Chapter 142 True cultivation lies in the heart, not in the form.

The living room fell silent instantly.

Shen Yuepo placed the food box on the dining table, looked at the three ghosts who were still shaken, and said calmly:

"Come and eat. We're delivering food, not seduce you."

Lu Ningshuang and Abao exchanged a glance and cautiously floated over.

Zhang Lin also slowly emerged from behind the curtains, her eyes warily scanning the spot where the bull's head had disappeared.

But when they saw the food in the food box, all their fear was instantly replaced by their appetite.

"Wow! It smells so good!" Abao couldn't help but exclaim.

After taking out the food she liked, Shen Yuepo pushed the rest to the three ghosts.

For a moment, only the soft slurping sounds and satisfied sighs filled the living room.

Looking at their happy faces, Shen Yuepo felt a warmth rise in a corner of her heart.

It turns out that seeing others happy makes one's own mood brighten up involuntarily.

After seeing off the three ghosts who were excitedly going to experience a "day trip to the capital," Shen Yuepo also packed up and left.

The early autumn sun shone warmly in the capital. Shen Yuepo took a taxi straight to a historic street in the old city of the capital.

A street lined with cinnabar and yellow talismans.

The area is lined with shops, all with an antique charm, and the air is filled with the unique blend of cinnabar and sandalwood scents.

There are time-honored brands displaying banners proclaiming "family secret recipes," as well as new shops selling so-called blessed religious items; the market is a mixed bag, making it difficult to distinguish the genuine from the fake.

Shen Yuepo came here not because he was truly lacking in materials, but because he wanted to see if he could find one or two kindred spirits in this chaotic place.

Then... he was sent to Xujing Temple to work as an assistant to Lin Yanxin.

She walked slowly down the street, her gaze seemingly casually sweeping over the shops and pedestrians on both sides, but in reality, her spiritual sense was subtly stirring, carefully perceiving the atmosphere around her.

Shortly after she entered the street, she sensed that someone was following her.

Without making a sound, she walked straight into an old shop called "Jubaozhai" with an old storefront but a relatively authentic atmosphere.

When someone entered the shop, the shop owner didn't even lift his eyelids, and continued to dust the copper coin swords on the shelf with a feather duster.

Shen Yuepo didn't care. He skillfully selected several reams of high-quality yellow talisman paper and several pieces of pure-colored cinnabar raw stone.

When she paid the bill, the shop owner glanced at the items she had chosen, a glint of shrewdness flashing in his eyes.

You wouldn't guess that someone so young is so capable.

He quoted a fair price.

Shen Yuepo paid the money and put the items into his cloth bag.

Stepping out of Jubaozhai, the sunlight was a bit dazzling.

She didn't stop walking and continued along the street.

Just as she passed a stall selling peach wood swords, a somewhat uncertain voice sounded behind her:

"Fellow Daoist Chen...?"

Shen Yuepo paused, turning to look at the source of the sound.

A young man with a tall and straight posture, dressed in a dark blue Taoist robe, stood a few steps away.

He had a handsome face, with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes. He looked sunny and energetic, and was about twenty-five or twenty-six years old.

At that moment, he was scratching his head somewhat embarrassedly, his face showing surprise and a hint of shyness.

A hint of doubt flashed in Shen Yuepo's eyes.

She didn't know this person.

She nodded slightly, her voice as cool as ever: "Who are you?"

The young Taoist priest's eyes lit up when he saw her respond. He stepped forward with a hearty smile, "It's me! Zhang Qingyuan from Longhu Mountain. We met at Heifeng'ao."

Zhang Qingyuan?!

A flicker of disbelief flashed across Shen Yuepo's cold eyes.

The handsome young Taoist priest before me was completely different from the old Taoist priest with the goatee I remembered from Black Wind Pass.

She stared intently at Zhang Qingyuan's excessively young face, and after a long while, she slowly spoke:

"So... you really were twenty-eight years old."

Zhang Qingyuan felt a little embarrassed by her gaze, and his ears turned slightly red.

