Minghe

Seeking the Dao in the Mortal World

Upon reaching Lihuo City, the city gates were under strict scrutiny. Seeing Li Qinglin return with his team, the city guards all knelt on one knee, their expressions extremely solemn.

Lihuo City, which should have been bustling and lively, was now extremely somber. White banners hung everywhere, and soldiers were constantly checking passersby. Pedestrians hurried along, not daring to speak loudly.

The death of a Crown Prince in a country was a very serious political event, enough to make the entire capital city tense and on edge.

Qin Yi suddenly felt fortunate that Li Qinglin was not in the capital when the incident occurred, and that the princess could testify that they were in a mountain valley with no means of remote control. Otherwise, he would be the prime suspect right now. As it was, it was not an issue.

No one would be so careless as to assassinate their brother while running off into the mountains for several days, not even bothering to inquire about the situation. If the assassination failed, wouldn't they even handle the aftermath, cover their tracks, and conceal the evidence? No one would court death like that, let alone someone as meticulous as Li Qinglin. Therefore, Li Qinglin was not under suspicion at this moment, and he would naturally become the Crown Prince.

The first thing the Li siblings did upon entering the city was not to settle Qin Yi, but to head straight for the palace. Li Qinglin simply gave Qin Yi a waist token and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, Brother Qin, my sister and I must enter the palace immediately and cannot delay. Brother Qin, please take my waist token to my residence, and you will be treated as an honored guest. I have been negligent, please forgive me."

Qin Yi was very understanding. He took the waist token and smiled, "It's alright, you go ahead and be busy."

Seeing the Li siblings head towards the palace with solemn expressions, Qin Yi sighed, weighed the waist token in his hand, and went for a stroll.

Although he understood their current situation, Qin Yi didn't want to just show up at their residence with the waist token. It felt awkward. It would be better to wait until Li Qinglin returned before visiting. For now, he might as well wander around, both to admire the scenery of the capital and to take a look at the National Teacher's Longevity Temple.

The Longevity Temple was easy to find. Any passerby you asked would point the way with reverence and longing. In fact, the Longevity Temple was not far from the palace. At the fork in the road where Qin Yi and the Li siblings parted ways, the left led to the palace, and the right led to the Daoist temple. Looking up, one could see the top platform of the temple, with incense smoke curling up.

That was the Ascension Platform, built on a relatively high hill. The platform had nine levels and was the tallest building in Lihuo City.

It was even taller than the palace buildings.

What surprised Qin Yi was that the National Teacher had a very good reputation among the common people.

"The National Teacher, ah, he's a true immortal. Last month, my wife was possessed by evil spirits, and a single talisman water from the Longevity Temple cured her..."

"The Longevity Temple's divination is the most accurate. That time I was going out for business, I went to get a reading, and the Daoist from the Longevity Temple told me to go back three days later. Guess what? On the third day, my wife knocked over a candlestick and almost started a fire. Fortunately, I was home and put it out immediately. If that's not a living immortal, who is?"

"It is said that when the Western Barbarians invaded last month, it was the National Teacher who performed a ritual on the platform, making them vomit and have diarrhea for several days, which is why General Xie won."

Qin Yi shook his head and walked slowly. Other things aside, even the credit for resisting the enemy country was attributed to such matters. It would be strange if the military wasn't furious, and it was no wonder that Li Qinglin, who was in charge of coordinating troops, utterly detested the National Teacher.

Standing in front of the Longevity Temple, Qin Yi looked up. The stone steps in front of the main hall alone were ninety-nine levels, and the steps were crowded with people, prostrating themselves devoutly. The somber atmosphere in the city caused by the death of the Crown Prince seemed to have no effect here at all.

The patrolling soldiers enforcing the curfew also wouldn't come here. Occasionally, a team would pass by, but they would also perform a devout salute before leaving.

"This country is a bit like ignoring the common people and asking about ghosts and gods," Qin Yi murmured. "I understand more and more why Li Qinglin wants to deal with the National Teacher."

Liu Su said, "Longevity truly exists. Li Qinglin is limited by his knowledge and is also biased."

Qin Yi "hmm"ed. If he followed his inherent view of Chinese history, the National Teacher was undoubtedly a charlatan, and Li Qinglin's actions were undoubtedly those of a loyal and righteous person. But in this world, because the method of longevity truly existed, it became a matter of opposing stances, not simply right and wrong. Of course, for Qin Yi, whether from his inherent historical view or from his personal likes and dislikes, his stance naturally sided with Li Qinglin.

Just as he was about to climb the steps to see the main hall, he hadn't even gone up a few levels when Qin Yi suddenly slowed his pace.

A Daoist nun slowly walked out of the temple, heading straight towards Qin Yi.

Qin Yi could swear he had never seen such a beautiful Daoist nun, not even in anime or game CGs!

She stood quietly in the middle of the stone steps. Her exquisite face was incomparably beautiful and pure, her expression serene and peaceful, her beautiful eyes clear as water. Although she was standing in a place with people coming and going, Qin Yi felt as if everything around her became distant in a trance, and only she stood alone, detached from the world.

In fact, besides Qin Yi, almost everyone else wasn't looking at her, as if she wasn't even there.

