Chapter Thirty-Six: E-Ranked Cultivator

  Early in the morning, the overcast rain that had lasted for several days finally dissipated, and a red sun slowly rose from the eastern horizon, with thin fog shrouding the entire city.

  Xiao Ming Mountain, shrouded in mist and clouds, a Taoist temple stands at the summit, as if it were an otherworldly mountain, evoking reverence.

  A young man and a woman climbed up from the foot of the mountain, shrouded in mist. The man was very young, seventeen or eighteen years old, in his youth, with an ordinary appearance, tall and thin, wearing casual autumn clothes, making him look even more handsome.

  The woman is like a rare flower, with delicate and beautiful facial features, a plump and slender figure, wearing a red sportswear, but cannot hide the mature charm, making people's hearts move.

  Right at the middle of the mountain, the young woman seemed to be unable to move anymore, half leaning on the young man's body, lightly panting: "Younger brother, older sister can't walk anymore."

  Young man with a hint of concern, but full of complaints: "Yu Yuan sister, I told you that your body is not feeling well, let's come another day, you won't listen."

  The young woman shook her head slightly and said gloomily: "If you don't come to pay your respects, sister's heart will be uneasy..."

  "Alright, alright, I know." The young man interrupted the young woman's words, took two steps forward, and squatted down: "Come on up!"

  Looking at the young man crouching in front of her, the young woman's face showed a hint of joy and satisfaction, and she smiled slightly, walking forward and leaning on the young man's back. The young man held the young woman's legs with both hands, stood up, and lifted her up, while climbing towards the mountain top, murmuring: "There's nothing to worry about, no matter what we encounter in the future, I'll be here to face it head-on."

  The young woman's round chin pressed against the boy's shoulder, and she heard him, her eyes moistening, softly humming a sound, and hugged his neck tightly.

  The two were Shang Guan Neng and Xin Yu Yuan.

  Last night, the relationship between the two made a breakthrough, although they were both willing, but as a man, Shang Guan Neng had a psychology of taking advantage, so he didn't have too much pressure. Xin Yu Yuan was different, she was a widow with a daughter after all. Although the object was Shang Guan Neng, suddenly developing to this point also made her feel somewhat uneasy in her heart.

  Xin Yuexian tossed and turned all night, got up before dawn to go to Qingyun Temple to burn incense and make a wish. Xin Yuexian wasn't a superstitious person, but her mind was in disarray, she kept thinking of finding some spiritual comfort, so she thought of the locally famous Qingyun Temple.

  Last night, Xiang Yuexin was tormented by Shang Guan Nengren for an hour. While taking a bath, Shang Guan Nengren couldn't help but torment her again for over an hour, making it difficult for her to walk. Shang Guan Nengren didn't want her to move around randomly, but Xin Yuexin insisted on going. Having no choice, he accompanied her to Xiao Ming Mountain.

  Although the rain has stopped, due to the large temperature difference between day and night, fog formed in the second half of the night. When I went out, the fog was all over the sky, with low visibility. Afraid of catching a cold from the rain, I had no choice but to take a taxi at a high price. When paying, I felt heartbroken for Officer Neng, who would normally charge 50 yuan, but now charged 200 yuan. Curse you, black-hearted driver, may you have no little chicken (a Chinese idiom meaning "may you have no good fortune").

  There are several paths up the mountain, but only one is a staircase path. The rest are small trails trampled out by people.

  On both sides of the mountain road, there are rows and rows of tombs. On a foggy day like this, it looks eerie and ominous.

  Xiao Ming Shan is the burial ground of Huabei City, and because it's a small mountain, it got its name Xiao Ming Shan. The Qingyun Temple at the top of the mountain was said to be built for the ascension of the deceased to heaven. Tombs and Taoist temples complement each other.

  Although it was very early, when Shangguan Neng brought Xin Yuanyuan to the top of the mountain, there were already many devout believers waiting outside the Taoist temple. Among them were people dressed in bright clothes, those with sickly faces, and even beggars sitting aside, with a broken bowl in front of them, which surprisingly had some profound meaning, three red big tickets were particularly eye-catching.

  The superior official sighed and said: "The world is really crazy, those who beg make more than those who work."

  "Little brother, don't talk nonsense." Seeing the surrounding eyes all turned to this side, Xin Yuanyuan's face flushed red, and she struggled: "Quickly let go of sister."

