She traveled through time
There was a mountain whose name she couldn't remember, a village at the foot of the mountain whose name she couldn't remember, and a dog whose name she didn't know.
The dog seemed to understand human nature and ran to her and wagged its tail.
As if possessed by some mysterious force, she followed him. As the alley deepened, her heart pounded and she stopped. The dog also stopped obediently and turned to look at her.
"Woof woof!" It barked twice, with a hint of urging.
She panicked a little and wanted to turn around and run, but the dog also turned around with her and wagged its tail even more happily.
Never mind, it won’t hurt to take a look.
She made up her mind and took a step forward to follow.
Who would have known that this one move would "show" her the truth - to put it more clearly.
Wear it.
I wore it anyway, but I ended up in a remote corner of nowhere, somewhere in who knows when and where. My master said this is called "the time of the spirit path." Fine, the time of the spirit path is the time of the spirit path.
Anyway, in this world she is an orphan without parents, living a life of idleness and waiting for death. If she continues to work in another place, she will be considered skilled in the business.
The master said earnestly: "Don't look at our Taoist sect's small population now. Once you all become successful, the population will naturally grow!"
She was shocked at the time. This rhetoric was exactly the same as the saying on the Internet: "If you work hard to become a first-generation rich person, won't your children become second-generation rich people?"
The master added, "Although our sect has declined somewhat in recent centuries, it was quite powerful centuries ago! Back then, during the chaos of heaven and earth, the human and demon realms engaged in daily brawls for entertainment. A Taoist priest slapped his thigh and said, 'Wow, if this continues, the world will be doomed!'" He single-handedly suppressed the cholera outbreak between the two realms. After that battle, the demon realm retreated to the other side of the River Styx, and the two have remained separate ever since."
This great man had achieved great success and fame, and before he ran away, he left behind the essence of his life: "There should be Tao in the world. Tao comes from the heart. The heart comes from Tao. Tao comes from the heart. The heart comes from Tao..." He went around in circles and finally got himself dizzy. He simply waved his hands and disappeared on the spot, leaving behind this tongue twister of "the heart and Tao come together" for future generations to ponder.
Hey, someone actually figured it out.
That man said: "The Dao originates from the heart, and the heart originates from the Dao. Daoism is diverse throughout the world, and the deeper the heart sinks into the Dao, the more the Dao returns to the heart." He also divided the world's morality into three levels: the human Dao, the heavenly Dao, and the spiritual Dao. When one reaches the spiritual Dao, the heavens are about to fall. Whether the Daoist dies or lives, whether they meet the King of Hell or ascend to heaven on the spot, depends on the aspiring individual to "test" it.
"Ah, that's right." The master slapped his thigh, "You guessed it right! That ambitious person is the founder of our sect!"
Later, it was Third Senior Brother who secretly gossiped with her: that ambitious man—our master's great-great ...
"Then he went to chat with the King of Hell's great-grandfather." The third brother spread his hands.
In this sect, besides the master, there are only three brothers: the eldest brother Zhou Shanyuan, the second brother Qu Mingwu, and the third brother Zhou Zonglan. Except for the second brother, who has his own surname, the eldest and third brothers all took the master's surname, Zhou. So when the master asked her what her surname was, she recalled her family's surname, which was almost an insult, and decisively said, "I'll take the master's surname!"
"Okay!" The master made the decision and gave her a name: "Then your name will be Zhou Pei!"
My goodness, for the next few days, the Taoist sect was filled with the sound of "Pah, Pah, Pah" one after another.
The master endured it for a few days, but he couldn't hold it in any longer and pulled her to him and said, "Forget it, this name is not elegant. From now on, you can be called Zhou Suyao."
She thought: Wow, such a Mary Sue! I love it!
She curiously asked the master why he chose only the four of them as apprentices out of so many people? The master spread his hands and rolled his eyes: "How should I know? Wangcai brought you here!"
Wangcai was the dog at the village entrance that had led her through time. As she followed it, the mud houses on either side transformed into green hills, and the bluestone road beneath her feet became stone steps. Then, she saw her master, who looked like an immortal but was actually holding his toes.
She asked again, "Master, aren't you worried that we don't have the wisdom?"
The master stroked his nonexistent beard and pretended to be profound: "Do you really think Wangcai can't help me judge?"
She choked for a moment, then clapped her hands: "Wow! Wangcai is awesome! Wangcai is so mighty!"
Then again, they probably did have some wisdom. Senior Brother Zhou Shanyuan told her he'd achieved enlightenment in six months, as had Senior Brother Three. Second Brother Qu Mingwu was even more impressive, achieving it in two months.
As for her, although she wasn't as exceptional as her second senior brother, she also successfully entered the Dao in four months. In the words of her master, "Congratulations on successfully defeating 98.8% of the world's lesser Daoists!"
"Wow!" She clapped her hands expressionlessly.
Of course, she had suspected her three brothers had also traveled from the modern era. She tentatively threw out codewords like "Odd changes, even remains unchanged," "Palace Jade Wine," and "Bright Moonlight by the Bed." But the three of them looked bewildered, as if wondering if they'd gone mad practicing their skills. So she gave up.
Before entering the Dao, her eldest brother played Go with her at her master's command. She secretly congratulated herself on having learned Go in her early years, even becoming quite proficient at it, as she always defeated her eldest brother without leaving a single drop of armor.
The eldest brother held his forehead and said, "Junior sister, your chess style... is too brutal."
She was truly fierce. With a wild and unruly arrogance, she seized every opportunity she saw, attacked whenever she saw a breakpoint, and always started with a small eye and a small flying move. Regardless of her own pieces' fate, she would first capture them and then frantically exploit any gaps. How could this be the Six Arts of a Gentleman? If it weren't for her small stature, one would have thought she'd learned her killer moves from some brutal battlefield where people are killed without leaving any bones.
