You Want a Master, I Want a Disciple

"Thank you, Daoist priest. Thank you, big sister. I'll head down the mountain now."

"We should be thanking you for bringing the temple some income," Chen Du said. "And you haven't gotten much rest these past few days, either."

"It's very quiet here, and I've been very comfortable. The food you cook is delicious too, big sister. I just have something I need to do." With her schoolbag on her back, the girl bowed to them in farewell. "I'll come back next time."

With that, she set off down the mountain on foot, her schoolbag on her back.

"That young girl has suffered."

Yunzhi watched her retreating figure and sighed.

"I heard her say that both her parents died when she was ten, and the family's property was all used to compensate someone else. She still persevered with her studies after that. Even in our day, that would have been hard enough."

"Yes."

Chen Du nodded in deep agreement. "She even said your cooking was delicious."

Watching the girl walk away, he felt it was a pity.

Apart from himself and his cat, she was the first person he had met in this era who had awakened a talent for spiritual energy.

He could tell she wanted to find a guide to lead her into this wondrous world.

As it happened, Chen Du had long felt that he needed someone to help him, since he couldn't go down the mountain.

A "person," not a demon.

As far as his own safety was concerned, the treasured sword, the seal, and the way of balance had already allowed him to ensure it for the most part. Even so, the balance was still somewhat fragile.

Most importantly, both the Door God and Yunzhi at the temple were demons, while he was the only human.

It wasn't that humans were safer, but that humans naturally identified with one another and were naturally different from demons. If a human stabbed him in the back, the demons were unlikely to join forces with that person. Conversely, if a demon stabbed him in the back, a human was unlikely to join forces with the demon.

If he managed to provoke the wrath of humans and demons alike, then he must have done a truly terrible job.

Besides, people who had gone through the same modern education system held values relatively closer to his own.

As for convenience, even though Yunzhi often watched the news, the details of modern life weren't something an ancient demon could learn simply by watching the news for a short while. Some things he could explain clearly to her, and others he couldn't. She also had no identity card, and as a demon, there were certain other things it was inconvenient to ask her to do.

Having a real person on the mountain would be much more convenient.

If that person were his disciple, he would feel even less burdened about sending them on errands.

This girl in particular looked young. On the one hand, that meant her character had yet to fully form and she could be shaped more easily. On the other, it meant she had been less tainted by society and was less likely to pose a threat. On top of that, she had seen them "holding meetings" for two nights in a row, and from what he had heard, she seemed like a decent person. Taken together, she was already an excellent choice.

And there was the most important point-

Both her parents were dead, and all her ties to the mortal world were severed. That was exceedingly rare in modern society.

She also had three books, quite possibly containing spells.

A disciple who came with skills of her own-who had ever heard of such a thing?

Unfortunately, when Daoist sects took in disciples, character and temperament had always been the most important considerations. Even something as elusive as "fortunate encounters" came after them.

Perfected Ziyang had passed on his teachings to the wrong people three times.

Though his own sect was small, if he were to take a disciple, he would still need to test her character.

Just as the girl hadn't had time to observe him carefully, he hadn't had a chance to observe her closely either.

Just then, Chen Du suddenly sensed something amiss.

"Hm?"

What was this? The seal?

He took out the seal and looked. Among the black and white ink dots that formed the mountain's silhouette, a black dot in one spot was slowly swaying.

What did that mean? Was a seal coming loose?

"Yunzhi."

"Here."

"Stay alert. A seal on the mountain has come loose. Come with me to take a look."

"Yes!"

Yunzhi's expression immediately grew serious.

Of course she understood that the immortal master was cultivating a secret art and couldn't conveniently use his magic power. He wanted her to protect him.

Another chance to earn merit!

She then saw the immortal master go to the back courtyard. When he came out again, he was carrying an ancient-looking longsword, which he handed to her.

"Take this and use it."

"Yes!"

Yunzhi accepted it respectfully.

It seemed the immortal master also felt that her cultivation was low and her magic power insufficient, and feared she might not be able to deal with the demons sealed on the mountain.