  "Oh." Shang Guan let go of his hand and slowly put Xin Yu down: "Be careful."

  Seeing the official's ability to endure the heavy rain, a sixty-year-old old lady smiled and nodded: "Young lady, you have a good younger brother."

  "Haha, I think so too." Shang Guan was not modest at all and enthusiastically showed off his good side: "Yu Yuan jie, are you tired? Are you thirsty? Are you hungry? I'll carry you on my back..."

  Xin Yuanyuan's face turned bright red, as if she could cook an egg just by looking at it: "Stop messing around, people are laughing at us."

  The people around couldn't help but burst out laughing, and Xin Yu Yuan became even more embarrassed, pulling on Shang Guan Neng's ear as they walked away.

  "Ow, ow, ow! Rainy sister, gently, gently!" Xiang Guan Neng covered his ears, hunched over and was dragged away by Xin Yu Yuan like a monkey. The believers' laughter continued nonstop as the golden crow rose higher and the fog dispersed significantly.

  Qingyun Temple is a very strange Taoist temple, its opening hours are not fixed, it is said that the opening hours every day are determined by the master's wake-up time, similarly, the closing hours will also be based on the master's rest time. There has never been such a thing in ancient or modern times, at home or abroad, but for some reason, those devout believers have no complaints about this, and even enjoy it.

  Today, the luck of the upper officials and Xin Yu was not bad. After waiting for about 15 minutes, at around 7 o'clock, a 10-year-old Taoist boy opened the door of the Taoist temple and shouted loudly: "Qingyun Temple is open, believers come to worship, pray for blessings, and get peace!"

  Shangguan Ruo: "......"

  Looking at the devout believers pouring into the Taoist temple, Magistrate Ouyang suddenly felt that this was not a Taoist temple, but a teahouse. The little boy at the entrance was like a greeter: "Please come in, one guest at a time! Our waiter will take your tea order!"

  "What kind of unlucky Taoist temple is this? Is there such a thing!" Officer Nang's face was full of black lines: "Yu Yuan sister, are you sure this place is very effective?"

  "This... I've also heard..." Xinyu Yuan's face was full of doubt, looking at the little Daoist boy with snot on his nose at the door, feeling like he had come to the wrong place.

  "Hey, you two over there, what are you talking about?" The little servant boy saw that the official and Xin Yue were whispering to each other on one side, and he felt displeased in his heart. He loudly shouted: "If you're not coming in, then leave! If you're coming in, then hurry up! Don't you know that every minute is worth a piece of gold? Time is precious!"

  Shangguan Nengren's face was covered in black lines.

  "......" Xin Yuanyuan turned around: "Younger brother, we may have come to the wrong place, let's go!"

  "No way!" Officer Nangeng had never encountered such a small path, and the memory of the cultivator didn't have such a messy origin. In his opinion, this was just a scammer's concentration camp.

  Early in the morning, I was dragged by Xin Yuanyuan to climb the mountain, spending three times more on car fare than usual. We walked all the way to the top of the mountain with Xin Yuanyuan on my back. Who is responsible for these losses? Officer Gao Ren angrily turned to Xiaodao Tong and took big strides towards him, pinching Xiaodao Tong's head with one hand and grinning: "Little devil, what did you just say?"

  The Deca-Prodigy had no hint of sound, indicating that Xiao Dao Tong's abilities hadn't even reached the lowest F-grade. This also made Shang Guan Ren even more certain that this was a gathering place for scammers, and he couldn't help but look for trouble.

  "Little brother, what are you doing? He's still a kid, don't scare him!" Xin Yuanyuan was startled and quickly came over to pull Shang Guan Nengren away, scolding: "This is also a quiet place for the Taoist sect, don't cause trouble."

  "Hmph!" The little Daoist child tidied up his hair knot, with a tone that was quite annoying: "That's right, the Daoist gate is a place of quiet elegance, how can it be tolerated for others to be presumptuous? Hurry up and leave quickly, otherwise, beware that I'll use my Palm Thunder to make you show your true form!"

  This time it's not just Shang Guan who is angry, even Xin Yu Yuan's face has turned black.

  Palm thunder? Manifestation? What's all this about?

  Xin Yu let go of his hand: "Little brother, I've thought about it, just do as you like!"

  Shangguan Ruo: "......"

