Chapter 612 Alchemist
Bloodshed or disaster?
Song Chunxue couldn't help but look at this fellow Daoist, "May I ask your name, fellow Daoist?"
"My name is Dongfang Xu. My master thinks my name is quite good and doesn't need to give me a Taoist name. What about you two?"
“Song Chunxue has no Daoist name.”
“Zhang Yunqing, Yunqing is the Taoist name given to me by my former master.”
Dongfang Xu looked at Master Zhang, "Your former master? So, you betrayed your sect?"
The Taoist priest lowered his eyes, and the pickled vegetables he had just picked up fell onto the table. "Hmm, sort of."
"What's the big deal? I believe you don't blame me, fellow Daoist. Fate in this world is hard to explain, there is no absolute right or wrong." Dongfang Xu patted his chest, his smile undiminished. "I had two different masters before. Although I was quite grateful to them for saving me, one wanted to use me to refine pills, and the other wanted to use me to exchange for silver. I'm not stupid, so I ran away from them both."
Master Zhang looked at him in surprise, a look of emotion he had never seen before flashing in his eyes.
Suddenly I realized that his rebellious nature wasn't all that great; he only ran away once.
"May I ask how old you are this year?"
He always felt that the person in front of him looked young, but those eyes, which would unconsciously smile when looking at people, concealed a vague sense of vicissitude beneath the smile.
Dongfang Xu's expression changed slightly, and he picked up his chopsticks and wiped them on his sleeve.
"Counting from the day I was born, I have already seen three summer months in sixty years."
"..." The Taoist priest paused in his hand as he picked up the noodles, and for a moment he wanted to shave off his beard.
She's already sixty, but she looks younger than him.
"How old?" Song Chunxue was greatly shocked. "You're already sixty? How do you look so young? I would believe you were twenty. How did you do it?"
"Do you have a youth-preserving pill, or some other method to make this body vibrant again?" As a woman, who wouldn't want their face to grow younger with age? She admitted that she was just an ordinary person at this moment.
Dongfang Xu smiled, "Actually, there's no special method. I can refine the Youth Preservation Pill. Refining pills is my specialty. There's a secret to taking the Youth Preservation Pill. Would Daoist Song like it?"
Song Chunxue glanced at her senior brother, expecting him to scold her for being shallow, but judging from his expression, he also wanted it.
"want."
"After you finish eating the noodles, I'll take you to the Taoist temple on the mountain, where I can sell you some more." Dongfang Xu scooped up the noodles and stuffed them into his mouth in a whirlwind. After finishing a big bite, he added, "I have no money, so I'll have to rely on you two fellow Taoists to pay for my meal."
Song Chunxue smiled and said, "No problem."
Unexpectedly, there are Taoist priests in this world who are poorer than their senior brother.
Logically speaking, alchemists are relatively rare and should be the least short of money.
Where did Elder Dongfang's money go?
"Where did the money go..." Dongfang Xu pondered seriously, his cheeks puffed out. He took out a clove of garlic from somewhere and took a bite. "It's hard to say. The medicinal herbs for alchemy are expensive, and I'm not good at saving money. I can't keep a single penny."
Song Chunxue thought to herself, "He's probably just like my senior brother; he spent all his money on other people."
After eating noodles, they led their horses up to a very remote Taoist temple.
The Taoist temple looked very old, with its wooden doors worn smooth, the roof slightly sunken in the center, and the bricks at both ends of the ridge lying on the roof due to years of disrepair.
The yard looked clean, but the ground was uneven, and the untrodden areas were covered with lush green moss.
"Please excuse my rudeness. I often go down the mountain. I'm the only one in this temple. Please make yourselves at home. I'll go find some medicine for you." Dongfang Xu put down the cloth bag on his shoulder and ran towards his room.
“No rush,” the Taoist priest looked around. “Let’s go inside the hall to light incense first, then clean it up before we talk about anything else.”
"Alright, then I'll trouble you all." Dongfang Xu went to the woodshed to get a broom and a shovel.
The moss in the yard needed to be removed, a task Song Chunxue was familiar with; she had removed the weeds at the back of the yard before, so she was quite skilled at it.
She was skilled at cleaning, and in less than half an hour, she had swept every room inside and out.
She poured the dust outside the gate and realized that the Taoist temple was a wonderfully chosen location, on a branch at the end of the mountain range, on the last peak.
The hillside is steep, so it must have been difficult to build the Taoist temple back then.
It's understandable that the Taoist temple is dilapidated here, as it's far from populated areas with few incense offerings.
Looking up, the three characters "Xumi Temple" on the plaque were blurry, and the paint on the wooden pillars had peeled off, leaving only traces.
"So, what do you think? This Taoist temple is secluded from the world, far away in the mountains, but it's not as steep and dangerous. Isn't it more suitable for quiet cultivation than Wuquan Mountain?"
Song Chunxue nodded, "Yes, it's perfect to hide here and cultivate in peace. I just checked, the well water in the courtyard is very sweet, and there are cultivated fields behind the Taoist temple. The vegetables in the courtyard are growing very well."
"If a couple of Daoists stayed here, they would be better off than living gods."
Sure enough, my senior brother said that on purpose.
Song Chunxue kicked at empty air. "Senior brother, are you serious? I think you're a bit of a jerk. If you're really curious about what a Daoist partner is like, just find one. Anyway, cultivation doesn't necessarily lead to enlightenment or ascension to immortality. Why bother guarding your virginity?"
"..." The Taoist priest's face darkened. "That's not called 'Boyhood Skill,' that's..."
"Anyway, the point is the same: if you keep making fun of me, I'll bring up Yunqiu to you every day. After all, she's deeply in love with you and traveled all the way to find you, but you took me to Jiangnan. She must be very heartbroken."
The Taoist priest remained expressionless. "I'm not going to talk about that now. I have serious business to discuss. Do you want to learn alchemy from him?"
"I haven't even identified all the herbs, nor do I possess the Samadhi True Fire. How can I refine elixirs? Why don't you learn it yourself, Senior Brother?"
The Taoist priest looked at the setting sun, his expression calm. "You will definitely need this in the future. The little I've learned is enough to save myself, but you have so many relatives. Can you bear to watch them suffer from illness? I'm just reminding you not to miss this opportunity."
"Opportunity?"
“Indeed, a stroke of luck,” the Taoist priest resumed his serious demeanor, stroking his beard. “If it weren’t for this opportunity, why would I have traveled so far for nothing? Besides, your cultivation is still shallow. It wouldn’t hurt to learn more skills to protect yourself. There aren’t many people in this world who are obsessed with alchemy. You should ask him for guidance. Perhaps you will have many more opportunities to come here to learn in the future.”
"..." She hadn't thought much about it before leaving, but she didn't expect her senior brother to be so thoughtful.
"Okay, it depends on whether they are willing to teach."
At this moment, Dongfang Xu stepped out of the courtyard gate. "Of course I'm willing. I haven't found a suitable disciple yet. If I don't pass on this alchemy method, our lineage may perish. How will we ever see the light of day again?"
"Huh?" Song Chunxue was surprised. "Then I dare not learn it. You should find a young child to learn from."
They were just passing by; it wouldn't be right for them to steal their skills.
"Don't be nervous. Even if I don't take you as my apprentice, I'd like to find a young, respectable family's child. Who would want to become a Taoist priest? As for the beggars down the mountain, I haven't met a suitable one either."
He sighed, unwilling to say more.
"Let's go. We'll have cornmeal porridge for dinner, and I've stir-fried a couple of green vegetables. That'll do for now," Dongfang Xu invited. "After dinner, I'll teach you the secrets of alchemy."
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