He scratched his head sheepishly, but his smile was genuine:

"I'm sorry to have troubled you, Fellow Daoist Shen. I've been thinking a lot since I returned from Black Wind Pass. That brat was right."

He was referring to Ah Bao.

"True cultivation lies in the heart, not in the form. A person with real strength does not need to deliberately pretend to be old to gain trust; on the contrary, it would make them seem insecure."

He straightened his back, his young face radiating the ease and confidence of breaking free from constraints: "So, I shaved my beard and became myself again!"

Shen Yuepo looked at him quietly; the person before her had clear eyes and a pure aura.

A faint golden light, characteristic of righteous cultivators, flowed around him, making him appear completely different from his previous pretentious and mature demeanor.

She nodded slightly and, unusually, gave a comment: "Fellow Daoist, you have grasped the essence."

Upon hearing this praise, Zhang Qingyuan's eyes lit up even more. Like a junior being affirmed by a teacher, he was somewhat excited: "Fellow Daoist Shen, you flatter me."

Shen Yuepo nodded and prepared to turn and leave, as she still had to continue her search for the missing person.

However, just as she took a step, she seemed to remember something, and her gaze swept over Zhang Qingyuan's upright and dignified face.

With a pure and kind heart, he is a good prospect for cultivating the righteous path, and... he looks very capable.

Her eyes shifted slightly, and a thought popped into her mind.

"Fellow Daoist Zhang," Shen Yuepo stopped and looked at Zhang Qingyuan again, her voice still cold, but she took the initiative to extend an invitation, "If you have nothing else to do, why don't we take a stroll together?"

Zhang Qingyuan was stunned.

He never expected that this seemingly aloof fellow Daoist would take the initiative to invite him to go for a stroll together.

This is like the sun rising in the west!

However… Fellow Daoist Shen’s cultivation is higher than mine, so being able to travel with her is a rare opportunity to learn from her.

“Alright!” Zhang Qingyuan nodded quickly, his smile dazzling. “That’s exactly what I was thinking. Fellow Daoist Shen, please.”

He immediately stepped aside and gestured for him to enter.

Shen Yuepo led Zhang Qingyuan to a stall that claimed to have "thousand-year-old lightning-struck wood," where the stall owner was boasting enthusiastically.

Zhang Qingyuan picked up a piece of dark wood. It felt heavy in his hand and had a faint electric current sensation. He was somewhat tempted, but he wasn't sure if it was real or fake.

“The lightning strike marks are real,” Shen Yuepo’s cold voice rang out. She didn’t even touch it, only glanced at it indifferently.

"It's a pity that it's a ten-year-old peach wood. The surface was tempered by ordinary lightning drawn by a lightning-attracting talisman, and the spiritual energy inside is mixed and unusable."

She pointed her fingertip at an unassuming, charred block of wood in the corner of the stall:

"This is the heartwood of a century-old locust tree. It was struck by lightning and its life force is not yet exhausted. It contains a trace of pure yang lightning energy. Although it is ugly, it is more valuable than that peach wood."

Zhang Qingyuan suddenly realized, and his eyes were filled with admiration as he looked at Shen Yuepo.

As they walked, they stopped at a shop that sold cinnabar.

The shopkeeper took out a brocade box containing a piece of flawless cinnabar stone.

Shen Yuepo glanced at it only once: "Dyed."

She picked up a slightly darker-colored piece of mineral with natural crystalline patterns:

"This is cinnabar mother material from mercury ore deep in the earth's veins. Although its color is not bright, it is extremely pure and yang, and can be used."

Zhang Qingyuan was stunned and immediately took out his money to buy it.

Shen Yuepo demonstrated his abilities only to a limited extent.

Seeing that the time was right, she casually brought it up at a stall selling antique religious artifacts:

"These petty tricks are nothing. My senior brother, Lin Yanxin, is the one with truly profound Taoist skills, and he has a high level of expertise in talismans and formations."

"From the time I can remember, he has been the recognized successor in the temple. His talent and temperament are beyond my reach."

But what she didn't tell Zhang Qingyuan was that there were only three people in the temple: her master, Lin Yanxin, and herself.