Exorcist · Wandering Taoist

  In the past few years in Taiyi Palace, Yue Qing privately wrote a small book called "Shu Mountain Atlas", which was divided into two parts. The first part described all the people in the Shu Mountain world, from the former leader of Emei Sect, Chang Mei Zhen Ren, to the monk Yihe of Ci Yun Temple, including their appearance, personality, and experiences with Taoist magic. This section was called "files". The second part recorded various heavenly talents, earthly treasures, ancient immortal caves, and other information about this world, known as "maps". These were all based on what he had seen in the book "Shu Mountain Swordsmen" when he sold books at night markets before crossing over. Now that he possessed the Soul Searching Secret Method, he could retrieve any information from his memories. Unfortunately, there were too many books and he hadn't finished reading them all; otherwise, even if he rewrote the entire book from memory without missing a single word, it wouldn't be a problem.

  Yu Qing will get the treasure that can be obtained, and the characters who can be won over are all marked with red and blue pen marks, striving not to miss any opportunity to increase their own strength. Turning to the "Gatekeeper" chapter on the top, "Yang Qi", "Ling Qi" and "Tao Jun" have already been marked with a red tick, and the next one is written in bold letters: "Luo Yi".

  Luo Lü lived in Chengdu, and from a young age he was fond of martial arts. He spent money to hire famous masters to teach him at home, just like Tao Jun did. His cousin, Qiu Youren, lived in a village near Qingcheng Mountain. Qiu Youren's younger sister, Qiu Zixian, was engaged to Luo Lü since childhood. Later, she was kidnapped by the ghost sect's master, Qiao Shou Teng, and taken to the mountains for cultivation. She later joined the Emei Sect. Qiu Youren's son, Qiu Yuan, would become one of the most outstanding figures among the Nineteen Heroes of Qingcheng.

  Yue Qing used the pre-heavenly Bagua to calculate Luo Die's detailed information, he should be only 16 years old this year, his parents passed away last year due to illness, and he was left alone to guard the family business worth tens of thousands, usually all handed over to the housekeeper for management, and he himself only followed his master to learn martial arts.

  Yue Qing further calculated that his master should be surnamed Shen, a family of Green Forest Dao in Hanzhong for generations. A few years ago, the Shen family was exterminated by the Qiu family, and he was lucky to escape when he was traveling outside. Now he is a teacher at Luo Lü's house.

  Apart from him, Yue Qing also used the Xiantian Bagua to deduce the fortunes of Ju Youren, Ju Zixian, and others related to the Qingcheng Sect, such as Zhu Mei and Jiang Shu. He drew over a hundred divination charts, spending several days' worth of effort before finally completing them all. Yue Qing liked to plan carefully before acting, especially since Chengdu was right under the noses of both the Emei Sect and the Ci Yun Temple.

  In the Hall of Seven Stars, a group of immortals were still contemplating the Heavenly Scriptures. Yue Qing did not go to disturb them and instead found Liu Quan and Deng Ba Gu to tell them that he was going down the mountain to recruit disciples. He borrowed the Green Bamboo Bottle and the Earth-Piercing Divine Needle from them and asked them to apologize to the guests on his behalf when everyone came out of their meditation. Then, he went down the mountain alone to Chengdu. This time, Yue Qing not only wanted to bring Luo Hua and Qiu Zixian into his sect together but also planned to bring back a few more disciples for other factions.

  Yue Qing knew that the monks of Ci Yun Temple often went to Chengdu City to beg for alms, and the Drunken Taoist of Bi Qiong An also frequently entered the city to drink wine. Therefore, before entering the city, he first dressed himself up, with his hair tied in a bun on top of his head, three long braids hanging down from under his chin to his chest, wearing a coarse blue cloth Daoist robe, and carrying a wooden sword case carved with the Eight Immortals crossing the sea on his back. Inside the case were two Tian Gang swords. In his left hand he held a hemp banner with a couplet written on it: "The divine trigrams can know prosperity or decline." The lower line read: "Precious swords are specially used to behead demons and evil spirits." In his right hand, he held up a yellow copper San Qing bell, looking exactly like a middle-aged wandering Daoist. As he walked along the main streets of Chengdu, shaking the bell and ringing it out loud - clang, clang, clang - he attracted the attention of everyone around him.

  Yue Qing went straight to the Luo's house and knocked on the door. A sturdy-looking young servant came out: "What do you want?"

  Yue Qing pretended to be profound and said: "I observe with the eye of the law, this house is covered with dark clouds, guests are arriving at the door, I'm afraid there will be disaster, I have been cultivating on Mount Wutai for a long time, I am used to eliminating all kinds of evil spirits, as long as you give me ten taels of silver, I guarantee to eliminate the evil spirit and bring peace to your family!"

  The little servant glared with his eyes: "You stinky Taoist priest have gone mad, dare to come and bully your grandfather! If you know what's good for you, hurry up and get out of here, otherwise you'll definitely get a good beating!" After finishing speaking, he jumped out from the door and started punching.

