We All Found Bright Futures While Living on Tenterhooks
Just as Chen Du had expected, the couple came up the mountain again.
Ever since they had come up the mountain the day before, their discomfort had vanished completely. After taking the fairy-like woman back with them, they had also slept well last night. The couple discussed it all evening and decided to return to the mountain to fulfill another vow.
It wasn't that they were afraid the expert on the mountain would blame them. Rather, they thought it wasn't easy to meet a genuine expert. Leaving aside the possibility of seeking him out if they ran into trouble again, perhaps it would also do them good to come up the mountain now and then when they had time off, offer prayers and ask for blessings at the Daoist temple, and stay a night.
If they treated the chicken they had brought yesterday as the end of the matter, the expert might not blame them, but it would make them seem rather stingy. They would be embarrassed to come back up the mountain and face him again.
So they came up the mountain and paid their respects again and again. They also took out several banknotes, presumably brought especially for the occasion, and sincerely dropped them into the donation box.
Chen Du was watering a tree in the courtyard. Seeing this, he said to Yunzhi, who was following him with the water:
"We cultivators have neither become immortals nor practiced a method of fasting, so we still need firewood, rice, oil, and salt. Living in the mortal world, we cannot avoid contact with worldly things, and having money makes things more convenient in the end."
Chen Du was afraid she would politely decline every donation.
It wasn't that he was greedy for money. They really would starve to death.
And they wouldn't be able to pay the electricity, phone, or internet bills.
After thinking for a moment, he added another instruction:
"We mustn't ask for money ourselves, but if pilgrims or tourists come up the mountain, enter the shrine, and voluntarily put offerings in the donation box, that money goes toward maintaining the temple and covering our food, clothing, and other expenses. We don't need to stop them. If someone gives too much, we can try to dissuade them, but if they give only a little, we mustn't look down on it. It's all a token of their sincerity, and we need to thank them."
That was what his master had told him back then.
"Yes!"
Yunzhi gave an equally solemn answer.
She had also noticed a detail in the immortal master's words-
He had not practiced a method of fasting, not that he was unable to fast.
She had heard an old friend say that all living things in the world had to eat. Even plants had to dine on the wind and drink the dew. It was necessary, something they could not do without.
But once a human cultivated to a certain realm, they no longer needed to eat. Once a yaoguai cultivated to a certain realm, it would not starve to death without food either, but the hunger would be unbearable.
Some accomplished Daoist cultivators restrained their worldly desires, and after a long enough time, they no longer felt hungry.
But aside from certain cultivation schools that deliberately severed their worldly desires, other experts who advanced another step would often come to terms with those desires. They could eat, drink, and enjoy themselves like mortals, or indulge only occasionally. Occasional indulgence would no longer stir up their worldly desires, just as even the immortals in heaven enjoyed delicacies from the clouds and jade nectar.
Yunzhi nodded, then looked a little puzzled.
"There is something Yunzhi does not understand."
"Ask!"
"Since Immortal Master cultivates in seclusion on the mountain, surely you need peace and quiet. You also possess vast divine powers. If you wanted gold or silver for your convenience, wouldn't you have an inexhaustible supply? Why go to such great trouble and delay your secluded cultivation instead?"
How would I have that kind of ability?
"That's where you're mistaken," Chen Du told her. "Cultivation is also cultivation of the heart. Although we don't cultivate both life and nature like the Elixir Cauldron School, the principles are the same."
"Please enlighten me, Immortal Master."
"Take yourself as an example. On a smaller scale, if you shut yourself away on the mountain and did nothing but cultivate, how could you truly experience the world below the mountain, which is now completely different from the Great Ming? If you didn't interact with people, how would you know what ideas people of this era have? On a larger scale, if you used magic to steal or rob money whenever you lacked it today, or even conjured up counterfeits, what would you do when you lacked something else in the future? Once your morals and character start to slide, it's an endless abyss. If you don't restrain yourself, how can you cultivate your heart and nurture your nature?"
Chen Du took the opportunity to instill a few values in her, slightly increasing the chances that, if she ever saw through him, she wouldn't kill him.
"That's true! Once your morals and character start to slide, it's an endless abyss..."
Yunzhi agreed wholeheartedly:
"I have learned much!"
"So we can simply let nature take its course. We're cultivating on the mountain either way. If the pilgrims are a little more generous, we'll experience more of the prosperity and convenience of the human world below the mountain in this era. If the pilgrims are short of money, we'll just live a little more frugally on the mountain. As long as we have some income, we won't starve."
"Understood!"
Yunzhi felt a solemn respect rise in her heart.
Poor people were frugal because they were poor, but what other reason could an immortal with great divine powers have for being frugal, apart from noble character?
Immortal Master really is an expert...