She wasn't wearing the pure blue Daoist robe of ordinary disciples seen on television, but rather one woven with the Eight Trigrams. The base material of the plain robe was interspersed with sky-blue trigram patterns. A gentle breeze lifted the hem of her Daoist robe, revealing plain white inner trousers connected to Daoist boots. This set should belong to the attire configuration of mid-to-high-level Daoists, but paired with her flawless physique and temperament, it suddenly had the feel of a fashion show. Her hair was neatly tied up in a Daoist nun's bun, with a Daoist headscarf draped over it, and her sleeves flowed like clouds, further enhancing her ethereal quality.

She held a long sword upside down in her hand, not a whisk. In this sacred and ethereal temperament, there was a hint of heroism.

Qin Yi suddenly felt that words like "Immortal Maiden" must have been coined to describe people like her.

Liu Su's cold voice drilled into his soul: "What? Seeing such stunning beauty, you've forgotten about the corpse worms?"

Qin Yi's heart tightened. He stopped staring at her and quickened his pace.

The Daoist nun, however, stopped directly in front of him, looking as if she had something to say.

Qin Yi looked left and right, then directly at the Daoist nun's gaze fixed on him, confirming that she was indeed looking for him.

This Daoist nun clearly looked ethereal and detached, and they had never met before. Why would she suddenly seek him out? A loud alarm bell rang in Qin Yi's heart. The image of the corpse worm demon bursting out of the skin repeatedly surged in his mind. He simply stepped aside again, intending to walk past her directly.

The Daoist nun raised her hand to gently block him: "Young master, please stay your steps."

What the hell, she's really latching on? No one would believe you're not up to something! Qin Yi's hair stood on end. He subconsciously took half a step back, extended his palm to gently push away the hand she used to block him, and said very seriously, "Immortal, please respect yourself."

Liu Su sighed leisurely, silently counting in her heart: One time.

The Daoist nun frowned. Perhaps she had never expected to be told such a thing in her life. But with just that one frown, she went straight to the point: "The iron handle exposed on the young master's backpack, is that your weapon?"

Qin Yi's words, which would have been insulting to others, seemed to her like a breeze brushing past, completely unfelt. She continued speaking as if nothing had happened, seemingly possessing extremely high cultivation.

But what she said made Qin Yi's heart clench even tighter, his vigilance soaring tenfold.

It's one thing if you want to scheme against me, but you open your mouth and ask about the stick? Could it be that you sensed the spirit within the Wolf Tooth Club? No matter how wicked Liu Su was, he would absolutely not let anyone subdue and eliminate it. He had to find a way to fool her...

The Daoist nun truly didn't understand what was going on with Qin Yi's strange vigilance. She could only continue on her own: "I observe that this object faintly carries the blood energy of a demonic creature. It seems the young master used this object to eliminate a demon not long ago, perhaps... a spider?"

Qin Yi finally let out a breath, cold sweat covering his forehead.

It was good that she hadn't sensed Liu Su.

However, this Daoist nun truly had some skills. She could even tell that he had killed a Spider Demon two days ago. Unlike Liu Su, this verbal cannon emperor, who couldn't even sense the demonic energy when a corpse worm demon was standing right in front of him.

Qin Yi relaxed and finally answered, "Indeed, I saw a Spider Demon eating people and eliminated it with a friend."

The Daoist nun nodded, her voice still clear and cold: "Since the young master eliminates demons, why are you associating with Prince Qing Lin?"

"Huh?" Qin Yi frowned. "What does that mean? I eliminated this Spider Demon with Prince Li Qinglin and his sister, alright?"

The Daoist nun looked seriously into Qin Yi's eyes, as if discerning his truthfulness.

Qin Yi suddenly felt uncomfortable with this gaze.

He didn't know how to describe this kind of gaze, and this tone of voice that, while seemingly asking questions properly, made people feel like they were being interrogated...

Saying it was cold or arrogant wasn't right. This wasn't coldness, it was calmness. But this calmness wasn't like a clear spring that made people comfortable; it was more like the Milky Way in the night sky, beautiful but very high and distant, something you could only look up to.

Perhaps it was similar to how he looked at ants? If he saw them, he saw them. He wouldn't have any thoughts about the ants, at most he might see an ant carrying something and praise it for being diligent, then walk past.

Maybe if he was in a bad mood, he might even step on it and kill it.

It was roughly that kind of feeling. Right, this feeling was actually a bit familiar, very much like someone...

Liu Su?

Liu Su's wickedness was mostly rooted in this kind of distance. It had said there was no point in being serious about the rules and regulations of the mortal world. That wasn't inherent evil, but the feeling of looking down on all living beings from a different dimension.

The so-called cultivation was merely distance.

Qin Yi simply retorted, "Is the Immortal Master a disciple of the National Teacher?"

If she's one of the National Teacher's people, then it's perfectly normal for her to be prejudiced against Li Qinglin. In the eyes of everyone from Longevity Temple, Li Qinglin couldn't possibly be a good person.

The Daoist Nun shook her head, "This poor Daoist is Minghe, merely a wandering Daoist residing here, not a disciple of Donghua. Young Master, please stop calling me Immortal Master, just call me Daoist."

Minghe is someone one can look up to but not approach. Qin Yi immediately thought of such a line of poetry.

It was practically written for her.