Becoming a Disciple of Mount Yi (Please Vote!)

Just then, the old Taoist spoke first.

"As it happens, I'd already intended to take on a disciple during this trip. At first, I thought Qing Yao and I were fated to meet, but now that I think about it, I heard about you, young layman, before I found Qing Yao."

"When was that?"

Lin Jue couldn't help feeling puzzled.

"After exorcising demons in Qiuru, on my way to Danxun, I met a layman surnamed Wei. He said his home was troubled by a monster and asked me to come take a look." The old Taoist smiled. "When I arrived in Danxun, I first visited the City God Temple to pay my respects to the Deity and ask about the situation. At first, I didn't intend to get involved, but as I happened to be passing by, I thought I'd take a look."

Lin Jue found this astonishing.

"Which day was that?"

"The day you exorcised the monster."

"So that was it." Lin Jue was even more astonished. "We really were fated to meet."

"You certainly have a touch of chivalry, young layman. You'd only practiced the Qi Nourishing Method for a few years, yet you dared to go to the Wei household and exorcise a monster."

"It's a complicated story."

Lin Jue sighed before explaining:

"It was all because Wei Yuanzhong was such a crafty fellow. He brought up how I'd slain two Strange Monkeys in Danxun, struck up a conversation, and invited me to dinner. I thought—I thought he respected my courage. By the time I realized what was going on, I'd eaten the food, drunk the wine, and he'd even taken my clothes to be washed. It would've been hard to refuse without losing face.

"Second, I'd already seen Demonic Ghosts in my village, and I'd seen them again on the road while seeking the Dao. I wouldn't say courage alone had saved me from danger, but it was what let me keep my composure. I couldn't afford to lose that courage.

"Besides, his elder brother had once lent me a knife.

"Lastly, I wanted to see a Monster for myself."

"You do have some courage." The old Taoist asked again, "Then why did you dare to slay that Strange Monkey outside the city?"

"That Strange Monkey damaged my book box and luggage. It made my blood boil."

"You'd risk your life over a book box and some luggage?"

"You don't understand, Daoist. My family is poor. The book box and the books inside were all gifts from others, and my water flask was made by my eldest uncle with his own hands. When those Strange Monkeys damaged them, I couldn't help wanting revenge... It sounds like nothing now, but I truly couldn't let it go! Besides, I was traveling with martial artists. What was wrong with that?"

"You've got a bit of a wandering swordsman's spirit." The old Taoist shook his head. "Did you know I heard your name even earlier than that?"

"Hm?"

"Two days before, I was traveling along the official road. On the way, I passed a stretch of bamboo forest in the wilderness and stayed at a temple with some merchants. There, I heard an interesting story."

The old Taoist smiled as he spoke.

The young woman beside him widened her eyes and glanced at Lin Jue.

"I heard that one night not long ago, a young scholar on the road had driven off Demonic Ghosts and returned a merchant's lost mule. The monks in the temple thought him brave and kind, so they invited him to stay alone in the loft. The Monster in the loft also thought him brave and kind, so it invited him to talk and laugh through the night, then entrusted him with its bones and some silver. They'd thought he was a man of his word, but the next day, they discovered that although they'd asked him to take only part of the silver as traveling expenses and a gift of thanks, the scholar had taken it all without leaving a single coin."

"I had my reasons! Didn't their families come back for them?"

Lin Jue frowned in confusion.

"So the two ghosts cursed in the temple for two nights running, loud enough for the whole place to hear. They even wrote a poem on the wall to curse him. But before long, their families came to the temple and said they'd already recovered the money the two ghosts had buried. They also explained why the scholar had done what he did, then dug up the ghosts' bones and took them away. People in the temple often talk about this. I wonder what those two ghosts made of it." The old Taoist continued, "Before you dug up all the money, did you ever consider that people might misunderstand you?"

