Life on the Back Mountain

Most of the people lingering in this Bamboo Lodge residential area probably did not have much talent.

Many were much like Li Qingyun—idle disciples in the temple. Their families merely had money and influence, enough to secure "Dao affinity," enter the temple for a title and patron, or simply drift through life in comfort.

Of course, everyone still harbored a sliver of luck when it came to cultivation.

What if they crossed that threshold and entered the Dao as true cultivators?

Li Qingyun did not see any disciples here with an aura like Lin Wanjin's. It seemed that those living in the East Lodge on the back mountain were basically all bottom-feeders.

Those with decent Dao Bone Spiritual Roots were either accepted as direct disciples by Daoist masters like Lu Nanling, or entered the mountain gate of the true Lingbao Sect behind the temple directly.

"Junior Brother He, shall we continue discussing the Dao and drinking tonight?"

"This must be the newly arrived Junior Brother Li Qingyun. He's quite handsome, though he looks a little frail!"

"I heard that a lovely little junior sister with an extraordinary bearing arrived at the West Lodge this afternoon. She's from the direct line of the Fufeng Lin Family..."

The maple woods were dark red, and lamplight swayed. On the way to the Dining Hall, the well-connected He Xiao stopped from time to time to chat with enthusiastic fellow disciples.

He also introduced Li Qingyun to everyone.

His status as the third young master of Marquis Qinghe's Estate was still fairly useful, and everyone appeared warm and friendly.

Having just arrived at Lingbao Temple, it was necessary for him to make more friends. It would be much more convenient whenever he wanted to ask around about something.

Nightfall spread its colors, and lamps lit up, illuminating a rather bustling building.

The Dining Hall of Lingbao Temple's back mountain had been built within a mountain hollow.

It had been established especially for disciples who could not yet abstain from food and absorb vital breath.

From their conversation, Li Qingyun also learned that the elite disciples within the temple who had achieved success in cultivation all possessed independent, private residences. They rarely showed themselves in ordinary times and almost never appeared in the Dining Hall.

"Those senior brothers have already condensed embryonic Precious Furnaces in their qi seas. Their Dharma power runs deep. They spend their days buried in cultivation at their residences, all aiming for those few precious slots to enter the sect at year's end!"

"Isn't that the truth? Comparing people can make a person furious. Our aptitudes are limited, so we can only proceed slowly..."

When those accomplished senior brothers and sisters were mentioned, He Xiao, the newly acquainted Yin Huan, and the others could not conceal the envy—and faint traces of jealousy—in their expressions.

The "slots to enter the sect at year's end," however, stirred Li Qingyun's heart, and he quietly made note of it.

It confirmed his previous suspicion: Lingbao Temple truly possessed the backing of a powerful sect!

He and He Xiao fetched their tableware and began serving themselves food.

The Dining Hall offered a remarkably rich variety of food. All manner of meats and vegetables dazzled the eye, their fragrance overflowing; they were complete in color, aroma, and flavor.

In Li Qingyun's eyes, quite a few of them counted as genuine delicacies from the mortal world, beyond the means and reach of ordinary people.

There were even a few true spirit foods, such as Spirit Rice Porridge and red deer meat.

Their prices, however, were equally astonishing!

If the prices had been a little more approachable, Li Qingyun would truly have thought this was a fine place to lie flat and retire.

The mortal-world "delicacies" at the stalls cost several taels of silver per serving at the drop of a hat. A few of the most expensive dishes could only be bought with gold.

The two or three spirit foods required spirit stones instead.

Besides that, Li Qingyun saw a stall offering free food. Its meals resembled the everyday fare of ordinary commoners—nothing but coarse grains and vegetables, with no meat in sight.

From his observation, few people patronized that free-food stall.

Most disciples appearing in this Dining Hall came from families with mines, having obtained Lingbao Temple's Dao Affinity Tokens through one channel or another.

Before entering the temple, every one of them had lived in comfort. Why would they go eat such rough, bland free food?

That free-food stall had been prepared for the sort of people who had fared worst within the temple.

Li Qingyun saw the occasional one or two Daoists in worn, faded robes lower their heads humbly, quickly take some free food, then leave in a hurry without lingering for a moment.

