Peaceful Years Virtuous Cloud Temple [New Book Please Collect!]

The next morning, the dawn was splendid.

Li Chu had been growing more and more energetic lately. Even with only two hours of sleep each night, he never felt weary. The moment he stepped outside, he saw his master sitting blankly on a stone bench in the courtyard.

Yu Qi'an was around fifty, yet showed not the slightest sign of age. Dressed in neat blue robes, with cloud-like sideburns hanging on either side, he sat primly beneath a tree, his immortal bone structure seemingly bestowed by nature itself. Just then, a breeze stirred, and leaves rustled down from overhead. His air of an exalted master practically overflowed from the scene.

Seeing Li Chu emerge, he glanced at him and said, "Not bad, Disciple. Your cultivation has improved again."

Li Chu silently marveled at his master's sharp eye. Sure enough, his leveling up had not escaped it. He nodded and said, "Only a minor improvement. Thank you for the praise, Master."

"At your current level of cultivation, you are already close to where I was at your age. You must strive harder and not let complacency take root," Yu Qi'an said calmly.

Li Chu was greatly encouraged by this. "This disciple understands!"

Yu Qi'an nodded slightly, a satisfied smile appearing on his face.

Earlier, Yu Qi'an had said that their sect's cultivation technique could only be practiced by someone with a Heavenly Spirit Root that appeared once in a century, and thus could not be passed down to Li Chu. Li Chu had once been deeply disappointed by that.

Fortunately, he later discovered that he possessed the trait of Monster Grinding, which allowed him to embark on the path of cultivation. He had never dared dream of catching up to Yu Qi'an, so receiving such high praise today was truly an unexpected delight.

After making a simple breakfast and eating with his master, Li Chu changed into a proper Daoist robe and headed to the Front Hall.

After all, as a Daoist priest, his main occupation during the day was to sit on a cushion in the Three Purities Hall and wait for pilgrims to arrive.

Yu Qi'an did not need to wait there. First, because he was the Temple Master; second, because Virtuous Cloud Temple had pitifully few pilgrims. It was perfectly normal for half a day to pass without a single person appearing.

Even when someone did come, they were usually poor commoners from nearby villages who could not offer much incense money. There was no need for him to personally receive them.

Only when one of those well-known, wealthy patrons arrived would Li Chu run to the Backyard to invite his master out.

More often than not, a single lotus-tongued performance from Yu Qi'an's rich voice could earn the master and disciple enough to live on for an entire month.

Whenever that happened, Li Chu would sigh behind him. Now that was professionalism!

No wonder he was the idol of Yuhang Town's middle-aged and elderly women.

At this moment, that very idol was sitting beside a stone table with immortal bone structure, engrossedly flipping through a picture album.

The wind fluttered the pages. As they drifted up and down, several large characters on the cover could faintly be seen: Lamp, Grass, Monk.

Sitting upright on his cushion.

Li Chu silently circulated the power within his body. Although doing so would not increase that power, it produced a warm current throughout his body.

That warm current could ease fatigue, clear the meridians, invigorate the blood and dispel stasis, and restore a man's virility.

By circulating it this way, he could sit cross-legged on the cushion for an entire day without his legs going numb.

For a Daoist priest, this was quite a practical skill.

He did not know what to call this power. It differed from both physical strength and mental energy. It was like a mass of qi, filling his entire body; once it left his body, it instantly dissipated, becoming formless and intangible.

There were many proper Cultivators in this world, so naturally he knew of true qi. It was the manifestation of heaven and earth's spiritual power within the human body, the foundation of all divine abilities and Daoist arts—mysterious beyond measure.

The difference was that true qi had to be strengthened through breathing exercises and circulating the Heavenly Cycle. Yet the only way Li Chu's power could grow was through Monster Grinding.

If not for that, why would he take the "risk" of bullying Lantern Monsters?

That's right. Even the slightest risk was still a risk.

In his view, the same old words still held true: this world was simply far too dangerous!

Demons and Monsters were collectively known as Evil Things.

