Chapter 20: An Invitation from a Senior Brother
Li Qingyun and Zhao Yifan chatted and laughed as they walked together to the dining hall for a meal.
Inside the dining hall, they happened to run into Ge Xiaohong, Yin Huan, and a few others — but He Xiao was nowhere to be seen. The self-proclaimed dashing and free-spirited roommate had most likely rushed off to start his work at the front temple.
When Ge Xiaohong and the others saw Li Qingyun walking and talking so cheerfully with Zhao Yifan, their expressions shifted with a hint of surprise.
Because of what He Xiao had said about Li Qingyun only knowing how to sit stiffly in meditation, his standing in the eyes of Yin Huan and the others had quietly dropped a notch.
What could a meditation drone like him possibly offer to earn Senior Brother Zhao's favor? Could it be that Senior Brother Zhao also had his eye on the Clear Yang Fish connections from the Marquis of Qinghe's Manor?
"Zhao Yifan is an elite disciple at the third layer of Qi Refining — why does he seem so close with Qingyun?"
"I heard Zhao Yifan is Steward Zhao's own nephew. He rarely comes to the dining hall. This is a good opportunity — why don't we all go introduce ourselves?"
"Senior Brother Zhao, Junior Brother Li…" Yin Huan and the others, being sharp-eyed opportunists, knew how to seize a moment. They immediately stepped forward to strike up a conversation with Zhao Yifan, the elite disciple of the temple.
In the course of their chatter, they also probed at how Li Qingyun had come to know Senior Brother Zhao.
Li Qingyun caught Zhao Yifan's eye and gave a subtle look, signaling him not to reveal his cultivation level.
Zhao Yifan understood at once, assuming that Junior Brother Qingyun was simply being kind-hearted and didn't want to discourage Ge Xiaohong and the other "hopeless cases."
Faced with the flattery of a group of unremarkable idle disciples, Zhao Yifan accepted it all graciously, adopting a slightly elevated air to showcase the bearing of an elite disciple.
This familiar scene — idle disciples fawning over elite ones — was nothing more than the ordinary state of affairs in the rear mountain.
"A bunch of ordinary mortals with no hope of ever truly entering the path, and yet they seem to carry some kind of superiority complex in front of Junior Brother Qingyun. I wonder where they get that confidence," Zhao Yifan thought with quiet amusement as he noticed the subtle attitude Ge Xiaohong and the others held toward Li Qingyun.
What he did notice, however, was that Junior Brother Qingyun remained gentle and composed throughout — reserved and humble — which only deepened Zhao Yifan's favorable impression of him and made him all the more eager to bring him to the Scripture Hall entrance.
Affairs within the temple were complicated. Even the Dao masters above engaged in open and covert rivalry. Whoever had a promising disciple under their wing gained more prestige and influence.
After leaving the dining hall, Zhao Yifan chatted with Li Qingyun a while longer, gave him the address of his private courtyard, and made a pointed remark about Lu Nanling.
"Junior Brother Qingyun, Keeper Lu is well known for his love of leisure and wealth. He also exploits the privileges of his position as Keeper of Records to hand out ten Dao Affinity Tokens every year. So I think you should be careful about choosing a Dao master to follow. You know how it is — everything in this world is bound by cause and effect…"
On the subject of Lu Nanling, Li Qingyun found it difficult to respond. He simply smiled and said nothing.
Zhao Yifan didn't mind. He knew that even if only a little of what he'd said took root, it would be worth something.
Finally, he got to the real matter at hand.
"I've taken on a mission from the External Affairs Hall — ghost suppression and pacification in Yinshan Town. The town sits near the edge of the Great Yin Mountain, and wandering spirits and wild ghosts have been harming people there. I'm not entirely confident going alone, so I've been making preparations these past few days. It just so happens I saw that your thunder arts are coming along nicely, Qingyun. How about we go together? I'll split the spirit stones and Contribution Points with you — three parts out of ten for you."
"Ghost suppression?" Li Qingyun's interest was immediately piqued.
He had entered the path of cultivation and had made his first strides in thunder arts — he was eager to get some practice in.
Still, out of caution, he weighed his words carefully before asking: "I appreciate the offer, Senior Brother, and I do want to sharpen myself. But my cultivation is still shallow right now, and I'd like to put in a bit more work on my thunder arts first. So I'm wondering — when are you planning to set out? If it's too soon, I'm afraid I won't be able to join you."
Li Qingyun was not so reckless as to think that his current cultivation at the first layer of Qi Refining was enough to face demons and monsters with confidence.
