Episode 67

  Chang'er entered the female cultivator's pavilion and met with a group of senior sisters. Everyone saw her simplicity, cuteness, and also liked her. After settling in, she came over to visit with a happy smile.

  "Not enough brother, not enough brother."

  "Whose kid is this, making so much noise!"

  A Taoist priest with tattered clothes was practicing internal alchemy when he was disturbed by Chang'e and shouted angrily.

  "Big brother, I've come to find my younger brother who's been causing trouble at home. Please forgive him!"

  "What's lacking is that you've ruined my business and I've lost a lot of money. You'll have to pay me 10 taels of gold as compensation!"

  "But where did I get the gold from?"

  "A single grain of red medicine will also work."

  "There is no elixir."

  "This, this... How can this be! This place has become a dumping ground for convicts and the poor! You, what did you say? Without gold or silver, without medicine, get out immediately!"

  "I'll look for my brother at home, if I can't find him, then I won't go out!"

  "What! You, you... have turned against me too! Come on, throw this girl out!"

  "Yes, Master Qian."

  A loud shout came from inside and five or six male monks rushed out of the inner room.

  "Hey, did you hear that? Master Qian is calling for you... Oh heavens, where did this little demon come from, a divine being!"

  Everyone stood still, staring at Chang'er with their eyes wide open. Chang'er smiled slightly, and suddenly the room was filled with a warm light.

  "Hey! You guys... Hey! Throw her out! Did you hear me?!"

  "Qian Shixiong, let us ask clearly and then come to a conclusion, how about that?"

  Cultivating the Tao

  "Little girl, what brings you here? Don't be afraid, come and tell me, okay?"

  "I'm...not as good as my brother, are you okay?"

  Just as Chang'e was about to answer this question of doubt, she happened to see that it was insufficient inside and came out, so she happily exclaimed loudly.

  "Oh, Chang'er, how did you come? Aren't you supposed to be busy right now?"

  "What's going on? I've come looking for brother!"

  "Good! Hey! Kid, is this girl your junior sister? If so, you owe me ten taels of gold or one elixir pill."

  "Money brother, even if there is no real Dan medicine, it's useless even with gold."

  "None? Good! You little scamp, you shall work for me for three months to atone for the sin of defiling this young girl!"

  "Alright... But, Master Qian must promise me not to provoke me again!"

  "Hmmph!"

  Chang'e was furious and wanted to go forward to reason with him. However, he said:

  "Chang Er, you're new here, but don't be reckless. The only reason we came here is to learn the Taoist arts. Since they're provoking us now, I'll let it go! Nothing else, just peace and quiet!"

  Insufficient tranquility makes the spirit transmit the sound of Tao.

  "What bad luck! How annoying!"

  Chang'e also transmitted the sound of Tao.

  The insufficiently informed ones, this matter of work was originally to go to the deep canyon mine 100 miles away from here to urge the outer door disciples to collect the divine ability mysterious vein ore and hand it over to the master's door. The divine ability mysterious vein ore is an important material for Xianfa, with a wide range of uses, including law arrays, alchemy, casting tools, and even cultivation, which are indispensable. All the major sects in the cultivation world hoard this thing as a basis for development. However, mining is not easy, although the ancient cultivators' paths were very different from those of today, and few used it, but now it has become an indispensable thing for cultivation, so they are opening up mines on a large scale, and by now, the easily accessible places have been depleted. As a result, the amount of mining is small, and the terrain is dangerous, and the inner door disciples often treat them harshly in order to get enough quantity, and the mining disciples, although numerous, often slack off from this work, or even resist with force. Therefore, this job is the most annoying thing for the inner door disciples. Not knowing about this matter, I said to Qian Shixiong:

  "Senior brother, I joined this sect to learn the Taoist arts and seek enlightenment. Now that you've driven me out, it's over, but what about my cultivation?"

  "How are you?"

  "I have little skill in the Tao, I wonder if elder brother can help?"

  "Oh! After entering the sect for three years, if you have made contributions to our sect, then you can get the opportunity to practice the Gongfa. Otherwise, do you want our sect to give you benefits for nothing? Isn't that just coming in here to be a master?"

  "Yes! However, as far as I know, new disciples are exempt from miscellaneous chores within three months and only need to read the Disciple Rules, other things are not asked!"

  "Hmm, this... is indeed your..."

  "You have no fault with me, nor is it necessary for me to do this menial task, how can you force me, elder brother!"

  "Alas! This... Cough, cough, cough... Never mind! I have two sets of easy-to-repair door techniques here, you can use them as a beginner's way to cultivate!"

  Na Zhishu angrily said.

  Insufficient to pass on the two secret methods, one is called the Eight Desolations Method, and the other is called the Myriad Armies Beheading. The Eight Desolations Method is a technique for recognizing spirits and controlling objects, according to legend, when this method is cultivated to its extreme, it can recognize spirits and control all things in the eight desolate lands and dominate the world. And the Myriad Armies Beheading is a magical technique of combat, once mastered, one can behead myriads of armies in an instant.

  "Qian Shixiong, using such a small trick to deceive me, you really underestimate people too much!"

