The Immortal Master Imparted a Technique

"Yunzhi..."

"Immortal Master. Yunzhi also has something to report to you," Yunzhi said respectfully. "Please, Immortal Master, you first."

"Why are there more and more bugs in the temple?"

Chen Du had seen a little green bug fly past him, though it had been too quick for him to see what it was.

"Yunzhi will keep an eye on them."

"It's all right, I'm not blaming you. You're diligent enough already. Maybe spring is warming up and the bugs are coming back to life. The temple is also full of spiritual energy, and the treasure tree still has a lingering fragrance, which attracts them."

Chen Du had only asked in passing. He went on to the matter at hand:

"How has the 'Door God' been behaving these past few days?"

"Him?"

The fact that the Immortal Master was asking her showed that her place in his heart was still clearly higher than that of the so-called Door God.

Yunzhi thought quickly, ultimately choosing to answer truthfully:

"Reporting to the Immortal Master, he has been cowed by your majesty. He's been very well-behaved, hasn't come out, and hasn't frightened anyone. It's just that sometimes, when Yunzhi returns from shopping and there's nobody else at the entrance, he calls out quietly, 'I am the Door God.' It's, um, a little, um..."

"That's not bad."

Chen Du nodded, quite satisfied.

Since the Door God had followed his rules, it was time for Chen Du to keep his promise:

"The temple has been doing well lately. Next time you go down the mountain to shop, buy him a cheap, fast-grown chicken to eat and replenish his blood and qi. We'll still need him to guard the entrance from now on."

"Yes!"

Yunzhi felt a little nervous.

But when she remembered the petal the Immortal Master had given her, a clearly better reward than the Door God's, she breathed a sigh of relief. The Immortal Master was probably just being merciful and kind.

The thought of the petal made her face burn again.

She now knew that "trash" meant unwanted, discarded things. She had always thought the treasure tree was called "Trash," and had even said so in front of the Immortal Master.

Now, every time she remembered it, her face burned and she wanted to crawl into a crack in the ground.

She could only count herself fortunate on two points:

First, the Immortal Master was a very good person. Even though he had heard her, he hadn't laughed at her-at least, not to her face. As for whether he had done so in private, she didn't know. She didn't dare picture it; the mere thought made her face burn;

Second, she didn't know any earth evasion techniques. If she did, she thought she really might have crawled into the ground.

"What did you want to tell me?"

"Oh, what Yunzhi wanted to report to the Immortal Master is that both guest rooms are occupied today." Yunzhi turned and pointed. "One room has an elderly couple who came all the way from Yidu."

Chen Du looked where she pointed and saw the elderly couple sitting at the entrance on two little stools they had found somewhere. They were watching short videos at high volume. From the first few lines he heard, the videos were all about teaching young people to be down-to-earth and righteous, repay kindness, and show filial respect to their elders.

Huh? That's a good idea!

The Door God ought to listen to those.

He planned to look up a few himself after they left, when he had some free time, and play them at the entrance for the Door God.

"The other guest is that young girl."

This time Yunzhi didn't point with her hand. Instead, a little lock of hair on top of her head suddenly stuck up like an ahoge, then tilted toward the temple entrance as if blown by the wind.

"?"

Chen Du stared for a moment before following its direction.

A pretty young girl was there, photographing the peach blossoms on the ancient tree by the mountain gate.

Chen Du had noticed her earlier.

Not because her appearance stood out, though.

For some reason, quite a few young people had come from Yidu to hike the mountain these past few days. In recent years, young women had gradually shown a greater tendency than young men to enjoy going out and to know how to have fun, so most of the young tourists hiking here were women. They were young to begin with, and with a little dressing up, most looked youthful and beautiful. This girl wore no makeup at all, so she inevitably looked a little less polished than they did.

The main reason was that the place was relatively remote. It was in a county-level city under Yidu City's jurisdiction, nearly a hundred kilometers from Yidu. The town below was another fifteen or twenty kilometers from the county-level city's urban area, and the temple was six or seven kilometers from the town at the foot of the mountain. The road was narrow, too; even a slightly larger three-wheeler couldn't make it up. Getting here was genuinely inconvenient, and it wasn't a famous scenic spot, so the people who came here were generally older. They only came after visiting all the other places in the surrounding area.

This girl looked to be only in her teens. Tourists her age ought to be visiting the ancient town at the foot of the mountain, or famous scenic spots around it like the bamboo sea, Mount Tiantai, and Golden Rooster Valley.

"Immortal Master, I noticed that after she came in, she took some time to look at the treasure tree in the temple. Her expression was a little different."

"What do you mean, different?"

"She didn't look at it as if it were an ordinary curiosity."

"Hmm?"

Could she see spiritual energy too? To be fair, the chances weren't high.

Chen Du thought it over and chose to trust Yunzhi:

"Stay alert, but there's no need to make a fuss. Times are different now. There aren't many bad people, especially among the young. Just make sure she doesn't do anything dangerous."

"Understood."

