Li Qiang was now undoubtedly a top-tier celebrity across the United States. With the film and television adaptations of "Piaomiao Zhī Lǚ" (Mysterious Journey), it was impossible for him not to be popular. Many American media outlets had already hailed him as a Chinese superstar second only to, or even on par with, Bruce Lee. If he were to venture directly into Hollywood now, his starting salary would be at least ten million US dollars.
However, Li Qiang rarely made public appearances in the US. This was quite simple; even in China, Leng Zhiwen never participated in variety shows. Apart from programs produced by Jiangnan Group that she couldn't refuse, she essentially avoided all other variety shows.
This was considered incredible within the industry, but for Leng Zhiwen, it was the most natural thing. Given her status, being a celebrity was no longer a tool for making money, but simply a profession to enjoy life.
Leng Zhiwen only enjoyed acting, experiencing different protagonist lives through drama, and had never had any interest in appearing on variety shows to showcase herself.
If Leng Zhiwen was like this domestically, she certainly wouldn't go to the US to entertain foreigners. Therefore, Leng Zhiwen had never appeared on any US variety show. No one expected to see her perform at the opening ceremony of Los Gatos Group.
In fact, the American public didn't even know Leng Zhiwen's name; they only knew her character, Li Qiang. So, the entire Times Square in New York was chanting Li Qiang's name in unison, making the scene quite remarkable.
Then, Li Qiang's performance further astonished the American public. There's no need to say much more; a swordsmanship performance that could almost be described as flying and遁地 (dùn dì - to escape or hide underground) left many Americans stunned.
Someone, it's unclear who, shouted the syllable "xian" first, and then the entire crowd's enthusiasm was ignited, with countless people following suit, shouting "xian."
As mentioned earlier, when translating "Piaomiao Zhī Lǚ," Boss Huang did not follow the experts' advice to translate "shenxian" (immortal) as "divine beings" or similar words.
Instead, he directly used the character "xian" from its Mandarin pronunciation for a literal translation. The purpose was to distinguish Chinese immortals from Western deities.
There were many benefits to this approach. Firstly, it avoided conflict with Western religions. If you translated "shenxian" as Western deities, it would inevitably lead to intense clashes with some religious fanatics. Using the pronunciation "xian" directly for translation would avoid such trouble.
Secondly, it facilitated the spread of Chinese culture and Mandarin. Just like now, everyone was shouting "xian," which left the few Chinese tourists present utterly bewildered, thinking they were in China, not the US.
Even more fantastical was that some Chinese people even saw many Taoist priests dressed in Taoist robes at the scene. However, these priests were not of Chinese descent with yellow skin and black hair, but were tall, fair-skinned, high-nosed, and fully English-speaking Westerners.
They wore Taoist robes, held horsetails, clasped compasses, and carried peach wood swords on their backs. They approached everyone and asked, "Sir, do you wish to cultivate and become an immortal?"
Consequently, most people repeatedly refused such invitations, as they held firm beliefs. But out of ten people, there would always be one or two whose faith was not steadfast or who had no faith at all. In the fervent atmosphere and under the allure of becoming an immortal, they would engage with these individuals.
Some Chinese people who understood English cautiously approached to listen. They discovered that the preaching Taoist priest sincerely told these people.
There are indeed deities in this world, and even God truly exists.
But all deities are born, born to be gods. Unless you have a divine father, a human being can never become a deity, no matter what. This is not their statement, but it is what the Bible says.
However, immortals are different. Immortals are achieved through human cultivation. Although the success rate is very low, with less than a hundred people achieving immortality throughout history, there is still a chance. As mortals, as long as we cultivate diligently, we can become immortals.
Moreover, after becoming an immortal, one can bring their loved ones along to achieve immortality, which is the true path for mortals to transcend life and death. Only Taoism from China can teach people how to become immortals. Many prominent figures in China are now Taoist cultivators.
These words did not have much impact on the Chinese people. In the new era, most Chinese people regard these things as feudal superstition and never believe in the existence of deities or immortals.
But to foreigners, it was a completely different matter. Because most foreigners genuinely believed in the existence of deities in this world, they dreamed of becoming deities and transcending life and death. They simply felt that at best, they could only be lambs in this life, and becoming a deity was impossible.
But Taoism offered them another real and feasible path to becoming deities, which had a completely different impact on foreigners.
