Ji Yuan, who flew away on the mist, did not fly too high or too far. He slowly landed on the ground just ten miles outside the city of Jingji Prefecture.
Dozens of feet above the ground, the mist floated in the wind like smoke, and it took less than half an hour to land outside the city.
This was Ji Yuan's first attempt at the art of flying, so he was a little cautious. At this height and speed, even if something serious happened, it would be fine, as he could land safely with his lightness skills.
However, the whole process was much easier than Ji Yuan had imagined. Perhaps it was because of the old dragon's magical ability to fly in the clouds, or perhaps it was the factor of the white piece in his hand, the old white dragon.
Although he didn't fly very high, the feeling of flying was still great, and after landing, Ji Yuan's confidence increased greatly.
"But if I were to apply the evaluation of Bodhi Patriarch in Journey to the West, I can't even be considered climbing clouds, right?"
With some evil thoughts in mind, Ji Yuan also walked quickly towards the Tongtian River not far away.
After all, it is spring in March. Even though it is only the early morning after dawn, the area between Tongtian River Pier and Gyeonggi Prefecture is already extremely busy, with a constant stream of carriages and horses coming and going, without the silence of the severe winter.
Ji Yuan was a lone passerby carrying a backpack and an umbrella. He looked like a scholar who had failed the imperial examination and was returning home. No one would even look at him twice. Occasionally, as he walked, he could hear people talking about the top scholar who had won the top three places in the imperial examination this year.
Arriving at the riverside, Ji Yuan did not walk towards the large pier on the left, but walked towards the south side of the river bank on the right. There was already an old man waiting there. It was the old dragon who had anticipated Ji Yuan's formation.
Lao Long stroked his beard and watched his friend in the distance getting closer and closer. When they were almost at the right distance, he bowed at the same time as Ji Yuan.
"Mr. Ji!" "Mr. Ying!"
After greeting each other, the two walked together along the river.
Lao Long looked at the bag and the butter-paper umbrella that Ji Yuan was carrying.
"Sometimes I envy Mr. Ji for having the patience and leisure to enjoy the world."
Ji Yuan also looked at Lao Long. He always dressed the same way every time he saw him.
"Mr. Ying, you can do that. With your level of cultivation, walking in the mortal world, what gods can see through your dragon body? Even if they can, they won't say anything to you, right?"
"Hehe, I don't have that kind of patience. Some things are interesting, but they're not as comfortable as taking a nap."
The old dragon said this half-jokingly, but in Ji Yuan's opinion, after all, the old dragon was not very interested in human affairs. When it comes to patience, this real dragon is actually not bad.
The man and the dragon walked slowly along the river for several miles.
When it was time to really part, Lao Long reminded Ji Yuan not to forget to tell him the place where he was practicing, and they simply exchanged greetings with each other and said goodbye.
One dragon dived into the water and disappeared into the river, while a man walked on the clouds.
. . .
Bingzhou is located in the southeast of the Central Plains of Dazhen. It is the smallest of the thirteen states in Dazhen, with only five prefectures in total.
However, Bingzhou is an important grain-producing area of Dazhen. Its suitable climate and vast plain farmland make Bingzhou a veritable granary of Dazhen. There are many records in history of transferring grain from Bingzhou when disasters occurred in the country.
Changchuan Prefecture was the capital of Bingzhou. In addition to the prefecture city, it had jurisdiction over twelve large counties, and Dongle County was one of them.
Ji Yuan was familiar with Tengyunqiwu and asked for directions along the way. He arrived safely in Dongle County, Qingsong Taoist's hometown, at the end of April.
To be honest, Ji Yuan was quite surprised when he learned that Taoist Qingsong and his disciple Qi Wen lived in Bingzhou.
Bingzhou is not very close to Jizhou. At that time, Ji Yuan thought that the two Taoists, one big and one small, were just wandering around Jizhou or even Desheng Prefecture, but he didn't expect them to travel so far.
With the ordinary people's walking speed, and the fact that the master and disciple were often short of money and could not afford to hire a carriage, and they had no clear purpose, according to the young Taoist boy Qi Wen, the two of them traveled for two and a half years.
