Daoist Scripture Hall (Please Bookmark and Follow)

After Zhao Qing and Feng Miao left together, Wang Ping gave it some thought and went to the Back Mountain to pay Daoist Yucheng a visit.

After hearing Wang Ping's account, Daoist Yucheng smiled and stared at him. "You want to go along and take a look too?"

"Yes!" Wang Ping admitted it without giving a reason.

Daoist Yucheng said, "That makes sense. After eight years of bitter cultivation, stillness had reached its limit and turned into a desire for movement. It was time for you to go out and gain experience. Besides, the Qi practitioners True Sun Sect sends out for training are mostly outstanding Disciples from within the sect. Befriending her will be greatly beneficial to your future cultivation... On the mountain, you have mainly cultivated qi. Your means of facing enemies are still somewhat lacking. How is your practice of the Qi Refining spells I gave you?"

His thoughts having been seen through, Wang Ping lowered his head and answered, "I picked a few interesting ones to learn."

"What did you learn?"

"Sword Control Art, Invisibility Technique, and Water Receding Art. I can already use them freely. As for Cloud Soaring Technique, I still haven't grasped the knack." Wang Ping answered honestly. The spellbook Daoist Yucheng had given him contained over a hundred spells, all of them summarized by countless Qi practitioners over long years.

With the support of the Light Screen Panel, learning those spells was absurdly easy for Wang Ping.

"Not bad..." Daoist Yucheng nodded in satisfaction. "With these spells to protect you, as long as you do not encounter a Great Demon in the Core Formation realm, there should basically be no problem... However, when traveling outside, you also need a good identity. Our Thousand Wood Temple holds a Sixth Seat in the Daoist Scripture Hall. I heard that two spots had opened up in the Sixth Seat last month. It would not be excessive for you to take one."

The Daoist Scripture Hall was part of the Mystic Sect Alliance. It had no specific person in charge internally; instead, the interests of each sect and school were allocated through the First through Sixth Seats. The First Seat was naturally the most prestigious, with only seven seats in total. The Second Seat had seventeen members, the Third Seat surged directly to one hundred and one, the Fourth Seat had two hundred and thirty-one, the Fifth Seat five hundred and sixty-one, and the Sixth Seat one thousand two hundred and twenty-one.

Since the six Seats came into being, apart from the Sixth and Fifth Seats, none of the other Seats had ever been filled. Thousand Wood Temple had held a Third Seat several decades ago, but later suffered a severe decline in strength and retained only Daoist Yucheng's Fourth Seat. As compensation, the Daoist Scripture Hall assigned Shang'an Prefecture to Thousand Wood Temple for spreading its teachings and conducting business.

Beyond the six Seats were the hundreds of thousands of Mystic Sect Qi practitioners, and Wang Ping was currently one of them. The ID Badge he used when traveling outside was established by the Daoist Scripture Hall.

One of the Sixth Seat's most important duties was having the right to vote in the election of the Fifth through First Seats. Thus, while the position appeared insignificant, in truth, a single pull could move the whole body.

Beyond power came responsibility. Obtaining a Sixth Seat required participating in certain major actions of the Daoist Scripture Hall. However, such actions might not occur even once in a Hundred Years. Normally, there were no mandatory requirements, but Disciples under the sect had to join the Daoist Scripture Hall.

"Yes!"

Wang Ping did not hesitate much. From what he knew of Daoist Yucheng, he understood that Daoist Yucheng arranging for him to enter the Daoist Scripture Hall now was definitely not merely to give him an identity convenient for this matter.

"Go back and prepare. Come with me to Prefecture City now, and we'll settle this matter."

"Yes!"

Shang'an Prefecture.

A massive coastal commercial city, more than half of the ocean-going trade between Xia Kingdom's southwestern regions and the southeastern islands relied on the port of Shang'an Prefecture City.

Its wealth was easy to imagine. No one knew how many people envied and resented Thousand Wood Temple for obtaining such a fertile piece of land. This also proved from the side that Daoist Yucheng was at least a Secret Method Cultivator of the Second Realm.

Daoist Scripture Hall.

Wang Ping had heard its name in many books. It made reverence rise involuntarily in his heart, so when he had gone out for training last time, he had treated the Daoist Scripture Hall with extreme caution.

The Daoist Scripture Hall branch in Shang'an Prefecture was merely a small Liaison Station, resembling a Viewing Tower from the outside.

The procedures for obtaining a Sixth Seat were very simple: his ID Badge was replaced. His former wooden badge became a Jade Token. There was no legendary blood-drop authentication, but the Jade Token contained Wang Ping's true likeness, making forgery impossible.

Walking out of the Daoist Scripture Hall with the ID Badge in hand, Wang Ping felt a little unreal. He felt like the fortunate Disciple beside the protagonist in novels from his previous life, able to reach out and obtain anything he wanted.