Therefore, these Chinese tourists were surprised to find that although only about one-tenth of people accepted the evangelism of these Taoist priests and started talking with them, ultimately, more than half expressed their willingness to experience it at a local Taoist experience center. That's right, these foreign Taoist priests stated that if they still had doubts about anything, they could visit nearby Taoist temples, which they called Taoist experience centers.
They could take an introductory class on meditation and experience the joy of meditation and cultivation, and see if they had the potential to become seeds of immortal cultivation. Yes, that's right, according to these missionaries.
This cultivation is not something anyone can do; one must possess talent. If you lack talent, it's all in vain!
Good heavens, they might consider Taoism fake, but they would never admit to lacking the talent for cultivation!
"This is hilarious. I thought Americans were the smartest and most outstanding in the world, but I didn't expect them to believe in such feudal superstition!" Seeing this, many Chinese people burst into laughter and said disdainfully, "How unexpected that Americans are now getting into this, it makes them feel very collapsed."
This indicates that these intellectuals have not fully become public intellectuals and do not have a deep understanding of Western universal values. They will realize that most Westerners do have faith, and only countries and peoples with faith will become excellent countries and peoples. Countries without faith will eventually collapse.
For example, a country like China, without faith, is bound to collapse!
Of course, these Chinese people absolutely did not dare to mock these noble white people to their faces. They only mocked them privately in Chinese. However, unexpectedly, one of these white people stood out and said in fluent Chinese, "What are you saying? You are not allowed to insult our faith!"
"Ah..." These Chinese people were stunned. Being accused like this by a noble white person, they felt very frightened. Had they done something wicked and unacceptable to universal values?
However, some of these Chinese people were bold enough to step forward and argue that cultivating immortals and Taoism were fake, that there were no immortals in the world, and that these were all tricks.
Being refuted like this, the white man who spoke Chinese was not annoyed. Instead, he asked very earnestly, "Why do you say that? Do you have any evidence to prove that these are fake?"
"..." This bold person asked and thought for a while before saying, "Throughout history, I have never seen anyone truly achieve immortality. Even emperors who pursued immortality ultimately died. This proves that cultivation is fake, and humans cannot become immortals!"
This Chinese person thought his answer was perfect and that this American would be unable to refute it. Unexpectedly, the other party retorted, "Have you personally seen that no one has achieved immortality?"
"..." This Chinese person was instantly speechless. The other then continued, "Cultivating the Tao and finally becoming an immortal will certainly involve ascending to heaven. This is a sublimation of spirit and body. Just like solid sublimating into gas, after cultivating and becoming an immortal, humans will live in the immortal realm, so there will definitely be no legends of eternal life left in the mortal world."
"But there are records of many people becoming immortals. From ancient times to the present, in the Spring and Autumn period, Laozi, Zhuangzi, and Guan Yizi all successively became immortals."
"In the Han Dynasty, there was Celestial Master Zhang Daoling, Ge Xuan, and Han Zhongli! In the Southern and Northern Dynasties, there was Sun En. In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, there were Li Chunfeng and Yuan Tiangang. Later, there were Chen Chuan, Cao Guojiu, and Wang Chongyang in the Song Dynasty, and Zhang Sanfeng in the Ming Dynasty, and so on. These are all people recorded in history as having become immortals. How can you say that there are no records of people becoming immortals and that becoming an immortal is impossible?"
"Finally, you say that emperors could not achieve immortality because, as emperors, they were destined to be entangled by countless worldly affairs. They could not wholeheartedly devote their energy to the great cause of cultivating immortals, so the success rate was very low!"
"Just like Zhang Jiao, he was almost an immortal, but he wanted to be emperor, got entangled in worldly affairs, and then ascended."
"Besides, emperors are imbued with human destiny. This human destiny can protect emperors from the influence of Taoist magic, but it also isolates these emperors from the possibility of becoming immortals. These are all recorded in the Taoist canons. You can refer to 'Taishang Shengxuan Xiaozai Humiao Jing Song' and 'Dongzhen Bu Jizhuan Lei Lie Xian Zhuan' for details." Finally, the foreigners caused those few Chinese people to cover their faces and flee.
The foreigner then said with great emotion to those around him, "Look, the ancestral land of Taoism has fallen to such a state that no one recognizes the classics anymore. Does this mean that the world's destiny is truly in our United States? Our great America still has hundreds of years of national destiny."
The surrounding fellow Taoists expressed that it made perfect sense!