The Taoist Temple's Trainee Door God

"Judging by your low intelligence and the fact that you haven't killed anyone, you probably aren't evil by nature. Sealing you away again would only make you suffer. It wouldn't teach you what you did wrong or make you sincerely repent. But spiritual energy has only just begun to recover in the world, and I can't let you go down the mountain to do as you please.

Chen Du looked at the gate behind the spider:

"I'll give you another choice-

"Accept a binding and stay in the gate. Listen to my teachings here and cultivate your character. I'll provide you with food and drink, and you'll guard the gate for me. Once you've turned from evil to good, and the time is right down the mountain, I'll let you leave.

"The choice is yours!"

Was the immortal master even more merciful than the temple's patriarch?

Yunzhi's hand paused in the middle of tossing the jade tablet, but she was immediately burned and began tossing it even faster.

The cat watched from the side, nodding up and down.

"I am the Door God!"

Without hesitation, the spider turned into black smoke and slipped into the gate.

The Taoist temple's formerly ordinary, aging wooden gate was not only immediately restored, but even changed in appearance.

The wooden gate was the same size as before, but its grain was fine and its texture dense, making it hard to tell whether it was gold or wood. Several rings of dark-gold patterns adorned its center, lending it an antique charm.

"The jade tablet!"

"Immortal master!"

Yunzhi finally got rid of the hot potato.

Chen Du took the jade tablet, wiped away the seal on its front, then picked up a brush and wrote a passage on the back:

A demon falsely claimed to be a door god and emerged to commit evil, greatly disturbing the people. Considering that it had not yet eaten anyone and taking pity on the bloodline within it, I bound it to the Taoist temple's gate.

Smack!

Chen Du pressed the seal against the gate, and it actually left an imprint on the wood.

"I am the Door God!"

"Then you can be the door god here!" Only after saying this did Chen Du turn to Yunzhi. "Where's the sword?"

"Oh!"

Yunzhi immediately picked up the treasured sword in both hands and tried to return it.

To her surprise, the sword seemed to have heard his summons too. It flew straight out of her hands, spinning through the air toward Chen Du's hand.

The wind whined through the air, and the sword landed in his hand with a smack.

Well, well! So you can do that too!

Why didn't you tell me the other day?

Chen Du was somewhat surprised as he caught the sword.

The immortal master can summon it back with a single word?

And there I was the other day, worrying that the immortal master might mistake me for someone trying to take the opportunity to steal his treasured sword. Good thing I had no such intention.

Yunzhi was also surprised as she watched the immortal master.

The immortal master shook his head and put away the sword.

"Side-Swept Bangs has already told me about your first trip down the mountain. On your second trip, nobody saw the fight, did they?"

"Yunzhi remembered the immortal master's teachings and deliberately kept the fighting inside the temple. No one should have seen it directly."

Yunzhi lowered her head as she answered, thinking that Senior Xie had indeed been sent by the immortal master to watch her. Fortunately, she had kept to her duties and hadn't taken so much as a bone or a scrap of meat from the butcher:

"It's just that Yunzhi's abilities are meager. When I was trapped, I grew desperate and used Gathering Beasts and Summoning Birds to call upon nearby creatures for help. People might have seen the dogs and birds gathering."

"That's normal. It's nothing to worry about," Chen Du said. "You did very well this time. I'll remember it."

"It was only what Yunzhi should have done."

"It's late. Go back and rest."

With that, Chen Du turned and went straight back to his room.

Yunzhi opened her mouth, but still couldn't bring herself to ask for techniques, so she could only respectfully see him off.

She withdrew her gaze, then caught something out of the corner of her eye and suddenly realized something was amiss.

"Hm?"

When had the stone table and stools appeared in the courtyard?

Could it be another of the immortal master's wondrous techniques?

At that thought, she recalled her own performance that day and couldn't help feeling ashamed.

Her cultivation was still too low, and she knew too few spells. If she possessed vast divine powers like the immortal master, then even if she couldn't use boundless magic power to break through all techniques, she could at least have met each move with a counter to neutralize it. She wouldn't have been trapped in the temple, utterly helpless against that demon.

But back then, she hadn't been able to find many spells to learn.

"The time still isn't right."

Once she had stayed at the Taoist temple longer, grown familiar with the immortal master, earned enough merit, and could bring herself to ask, she would certainly request a few suitable spells and divine powers from him.

"Oh, right, I haven't asked you yet, Senior Xie. Besides Shake Mountains and Quake the Earth, what divine powers does the immortal master have?"

"Divine powers!"

"That's right."

"That's right!"

"Oh, it means his abilities, the things he can do."

"He can open cans!"

"No, I mean things he can do without using his hands, like the breath-exhaling technique I've been teaching you these past few days, Senior Xie."

"..."

Side-Swept Bangs thought carefully for a moment before saying, "When I don't behave, he uses electricity to zap me!"

"Lightning techniques..."

Lightning techniques were especially effective against evil and filth. If only she could learn them.

"Is there anything else?"

"There's also..."

The cat was thinking when he suddenly remembered that his Taoist had told him not to answer if Yunzhi asked about him.

