Spells and the Girl

During this time, the girl had visited every famous palace, temple, and monastery in Yizhou.

Among them were Qingyang Palace in Yidu City, the ancestral seat of Daoism in the southwest; Shuanggui Hall in Chonglan City, the ancestral seat of southwestern Chan Buddhism; Mount Qingcheng, a Daoist mountain famed far and wide; and Emei, an even more famous Buddhist sacred site. Even Mount Heming, the birthplace of Daoism, was within Yidu. As a result, her already meager savings were nearly exhausted.

She looked closely at every place she visited, but she had not found what she was looking for.

As for the internet, it was crawling with frauds.

Quite a few had even fooled themselves.

She was not surprised to see this video either. She simply let it keep playing out of habit.

The scene changed. The girl in the magenta jacket had started petting a cat, and the person filming reached out a hand to pet it too.

[The cat at the temple is so well-behaved and pretty]

It really was quite cute. With its red pillars and blue-gray roof tiles, the Daoist temple had a classical beauty to it from this angle.

Unfortunately, she had seen too much of that lately.

[Ran into a snake on the way out, so scary]

[Went back to ask the Daoist priest for help, and the priest sent the kitty to catch it]

[The kitty actually went (it can understand people?!)]

It really could understand people?

What a pretty tuxedo cat!

No, cats that clever were rare, but she could not rule out the possibility that it was scripted.

[Kitty chasing the snake away (so shocked)]

The cat in the video really was fighting the snake.

The girl's interest was piqued.

Even if a video like this had nothing to do with what she was looking for, she would have kept watching if it came up in her feed.

It was just that the snake was so big...

Sure enough, the cat could do nothing about the snake.

[The young lady in hanfu at the Daoist temple is so beautiful and gentle, asking the snake to leave (shocked, the snake actually left)]

"Hm?"

The girl frowned.

This was a video made from a collection of photos and clips, and this scene was a clip too. Because the train was quite loud, she held the speaker to her ear and listened carefully.

She listened several times, then paused and zoomed in, studying the hanfu-clad woman's face and clothing.

She looked like an internet celebrity with a beauty filter on.

From that, it was quite possibly scripted too.

"I'll look it up."

A county-level city under Yidu City? That was not very far.

But she was almost out of money.

"It's probably scripted."

Bored, the girl continued scrolling through the comments below.

Fate in the Heart: Is that Earth Sage Temple on Mount Sizhuan? I think that temple is hundreds of years old, right?

Gengzi Ox: I live in the town down below. This temple's prayers really work. Something happened to the owner of the noodle shop at the crossroads a while ago, and after a trip up the mountain, everything was fine.

Sand-Guarding Cat: Wasn't it this temple's priest they went to about what happened at Linji Temple?

Wen Chaoran: Is what people are saying in the comments true? Could I bring my ID card and buy scratch-off lottery tickets next time?

"Planted comments too."

The girl quickly reached a conclusion.

She scrolled on-

MoondownDianUnder the Moon: The priest at this temple is really nice. The temple used to have two guest rooms, and they didn't charge for staying over. If you got tired hiking and went to the temple for lunch or dinner, they didn't charge for that either. People just felt bad eating and staying for free, so they'd put some money in the donation box of their own accord. There are more and more people at the temple now, so they can't afford to keep giving everything away. The first night is still free, and meals are only ten yuan. Highly recommended.

"..."

After giving it some thought, she decided to go take a look after all.

In that case, she would skip dinner tonight and save a little money.

The girl caught the aroma of someone making instant noodles in the carriage ahead. She put down her phone, feeling very hungry.

"Burp..."

The little fellow let out a loud burp and clutched his round belly, stuffed to bursting. "Immortal Master, this is Greater Earth Evasion."

Some twenty sheets of paper lay before him, with a tiny sliver of wood set to one side.

Over the past few days, he had followed Chen Du's instructions and eaten Yang Xiong's Model Sayings every day. Once full, he would pick up the little wooden pen, dip it in ink, and write it out from memory on another sheet of paper. For him, it was no easier than writing with a tree branch on a floor larger than a room, but it happened to help him digest, improving his translation speed instead. So Chen Du had not thought of an easier method for him.

"Thanks for your hard work."

Chen Du picked up the sheets but did not rush to read them. Instead, he took a careful look at him. "You seem to have gotten a little fatter these past few days."

"The food's been too nutritious."

"Get some rest first."

Chen Du saw that about two-thirds of Model Sayings remained and guessed the rest would be spells too.

Should he have him continue eating this book, or switch to another, which would most likely contain spells as well? Or should he first have him "taste" each book on the shelf in turn, to see if any contained an orthodox qi-refining method?

The former was easy to find; the latter was not.

The former was within easy reach; the latter would take considerable time.

The former could directly improve his abilities, while the latter could improve the efficiency of his cultivation.

Chen Du thought it over and decided on a compromise. He would switch to another book first. If he drew a spiritual art on his first try, he would count himself extraordinarily lucky. If not, he would not switch again.

