Mu Xue walked up the steps. This was deep in the mountains and the terrain was a bit high. When the wind blew, the sound of pine waves could be heard through the woods.
Through the pine forest, you can see a wide river flowing quietly at the foot of the mountain.
Today is a full moon. The round moon is hanging over the river, casting sparkling silver light all over the river.
Walking up step by step on such a mountain road, my restless heart will slowly calm down.
Every few steps, there is a relatively wide platform, and a circular magic circle is drawn on the ground of the platform. Sometimes the magic circle lights up, and a doorway appears out of thin air. Children of different ages walk out from it, some in gorgeous clothes, and some in rags.
Some children cried and walked slowly to the top of the mountain with tears and snot, while others ran up the mountain with excited eyes, heads held high and chests held high.
At the end of the stone steps is a large ancient temple with a towering gate and majestic palaces. A large plaque hangs above the gate with the three characters "Chongxu Temple" inscribed on it.
Chongxu Temple is a temple of the Guiyuan Sect in the human world. Chongxu Temples of varying sizes can be seen in many towns. On weekdays, the temples provide alms for disaster relief, fasting and offering ceremonies, and welcome believers from the mortal world to worship.
But Ye Hangzhou had said before that if family members wanted to meet their children who had been admitted to the mountain sect, they could go to the Chongxu Temple in Jiulian Mountain to deliver a letter, so he was referring to this place.
At this moment, the gate of the temple was wide open and the lights in the hall were bright.
There was a female cultivator in green sitting on the railing outside the door. When she saw the child coming up, she took the butterfly from his hand, registered his name and place of origin, and gave him a small piece of paper with his name on it, which she called a talisman. Then she asked these confused little kids to wait in the square in front of the main hall.
The thousand-year-old temple has majestic and solemn buildings and exquisite lacquer paintings.
The new disciple couldn't help but look around with awe.
Mu Xue's attention was focused on the small jade talisman in her hand. The name on the front of the nameplate was filled in with gold lacquer, and there were fine crisscrossing spiritual patterns on the back.
Rubbing his fingers gently, he could faintly feel the fluctuations of spiritual energy flowing along those complex lines.
Although the material is not expensive, the craftsmanship is extremely sophisticated and it is a spiritual weapon that is extremely difficult to imitate and forge.
Among the children who were crookedly huddled together, some of them would accidentally drop their jade talismans on the ground. The small cards flew up from the ground without any wind and snuck into their arms again. From the moment of registration, they would never leave their owners unless they were destroyed.
Being able to distribute such spiritual weapons to all low-level disciples shows that there must be a master weapon refiner with superb skills in Guiyuan Sect.
Mu Xue was itching to see the craft of refining magical instruments in the spiritual world as soon as possible so that she could compare and contrast with what she had learned.
A tall and strong man walked in from the mountain gate. He held two sleeping children in his arms and said to the woman at the door with a smile: "We found two children who were tired of crying and fell asleep on the mountain path. The others have all come up."
The woman nodded at him, glanced at the list in her hand, and sighed, "After all this hard work, there are only 123 people."
Mu Xue raised her eyes and saw that the man had muscular body, dark skin, thick eyebrows, and bright eyes. He looked very similar to the physical cultivators in the Demonic Spirit Realm who practiced physical techniques to enter the Tao.
The woman sitting by the door registering them had a beautiful and elegant figure, with a lingering medicinal fragrance surrounding her, making her look like a medical practitioner who worked with elixirs every day.
It seems that the cultivation methods within Guiyuan Sect have their own strengths and weaknesses, and there is not just a single Taoist method.
The female cultivator held up the glass bell containing the Xumu butterfly with one hand, and then took out a small and exquisite kesi round fan. The small round fan grew in the wind and hovered at her feet.
She lifted her skirt and stepped onto the fan, saying, "I'll go back and report first."
Her silk skirt fluttered in the wind, and she flew away into the sky with a fan.
The tall and strong man was closing the mountain gate. Hearing this, he turned around and shouted, "Senior sister, you are so impatient. Please wait for me."
He did not use any magic weapon, but ran towards the back mountain, climbing over eaves and walls, moving as fast as a startled wild goose, and disappeared in a few flashes.
When he said the first word, he was still at the gate, and the last word came from the hillside behind the mountain.
Judging from its momentum, it is almost the same as the round fan flying high along the mountain.
This flying and hiding skill made all the children present open their mouths in surprise.
