The main hall of the Li Residence.
Chen Ming looked up at Chen Jiao across from him, realizing his older sister was staring intently at him, her almond eyes filled with complex emotions.
“Older sister, just ask whatever you want to ask.” Chen Ming smiled wryly, a hint of helplessness in his voice.
“Little brother, are you really going to become a Daoist priest?”
“Yes!”
“You’re still so young, you haven’t even started a family or career yet. If you enter a Daoist temple, won’t our Chen family…?”
Chen Ming smiled faintly. Faced with his sister’s questioning, he couldn't answer her as he had the old Daoist priest.
However, on his way back, he had already thought of a countermeasure.
“Older sister, look!”
Before his words finished, Chen Ming flipped his right hand. A ball of orange-yellow flame appeared out of thin air, dancing and flickering in his palm.
Sunlight passed through the flame, casting flickering light spots on the ground.
“This…”
Chen Jiao looked hesitant, but she didn’t show the usual shock and dismay. Her gaze shifted from the flame to her younger brother’s face, a complex emotion flashing in her eyes.
It seemed the rumors she had heard were all true; her younger brother was indeed no ordinary person.
And he even seemed quite powerful?
With such a flame, wasn’t his hand getting burned?
Chen Jiao looked at the constantly flickering and swaying flame, her expression unreadable. There was the joy of her younger brother growing up, and also the sadness of an impending separation.
Chen Ming closed his five fingers, and the flame quietly dissipated.
He gazed at Chen Jiao, his eyes burning: “Older sister, how about coming with me to Mount Laoshan?”
Chen Jiao’s expression froze, “Why?”
“Older sister, what do you think of the world today?” Chen Ming didn’t answer immediately, instead asking another question.
The dining hall fell silent for a moment, with only the birds in the trees outside the courtyard still chirping.
Chen Jiao was not only Chen Ming’s older sister but also a silk shop owner, so she naturally knew the state of the world today.
Corrupt officials held power, harming the people with oppressive governance, exorbitant taxes, and rampant banditry.
“Why go to Mount Laoshan?”
Chen Jiao frowned. Wasn’t Mount Laoshan also under the rule of the Great Qian Dynasty?
“Older sister, the Great Qian Dynasty being on the verge of collapse is one thing, but most importantly, there are ghosts everywhere and monsters running rampant in various places now. That’s the most dangerous part!”
“And the Taiqing Palace has been the ancestral home of the Dragon Gate sect since ancient times, the foremost Daoist temple in the East Sea. With the abbot, supervisor, and many executive affairs, those evil spirits and demons would never dare to trespass!”
Chen Ming explained while pacing.
“Hmm, I’ll talk to your brother-in-law.”
Chen Jiao reached up to tuck a few stray hairs behind her ear, her voice soft yet firm: “Little brother, your older sister understands your intentions. It’s just…”
She turned to look at the “Yunbo Zhai” plaque hanging in the center of the hall, a signboard she had earned with three years of hard work. And there was her husband, Li Xiangwen; although he was only a county yamen constable, it was a legitimate job after all.
Furthermore, she had never seen the evil spirits and demons her younger brother spoke of, nor did she want to. Although the court had oppressive taxes, they could still make a living, and she had neighbors here whom she had known since childhood.
How could she just leave?
Chen Ming could understand his older sister’s thoughts; it was hard to leave one’s homeland. So he didn’t argue much.
“Older sister, this is something I specifically bought for you when I was out.”
“Hold out your hand.”
Chen Ming took a thin willow bracelet from the satchel behind him and placed it on Chen Jiao’s wrist.
He then took out a few paper figures and placed them in his older sister’s hand, “The paper figures can save your life at critical moments. You and your brother-in-law must carry them with you.”
Chen Jiao took them and examined them carefully, finding no difference from ordinary paper figures. But if her younger brother said they could save lives, then they surely could, and carrying them would be safer.
“Where are you going now?”
Seeing Chen Ming get up and walk out, Chen Jiao also got up and followed him.
“To the City God Temple.”
Chen Jiao nodded, reminding him: “Remember to come back early.”
…
The City God Temple was on North Street in the county town.
It was high noon, the sun high in the sky.
