The story of how the righteous Lee went to the Sky Gate

In ancient times, a certain Li Qing, the head of a vast family, a rich man and the owner of several dyes, should have been seventy years old. Children and household members prepared gifts for him, but the old man asked everyone to give him a piece of strong rope. No one knew what the old man had in mind, but on the appointed day in front of the house a mountain of ropes grew. It turned out that Li Qing was going to go down in a special basket to the abyss of the Cloud of the Cloudy Gate in order to get to the celestials. A rope was twisted from ropes, a gate was built, and the old man plunged into the abyss under the lament of his relatives.

Since he disappeared without a trace, everyone decided that he was dead. Meanwhile, Li Qing, after much suffering, reached the palace of the lord of the immortals. At first they did not want to leave him in the palace, but then they had mercy. However, he himself sometimes wanted to return to earth to tell relatives about what he saw,

Once, when there was a celebration in the country of celestials, Li Qing violated the order - he looked through the forbidden window and saw his hometown: all his possessions were completely neglected, although he was absent for only a few days. In punishment, the lord, the immortals, ordered him to go home, and with him gave him a book and said a mysterious spell: “Looking at the stones, go. Hear the daughter-in-law. Live near gold. Pay will appear - leave! ”

On the return trip, he got lost and found the way only thanks to the first line of the spell. He did not recognize his hometown. And the faces of passers-by were unfamiliar to him. I realized that during his absence decades passed. It turned out that all his relatives died in wars. This was told to him by a blind storyteller with a plank of things - just as the spell promised. So he was left on earth alone, like a finger, and even penniless.

He looked into the book of the lord of the immortals, it turned out to be a medical book. Li Qing understood that he was destined to become a doctor. And he decided to settle near a drugstore of a certain Jin - because the spell said: "Live near gold," and the name "Jin" just meant "gold."

Very soon, the Li-healer became known throughout the county. He treated the children, so much so that he did not need to look at the patient either: he measured the measure of the drug - and the disease was gone.

Years passed. Li Qing is one hundred and forty years old. Then the emperor planned to call to court all the immortals of his country. The Taoist celestials close to the throne informed the emperor that there were three of them now. For each equipped a special messenger. A dignitary named Pei Ping went to Li Qing. Having learned about this, the elder recalled the fourth line of the spell: "Pei will appear - leave" - ​​and decided to disappear. That is what it meant. He gathered his students and said that his death hour was approaching and that when his breathing stopped, he put his body in a coffin and boarded up the lid. He only regretted that his neighbor Jin, whom they had known for seventy years, was missing.

The disciples did everything as instructed. And then just the dignitary Pei Ping arrived and was very upset at learning about the death of Li Qing. True, since he died, then this is not immortal. Still, he ordered to collect information about Li Qing’s life, but they knew little about him: after all, he had no peers at all. How could old Jin tell something. Soon he himself appeared and was very surprised by the report of the death of a neighbor. It turned out that they met at the southern gate yesterday, and he went to the mountain of the Cloudless Gate. Yes, even a letter and some object ordered the dignitary Pay to transfer.

Listeners could not be astonished. And Jin gave Pei a letter for the emperor and a jasper rod as a gift. It was then that he decided that it was necessary to open the coffin and to find out the truth. They hastened to the doctor’s shop, lifted the lid, and there was only a pair of shoes and a bamboo staff and a blue haze swirling. Suddenly - oh, a miracle! - the coffin soared up and disappeared above.

The following year, an ulcer epidemic swept across the country. Only she bypassed the city of Li Qing, apparently, the strength of his healing was still preserved. And the inhabitants of the city to this day worship the spirits on the mountain of the Cloudless Gate.