Early next morning, great dawn came.
Li Chu's spirit was getting more and more vigorous recently, and even just four hours of sleep was enough for him. As he got out of the door, he saw his master sitting on the stone bench in the courtyard in a trance.
Yu Qi'an was fifty-odd years old, but he did not look old at all. He was neatly dressed in a commoner's garb, with his long hair trailing down from both sides. As he sat under the tree, he naturally exuded an extraordinary aura. At this moment, a light breeze blew, sending the leaves rustling above his head. His demeanor as a dignified master was on full display.
Seeing Li Chu stepping out, he took a glance and said, "Not bad, my disciple. Your cultivation has improved again."
Li Chu was secretly amazed. As expected, his leveling up could not escape his master's eyes. He nodded. "Just a small progress. Thank you Master for your praise."
"Your current cultivation is close to catching up to me when I was at your age. Work harder and don't slack off." Yu Qi'an said lightly.
Hearing that, Li Chu was excited, as he immediately said, "I understand!"
Yu Qi'an nodded slightly, showing a gratified smile.
Earlier on, Yu Qi'an had said that his own techniques could only be cultivated by a person of Heavenly Spiritual Root—which would only exist once every hundred years—so he could not pass it onto Li Chu. That had greatly disappointed him.
Thankfully, he had discovered later that he could level up by killing monsters. That set off his path of cultivation. He dared not think that he could ever catch up to Yu Qi'an, and today's high praise came as a total surprise.
After making a simple breakfast, and the master and disciple had eaten, Li Chu changed into a Daoist robe and came to the hall.
After all, he was still a Daoist priest, and his main profession during the day was to sit on a cushion inside the Hall of the Three Pure Ones, waiting for pilgrims and devotees to come.
Yu Qi'an had no need to wait here. First was due to his status as the abbot, and secondly, because there were so few pilgrims to Deyun Monastery, it was common to not see a single soul for a good part of the day.
Even if there were any visitors, they were mostly the poor folks from nearby villages who could not give much in terms of incense offerings. So, there was no need for him to personally see to them.
Only when those few well-known offering givers were to come would Li Chu run to the back to invite his master out.
Often Yu Qi'an would use his mellow voice to deliver a religious talk eloquently. And in change, he could earn an amount that would be enough for the master and apprentice to survive for a month.
Every time, Li Chu would be astounded while standing behind him. This was professionalism in play!
Just as expected of the idol of the middle-aged and elderly women in Yuhang town.
At this moment, the dashing idol was sitting at the stone table in style as he flipped through a picture book with relish.
The wind blew past the pages of the book, and amidst the fluttering, the several large words on the book cover could be seen, and they vaguely resembled Erotic Ghost Story.
...
Sitting on the round cushion.
Li Chu quietly exercised the power inside his body, while this would not promote the growth of strength in his body, but it would cause a warm current to form in his body.
This warm current could relieve fatigue, clear his meridians, promote blood circulation, remove blood clot, and revitalize a man's energy.
Through this exercise, he can sit cross-legged on the cushion for hours without his legs going numb.
For a Daoist priest, this was a very practical skill.
He did not know what to call this power. It was different from physical strength or vigor, it was more like a mass of Qi that filled the body. Once it left the body, it would instantly vaporize and become formless.
There were many serious cultivators in this world, and he knew of the existence of the True Qi. That was the manifestation of the spiritual power of heaven and earth inside a person's body, and it was the foundation of all divine techniques and Daoist techniques, and was extremely arcane.
But the difference was that the True Qi was strengthened by breathing and running it through one's cosmic orbit. As for Li Chu's power, the only way to increase it was to fight monsters and level up.
If not for that, why would he take the 'risk' to bully the Ghost Lanterns?
Yes, even a minute risk was still a risk.
In his view, it was best to get back to that premise—this world was just too dangerous!
Demons and ghosts were collectively known as the Evil Beings.
The first day Li Chu crossed over, he had witnessed a tragedy involving the Evil Beings.
Brother Niu from the next village was dragged away by a Water Fiend.
And to get his body back, his relatives had had to endure the pain and make a sacrifice to the Water Fiend before they found his body.
A veritable tragedy.
Later on, as his status as a Daoist priest, Li Chu had seen more cases of acts done by Evil Beings. That had cast a heavy shadow on his modern soul born under the red flag and living in peace.
After his strength improved, he had also helped out in dealing with some of them, and the process usually went smoothly.
Killing was one thing, being afraid was another.
He understood very well that he was just a minor character in this vast world, and there were countless powerful demons and monsters in this world.
Against Evil Beings, there was still a need to have a healthy fear of them.
There was a saying in the Daoist scriptures: Young people should not be too headstrong.
In fact, objectively speaking, this world now was indeed a peaceful and prosperous world.
At this moment, it was under the rule of the Heluo Dynasty.
This was a powerful feudal dynasty.
After the turbulent wars between gods and demons, the Heluoji clan, whose dynasty had been 800 years since its establishment, was still rock solid.
There was a sound bureaucratic system on the inside, and a powerful army protecting it on the outside. Businesses were prosperous and the laws strict. Against the Evil Beings, the imperial court had specialized agencies to deal with them, and there were many cultivator sects in the realm.
The founding emperor of Heluo had personally decreed the establishment of twelve Immortal Sects, creating the Imperial Examination of Immortals, and encouraged the cultivators of the realm to vanquish demons and protect the Dao.
Both Daoist and Buddhist sects, both civil and martial branches were willing to contribute their own strength to protect the general peace, and thereby expanding their own followers.
However, the entire empire was just too vast. And even if there were many cultivators, should you run into an Evil Being, there was no guarantee that anyone could rescue you in time.
They could at best only try to avenge you...
Yuhang town was under the jurisdiction of Hangzhou City, Jiangnan. And Ten Li Slope, as its name suggested, was located ten Li outside Yuhang town. If one were to subdivide it further, it might very well belong to a certain village.
At times, Li Chu also wondered if he was slacking too much as a person who had crossed over.
It was almost a year now, he was still not out of the novice zone.
But he then thought.
You did not give me any special treatment a person who had crossed over should have!
There should at the very least be an accompanying guide or a fancy system at most. Or at the very, very least, a super-duper ultra-divine artifact-level weapon or something. But for him?
He did not even have a spiritual root to cultivate!
He only had the special ability to level up by killing monsters, and he had to grind hard every night to gain that little bit of strength.
As he thought of that, Li Chu understood everything.
He will never leave this mountain, not in this lifetime. He had no goldfinger hacks, and could only grind on Ghost Lanterns to slowly level up.
All of the people in Yuhang town were talented, and they were nice as well, so he liked this place a lot!
...
The sun was shining and the white clouds trailed.
The trees knew and swung cheerfully.
Inside the monastery, the young Daoist was waiting quietly inside the hall for visiting devotees, while the old Daoist was reading a picture book quietly in the backyard.
It was a peaceful day.
And the scent of photinia drifted about in the air.