The eldest brother's head was buzzing with anxiety.
Of course, her head soon began to buzz—why were the second and third brothers dancing with swords all day long, while she had to follow the eldest brother and suffer through copying talismans and practicing hand gestures? This wasn't fair!
Later, I learned that there were different sects within the Dao: Guangming Dao focused on weaponry, An Ce Dao focused on magic, Suqian Dao focused on healing (aka nursing), Cuoma Dao focused on defense...blah blah blah. Second Brother even mysteriously remarked that the Qi family, the greatest Dao in the world, actually used musical instruments as weapons!
She: ...System dad, please come out and tell me that I have been transported into some ancient online game?
Of course, there was no system, no cheat codes. She could only ask seriously, "Master, why are you dividing it into so many categories? Are we going to have to hold a 'Huashan Sword Contest' or a 'Martial Arts Conference'?"
She never expected that what she said would come true.
At that moment, she gazed at the towering Xincong Mountain before her, seemingly poised to pierce the heavens, and fell into a deep silence. Six years had passed since she arrived in this world, and she truly wanted to ask: Do those of us in the Spiritual Path truly understand what "acrophobia" is?
Whenever she was afraid of heights, her third senior brother Zhou Zonglan, who practiced Guangming Dao, would shamelessly take out his long sword, step up with a dashing move, fly around the mountainside twice, then whoosh in front of her and make a face.
Zhou Suyao could only roll her eyes bravely and form hand seals. Instantly, spiritual energy gathered under her feet, condensing into a crimson unicorn, which lifted her steadily into the air.
"What era is this? You're still flying with a sword, Third Brother?" Her voice trembled like a sieve due to her fear of heights. "You—are—so—unfashionable!"
The enormous mountain before her was called Xincong Mountain. The Taoist sect on the mountain was naturally called Xincong Sect. Upon hearing the name, she asked her senior brother, "Are all the people in this Taoist sect surnamed 'Cong'?"
Senior Brother Zhou Shanyuan was silent for three seconds: "...Junior Sister, your thinking is quite divergent."
"Of course." She nodded.
In fact, why is this sect called Xincong Sect? It's simple and crude—the founder is named Xincong. What's the connotation? There is none.
"What's the point of caring about connotation? Do I have the nerve to do that?" Second Senior Brother Qu Mingwu mumbled, holding a grass stem in his mouth. "Even if it doesn't have any connotation, it still sounds better than our 'Path to Immortality', right?"
Well, that makes sense. She looked up at the three flamboyant, heartfelt characters on the stone memorial archway of her own Taoist sect: "The Way to Immortality." It truly... plainly expressed the core pursuit of immortality and enlightenment for generations of masters.
"Alas." This was the sigh of the second senior brother.
"Oh." This was her sigh.
"Woof!" This was Wangcai's sigh.
"What are you three whispering about?" The eldest brother's voice drifted over.
The three men and the dog scattered in an instant.
Back to the Xincong Sect. Even at the foot of the mountain, Zhou Suyao still couldn't figure out why they'd come up. Could they possibly be involved in this obscure "Path to Immortality" with its high-end swordplay and duels? Maybe... maybe?
Well, she was wrong.
The scene before her was nothing short of spectacular: on the rock wall, countless figures displayed their martial arts skills and leaped upward like monkeys; in the air, there were densely packed monks like her, riding on various flying instruments. It was like a large-scale Spring Festival travel rush scene, and this scene was definitely no small matter.
"So," she finally couldn't help herself and turned to ask the calm senior brother standing next to her, who was standing on the golden basalt, "What are we doing here?"
The eldest brother was even more confused than her and looked directly at the second brother: "Didn't I ask you to tell Su Yao? You didn't tell me?"
"Ah!" The second brother slapped his forehead, "It's over! I forgot everything!"
She glanced back and forth between the two of them, bewildered. The eldest brother sighed helplessly and controlled the Black Tortoise to fly over to her unicorn. "We're here with you to take the exam."
"Exam?" She was even more confused. "What exam?"
Seeing her expression, the eldest senior brother sighed again, "All disciples of the Thirty-Two Great Daos who are sixteen years old or older must go to Xincong Mountain today to participate in the competition and assess their rank. But you can rest assured, the exam scenes are all illusions created by the Spiritual Stone of the Way, and there will be no real danger."
However, Zhou Suyao didn't focus on the senior brother's last few words. Instead, she recalled the days of being punished by the exam and subconsciously asked in confusion, "A grade? What's the point of it? There's no scholarship."
"Who said there weren't any?" The master's voice came from behind them. "The top five will each receive fifty taels of silver."
boom!
Zhou Suyao felt as if the blood in her body was instantly ignited.
That’s! Fifty taels! Pure silver!
She suddenly turned her head to look at her master's retreating figure. When she turned back, her eyes were already blazing with fighting spirit: "Big Brother, what are the precautions for this competition? I'll definitely get into the top five."
"Just use the skills you practiced with me, but..." The eldest brother hesitated to speak.
The words "Just use it" were like heavenly music to Zhou Suyao at that moment. The glittering image of fifty taels of silver was all that remained in her mind. Before her eldest brother finished speaking, the unicorn bird beneath her feet flashed red and, with a whoosh, vanished into a tiny speck on the horizon.
The eldest brother looked in the direction where she disappeared and slowly finished the second half of the sentence:
"...Ah, actually, there's not much point in winning it back. Master will just snatch it away under the pretext of saving it for you."
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