  Yue Qing backed away while saying: "I'm not mistaken, your family is really going to face a great disaster soon."

  That little fellow jumped up from the steps, swung his fist and struck directly at Yue Qing's face. He was blocked by Yue Qing with his arm and hit twice in a row.

  Yue Qingdao said: "I am a monk, you child are really reckless, even if you don't believe what I say, you shouldn't have punched me."

  The young servant was about to strike again, but found that his two fists had become red and swollen, with countless fine needles pricking at the joints, causing him to flail his arms and gasp for breath, crying out in pain repeatedly.

  As the two men argued, a crowd of onlookers had gathered around them. Someone asked, "Daozhang, can you really exorcise demons?"

  Yue Qing smiled and said: "I have studied the art for three hundred years, and I have refined two magic flying swords that can behead any demon or evil spirit in heaven and earth."

  That man asked again: "Daozhang, since you have such high magical powers, you can turn stones into gold and oil into mercury like the legendary immortals. It's said that the floors of the immortal caves are paved with large blocks of gold bricks, and the eaves are inlaid with bowls of large night pearls. You should be considered one of the richest people in Chengdu Prefecture. Why don't you give out silver instead of collecting it when you come out to subdue demons, eliminate evil spirits, and save people?" One sentence caused everyone to burst into laughter.

  Yue Qing turned his head to look, and saw that the speaker was a young man in his early twenties, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, red lips and white teeth, wearing a blue tight-fitting short jacket, standing there with his shoulders wrapped around him, holding a long sword in his hand, looking like a practitioner.

  Yue Qingdao said, "Didn't you hear that in the past, Zhong Lidian wanted to teach Lü Dongbin the art of turning stones into gold? Master Lü asked if it was true or false. Zhong Lidian said that a stone could be turned into gold for a thousand years, but after a thousand years, it would turn back into a stone. Master Lü then said, 'I don't want to deceive people a thousand years later.' I admire Master Lü's attitude, so I didn't learn the art of turning stones into gold."

  His two hands were swollen like steamed buns, and he was in so much pain that tears streamed down his face: "What kind of evil magic did you use to harm me, you wicked Taoist!"

  The young man walked out of the crowd, took over the small servant's wrist and said: "This is an injury caused by the backlash of superior internal strength, not some kind of sorcery. You, little servant, were rude to a monk, it's only right that the Taoist priest gave you a lesson." He grabbed the small servant's hand and used the technique of soothing tendons and bones to massage him a few times, "Go back and soak in hot water for half an hour until sweat appears on your forehead, and you should be fine by tomorrow."

  The young servant repeatedly expressed his gratitude and then glared at Yue Qing with a hint of resentment.

  Yue Qing asked him: "Where did your master go?"

  The little servant didn't answer, turned around and went up the steps to enter the courtyard. Who knew that the gate suddenly closed by itself a step ahead? The little servant stretched out his hand to pull the door, but the two door panels seemed to be welded together, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't budge them an inch.

  This move instantly stunned everyone, and the crowd was filled with discussions.

  The little servant turned around and shouted with a sob: "I'm just a gatekeeper, why are you making things difficult for me?"

  Yue Qing laughed and said, "When did I ever make things difficult for you? It's clear that you're the one who's always making things hard for me. If we're talking about real age, your grandfather would still be too young to be my grandson. You don't respect your elders, and instead of using your fists to hit me, I'm giving you a lesson. What's wrong with that? I'll ask your homeroom teacher to confirm what I said. If you just admit it, then we can end this here. Otherwise, you might not be able to leave through this door today."

  The young servant reluctantly said: "My family's little one has gone to Guan County to visit relatives and won't be back until tomorrow morning."

  Yue Qing nodded and made a welcoming gesture. The little servant quickly opened the door and rushed in like a rabbit, locking them inside.

  He turned around and was about to leave when a middle-aged man stopped him: "If someone is possessed by an evil spirit, like a wild beast, crawling and biting all over the place, is there any way to cure them?"

  "That's natural, I've been studying Taoism with an immortal in the deep mountains since childhood, and I've cultivated boundless magical powers. Slaying demons and eliminating evil is nothing to me!" Yue Qing stroked his chest, admiring the beautiful long hair, and looked at this person, who was also a slave from a wealthy family. "I see that your complexion is dull and you have an aura of evil on you. There must be someone in your esteemed household who has been afflicted by evil spirits."

  That man nodded his head like a chick pecking at grain: "Master, you really have spiritual powers, just by looking at me with your two eyes, you know where the knot is. If you really have magical powers, then follow me on this trip, and when the matter is settled, our old master will certainly not treat you unfairly."

  It turned out that this family was surnamed Zhu, also a descendant of an official family, with a wealth of millions, and only three houses away from the Luo family. In front of it was a wide and bright gate, under the eaves hung a row of large red lanterns. Yue Qing followed the servant into the mansion, and that little fellow who had been watching the excitement also followed in. The servants in the mansion thought they were together and didn't stop them.