Cultivation Exists Here Too

Early the next morning.

When Song You opened his eyes and got up, there were already voices outside.

Pushing the door open, he saw Constable Luo standing in the bamboo grove. Three Flower Lady should have been the one who opened the door for him, and he was stroking the horse's mane while talking to the little girl beside him, mostly with the little girl asking and him answering.

"Does your household have a horse too?"

"My household has no horse, but the yamen has horses. When we need to use one, we just go and get it."

"Many?"

"Just speaking of the county yamen, not many. But the post stations have many horses. If there is an urgent need, they can be temporarily requisitioned according to the circumstances."

"Are they as good as my household's horse?"

"This..."

Constable Luo stammered for a moment.

It seemed that Three Flower Lady was actually quite familiar with him, which made Song You think of some pet cats kept by households in his past life—when they were in a good mood and guests came to the house, they could immediately play with the guests all over, but when they were in a bad mood, they would just lie there without even moving a muscle.

Three Flower Lady was in a very good mood today.

Seeing Song You come out, Constable Luo finally escaped from Three Flower Lady's flickering gaze, immediately turned to face Song You, and cupped his hands in salute:

"You are awake, Teacher?"

"Morning, Squad Leader."

"I came early this morning to report good news to the Teacher," Constable Luo said. "It's just that I came too early and the Teacher hadn't gotten up yet, so I originally intended to wait until noon to come and report the news, but... the Teacher's child insisted on inviting me in to see the horse the Teacher bought, so I brazenly came in ahead of time to wait for the Teacher."

"It was given by someone else!"

Hearing this, Three Flower Lady immediately corrected him.

"Oh?"

"It was a gift from a fellow Daoist at Fuqing Palace on Qingcheng Mountain. Our households have been on friendly terms for generations," Song You softly explained. "It was only sent over last night, and it really was hard to refuse, so I had no choice but to brazenly accept it."

"So that's how it was."

Constable Luo continued to look at the horse: "The Northern Yuan horse is a good horse, and this horse's bloodline is also pure, except that it seems to have some congenital deficiencies, which is why it grew up short and small."

"It's enough for our use."

"Perhaps this horse can attain the Dao together with the Teacher."

"..."

Song You shook his head, knowing that the world's praises were mostly flattery and polite remarks, so he only asked him: "The good news the Squad Leader mentioned, could it be that the thieves who stole yesterday have been caught?"

"Thanks entirely to the Teacher!"

Constable Luo merely cupped his hands and expressed his gratitude.

Thinking of it now, his face was glowing with health, and he was also secretly marveling.

Half of his radiant face was from excitement, and the other half from smugness.

Yesterday's stolen silver case had some similarities with the previous tunneling thief case, which was that the victims were mostly wealthy households in the city, and the lost money and wealth were a huge sum. This kind of case was no small matter. In ordinary times, it would be considered not bad to crack it in three to five months, and it was even more likely to become an unsolved case. Yet who would have thought that just on the same night, he would catch both the thief and the stolen goods.

What was even more exciting and smug was that thieves of this sort certainly wouldn't only commit crimes in Yi Capital. After questioning them a little later, he was afraid he could even take down similar theft cases in the capital of Yangzhou along the way.

What a massive merit this was!

As for marveling, it had to do with the process of cracking the case.

Last night, after receiving the Teacher's guidance, he led men divided into two groups: one group went to capture those Jianghu tricksters, and the other went to investigate nearby places that could hide and accommodate people. Both groups traveled at top speed.

At this time, although the temple fair night market had not yet dispersed, that gang had already packed up and prepared to run.

Running after just one day showed they were cautious indeed.

Just as the constables were about to make a wasted trip, a miraculous thing happened—

Winter thunder, a clear-sky lightning bolt!

It stubbornly struck that gang half to death.

As soon as Constable Luo arrived, he caught both the thieves and the stolen goods.

Now, if he went to stroll around the temple fair again, most people were probably still talking endlessly about yesterday's events. Not only today, but by tomorrow, and even next year and many years later, legends about King Yue Divine Lord sending down divine thunder to punish the temple fair thieves would probably still circulate in this temple fair.

