[Countdown to World Destruction: one thousand years.] [Please hurry and find the Sky Mending Stone.] [Location three: Penglai Yuqing Temple.] [Character identity: Luo Yan.] [Mirror Flower Water Moon template overlay in progress. Traveling through time and space.]
Luo Yan opened his eyes... No, that was wrong. Luo Yan did not open his eyes, because he had narrow, smiling eyes.
Although his eyes were always narrowed, there was actually a tiny slit between his lids, so his vision was not affected too much.
The place the Kunlun Mirror sent him was a small fishing village on Penglai Immortal Island in the East Sea.
Unlike Kunlun Taiqing Sect and the Shangqing Sect of Shu Mountain, Penglai Yuqing Temple was located overseas, on Penglai Immortal Island, and did not open its doors to the outside world.
For ordinary people to reach it from the mainland, they had to sail east from Qingzhou, first making their way to the outskirts of the Seventy-two Grotto-Heavens of the East Sea. Then they had to pay a fortune to hire an oceangoing boatman who knew the arts of Qimen Dunjia before they could pass through the many layers of obstacles surrounding the island and arrive safely at Penglai Immortal Island.
For this reason, those who came to Penglai Yuqing Temple to seek instruction might not all have exceptional aptitude, but most were wealthy young scions from well-off families.
The sons of generals from Yue, the sons of state preceptors from Qi, the fourth prince of Chu, and all sorts of officials' and rich men's sons were everywhere here.
Even the inn in the little fishing village was built beautifully, standing in stark contrast to the low, plain huts of the fishermen around it.
Luo Yan had brought some money with him, but he naturally had no intention of wasting it on lodging.
After asking the villagers for directions, he set off toward Yuqing Temple.
Yuqing Temple stood partway up Penglai Mountain. It did not look very large.
Apart from its architectural style, it looked more like the landscaped courtyard of a wealthy family.
However, considering that Penglai Yuqing Temple was home to many formation masters, it was possible that it contained far more than met the eye.
When Luo Yan arrived at the main gate of Penglai Yuqing Temple, he saw a white jade puppet blocking a beautiful girl of about sixteen. In a mechanical voice, it said:
"By order of Elder Shi Ding, you are not permitted to enter or leave the sect at will..."
Before it could finish, the beautiful girl impatiently tossed out a small seal.
The seal swelled as soon as it met the air, quickly growing to the size of a wok lid. It spun in midair, then—smack!
It smashed the puppet to pieces.
"Hmph, a mere Nian Nu..." The beautiful girl put away the seal and turned to leave the temple, only to see Luo Yan standing outside with his mouth hanging open in shock.
More precisely, his mouth hung open in shock, but his eyes weren't wide—after all, narrow-eyed people couldn't just open their eyes at the drop of a hat.
Although Luo Yan was new to cultivation, Qiu Changtian was not. He recognized it at a glance:
Wasn't that little seal in her hand the Heaven-Turning Seal, which had once left the disciples of the Chan and Jie sects with shattered skulls and split heads in the ancient war between the two sects?
That was a postcelestial spirit treasure!
"You are..." The beautiful girl seemed a little wary at first when she saw a stranger, but she soon realized something and asked tentatively, "Are you here to seek instruction?"
"Indeed." Luo Yan came back to himself and hurriedly smiled with respect. "This disciple has devoted himself to the Dao. I have long heard of Penglai Yuqing Temple's great renown, and have come from a thousand miles away, hoping only to hear the Dao..."
"Stop! That's enough!" The beautiful girl crossed her hands in front of her chest to refuse him. "Stop, stop!"
"All you need to say is that you're here to seek instruction." She looked at Luo Yan with disdain, thinking that his smile made him look like a fool, and that he didn't seem very bright. His eyes looked as though they could hardly open, making him seem even more foolish.
Someone like him would probably have trouble passing the entrance exam, wouldn't he?
Luckily, he'd met this Eldest Young Lady. Since fate had brought them together, she supposed she could lend him a hand.
This was a blessing he'd earned over eight lifetimes. He'd better count himself lucky!
"If you're here to seek instruction, then come with me." The beautiful girl spoke coolly and turned to lead the way.
"Thank you, Senior Sister!" Luo Yan was overjoyed and hurried after her. "May I ask your name, Senior Sister?"
"Shi Liuli," the beautiful girl replied.
Luo Yan smiled.
"Flowing clouds and colored glass. What a lovely name, Senior Sister."
"It's 'liuli' as in 'five-colored glass'!" Shi Liuli shot him a glare, though for some reason she was in an excellent mood. "Not 'liuli' as in 'flowing clouds and colored glass.' Get it straight!"
"I've got it, Senior Sister," Luo Yan said with a smile.
Hearing him call her Senior Sister several times made Shi Liuli feel positively delighted.