  The official saw Nangong could smile and walk over, Xiao Dao Tong panicked: "You... what do you want to do? Don't come over... Ah! Dad! Help!!!"

  Upper official is really ruthless! He picked up the little Taoist and pressed him under his leg, with a big slap on his buttocks: "I let you be arrogant! I let you be proud! I let you have palm thunder! I let you show your true form! If I don't hit your butt until it blooms, you won't know who the chrysanthemum is for!"

  Bang bang bang bang bang...

  The little boy was crying so hard that his tears and snot were flowing together, wailing loudly until his buttocks almost split open.

  "What's all the commotion about?" A loud shout came from inside the Taoist temple, and in an instant, a middle-aged Taoist priest walked to the front of the temple gate. Seeing that the little Taoist boy was being spanked by a strange young man, his face suddenly twitched: "Spare him, young man!"

  "Hmm?" The officer looked up at the middle-aged Taoist, who was of average height and build, with ordinary looks, wearing a Taoist robe, a Taoist hat, and a pair of double-faced shoes. He also held a duster in his hand, and a small tuft of goat-like whiskers on his chin gave him an air of being a high-ranking Taoist master.

  Shangguan's expression changed, he let go of the little Taoist boy, stood up and looked down at the middle-aged Taoist priest with a slightly solemn face.

  This... this Taoist priest is quite eccentric!

  "Thank you, young man." Seeing Officer Nang able to let go, the middle-aged Taoist let out a sigh of relief, bowed his head and thanked Officer Nang.

  "Wow! Daddy, he hit my butt, it hurts so much! My butt is going to rot away! Help me get revenge!" The little Taoist boy saw the middle-aged Taoist priest as if he had met a savior, and with tears and snot flowing, he rushed into the middle-aged Taoist priest's arms, wiped his nose, and used the middle-aged Taoist priest's robe to wipe it clean.

  “……”

  The middle-aged Taoist priest scolded with a helpless expression, "You disobedient son, shut your mouth! It must be you who provoked this young man, otherwise why would he teach you a lesson!"

  "Wow! Mom has left! Dad doesn't want me either! Mom! I miss you so much!" The young Taoist disciple was scolded by the middle-aged Taoist priest and cried out loudly for his mom.

  The middle-aged Taoist winced in his eyes, let out a light sigh, patted the little Taoist boy's head, turned around, and apologetically said to Shangguan E: "Young master, please don't blame me. This child lost his mother at a young age, I couldn't bear to be strict with him, so I allowed him to develop such a mischievous temperament. In the future, I will definitely discipline him more strictly and not let today's incident happen again."

  Shangguan Nengren shook his head: "Daozhang spoke too heavily, children are just a bit mischievous, they'll be fine when they grow up."

  The middle-aged Taoist priest chuckled: "Good temperament, young man... eh?"

  The middle-aged Taoist stared at him in surprise and exclaimed: "Young man, aren't you a fellow practitioner?"

  "Hmm..." Others didn't understand, but Shang Guan Neng Ren knew what the middle-aged Taoist meant. He quickly approached the middle-aged Taoist and stretched out his hand: "Master Dao, nice to meet you. My name is Shang Guan Neng Ren, a local citizen, currently in high school. How should I address you?"

  The middle-aged Taoist priest was at a loss whether to laugh or cry, as there was no custom of shaking hands in the Taoist ritual! However, since Officer Nang had already extended his hand, it would be impolite not to shake it. So, he transferred his feather duster to his left hand and shook hands with Officer Nang: "I am Qingyun Temple's Abbot, Shouyangzi."

  "Found an E-class cultivator, will you absorb?"

  Thank you '→丗尐吖の亻' 'Evil Blood Zombie' 'Too shameless' 'Accompanying the princess to play chess' 'Just reading like this' 'Flying with love 00' 'Moonlight Falling Petals' Each rewarded 100 starting coins, thank you 'Golden Piglet' for rewarding 200 starting coins, thank you 'Yu Cheng' for rewarding 3976 starting coins.

  Especially thanks to 'addicted to watching' for rewarding 5888 starting coins, not only did he upgrade to executive, but also became the first fan of this book. As a special reward, I will give him a unique item - 'Yóu wù lǎo pó' (a mysterious and beautiful wife). The pickup location is in heaven! o(n_n)o Haha~