The main reason was that he had already worked out a simple method of guiding qi and regulating his breath, which was good enough for now. Yet the one before him was still his only spell, and he did not know whether he could learn it, how well it would work, or whether the little fellow had made any mistakes in the translation. He even had to consider whether the little fellow had deliberately laid a trap for him.

Thus, if his luck was poor, he planned to wait until he had two or three spells before looking for an orthodox qi-refining method.

"Oh, right, Immortal Master, I noticed something odd."

"Go on."

"While I was eating the book, almost every sentence had a meaning hidden inside that was different from what was written on the paper. But there was one sentence where the hidden meaning was exactly the same as the words above it." The little fellow looked tiny standing on the paper, his brow furrowed. "I thought about it for a long time, and decided I should tell you."

"Which sentence?"

"Someone asked, 'People speak of immortals. Do they exist?' He replied, 'Alas! I have heard that Fuxi and Shennong passed away; the Yellow Emperor, Yao, and Shun departed this life and died; King Wen was buried at Bi, and Confucius north of Lu City. Would you alone begrudge your death? It is beyond the reach of men. Immortality is of no use to your kind either.'"

It was the passage Chen Du had read before, where Yang Xiong said there were no immortals in the world.

"This one?"

Chen Du frowned. "Is there nothing written underneath?"

"No, there is. What's written is the same as the words above."

"Hm?"

That puzzled Chen Du.

Could it be that the founding master thought the passage made sense and had deliberately left it there? Or was it some kind of warning to later generations? Or had the old master grown muddled and made a mistake?

Chen Du could not make sense of it, so he simply took the papers outside.

Thanks to his lifelong habit of reading old books, including books on Daoism and the mystical arts, he could understand the spell.

In theory, he could practice it as written.

But that did not mean there were no traps in it.

Chen Du thought for a moment and decided to find an opportunity to have Yunzhi try it for him first.

How can I ask the Immortal Master for a spell I can actually use?

Yunzhi pondered as she swept the ground.

"Hello..."

A worshipper was calling her.

Yunzhi turned and heard an exclamation. "Oh, what a lovely, well-behaved young lady!"

An elderly couple stood behind her.

The old woman asked gently, "Why are you sweeping? Are you cultivating at the temple? Or do you work here?"

"I'm a volunteer at the temple," Yunzhi said, using the words the Immortal Master had taught her. "If you need anything, you can come to me."

"Then you live here?"

"Yes, I'm here to recuperate and cultivate myself."

A volunteer was someone who worked without wages, while "recuperate and cultivate oneself" could mean improving one's character, as well as cultivating and nurturing one's magic. The Immortal Master had said neither was a lie.

"That's good! It's peaceful here! Young people are under so much pressure these days. You should come live on the mountain for a while, relax, and get away from your phones. Those phones give off radiation!" the old woman said. "And so many young people get depression these days. They really should spend more time living on a mountain! Get close to nature!"

"Yes, I haven't touched a phone since I came here."

Out of the corner of her eye, Yunzhi noticed an expressionless girl with a backpack walking past. The girl stared at her for a while, then, after hearing her conversation with the old woman, looked down at the broom in her hand.

"It's good not to touch phones! Phones harm people!" the old woman asked again. "Does this temple let visitors stay overnight?"

"There are two guest rooms."

As Yunzhi spoke, she kept an eye on the girl. She saw her look toward the treasure tree in the middle of the temple, and a flicker of expression suddenly crossed her previously blank face.

"Is anyone staying today?"

The old woman continued to question her gently.

"Not yet today," Yunzhi continued to answer. "But a lot of people have been coming to the temple lately, and the rooms have been occupied these past few days. If you want to stay, you should decide soon. I've already tidied the rooms."

The girl was no longer in front of the treasure tree. She had moved to the entrance of the Immortal Master's reception room and was gazing at the couplets on the doorway, lost in thought. But Yunzhi could actually tell that she was listening to her conversation with the old woman.

"How much do you charge for a night?"

"The temple is deep in the mountains, so conditions aren't very good and the facilities are basic. Besides, meeting is fate, so our temple master said there's no need to talk about money for a short stay of one night. If you feel bad about it, you can put whatever you like in the donation box in the shrine over there. Give however much you want; we can't see how much it is anyway. All the money we receive goes toward maintaining the temple and covering its living expenses."

"Is there food?"

"There's a simple breakfast for guests. Lunch and dinner are ten yuan per meal. Please tell me in advance so I can prepare them. You'll eat whatever we eat. There may not be meat, but it won't necessarily be vegetarian temple food either."

"Good, good, good! We'll stay a night! Just one night! Amitabha!"

The old woman nodded repeatedly and pressed her palms together in greeting, then led her husband toward the shrine.

Just then, the girl came over as well and said very politely:

"Hello, I'd like to stay a night too."

Her voice sounded calm, clean and crisp.