"It was an urgent situation. I dug it up secretly, afraid someone would find me, and I didn't have much time to think. Perhaps I didn't consider everything." Lin Jue said, "But I have a clear conscience."

"That kind of composure is truly rare."

The old Taoist smiled faintly as he walked at an unhurried pace. "But what if their families took the money and never came back to move their bones?"

"That would be their families' fault, not mine. Besides, this place isn't far from Mount Qi Yun or my home. I have a long life ahead of me; I'll come back to check eventually. If their families never came to move their bones, then since I took the money they gave me for the road, what would be wrong with personally taking them home?"

"I see..."

Lin Jue still wore a frown, pondering what the old Taoist was trying to say. He had a rough idea.

"Seeking immortality and asking the Dao is hard to begin with. But to attain freedom and longevity is harder still." The old Taoist spoke as though with a sigh. Looking at the young scholar before him, he seemed to be seeing his former self.

"I still have to seek it."

"Do you know that the methods of cultivation in this world can broadly be divided into three branches?"

"I don't."

"The first is the Talisman School, the second the Pill Cauldron School, and the third the Spiritual Law School."

"The Talisman School, the Pill Cauldron School, and the Spiritual Law School?"

Lin Jue silently committed the three names to memory.

"Mount Qi Yun is indeed one of the rare Immortal Mountains in the world, but it's one of the sacred grounds of the Talisman School."

"Please enlighten me, Daoist."

"Freedom and longevity are two things: freedom, and longevity." The old Taoist said, "The Talisman School worships Deities. Perhaps they can attain immortal rank and prolong their lives, but they aren't free."

"So that's how it is..."

"The Pill Cauldron School and the Spiritual Law School are similar; both cultivate the self. The Talisman School dominates the world today, while the Pill Cauldron and Spiritual Law Schools have both fallen into decline. The Pill Cauldron School is the oldest tradition. It emphasizes Inner and Outer Elixirs, and its followers spend most of their time cultivating and refining pills in the mountains, taking no interest in worldly affairs. The Spiritual Law School came later. It arose after the Talisman School but before the Pill Cauldron School. Its followers also cultivate themselves, but they neither nurture Inner Elixirs nor refine Outer Elixirs. Instead, they cultivate Spiritual Methods and practice spells."

By this point, Lin Jue knew what he would choose.

"Where can I seek the Great Dao of Spiritual Law?"

"Mount Yi."

"Mount Yi..."

Lin Jue paused, then continued, "May I ask where your Floating Hill Peak is, Daoist?"

"Mount Yi's Floating Hill Peak. I'm the abbot of Floating Hill Temple."

"..."

Lin Jue stopped in his tracks, eyes wide.

At this point, he couldn't help realizing that the old Taoist wanted to take him as a disciple.

Perhaps, back in Danxun County, the old Taoist had overheard him speaking with the Tree Demon and guessed he was the person he'd heard about at the temple two days earlier. Those two days for him had been more than ten days for Lin Jue.

Their encounter on the road yesterday, and their journey up the mountain together, might have been deliberate or accidental. But looking back, Lin Jue felt that the old Taoist had been testing him. This conversation now felt like questions asked after the test.

As for Lin Jue's earlier doubts, they had already vanished with the old Taoist's explanation.

Mount Qi Yun wasn't right for him. The abbot of a Daoist temple on Mount Yi, one with genuine cultivation and a true lineage, was right there before him—and he'd never known.

And the old Taoist had tested him—

That was a good thing.

A place where a prospective master tested his disciples' character could dispel many of Lin Jue's worries about an unfamiliar place of cultivation.

"I wish to take you as my master, Daoist! I want to follow you and seek immortality and the Dao!" Lin Jue said.

"Have you made up your mind?"

"I have!"

"You have great talent, both character and wisdom. Your future achievements will be boundless. But you're ambitious, too, and Floating Hill Peak can't take you very far. I have little life left in me; I won't live for many more years. You must understand: if you truly wish to seek immortality, the Dao, and longevity, I and Floating Hill Peak can at most help you along for a stretch. You absolutely cannot find the longevity you seek at Floating Hill Peak."

