Spreading His Wings Across the Nine Heavens

Halfway up the mountain stood a Daoist temple.

Dingguang had lit the stove and set the rice to cook early. Now he clung to the kitchen doorframe, poking his little head out to look toward the temple's main hall.

Two guests had come to the temple tonight. One was the same age as his senior brother, while the other was a white-bearded old man.

Inside the temple.

Sandalwood incense curled through the air.

"Senior Shouxin, it's been sixty years since we parted. We finally meet again!"

A tall, white-bearded old man cupped his hands and smiled. Though advanced in years, he was still hale and hearty, and his laughter rang out.

He looked even older than Shouxin, yet addressed him as senior.

Daoist Shouxin nodded noncommittally, his gaze falling on the white-robed youth beside him.

The old Daoist whom Yu Tunzhou had described as "kind and easy to get along with" smiled at the young man before him and said:

"Didn't your elders tell you to give me three resounding kowtows as soon as you came up the mountain?"

The white-bearded elder's smile froze. He opened his mouth, intending to smooth things over, but in the end he only shook his head with a wry smile.

The youth wore a warm smile. Hearing those words, he showed not the slightest embarrassment, bewilderment, or anger. Instead, his expression turned solemn and respectful. He raised his hands, shook out his sleeves, and prepared to kneel and perform the full rites.

The white-bearded elder fixed his eyes on his nose and his nose on his heart, then simply closed his eyes and pretended he had seen nothing.

He knew perfectly well that neither of these two was someone he, or even his senior brother, could afford to offend at present.

One was the Second Master of the Supreme Purity Dharma Lineage.

The other was a mysterious youth of unknown origins, whom even his eldest senior brother had received with great courtesy and ordered him to escort into Luofu Grotto-Heaven.

Seeing that the young man had already bent one knee, Daoist Shouxin waved the snow-white horsetail whisk in his hand and said mildly:

"Forget it. I can hardly accept those three kowtows of yours."

The youth named Li Jingxuan said gravely, "Even if it were three hundred, Dao Lord, you would be worthy of them!"

The white-bearded elder breathed a sigh of relief.

Before he escorted Li Jingxuan here, his eldest senior brother had specifically warned him to be careful of Daoist Shouxin. These two were suspected of being caught up in a dispute between Dharma lineages...

And a dispute between Dharma lineages was a dispute over inheritance, a dispute over the Great Dao. More often than not, it ended only when one side was dead!

He had spent the whole journey considering how to keep a conflict from breaking out. Seeing both sides take a step back, he beamed with delight.

See? One of you backed down, the other paid a compliment. Wasn't that much better? Everyone was happy!

Just then, Daoist Shouxin turned his gaze on him and said with a half-smile:

"Little Zhou, your eldest senior brother didn't come?"

Zhou Tianchen, who hailed from the Heavenly Peng Daoist Temple, explained, "My eldest senior brother was supposed to come, but something came up at the last moment. He has already set out for the Northern Dark Continent."

"The Northern Dark Continent?" The old Daoist frowned. "Wasn't the situation there said to be as precarious as a stack of eggs? Isn't your senior brother afraid of dying far from home?"

"My eldest senior brother said that our founding patriarch attained the Dao in the Northern Dark Sea back then, and now the Northern Dark Continent will most likely be where he attains the Dao as well!"

As he spoke of his eldest senior brother, Zhou Tianchen's eyes shone with confidence. Even though the Northern Dark Continent was, in the old Daoist's words, exceedingly dangerous, he firmly believed his senior brother could fight his way onto a great road leading to the heavens!

"What spirit!" Even Daoist Shouxin offered a word of praise. "As expected of Daoist Fuyao, who bears the signs of one who will 'spread his wings across the nine heavens.'"

Zhou Tianchen grinned, his face full of pride in sharing that glory.

The old Daoist abruptly changed tack. "So this time, you're the guardian representing the Heavenly Peng Daoist Temple?"

Zhou Tianchen nodded emphatically. "That's right. Before I left, Senior Brother instructed me that we wouldn't contend in this lifetime. Once he achieves a Dharma Aspect, he'll carefully choose a fine disciple and return here to compete with the other lineages for supremacy in another lifetime!"