But actually? Was the fact really like this?

Constable Luo did not think so.

This was the largest temple fair in Yizhou, and the petty thieves active in the temple fair these days were countless, while Jianghu people who committed crimes and carried hidden knives to fight fiercely were also not few. Yet had anyone ever seen King Yue Divine Lord strike anyone down?

If it had nothing to do with the Teacher, he simply wouldn't believe it.

It must have been that after the Teacher pointed the way for him, he also anticipated that gang of thieves would leave, and thus devised a way to send down lightning to stop them.

When the magistrate asked him last night, that was also what he said, and until now he still clearly remembered the expressions of the magistrate and the aides at that time.

Just as shocked as he had been earlier.

However, it was still necessary to report to the Teacher.

Constable Luo still spoke in detail, and while speaking, he secretly observed the Teacher's expression.

He saw that when the Teacher heard about the winter thunder, a smile immediately appeared on his face, but that smile harbored a profound meaning that he could not understand.

He only heard the Teacher say:

"It's good that they were caught."

"I did not disappoint the Teacher."

Constable Luo hurriedly lowered his head.

Pausing for a moment, he said again: "I still need to interrogate that gang of thieves, so I won't disturb the Teacher's washing up."

"Take care, Squad Leader."

Only then did Song You turn back to wash up.

Afterward, he came to the bamboo grove to look at the horse, seeing that it still maintained its quietness, only chewing incessantly at its mouth, while beside it was some alfalfa, which was top-quality forage—presumably brought by Constable Luo.

"Ah..."

Song You shook his head and stroked the horse with his hand.

"Do you want to go to the yamen's stable to stay for a period, or just stay here? The yamen has specialized people to tend to it, which might be better than what I can do, but staying here, I won't treat you lightly either.

"Alright, then stay here.

"..."

After eating breakfast, someone came to look for him again.

It was the two Daoist priests, Chuyun and Yingfeng. The Daoist priests of Fuqing Palace invited him to stroll around the temple fair together.

Just as Song You also had some things he needed to buy, he went along with them.

Thus, a group of real Daoist priests mixed with one fake Daoist priest arrived at the streets and alleys near King Yue Temple. They only heard the surrounding noises being chaotic and unbearable, with coming and going pedestrians all wearing excited expressions. The desire to pour their hearts out and the thirst for knowledge were written on their faces, as if they had just heard some incredible thing and wanted to hear it clearly, or had already heard it clearly and couldn't wait to tell others.

"What happened?"

A middle-aged Daoist priest said in bewilderment.

The young Daoist priest had a somewhat livelier personality. Seeing someone gathered in a circle discussing animatedly, he went over to listen, and when he returned, he pieced it together in a babble of voices.

"I heard the Divine Lord manifested his presence."

"They say thunder struck the thieves."

"They say someone lost things..."

The middle-aged Daoist priest couldn't even listen to a complete account; it was terribly annoying. Fortunately, he found a topic to speak with Song You: "Has Daoist Song heard about this matter of King Yue Temple manifesting its presence?"

It was originally just a casual question, but unexpectedly Song You nodded.

"I just heard about it this morning."

"Huh?"

All the Daoist priests immediately pricked up their ears.

"It's just that yesterday a gang of thieves used unorthodox methods to commit theft here, which was later noticed by the Yi Capital constables. When the constables came to make arrests and that gang of thieves was about to escape, King Yue Divine Lord manifested his presence and sent down thunder to strike them."

"Really?"

"It shouldn't be fake."

"Then that really is the Divine Lord manifesting his presence," the middle-aged Daoist priest hurriedly said. "We should go to the Divine Lord's temple to burn a stick of incense."

"We should."

Song You also went to burn another stick of incense.

Only today the Divine Lord was no longer there.

Afterwards, they continued strolling through the temple fair.

The Daoist priests wanted to buy some daily necessities used in the temple—of course, buying only those inconvenient to purchase in the towns at the foot of the mountain. Song You bought a bell for the red date horse, as well as items like a small pot and a coir raincoat that could come in handy for future long-distance travels.