Those who were crying didn't care to cry, and those who were full of pride didn't care to be proud. The only thought of the little children was when they could learn such magic and fly up to the sky to play.
Three or four older female nuns walked out of the hall, carrying palace lanterns and ushering in hundreds of children.
The group passed through the towering palace, bell tower and flower garden, and climbed the steps on the back mountain for a long time, gradually reaching the top of the mountain.
There is an inconspicuous boundary marker standing beside the mountain road here. The words engraved on the boundary marker seem to have experienced tens of millions of years of baptism and have become blurred and difficult to distinguish.
The moment they crossed the boundary marker, the children around were still walking around noisily, unaware of anything, but Mu Xue suddenly became frightened and held down the small talisman jade in her arms.
"After this boundary marker, you will reach the mountain gate of Guiyuan Sect. Outsiders are not allowed to enter without permission." The leading female cultivator said as they walked, "Those who have not been issued with talismans cannot enter after reaching this point. If you insist on forcing your way in, you will only end up dead, so fellow disciples, please remember this."
On the top of the mountain, there is another nine-entry courtyard with a plaque on the door that reads "Hua Yu Tang". This is where the new disciples of each year lived and studied.
This place is not as magnificent as the Chongxu Temple which has been renovated with gold and jade.
The courtyard walls are mottled with red paint and the floor tiles are covered with moss. It is very rustic and has a sense of mountain silence and the heaviness of time.
Looking from the top of the mountain, to the south is an endless fertile plain, and a river like a silver dragon is winding around the mountain. To the north are endless mountains, with nine main peaks towering into the clouds, and the peaks are shrouded in clouds and mist, making it difficult to see their true appearance.
Occasionally, one or two points of colorful light shine through the fairyland shrouded in clouds and mist, like the morning glow and rainbow, daring to compete with the moonlight.
"Senior sister, what are those lights? Are those our sect's places? When can we go over and take a look?" A child couldn't help but point at the flashing neon lights and ask the female leader.
"That is the territory of the inner sect. Ordinary disciples cannot enter."
The older female cultivator looked at the group of excited and excited fellow disciples and recalled the first time she went up the mountain. She couldn't help but sigh.
"Among you, there are 10 to 20 people who can get a glimpse of the secrets of heaven and be chosen by the teacher to join the inner sect. That's pretty good. The rest of you can only learn some basic techniques like me, your senior sister, to prolong your life. You are just a little better than ordinary people."
Children who have just entered the master's door are inevitably full of ambition. A boy in brocade clothes and jade crown said unconvincedly: "We are selected from thousands of people and are nobles who have received the fate of immortals. As long as we practice diligently, how could we not be noticed by the immortals? My mother said that I was chosen to be an immortal."
The leading female cultivator did not seem angry, and said calmly, "Then I wish you good luck and hope you can enter the Immortal Realm as soon as possible. Don't be like me, who has been hanging around in Huayu Hall to help out for decades."
After entering the Huayu Hall, the new disciples were uniformly issued bedding, clothing, and simple toiletries. Men and women were separated, and each room had a large bunk bed, each accommodating six disciples.
After a day of excitement, surprises, ups and downs, and climbing two mountain roads, many young children were tired and sleepy, and although the environment was strange and new, they still fell asleep as soon as they touched the pillow.
The mountains were foggy but not damp and cold. The moonlight shone through the window paper onto the ground, making it hazy.
Mu Xue lay in her own corner, covered with a thick quilt, looking at the moonlight shining through the window lattice on the ground with her eyes open.
She could feel that the spiritual energy of heaven and earth on this mountain had clearly increased.
This is just the outer gate of Guiyuan Sect. It seems that there must be a powerful spiritual vein where the Jiulian Mountains are located, and a powerful mountain protection formation has been set up here to bind the spirits and restrain the spiritual energy, making it a paradise for practitioners.
After being reborn, Mu Xue had already realized that the spiritual energy in the spiritual world of cultivation was very thin and far less abundant than that in the demonic world.
Perhaps because of this, this space did not breed a large number of demons born from the spiritual energy of heaven and earth like the Demon Spirit Realm. Ordinary mortals were able to live and work in peace and contentment in this world, thriving and giving birth to countless densely populated towns and countries.
The children around Mu Xue fell asleep one by one. Amid the sounds of their gentle breathing, the subtle spiritual energy in the air spread across the surface of the skin like a faint fragrance in the wind.