"I see." The old Daoist nodded slightly, his expression a little strange. He looked at the young man beside him and smiled. "Did that old thing send you to take my place, or to fill the Heavenly Peng Daoist Temple's spot?"

Li Jingxuan nodded. "After you leave, Senior Brother, I'll be responsible for guarding this place."

"Can you hold it?" For some reason, the old Daoist's voice carried unmistakable regret and disappointment.

"I'll do what I can and leave the rest to heaven."

"Leave it to heaven?" The old Daoist burst out laughing, as though he had heard the funniest joke in the world. At last he nodded. "Very well, have it your way. In a month, this temple will be yours."

Li Jingxuan nodded without a trace of surprise or delight, as though this were only natural.

"Where do you plan to stay in the meantime?" the old Daoist asked with a faint smile.

Li Jingxuan thought for a moment. "The one from the Heavenly Peng Daoist Temple invited me to stay at the temple and set its fortune in order for him. I'll wait at the foot of the mountain for you, Senior Brother."

Hearing him use "senior brother" twice, Zhou Tianchen was certain he hadn't misheard.

Senior brother, not senior martial uncle or senior martial granduncle?!

He was overjoyed beyond words.

His eldest senior brother had indeed placed the right bet again this time!

The next moment, the three people in the temple turned one after another toward its entrance.

Yu Tunzhou, who had just returned from the foot of the mountain, walked straight into the temple.

He had already heard what was happening from Dingguang and had come to find out more, to see whether the visitors were "enemies" in this contest of Daos.

When he saw Yu Tunzhou, the old Daoist could hardly conceal his smile.

He spoke first, giving Yu Tunzhou no chance to say a word. Smiling, he said, "Young friend Yu, I've heard about what happened at the old residence. Sorry for the trouble."

Yu Tunzhou glanced at the other two.

A white-bearded elder was staring at him with wide eyes and tightly furrowed brows.

The other was a youth about his own age, looking at him with curiosity.

Their gazes met, and the white-robed youth nodded to him with a warm smile. He showed none of the arrogance and sharpness Yu Tunzhou had seen in scions of aristocratic clans or disciples of great sects. Instead, he was gentle and refined, like a scholar fresh from a schoolhouse, and not at all disagreeable.

A thought flashed through Yu Tunzhou's mind: this was probably what people meant by feeling bathed in a spring breeze.

Upon seeing Yu Tunzhou, Li Jingxuan understood at once why his senior brother had looked so regretful and disappointed when he heard that Li Jingxuan had not come to take the Heavenly Peng Daoist Temple's place in the contest of Daos.

He felt helpless. This man really had set him up the moment they met.

Zhou Tianchen suddenly spoke in a grave voice. "Young man, why are there traces of my Heavenly Peng Daoist Temple's Dao intent on you? Did you enter our ancestral residence and rummage through its old belongings?"

Someone from the Heavenly Peng Daoist Temple?

Surprise showed in Yu Tunzhou's eyes.

Were these two visitors from the Heavenly Peng Daoist Temple?

He instinctively looked at the Daoist and found the old man smiling at the white-bearded elder.

Yu Tunzhou understood at once and grumbled inwardly. The old Daoist was up to mischief again.

No wonder the man had rushed to speak as soon as he entered. And though the person before him was clearly from the Heavenly Peng Daoist Temple, the old Daoist's words just now hadn't let so much as a whisper of it slip.

He rolled his eyes. It was bad enough for the old Daoist to make mischief, but he even wanted to set up a meritorious contributor who had labored so hard. What a scoundrel!

The old Daoist kept smiling, though the corner of his mouth twitched. After three years as neighbors, he knew all too well what this brat, who had seen through the situation, was cursing him for in his heart.

Zhou Tianchen stepped forward, his expression solemn. Even if Yu Tunzhou might know Daoist Shouxin, he would not retreat half a step on this crucial matter.

The Heavenly Peng Daoist Temple had been in decline for so many years that it could retreat no further. And now that matters had come to this, they no longer needed to yield on everything!

