put the dustpan aside and sneak in.
The hall was very high, and the door was closed. The whole room was dark except for the faint light coming through the window lattice and the light from the back door.
She cautiously approached and found that the light seemed to come from the memorial tablets at the top.
Rows of memorial tablets were placed in the hall. There were about forty to fifty of them, and even the walls on both sides were filled with them. It looked very scary.
Mo Tiange somewhat flinched, but as soon as she came in, the light became even brighter.
She couldn't control her curiosity. She looked up and found that there was only one memorial tablet on the top floor.
The memorial tablet was white and looked like jade. There was a white jade statue of a Lord of Dao in her grandfather's house.
But this memorial tablet was even whiter, and there seemed to be white mist-like white gas floating above it.
Mo Tiange looked around, then moved a chair from the corner and put it next to the memorial tablet. She stepped on it and found that it was just high enough.
She carefully reached out to grab the memorial tablet.
She was short, so she almost had to lean half of her body on the table to get the memorial tablet.
It was a bit cold. The white gas permeated her hand, so she could see it clearly.
Mo Tiange turned the memorial tablet over and saw these words on it: Mo Yaoqing's Memorial Tablet.
There was only one name, which was different from the others.
The white gas became thicker and thicker, even starting to submerge her body. She stared at the memorial tablet and found that the white light was also getting brighter.
The light was originally white, but it gradually became bright. She couldn't help but widen her eyes when she witnessed such a magical thing.
The light suddenly flashed and entered the space between her eyebrows.
She jumped in fright and her eyes suddenly lost focus. Then, she slowly closed her eyes and fell from the chair.