On his very first day after transmigrating here, Li Chu witnessed a horrific tragedy in which an Evil Thing harmed someone.

Second Brother Niu from the neighboring village had been dragged away by a Water Ghost.

And for his family to recover his body, they had to endure the pain of offering sacrifices to that Water Ghost before they could retrieve his remains.

A tragedy of the Human Realm.

Later, because he was a Daoist priest, Li Chu saw several more cases of Evil Things causing mischief. They left a heavy shadow over his modern soul, one born under the red flag and raised in the spring breeze.

Although after his strength increased, he had helped resolve some of them, and the process had generally gone quite smoothly.

But killing was one thing; fear was another.

He knew perfectly well that he was merely in one tiny corner of this vast world. There were countless powerful Demons and Monsters in the world.

One still had to maintain the proper awe toward Evil Things.

As the Daoist Scripture said: young people should not be too hot-blooded.

Objectively speaking... the present age could absolutely be called a flourishing era of peace.

The land was currently ruled by the Heluo Dynasty.

It was a powerful feudal dynasty.

The Heluo Ji Clan, which had established dominion over the realm through the stirring War of Gods and Demons, had founded its dynasty nearly eight hundred years ago. Even now, it remained as solid as a rock.

Internally, it possessed a complete bureaucratic system; externally, a powerful army to protect the nation. Commerce flourished, and the laws were strict. In matters concerning Evil Things, the Imperial Court had specialized institutions to handle such incidents, while the martial world also had many sect lineages formed by Cultivators.

The founding emperor of Heluo had personally bestowed titles upon the Twelve Immortal Sects, created the Immortals' Imperial Examination, and encouraged Cultivators of the martial world to vanquish demons and defend the Dao.

The Daoist and Buddhist Sects, the Civil and Martial Paths—all were willing to contribute their strength to safeguard peace in their lands, thereby expanding their own followers.

But the dynasty was simply too vast. No matter how many Cultivators there were, once you encountered an Evil Thing, no one could guarantee they would reach you in time to save you.

All they could do was avenge you as best they could...

Yuhang Town fell under Hangzhou City in Jiangnan Province of the Heluo Dynasty, while Ten Li Slope, as its name implied, lay ten li outside Yuhang Town. If one were to divide things more precisely, it might even belong to some particular village.

Sometimes, Li Chu wondered whether he was being a little too cowardly for a Transmigrator.

It had almost been a year, and he still had not left the Novice Village.

But on second thought—

You haven't given me the treatment a Transmigrator is supposed to get, either.

Those farther afield had all sorts of grandfathers living in their belongings; those closer at hand had all kinds of fancy systems. Even at the very least, there should have been some ridiculously, ridiculously, ridiculously, ridiculously, ridiculously Divine Artifact-level Magic Treasure. And him?

He did not even have a spiritual root fit for cultivation.

All he had was the ability to level up by Monster Grinding. Every night, he had to diligently farm minor monsters just to raise his "negligible" strength by a tiny bit.

Thinking of it that way, Li Chu felt at ease.

Leaving the mountain was impossible. He would never leave the mountain in this life. With no Golden Finger, he could only farm Lantern Monsters and barely keep himself leveling up.

The people of Yuhang Town were all so talented, and they spoke so pleasantly. He loved it here!

The sun shone brightly, and white clouds drifted lazily.

Cicadas chirped merrily in the trees.

In the Daoist Temple, the Little Daoist Priest quietly waited for pilgrims in the Front Hall, while the Old Daoist Priest quietly looked through a Picture Album in the Backyard.

Such were Peaceful Years.

The fragrance of quince flowers drifted through the air.

Also, in the early stages of this book, I did indeed study some of the character relationships and narrative pacing from I Was a Monk in Tokyo and Magnificent Doctor Ling Ran, because I did not know what readers liked, so I learned from the books I happened to be reading at the time. But it should not count as plagiarism. I have also explained many times in the chapter comments that I truly am not anyone's alternate account.