Along the way, he accompanied them to watch the magic tricks once more.

These Jianghu tricksters mostly truly had some skills.

A thousand hammer blows was a skill, and unorthodox Daoist arts were also skills.

All were worth seeing.

Especially these unorthodox Daoist arts; the little Daoist priests watched with great enthusiasm.

Never think that because the Daoist priests built a Daoist temple, looked presentable, and seemed more formal, they were somehow superior to these wandering Jianghu tricksters.

Unorthodox Daoist arts had no inherent superiority or inferiority, and they were extremely difficult to come by. The skills passed down from generation to generation by these Jianghu tricksters might not necessarily exist in temples and monasteries. Even if they did, most people spent their whole lives practicing just one skill, and folk tricksters didn't necessarily lose to the Daoist priests and monks in temples and monasteries. In fact, if they could endure the tranquility and find a temple or monastery to cultivate in, relying on this skill, obtaining a Daoist ordination certificate would not be a difficult task.

Only talent and effort could widen the gap.

Thus they strolled all the way from morning until dusk.

When the sky grew dim, today's temple fair was different from yesterday's, with many dark tents added. The tents ranged from large to small, and someone at the entrance collected money; once the money was paid, one could go inside.

The older Daoist priests had indeed seen them once or twice, while the young Daoist priests had never seen any of them at all. Thinking the admission tickets were not expensive, they went in one by one to stroll around and see the oddities.

Inside some tents were rare and exotic curiosities, such as a peacock with pure black feathers, a flawless white leopard, a giant spirit mushroom rumored to have grown for a thousand years and turned into a sprite, and so on. Some could indeed open one's eyes, while others purely relied on people's ignorance to cheat them out of some money and call it a day.

Exclamations or complaints often sounded nearby.

Some were various deformed and horrifying exhibitions.

Mummies that could move, people with only the upper half of their bodies left, and even human swine and overgrown deformed children.

Under this night veil, actually many people came in groups to watch. It was visible that they were both terrified and fond of these horrifying exhibitions, even liking them the more terrified they were, and getting more excited the more terrified they were.

Daoist Priest Chuyun was female and frequently felt terrified, shielding her eyes. Although Daoist Priest Yingfeng was male, he also often revealed an unbearable expression, wanting to go outside ahead of time.

Daoist Priest Chuyun was unwilling to enter the tents further down. Just as Song You also didn't want Three Flower Lady to see these things, he asked her to watch over Three Flower Lady outside.

As for him, he remained calm of mind, observing while pondering deeply.

He watched the exhibitions, and he also watched the spectators.

Thus tasting and inspecting human nature, pondering the human heart, he vaguely gained some insights as well.

The last tent was an obscene exhibition.

Entering required only a few copper coins. Not knowing beforehand, once they entered the tent, they found that amidst the flickering candlelight, it was full of stark-naked women.

Of course, there were no such graceful curves or fair countenances; it was simply to let the visiting males indulge their visual desires. Almost everyone who came in was also a man. These people either secretly glanced with covert looks or pointed and laughed in twos and threes with unseemly smiles. Those who entered by mistake without knowing better simply walked away quickly, while the bold ones even gestured to reach out and touch.

Seeing a group of Daoist priests enter, quite a few mocking remarks came forth.

"Do Daoist priests like these things too?"

"Where do the Daoist priests cultivate?"

"Lust really is human nature, haha!"

The middle-aged Daoist priests had high self-cultivation, merely smiling in response and ignoring them.

The young Daoist priests blushed furiously, lowering their heads not daring to look, straight up regretting not asking clearly before entering, and only wanting to get out quickly.

Song You remained composed as before, casting his gaze mostly onto the spectators.

The times were simply like this, yet one could not judge the moral character of these spectators based on this. Regardless of whether their behavior was unbridled or restrained, it could only reflect their recent personalities and thoughts.

If one asked what kind of people these were?

Answer: Simply mortals.