As Mrs. Qian mentioned before, Qian Huailin had loved studying strange tales and supernatural beings since childhood, and had researched various sects and magical arts.
Because Mr. and Mrs. Qian hoped to build their family into a scholarly family, apart from their third son, Qian Huaishu, who died young, their other two sons lived in the academy run by their uncle, Qian Erma, from the time they began their education.
Although Qian Huailin did not aspire to this path, he had no choice but to shoulder his parents' hopes because his elder brother, Qian Huaiwen, was not good at the imperial examinations.
In the first thirty years of Qian Huailin's life, he did almost only three things: study, get married, and have children.
During those years, Qian Huailin almost completely abandoned his interest and hobby in cultivating immortality and seeking the Dao.
But perhaps because of the intense repression, after passing the imperial examination at the age of thirty, Qian Huailin became completely obsessed with the path of seeking immortality.
Back then, he would enter any temple he saw and worship at any shrine he encountered. He would even chat with a dog he met on the street about Taoist magic and incantations.
Madam Qian was deeply troubled. She couldn't understand how her son, who had brought glory to the family and was a successful candidate in the imperial examinations, had become like this overnight!
So one day, after a quarrel between mother and son, Madam Qian, in a fit of anger, agreed to Qian Huailin's request to go out and search for the sacred mountain.
Fearing that his mother would change her mind if she realized what was happening, Qian Huailin packed his bags and left the city that very night, and that was the last time he was gone for three years.
When Qian Huailin returned home three years later, the first thing he heard was that his younger sister, Qian Hanying, had drowned.
Overwhelmed with grief, Qian Huailin drew a soul-summoning talisman with cinnabar on the wooden carving he had previously given to Qian Hanying.
According to his master, this talisman can attract the souls of blood relatives who failed to be reincarnated.
However, if the blood relative died unexpectedly, the talisman may take more than ten or even several decades to succeed because the soul of the person who died violently is too heavy.
To prevent his servants from accidentally damaging the talisman, Qian Huailin carefully hid the wooden doll in a secret compartment in his study.
When he returned to his ancestral home, he specially brought the wooden doll with him so that Qian Hanying could see her sister get married.
Unfortunately, he never got to see Qian Hanying return, even after the Qian family was wiped out.
"But I clearly heard Cuiyun and the others talking!"
Qian Hanying was a little unsettled, after all, according to Qian Huailin, he should have had a chance to discover that she had returned.
To her surprise, Qian Huailin reacted even more strongly than she had: "Impossible! After you left, Cuiyun was sold off by Mother for failing to take good care of you!"
Upon hearing this, Qian Hanying turned to look at Madam Qian and received an affirmative answer:
“A month after you left, I dismissed all the servants who had taken care of you. Your second brother hadn’t returned yet at that time.”
Seeing that things were becoming increasingly unpredictable, Ji Qian quickly steered the pace back to the main storyline:
"Wait a minute, first explain what you mean by 'you ruined the whole family,' and we'll talk about the rest later."
Having been taught a lesson many times, Qian Huailin, who was still somewhat afraid of Ji Qian, quickly got back to the main topic upon hearing this.
After putting the wooden doll away, Qian Huailin went out to travel again.
In the twelve years that followed, Qian Huailin returned only six times, and each time he only stayed for two months before leaving again. He didn't even make it back in time for the birth of his youngest son.
Moreover... if he hadn't heard that his youngest sister was getting married, he probably still wouldn't have returned home.
But to Qian Huailin's surprise, his return to offer congratulations brought him misfortune along with him.
As mentioned earlier, Qian Huailin found a master during his travels.
This master was an old Taoist priest whom Qian Huailin met at Shuiqing Temple, whose title was Sanyun Zhenren.
Unlike other Taoist priests, this Master Sanyun placed great importance on his appetite.
Unfortunately, due to the poor state of incense offerings at Shuiqing Temple, the Taoist priests there were basically struggling to make ends meet, let alone eat anything good.
To satisfy his craving for gourmet food, Master Sanyun started offering paid lessons and regularly descending the mountain to perform exorcisms.
Qian Huailin was the first student he recruited who charged a fee.
Qian Huailin was not very talented, and he was unwilling to sever his ties with the secular world, so he sought out many places but no one would accept him. Finally, he finally found a master who charged tuition.
To be fair, Master Sanyun is quite professional in his teaching.
Although Qian Huailin had little talent, Master Sanyun still taught this disciple a lot of talismans and formations, and sometimes even took him to exorcism sites to demonstrate and teach.
The trouble Qian Huailin mentioned arose under these circumstances.
That time, a wealthy merchant surnamed Sun from the foot of the mountain invited Master Sanyun to his residence to perform a ritual, and Qian Huailin went along as well.
Upon arriving at the mansion, the wealthy merchant surnamed Sun hosted a grand banquet to entertain the immortal Sanyun.
Master Sanyun's mouth watered at the sight of the delicacies on the table. After making a few feigned refusals, he sat down in the main seat with an air of composure.
This Master Sun was extremely hospitable, not only entertaining Master Sanyun, but also persuading Qian Huailin, a lay disciple, to drink several cups of wine.
Qian Huailin couldn't hold his liquor well, and after a few drinks, he immediately felt dizzy. So he made an excuse to go to the outhouse and quickly fled the scene.
As Qian Huailin finished relieving himself and was about to leave, he suddenly heard someone mention the name of the Dispersing Cloud Master from behind the wall.
Qian Huailin subconsciously moved closer to the wall, and unexpectedly, he actually overheard a shocking piece of gossip!
It turns out that Mr. Sun had been working with a master for many years, and it was this master who guided him to make his fortune.
Recently, Master Sun's son passed the imperial examination and became a Juren (a successful candidate in the provincial-level imperial examinations), but unfortunately, he has not yet been assigned an official position.
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