Chapter 15: Seeking the Dharma with Gold in Hand
"That fellow Daoist over there — it seems like he has a bit of hostility toward me."
Li Qingyun was about to turn and head back inside when, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a young Daoist standing beneath a red maple tree to his left. The man's face was twisted with jealousy and resentment as he glared coldly in Li Qingyun's direction.
"How tiresome..."
Li Qingyun gave a dismissive smile, couldn't be bothered to pay him any mind, and went back inside to continue his meditation.
"Hmph. He's nothing but a fool who sits around in his room all day. What on earth does Senior Sister Lu see in him!"
Wang Baiying stood beneath the tree, muttering curses under his breath with envy, then stamped his foot and turned to leave.
Inside the room, Li Qingyun sat cross-legged in meditation, the Treasure Furnace Qi Absorption Art open in his hands as he studied it carefully.
Combined with Lu Liqian's guidance, reading through it again from start to finish, there was no longer any part that felt unclear or difficult to grasp.
All he needed to do was maintain the proper meditation posture, and the Dao Effigy's spectral form would "do the work" of cultivating Dharma Power on his behalf.
This meant he could pursue two things at once — sitting in meditation while simultaneously reading scriptures and studying techniques, for instance.
The light and shadows inside the room shifted several times.
Li Qingyun looked up, glanced outside, and stopped his cultivation.
He had reached today's limit for seated cultivation — his meridians were throbbing with a faint, dull ache!
But the results were remarkable. His body had quietly accumulated as much as five furnaces of Dharma Power!
He rummaged through the cabinet and pulled out his gold, silver, and jewels, selecting all the gold ingots and the finest-quality pearls. He wrapped them up and tucked them into his robe, then walked out the door.
The afternoon sun cast a brilliant blaze of red and gold across the western sky above Maple Mountain. He was in good spirits, and he paused to quietly admire the view for a moment, silently marveling at what a magnificent sunset painting Maple Mountain made.
"Beautiful as it is... I'm not sure why, but the red feels a little too intense — like it's been stained with blood..."
He shook his head, brushing aside the unbidden thought.
He got his bearings and set off toward the Scripture Repository.
The mountain breeze stirred his blue robes, revealing the youth's figure — slender and upright as a jade pine in spring.
After a single night, he had grown noticeably taller. His complexion could still pass for pale, but his eyes had grown far more alert and bright — no longer the sickly, wan look of the day before.
"First, I'll head to the Scripture Repository and learn a few techniques. Yin Huan said the Repository sells things at outrageous prices, but they're also more reliable!"
Li Qingyun suppressed the fluctuations of his Dharma Power aura and walked among the maple trees and bamboo groves, his mood as clear and bright as the azure sky above the crimson mountain.
The valley was tranquil, the scenery shifting with every step — the rear mountain was quite expansive.
A disciple's talisman plaque hung at his waist. Whenever he approached one of those hazy, disorienting areas, it would glow softly and dissolve the invisible restrictions, allowing him to pass freely.
The entirety of Lingbao Temple — and even Maple Mountain itself — was blanketed beneath a grand Array Formation. His token, belonging to a disciple with "shallow Dao Affinity," only granted him access to certain less-restricted areas. If he wandered carelessly, he would certainly walk into an invisible wall or become trapped in an illusion.
He wound his way along the winding paths, pavilions and towers flickering in and out of view.
Along the way he occasionally encountered other Daoists — men and women alike, some of them clearly accomplished cultivators. Li Qingyun carried himself with a gentle, courteous manner, nodding or offering a respectful gesture to each one he passed.
Some Daoists returned his greeting with polite curiosity.
Others, whose auras were more forceful and whose bearing was haughty, merely gave a faint snort through their noses, didn't spare him a glance, and walked straight past.
Li Qingyun didn't take it to heart.
The path of cultivation was long. There was no need to measure oneself against others at any given moment. Right now, in the eyes of the accomplished disciples of Lingbao Temple, he might be nothing at all.
But in the future, would not these inwardly arrogant temple disciples themselves be nothing more than fleeting passersby on Li Qingyun's road to immortality?