  "Hmm, Feng Shidi, I'll be honest with you, although I'm in charge of the coastal cliff and have been cultivating for dozens of years, my skills are only these two sets. Even if I've just been promoted to the position of transmitting the teachings, there's no powerful technique! You can go, but it won't do you any good even if you try to deceive me again! However, we still have a long time to interact with each other in the future!"

  Not enough to see this sigh one breath said:

  "I know all of you are deceiving me, but, Master Qian, I'll take care of this miscellaneous task."

  "Haha... Alright! Set off immediately to supervise the work for three months, and you can return once the quota is fulfilled. At that time, I will recommend you to go to Bingzi Hall to learn Taoist magic!"

  Having packed up all the things, they set out and came to the foot of a steep cliff by the sea. There stood Chang'e by a rock in a grove of red bamboo, her eyes reddening as she said:

  "Chang'er, you must cultivate diligently in this place, do not slack off. By the way, I have obtained two sets of Daoist scriptures from Qian Shixiong, the Bagua Scripture and the Wanjun Scripture, are you willing to learn them?"

  "Not enough, brother, I already have it, besides, that kind of vicious skill, I won't learn."

  "Chang Er, for the next three months, although the days are not many, I won't be here, so you must be careful. The number of people in our sect is tens of thousands, and although we are fellow disciples, there are also good and evil among us. It's best to speak little and act cautiously!"

  "Yes! Be careful, brother, you too!"

  "Hmm!"

  "Not bad, brother, we can already sense the divine realm, and we can all bring in a radius of fifty miles. The deep canyon is one hundred miles away, and the two of us can transmit our voices through the divine sense. We just need to find a fixed time!"

  "Hehe, little girl, you have so many ideas! Alright, let's do it at dawn every day! After all, the two of us still need to diligently cultivate our Taoist skills!"

  "Yes, I know, brother, it's not enough."

  The Divine Vein Mine is located in the northern part of the peninsula under the jurisdiction of the Easy Repair Gate, about 110 miles away from the sea. The canyon is deep and the terrain is treacherous, so all the outer gate disciples live at the bottom of the canyon. The canyon is narrow and steep, making it difficult for sunlight to enter, resulting in a perpetual gloom. The sea breeze blows directly into the canyon, bringing cold and damp air. It's not suitable for living quarters, even though they are clean and elegant, but the cold and damp air remains. There are three or five outer gate disciples waiting on duty, after eating one meal, you will see the outer gate management disciple. I know that there are over 300 low-level disciples here, divided into teams of 60 people, each team excavating for two hours, day and night without rest. However, the amount of Divine Vein Mine stones extracted has always been criticized by the high-level members of the Easy Repair Gate.

  On the second day, he went down to the mine tunnel and arrived at the working face. A group of sixty people were digging for ore. The team leader was shouting orders, but everyone was moving slowly and swinging their pickaxes. He quietly returned to the surface and then went to the quarters where the cultivators were staying, chatting with them. He learned that many of the disciples here were loose cultivators who hoped to accumulate merit and enter the Easy Cultivation Sect, some had committed crimes and been deprived of their magical powers and sent here for hard labor, or even cultivators from other sects who had been captured and brought here.

  Three days later, those with higher spiritual power were separated from the rest, regardless of their past mistakes. They formed a group of five, known as the "Teaching Masters". Each day, they only taught low-level disciples basic skills and did not engage in hard labor. The disciples who wanted to practice the Taoist methods were divided into six teams based on their spiritual power. The first team had the lowest spiritual power, followed by the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth teams. As a result, the lower levels had more people, while the higher levels had fewer people. Each person's progress was measured by the amount of divine energy they could absorb from the mines. Those who reached their limit in one team would be promoted to the next team: from the first team to the second, from the second to the third, and so on, until reaching the sixth team and becoming a Teaching Master. During work hours, the teams were arranged in order of seniority, with the first team working the longest and the Teaching Masters not engaging in hard labor at all! In just over ten days, the total amount of divine energy obtained was twice that of the previous month!

  The manager of the ore mine was surprised and reported it to the higher-ups. The superior came to inspect, greatly pleased, and rewarded him with 100 Refining Body Dan pills, 10 Strengthening Spirit Dan pills, and appointed him as the Grand Manager of Deep Creek. However, he didn't want to just collect laborious merits, but instead wanted to obtain high-level cultivation methods. Alas, his hopes were already shattered! He only practiced the Eight Desolations Technique and the Million Army Beheading Technique every day. Although these two techniques weren't sacred, they were still top-notch techniques for beginners in the Daoist path. The manager of the ore mine had a certain number of positions, and the cultivators' upgrades would be calculated accordingly. Insufficient wouldn't need to worry about it. Therefore, he diligently cultivated without asking about anything else! Whenever he encountered difficulties, he would ask the enlightened master who taught him the Dao. In just two years, he could recognize the spiritual realm and encompass all things within a hundred miles, no matter how big or small. Even Qian Er was amazed by this. Moreover, his physical body was extremely light, almost like nothing, and was more durable than any Daoist artifact! Although he hadn't yet formed a Daoist body, he could control the air to fly at incredible speeds, surpassing even eagles! The only thing was that it couldn't last for long.