Li Yan saw that behind a row of pavilions on the edge of the lotus pond, there were five or six more rows of pavilions staggered together. At this time, Feng Zhiran in front of him stopped, turned back and smiled. He stretched out his right hand and pointed to the buildings not far ahead.
"Fellow Daoist Li, the teleportation array is in a hall behind those buildings. However, since you are the first to arrive today, you will have to wait for some time. This is the courtyard where the Taoist temple disciples live on a daily basis.
Considering that there are also people like you who came earlier, we have left a courtyard here for you to drink tea and rest. "
After saying that, he stretched out his hand, turned sideways, and walked forward along the path beside the lotus pond. Li Yan followed with a smile.
The two of them walked along the stone path beside the pond for a short circle and arrived at the first row of houses next to the lotus pond. The gate of the first row of houses was between the first and second rows.
The two of them walked along the long alley along the courtyard wall for more than fifty feet before they arrived at a courtyard gate.
Although the houses here are arranged in rows, there is a wide area of more than ten feet between every two rows of houses, so people don't feel like they are in a narrow alley at all.
When they got here, Feng Zhiran stopped and pointed to a courtyard and said.
"This is it."
Afterwards, he took the lead and walked towards the courtyard gate. Li Yan saw that the courtyard gate was quite grand. On the side of the gate were two lifelike stone sculptures of cloud-swallowing unicorns. Li Yan actually felt a hint of pressure from the sculptures, which was not weaker than that of the third level of Qi Condensation Stage. It was quite extraordinary.
Feng Zhiran didn't pay any attention to Li Yan's observation, but went straight into the courtyard and continued speaking.
"This courtyard is not far from the teleportation array at the back, and the location is convenient. There is no forbidden formation in the courtyard, but other houses around it are protected by formations and forbidden formations. Most of them are inhabited by disciples of the Taoist temple.
Therefore, please do not move around casually, Fellow Daoist Li, and just wait here for notification. Otherwise, if you trigger the restrictions of the formation, you will inevitably suffer.
Some of my uncles and aunts even added attacks to their own courtyard formations, making it easy to kill people. "
When he said this, although he was smiling, he turned around and looked at Li Yan with a warning in his eyes. Li Yan was just as he imagined, and a trace of fear suddenly appeared on his face, which made Feng Zhiran quite satisfied.
At this time, they had already entered the courtyard. The courtyard was quite large, with the courtyard alone being nearly a hundred feet in size. There were several large trees in the courtyard, and a bluestone path started from the gate, went around to the bottom of the trees, and then extended to further away.
There are some stone tables and stone benches under the trees on both sides of the path. At the end of the bluestone road is a row of houses with carved window lattices connected into a group. There are about five or six houses, and each room has red pillars and carved rafters and carved wooden windows.
Some shady branches, with greenery, are placed between the eaves and window corners, exuding a sense of transcendence.
A large door stood open in the middle of the room. On both sides of the door stood two men in green with their hands hanging down. They looked like servants, but they had the aura of the second level of Qi Condensation.
Feng Zhiran took Li Yan along the bluestone road and came directly to the house in the middle. When they arrived here, Feng Zhiran stopped, pointed to the exquisite house in the middle with its door open, and spoke with a smile.
"Friend Li, this is it. This is the hall. You can drink tea and wait inside. If you have anything, just call these two directly."
As he spoke, he pointed at the two blue-clothed servants who were looking at them respectfully.
"If you want some quiet time, you can choose a side room in the courtyard to rest. You came early, so the rooms on both sides are empty.
If we are late, we can only wait in the hall, but it won’t take too long anyway. I think in one or two hours, we will have six people together and can set off.”
After Feng Zhiran finished speaking, he pointed to several rooms on both sides with closed doors.
Li Yan first took a look at the hall in front of him. There were several tables and chairs on both sides of the hall, on which a set of tea sets was simply placed.
Facing the door are three large open windows, outside of which is the fragrant lotus pond. Even if you stand at the door, the flowing breeze can bring a light and refreshing fragrance to your face.
"Oh, I'd better go to the side room and wait."
Li Yan pondered for a moment and then said to Feng Zhiran.
"Okay, are all the rooms here empty?"