Chen Ming walked through several streets and alleys, and from a distance, he saw the flying eaves and upturned corners of the City God Temple, gleaming coldly under the scorching sun.
White stone steps, incense smoke swirling, even at noon, the crowd was bustling.
Chen Ming passed through the memorial archway and the Three Mountain Gate, going straight into the main hall.
Amidst the swirling green smoke, devout men and women knelt on prayer mats, kowtowing, their foreheads touching the cold floor tiles, murmuring prayers. Chen Ming did not kneel; he simply stood in the hall, took three sticks of incense, then respectfully bowed three times to the City God statue, and whispered:
“Tonight at midnight, this disciple has something to ask. I hope the Venerable God will grant me an audience.”
The statue, made of clay and gilded, had downcast eyebrows and eyes, seeming to smile yet not smile.
Chen Ming saw the green smoke from his burning incense sticks waft and curl, and he knew the City God had agreed.
Just as he was about to turn and leave, he suddenly heard an old woman in coarse linen clothing prostrating herself beside him, muttering: “Please, City God, have mercy, let the child in my daughter-in-law’s belly be chosen by an immortal as a spirit child… to bring glory to our ancestors, to achieve Dao and become an immortal…”
“Immortal? Spirit child?”
Chen Ming frowned secretly. Was the Eight-Eyed Daoist really that good?
When he looked at the City God statue, his brows relaxed again. With the City God present, what demons or ghosts in Ink Mountain County would dare to show their faces?
As soon as Chen Ming left the City God Temple, he heard a commotion not far away.
At the street corner.
Several ragged little beggars surrounded a man carrying a pole, pushing and pulling, shouting: “Give us a pear! Give us a pear!”
The man was hunched, his face dark, and the two baskets of pears rattled with the shaking. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and his rough hands tightly protected the edges of the baskets, as he kept muttering: “No, no…”
Chen Ming frowned and quickly stepped forward.
The little beggars turned around, saw him, and immediately felt relieved, then guilty.
“Chen Gongzi!” The one-armed little beggar shrank his neck and said sheepishly, “We brothers are thirsty and wanted a pear to quench our thirst, but this old uncle absolutely refused…”
Chen Ming’s gaze swept over the man and the little beggars.
The other party’s eyes darted away, his body tense, his body enveloped in yin energy, his aura mixed. It seemed he was the only one left in his family.
“Xu Yuan, you all step aside first.” Chen Ming said faintly.
Xu Yuan and his companions, hearing this, reluctantly dispersed, but still stared longingly at the pears in the basket.
The man saw Chen Ming’s neat clothes and extraordinary demeanor, and his heart grew even more anxious, thinking: “Did I run into the beggar leader? But this young man doesn’t look like a bad person…”
Chen Ming’s gaze swept over the pear basket, “Old man, how do you sell these pears?”
The old pear seller’s body trembled, and he slightly retreated a step, “Gongzi, you…” The old man’s throat bobbed, his voice dry, “How about I give you two, to quench your thirst!”
Saying this, he hastily picked out two of the largest pears and respectfully offered them with both hands. This gesture made the group of little beggars nearby extremely envious.
Chen Gongzi is still the best!
“Old man, how do you sell these pears?”
Chen Ming shook his head, pointed at the pears in the basket, and asked again.
The old man saw Chen Ming staring at the pears in his basket and felt uneasy: “Gongzi, these pears are from my own garden, just picked this morning. Fifteen copper coins a catty!” He glanced at Chen Ming from the corner of his eye, feeling apprehensive.
“How many catties are in these two baskets?”
“About… about one hundred and seventy.”
“I’ll take both baskets.” Chen Ming took out three taels of silver fragments, “Baskets included.”
The old man looked at the silver fragments in his hand with some disbelief, but just in case, he weighed them a few times in his hand under everyone’s gaze, then bit them in his mouth, until the little beggars impatiently urged: “Old uncle, Chen Gongzi wouldn’t lie to you, would he?”
Only then did the old man smile sheepishly, cupped his hands to Chen Ming, and then hunched his body and left.
Chen Ming pointed at the two pear baskets, “You few, help me deliver these to the Li Residence. I’ll treat you to pears.”
“Pears to eat!”