Then she saw him walk over to the door and take the jade plaque from it.

"I'd like to ask you to come with me to the mountain. If any demons come out and try to escape or cause trouble, help Yunzhi stop them. If you're willing, I'd be grateful."

"I am the Door God!"

With a bang, dense black smoke poured out of the door.

Oh no! There was competition!

Yunzhi felt a little nervous.

Over the past few days, the immortal master had always told her to give it a share at mealtimes. The temple was also rich in spiritual energy, and it no longer had to worry about hiding, so it could cultivate in peace. As a result, Yunzhi didn't know how much of its cultivation and magic power it had recovered.

"Side-Swept Bangs, the Door God is going out, so I'll leave the important task of guarding the home and courtyard to you."

"Meow!"

Only after quickly making the arrangements did Chen Du lead them out of the temple, not forgetting to warn them, "Be careful. The demons on the mountain were all sealed by the patriarch. I don't know what they're capable of either."

"Yes!"

Yunzhi's expression grew even more solemn.

"I am the Door God!"

Black smoke also spread along the ground.

Chen Du glanced at them. The only powers he could actively call upon were demons, which was also why he wanted a human helper at his side.

He felt inside his robes. They were bulging.

What a pity! She had run out of money!

The girl walked down the mountain with her schoolbag on her back, looking back again and again.

She was now certain that the video she had come across that day was most likely real, and the comments beneath it probably weren't planted either.

What she wasn't so sure about was whether the Daoist priest could cultivate, or whether it was the young woman, who looked anything but ordinary. Perhaps they both could, or neither could, and the spiritual energy on the mountain was simply so dense that the snake had gained sentience and could understand human speech, or that they had naturally acquired some strange abilities.

What she was most uncertain about, though, was their character.

Leaving aside something like cultivating the Dao, even when studying for a master's or doctorate, a supervisor's character was vitally important.

That was all the more true of cultivating the Dao. If the master she found truly had ability but was a bad person, she might be led down an evil path if she was lucky, perhaps even forced to kill people and set fires. If she was unlucky, the moment she took out her three books, the master might set their sights on them and kill her to seize the treasures.

She often saw such things in novels.

The descent was easy, and she soon reached the foot of the mountain.

More tourists were heading up the path.

Unlike her, these tourists were confident and talkative. They had stopped by the side of the path and were chatting with a farmer resting from digging in the field below.

"Lots of people have been going up the mountain these past few days!" the farmer said in a thick accent. "They used to come to hike, but now plenty of them are going to that Daoist temple."

"I heard that temple's really efficacious?"

A young tourist asked curiously.

Hearing this, the girl quietly stopped, took out her phone, and stood to one side, pretending she was resting too.

"It is! The Daoist priest there is mighty capable!"

"How so?"

"Let me tell you! I was digging here that day when the priest came down on his tricycle. When he got here, it seemed like he spotted some demon or ghost. Swish! He pulled out his treasured sword and started shouting curses. I was wondering what he was cursing at, and then the sky spun and the earth turned, and the whole mountain shook!"

"Haha, really?"

"It's true! See the earth over there on the mountain? It came crashing down in the shaking!"

"Haha, was it an earthquake?"

"There wasn't any earthquake that day!"

The farmer spoke earnestly, while the young tourist grinned, plainly not believing a word.

The girl, meanwhile, frowned, her expression growing serious.

Was he really that capable? Would he even be interested in her books?

But she was still out of money.

For now, the only thing she could do was work at a milk tea shop for a while, then come back.

The summer job she had found at a milk tea shop last time paid eighty yuan a day. A long-term stay here cost fifty yuan a day, with breakfast included. Adding lunch and dinner, her daily expenses would come to seventy yuan. If she worked for a month, she could stay here for a month and still have three hundred yuan left over. It would be like doing volunteer work.

The only problem was that she would waste a month.

Wait!

Volunteer work?

The girl stopped in her tracks.

Tap, tap, tap!

She turned and ran back up the mountain, leaving the farmer in the field and the tourists on the path looking utterly bewildered.