Feng Zhiran was not at all surprised by Li Yan's answer. Immortal cultivators rarely liked to sit in the same room with others. Li Yan's answer was well within his expectations.
The rest of his words were directed to the two blue-clothed servants. Although he knew that the rooms should be empty at this time, he still asked the question as a routine.
"Brother Qibing, of course there are. All the rooms are empty."
One of the servants answered quickly.
"Then, Fellow Daoist Li, you can pick any one you like. I won't bother you anymore. Shang is still on patrol. If you need anything, just go find them. I will go to the teleportation array and talk to my uncle."
After saying that, Feng Zhiran performed a Taoist ritual, turned around and walked out.
Li Yan bowed in return and looked around. His face regained its composure. He glanced at the two servants who were looking at him expectantly and spoke in a cold voice.
"I am tired. When the teleportation array is opened, just let me know. There is no need to do anything else."
After saying that, he ignored the two of them and walked straight to the side.
The two servants in green nodded in agreement upon seeing this. Although they looked respectful, there was a hint of disappointment in their eyes. They cleaned and tidied the place, served tea and water to the foreign monks on a daily basis, and occasionally received some spirit stones.
Their cultivation base is extremely low. If they only rely on the spirit stones issued by the sect every month, it is unknown when they can cultivate to the third level of Qi Condensation, be promoted to outer disciples, and escape from their menial status.
Therefore, they are usually happy to come here to do some chores, which will more or less bring in extra spiritual stones. Although they were disappointed, they did not complain in their hearts. Most cultivators have strange personalities, and there are cultivators like Li Yan every day.
Li Yan walked directly to the corner room near one side of the courtyard wall, pushed open the door, and at a glance he saw that the room was much smaller, but also unique and exquisite, and the furnishings inside the house were also simple.
Opposite the door is a table and a chair under the window against the wall. In order to keep the house dry and ventilated, the window is wide open at this moment. Outside the window, there are also lush green lotus leaves, and white and red lotus flowers nodding in the wind. On the right side of the room is a sandalwood bed, and that's the only thing in the house.
After Li Yan looked around, he let go of his consciousness for a moment, and after a while, he took a step in. After entering the house, Li Yan flicked his sleeves, and the door behind him was closed again.
He walked to the window and looked at the lotus pond and the mountains in the distance. After a moment, Li Yan stretched out his hand and wiped his left wrist. Several rays of light flashed out and fell to the four corners of the house respectively.
In an instant, there was a faint fluctuation of spiritual power in the house, and the scenery outside the window in front of Li Yan was distorted and blurred for a while, and then returned to normal.
This is a set of simple protective flags, which are usually carried by monks. It is not offensive in any way, but simply isolates spiritual consciousness and gives warnings.
When someone approaches and attempts to enter, or when someone's spiritual sense tries to probe and investigate, the people in the house will be alerted.
Although Li Yan learned from inquiring in the market that Xuanqing Temple had a good reputation, he was a cautious person and would not believe everything he heard. Even if it was just a temporary stay, he would still be alert, not to mention that this was also a gathering place for other foreign cultivators.
Li Yan did not close the window. Under the isolating effect of this set of formation flags, the situation inside the house could not be seen from the outside, unless someone forcibly penetrated with spiritual sense. However, he could see everything outside clearly.
After doing all this, Li Yan turned around, walked to the bed on the side, sat cross-legged, and slowly closed his eyes.
Half a day is not short for ordinary people, but for monks, it is just a short moment of meditation, and time soon comes to noon.
Just as Li Yan was meditating with his eyes closed, his eyelids moved slightly, and then there was a flash of light in the room, the formation made a low buzzing sound, and then a voice was heard at the door.
"Senior, the people heading north have gathered. Please move to the teleportation array."
Upon hearing this, Li Yan slowly opened his eyes and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. This Xuanqing Temple really does this business frequently and their judgment of time is also very accurate.
At the same time, he felt a little helpless. The person outside the door was also in the Qi Condensation Stage, but he called him senior. Now the cultivation level he showed was also just at the Qi Condensation Stage. It was obvious how difficult it was for low-level Qi Condensation disciples to survive.
In order to obtain cultivation resources, no matter what the other party's cultivation level is, they all call the other party "senior", hoping to win the other party's favor and be rewarded with a few spirit stones.