It was one thing for his cultivation to be profound and his attainments deep, but he was also refined and gentle, with compassion in his heart. Even his voice was soft when he spoke! He didn't stand on ceremony, savoring the beauty of the mortal world like an ordinary person. He treated his pet cat like a personal disciple and could even be tolerant of a snake blocking the path in the mountains. He cherished flowers and grasses, and though he possessed great divine powers, he never used them to amass wealth. Wasn't this a return to simplicity and truth?
He was exactly like the expert immortal master she had imagined.
If she could keep following an immortal expert like him, why should she worry about failing to attain the true fruit of cultivation?
Yunzhi was already dreaming of the future.
As she did, she remembered something else.
"Oh, right, Immortal Master. Yunzhi just remembered that when the spiritual energy dissipated back then, although Yunzhi entered a deathlike sleep-or, in Immortal Master's words, sealed herself away-there was still a chance that Yunzhi would never wake again. So Yunzhi left some objects she had loved in life in the tomb, as... as burial goods she had prepared for herself."
On the day she awakened, she had been dazed and pressed by the thunder, so she had neither remembered those things at all nor had any opportunity to concern herself with them. In the days since, she had been staying at the Daoist temple under the immortal master's watchful eye. To tell the truth, she had been on tenterhooks the whole time, her mind full of how to deal with, and even please, this immortal master who wielded great power. She had even less opportunity to think about those things.
Fortunately, it wasn't too late to remember them today.
"Immortal Master is right. Living in the mortal world, one cannot avoid needing gold and silver, and keeping too far removed from the world is actually detrimental to cultivating the heart. Yunzhi was thinking that the objects people once loved and sought after would be antiques, but she doesn't know whether they are still prized today. If they are, then the things Yunzhi left behind should be worth at least some money. Yunzhi would like to fetch them, with Immortal Master's permission."
As she spoke, she stole a glance at the immortal master.
She had said she would exchange them for money for herself, but she also intended to present some to the immortal master.
For one thing, she was living under someone else's roof now and naturally had to be tactful. For another, she was staying at the Daoist temple, and her food, drink, and other expenses all came from the temple, so it was only right for her to contribute.
But she couldn't tell what the immortal master was thinking, so she could only sound him out. She planned to watch for the slightest hint, then find some reason to offer them up, such as making a charitable donation or paying for her living expenses.
"Antiques are certainly valuable now, but the waters run deep, and there are laws and regulations to contend with. Selling them carelessly could easily attract attention." Chen Du wasn't very interested. "Since they're things you used to like, it wouldn't be bad to bring them back as keepsakes. Just think of the present as your 'next life.'"
Hearing this, Yunzhi's expression froze.
Those few words were like a pebble dropped into an old well, sending ripples across its surface.
That's right. Aren't things placed in a tomb as burial goods meant for the next life? How isn't this a kind of next life?
Her things were different from others', too. Other people's "burial goods" were chosen by later generations, while she had chosen her own with her own hands, leaving them to her next life herself.
"Yes!"
The tomb wasn't far from here, and there was no need to prepare anything. Having received the immortal master's permission, she went straight out to find it.
The temple's black-and-white cat stood at the door, watching her leave. Once she was far away, it immediately raced back inside.
"Has she gone far?"
"Meow!"
"Phew..."
Chen Du immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
To tell the truth, he had been on tenterhooks these past few days, living in the same Daoist temple as this yaoguai and matching wits and courage with her.
Even though Yunzhi's conduct so far suggested that she had a decent disposition, the yaoguai stories handed down in old books had never lacked sinister, cunning demons and spirits who were skilled at disguise and deception.
Chen Du was a kindhearted person, but with the weight of his life and a tremendous future at stake, he had no choice but to consider the worst possible outcome.
Besides, this yaoguai really had stolen before. At the very least, she had indeed slipped back into the Daoist temple after he told her to leave. As for her claim that she had "taken the petals from the trash can," that was purely her side of the story. Chen Du didn't know whether she had stolen petals, the treasure tree, or something else entirely.
Fortunately, things were looking up now. He could see that the yaoguai was growing more and more in awe of him, which both ensured his safety and helped with his plans going forward.
If things continued like this, why should he worry about not obtaining a cultivation method through her?
Chen Du nodded, then went to look in the donation box. Inside were banknotes of various denominations, totaling exactly 888 yuan.
A pleasing number made it easier not to begrudge the amount.
Chen Du was even less inclined to think it was too little.
"Perfect, and it's cash, too. The temple has run out of cash. The tourists who come hiking are all young, and young people don't carry cash these days. Otherwise, I'd have to find someone to withdraw it from a bank in town."
All the temple's purchases now depended on Yunzhi. She didn't know how to use a phone, and without cash she couldn't get anywhere.