"Honored guests, my master invites the three of you inside."
The young Taoist who answered the door regarded Yang Qing and his two companions with great humility.
How strange!
The three exchanged glances, then suppressed their surprise and bowed slightly to the Taoist. "Sorry for the trouble."
The Taoist returned their bow, then led them into the temple.
Contrary to what Yang Qing and his companions had imagined, while the streets outside bustled with life, White Cloud Taoist Temple was extraordinarily quiet.
It was as though the temple wall separated them not from the marketplace, but from another world.
Amid that stillness, the three finally followed the young Taoist to a side chamber.
"Please, honored guests." The young Taoist swept out an arm, inviting them inside.
The chamber door slowly opened from within, revealing everything inside.
Apart from a table, a couch, and a meditation cushion, there was a very thin old Taoist.
His eyes had been half closed, but as soon as the door opened, they snapped wide, his gaze settling on Yang Qing as he approached.
This was Daoist Qingyun, the master of White Cloud Taoist Temple.
After Yang Qing and his companions filed inside, the chamber door closed behind them again.
"May I ask what you wished to tell us, Daoist?"
After a moment of silence, Yang Qing spoke.
Since Daoist Qingyun had deliberately waited here for them, he presumably already knew something.
Daoist Qingyun said, "The departed are gone; the living may yet be guided. The rarest gift in life is knowing how to remain muddleheaded."
Yang Qing smiled at those words. "So you intend to spend the rest of your life muddleheaded, Daoist?"
Daoist Qingyun neither agreed nor disagreed, so Yang Qing continued, "If remaining muddleheaded worked, there would not be so many troubles in