For some reason, Gu Can changed his mind at the last minute. He led the maidservant Lingyan and National Teacher Huang Lie back the way they had come, returning to that Daoist temple with its tiny frontage.
Gu Can walked to the entrance, lifted the bronze door knocker, and tapped it lightly three times. No response came for a long while.
Gu Lingyan could not be bothered to wait any longer. She went straight to her Young Master's side, clenched her fist, and pounded on the door with loud bangs.
Within Chongyang Temple, anciently famed for alchemy, they finally seemed to hear the commotion outside. The gates creaked open, and two gaunt Daoist boys emerged, one tall and one short, both identically sallow and emaciated.
It truly was a neglected little temple. It would have been strange if their food had any oil or fat in it.
Gu Can made a Daoist salute to the two Daoist boys standing within the threshold, then smiled. "Pardon us for disturbing the two immortal boys' quiet cultivation. We would like to enter your temple and ask for a cup of water. Would that be possible?"
The tall Daoist boy immediately flushed red, stammering and unable to answer. The short Daoist boy beside him had initially worn such a stern face that he might as well have had the words "turn away guests" carved upon his forehead. Yet upon hearing this, his face bloomed into a smile as well. "My name is Song Juchuan, and this is my junior brother, Zhong Shan. We brothers have not yet received our registers, so we have no Daoist names for now. We merely help our master with odd jobs, refining a few furnaces of longevity pills for those wealthy households in the capital that line up at