Ten Taels of Immortal Fate

The inside of the teapot was cramped, narrow, cold, and hard.

Even Lampwick Monk, who had long been used to cramped surroundings, found it difficult to adapt now. He felt unbearably stifled.

One was hard white porcelain, the other warm and soft; naturally, the two could not be mentioned in the same breath.

The worrying prospects ahead left him even more bewildered and terrified!

He wanted to flee, yet feared that the ox-nosed Daoist's blazing gaze;

If he did not flee, he feared even more that the ox-nosed Daoist might suddenly cook him into lamp oil.

As his thoughts wandered, he suddenly realized that the teapot was sitting steady and firm, without the slightest jolt.

Could it be that the ox-nosed Daoist has already fallen asleep?

As Lampwick Monk pondered, he boldly pushed up the lid, intending to take a look at the scene outside first.

It would have been better if he had not looked;

The moment he looked closely, the sight outside the pot made his soul quake violently.

Beyond the pot lay a deep, vast emptiness, with no other objects in sight.

As far as the eye could see was like the boundless cosmos. There was no river of stars filling the sky, only wisps of curling green smoke drifting through it.

At the sight of that green smoke, an inexplicable ravenous urge arose in Lampwick Monk's heart. He instinctively opened his mouth and swallowed a mouthful.

The green smoke entered his belly and spread through his limbs and bones. A feeling of clarity and serenity immediately bloomed from within his soul, making him incomparably comfortable!

It was ten thousand times more pleasurable than gathering and consuming yin energy.

"What is this? It can actually increase one's cultivation!"

Lampwick Monk was greatly shocked. Just as he was about to breathe in some more, his vision suddenly spun heaven and earth.

A strange force had flung him out of the teapot and tossed him onto the table.

Before he could look around, an angry rebuke came.

"You lecherous monk! You actually dared use wicked arts to deceive me! If I had gone mad from cultivation, then before my body perished and my Dao scattered, I would definitely have taken you down with me!"

Lampwick Monk raised his head in astonishment and saw the ox-nosed Daoist sitting cross-legged on the bed, his face deathly pale as he regulated his breathing and nourished his energy.

The blue paper recording the Art of Ascending and Copying lay conspicuously across his knees.

"Daoist Master, see clearly! How would this humble monk dare deceive you? The Art of Ascending and Copying I learned truly came from here!"

Seeing Mo Chuan clutching several continuously flashing talismans, Lampwick Monk hurriedly defended himself.

"Did Daoist Master's breath go astray while discerning the Dao and clarifying your heart? When this humble monk cultivated to that stage, something also went wrong. You need only draw qi in through your nose and exhale qi through your mouth, guiding it gently and breathing long..."

Lampwick Monk thought Mo Chuan had gone astray in cultivation. For the sake of his life, he hurriedly laid out all his cultivation experience without reservation.

He feared that if Mo Chuan failed to regulate his breath, he might fly into a rage from humiliation and chop him in two with a single stroke.

"...How is it, Daoist Master? Do you feel any better now?"

After finishing, Lampwick Monk hurriedly asked anxiously.

Unexpectedly, Mo Chuan, whose face had been deathly pale just moments ago, suddenly smiled faintly. He reached into the void and drew out a refined steel Nangzi dagger, stroking its point with his fingertip as he said:

"You lecherous monk are rather interesting! I expected that with your filthy nature, you would not dare lie, so I deliberately tested you. I never expected that not only would you not dare lie, you would not even dare run. My foot-long dagger has been left with no place to show its worth!"

Lampwick Monk turned pale with fright upon hearing this. How could he not understand what had happened?

His legs immediately went weak from lingering fear, as though he had fallen into an ice pit. He kowtowed like a pestle pounding garlic. "Daoist Master is righteous! Thank you, Daoist Master, for sparing my life!"

Mo Chuan added, "Is the incense and offerings in my furnace pure?"

Lampwick Monk was stunned. "So that was incense and offerings?"

Mo Chuan clicked his tongue. "A mere lampwick grass that had not yet taken shape, yet under the pressure of life and death, it transformed into a demon! Not only do you lack demonic qi, you even took on a human form. With a room full of heterodox bedchamber arts, you somehow found a Daoist art like Ascending and Copying. Now you swallowed my incense and offerings, yet do not even recognize incense and offerings. Tsk, tsk, you truly are born of heaven and raised by earth!"

Lampwick Monk looked utterly baffled, unable to understand what the ox-nosed Daoist, whose mind was more cunning than a demon's, was lamenting.

"Fine! Seeing that you have never killed anyone, and that you delivered this opportunity to me, I will spare you. Scram back inside!"

Mo Chuan said with a smile and a curse.

—This lampwick grass might well be some demon creature that had gained great fortune from heaven and earth. Keeping him might prove useful in another way.

"Daoist Master is righteous!"

As if granted a great pardon, Lampwick Monk hurriedly cupped his hands in flattery and jumped back into the teapot.

Seeing this, Mo Chuan immediately tossed the teapot into the Sacrificial Dao Furnace.

As for Lampwick Monk swallowing his incense and offerings, that had merely been the ashes left after he breathed in and out the incense and offerings—a drop in the ocean. There was no need to take it to heart.

After putting Lampwick Monk away again, Mo Chuan began attempting to cultivate the Art of Ascending and Copying.

With Lampwick Monk's cultivation experience as a reference, he entered the door quickly. In less than half an hour, he had glimpsed the way in and gained some understanding.

The rabbit set and the crow rose; the east was already pale.

