"Pity that this Daoist's line about sincerely praying for a child just greatly lowered Lingbao Temple's standing in my heart..."
Li Qingyun suppressed the urge to ask, Is your temple's sincere prayer for children even respectable?
Then he rummaged around inside his robes and pulled out a token. It was black and gold, half a palm in size. Its engraved patterns seemed to be the lines of some talisman, emanating faint majesty.
Along the edge of the token was a line of tiny characters: Maple Mountain Lingbao Temple, Lu.
"Senior Brother, please inspect this token!"
Li Qingyun was about to hand the black-gold token to the young Daoist priest.
The young Daoist priest merely smiled faintly and raised his hand. The black-gold token turned into a streak of light and landed in his palm.
After examining the token carefully for a moment, the young Daoist priest nodded, confirming that it was genuine.
Yet a trace of disdain and mockery flickered at the corners of his mouth.
"The mountain gate has decreed that anyone holding a Lingbao Temple Dao Affinity Token may enter the temple. However, Junior Brother, you are the ninth person this year to enter with Uncle-Master Lu's Dao Affinity Token. It must have cost you quite a bit, hehehe..."
When mentioning the person behind the Dao Affinity Token, the young Daoist priest's tone clearly turned much colder.
"Follow the mountain path to the summit. Someone will receive you there."
The young Daoist priest tossed the token back to Li Qingyun, then shifted slightly aside to indicate that he could begin climbing.
But his expression was utterly distant. He could not even be bothered to ask Li Qingyun's name.
Li Qingyun did not take offense. Smiling, he tightened the bundle on his arm and started up the mountain.
He more or less knew how the black-gold token in his hand had come to be!
The day after he had exhausted his vital essence through nine bouts in one night, Marquis Qinghe had gone out and spent a great sum to buy this "Maple Mountain Lingbao Temple, Lu" Dao Affinity Token from somewhere.
Obtaining a Dao Affinity Token was equivalent to gaining an extraordinary identity.
Although Li Qingyun possessed none of the so-called cultivation aptitude, with this identity, if he kept his wits about him, he could still live out the rest of his life in relative comfort.
Since he could no longer remain at the Marquis's residence, taking refuge in a mountain gate guarded by powerful cultivators would at least keep him far from the harassment of demons, devils, and Ghostly Creatures, more or less ensuring his survival.
A few decades from now, when his lifespan ended and he faded away, dying of old age in a Daoist temple would not be such a bad life after all.
He had to acknowledge this favor from his cheap father.
It might also have been the last bit of help he could borrow from the Marquis's residence.
Regulating his breathing, he slowly climbed the stone steps.
Thinking of Yuanbao, the black cat whose fate remained uncertain, and of his own cultivation path with its vanishingly faint hopes, Li Qingyun could not help feeling melancholy.
Then, for some reason, he recalled several folk legends about Maple Mountain Lingbao Temple:
More than a hundred years ago, this place had not been called Maple Mountain, nor had there been a Lingbao Temple. Then one day, a Daoist descended from the heavens and slew the fiend lurking in the mountain's depths. He subsequently built a hut here, and it gradually developed into the Lingbao Temple of endless towers and halls it was today...
Li Qingyun had collected quite a few extraordinary folk secrets, yet he had always felt that this world was mysterious and treacherous, hazy and indistinct. Ordinary people would find it difficult to glimpse the truth even after spending their entire lives searching.
"By joining Lingbao Temple, perhaps I can come into contact with this world's true secrets..."
After climbing a stretch of stone steps, white mist billowed behind him, growing ever hazier as it swallowed the scenery below.
Even the young Daoist priest and Yin Xunshan's figures could no longer be seen clearly. The mountain mist was like a wall, separating the mountain above and the mountain below into two different times and spaces.
Just then, Yin Xunshan's teasing, mocking voice drifted leisurely up from below through the boundless white fog.
"This old servant offers congratulations on behalf of Madam and the Heir. May Young Master comprehend the Dao and attain truth, sit in forgetfulness, and live forever..."
Li Qingyun's steps halted. He turned to look down into the white mist below, and an icy glint faintly flashed in his eyes.