Only Wang Ping came out. Daoist Yucheng remained in the Daoist Scripture Hall to handle some matters.

"I smell shrimp." Yulian's voice suddenly sounded in Wang Ping's Spirit Sea.

"Didn't you stop needing to eat?"

"But I want to eat!"

"..."

Wang Ping was utterly helpless. He put the ID Badge back into his Storage Bag, turned around to give the overly simple Daoist Scripture Hall Liaison Station a serious look, then took a deep breath and walked toward the Peddlers selling Live Shrimp in the distance.

He was still only a minor Qi practitioner. All he could do was cultivate diligently, so that one day in the future, he could help Master rather than stand here feeling guilty and indulging in wild fantasies.

After feeding Yulian, Wang Ping headed for the city gate, intending to go directly to Shu County to meet up with Feng Miao and the others. He had thought that upon arriving in Shu County, he would see the grand spectacle of the Mountain Search Team assembling.

But in reality...

There was only Feng Miao and the others sighing.

"What happened?"

Following the agreed address, Wang Ping found Feng Miao and the two fellow Cultivators she had mentioned at a teahouse near Shu County's city gate. Zhao Qing was nowhere to be seen, so he hurriedly asked what had happened.

Of the two fellow Cultivators beside Feng Miao, one was a Female Cultivator dressed in a Green Daoist Robe, while the other was a Jianghu Guest wearing a Black Close-fitting Garment. The Female Cultivator was a Cultivator from Linshui Prefecture named Xia Yao, while the Jianghu Guest was a Rogue Cultivator named Zuo Suzi.

The three had begun forming a team a year ago to take on missions together, accumulating Daoist Scripture Hall merit in exchange for Foundation Establishment Material.

"The county yamen rejected the proposal to search the mountains."

The Female Cultivator named Xia Yao answered Wang Ping's question. "Their reason was that many places in the county were struck by typhoons during the summer. Now that it is the off-season, they are gathering Laborers for repairs and cannot spare the Personnel for a mountain search. Unless... we can produce solid evidence that the northern Mountain Forest is truly swarming with Monsters."

After saying that, she added, "Fellow Cultivator Zhao Qing said he would go to Prefecture City and request an official document..."

"The prefect's document may be useful in Shang'an Prefecture, but this is Sanhe Prefecture. They might verbally give Thousand Wood Temple some face, but in reality, they had already thought of how to deal with us."

Zuo Suzi took it rather calmly. "Why not just forget it? I reckon the Snake Demon we're looking for already escaped from the Mountain Forest in another direction."

"No! There is clearly something wrong here. If we hadn't discovered it, we could turn a blind eye, but now that we have, we cannot simply ignore it!" Feng Miao slapped the table, returning to how she had been when Wang Ping first met her. Zuo Suzi rolled his eyes at her words, while Xia Yao thought calmly.

Wang Ping asked, "Did you report this?"

"We reported it before going to find you, but no Monster Assault Case has occurred in Shu County. Also, searching the mountains is a local matter, so the Daoist Scripture Hall cannot forcefully intervene unless..." Feng Miao met Wang Ping's eyes. "Unless something like what happened in Yuanning County occurs."

"Frame someone?" Zuo Suzi asked instinctively.

"Can't you think of something normal? I mean secretly investigating the county yamen's situation!" Feng Miao's words landed right in Zuo Suzi's face. The two presumably had a good relationship.

Hearing Feng Miao say this, Wang Ping immediately thought of the Secret Method Cultivator in Yuanning County, making his eyelid twitch.

But on second thought, even if there were a Secret Method Cultivator involved, he would most likely not act over such a minor matter. No matter how it was calculated, it was not worth it.

Two days later.

Feng Miao's investigation had made no progress, but Zhao Qing returned from Prefecture City with a handwritten letter from the prefect, ordering the Shucheng County Yamen to cooperate with Feng Miao and the others.

The Shucheng County Magistrate was an Old Man over sixty. After reading the prefect's handwritten letter, he exchanged a glance with the county magistrate and said, "Since it is the prefect's order, this county naturally has no reason to refuse. Daoist Priests, rest for a while. I shall immediately send documents to the villages and stockades to gather Personnel."

Just as Zuo Suzi had expected, this County Magistrate used the delaying tactic to form an excellent coordination with Prefecture City.

Zhao Qing immediately clasped his hands. "My lord, we have Personnel of our own. We only need you to issue an official document authorizing the mountain search!"

The County Magistrate pretended to ponder for a moment, then said with some difficulty, "This... does not comply with the Imperial Court's laws. This county does wish to help, but the laws of the Imperial Court are as immovable as mountains. How about this? If Daoist Zhao can obtain another document from Prefecture City, then I can consider it..."