Chapter 1 The Beginning

Inside the Zhenyao Museum, Wei Yuan opened his eyes in a daze, lying on his bed. The Tiantai Mountain debate between Daoism and Buddhism was about to begin, but he felt like a salted fish, unable to muster any enthusiasm.

Even though he had slept for a whole night, it felt as if he had pulled an all-nighter.

Every cell in his body was screaming, "Stop sleeping and get hyped!"

Yet every wisp of his true spirit (zhenling) was slacking off.

Wei Yuan stared blankly at the ceiling, his mind a blank slate.

After a long while, Wei Yuan's thoughts finally coalesced.

He checked his phone, realizing he had indeed slept enough. Why was he so tired?

Did I even really fall asleep?

Wei Yuan rubbed his temples and muttered to himself. His true spirit, once lifeless, became active. At the same time, he suddenly remembered his dream. The dream was simple: a table and a kitchen.

Wei Yuan recalled himself cooking non-stop in his dream, like a spinning wheel.

Then he remembered the face of his guest.

They wore a plain cloth robe, a wooden hairpin holding up their hair. Their face was simple and unadorned, their eyes calm and still.

They held chopsticks in their hand, eating calmly with elegant movements.

If you could ignore the mountain of plates piled up beside them.

They ate one plate.

In his muddled dream, Wei Yuan turned around and fried more dishes.

Then placed them down.

Then turned back and fried more dishes.

One person expressionlessly, eyes closed, fried dishes; the other person expressionlessly devoured them at lightning speed.

A perfect match.

It was like the ancient version of a Foxconn assembly line.

Wei Yuan's expression slowly stiffened.

I cooked all night?

He suddenly remembered his conversation with Zhu Jiuyin yesterday.

‘I also have a way to make you safer.’

‘Please enlighten me.’

Yesterday, Zhu Jiuyin nodded at Wei Yuan's request and said:

"I will take care of it myself."

Then their eyes were calm, their voice distant and ancient, as they stood with their hands behind their back and said:

‘Yuan, the way of Heaven and Earth, there is gain and there is loss, remember this.’

So, this is "gain and loss"...

Wei Yuan's mouth twitched.

His true spirit spent a long time with Zhu Jiuyin in the dream, so it was equivalent to being tainted with Zhu Jiuyin's aura, which made him safer.

Although he had the feathers of an extraordinary bird that could dispel confusion.

But that kind of treasure, at best at the level of an extraordinary beast, was useless to Zhu Jiuyin.

Faced with this big shot, Wei Yuan could only hope that they wouldn't come to his dreams to freeload all the time. He splashed cold water on his face, looking listless, which startled the water ghost. It looked at Wei Yuan strangely and said, "Boss, did you have a nightmare?"

Heh... a nightmare?

Dreaming of Zhu Jiuyin, how could that be a nightmare?

A table, a kitchen, an iron pot, a person, a night.

A miracle, a corpse.

………………

Fortunately, he was someone with cultivation. The exhaustion of Wei Yuan's true spirit was only because it had been in contact with Zhu Jiuyin for too long and had suffered invisible pressure. He slowly recovered, and had already told the old Daoist that he might use other methods to lecture on the Dao today. Wei Yuan ate a leisurely breakfast.

Preserved egg and lean meat porridge, fried dough sticks, plus a fierce beast version of meat-filled buns.

Of course, before Wei Yuan started eating, there was already a familiar face joining him for breakfast.

Feng Siyu was a vegetarian, so she ate vegetable buns and multigrain porridge.

The pickled vegetables from Longhu Mountain were a hot commodity when eating porridge for breakfast.

After a fierce battle with chopsticks, Feng Siyu ended up completely defeated, and most of the pickled vegetables ended up in Wei Yuan's stomach. Full and satisfied, he hailed a shared bike. Feng Siyu, wearing a white short-sleeved shirt with a red jacket, picked her teeth with a toothpick, her eyes shining, and said, "Museum Curator Wei, where are you going?"

But those wide eyes were clearly saying.

Is there anything good to eat there?!

Wei Yuan's mouth twitched, and he said grumpily, "To watch an argument. Are you coming or not?"

"An argument."

