"Temple Master, please come with me."
Lu Chuan led the way, guiding Su Che through the Mind-Stilling Temple as they looked around.
"Everything here has some connection to you, Temple Master. Preceptor Wei laid out every formation and restriction himself. Though no awe-inspiring wind or thunder manifests outside, he steeped this corner of heaven and earth in our sect's principles. Our methods work with half the effort for twice the result, while an outsider's Daoist arts and divine abilities sink like a clay ox into the sea—or splash like water into boiling oil—without a trace of their subtlety showing through."
Su Che nodded slightly. The temple's arrangements were like a mountain hidden among clouds, vast in their reach and joined to the earth's veins, yet invisible from outside. Truly, the greatest sound was barely heard, and the greatest form had no shape. They accorded with the principles of the Mystic Gate.
"The temple has a Founders' Hall, with tablets for the Supreme Dao Ancestor and the Five Directions and Five Emperors of the Ancient Era. By sect ritual, three sticks of incense must be offered on the first and fifteenth of every month. But there's no need to trouble you with such a small matter, Temple Master. This humble Daoist can do it for you."
Lu Chuan led Su Che to a modest old building ahead. Inside stood an incense table bearing no fruit or other offerings, only an incense burner. Behind it were no divine statues or murals, just several tablets at the center.
At the top was a tablet for the venerable Supreme Dao Ancestor. Beneath it were the names of those five unlucky souls of the Ancient Heavenly Court. There was no tablet for the Yellow Heaven Dao Ancestor himself.
The arrangement confirmed one of Su Che's