The Wuqing Temple crowd, no matter how unwilling, had to admit one fact at this moment.
Professional.
Truly too professional!!
They even felt somewhat dazed, as if in Lu Yuan...
They saw the shadow of when their master first led them down the mountain to work jobs, that kind of calm composure with everything under control.
"Then... Martial Uncle Lu... what should we do next?"
Shen Shulan was also shocked by Lu Yuan's entire performance and even stuttered a bit when speaking.
At this moment, having found the evil spirit's hiding place, Lu Yuan's mood had already relaxed.
Looking at Shen Shulan's dumbfounded expression beside him, Lu Yuan couldn't help but blink and tease, "Simple, lure the ghost out, of course~"
This action made Shen Shulan freeze and the Wuqing Temple Daoists beside them were about to roll up their sleeves.
Brat, what are you doing! What kind of flirting is this! Who are you trying to seduce!!
But after Lu Yuan finished speaking, he headed back toward the village, planning to prepare some things and return at night to catch it!!
Shen Shulan stood in place, not knowing if she'd been affected by Lu Yuan's wink just now.
Several seconds later, she finally came to her senses. Looking at the back passing by her, Shen Shulan blinked her clear, cold beautiful eyes and quickly followed.
...
On the dirt road returning to the village.
Shen Shulan followed closely at Lu Yuan's side and finally couldn't help but speak, the respect in her tone completely undisguised, "Martial Uncle Lu's brilliance, this junior only truly witnessed today. My eyes have been opened."
Regarding this praise, Lu Yuan grinned and waved his hand, "Not really. I just happened to encounter one before and have some experience, that's all."
Lu Yuan's air of casual indifference mixed with a hint of "just average, third in the world" made the Wuqing Temple disciples behind them itch with irritation, yet they couldn't say a word.
Just then, Xu Erxiao behind Lu Yuan suddenly shouted angrily, breaking the calm.
"You good-for-nothing, what are you muttering back there!"
"If you have the guts, step forward and say it loudly!"
"Saying my Brother Lu is showing off, but you yourself fumbled around for two days without finding shit. My Brother Lu found it as soon as he arrived, and you're still unconvinced?
"What kind of thing gossips behind people's backs!"
"If you have the ability, you show off too!!"
Hmm?
Lu Yuan and Shen Shulan both stopped and looked back.
They saw Xu Erxiao and Wang Cheng'an angrily blocking a young Wuqing Temple Daoist.
"What's going on?"
Lu Yuan immediately frowned and asked.
At this moment, Wang Cheng'an and Xu Erxiao immediately turned to Lu Yuan to complain, "Brother Lu, they have dirty mouths, talking bad about you behind your back!"
As soon as these words came out, before Lu Yuan could react, Shen Shulan beside him instantly turned cold and immediately scolded sharply, "What nonsense are you spouting!"
The disciple caught in the act trembled all over, too scared to even raise his head.
Shen Shulan ignored him and quickly walked before Lu Yuan, bowing solemnly with a face full of apology.
"Martial Uncle Lu, please don't blame him. When I return, I will immediately punish him!"
Lu Yuan blinked, then smiled and waved his hand, "No harm, no harm..."
Shen Shulan looked apologetic and wanted to say more, but Lu Yuan was somewhat curious, "Speaking of which, you all previously..."
If you asked Lu Yuan, this matter was indeed somewhat strange.
Even if this Wuqing Temple group hadn't seen a "Grave Youth" before, they could still use various techniques to find the evil spirit.
It would just be a more troublesome process but no matter how troublesome, after two days had passed, they couldn't have accomplished nothing at all.
Speaking of this, Shen Shulan could only sigh helplessly and tell Lu Yuan about the past two days.
Simply put, after Shen Shulan's group came out of the Taiyin Mountain Range, they passed by Qingniu Village, discovered the evil spirit, and wanted to help.
Indeed, because they didn't understand what kind of evil spirit it was, they couldn't take the initiative to attack like Lu Yuan.
They could only use the most common method, set up an extensive net, and when the evil spirit came to harm people again, capture it in one move.
Since they were doing this job in the village and the evil spirit's target was the villagers, they naturally had to protect the villagers' safety.