Feng Siyu clenched her left fist and slammed it into her right palm, feigning sudden realization. Then she ran off in a puff of smoke. Wei Yuan was helpless when he saw Tiannü Jue walking out with a bouquet of flowers. The girl was wearing a light blue jacket, her high ponytail swaying, her features gentle, and said:

"Did you quarrel with Siyu again?"

Wei Yuan gritted his teeth and said, "That little girl can eat too much."

"If she keeps eating like this, she'll empty her own shop sooner or later. I have to keep an eye on her."

"Eat, eat, eat, all she knows is eating."

Jue placed the flowers on the wooden rack outside, adjusted their position, and said, "The Yu tribe actually has a very big appetite. With her cultivation, it's impossible for her to get fat."

Wei Yuan was speechless.

He was at a loss for words.

Wei Yuan looked at the girl arranging the flower shop, hesitated, took a slight breath, and said:

"Jue?"

"Hmm?"

Jue raised her head. The morning light shone on her face, her pupils were a clear brown, and motes of dust danced in the sunlight, scattering golden light. Her black hair was soft. Seeing that Wei Yuan didn't speak, the girl smiled and asked, "What's wrong?"

How about going to Tiantai Mountain together?

Wei Yuan opened his mouth, just about to speak.

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew up, and a figure burst out, unceremoniously sitting on the back seat of Wei Yuan's bike. Wei Yuan's words were blocked. He looked down and saw that it was indeed Feng Siyu. Wei Yuan lowered his voice and said, "What are you doing here?"

"To watch an argument, of course."

Feng Siyu said matter-of-factly, "What else could I be doing?"

"Then just now..."

"I just found a few melon seeds and nuts."

"............Get off."

"I don't want to."

"I'll give you three hot pot meals, get off."

"Five tons!"

Wei Yuan's mouth twitched: "You said tons, not meals, right?"

Feng Siyu looked innocent.

Suddenly, Jue chuckled. The two stopped talking and turned to look. The girl spread her hands and joked with a smile:

"You two really look like father and daughter."

"Alright, alright, you two stop arguing."

"Yuan, just take her with you. When you come back, remember to buy some good food. Let's have dinner together tonight."

"I won't be going."

Wei Yuan nodded regretfully.

Feng Siyu nodded regretfully.

Jue watched the two leave, moved a pot of flowers to the museum's table, adjusted its position, and then took the pot of flowers from yesterday and walked through the flower shop to the back room where she lived. Sitting on a wicker chair, she slowly organized her thoughts. Her two good friends, Ehuang and Nüying, seemed to have found new paths.

If she could find the Mountain Gods, she could also pass these cultivation paths on to them.

In fact, in this era, these mountain gods and water gods could also cooperate with human forces for mutual benefit. Of course, there must be someone like the contemporary Celestial Master as an intermediary. Both humans and gods have flaws. Humans should not see the power of gods, and gods should not get too close to the dark parts of human nature.

Maintaining distance and maintaining balance is beneficial to both sides.

She could agree to this with Celestial Master Zhang.

It's just a pity.

She still hadn't found Kunlun.

Several trips out yielded nothing.

She drew another circle on the map of China. There were not many possibilities left.

Jue was thinking about the next problem.

With a jingle, the flower shop was pushed open. Jue stood up and saw a heroic woman in red, fiery and radiant. It was Yu Ji. Jue put away her thoughts, invited Yu Ji to sit down, poured a cup of tea, gently pushed it over, and smiled, "Why did you suddenly come over, Yu?"

"Nothing, I just saw that Museum Curator Wei and Miss Feng were arguing a bit, so I went out for a look."

"Oh, I see."

The Kunlun Celestial Maiden wore a pure and elegant smile that could not be faulted in any way.

She chatted with Yu Ji about painting and past events.

Yu Ji took a sip of tea, feeling that the tea had no dryness, obviously the person who brewed it was skilled enough. Whether it was in magic or art, the other person had great insights. She couldn't help but sigh and said, "Sometimes I really don't know if you're clever and mature, or a bit dull."

"Sometimes you see things very clearly, but sometimes you easily get yourself tangled up."

Jue was stunned.

She picked up the tea, took a sip, and smiled, "What are you talking about?"

Yu Ji looked at the girl and said, "That joke you made just now."

