The Eternal Soaring Sword

Chapter 41 - Qing Xuan Temple

After pondering for a bit, Daoist Yi Qing ordered the nearby villagers to find a place to bury the Ten Thousand Corpse Elder's body. As for the zombies, being poisonous, he could not allow others to throw them away. He held back his smell and walked over there before taking out a bluish-yellow jade gourd. The flames flew out and surrounded the zombies, creating a crackling sound. When Zhao Jiuge saw the jade gourd, greed appeared in his eyes.

The strong smell of the rotting corpse spread out and the crowd retreated as gray smoke rose into the air. After everything was finished, Daoist Yi Qing's face finally relaxed.

Then he told the surrounding villagers that the ghosts were caused by the criminals cultivating here and that the perpetrators of the crimes had been killed. In the future, they would not have to worry anymore, so the crowd suddenly cheered. After being frightened for days, the people here involuntarily let out joyous smiles.

Su Su and Zhao Jiuge stood to the side and quietly observed. When they saw the happy smiles of the villagers, the two of them also smiled. Zhao Jiuge felt a sense of accomplishment and wanted to become stronger. He could take this girl with him and travel mountains and rivers, straightening out all the injustices in the world. How wonderful that is.

Qing Rong was a small town several hundred kilometers away from Dong Yang City. The small town next to this mountain range was not large, only measuring around a dozen kilometers, and only accommodated around 100 families. Zhao Jiuge had spent a long time in the wilderness, and now he felt like he was entering into a trance.

After traveling for over half a day, Daoist Yi Qing had led Zhao Jiuge and Su Su to Qing Rong city. Along the way, Daoist Yi Qing spoke to them about the people nearby and strange and interesting things. He made Zhao Jiuge and Su Su laugh to the extent that Zhao Jiuge felt that this Daoist Yi Qing seemed too enthusiastic.

The two Daoist children behind them did not speak a word all the way, they only quietly followed the three of them, holding a shaker and a treasure sword. Zhao Jiuge did not feel any fluctuations of spirit power from them, but throughout their quick journey, their expressions did not change at all. Not even a single drop of sweat appeared on their faces.

Walking on the city's brick road and feeling the liveliness of the city while being accompanied by a beautiful girl made Zhao Jiuge relax. His mood is very good.

Right at this moment, the sound of dogs barking came from a distance. They got closer, and the people on the side of the road all fled. Zhao Jiuge was surprised to see a child running towards him. The child seemed to see some people blocking the way and panicked. He tripped and fell on a brick road.

The brick road was no longer smooth after many years of use, so when the boy woke up, his hands were bleeding from the collision. These two wolf dogs the size of a child rushed forward. Their eyes glowed and they showed their teeth white and sharp.

Zhao Jiuge observed the child in front of him—clothes were messy, the face changed color, and was so thin that his bones could be seen. This kid looks like the wind can knock him down. Even though his palm was bleeding, he clenched his cloth-like clothes so hard that they became red.

Zhao Jiuge looked through the hole in the cloth bag on the boy's waist. It contained only a few bones and pieces of bread that had been bitten.

The boy woke up and saw that the road was blocked by Zhao Jiuge, and two big wolf dogs chased after him. He did not know what to do, so he was filled with fear and his eyes begged for help.

Zhao Jiuge had no idea how long the boy had been running, but he saw how tired the boy was. The sound of the child gasping for breath was like someone pulling a bellow to light the heat of their stove.

A loud voice echoed from a distance, “How insolent little beggar. How dare you come to my backyard to steal dog food!” 

The two wolf dogs had arrived and were barking in front of the child as if they were going to bite him at any moment. This causes the panicked child to become even more frightened. Behind the two wolf dogs was a fat woman spitting everywhere while cursing the child. This fat man reminded Zhao Jiuge of Wang Dazhaung.

The more Zhao Jiuge looked at the fat man, the more he reminded Zhao Jiuge of the bully Wang Dazhuang! He had a silk coat and two jade beads that he kept playing in his hands, along with the jade token hanging on his waist. His head was fat, his ears were big, and his stomach was raised. His greasy face was in stark contrast to that little beggar. 

Zhao Jiuge did not know if it was because his hatred for Wang Dazhuang had not gone away or whether he felt sympathy for the little beggar because it reminded him of his own childhood, but his breathing became rough.

Zhao Jiuge was used to poverty from childhood and had to hunt in the mountains from the age of ten to survive. How could he not know that the little beggar was just stealing food scraps to survive? Even stealing like this, the little beggar would not be able to eat a single meal for days.

He looked at the fat man who looked like Wang Dazhuang with an oily face and then saw two large wolf dogs with sharp white teeth. Zhao Jiuge felt like he was about to lose control of himself. He was about to return to that night when he killed Wang Dazhaung, and a madness engulfed him and his blood began to boil.

He stepped forward in front of the little beggar and shouted at the greasy-faced fat man, "Hey!"

