Niu Youdao

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Luo Yuangong accepted the Sect Master Token with both hands, showing the proper respect. As he returned to his seat, he looked at Tang Susu and Su Po and couldn't help but sigh.

There was no other way. At this moment, Tang Mu didn't fear any pressure at all. Even if everyone in the sect opposed him, it would be useless. Designating the sect master successor was a power granted to the Sect Master by the sect rules. If Tang Mu insisted on playing this way before his death, who could win against him?

"Everyone, remember, after I die, do not announce my passing. Otherwise, it will easily bring great disaster to the Shangqing Sect!" Tang Mu then publicly issued another dying decree.

Everyone looked at each other, not knowing what he meant. The expressions of several elders exchanged glances, filled with worry, as if they had sensed something.

A moment later, the other Inner Sect Disciples dispersed, leaving only the three elders, along with Tang Yi and Wei Duo, in the hall.

At this time, Elder Luo Yuangong solemnly asked, "Sect Master, you and Dongguo Haoran successively led your disciples away. Now you return so badly injured. What exactly happened, and who injured you?"

Tang Mu stood firm and said calmly, "My energy is insufficient. If you have any questions, you can ask my junior brother after he takes over as Sect Master."

Tang Susu said with a cold face, "Recently, there have been rumors outside about the Shang Mirror reappearing in the world. Could it be that the Sect Master and Dongguo Haoran were injured because they were fighting with someone for the Shang Mirror?"

Mentioning the 'Shang Mirror', everyone present was moved, their gazes fixed on Tang Mu's reaction.

The origin of the 'Shang Mirror' was too significant. Although the world was currently divided into seven kingdoms, it was ultimately built upon the foundation of the Wu Kingdom. The foremost expert in the cultivation world at that time, Shang Song, could have lived a carefree life. However, for some unknown reason, he impulsively became involved in worldly affairs. He exhausted all his efforts to unify the world, established the Wu Kingdom, and became its emperor, suppressing all cultivators in the land, under the pretext of preventing cultivators from competing with mortals for resources. Later, Shang Song, in pursuit of eternal life, violated his original intentions and poked a hole in the heavens, causing a large amount of spiritual energy to pour in from beyond the sky, making it difficult for the cultivation world not to prosper. Shang Song's wife, Queen Li Ge of the Wu Kingdom, did not forget her original intentions and mended the heavens, resulting in both husband and wife disappearing without a trace.

After the couple disappeared, the hundreds of feudal states that had been established could no longer be suppressed. The feudal lords initiated wars, which continued to this day.

Legend has it that Shang Song forged a set of magical artifacts, a total of eight items. Shang Song's breaking of the heavens and Li Ge's mending of the heavens were both accomplished with the help of these treasures. The Wu Kingdom collapsed, the divine artifacts flowed out, and the eight treasures circulated among the feudal states. As smaller states were continuously annexed, the world eventually formed a situation of eight major powers vying for dominance, and the eight treasures were held by the eight states, regarded as their national divine artifacts. The 'Shang Mirror' was the national divine artifact held by the Qin Kingdom. It was rumored that the 'Shang Mirror' was the catalyst for the artifacts used to break and mend the heavens, and it was the foremost among the Eight Treasures, thus drawing the intervention of cultivators, leading to the destruction of the Qin Kingdom. When the Qin Kingdom's imperial court collapsed, the 'Shang Mirror' went missing, and all parties searched for it in vain.

The crux of the problem was that it was rumored that Queen Li Ge of the Wu Kingdom did not fully mend the heavens when she repaired them, and there were still leaks. Some people attributed the excessive number of cultivators in the world to this, believing that more cultivators inevitably led to competition with the common people for resources. They thought that cultivators' continuous interference in worldly affairs caused constant warfare, so some people wanted to gather all eight magical artifacts to mend the loopholes in the heavens, thereby cutting off the source of spiritual energy. This naturally offended cultivators worldwide, with Prince Ning Shang Jianbo, the Grand Marshal of the Yan Kingdom, being a prime example.

Coincidentally, there were unfilial disciples of the Shangqing Sect who were colluding with Prince Ning Shang Jianbo, such as Dongguo Haoran.

Recently, rumors suddenly spread that the 'Shang Mirror' had reappeared. At this time, Tang Mu and Dongguo Haoran took their disciples and went out for unknown reasons, and ended up in such a state. It was difficult not to suspect that their whereabouts were related to the Shang Mirror.

How many cultivation sects stood behind a kingdom? And the Shang Mirror was something that could bring about the disaster of a nation's destruction. If the Shangqing Sect provoked this thing, how could they not worry? The Shangqing Sect was no longer as prosperous as it was in its early years; it had long since declined and could not withstand storms.

Tang Mu slowly closed his eyes, "You are overthinking. I was merely ambushed by someone of unknown identity."

The few people could see that Tang Mu had no intention of revealing the truth. In his current state, he could collapse at any moment, and no one could force him...

The next morning, the temple door creaked open a crack, and an eye peeked out from the gap, looking around.

The door gap gradually widened, and the Daoist Master's head emerged, looking left and right.

The door opened further, and the Daoist Master extended a foot, gently stepping out sideways, tiptoeing quietly, not daring to make a sound, and continuing to observe the movements outside. He went outside and circled the small temple, listening with his ears pricked up, watching with his eyes open, carefully observing his surroundings.

It seemed to be the depth of winter; it was freezing outside, and the vegetation was withered.

He threw a few stones ahead to test the way. Seeing no reaction, and finding that there seemed to be no real danger, the Daoist Master standing on the hillside outside the temple relaxed his hunched posture, which he had maintained out of vigilance. He took out the bronze mirror from his bosom, its surface polished to a mirror sheen, and sighed as he looked at his own face from side to side.