Zhou Tianchen fixed his gaze on Yu Tunzhou's chest, where the Dao intent he had sensed just now was coming from.

"Young friend, please return the item to its rightful owner." Zhou Tianchen walked up to Yu Tunzhou. His tone was calm but brooked no refusal, and he addressed Yu Tunzhou as "young friend" out of respect for the Daoist.

The old Daoist looked up at the roof and raised an eyebrow.

A small wooden sword that had hung from a roof beam in the temple for years suddenly fell, striking Zhou Tianchen squarely on the head.

"Hm?!"

Zhou Tianchen spun around and looked up, startled and suspicious.

What kind of object was this, that it could fall without his divine sense detecting it?

He narrowed his eyes at the old Daoist.

The old Daoist shot him a sidelong glance. "What are you looking at me for? Do you think I did it? I'm not that bored."

Zhou Tianchen was stunned. It wasn't him. Then who else could it be...

A familiar sensation rooted in his Daoist inheritance arose. It was the Heavenly Peng True Intention, found nowhere else under heaven!

Zhou Tianchen's expression changed drastically. Almost by reflex, he dropped to his knees with a thud, facing Yu Tunzhou, and performed the full rites of his lineage. His voice trembled:

"Zhou Tianchen, thirty-seventh-generation disciple of the Heavenly Peng Dharma Lineage, pays his respects to the spirits of our patriarchs!"

Yu Tunzhou jumped. He instinctively wondered whether the old man was trying to scam him, or whether someone was standing behind him.

Before he could turn around, a wisp of cool breeze quietly circled his shoulder, as though someone had reached out and rested a hand lightly on it.

Yu Tunzhou froze. Was it that draft?

Was it still here?

Daoist Shouxin stepped in at "just the right moment." He sighed at Zhou Tianchen, who was kneeling before Yu Tunzhou, and said regretfully:

"Little Zhou, you're still so rash. I asked young friend Yu to go down the mountain and clean up the Heavenly Peng Daoist Temple for you in advance. Otherwise, where would Jingxuan stay when he arrived? It simply wouldn't do."

"Who could have thought your ancestral residence had a spirit, and that it would take a liking to young friend Yu first? You didn't even wait for me to explain. Isn't this a flood washing away the Dragon King's temple?"

Li Jingxuan smiled. "I could also stay with you, Senior Brother."

Daoist Shouxin said seriously, "I have a problem with that."

Zhou Tianchen was already cursing him viciously in his heart.

After all these years, that old thing had spent nearly sixty years here cultivating his heart and temperament, yet his character was still just as nasty. He hadn't changed one bit!

A sudden, chilling thought struck him. Could this be the old Daoist Shouxin's scheme, revenge against the Heavenly Peng Daoist Temple for escorting Li Jingxuan?!

Prompted by the breeze on his shoulder, Yu Tunzhou silently picked up the palm-sized wooden sword from the ground and tucked it into his robes.

Honestly, he had noticed the wooden sword hanging from the roof beam long ago.

He would consider it his performance fee.

The old Daoist noticed Yu Tunzhou's little move and clicked his tongue inwardly. The boy really didn't stand on ceremony at all.

Never mind. In another month, the temple wouldn't be his anyway.

The old Daoist had already accomplished half of what he wanted from this seemingly abrupt meeting. Zhou Tianchen had also seen his ancestral spirits, while young friend Yu had quietly picked up a bargain.

Everyone had gained something worthwhile.

A win for all.

Yu Tunzhou stepped to the side, out of the way of the kneeling Zhou Tianchen, for fear of shortening his own lifespan.

He looked at Daoist Shouxin.

Before he could speak, the old Daoist, seemingly having guessed what Yu Tunzhou wanted to ask, spoke first:

"Young friend Yu, there were twenty-three people in all who went to clean the Heavenly Peng Daoist Temple's residence this time. Why do you think the Heavenly Peng Daoist Temple's ancestral spirits chose you and you alone?"

Yu Tunzhou pondered for a moment, then ventured:

"I'm exceptionally gifted?"