"Museum Curator Wei and Miss Feng look like father and daughter."

Jue was surprised, and then fell into contemplation.

Yu Ji pondered, feeling that she should have already made her point, and that was enough. She picked up the tea and took a sip, but saw a trace of apology on the Celestial Maiden's face, and said, "Yes, the father and daughter saying was a bit presumptuous. When they come back, I will apologize."

Yu Ji paused: "............"

She took a deep breath, waved her hand, and said, "Let me ask you."

"If they looked like father and daughter, then who played the role of the mother..."

The Celestial Maiden was silent and began to recall.

The Celestial Maiden maintained the proper elegance of Kunlun Mountain.

"Mother? Who?"

The girl's smile was flawless: "I don't know."

Yu Ji: "............"

She looked at the girl's face and had to drop the subject.

After chatting for a while, she got up to leave.

Then she took out her phone and sent a message to an account with a nine-tailed fox avatar:

"Sorry, Lady Nüjiao."

"Can't carry..."

Inside the flower shop, the Kunlun Celestial Maiden maintained a flawless smile.

The door of the flower shop suddenly locked itself.

A few breaths later.

The fair face grew redder and redder.

Until her face was flushed.

Only then did she realize what she meant, and realized that she seemed to have included herself in her unintentional words. If it was an ordinary person, she wouldn't care with her indifferent nature, but she saw the pottery and knew Yuan's possible identity.

Then the audience for the matter was in front of her friend whom she had known since childhood and had taken care of him for a long time during the Three Kingdoms period.

Commonly known as social death.

Lady Queen Mother of the West, what should I do...

After thinking about it, she couldn't find a solution.

The Kunlun girl took a deep breath.

Turned around and squatted down.

She took out a bottle of drink from the cabinet.

Inside was flavored beer.

Anyway, no one saw her.

She opened it, sat on the bed, and tilted her head back.

Glug, glug, glug!

Lying down!

………………

Wei Yuan used the art of Wind Riding to propel the shared bike, Feng Siyu with her slender legs crossed on the back seat, facing away from Wei Yuan, watching the scenery on both sides while munching on melon seeds. The Yu tribe was naturally attuned to the wind, so even at Wei Yuan's fast speed, Feng Siyu could still act as if nothing was happening, sitting steadily.

Relying on the art of Wind Riding, it still took Wei Yuan a while to reach Tiantai Mountain.

Wei Yuan originally planned to ride directly up, but when he arrived, he realized that the place was packed with people, terribly so. At the foot of the mountain, there were even vendors selling snacks and fruits. It could be said that people were pushing against each other. There was no way. He had no choice but to chop the top of the head of Feng Siyu whose eyes were shining, and pulled the girl up the mountain from the side.

Unexpectedly, there were still a lot of people on the mountain.

This time it was originally for publicity purposes, so he didn't even think about closing it off and doing it himself.

Wei Yuan saw that there were mostly reporters and cameramen on the high parts of the mountain, or practitioners from various sects, all carrying a wisp of qi. There were also practitioners from other schools on the trees everywhere. Wei Yuan even saw a young man with black hair and brown pupils sneaking up, carrying an aura that was different from Buddhism and Daoism.

Wei Yuan sensed it, and it was similar to Western cultivation schools.

But it was different again.

That person climbed trees very quickly. Wei Yuan retracted his gaze, looked forward, saw the Buddhist light aura unique to Buddhist monks, his expression was slightly solemn, and he was about to think of a way to get his main body over, when suddenly there was a commotion behind him. It turned out that there were too many people on the mountain, and some people wanted to squeeze up hard, and as a result, a reporter accidentally stepped on air and fell towards the mountain road on the side.

If he fell down like this, he would probably die.

Wei Yuan's figure swayed and appeared next to him, just about to take action, when a palm stretched out and pulled the reporter back, pulling him back steadily. The reporter was frightened and his feet were weak. The person who had just saved him spoke, his voice gentle:

"The mountain road is dangerous, benefactors, please be careful."

Wei Yuan raised his eyes and looked over.

The person who saved him was a young and handsome monk in a plain white monk robe.

He was also looking over.

ps: Today's first update... Thank you ray21 for the 10,000 reward.

Three thousand six hundred words