He stuffed the mirror back into his bosom, saw the small stream at the foot of the mountain, and ran down the mountain in a flash. Reaching the stream, he jumped onto a rock in the stream and looked at his reflection in the water, sighing again.

Before, he had used the light from outside to look in the mirror in the temple. Combining it with his current situation, he had a rough understanding of why that old man called him "little brother." It was indeed fitting; he had truly become a little young lad.

He slowly squatted on the rock, gazing at his reflection in the clear stream for a while. His stomach rumbled, he was hungry.

Regardless of what relationship this young lad had with him, the feeling of hunger was something he was genuinely experiencing. He got up and looked around, needing to find something to eat.

He inadvertently saw what appeared to be wisps of kitchen smoke in the distance. He jumped across the stream, found a wild path that seemed to lead in that direction, and cautiously made his way there.

He climbed over the ridge and hid behind a large tree to observe, and saw a village.

The village looked a bit desolate, as if it had been burned. Many women and children were crying, and the villagers were cleaning up the messy village.

The Daoist Master looked at his own attire. His dirty cloth shoes had holes, and his exposed toes wiggled. It was quite a sight, but it matched the villagers' attire, which gave him the confidence to show himself. He walked towards the village with a hint of guilt.

As soon as he entered the village, a disheveled woman ran over and hugged him, wailing, "Brother Dao, you're still alive! I thought those damned soldiers and bandits had harmed you..."

An hour later, the Daoist Master understood. This village had been plundered by rogue soldiers yesterday, and some people had been killed or injured. He probably appeared at the dilapidated temple to escape the rogue soldiers.

The kitchen smoke had died down. The men in the village, who had eaten less than half a meal, began to go into the mountains to find food. Their main task was to dig for root vegetables or hunt wild animals to help the villagers survive the winter. As for the village's grain, it had all been plundered by the soldiers and bandits. The little food they had just eaten was hidden by someone and not discovered by the soldiers and bandits; this small amount of food wouldn't sustain the entire village. A little food was temporarily supplied to the men who had to do physical labor, while the elderly, weak, women, and children had to endure hunger and continue cleaning up the devastated village until the men returned with food from the mountains.

Among the men searching for food, the Daoist Master was also vaguely included. The young lad was also treated as a man.

He was no longer called "Daoist Master." In this village, his real name was Niu Youdao. Whether it was fate or destiny, it matched his appellation of "Daoist Master."

Niu Youdao it was, the Daoist Master didn't mind. He didn't know how he had vaguely become Niu Youdao.

Although he was surprised by such a strange event, he wasn't too difficult to accept. As someone who came from an "archaeology" background, he had seen many unusual things related to the afterlife of the deceased. He had encountered many ancient books and legends about souls possessing bodies. Others considered it superstition, but he had always held the attitude of "believe it if you will, disbelieve it if you won't." After confirming his situation, his mindset was still good, and he could accept it calmly.

In short, he was not an unknown person here. He had a reasonable identity, and the Daoist Master had decided to call himself Niu Youdao from now on.

The task of finding food nearby was assigned to the young lads, while the more adventurous long-distance expeditions were entrusted to the adults.

Under the guise of looking for food, Niu Youdao slipped away. Instead of looking for food, he returned to the dilapidated temple.

He pulled down a tattered cloth curtain hanging in the temple, wrapped the old man's corpse with it, carried it down the mountain, and brought it to the riverside that the old man had mentioned.

He entered the bamboo forest and chopped down some bamboo with a wood axe, trimmed off the branches and leaves, cut them to length, and soaked some dried vines in water to weave a sturdy, three-layered, connected bamboo raft, which was grand, spacious, and stable. Based on his life experience, weaving a bamboo raft was a simple matter and didn't take much effort.

Using bamboo tubes as rollers at the bottom, he pushed the woven bamboo raft into the water. The old man's corpse was placed on it, along with a pile of dry firewood. He also found a flat, large stone by the river and placed it on the raft.

A simple oar, a bamboo pole, and a hoe brought from the village were all placed on the raft.

He cut the tethered dried vine with a knife, pushed off from the bank with the bamboo pole, and the raft carried him away from the shore.

Pushing the raft, he drifted slowly with the current, carried by the gentle waves.

As for why he didn't stay to help the villagers rebuild their homes, firstly, he had no feelings for these villagers, and these villagers living in the mountains had no insight. He played dumb and asked them many questions, but the villagers didn't even know the situation outside. He was unwilling to stay here and farm. He was very curious about this world, and even more curious about the Shangqing Sect that Dongguo Haoran, who possessed terrifying internal energy, had spoken of. When he was still the Daoist Master, he liked this kind of cultivation, often searching for similar texts in ancient tombs, and had a strong desire to see the Shangqing Sect.

Secondly, this cursed place was often plundered by bandit soldiers. The family of his current young body had long been harmed by those bandit soldiers, and there were many villagers in similar situations. He was alone, and there was nothing to miss if he left.

He didn't want to stay long either, and left as quickly as possible while he was still unfamiliar with the villagers, fearing it would be hard to part with them if he stayed too long and developed feelings. So, he left quietly.

He would repay the kindness of the meal when he had the chance in the future, even though it barely counted as half a meal.

As for bringing Dongguo Haoran's body, he felt it would be more reliable to bring proof to the Shangqing Sect, and perhaps it would also show more sincerity?

Given the freezing weather, he thought it should preserve well and wouldn't be troublesome to carry.

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