He immediately shut his mouth, crouched down and scratched his head with a hind foot, then continued toward the rear courtyard.

"Senior Xie?

"Senior?"

No matter how Yunzhi called after him, he simply padded forward with little steps, his head bobbing and swaying and his tail hanging down. He didn't look back, just like an ordinary cat that couldn't understand human speech.

He knew now that people didn't show their bottoms.

As soon as the light in the Taoist temple's courtyard went out, the mountain fell silent and dark, as though there had never been a demon in the world and nothing had happened at all.

"Someone from the Taoist temple came last night? Did they perform a ritual, or what happened? I got a WeChat message from that Taoist priest this morning saying it had been taken care of."

The middle-aged man surnamed Zhang asked.

"She came. I ran into her when I came out last night. It was that Taoist nun, but I don't know the details."

Old Li's expression was visibly strange:

"I didn't dare go watch something like that, but at a little after eight last night, all the dogs in the streets ran toward that temple like they'd gone mad, and the birds in the sky were flying that way too. I walked a few steps in that direction and saw that Taoist nun coming from over there. It was pitch-dark. I even asked her a few questions, but I didn't really understand what she said."

"That really happened?" Even the well-traveled middle-aged man surnamed Zhang was startled. "Did anyone else go over to look?"

"In the middle of the night, who'd dare go look if they knew about it? Anyone who didn't know probably just thought the dogs in town were fighting or something, right?"

"So that means they really do have some ability?"

"Only some?" Old Li's expression grew exaggerated, as if he wished he could take the man back to last night to experience the atmosphere for himself. "As the old saying goes, skill gives a person courage. Would she dare make that trip in the dead of night without some ability? You've got the fortune of the nation protecting you. Would you dare go?"

"What does that count for..."

"It's daytime now. Do you dare go take a look?"

"They said it's been dealt with. Why wouldn't I dare?"

"Come on, let's go!"

The two left the streets of town early that morning and walked a little farther before spotting the earth god temple not far from the road.

But the temple's gate was gone.

They exchanged a glance. Though it was already daytime, the heavy early-morning fog kept them from daring to enter rashly, so they only looked in from the entrance.

Through the empty doorway, they could see that the altar inside was visibly damaged. Two of the statues even bore marks that looked as though they had been slashed by a large blade, or had been smashed. Bricks and stones lay scattered across the floor. Stranger still, many strands resembling spiderwebs were spread throughout the temple, as if no one had cleaned it for a long time.

"How about... going in for a look?"

"You go! You go!"

"I..."

The middle-aged man surnamed Zhang found it hard to refuse and mustered his courage to enter.

Sure enough, whatever had caused the trouble was closely connected to the gate. Now that the gate was gone, the inside had returned to normal.

"Lord Linji, you've been wronged."

"So what do you say? Can this temple still be used?" Old Li asked. "If you're planning to seal it up, remember to contract the job to me. Give your brother here a way to put food on the table."

"This temple has stood for hundreds of years. I'm afraid it won't be easy to deal with. The internet is so widespread now, and there's a lot of pressure from public opinion," the middle-aged man surnamed Zhang said. "We'd better go up the mountain and ask first."

The two headed up the mountain early that morning.

The concrete road up the mountain had been built under the government's policy of connecting roads to every home, back when there were still village households on the mountain. Because construction had been difficult and costly, there was only a narrow concrete path, wide enough for electric scooters, motorcycles, and smaller three-wheeled vehicles. They had no choice but to get back on the motorcycle.

It was still early when they reached the mountain. The morning mist had yet to disperse, and the sunlight had yet to break through. Before they reached the Taoist temple's gate, they first saw the peach blossoms on the ancient tree. The light was a little stronger this morning than it had been at dusk last night, making the blossoms by the gate look even more vivid and striking.

"This really is a fine place."

The middle-aged man surnamed Zhang sat on the back seat, turning his head to look around. He saw a beam of light breaking through the sky and falling on the very top of the peach tree's flowering branches. The fairy-like Taoist nun from yesterday was watering beneath the tree, while the Taoist priest, as if he knew they were coming, had brought out a meditation cushion and was sitting at the gate, chanting scriptures as he waited for them.

He couldn't hear what the priest was chanting.

"No harming people, no frightening people, and without my orders, you're not allowed to lock anyone inside or shut anyone outside! Say something if you understand."

"I am the Door God!"

"No speaking in front of other people!"

"..."

"Other people. You can speak when there's nobody else around."

"I am the Door God!"

"No letting other demons or ghosts into the Taoist temple!"

"This gate is impassable!"

"That's right! When unfamiliar demons or ghosts try to enter, stop them and alert me. The patriarch is the patriarch, and I'm me. If you behave well, after a while I can consider changing your binding from this gate to the whole Taoist temple. If you do a good job, I can also buy you a chicken, duck, or goose to eat. Once the temple has money, even the sheep you're always dreaming about might not be out of the question."

"Eat sheep! I am the Door God!"

"Very good. From now on, I'll call you Door God."

By then, the motorcycle had drawn close, its puttering plainly audible, and sure enough, the "Door God" inside the gate fell silent. Chen Du was very pleased.

It seemed the spider wasn't as stupid as Yunzhi had said.