While he sat in meditation and comprehended the Dao, an entire night passed in the flick of a finger.

Yet when he opened his eyes again, his gaze immediately shone with vigor.

He rose and performed a set of Tai Chi. It had been a special program arranged by his school when he was studying. Though he had never grasped its essence, he at least had three parts of the form.

Now, as he moved through it, his motions were swift as lightning.

After finishing the Tai Chi set, Mo Chuan looked toward the window, puffed out his cheeks, and blew out a breath.

Unexpectedly, the breath that could usually only blow away feathers and dust now came out like a flying dragon sneezing. A fierce gale abruptly rose inside the room and blasted the window open with a bang.

"Wonderful! This Art of Ascending and Copying is practically an all-purpose enhancement buff!"

"With my current meager cultivation, it already has such miraculous effects! If I cultivated several hundred years of Dao attainment, would I not be able to speak wind into being and move like lightning?"

"No wonder the Daoists say: obtain one method within the Dao, obtain one art within the method, and one may become a Human Immortal! A single Daoist art is already so marvelous. If one cultivated the Dao methods themselves, how carefree would that be?"

For a time, Mo Chuan's heart burned fiercely, and his resolve to cultivate the Dao grew ever firmer, as unshakable as a boulder.

He remained excited for quite a while before finally settling himself and heading downstairs, intending to make an offering to soothe his Five Viscera Temple.

Unexpectedly, the moment he descended the stairs, he saw Steward Zhang beaming with delight as he chatted warmly with the innkeeper.

When he saw Mo Chuan coming down, he hurriedly cupped his hands. "May Daoist Master Mingchen be blessed!"

Mo Chuan returned the salute. "Has the layman been well since we last met?"

Steward Zhang said, "Thanks to Daoist Master's great blessing, my household finally had a peaceful night's sleep!"

As he spoke, a servant approached carrying a tray.

Upon it lay a row of gleaming official silver. Counting carefully, there were fully ten taels!

This sight stirred up a commotion throughout the tavern. Many guests craned their necks to look, whispering among themselves.

Amid the clamoring voices, everyone learned that the demon creature in Steward Zhang's residence had been subdued!

The one who had vanquished demons and expelled evil was precisely the young, clean-shaven Daoist standing on the stairs.

"You are too courteous, Patron!"

Mo Chuan did not stand on ceremony. As he stepped down, his Daoist robe swept past, and the ten gleaming taels of silver instantly vanished without a trace.

The sight made everyone click their tongues in amazement.

It was true that the proof lay in the details. What skill!

Steward Zhang's smile grew even brighter. He edged closer shamelessly and said, "Daoist Master's Mana reaches the heavens. Zhang admires you beyond measure. Might I boldly ask for a memorial tablet talisman, so that I may make offerings to it at all times?"

There it was!

Those ten taels of official silver had not been given for nothing.

So he wanted after-sales service?!

Yet this happened to strike precisely at Mo Chuan's needs.

"Easy enough, easy enough!"

Mo Chuan smiled faintly, walked to a wooden table, raised his hand, and extended one finger. His finger danced across the tabletop like a dragon flying and a phoenix prancing, seemingly writing something.

"Eh, what is Daoist Master doing?"

Everyone watched in confusion. Just as murmurs began to rise, Mo Chuan had already finished and withdrawn his hand.

"Daoist Master Mingchen, this is?"

Steward Zhang came closer, glanced at the perfectly intact tabletop, and asked with an odd expression.

"Offer three sticks of incense sincerely each day, and your residence will remain untouched by evil!"

After Mo Chuan spoke, he swept his sleeve.

"Whoosh—"

A violent gale surged from his sleeve, scattering wood chips across the tabletop and sending dust flying into everyone's eyes.

When the gale passed, everyone stood dumbfounded.

"The table! There are words on the table!"

Steward Zhang looked closely and saw that on the tabletop where Daoist Master Mingchen had drawn, a large character of "jian" beneath a rain radical had appeared. It looked as if it had been carved by knives and axes, cut three inches deep into the wood.

"Daoist Master Mingchen has such divine powers!"

Steward Zhang stood dumbstruck and instinctively looked toward Daoist Master Mingchen.

Unexpectedly, when he turned back, Daoist Master Mingchen was nowhere to be seen.

"Where is Daoist Master Mingchen?" Steward Zhang asked the servants.

The servants were equally stunned. One quick-witted fellow hurriedly ran to the tavern entrance, pointed down the street, and shouted, "Daoist Master Mingchen is over there!"

"Quick, chase him!"

Steward Zhang started after him, but after taking two steps, he came to his senses. He pointed at the household servants again and said, "Quick, quick! The table! Buy that table for me and keep it safe."

After saying this, he chased outside the tavern and happened to catch sight of Daoist Master Mingchen's back.

He immediately broke into a run after him.

Yet Daoist Master Mingchen's figure grew farther and farther away the more he chased.

In the flick of a finger, he had reached the end of the official road and vanished amid the bustling crowd.

"Pant... pant... How are Daoist Master's legs so fast?"

"Exactly. We did not even see him run?"

The two servants who had given chase panted heavily, their faces full of bewildered astonishment.

"This is an immortal!"

Steward Zhang slapped his thigh in regret. "What a sin! How did I fail to see it? My immortal fate!"

Some honored readers have not read the original story of Lampwick Monk, so they are somewhat dissatisfied with the protagonist taking in Lampwick Monk. Here is an explanation: this is a secondary setting based on the original. In the original, it was a matter of mutual consent, and it could not be described in detail in the book, so Lampwick Monk does not count as a rapist.