Seeing Zheng Que agree, Xu Houde immediately smiled with delight. He stroked the long beard beneath his chin and quickly said, "The Immortal Master in Taiping County Town is surnamed Lu. I don't know his full name."
"The restriction at the entrance to town was set up by Master Lu fifty years ago."
"Master Lu said the restriction he left behind would last a full sixty years."
"Only fifty years have passed. It's still a full ten years short of sixty, so by rights, the restriction shouldn't be having this problem..."
As he spoke, he rose and went to rummage through the bookshelves. Before long, he took out two yellowed deeds, then fished some silver from a wooden box and handed everything to Zheng Que.
Xu Houde explained, "These two deeds are for the land and the house belonging to that little temple."
"I'll have people take care of the other matters shortly."
"Keep this silver. You'll need it when you get to the county town."
Zheng Que didn't refuse. He immediately accepted the deeds and silver, then asked, "If I go to Taiping County Town and discover that Master Lu isn't there..."
"Or if I find Master Lu, but he refuses to come, what should I do?"
Xu Houde fell silent. Only after a long while did he say slowly, "If Master Lu isn't in Taiping County Town, or if he can't come to our town, then we'll have to find another Immortal Master."
Another Immortal Master?
Did that mean there was more than one cultivator living in Taiping County Town?
Zheng Que was rather surprised. Xu Houde was just an ordinary person; it was impossible for him to have ever left this town.
Yet from what he'd just said, it was clear that he knew something about Taiping County Town.
And then there was the Great Medicine passed down by his ancestors... Xu Houde's ancestors had most likely been cultivators too!
The things Xu Houde knew now must have been passed down by that cultivator.
Thinking this, Zheng Que no longer felt any urgency to leave. He said, "By the way, Town Head, over the past few days, many people in town have lost their shadows. Do you know what's going on?"
Xu Houde furrowed his brow and shook his head. "Lost their shadows? I hadn't noticed."
"Tell me more."
As he spoke, he hurried behind the desk, pulled out a book with a pale green strip painted across its spine and cover, and opened it. Then he picked up a rabbit-hair brush, ready to take notes.
Seeing this, Zheng Que told him everything he'd encountered over the past few days.
Xu Houde's brush flew across the page, and he quickly recorded it all. Then he pondered for a moment and said, "I've never encountered anything like this."
"None of the old books passed down by my ancestors mention it, either."
"How about this? When I send people to warn the townsfolk to stay away from the little temple, I'll have them count how many people have no shadows as well."
"If they discover anything, I'll send word to you at once."
The old books passed down by his ancestors?
Could they have been left behind by a cultivator?
Pondering this, Zheng Que immediately replied, "All right."
He chatted with Xu Houde a little longer. When it seemed there was nothing else to learn, he rose to take his leave.
Xu Houde rose with him and personally saw Zheng Que to the gate. He watched Zheng Que leave, then closed the gate and fastened the bolt.
He turned toward the study, but had taken only a few steps when a little boy came running out of the main room. The boy wore a pale blue outer robe, with his forehead shaved and his remaining hair arranged in a coin-shaped patch, while a thin braid of hair hung down the back of his head.
"Grandpa!"
The boy ran toward Xu Houde, waving his arms and shouting.
Xu Houde's face immediately filled with affection. He crouched down and opened his arms, ready to catch his grandson as he threw himself at him. Then his expression suddenly froze: there was nothing beneath the boy's feet. He had no shadow!
Just then, the boy hurried his steps and flung himself at Xu Houde, wrapping both arms tightly around his leg.
The shadow behind Xu Houde immediately began to vanish, as if something were devouring it at great speed. It disappeared before his very eyes.
The next moment, his expression went blank. A few breaths later, he returned to normal.
Looking at the ground, now completely devoid of shadows, Xu Houde no longer felt that anything was amiss. Laughing heartily, he picked up his grandson and carried him back inside, gently teasing him all the while.
***
After leaving the Town Head's house, Zheng Que put away the two deeds. He didn't return home, but instead headed toward the broken temple.
It was already noon. Along the way, he encountered several small groups of people.
More than half of the townsfolk had no shadows, but otherwise everything seemed normal. When they saw Zheng Que, they even greeted him of their own accord.
Zheng Que kept a cautious distance from them. After walking for a while, he finally reached the entrance to the broken temple.
Creak.
He pushed open the courtyard gate and went inside.
The courtyard was just as before: weeds grew wild, the old tree stood withered, and half the temple's main structure had collapsed. A desolate air hung over every corner.
As soon as he stepped inside, Qing Li went over and hung from the dead old tree.
Zheng Que fastened the courtyard gate behind him and entered the temple.
The temple was about the size of two ordinary rooms, with a shrine separating the front from the back. The main beam had snapped, bringing down half the roof on the left side, so there was very little room to move. Spiderweb-like cracks covered the walls, and the paper on the rear window had long since fallen to pieces, letting the wind whistle through.
The little temple had already been abandoned for many years before his master settled there.
Even though his master had stayed here for a while, the place still held not the slightest trace of human life. Only the chill peculiar to buildings long left uninhabited lingered, slowly spreading along with the musty smell.
Zheng Que sat down on the cushion where his master had once meditated, then took out the wooden box the Town Head had given him.
He opened the box, lifted the red cloth, and took out the three Medicine Whiskers. Resting them in his palm, he examined them carefully.
The three Medicine Whiskers were so slender that they had almost no weight, yet they gave off a rich spiritual energy. The moment they touched Zheng Que's skin, their pure spiritual energy spontaneously followed the veins in his palm, seeping into his body.
At the same time, the Medicine Whiskers gave off a bitter, clean fragrance. A light sniff seemed to clear his internal organs, and his whole body felt as comfortable as if he were soaking in a hot spring, suffused with warmth.
Meanwhile, the spiritual energy within him stirred rapidly, as though some instinct deep inside were roaring wildly, urging him to devour the three Medicine Whiskers.
Zheng Que took a deep breath. He didn't know what kind of medicine this was, but he could be sure of one thing: it would help him now!
Without hesitation, Zheng Que picked up one of the Medicine Whiskers and put it straight into his mouth.
To avoid damaging its medicinal properties, he didn't even chew it. He swallowed it whole.
Unlike ordinary medicinal herbs, the moment this hair-thin Medicine Whisker entered his stomach, Zheng Que felt a blazing flame flare to life within him. The flame was gentle and mellow, transforming into countless warm currents that quickly spread through every limb and bone.
The warmth was a little like that of the unpoisoned bowl of wine he had chosen here before, but gentler than the wine.
As the warm current appeared, Zheng Que could clearly feel the spiritual energy in his body growing extraordinarily active. Its circulation speed surged, more than doubling in the blink of an eye.
His heart stirred. He immediately began circulating the Life Planting Technique.
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