"Oh, right! How is teaching Side-Swept Bangs the techniques going?"

"I've taught Senior Xie the breathing technique in full. It's just that he's different from Yunzhi, and he still needs to explore his own path of breathing. Besides that, Yunzhi is teaching him the Night Tour of the Palace technique. As a cat, Senior Xie is naturally gifted at moving about at night, so he's learning quickly."

"Good, good."

Chen Du nodded repeatedly and smiled faintly:

"Since you've taught Side-Swept Bangs a technique, I can't let you come out of it with nothing. I'll give you a little trick too, as an exchange. How about it?"

"Huh?"

Yunzhi was overjoyed.

I tried every way I could think of but couldn't bring myself to ask, and now I've obtained it without any effort?

It caught her so off guard that she didn't know what to do.

"Yunzhi has long been troubled by her meager abilities and her inability to ease the Immortal Master's burdens. She has wanted to ask the Immortal Master for a technique for a long time, but has always been too embarrassed to speak!"

"What was there to be embarrassed about?"

Chen Du took out the stack of papers and handed it to her:

"I had the spirit in the study copy this out. Take it and practice. Pay attention while you do, and see if it made any copying mistakes. I haven't checked it myself."

"My deepest thanks, Immortal Master!"

Yunzhi accepted it respectfully, her heart racing.

She opened it and saw four large characters written boldly at the beginning:

"Greater Earth Evasion."

Her expression froze on her face.

Did I teach Senior Xie Night Tour of the Palace, so the Immortal Master gave me a more advanced evasion technique in return? Or can the Immortal Master read minds, and he's teasing me on purpose?

I hope it's just a coincidence.

The video really didn't lie!

The cat at the temple is so well-behaved, just like a little girl with side-parted, side-swept bangs!

And he really does let people pet him!

The spiritual energy on this mountain was so rich, far richer than at its foot. That was especially true of the temple. Even as she breathed normally, she seemed to be able to feel herself taking in and releasing spiritual energy.

She had never felt anything like it during the previous month.

Even more wondrous was the strange tree in the temple. When she looked at it intently, she could see light rippling around the marvelous tree as if it were breathing, as though it too were taking in and releasing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. It did so a thousand, ten thousand times more efficiently than she did through her natural breathing.

To put it another way, she had previously imagined what it would be like to take in and release spiritual energy on her own after learning to cultivate, based on what she had read in the ancient books. It had been more or less like this.

The self she had imagined was an expert, after all.

The girl stroked the cat as she thought.

"Huh?"

Why did he turn around and leave? Is he done letting me pet him? His enthusiasm ended so suddenly, without any warning at all!

The girl watched the cat walk away and rub himself against the Daoist priest's feet. She instinctively turned her head away, quietly observing the priest out of the corner of her eye.

The priest was very gentle. He looked down and stroked the cat, talking to him as though he were a child.

She couldn't make out what he was saying.

"Just got back from receiving guests?"

"Meow..."

The cat stretched, his weariness somewhat apparent.

"Good, good. Also, I want you to help me keep an eye on that girl and see what she does in the temple."

"Meow!"

"Foundation Establishment Pills are no ordinary things, and the pill yolks are the essence of the pills! Doubao said a cat can only eat two or three a week at most. Even with your cultivation, you can only have one a day at most."

The main thing was that Chen Du didn't eat that many eggs. He had to eat the whites for the cat to have the yolks.

"But I can give you an extra can of cat food."

Without hesitation, the cat turned and walked back to his post.

"Huh?"

Why did he come back again?

The girl stroked the cat, delighted.

Still, she was astonished to think that a cat who looked so delicate and quiet, and felt so slender and soft, could actually confront such a huge snake.

She never expected that the cat would remain in her sight from then on.

Even when he wasn't beside her and often wouldn't let her pet him, she could always see him whenever she turned her head.

At lunch, he ate egg yolks at another table.

When she went out for a stroll in the afternoon, he followed her.

At dinner, he ate canned food not far away.

Only when she returned to her room to sleep that night did he reluctantly leave.

I'm a natural cat magnet!

The mountain was quiet at night, and the spiritual energy was plentiful. It was so comfortable that it made her sleepy, but she still roused herself, took a plain, old-fashioned bronze incense burner out of her backpack, and rummaged through the bag for some mosquito coils.

When she saw that the coils were broken, she let out a quiet "Uh-oh," but that didn't stop her. She pieced them back together.

She lit them with a lighter and fell asleep with the incense burning.

The cat jumped up and turned on the light with a snap.

"You're back?"

"I'm back!"

"How did it go?"

"I kept her in my eyes the whole time and watched her! But she kept wanting to pet Side-Swept Bangs! Annoying!"

"Did she do anything else unusual?"

"She likes the tree in the temple."

"What else?"

"She likes Side-Swept Bangs! Annoying!"

"That's normal. What else?"

"Nothing!"

"Did she notice you were watching her?"

"Side-Swept Bangs! Smart!"

The cat settled down naturally and licked his fur, calm and confident.

He was a natural-born spy!