"I'll never regret it."

"Good, good, good! But in that case, if you truly seek freedom and longevity, what Daoist temple in this world could possibly contain you?"

Having said this, the old Taoist smiled and continued walking. "Then come back with me to Mount Yi's Floating Hill Peak first. Once we reach the temple and the two of you perform the formal rites of apprenticeship, you'll be my disciples."

"Understood."

For a moment, Lin Jue could hardly put his feelings into words.

At last, he had a master and a place where he could learn Daoist arts and spells. At last, he could stand somewhere with a broader view and see what this world was truly like.

He couldn't help feeling both eager and uneasy.

The old Taoist's name was He Xianyu, and his Daoist title was Cloud Crane Taoist.

The young woman was named Qing Yao. She was from Willow Village in Qiuru County, and her surname was also Liu.

Lin Jue followed the old Taoist toward Mount Yi. Since he was going to become the old Taoist's disciple, he naturally took on the chores along the way: gathering firewood, lighting the fire, fetching water, and asking for directions. He would have had to do those things even if he'd been traveling alone.

The young woman didn't say much. She seemed young, delicate, and frail, yet she did those chores too.

When Lin Jue gathered firewood, she gathered firewood. When he lit the fire, she watched it. When he fetched water, she followed behind with her waterskin. It seemed she didn't want Lin Jue to do everything alone, or perhaps she was competing with him to see who worked harder, unwilling to let him outdo her.

Lin Jue often asked the old Taoist about cultivation.

The old Taoist had no airs and spoke with him as usual.

He learned that the old Taoist had originally brought a disciple with him when he left the mountain. First, they had gone to the Grand Ceremony at Mount Qi Yun. Then the old Taoist had gone alone to another prefecture to visit an old friend he'd made in his youth. Now he was on his way back.

He had intended to take on a disciple along the way. He hadn't expected to find the young woman first, then meet Lin Jue as well.

That night, beside a road in the wilderness.

Lin Jue sat cross-legged beneath an ancient tree.

Before him lay a pile of burned-out campfire embers and several split bamboo tubes. Traces of cooked food were still visible inside, showing that the three of them had eaten their fill.

Night had grown late. Lin Jue wasn't practicing the Qi Nourishing Method. Instead, he was using the tree's shade to sense the Spiritual Resonance of wood.

The Earth Wood Essence was tucked inside his robe.

And it really was useful. Lin Jue only had to carry it on him, and it continually released the essence of Earth and Wood Spiritual Resonance. When he entered the state he often reached while practicing the Qi Nourishing Method, he could also sense the profound Spiritual Resonance within it—one heavy and steady, the other brimming with life.

Gradually, he caught the woody fragrance of the ancient tree behind him. The night breeze rustled the leaves, as if outlining the shape of the tree's branches.

With the old Taoist sitting beside him, Lin Jue naturally had no fear of Demonic Ghosts on the road.

He only knew that his Wood Escape Method was probably about to take shape.

According to the old Taoist, these were all spells of the Spiritual Law School.

He wondered what Divine Abilities the Pill Cauldron and Talisman Schools possessed.

Before he knew it, his mind sank into a haze, and the night passed.

When he woke in the morning, the diligent young woman had already fetched water for them. After washing up, they continued on their way.

In just a couple of days, they were close to Mount Yi.

The area was indeed remote. The roads had dwindled into narrow paths.

Cloud Crane Taoist led them through dense woods and onto a small rise. Pointing to the distant mountain range, he said, "That's Mount Yi. In ancient times, the Yellow Emperor refined pills here."

"The Yellow Emperor..."

"See that mountain shaped like a pair of scissors? Floating Hill Peak is right beside it."

"I see it."

Lin Jue raised his head and looked. The mountain seemed extraordinarily tall.