The fat man was startled for a while, then he remembered that Qing Rong city did not have this kind of person. He thought Zhao Jiuge was from a nearby village, so he immediately snorted, “Even a brat like you wants to intervene in my business? Don't you know who I am, Luo Fugui?!”

After the fat man shouted, the two wolf dogs barked once more and kicked with their hind legs with sharp teeth out. They pounced on Zhao Jiuge. Luo Fugui still crossed his hands and a disdainful expression on his face. He was thinking about how to make Zhao Jiuge and the little beggar learn to crawl on the ground like a dog or kneel down for mercy. However, at this moment, what happened next caused his face to freeze.

"Bothering others just because you have the power?" Zhao Jiuge's voice contained not the slightest bit of emotion and was filled with a cold killing intent.

Then Zhao Jiuge's brows furrowed. With a single kick from his right leg, the huge wolf dog was thrown a dozen meters away. It landed on a brick and glided over it for several meters. Now Zhao Jiuge was preparing to attack Luo Fugui.

"Immeasurable god, let's settle this matter now," Daoist Yi Qing said expressionlessly with a white shuffle in hand. He then looked at Luo Fugi before saying with his sharp voice, “Ah, so it turned out that it was restaurant owner Luo Fugui. How about giving me a face and letting this matter happen? ”

Luo Fugui was surprised by Daoist Yi Qing's sudden appearance and immediately became respectful. He bowed slightly and said, “So it turns out Daoist Yi Qing. Since Daoist Yi Qing has spoken, let this matter happen. ” After nodding, Luo Fugui quickly turned around and carried the other wolf dog away. He did not even dare to let out a fart. Forget about Daoist Yi Qing's appearance, only Zhao Jiuge's display of strength surprised him greatly!

Then Daoist Yi Qing quickly turned around to comfort the enraged Zhao Jiuge. “Quiet, Jiuge, this is the road of the world. Bad people will do bad things. After they die, they will suffer the consequences. No need to be angry at such a person.” Su Su also walked over to persuade Zhao Jiuge. He decided that they needed to speak well tonight.

He ignored the two of them as he bowed and looked at the appearance of the shy little beggar. He said in a comforting tone, “Dump the items in the bag. I'll take you to eat something good later.” The little beggar's eyes opened wide as he stared at Zhao Jiuge. Perhaps the beggar felt like the big brother before him looked rather kind, so he suddenly nodded in agreement to leave with the stranger.

Holding the hand of the little beggar, Zhao Jiuge did not care about Daoist Yi Qing or Su Su as he walked forward. Su Su felt a little helpless — he felt like this wooden block was angry at him!

The Taoist temple on the southwest side of Qing Rong city.

In front of the temple there is an arch archway made of gray stone. On each side of the gate there are stone carvings of lions. Behind him was a red double door. There was a picture of yin and yang fish at the door. Hanging above the door was a golden plaque with three great swords: Qing Xuan Temple.

Everyone arrives at the door. The two slightly older Daoists guarding the entrance slightly bowed and respectfully said, "Teacher." Only after everyone passed by did they return to their standing positions.

Inside the Qing Xuan Temple.

The gravel-covered path was scattered in the courtyard, and the ground beside the path was planted with various flowers and grass. The walls of the courtyard are made of bricks and the door to the main temple is a stone arch facing the statue of the god.

 

As they walked across the gravel path, they would occasionally encounter other Daoists. They will all stop and respectfully call, “Guru”. The daoists would wait until they left before returning to what they were doing. They looked at Zhao Jiuge and Su Su, this golden couple, as well as the messy little beggar, with shock in their eyes.

“Chang Feng, Chang Qing, the two of you brought them to the room in the temple to settle down, and gave this child some food to eat.

After Chang Feng and Chang Qing replied, Daoist Yi Qing turned towards Zhao Jiuge and Su Su. “You two stay here today while I handle some things. Tomorrow, I'll come see you two and we can talk at length.” He walked out of the door, and the friendly smile he had previously disappeared. His eyes shone brightly and cruelty flashed in them.

On the way here, Zhao Jiuge had sensed the atmosphere of the Qing Xuan Temple and could only sigh. Even a third-rate sect like this had a comfortable environment where one did not need to worry about the outside world and could cultivate peacefully. However, Foundation Realm cultivators generally avoided worldly affairs. Why did Daoist Yi Qing choose to open a temple here?

He also constantly ordered his dozen or so disciples around and relied on his cultivation to earn a bit of money. How could a naive person like Zhao Jiuge know that for someone like Yi Qing, who had no chance of reaching the Spirit Core Realm, it was better to make money and enjoy life.

Daoists usually focus on refining pills and using them to increase their cultivation level. Alchemy required a large amount of resources, so these Daoist temples chose to stay near the city to curry favor and obtain resources to increase their cultivation. It does not require much qualification and is simple.

Moreover, even humans all had their own pursuits. Like Daoist Yi Qing — despite her mediocre talent and she had no hope of forming her core, she still had to struggle and crawl to get that glimmer of hope. He was constantly befriending powerful people to increase his cultivation.