Amid the mocking laughter and conversation of others, he heard that the disciples taking free food had once been lavish spenders too. But their mortal-world lineages had suffered misfortune one after another, declining or even vanishing outright, and could no longer support them.

In a world where demons and Ghostly Creatures roamed, any sort of accident could happen. Even Marquis Qinghe's Estate might suddenly decline if it made one wrong move.

"The mortal world is unfathomable, ever-changing and unpredictable. In this world, life is undoubtedly fragile..."

Li Qingyun thought to himself, then spent ten taels of silver and, following He Xiao and the others' standard of meals, served himself a portion of "delicacies" in keeping with local custom.

The few Daoist friends who had only just met sat together at one table, chatting and laughing softly as they ate and drank.

On his first visit to the Dining Hall, Li Qingyun did not want to "show his timidity" before He Xiao and the others, in order to preserve the persona of Marquis Qinghe's Estate's third young master.

Yet inwardly, he was calculating how long the little wealth he had secretly brought could sustain such a lifestyle of "following local custom."

"Two thousand taels in banknotes, fifty taels of gold, plus some pearls and jewelry..."

This was the last of the savings he had barely managed to preserve.

Perhaps Yin Xunshan had long noticed something unusual about the bundle, but he might have known Lingbao Temple's money-first inner workings and therefore disdained to take it.

Now, it seemed it truly was not enough to spend.

At this rate of spending, if he did not increase income and reduce expenditure, finding some way to make a living at Lingbao Temple, this little bit of wealth would not even support a few good years.

Lingbao Temple lived up to its name: everywhere required money.

Living required money, cultivation required resources. With money came every kind of convenience; without money, nothing came easy.

Take his roommate He Xiao, for instance. Li Qingyun could tell that the other man had already cultivated some Dharma power and might intend to specialize in the path of talismans in the future.

Even if his cultivation proved difficult to advance, he could still descend the mountain into the mortal world and earn a considerable fortune with his skill at drawing talismans.

The shadows of folk Ghostly Creatures and demons hung over the land. The common people needed great quantities of things like House Soothing Talismans and Evil Warding Talismans to avoid ghosts and ward off evil.

But for He Xiao to achieve anything, his yearly expenses on talisman paper, gold powder, Dan Sha, and the like would definitely be no small sum.

According to what He Xiao had proudly revealed, he had also cultivated two spells, though he had yet to truly comprehend or master them. To reach the level where he could cast them smoothly, he would need to keep pouring resources into them.

Without spirit stones or medicinal pills to rapidly refill his reserves, relying only on meditation and breathing exercises to recover, it would be the year of the monkey and month of the horse before He Xiao honed his spells to proficiency!

In Li Qingyun's view, the foundations of the Lan Shan He Family were somewhat weaker even than Marquis Qinghe's Estate.

Even though He Xiao was a direct-line descendant and his Lineage was willing to spend heavily, gritting its teeth to pile money into his training, without five or six years, He Xiao might still fail to reach even the entry standard of a single furnace of Dharma power!

"Senior brothers, now that we have entered the temple to cultivate, we cannot rely entirely on our families' support. Do you senior brothers have any good ways to make a living? Please give Qingyun some guidance."

"Haha, Junior Brother Qingyun has only just come up the mountain, and he already feels the pressure? Marquis Qinghe's Estate has vast wealth and influence. As its dignified third young master, the estate will surely meet your cultivation needs for the first few years!"

"Hehe, don't panic, Junior Brother. The temple naturally has all kinds of ways to open up new sources of income. Listen while we explain them one by one..."

Worried at heart, Li Qingyun subtly steered the conversation now and then as they ate and chatted, asking about ways to make a living within the temple.

Only then did he learn that the temple also provided its disciples with various ways to earn money.

For example, there were all kinds of odd jobs on the back mountain, and various work assignments in the front temple.

If one had achieved something in cultivation, one could also accept assignments at the External Affairs Hall, descend the mountain to perform rites, catch ghosts, slay demons, and bring peace to the people, earning rewards of gold, silver, spirit stones, and contribution points.