There are few mountains in Bingzhou, and the same is true for Dongle County. Yunshan in the county is still easy to find. Ji Yuan just asked around and found the Yunshan Temple of Qingsong Taoist.
The scale of Yunshan is roughly equivalent to the old Huashan outside Jiudaokou County, Desheng Prefecture, Jizhou, and is considered quite large in Changchuan Prefecture.
At this moment, Ji Yuan was standing outside the Yunshan Temple on Yanxia Peak and walked around the temple.
This Taoist temple may seem small in size, but it has everything it needs. In addition to the main hall dedicated to the stars, it also has many side rooms, kitchens, and backyards.
Some vegetables were planted in the backyard. Because it was located on the upper half of the mountain, there was no well and we had to go down the mountain to fetch water from the Yunshan mountain stream.
The entire Taoist temple covers an area of about one acre, and only Taoist Qingsong and his disciple Qi Wen live there.
Judging from the aura in the Taoist temple, Taoist Qingsong and Qi Wen should have returned long ago.
There was no one in the gym now. It was obvious that the two of them had gone out. There were probably not many thieves on this mountain, so the gym was not locked from the inside out.
"Tsk tsk tsk... Is this Taoist Qingsong going out to tell fortunes again?"
Ji Yuan pushed open the door of the Taoist temple and walked in. Without going to see what kind of habits the two people had in their house, he went straight to the main hall of the temple.
The deities enshrined in the temple were not the Three Pure Ones of Taoism as Ji Yuan remembered in his previous life, but the stars in the sky. There were no clay statues of gods in the temple, but a star map hung on a black cloth. It was not known whether it was because the stars were slightly special, but Ji Yuan could clearly distinguish them even though they were blurry.
The most eye-catching ones are the Big Dipper and the Southern Dipper, with seven visible and two hidden stars of nine. In addition, there are the Eastern, Western, Central Dipper and many other stars embroidered on them.
"Well, worshipping the stars instead of the gods, the Taoism here is quite interesting."
In fact, whether it is "The Biography of the Outer Dao" and "The Strategy of Tongming", or some books that Ji Yuan got from Lao Long later, the Buddhist Ming Wang was mentioned from time to time, but there were not many things about Taoism.
Most of the "mages" that ordinary people in the mortal world often invite are monks, or people wearing what are not quite "magic robes", but there are not many Taoists.
Ji Yuan looked at it for a while and the star map appeared.
There is also an incense burner outside the hall. The incense on it is not very strong, but looking at the way the incense is dissipating, the star map in the temple is neither needed nor useful.
"No wonder people don't like to come to this temple to burn incense. There's not even a statue of the deity. What are they praying for..."
Dongle County is about twenty or thirty miles south of Yunshan Mountain. Ji Yuan didn't want to wait in the Taoist temple, so he planned to go there to see if Taoist Qingsong was there and buy some food.
Yunpiao arrived outside the county and went straight to the county temple. Sure enough, he found a small table under a big tree outside the City God Temple. Taoist Qingsong, with a gloomy face, was sitting there, and next to him was the grown-up Qi Wen.
Although Ji Yuan did not see the sign of the small stall clearly, he could still hear every word of Taoist Qingsong's warm greetings to the pilgrims.
"Hey, is this gentleman here to seek marriage?" "Hey, is this lady here to seek marriage?"
"If you want to ask for a marriage fortune, come to me for a fortune interpretation. It's cheap!"
…
Ji Yuan nodded secretly. It seemed that Qi Xuan had listened to his words.
Not long after I finished praising it in my heart, a middle-aged pilgrim wearing a grey straight-hem gown and a square crown on his head came to the stall and asked a question.
"Master, can you interpret the fortune telling for your family?"
Taoist Qingsong's spirit suddenly changed. Qi Wen next to him had just uttered the word "No..." when Qi Xuan's voice drowned out his.
"Yes! Of course I won't! If the fortune is not accurate enough, I can give you another one without charging you any more money!"
"Oh? That's fine, please tell me the fortune, Taoist priest."
"Haha, sit down, sit down. Actually, I was observing your face just now, but I didn't ask until you came."
Taoist Master Qingsong kindly and warmly invited the pilgrims to sit down.
Qi Wen over there and Ji Yuan in the distance sighed at the same time.