An Invitation from Senior Brother

Li Qingyun chatted and laughed with Zhao Yifan as they headed to the Dining Hall for a meal.

Inside the Dining Hall, they happened to run into Ge Xiaohong, Yin Huan, and several others, but He Xiao was nowhere to be seen. Presumably, that roommate who fancied himself handsome and dashing had already rushed off to work at the front temple.

Seeing Li Qingyun chatting so merrily with Zhao Yifan, Ge Xiaohong and the others could not help showing strange expressions.

Ever since He Xiao had said that Li Qingyun only knew how to sit in stiff meditation, Li Qingyun's standing in Yin Huan's eyes and the others' had unknowingly dropped a level.

What virtue and ability did such a meditation blockhead possess to earn Senior Brother Zhao's favor? Could it be that Senior Brother Zhao also had his eye on Marquis Qinghe's Estate's Qingyang Fish supply route?

"Zhao Yifan is an elite disciple at the third layer of Qi Refining. How does he seem so familiar with Qingyun?"

"I heard Zhao Yifan is Steward Zhao's own nephew. He rarely comes to the Dining Hall, so this is a good opportunity. Why don't we go introduce ourselves?"

"Senior Brother Zhao, Junior Brother Li..." Yin Huan and the others were quick-witted enough to seize the chance, immediately stepping forward to strike up a conversation with Zhao Yifan, an elite disciple of the temple.

Between the lines, they also probed into how Li Qingyun had come to know Senior Brother Zhao.

Li Qingyun signaled Zhao Yifan with his eyes not to reveal his cultivation.

Zhao Yifan understood as well, assuming that Junior Brother Qingyun was kind-hearted and did not wish to strike a blow at such "rotten timber" as Ge Xiaohong and the others.

Faced with the flattery of a group of lowly guest disciples, Zhao Yifan welcomed them all. He held himself slightly aloof, displaying the bearing of an elite disciple.

Such a familiar scene of guest disciples currying favor with elite disciples was simply the everyday state of the back mountain.

"A bunch of mortal flesh and clay bodies doomed never to enter the gate, yet they seem to hold some sort of superiority over Junior Brother Qingyun. Where does that confidence even come from?"

Amid the laughter and conversation, Zhao Yifan noticed Ge Xiaohong and the others' subtle attitude toward Li Qingyun and could not help finding it amusing.

Yet he also saw that Junior Brother Qingyun remained gentle as the breeze, reserved and humble throughout, which made Zhao Yifan like him even more and wish all the more to draw him into the Scripture Hall.

The temple's affairs were complicated indeed. The Taoist masters above were also openly and secretly contending with one another; whoever had one more promising disciple under them could throw around a little more authority.

After leaving the Dining Hall, Zhao Yifan chatted with Li Qingyun for a while longer, gave him the address of a private courtyard, and hinted at Lu Nanling.

"Junior Brother Qingyun, Steward Lu is notorious for being greedy for leisure and money. He also relies on the convenience of overseeing the registers to hand out ten Dao Affinity Tokens every year. So I think you should be cautious in choosing a Taoist master. You must know that all things in this world are bound together by cause and effect..."

Li Qingyun found it difficult to respond to the subject of Lu Nanling and merely smiled in silence.

Zhao Yifan did not mind. He knew that once those words were spoken, they would be of some use sooner or later.

At last, he got to the real matter.

"I accepted a ghost-expelling, peacekeeping assignment for Yinshan Town from the External Affairs Hall. Yinshan Town lies near the edge of Great Yin Mountain, where wandering souls and wild ghosts often harm people. Your senior brother is not entirely confident, so I've been making more preparations these past few days. I happened to see that your lightning arts have taken shape, Qingyun. How about you and I go together when the time comes? I'll give you thirty percent of the spirit stones and contribution points!"

"Expelling ghosts?" Li Qingyun's interest was immediately piqued.

Having entered the path of cultivation and only recently achieved initial success in lightning arts, he had been wanting to test his hand.

But out of caution, he considered his words before asking, "I appreciate Senior Brother's kindness, and I also wish to temper myself. But my cultivation is still shallow, and I want to put more effort into my lightning arts first. So when does Senior Brother plan to set out? If it is too rushed, then forgive me for being unable to accompany you!"

Li Qingyun would not blindly assume that, with his current Qi Refining Layer One cultivation, he could proudly face demons, devils, and ghostly creatures.

