Shoutian County, Guhuai Town, abandoned temple.
In the southern part of Jizhou, heavy rain was pouring. The green grass had long been turned into mud by the rain. The emerald green leaves stood vertically in the rain, washed lifeless by the rain.
The sky was grey and gloomy, making it hard to breathe, as if darkness would envelope us at any moment.
The scholar looked hurried, wearing a straw raincoat and a straw hat, holding a book wrapped in cloth in his arms, and running wildly in the pouring rain.
When he saw an abandoned temple not far away, his eyes lit up, he hugged the book tightly in his arms, quickened his pace, and ran over quickly.
Whoosh—
The scholar was so tired that he was out of breath. He closed the doors and windows tightly. Although the temple was dilapidated, it was not leaking wind or rain. It was a blessing in disguise.
He opened the package and checked whether the books were wet. Perhaps because they were well protected, the books were still dry.
The scholar lit an oil lamp and read aloud in the dim light.
A graceful figure suddenly appeared behind the scholar, with an alluring smile on her lips, and patted the scholar on the back.
When the scholar saw the beautiful figure, he couldn't help laughing as if he was bewitched.
After the heavy rain, the exhausted scholar left the abandoned temple.
…
Three figures dressed as scholars walked in the muddy ground, one step deep and one step shallow, looking quite embarrassed.
"Why is this road so difficult to walk on?" One of the scholar figures complained.
Another figure rolled his eyes and said, "Just make do with what you have. Don't be ungrateful. Aren't these conditions much better than when we were in the jungle?"
“That’s right.”
The third figure explained, "I heard that yesterday there was a heavy rain that hasn't been seen in ten years. Guhuai Town was soaked thoroughly and the river overflowed the river bank. I heard it will rain again tonight."
"Tsk, this doesn't seem like a good sign."
Lu Yang pointed at the temple and said with a smile: "That's great. There is a temple in front. Although it is a bit dilapidated, the Buddha statue should still be there. You can go and worship while you stay overnight."
"Let's review the plan. According to the current intelligence, the other party is very vigilant and will not show up easily. Moreover, the other party is a ghost with advanced escaping skills, so it is not easy to be caught."
"The ghost girl's strength should be at the foundation-building stage, but her exact level is unknown."
"If a female ghost shows up, you must wait until you are sure she will not escape before you capture her!"
"We are now scholars who have come to the Imperial City to seek fame. We will stay here for one night and use this opportunity to lure the female ghost to appear!"
"So far, we haven't received any news of female ghosts killing people. When you catch female ghosts, don't kill them."
"I had no experience in going out before. Ever since I saw my master being imprisoned, I have understood the importance of using a pseudonym in the outside world. This way, I won't embarrass myself and won't lose face in front of the people of the Daoist Sect. Let's check our names again. My name is Lu Yiyang."
"My name is Long Jingzhou."
"My name is Li Hao."
The three of them discussed it and felt that there was nothing wrong with the plan, so they restrained their auras to the extreme, disguised themselves as mortals, and walked into the temple.
"This temple is so clean." Meng Jingzhou was surprised. He thought the place would be dusty and full of spiders weaving webs in every corner.
The situation inside the temple was far beyond his expectations. The temple was so clean that it looked as if someone had cleaned it.
The only regret is that the Buddha statue in the middle is missing its upper body and cannot be worshipped.
Li Haoran found some dry firewood behind the Buddha statue, which should have been left by the last person who stayed here.
He piled the firewood together, found some hay, took out a flint from his bag, and used the hay as a spark to light the firewood pile.
Li Haoran warmed his hands by the fire, revealing an extremely comfortable expression: "Huh - I'm alive again."
Lu Yang took out a few steamed buns from his bag, skewered them with wooden sticks, and roasted them over the fire.
When the crust of the steamed bun turned slightly yellow, Lu Yang broke open one of the buns, and the aroma mixed with hot air hit his face.
Meng Jingzhou walked around the dilapidated temple and returned to the main hall: "In addition to the main hall, there are two more rooms. We can each have one room when we go to sleep later."
"good."
The three of them gathered around the fire, eating steamed buns and pickles, while lamenting that the road ahead would be difficult.
Lu Yang was filled with worry, and even the steamed bun in his hand didn't smell good anymore: "I don't know if this trip to the Imperial City will be smooth sailing. I heard that there are cultivators everywhere in the Imperial City, and it will be very difficult for us mortals to make a name for ourselves there."
Meng Jingzhou waved his hand and said, "The number of cultivators in the Imperial City is not as exaggerated as you think. It's good to have one cultivator among twenty people. It's so difficult to become a cultivator. The spiritual roots alone will screen out 99% of people."
There is one cultivator for every twenty people. This ratio is extremely terrifying. No big city in the Central Continent can reach this ratio.
"Although we don't have spiritual roots, we have knowledge, we can write all kinds of articles easily, and we have different views on current affairs than ordinary people. Tomorrow we will leave Shoutian County and go to the capital to take the exam. It is not impossible to gain fame, be appreciated by the emperor, and seek an official position."
Not all high-ranking officials of the Great Xia Dynasty were monks, some were mortals.
Meng Jingzhou pointed at Li Haoran with a steamed bun and said, "For example, Brother Li, you memorized the Thousand Character Classic at the age of five, wrote poems at the age of seven, lyrics at the age of eight, and articles at the age of ten. You are talented and your articles are wonderful, as if they were created by nature. The teacher praised you highly and said you are the best student he has ever taught."
Li Haoran smiled reservedly: "Brother Long, you are too kind. It's just that you want to motivate me, so you make such comments. On the contrary, Brother Long gave up the family business and wanted to fight for a future in the Imperial City. This confidence and the source of this confidence are beyond the reach of Brother Lu and I."
The three of them praised each other in various ways, and then they flipped through the books of sages, reading them with great interest. They thought that what the sages wrote was really good and worthy of being famous pieces that would be passed down through the ages. If they could write an article like this, they would die without regrets.
Meng Jingzhou yawned and ruthlessly hit Lu Yang's dream: "Okay, stop dreaming, go to sleep, you have to get up early tomorrow."
The three of them went into their respective rooms as they had agreed upon while eating the steamed buns.
Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou went to sleep in the rooms on both sides respectively, while Li Haoran stayed in the main hall and slept in front of a half-broken Buddha statue.
In the darkness, three beautiful figures stared at Lu Yang and the other two, with faint green light in their eyes.
"Three more people have come, and they have strong yang energy. I really want to know what it feels like for them..." the green-clothed figure chuckled.
"Yes, yes, it's been a long time since I've seen scholars with such strong yang energy. Although it is said that scholars who read the books of sages for a long time can cultivate a righteous spirit, it is rare to see people like these three people." The beautiful figure in red licked her lips, full of temptation.
The figure in white was relatively young, and she quickly said, "Sisters, please be careful not to suck away all their yang energy. You must look at the problem from a sustainable perspective."
"After they feel comfortable once, they will come again. By doing this, we can absorb more Yang energy than if we absorb it all at once."
"I know, I know. Xiao Qi, you are young, but you are the most nagging. We know our limits and won't do it. If we do it, it will attract investigation from the right path, and we will be the ones in trouble. We both understand this principle."
"We will split up. We will go to the two rooms next door. Xiaoqi, you stay here and serve this Li."