Chapter 171: They're Surely Deceiving Me
Ma Tianzheng set off, heading toward Gao Family Village.
As a wandering Daoist priest, traveling the land was second nature to him. A journey of over thirty li was nothing; he could simply pick up and go.
He wanted to see for himself if a deity called Dao Xuan Tian Zun truly manifested divine power.
"Surely not!"
"My master spoke of the Primordial Heavenly Lord, the Grand Supreme Elder Lord... I grew up listening to their stories until my ears were practically calloused, yet I never witnessed them manifest their power.
"And now, some Heavenly Lord has sprung up from who knows where, not even recorded in our sacred texts. There's even less chance of *him* manifesting.
"No, it's impossible. They're surely deceiving me."
As he walked, darkness fell.
He realized he'd been so lost in thought when leaving the county town that he hadn't noticed the time. He had actually set out in the late afternoon, and after just a few li, it became too dark to continue.
It turned out that people from villages close to the county town had all flocked to the town for relief grain; no one remained in their own homes.
Ma Tianzheng's doubts deepened. If the villages surrounding Chengcheng County were already so desolate, wouldn't a village over thirty li from the county be even more barren?
"When I arrive, not to mention people, I probably won't even find a single ghost. Will I really witness a deity's manifestation in such a remote and forsaken place?
"They're lying to me, they must be."
Ma Tianzheng found a withered tree, lay down beneath it, ate half a dried biscuit, and slept in his clothes. He wasn't worried about wild beasts dragging him away in the night; after three years of severe drought, even the animals were nowhere to be found.
He set off.
The next morning, before dawn, Ma Tianzheng rose and continued his journey northeast. As he walked, the sun appeared, its warm winter rays quite dazzling.
Suddenly, he spotted a strange, gray road ahead. It ran parallel to the official highway, its destination unknown.
Ma Tianzheng hurried forward, stepping onto the peculiar gray path. It felt incredibly hard and solid underfoot, as if cut from a single, massive piece of stone. This startled him profoundly. "Who could possess the strength to cut such vast stones so smoothly and use them to pave a road?" he wondered aloud.
"This..."
"Could this be what they call: supernatural craftsmanship!"
An absurd image immediately flashed through Ma Tianzheng's mind: the venerable Primordial Heavenly Lord, wielding a massive axe, *swish, swish, swish*, cleaving mountain-sized stones into thin slabs, laying them flat on the ground. After positioning them, he'd step on them to secure them, brush the dust from his hands, hoist the mighty axe onto his shoulder, and stride away with a flourish.
"Oh, no!"
"How could I imagine the venerable Primordial Heavenly Lord in such a manner? This is utterly disrespectful!"
Ma Tianzheng clutched his head, filled with anguish. "This humble Daoist is simply too insincere, always indulging in wild fantasies. My Daoist heart is not steadfast, which is why deities never manifest before me."
Just as he was immersed in these thoughts, a peculiar sound echoed from ahead, as if some colossal object was approaching along the strange road.
Ma Tianzheng looked up and stared. Ahead, on the anomalous path, a colossal, bizarre vehicle was rolling toward him. Three *zhang* long, it had an odd shape, with no oxen or horses pulling it. He couldn't fathom how it moved.
Astonishingly, the vehicle was packed with farmers, so many that one man's hoe even protruded from a window.
A few elderly farmers on board were singing a folk song: "Toil the fields, drink thin broth; make the tiles, live in a hovel. Weave the cloth, wear no clothes..."
Then everyone in the vehicle burst into laughter. "That song's all wrong! That was before the Heavenly Lord came. Since the Heavenly Lord arrived, we have good food, good houses, and fine clothes!"
Ma Tianzheng frantically waved at the large vehicle. "Stop! Stop!"
"Hahahahaha!"
Ma Tianzheng's jaw nearly dropped when he saw this spectacle. He quickly stretched out a hand. The two novice drivers, startled, exclaimed, "There's someone in the middle of the road ahead! Slow down! Brakes!"
The driver managing the power quickly pulled down the sunshade, while the driver at the steering mechanism slammed on the brakes. Yet, even so, the vehicle lurched forward a considerable distance before finally halting, stopping just barely in front of Ma Tianzheng.
The two novice drivers, drenched in sweat, poked their heads out the windows and angrily cursed, "What's wrong with you, Daoist? Didn't you see such a huge vehicle coming? Why didn't you get out of the way? We nearly couldn't stop in time!"
Ma Tianzheng himself had been terrified by the vehicle hurtling towards him and felt a bit stiff. "This humble Daoist... thought you could stop easily," he stammered.
"How could such a massive vehicle stop on a dime?" the two novice drivers retorted angrily. "Even a small horse-drawn cart can't halt instantly with just a tug of the reins! Don't you usually get out of the way when you see a carriage on the road?"
If Ma Tianzheng encountered horse-drawn, ox-drawn, or donkey-drawn carts on the road, he *would* indeed dodge them, knowing that animals were difficult to control and a failure to evade could result in being trampled. But this vehicle had no animals pulling it! He simply couldn't comprehend it, so he just... "Yes."
He was usually a peaceable man, always good-tempered. He bowed and apologized, "It is this humble Daoist's fault." Seeing him apologize first, the two novice drivers became a little flustered. After all, he was a man of the cloth, and people of that era were reluctant to offend those in religious orders. They quickly apologized in return: "We didn't see you sooner, Daoist priest. Our apologies."
Ma Tianzheng, unfazed, shifted the topic. "Friends, what exactly is this vehicle? It has no oxen, horses, or donkeys pulling it, yet it moves so quickly!"
At his question, the villagers on the vehicle burst into laughter again.
"This is the Lord of the Morning Sun's chariot!" one exclaimed. "The Heavenly Lord lent it to us."
"What?" Ma Tianzheng wondered if his ears were playing tricks on him. "The Lord of the Morning Sun's chariot?"
"Indeed!" one of the drivers affirmed. "We didn't know what the Lord of the Morning Sun was either, until Master Bai told us. He said there's a great rooster deity in the heavens named the Lord of the Morning Sun, and every morning, he wakes the sun with a 'cock-a-doodle-doo!'"
Ma Tianzheng pressed, "What does that have to do with your vehicle?"
The driver replied, "This vehicle *is* the Lord of the Morning Sun's chariot. When the sun comes out, it moves. When the sun sets, it stops."
This statement utterly astonished Ma Tianzheng. "Is that truly so?" he gasped.
Everyone on the vehicle chuckled. "Don't believe us? Come on up and see for yourself!"
Of course, Ma Tianzheng wanted to see. Not just wanted to, he *had* to see, staring intently. With a swift bound, he clambered onto the vehicle, squeezing in among the villagers.
"They're tricking me, they must be!"
The driver controlling the sunshade pointed overhead. "Look closely now! Our vehicle has a curtain covering the top. That's to block the sun. As soon as we pull the curtain back, and the sun shines on the vehicle, it'll start moving right away!"
Ma Tianzheng craned his neck out the window, then twisted it back, feeling a strain in his muscles. But that wasn't the point. His eyes, wide as saucers, were fixed on the sunshade on the roof of the vehicle.
He watched as the driver gently pulled back the sunshade, just a fraction.
The vehicle moved. Slowly, it began to roll.
Ma Tianzheng gasped.
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