So Shen Shulan gave the Qingniu Village villagers a recipe for making protective amulet sachets to protect them from possession by evil spirits.
From this point on, Qingniu Village began refusing to cooperate in various ways.
"What recipe? Can I take a look?"
Lu Yuan asked curiously.
Shen Shulan lightly nodded and pulled out a piece of paper from her sleeve, handing it to Lu Yuan.
After Lu Yuan took it and carefully examined it, a similarly helpless smile appeared on his face.
Lu Yuan finally understood what was going on.
Holding the recipe in his hand, Lu Yuan looked at Shen Shulan somewhat helplessly, "Do you know how much the ingredients in this recipe cost in total?"
Shen Shulan was stunned, not knowing why Lu Yuan suddenly asked this but Shen Shulan still looked at the recipe and mentally calculated.
Before Shen Shulan could finish calculating, Lu Yuan said directly and straightforwardly, "No need to calculate. Seventeen coins and ninety-eight cents."
Shen Shulan looked at Lu Yuan and blinked, not knowing what Lu Yuan wanted to say.
Lu Yuan handed the recipe back to Shen Shulan and shook his head, "You don't often work jobs, do you? Including the people behind you."
Shen Shulan was startled, looked back, then lightly nodded.
Lu Yuan figured as much.
Working jobs was dirty, tiring work. With Shen Shulan's status, she definitely rarely did this.
Given Shen Shulan's status and strength, what she often did was make a heroic entrance after temple disciples encountered evil spirits they couldn't handle.
So Shen Shulan simply didn't understand how heavy a burden seventeen coins and ninety-eight cents was for farming families.
At this moment, Shen Shulan also realized, looking at Lu Yuan in disbelief, "Master Uncle means they just didn't want to spend more money, so they..."
For a moment, Shen Shulan felt it was incredibly absurd, "But this is to save their lives!"
"Are their lives not even worth these seventeen coins and ninety-eight cents?!"
Lu Yuan said nothing, only quietly looking at Shen Shulan.
On Shen Shulan's exquisitely beautiful face that seemed not to partake of mortal food, her expression went from shocked to puzzled, then to bewildered, and finally to thoughtful.
Shen Shulan had been too removed from worldly affairs or rather, given her status, it was indeed difficult to understand.
But... the fact was just like this.
Seventeen coins and ninety-eight cents was indeed more expensive than life itself for farming families.
Moreover, they had already paid to hire True Dragon Temple.
Lu Yuan's trio were already on their way.
If Lu Yuan's trio didn't exist, then the Qingniu Village people would grit their teeth helplessly and have to pay.
But because Lu Yuan's trio existed as a backup option, when the Qingniu Village people heard that catching an evil spirit would cost them this much money, it would be strange if Qingniu Village could look favorably upon Shen Shulan's group.
Finally, after a long silence, Shen Shulan stopped walking and bowed slightly with a solemn expression, "This disciple... has been too ignorant."
"Master Uncle, I've learned much."
Looking at Shen Shulan like this before him, Lu Yuan smiled and consoled her with a laugh, "It's okay, it's okay. No matter what, you're actually quite good~"
"The Qingniu Village people treated you like that, yet you didn't get angry and leave. You still chose to stay and help them. You're truly kindhearted~"
"If it were me and they dared treat me with that attitude, I would have left long ago. I wouldn't suffer that humiliation."
Regarding Lu Yuan's words, Shen Shulan said with an extremely serious expression, "Since this body has entered the Daoist gate and received this ability to glimpse yin and yang and wield thunder, naturally I also bear the Daoist gate's four-character heavenly duty: [Protect All Living Beings]."
"If I abandoned them just because of a few words of misunderstanding and complaint, wouldn't that make me a petty person rather than a noble one? How could I bear the heavenly duty of protecting all living beings?"
"Like rivers flowing east, they never forget their original intention to rush to the sea just because stubborn rocks block the road."
"My Dao is also like this."
Lu Yuan: "???"
Wait!!
Are you performing a skit here?!
Suddenly getting all philosophical at the end?!
Wait!!
I became the petty one???