Daoist Master of Qing Xuan

As he walked out of level two, Shen Lian was in a soothing mood. The old Daoist who had his eyes shut even opened those sleepy eyes of his. This time he did not pull Shen Lian into his illusion. He smiled instead.

As Shen Lian walked over, he gave him a bow of courtesy.

Though old Daoist still did not really bother with him, which Shen Lian had gotten used to. It was not known how many years this Grand Ancestor Master had lived, he was exactly like a living fossil. If placed in the living world, he would have witnessed the rise and fall of one civilization.

Though he could barely establish a stand between heaven and earth, in front of a big character like this one, he did not have a chance.

He walked out of Taiwei pavilion rather lightly with a laidback pace. Shen Lian did not return to Taiyi Peak on his own, but he exited the mountain gates to the Nanke town at the foot of the mountain.

He barely needed to utilize any mana and was already moving unbelievably fast. As he passed the grand formation of exits, he arrived at ‘Yan Bugui’ in a flash, feeling rather good and up for a drink.

At his current state, besides the rumored celestial wine of the Yaochi, other brews would not taste any different even if they were brewed with any better magical herb.

Moreover, wines were not taken to improve one’s health. Sometimes one can drink when they were happy, or even needed to drink when they were sad, or just drink when they were fine.

Of course, this was the case of those who loved to drink, like the Drunken Daoist, the Doyen of Qing Xuan who drank for leisure.

As a disciple of Drunken Daoist, Yan Bugui took it another step forward, he not only drank alone, he even treat the others, though his wine was authentic whereas those that he treats others were merely water with the taste of wine.

Yet he never saw this as cheating, since most people just drink for the feels only.

Shen Lian stepped on casually. There was a saying, being greatly honored by one’s gracious presence.

That saying would be the perfect statement for that moment.

There were not many customers in the restaurant. The hall was still rather empty. There was no sunlight today, a rather gloomy weather, the lighting in the hall was not good, but as soon as Shen Lian entered, it was as if the hall had lit up.

This brightness did not mean that Shen Lian was glowing. It was this feeling that he gave out as if he was a bright lamp, a lamp with a warm and long-lasting glow.

Shen Lian was feeling rather comfortable. The server in the shop was no longer the same server from twenty years ago. He was the same person, but due to his old age, both sides of his head were snowy white, his forehead was wrinkled, nevertheless, he was still very swift in cleaning the tables.

When a person had done the same job for a long time, their pace would be quick. Even something so boring and dull would not feel like anything after it had become a habit.

Servers had also received many customers. Sometimes there were visitors from foreign lands had stumbled in, occasionally there were people of the Jianghu and Daoists, so he would not possibly remember every face he encountered. But he could remember Shen Lian too well. Just because Shen Lian was wearing a unique temperament, a very mild yet very elegant and proud as if he never experienced any worldly trouble. The main highlight, twenty years had passed, yet Shen Lian still looked no different from the past, still the fresh looking youngster, as if age had not done any work on his face.

Initially, the server vaguely heard from Yan Bugui that Shen Lian had entered Qing Xuan and became a celestial Daoist there.

All celestial Daoists aged slowly. The server was just slightly surprised. People from town might be very close to Qing Xuan but these two worlds were complete opposites.

So Qing Xuan might have switched chiefs, yet this meant no difference to the occupants of Nanke town at the foot of the mountain. They would never know that within the mountains, a major character had reborn again and returned.

The difference between gods and mortals never had a clear distinction, but the difference would gradually develop.

As recorded in the scripture, why would a sparrow in the woods care how high a Kunpeng, the mythical roc bird, had soared. Be it thousands of miles high or ninety thousand miles high meant no difference.

The server walked up to serve, “Celestial master, what wine do you want? Boss is in today, how ’bout I get him to come out?”

Shen Lian had a good look at the server, and smiled, “You looked much older from before. Are you married with children?”

The server was rather surprised that Shen Lian still recognized him. He remembered Shen Lian because of the deep impression he left, but Shen Lian would never care about people of his kind.

He scratched his hair rather bashfully, now that his back was hunching a bit. Server replied, “I never thought that celestial master still remembers me. I have married long ago, even my son has married and got a chubby little one”.

Shen Lian then said, “That is a delightful news. Congratulations.”

Server replied, “Ah, let me just go in and ask the boss to come and chat with you. I would never know what else to talk to you with”.

Shen Lian had no intention of looking down on mortal peasants. However server himself knew that he was a mere mortal, and looking the godly state of Shen Lian, he had done well in muttering some words. Still, it would exceed his capabilities to make a more structured conversation.

However, with Shen Lian being so friendly to talk with, that exceeded his expectations.

Shen Lian smiled, “That’s fine. He is here”.

Yan Bugui looked like he had just woken up. In one month, he would spend ten days in town. He was originally a mountain burglar. Just because his ancestors had a friendship with Drunken Daoist that they made a pact that a descendant would be sent to the mountains to study Daoism.

However, as Drunken Daoist went out to search for him, Yan Bugui was already having a good time on the mountain.

This fellow’s family was quite wealthy. He regularly made friends with good men from all corners of the world. Then, a friend was arrested by the magistrate authorities, so he gathered his brothers to hijack the execution ground and went up the mountains.

Drunken Daoist snatched him away against Yan Bugui’s wish. Coincidentally, Qing Xuan had opened its mountain gates. So, Drunken Daoist went on to drop him at Wenxin Road. As expected by Drunken Daoist, Yan Bugui really had some Dao nature in him, as he got out from the illusion, established enlightenment, and was never so offending any more.

When he entered Qing Xuan, he was past his twenties. Initially, the rules would not allow him to be enrolled, but Zhang Ruoxu especially considered this a favor for Drunken Daoist, enrolled him in, and let him exit the mountain occasionally.

In terms of guiding the nature of a Daoist to develop their cultivation, Zhang Ruoxu was an undisputable teacher in this.

Nevertheless, a teacher could only guide a student to school, whereas the rest of the cultivation depended on the student themselves.

Zhang Ruoxu could only do what was within his capabilities, to help this seed of Dao cultivation grow and succeed.

Shen Lian saw Yan Bugui and laughed hysterically, “Hello, my Daoist friend.” His face full of delight, as he directly expressed Yan Bugui as his Daoist friend.

Using his Daoist eyes, he saw that Yan Bugui looked drunk and sober at the same time, leaking with celestial aura, but not radiating; an aura of Dao restrained within.

These were the signs of attaining the Dao of Dan, and the next would be the natural attainment of Huandan.

Shen Lian was overjoyed because once Yan Bugui achieved Dan Dao, Qing Xuan would gain an additional new blood, also an additional person to attend the devotion ceremony of bier. He estimated that Gu Caiwei would achieve Huandan before Yan Bugui. Never did he think that Yan Bugui would be leading one step ahead.

Speaking of when Gu Caiwei achieving Huandan, Shen Lian had found a fast track method. This was also part of the reasons why he wanted to make this trip out of the mountain.