Because his Mom gave him an earful, he almost missed out on lunch.
His Mom had already gone into berserker mode.
To avoid her wrath, Shen Siyuan didn't dare linger at home after lunch, hopping on his Dad's Motorcycle and heading straight for the Wind Listening Temple.
However, the Motorcycle couldn't make it up Little Wind Ridge, so Shen Siyuan found a nearby Tree Shade to park.
If he didn't park in the shade, his butt would probably be grilled on the seat when he came back.
He grabbed the Iron Shovel from the back of the bike, shouldered it, and then pushed through the weeds towards Little Wind Ridge.
In the distance, he saw the Old Daoist waiting at the path's entrance.
"Daozhang, have you been waiting long?" Shen Siyuan walked over to greet him.
"Not at all, I just arrived myself," the Old Daoist said with a cheerful laugh.
Under the afternoon sun, his wide sleeves fluttered, giving him an even more transcendent and otherworldly air.
"Where's my Maternal Granduncle? Isn't he with you?" Shen Siyuan asked, looking around.The Old Daoist led Shen Siyuan up the mountain and slowly said, "He left last night."
"Left?"
Shen Siyuan had a good idea of where he had gone.
The Old Daoist didn't elaborate on the matter of Yu Youcai.
Instead, he began to speak of his Wind Listening Temple.
"The Wind Listening Temple was built by Xuan Yuanzi. Xuan Yuanzi was from the Dragon Gate Sect.
In his youth, Daozhang Xuan Yuan studied Confucianism. Before he was twenty, he suffered three great illnesses that nearly claimed his life.
Through his sickness, he gained enlightenment and thus aspired to…"
"Later, Xuan Yuanzi listened to the wind and watched the moon on Dragon Tiger Mountain, finally achieving enlightenment. He then came here and established the Wind Listening Temple…"
"Uh… someone from the Dragon Gate Sect achieved enlightenment in the Orthodox Unity Sect's territory?"
"Haha, don't mind the details.
Whether it's the Dragon Gate Sect or the Orthodox Unity Sect, although our philosophies differ, we are all Fellow Daoists walking the path of cultivation, seeking the location of the Dao…"
As they spoke, the Old Daoist led Shen Siyuan to a massive Bodhi Tree.
It wasn't just Buddhist temples that planted Bodhi Trees.
They were quite common here in the Qiong Sea region, so it wasn't strange for a Daoist temple to have one in front of it.
Behind the Bodhi Tree was a pile of crumbling ruins.
This was the Old Daoist's Wind Listening Temple. Judging by its scale, the temple wasn't large, but even so, everything besides the main hall seemed to have collapsed.
Weeds and thorns grew wildly from the cracks between the bricks and stones.
The Old Daoist stood behind Shen Siyuan.
Seeing him survey the ruins, he couldn't help but let out a long sigh.
"Our Wind Listening Temple may not be a famous mountain temple, but its lineage has been passed down for several hundred years.
I never thought the temple would be ruined and the inheritance severed in my hands…"
"You can't be blamed for this. Within this past century, a great man created an unprecedented era of prosperity for Huaxia.
In this prosperous age where the Divine Path does not manifest and the Human Path greatly prospers, how many temples could have survived intact?" Shen Siyuan offered comfortingly.
Although he hadn't lived through that era, he understood from snippets in books that it was the torrent of history, rolling forward and crushing all Ox Ghosts and Snake Spirits in its path.
"Let's not talk about that," the Old Daoist said, pointing toward the side hall.
"There's a well over there.
Walk ten paces east from the well's edge, and you'll find a stone slab. Pry it open and dig down…"
Shen Siyuan stepped on the weeds, used the shovel to push aside the thorns, and walked into the ruins.
His eyes fell upon the Statues of the Three Pure Ones in the main hall. He thought for a moment, put down his shovel, and bowed a few times to the broken statues.
The Old Daoist, following behind Shen Siyuan, showed a gratified expression at the sight.
After his Worship, Shen Siyuan picked up the Iron Shovel again and went to the location the Old Daoist had mentioned.
He saw a dry well, its rim covered in rope marks. Peeking inside, the well's walls had long since caved in.
Shen Siyuan walked ten paces east from the well's edge, which was exactly in the direction of the side hall. The path was paved with bluestone slabs.
"Is it here?" Shen Siyuan asked, stomping his foot.
"Yes, right here," the Old Daoist said.
Hearing this, Shen Siyuan didn't waste any more words. He used the Iron Shovel to pry the stone slab open, moved it aside, and then started digging down.