But after a few more days, when his cultivation rose with the swelling tide and his lightning arts became more practiced, he could go down the mountain to broaden his horizons.

With the experienced Senior Brother Zhao leading and guiding him, Li Qingyun could also accumulate some practical experience in subduing demons and exterminating ghosts ahead of time.

"I plan to prepare more talismans and Minor Grass Pills. Then I'll wait for Junior Brother Gu Zizhan to return to the temple and borrow his Thousand-Year Peachwood Sword. That should about do it. Junior Brother Gu is leading a team down the mountain to patrol several nearby villages, and he may not return for a few days, so there is no rush for now..."

Since Zhao Yifan intended to win Li Qingyun over, he did not conceal anything and carefully explained his preparations.

Every trip down the mountain to eliminate demons and suppress ghostly creatures was no easy task for Zhao Yifan and the other so-called elite disciples of Lingbao Temple. It was absolutely not a matter of slinging a ritual sword over one's back and lightly drifting down the mountain to win merit.

One misstep could mean going and never returning. Such lessons had emerged one after another throughout Lingbao Temple's history.

Among Lingbao Temple's disciples, there were absolutely very few who could cultivate a fine command of lightning arts. Any truly formidable figures had long since left the temple and entered the mountain gate of the Lingbao Sect behind it, becoming existences that the temple's disciples could only look up to in a single leap.

This was also why Zhao Yifan had been so eager to befriend Li Qingyun.

At a critical moment, a single lightning art could save a life!

"Alright, then. Just call for me when the time comes, Senior Brother."

After giving it some thought, Li Qingyun agreed.

A few days from now, his true cultivation should already be no lower than Zhao Yifan's.

Even if some other unforeseen event occurred, he would be able to protect himself.

Most importantly, after that trip to the Scripture Repository, he was already nearing the end of his rope—his money was no longer enough!

"Haha! With Junior Brother's lightning arts aiding me, this trip down the mountain to suppress ghosts will surely succeed!"

The two parted midway, and Zhao Yifan left in satisfaction.

Li Qingyun returned to the Bamboo Lodge and saw that He Xiao was indeed absent. He must have gone to the front temple's Hall of Seeking Offspring to work hard at making an impression.

He took stock of his belongings. He had only one or two thousand taels in banknotes and scattered silver left; the gold ingots, pearls, and the like had all been "spent" clean at the Scripture Repository.

He truly was in rather straitened circumstances now.

He had only entered the temple two or three days ago and had already been bled dry. One could imagine how difficult it would be for disciples of inferior aptitude like him and He Xiao to "get by" at Lingbao Temple without continued support from their families.

Those destitute Taoists hurrying back and forth around the Dining Hall's free-food stall were the truest reflection of this.

The temple's most grueling and filthiest jobs were prepared precisely for the destitute.

Without He Xiao's smell of alcohol and snoring, the room was unusually quiet. Li Qingyun, who had stayed up all night, caught up on some sleep in the Bamboo Lodge. Only near dusk did he rise, refreshed and full of energy.

After getting up, he heard the shouts of someone practicing swordsmanship outside.

Curious, he stepped out. When he saw the Young Daoist priest leaping and darting about nimbly, his sword dance looking quite impressive, the corner of his mouth twitched.

"Is this showing off, or a demonstration?"

Li Qingyun recognized the Young Daoist priest deliberately practicing in front of his door. Wasn't he Wang Baiying, the one who had guided Lu Liqian here?

"Ha! Hah!"

When Wang Baiying saw Li Qingyun finally emerge, looking startled as though he had been frightened by his fierce swordplay, he could not help feeling smug.

A fool who only knew how to meditate, who had not even grasped qi sense, yet he still dreamed of eating swan meat like a toad!

"If you know what's good for you, stay farther away from Senior Sister Lu, who is like an immortal maiden!"

Wang Baiying sprang forward and back, his longsword weaving a sheet of snowy light. He had indeed put in the work; perhaps he had already possessed fine swordsmanship before entering the temple.

"Not bad dancing!"

That was all Li Qingyun said in praise, before Wang Baiying watched this potential "rival" head straight for the maple grove behind the mountain.

"Heh heh, I scared him off! Yesterday, I wrote home and asked my family to send more valuables. I heard it will be Senior Sister Lu's birthday in the middle of the month. I can prepare a fine gift just in time—perhaps I'll win a radiant smile from Senior Sister..."

Thinking of the faint smile Senior Sister Lu had given him that day, Wang Baiying's heart turned utterly besotted.