After winding through seven or eight turns, an exquisite three-and-a-half-story Scripture Repository finally came into view.
The Scripture Repository was far less bustling than Li Qingyun had imagined — on the contrary, it was quite deserted, with few people coming or going.
Thinking of Lingbao Temple's general character, he understood.
"Lingbao Temple is just one of many mundane temples that the Lingbao Sect behind it has established in the mortal world. Among all the disciples and members currently in this temple, how many could truly be considered accomplished cultivators? And besides, Yin Huan mentioned that the Scripture Repository is absurdly expensive for disciples like us — so this emptiness makes perfect sense..."
With that thought in mind, he quickened his pace toward the entrance.
At the door of the Scripture Repository, two young Daoists with swords strapped to their backs stood guard.
A faint gleam passed through Li Qingyun's eyes as he noticed the talisman plaques hanging at their waists, each engraved with the characters for "Patrol Warden."
Only official disciples of Lingbao Temple wore more formal tokens, typically engraved with titles such as Patrol Warden, Keeper of Records, Storehouse Keeper, or Guest Greeter.
The token at Li Qingyun's waist was the lowest-grade identity plaque of all.
In the eyes of those official disciples, Li Qingyun and the many others like He Xiao — disciples who had paid their way in — were little more than idle guests being housed within the temple.
Lingbao Temple valued wealth. It needed disciples like Li Qingyun to come and gild their credentials while passing the time. Both sides simply got what they wanted.
"Junior Brother, please stop there. You look like a new face — you haven't been to the Scripture Repository before, have you?"
One of the guarding disciples tilted his chin slightly upward and called out to Li Qingyun with a look of condescending appraisal.
"Let me explain the rules. This temple does not transmit the Dharma lightly. Entering the Scripture Repository requires a fee of ten taels of gold. Furthermore, for each technique you wish to copy, an additional fifty taels of gold or five Spirit Stones must be paid. Additionally, non-official disciples may only browse on the first floor..."
As the string of figures tumbled out of the man's mouth, Li Qingyun's eyelids twitched involuntarily.
"'The Dharma is not transmitted lightly' indeed — but isn't this a bit too expensive? So all the money I managed to secretly bring into the temple is only enough to learn two techniques?"
Even though he had mentally prepared himself and come with a considerable sum of gold, actually hearing those staggering prices out loud still left him speechless.
Fifty taels of gold was an enormous sum in any mortal town — an ordinary person could work their entire life and never earn that much!
Yet here in Lingbao Temple, it was merely the price of a single low-grade technique.
"It seems that until the day I become an official disciple, I'm nothing but a leek being harvested by Lingbao Temple."
Lamenting aside, Li Qingyun still paid the ten taels of gold and walked inside the Scripture Repository.
The first floor of the Scripture Repository held only five or six rows of bookshelves — simple and uncluttered, though also a touch sparse.
A faint scent of ink drifted through the air. Most of what was shelved on this floor consisted of hand-copied transcriptions.
There were very few people browsing on the first floor — just one or two Daoists wearing official tokens at their waists.
Their Dharma Power fluctuations were clearly perceptible, marking them as elite disciples who had made real progress in Qi Refining.
From Yin Huan, Li Qingyun had learned that official disciples of the temple could browse the scriptures and techniques on the first floor of the Scripture Repository for free, while the second floor and above required Contribution Points earned through merit.
Those two official disciples on the first floor were probably too reluctant to spend their Contribution Points, and were here to freeload.
"What I need most right now is a technique for concealing my cultivation aura. After that, I'll look for the higher-level passages of the Treasure Furnace Qi Absorption Art..."
Li Qingyun composed himself and walked toward one of the bookshelves, beginning to browse.
He didn't rush straight to the technique manuals.
Since entering the building already cost ten taels of gold, he wanted to get as much out of it as he could.
He made his way to the shelf holding general introductory Daoist scriptures and texts, and picked out a few volumes: "Discourse on the Two Qi of Yin and Yang," "Compendium of Daoist Methods," and "Lingbao Celestial's Answers to Doubts," among others.