It was so elusive, yet so familiar and intimate, that every pore on Mu Xue's body was bathed in it comfortably.
She didn't dare to introduce spiritual energy into her body too early, so she could only let it flow in and out with her breathing. However, her spiritual consciousness unconsciously flowed with these wandering spirits of heaven and earth.
First, it covered the ground like a tide along the ancient blue bricks, then spread out of the paper windows and came to the courtyard where the moonlight was as bright as water.
There was no one in the yard, only the bright moon hanging high in the sky.
Mu Xue was clearly lying in the house, but she seemed to be standing in the courtyard. When she looked around, she suddenly found a person sitting on the roof opposite.
The man sat cross-legged with his back to Mu Xue, the silvery moonlight flowing all over his body.
There are actually people who collect spiritual energy from heaven and earth in this place to regulate their breathing and calm down
Mu Xue didn't want to alarm others, so she quietly withdrew her spiritual sense.
The man on the roof suddenly turned around, and his cold eyes looked down from above.
His consciousness suddenly retreated back into the house, and Mu Xue woke up from her sleep instantly.
She was reborn with no cultivation, but after years of practice, her consciousness was condensed and her mental strength was very strong.
Arriving at such a place with abundant spiritual energy, he relaxed for a moment while half asleep and half awake, and began to unconsciously wander around with his spirit, exploring the unknown environment.
Mu Xue opened her eyes wide in the darkness, recalling the scene just now. She didn't expect that the sect would actually send disciples to guard the Huayu Hall. She didn't know whether it was to protect or monitor these new disciples.
Although the cultivator on duty just now had good cultivation, he ran very fast and should not have been discovered.
"You... can't sleep either?" A soft voice sounded in the darkness, and the girl sleeping next to Mu Xue quietly lifted the quilt and poked her head out.
"This place is too quiet, I can't sleep at all. My name is Xia Tong, what's yours?" she said.
"Zhang... Zhang Erya." Mu Xue gave her full name in frustration, then changed her words and said, "You can also call me Xiaoxue, this is my nickname."
"Xiaoxue, I'm so hungry. I wonder when we have breakfast here?" Xia Tong quietly stretched out her hand from under the quilt, holding a small piece of light yellow rock sugar in her hand. "Do you want to eat it? Luckily, my mother brought it with me when I went out."
Mu Xue took it and said, "Thank you."
In fact, she quietly put the candy into her sleeve and did not put it into her mouth.
Who would eat food given by a competitor at a time like this
Since only ten to twenty people can be selected from more than a hundred people, these so-called fellow disciples are just like enemies.
The last time she became an apprentice, she was still an orphan who grew up alone in Fuwang City.
The master recruited all these wolves with fierce eyes. Not to mention the opportunity to become a disciple, they would fight each other to the point of bleeding even for a piece of steamed bun.
At that time, Mu Xue had a special talent in refining weapons and worked extra hard. Soon, a senior sister who disliked her secretly poisoned her food.
If the food that was given to her had not been eaten by another child by mistake, she might have already experienced the feeling of reincarnation and becoming a new person.
The scene of the boy who died for her falling to the ground, his limbs twitching and foaming at the mouth, was forever engraved in Mu Xue's mind and became a nightmare that lingered for her for many years.
There was no way in her life that she would eat anything handed to her without first verifying its source.
When Xia Tong saw Mu Xue accepting her candy, she suddenly felt a sense of closeness as if they were secretly doing something bad together in the middle of the night.
She chewed some candy in her mouth, moved closer, and started chatting with Mu Xue in a chattering voice.
On the roof of the courtyard, the man on duty frowned and stared intently at the courtyard below.
His spiritual awareness filled the entire Huayu Hall. In the courtyard, the new disciples were snoring, and there was nothing wrong. He could not find any suspicious people.
But just now, he clearly felt that there was a strange pair of eyes looking at him from behind.
The spiritual consciousness seemed to be very powerful and condensed. It would disappear as soon as it was touched, and there was no place to trace it.
This is Huayu Hall, which is surrounded by a mountain protection formation. It is impossible for a disciple who is not carrying a talisman to sneak into the mountain gate. Where did this outsider come from
Could it be that something went wrong when I entered into meditation, and it was just an illusion
He released his spiritual sense again and searched carefully. Except for a side room where two young junior sisters were hiding under the quilt in the middle of the night eating candy and chatting, he did not detect any movement.