But in a few more days, his cultivation would have risen considerably and his thunder arts would be more refined — then it would be perfectly reasonable to head down the mountain and broaden his experience.
With Senior Brother Zhao, who knew the ropes, to guide and lead the way, Li Qingyun could also accumulate some early practical experience in suppressing demons and exorcising ghosts.
"I'm planning to stock up on talismans and Minor Herb Pills, and also wait for Junior Brother Gu Zijian to return to the temple so I can borrow his thousand-year peach wood sword. Once that's sorted, I'll be about ready. Junior Brother Gu is leading a group down the mountain to patrol the surrounding villages and may not be back for a few days, so there's no rush for now…"
Zhao Yifan was genuinely trying to bring Li Qingyun on board, so he held nothing back and laid out his preparations in detail.
Every trip down the mountain to subdue demons and suppress the supernatural was no easy matter for so-called elite disciples of Lingbao Temple like Zhao Yifan. It was never as simple as strapping a spell-sword to your back and strolling down the mountain to win glory.
One misstep, and you might not come back at all. Such lessons had piled up throughout Lingbao Temple's history.
Among the disciples of Lingbao Temple, those who had truly mastered thunder arts were vanishingly few. The truly capable ones had long since left the temple, been admitted into the Lingbao Sect behind it, and ascended to a level that the temple's disciples could only look up to in awe.
That was precisely why Zhao Yifan was so eager to befriend Li Qingyun.
At a critical moment, a well-placed thunder technique could save your life.
"Alright then — just call on me when the time comes, Senior Brother."
Li Qingyun thought it over and agreed.
In a few days, his true cultivation level would be no lower than Zhao Yifan's.
Even if something unexpected arose, he could protect himself.
Most importantly, he needed to make a trip to the Scripture Repository — he was running dangerously low on funds, and his money was simply not enough anymore.
"Ha! With Junior Brother's thunder arts backing me up, this ghost-suppression trip is sure to succeed!"
The two parted ways on the road, and Zhao Yifan left in high spirits.
Li Qingyun returned to the bamboo quarters and found, as expected, that He Xiao was gone — he had probably gone to the Hall of the Son-Granting Deity at the front temple to make a good impression.
He took stock of his finances. Only one or two thousand silver notes and some loose change remained. The gold ingots and pearls had all been spent clean at the Scripture Repository.
He was indeed in a rather tight spot.
He had only been in the temple two or three days, and already he was cleaned out. It was easy to imagine how difficult it would be for disciples of poor aptitude like him and He Xiao to scrape by in Lingbao Temple without continued support from their families.
The free food counter in the dining hall, and those down-and-out Daoists who came and went in a hurry — they were the most honest reflection of that reality.
The hardest and dirtiest chores in the temple were reserved for those who had fallen on hard times.
Without He Xiao's wine breath and snoring, the room was unusually quiet. Li Qingyun, who had been up all night, caught up on some sleep in the bamboo quarters. It was nearly evening by the time he woke, refreshed and full of energy.
After getting up, he heard the shouts of someone practicing sword forms outside.
Curious, he stepped out — and when he saw the young Daoist leaping nimbly about, swinging his sword in a performance that looked quite impressive, Li Qingyun couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth.
"Is this showing off, or a warning?"
Li Qingyun recognized the young Daoist deliberately performing in front of his door. It was none other than Wang Baiying — the one who had led Lu Liqian to his quarters.
"Ha! Hah!"
Wang Baiying noticed that Li Qingyun had finally appeared and seemed startled by his own fierce swordsmanship. Feeling rather pleased with himself, he straightened up with a hint of pride.
A meditation drone who hadn't even grasped the faintest sense of qi — and he dared to dream of a swan? What a toad!
"If you know what's good for you, stay far away from Senior Sister Lu — she's like a celestial immortal, and you're not worthy of her!"
Wang Baiying leaped and lunged, his longsword sweeping out a curtain of silver-white light. He had clearly put in real work — he had likely been practicing swordsmanship even before entering the temple.
"Not bad footwork!"
He only heard Li Qingyun offer a single word of praise before watching his potential "rival" walk calmly off toward the maple forest in the rear mountain.
"Heh, he's been scared off by me! I wrote home yesterday asking my family to send more money. I heard that mid-month is Senior Sister Lu's birthday — I'll have just enough time to prepare a fine gift and hopefully earn a smile from her…"
Thinking of the faint smile Senior Sister Lu had given him that day, Wang Baiying's heart melted into a dreamy haze.