Chapter 15 - The Tao Owns Everything
Walking from the town he understood he had lost nothing because everything belonged to the Tao. Everything he had experienced had been given to him by the Tao. It was as if it had been on loan. Because he was able to release everything he had, he knew more would be given to him. There was no need to hold onto anything. He walked into the forest a rich man. Rich in the knowledge that he was abundant in all areas of his life.
He soon came to a fork in the road. He looked off down the left fork and he felt nothing. He looked down the right fork and he noticed the road seemed lighter. He closed his eyes and sent his energy off in the distance to feel a royal carriage coming towards him. He turned and walked down the right road; spirit wanted him to go in that direction. Who was he disagree with the feelings from within his inner self.
About a half a mile down the road he came across a carriage carrying members of the Emperor's family. As with everyone he met he showed his respect. He gave a short bow from the waste. Immediately a woman called out for them to stop the carriage. She called the young man over. Huo walked slowly towards the carriage. The woman dressed in her beautiful silks and her jet black hair tied in a bun on her head, attached with a jade pin, addressed the young man. "Sir, can you tell me if there is a healer in the town up ahead, my son is gravely ill and needs immediate attention."
"Great lady, my old Master Chung Fu is in the town ahead and he is a great healer." Huo caught sight of the young man in the carriage and knew instantly the boy would never make the journey, he could see his inner spirit about to leave his body. Huo was at a loss what to do; he did not want to infringe on the young boy, as he did not know what lesson he had come here to learn. Maybe he had incarnated to die early and teach his mother the great lesson of loss; for he understood that some highly evolved spirits came in service to die in their first thirteen years. What he did know for sure was that the child would never make it to the town. For a brief moment he went within his inner self for an answer, only to met the spirit of the young boy. The young boy was confused and not sure what was happening. Huo went inside the inner self of the young boy and asked him did he want help. The boy said yes and in that moment Huo could see the future of the young boy. How he would grow up as a mighty ruler who would be loved by his people.
Huo turned his focus back into the outer world and said to the Emperor's wife. "Your highness I fear that your son will never make it to the town. If you allow me I will give him a healing right here that will enable him to travel to town where my master can finish the healing process."
The Emperor's wife was beside her self with fear. She looked down at the young man who was dressed in little more than rags, but there was that plum red sash around his waist which brought back a childhood memory. When she used to go with her father into the Emperor's garden he would often meet a monk who also wore a plum red ribbon around his waist. It was the monk that helped his father build a garden that pleased the Emperor so much that she was plucked from her life of servitude to now be one of the most powerful women in the court and eventually to become the number one wife of the Emperor. She faltered for a moment, but it was just a moment. "Please help my son."
She opened the carriage door and Huo, dressed like a beggar climbed in. He went straight to the boy, who had a very high temperature. He looked to his mother who said, "He came down with the fever last night and I was at a loss what to do. We have tried everything. He has a bite mark on his left arm."
Huo examined the wound with his eyes but with his inner senses he saw that the young man had been bitten by a spider. He reached into his pack and took out some herbs and made a poultice to put on the arm and some other herbs that he made into a drink for the young man to sip while they made the journey to his old master at the Pagoda. He held his hands over the young boy and allowed the energy from his own being to enter the young man and take on the poison. It was not something he had been taught it was just something that happened naturally when he inhabited the body of the young boy.
In only a few minutes the young boy opened his eyes, the fever had been broken. Huo felt the shock of the poison in his own body, but soon he released it through his breath to the air that surrounded them.
The Emperor's wife had never seen anything like it. She worried that Huo was not a healer but a black magician. It is funny how even when people see something for their own eyes that they cannot believe it to be true.
Huo smiled at the Queen and somehow, his smile put her at ease. "What is your charge for healing my son? I will pay anything?"
"My queen it is an Honour to do it for you. I do not require any payment as I have everything I need."
The queen looked at the young man before her, dressed in little more than rags, with no carriage, no money and only a poor pack to carry his herbs. "You say you have everything you need, but surely some money would help you on your journey, or I could give you a servant to look after your needs, or you could come back to the palace where you could be my personal physician."
"Thanks for the offer my queen it would be a great Honour but I am on a great journey; the journey of the inner self and I have all I need. Look around I have the sun, the forest, the animals and the seasons to keep me company. If I want food I will find it in the forest or in the stream. If I want companionship I can walk into any village and find someone to talk to. If I need a bed I can rest wherever I choose. As you can see I have everything I need."
"I can see that you are a strange man; a man who I will always be grateful to. If ever you need my help just come to the palace and I will give you what you need."
Huo thanked the queen for her offer and then just as he was about to take his leave a thought crossed his mind. "Your highness there is something you could do for me."
"Name it," she said, hoping it was not a ploy by the young man to get more than she was willing to offer; she need not have worried.
"My queen, there is a young girl in the village by the name of Qing if you could give her a small piece of jewelry and tell her I love her, that would be a most special gift."
The queen pulled the green jade pin from her hair, which allowed her blue black hair to cascade over her shoulders. "Will this be a suitable gift," she asked.
"Thank you my queen. Now take your son to the next town and as for my old Master Chung Fu at the Pagoda and he will ensure that your son is fully healed."
Huo bowed to the queen, winked at the young boy and took his leave of them both, so he could continue his journey.
The queen, her son and the long retinue of servants watched as the strange young man walked back into the forest.
The queen took her son to see the old sage who professed he could do no more for her young son and that if he continued to drink the herbs given by the young man he would soon regain his full strength.
The queen fulfilled her part of the bargain and much to Qing's delight she gave her the green jade pin and words of love from Huo. What Huo did not know was that the queen took such a shine to Qing that she gave her a position, as her own personal servant, a position that would see wondrous things happening for the young girl, but that is another story and I am sure one that will be told one day.
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