However—
Several hours later, a sweat-drenched Shen Siyuan couldn't help but look up and ask the Old Daoist standing outside the pit, "Daozhang, just how deep did you bury this? How much longer do I have to dig?"
"Soon, soon. If I didn't bury it deep, wouldn't someone else have dug it up already?" the Old Daoist said with a cheerful laugh.
Shen Siyuan was exasperated.
"It's been almost an hour since the first time you said 'soon'."
"Look, isn't that it?" the Old Daoist suddenly said.
Shen Siyuan quickly followed his gaze and saw a dark, solid object poking out of the dirt.
He hurriedly cleared the surrounding soil with the Iron Shovel, revealing the object in its entirety.
It was a soy-sauce-colored wine jar.
He lifted the wine jar out of the pit and eagerly tried to open it, only to find that the mouth was not only covered by a lid but also wrapped in deerskin paper and sealed with a thick layer of wax.
"Don't bother with all that. Just smash the jar open," said the Old Daoist.
"This jar isn't an antique, is it?"
"It's just an ordinary wine container, not some antique."
Hearing this, Shen Siyuan didn't hesitate.
He smashed the jar with the Iron Shovel, and everything inside spilled out.
Shen Siyuan glanced over the contents: a small booklet, a fragmented jade seal, a finger-length jade tablet, and an iron chain.
An iron chain?
Shen Siyuan first picked up the jade seal to examine it. After all, this kind of thing held extraordinary significance in ancient times.
Unfortunately, the jade seal was severely damaged. Only seven characters remained: 【Imperial Command Authorizing the Enfeoffment of the Guardian Mountain】.
The rest was broken off, so the other characters were unknown.
"You can actually recognize the characters on it?"
The Old Daoist was greatly surprised to hear Shen Siyuan muttering the words.
This was Cloud Seal Script, which was very difficult for ordinary people to recognize.
Shen Siyuan didn't explain.
It wasn't him who recognized it, but the Nine Nether Demon Lord. The heritage of the Great Wilderness Civilization shared many similarities with Huaxia's.
Shen Siyuan even suspected there might be some connection between the two worlds, which could also be the reason why the Ten Thousand Souls Banner had brought the Nine Nether Demon Lord's Remnant Soul to this realm.
Siyuan then picked up the jade tablet, which also had a few characters on it.
【Red Water River Command】
There were some water-like patterns around the edges.
Shen Siyuan put it down and picked up the booklet.
Written on it was 【Embracing Wind Slumber】, though these characters were not in cloud script.
"This is the Inheritance Object of our Wind Listening Temple.
I'm entrusting it to you now. If you can gain some enlightenment from it, I hope Fellow Daoist can help pass it on.
If not, then the lineage of the Wind Listening Temple will end here. Such is fate."
After speaking, the Old Daoist gave Shen Siyuan a deep, very solemn bow.
"Don't worry, Daozhang," Shen Siyuan said casually.
Shen Siyuan opened 【Embracing Wind Slumber】.
The opening was an explanation of wind and clouds, followed by some diagrams for practice. The diagrams had red arrows indicating the flow of qi, and each position had detailed annotations.
The movements looked a bit like Tai Chi, holding an imaginary object in one's arms, focusing the mind and spirit.
This was likely the origin of the name 【Embracing Wind Slumber】.
However, after reading the opening explanation, Shen Siyuan felt that 【Wind Cloud】 would be a more fitting name.
This Cultivation Practice Method was quite profound.
Getting started wasn't actually difficult; the hard part was that the world now completely lacked Spiritual Qi, leaving no gate to enter. In the end, it could only be reduced to a type of health exercise like Tai Chi.
"In that case, I'll entrust it to you, little friend. I hope your Cultivation Base improves by leaps and bounds, that you attain the Great Dao, and uncover the secrets of heaven and earth… haha…"
Shen Siyuan, who was flipping through 【Embracing Wind Slumber】, heard something was off.
He turned his head and saw that the Old Daoist's lower body had already vanished. However, he wore a smile, showing no trace of fear or panic, only a sense of calm acceptance.
"Daozhang…"
Shen Siyuan subconsciously wanted to summon the Ten Thousand Souls Banner and draw the old man into it to stop him from dissipating.
But he was a step too slow.
The Old Daoist dissipated completely into the air.
It turned out his wish wasn't to become an immortal, but for the Wind Listening Temple's lineage to be passed on.
PS: Asking for monthly tickets and continued reading, thank you very much~