This situation does not exist in the Wuliang Sect, which shows the shortage of cultivation resources in small sects and schools.
After standing up from the bed, Li Yan waved his hand again, and several rays of light from the four corners of the room flashed and flew towards his hands. He then caught them and wiped them with his left wrist, and they were put into the "earth spot".
Then he flicked his wide robe sleeves, the door opened, and he strode out.
A young servant in blue was waiting outside the door with a respectful look on his face. When he saw Li Yan come out, he bowed respectfully.
"Senior, please come this way."
After saying that, he walked towards the hall.
Li Yan followed him and walked forward. The hall was only a few dozen feet away from here. When Li Yan just walked out of the room, he found seven people standing under the shade of the tree at the entrance of the hall.
In order not to cause trouble, he did not use his spiritual sense to scan over there. As he got closer, he could see the appearance of these seven people clearly.
Judging from their standing positions, they should be divided into three groups. One group was led by a burly man with a curly beard. He had a strong aura and was actually a cultivator in the Foundation Establishment Stage. Behind him stood a young man and woman.
The two men had the aura fluctuations of the seventh or eighth level of Qi Condensation Stage. The man was quite handsome, wearing a white robe and a long sword at his waist, looking elegant and dashing.
This attire surprised Li Yan. Monks usually seldom leave their weapons outside. Most of them are placed in storage bags. This person obviously has a storage bag around his waist, but he does this.
But soon when Li Yan saw the handsome young man looking lovingly at the woman beside him, he understood everything. He realized that he was dressing like this deliberately in front of his sweetheart.
The woman was wearing a yellow shirt and had a slim figure. Although she was not gorgeous, she was pretty and charming. When the handsome young man looked at her from time to time, she lowered her head shyly, letting her long black hair fall.
The two of them seemed to be whispering, as if they didn't pay any attention to other people at all, looking like a loving couple.
About ten steps away from the bearded man were two people wearing black robes and cloaks on their heads. Most of their faces were hidden under the cloaks, and they exuded negative energy.
These two people made people feel a chill running through their bones even from a distance, and people around them stayed away from them.
Although the two men in black robes seemed to be together, they each lowered their heads and did not talk to each other, which made them look even more gloomy.
The fluctuations of magic power on these two people's bodies were very weak, making it difficult to tell their cultivation level. Li Yan's spiritual consciousness had long been higher than that of the same level of foundation building after practicing Guishui Sutra, but he could judge that the other party's realm was actually in the late stage of foundation building.
There were also two people on the other side, a young man and a hunchbacked old man, clearly a master and a servant. The young man was tall, about twenty-three or twenty-four years old, with a handsome face, wearing a purple robe, but with a worried look on his face.
His cultivation level has reached the ninth level of Qi Condensation Stage. The most noticeable thing about him is his pale skin, but it is not the kind that looks sickly. It seems as if he has not seen the sun for many years.
The hunchbacked old man stood beside the purple-shirted young man with his hands hanging down. He was dressed in coarse linen clothes and carried a package, but there was no storage bag hanging around his waist.
But when Li Yan saw the hunchbacked old man, his pupils shrank involuntarily. He couldn't see through the old man's cultivation level, but he felt that he was more dangerous than the bearded man and the two men in black robes.
The moment Li Yan walked out, except for the young couple who just glanced over here, the rest of the people also looked at Li Yan.
Even the two men in black robes raised their heads slightly and looked over through the brims of their cloaks. However, after glancing at Li Yan's cultivation level, except for the young man with a sad face who nodded slightly to Li Yan, the rest of them all withdrew their gazes indifferently.
Li Yan sensed his surroundings as he walked. In addition to the seven people outside the hall, he could also sense fluctuations of magic power coming from two side rooms.
The doors of the remaining side rooms were also wide open. It was obvious that one of the seven people in front of him must have been in the side room just now.
As for the two rooms with closed doors and fluctuations of magical power, I think they should be teleporting the monks to the east.
Li Yan had already found out before coming here that the Xuanqing Temple teleportation array can teleport ten people at a time, but a minimum of six people are required to start a teleportation. There are only eight people including himself in the present, so it is obvious that these are the number of people heading north.