Comprehend the Dao and attain truth, with immortality in sight...
That old servant was plainly mocking him nakedly!
"Is he so certain that I, Li Qingyun, can only grow old and die in the temple, accomplishing nothing?"
"Heh. If I truly comprehend the Dao and attain truth, then the first sword I draw must be..."
He smiled faintly and shook his head. Only after his breathing had steadied somewhat did he continue climbing.
After Cui Wan'er had drained him dry through harvesting and replenishment, this body's blood and vitality had been depleted. It was frail as a man of seventy or eighty, too weak even to climb a mountain.
Unfortunately, aside from him, no one would investigate the truth within.
White mist curled around him, and Li Qingyun seemed to be walking through a painting.
Though sweat drenched his body and his breathing was heavy, his heart grew ever calmer and more detached, as though the invisible Dao resonance between the mountain paths had washed over him once.
As he neared the end of the stone steps, a sudden feeling stirred within him, and he could not help stopping to look down.
Layer upon layer of mist obscured everything behind him, cutting off the mortal world's sights. No clamor or bustle could be seen anymore.
Looking upward, golden radiance drove away the white mist, revealing a towering mountain gate. Once he passed through it, he would enter another world.
Emotions surged within him. The pent-up burden in his heart had built for so long that he felt compelled to pour it out.
After pondering briefly, lines of poetry from his former life slipped from his lips:
"For three or five years, wind and snow have weighed upon me; I laugh, for wind and snow are light as cotton. With no one to support my ambition for the azure clouds, I shall step onward to the mountain peak myself..."
What he spoke was his heart's voice, and also his aspiration.
In the end, he still refused to give up, even though he had long been judged a cultivation good-for-nothing with no aptitude.
"Though this Third Young Master has effectively been 'stripped of rank,' deprived of everything, with no hope of ever returning to the residence, if one truly examines it, have I not escaped the cage and reclaimed the freedom of heaven and earth?"
Everyone in the Marquis's residence had already given up on him and distanced themselves from him.
In a few years, the people of Qinghe County would likely forget completely the Third Young Master who had once been generous and charitable.
A body from this world, a soul from another—he felt like a lone wild goose wandering without a home.
Alone and unsupported, with an unknown road ahead.
"But I still carry the ambition to reach the azure clouds in my heart!"
The mountain path stretched endlessly onward, steep and slick with moisture.
Li Qingyun tightened the bundle around his arm, gasping as he continued to climb.
As he crossed the final step, his feet suddenly felt light beneath him. He had reached level ground, and his eyes lit up.
The billowing white mist abruptly scattered, revealing a magnificent and imposing mountain gate.
Three characters were inscribed above it: Lingbao Temple.
The calligraphy was elegant and unrestrained, glowing with golden light while containing a certain Dao resonance.
His gaze lingered on those radiant golden characters for a moment.
He felt somewhat worried. Those golden characters looked exceedingly "golden," as if they deliberately conveyed some particular meaning.
Just as his thoughts began to wander, two green-robed Daoist priests emerged from behind the towering mountain gate, one fat and one thin, each holding a horsetail whisk.
The instant their gazes met, warm smiles spread across the two young Daoist priests' faces, making them seem approachable.
At the same time, their eyes swept over Li Qingyun's bundle three or four times in the blink of an eye.
"Junior Brother, did you come with Uncle-Master Lu's Dao Affinity Token? Come, come. I'm Qingfeng, and this is Mingyue. We are responsible for receiving newcomers!"
The plump, fair, chubby Daoist with squinting little eyes called himself Qingfeng. He looked quite young as well.
It was just that Li Qingyun felt his smile was too worldly and slick. He did not resemble a Daoist cultivator at all, but rather a wealthy country landlord.
The other, slender Daoist was called Mingyue. At first glance, he possessed an immortal air, but when Li Qingyun saw the smile on Mingyue's thin face, he could not help thinking of the sly old manager at Qinghe County's money house.
"Li Qingyun greets the two Senior Brothers. I was indeed fortunate enough to obtain Uncle-Master Lu's Dao affinity..."
Li Qingyun's expression turned solemn as he stepped forward and respectfully bowed.
Before you continue