As the youngest daughter of Elder Shi Ding, she was usually the junior sister, surrounded by the affection and care of all her senior brothers and sisters.
Now, seeing a junior who respectfully called her "Senior Sister," she suddenly felt a certain sense of responsibility, like an elder.
For example, she was rather like Yue Lingshan in The Smiling, Proud Wanderer when she met Lin Pingzhi: her attitude toward this junior fellow disciple immediately warmed.
"Very well." Shi Liuli spoke with pride. "Do you know what the entrance exam at Yuqing Temple is?"
"I do not. Please enlighten me, Senior Sister." Luo Yan answered respectfully.
"You don't even know that? Did you come seeking immortality without making any preparations at all?" Shi Liuli shook her head, wearing an exasperated expression that seemed to say, "What am I going to do with you?" "The entrance exam is a written test with one thousand questions. You pass if you answer six hundred correctly."
"As for the subject matter... Daozang. Have you heard of it?"
"Daozang? I haven't," Luo Yan replied with a smile.
That was a lie.
To cultivators, the Daozang was like Buddhist teachings to the disciples of Shaolin Temple. Even a monk obsessed with martial arts could not have had no exposure to Buddhist teachings at all.
Luo Yan said this to test the limits of his false persona.
Sure enough, just as Shi Liuli chuckled, the Kunlun Mirror began to speak in his mind:
[False Persona, synchronization +1.]
Luo Yan breathed a sigh of relief.
So that was how it worked. As long as he successfully deceived someone, the false persona's synchronization increased?
Going by Qiu Changtian's experience, now that he had a reliable way to raise his synchronization, he'd better find a fat sheep... Ahem, find a lovely senior or junior sister to help him keep up his daily synchronization!
And since he had to be "false," this person was best off being a little slow, unable to see through his lies and expose his "falsehood."
Someone like this seemingly foolish senior sister, for example.
Shi Liuli had no idea what he was thinking. She was simply musing to herself.
This narrow-eyed junior brother looked like a bit of a fool, and he hadn't even heard that the entrance exam covered the Daozang. How could he possibly pass?
If it were someone else, she could simply let them fail. But since this junior had respectfully called her Senior Sister, she supposed she could reluctantly give him a few pointers.
"Listen carefully." Shi Liuli cleared her throat. "The Daozang is said to contain three thousand volumes. In fact, according to their contents, they can be divided into Three Caverns, Four Supplements, and Twelve Categories."
"The Three Caverns are the Cavern of Truth, the Cavern of Mystery, and the Cavern of Spirit. They contain the most essential teachings of the Great Dao, and are also the main subject of the entrance exam."
"The Four Supplements are Taiqing, Taiping, Taixuan, and Zhengyi. They explain and supplement the Three Caverns."
"The Twelve Categories refer to the twelve categories under each cavern. The Three Caverns contain thirty-six categories of scriptures in total, which supplement the Three Caverns and Four Supplements, along with various other compilations."
After leading Luo Yan to the entrance of the Scripture Depository, Shi Liuli stopped and said meaningfully:
"So, do you understand what the entrance exam will cover?"
"I understand, I understand," Luo Yan thought. How could I not? If everything else is supplementary, then the exam is obviously on the Three Caverns: the Cavern of Truth, the Cavern of Mystery, and the Cavern of Spirit.
"Good." Shi Liuli pushed him into the Scripture Depository and said, "You have one shichen to read the Daozang here."
"After one shichen, a formation will transport you to the quiet room next door to take the entrance exam."
"Since you called me Senior Sister, I've already given you a hint about the questions. How you make use of this hour is up to you."
With that, the doors of the Scripture Depository closed automatically, shutting Luo Yan inside.
Luo Yan turned around and saw rows of bookshelves filling the room: four rows and eight columns, thirty-two in all.
Each bookshelf had five shelves, with twenty books on each shelf, making a total of three thousand two hundred books.
Thanks to Shi Liuli's reminder, Luo Yan knew he should focus on the Three Caverns, so he immediately began searching for those books.
In barely ten seconds, he found the books labeled "Three Caverns" on the top shelf of the first bookshelf to his left.
A quick count revealed twenty-four books!
With only one shichen, that meant he would have to read a book every five minutes—and memorize and understand it, too. How could he possibly manage that?
No wonder Shi Liuli had asked whether he'd come unprepared! So the entrance exam was impossible to pass without studying beforehand!
"A Jing!" Luo Yan called out urgently. "Can you read Qiu Changtian's file now without the formation here noticing?"
"Yes," the Kunlun Mirror replied.
"Can you read the file back afterward?"
"No problem."
"Good!" Luo Yan gritted his teeth. "Now take me back to Qiu Changtian. We're going to the Kunlun Scripture Depository to look up the Daozang and prepare for the exam!"
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