One of the main peaks in Guiyuan Sect, on Xiaoyao Peak.
The leader of a peak, Su Xingting, was drinking leisurely and toasting to the moon. His young disciple, Ye Hangzhou, rode a magic weapon to the temple gate, ran all the way to his feet and stood still.
"Master, my disciple is back."
"It's Hangzhou. Are you done with your work? Come on, it's great to have a drink with the master." He pulled the young disciple to sit down, took out a wine glass without following any rules, and poured a glass of wine for the disciple.
Ye Hangzhou took the wine, drank it all, and wiped his mouth. "All the uncles have gone to the headmaster to see the result of this time's Jin Wendao. Master, why are you still here?"
"Master has you guys to show off, that's enough. Let your uncles take care to cultivate those good seedlings."
"I'm not trying to disparage you, Master. You are good in every way, except that you are a little too casual." Ye Hangzhou started talking in a series of repetitive words.
"Look at Biyou Peak and Tiezhu Peak, they are full of colorful clouds and talented people. Even Qingjing Peak where the head of the sect lives is not quiet at all. It is so crowded that there are not even enough caves to live in. Only here, with only a few brothers and sisters, it is empty and deserted."
Su Xingting raised his wine glass and looked at his apprentice for a while. "Did you meet any particularly amazing people this time when you went down the mountain? Was it the image of 'Soul Born in Gold' or 'Dragon and Tiger Confined'? What made you come back so excited?"
Ye Hangzhou scratched his head. "Master, nothing can be hidden. It's not that the child is extremely talented, but there is only a six-year-old junior sister. I don't know why the child's eyes look warm, but it makes people feel a little distressed. I was thinking that our mountain has not had a new disciple for a long time. I wonder if Master would like to add another junior sister to make things more lively."
On the Qingjing Peak where the head of Guiyuan Sect resides,
Inside a transparent glass bell, hundreds of brightly colored butterflies were fluttering up and down.
The monks around him were all celestial beings, elegant and otherworldly. They were all elders in the sect who were proficient in the profound Daoism and were interested in taking in disciples.
"The qualifications of the disciples this time seem good. Look at this Jin Wendao, there are several with brilliant mysterious light. It can be seen that they are all good seedlings for cultivation." One of them twirled his beard and nodded slightly.
"We can't just look at the brightness of the surface, the most important thing is to look at the state of mind. The former one's cultivation level was advancing by leaps and bounds, but his character couldn't keep up. He went astray in a few years, causing harm to himself and several fellow disciples. Brother, have you forgotten so quickly?"
"Junior sister, what you said is true. You must bring out the Guiyuan Mirror to verify it."
The female cultivator who was speaking flicked her sleeves, and a bronze treasure appeared on the round table in the hall. The mirror-like light was mysterious, and it looked like a pool of green spring falling on the stone table.
A butterfly flew out from the bell cover and lightly touched the mirror. Ripples appeared on the water-like mirror surface, reflecting a field of brilliant spring flowers, where petals fell colorfully, grass was fresh, and the spring was dim.
"It's full of vitality, pure and simple, quite good." An immortal commented.
Another butterfly flew by, and in an instant, clouds and rain fell above the water mirror, moistening all things in the world.
"Rain is given to all living beings, good. This child can enter my Xuandan Peak."
Another golden butterfly flew across the mirror, and a raging fire ignited in the mirror, magma flowed everywhere, and the earth was scorched.
"What a pity. He is so brilliant and talented, but he is so arrogant and paranoid."
Countless golden butterflies fluttered by, and on the mirror surface, bright or dark, various images representing the state of mind appeared.
The monks watching sometimes admired, sometimes lamented, and gave their own comments.
A butterfly whose glow was not eye-catching slowly flew across the mirror and touched the mirror once.
A world of ice and snow appeared in the water mirror, with a bright moon in the sky. A tree of beautiful flowers slowly bloomed in the yard where ice and snow were drifting. The flowers gradually bloomed, and they were shining brightly despite the wind and snow, unafraid of the frost.
"This is… ?"
"It's the realm of flowers blooming in the snow!"
"Is this the scene?"
“How can a six or seven-year-old child achieve such a state of mind?”
For a moment, the crowd was talking about it.
"After I feel at peace, the courtyard is snowing at night, and the beautiful flowers are nowhere to be found. It's so rare. Haha, the disciples of this session are very extraordinary." A hearty laugh came from outside the gate.