Chapter 2: Winning People's Hearts, Reading Books with Strange Pearls

Wu Yi walked straight to his own cave after coming out of the main hall.

Liucheng Yiqi Taoist Temple was built in the Cangwu Mountains, with nine peaks and twelve streams. The temple recruits disciples every three years, but no more than 20 to 30 people at a time. The temple can accept up to five classes of disciples, which means that if a disciple does not enter the inner gate or become a professor, he will have to go down the mountain after 15 years at most. Therefore, there are five peaks in the temple for disciples to live. The rest of the peaks are either the residences of teachers and professors, or plant medicinal herbs, or raise spirit beasts, so I will not go into details.

Wu Yi's residence is on Lingxiu Peak, which is also the place where the nearest first-level disciples practice Taoism. The mountain is steep, and the disciples rely on plank roads for travel. The plank roads are only three feet wide and have no protection. Beyond three feet is a deep stream, which makes people tremble with fear.

Wu Yi's cave is on the top of the mountain. It's not that other disciples don't want to experience the scenery of overlooking the mountains, but they are accompanied by a group of servants and maids. The top of the mountain is narrow and can't accommodate so many people. Most of them come from aristocratic families, and they are well-dressed and well-fed, but they are not used to the life of eating wind and dew. Moreover, the mountain is thousands of feet high, and it is inconvenient to have early classes, so many people find a flat place at the foot of the mountain to make a cave. The closer to the top of the mountain, the fewer people there are.

When Wang Chuchen asked Wu Yi to choose a cave that day, Wu Yi chose this cave at first sight. First of all, he is alone, without any company, and doesn't have to worry about so many things. Secondly, he is a person who likes quietness and doesn't like to move. Finally, those who became disciples through normal channels don't seem to like him very much, so why should he put his face on the cold butt?

But today, when he went up the mountain again, he was dizzy after listening to the class for a whole morning, and he didn't have any dry rice in his stomach. He was already exhausted walking on the road.

After finally reaching the cave, Wu Yi lifted the sealing stone to lock the cave, then fell on the stone bed and didn't want to move. He fell asleep soon.

Not long after sleeping, there was a knock on the door. Wu Yi propped himself up and opened the door. He knew that the strongman had come to deliver food.

Sure enough, there was a middle-aged man with a yellow turban on his head standing at the door. Most of these strongmen were orphans adopted by the Taoist temple. They were taught some simple skills, and then used external medicine to temper their bodies, and they became indestructible bodies with a thousand pounds of strength. If the strongman is great, moving mountains and filling the sea is not a problem, but since the beginning of his practice, he needs a lot of external objects and is easily controlled by others, so the monks don't do it.

At the beginning of the monks' practice, their bodies are weak, so they raise a few strongmen for self-protection. This is considered a strongman of relatively high status. Most of them do some chores like the middle-aged man to earn external medicine.

Wu Yi took the food, bowed to him and thanked him, took out a few taels of silver from his sleeve and stuffed them into his hand.

The middle-aged man turned to avoid his gift, saying: "I don't deserve it, I don't deserve it, I don't deserve the gift from my master." Then he quickly returned the silver in his hand to Wu Yi.

Wu Yi's face sank, and he said unhappily: "Do you look down on me?"

The middle-aged man was in a dilemma. He was sweating profusely and stammering. For strong men like them, the disciples in the temple are gods. They have never seen gods treat mortals with courtesy, so they were panicked.

Wu Yi held his hand and asked him to hold the silver in his hand. Wu Yi knew that since his cave was on the top of the mountain, it was not easy to travel, and the strongmen had to work hard, and external medicine was even harder to get. One or two days would be fine, but over time, the workload would be heavy and the external medicine would still be the same. It was hard to guarantee that the strongmen would not give him less food, so he had to win him over early to prevent trouble in the future.

The strongmen took his silver and was grateful, and kowtowed to Wu Yi. Wu Yi couldn't pull him, so he accepted this gift. If he didn't accept it, he didn't know how panicked he would be.

Wu Yi felt a little guilty, but he quickly suppressed it. He was born in a powerful family, so he shouldn't be too familiar with this method of winning people's hearts. Now he is a guest in a foreign land, and it is not easy to get along with other disciples. Wang Chuchen can't be relied on. Naturally, he should make friends with the closest people on weekdays, and be a spy.

The middle-aged man knelt down and turned away. Wu Yi did not say anything else. If he was too enthusiastic for the first time, people would think he was not very shrewd. Besides, it would be good to observe his character after a long time.

After a gust of wind, the food was completely eaten up. After eating and drinking, Wu Yi was no longer sleepy. He spread out a piece of white paper, picked up the pen and dipped it in ink, and wrote on the paper. After a while, the paper was full of words. The words could not be said to be unique, but they were iron-drawn and silver-hooked, and the rules were correct.

Wu Yi took out another piece of paper and wrote without stopping. After an hour, Wu Yi put the brush on the pen holder and breathed a sigh of relief. There were three pieces of paper full of writing on the stone table.

Wu Yi picked up the first piece of paper and blew it, and examined it carefully. If other disciples saw the words on the paper, they would be shocked. These words were clearly what Wang Chuchen taught during the class. Wu Yi actually recorded Wang Chuchen's teaching content silently.

In fact, after a cultivator reaches a certain level of cultivation, his memory is indeed far superior to that of ordinary people, but the key is that Wu Yi is still a mortal, and it is astonishing that he has such a terrifying memory.

Wu Yi's memory was not innate. First, his grandfather was strict in managing the family and always required him to be strict. Second, all the children of nobles had to go to the Imperial College to study. It was also because his grandfather was honest and self-disciplined in his official duties, which made Wu Yi excluded in the Imperial College. Most of the doctoral professors ignored him. In this case, Wu Yi had to rely on himself. Naturally, he developed a strong character and possessed an extraordinary memory.

But because of this, Wu Yi was lonely and suspicious by nature. It was hard to say whether the advantages outweighed the disadvantages or the disadvantages outweighed the advantages.

Wu Yi carefully checked it and marked the doubtful places. Although Wu Yi was diligent and serious, he had never studied Taoist terminology before, so he wrote it down silently. There were several places where the words did not express the meaning or did not make sense, which gave him a headache.

Wu Yi had no choice but to modify the places that could be modified as much as he could. As for the others, they were temporarily listed as pending.

Then Wu Yi recited it twice more, each time faster than the last. The last time took no more than half an hour. When he finished the last time, Wu Yi's eyes flashed, and a confident look appeared on his face. He had memorized all the contents.

After finishing writing, Wu Yi looked outside and saw that it was dark. He thought that the strong man who brought food would come again.

Sure enough, after a while, the middle-aged man came again, but to Wu Yi's surprise, the one leading was a Taoist boy of six or seven years old. The loose robe sleeves looked weird on him and made people laugh.

But Wu Yi did not dare to show any strange expression on his face. He stepped forward and bowed, asking, "Brother, you have come from afar. I am sorry for not welcoming you. I wonder what instructions you have?"

Although these Taoist children only look six or seven years old, Wu Yi knows that they have practiced special skills. Although their cultivation increases slowly, their life span is twice that of ordinary people. However, their bodies must always be maintained in the appearance of children, and their minds must also be maintained in the mind of children. Although the Taoist child in front of him looks six or seven years old, his actual age may not be Wu Yi's grandfather. The most important thing is that Wu Yi once saw this Taoist child outside Wang Chuchen's cave.

The Taoist child looked up at Wu Yi and saw that he was very respectful. He nodded with satisfaction and pretended to be mature and said, "Are you Wu Yi?"

Wu Yi replied, "It's me."

"The master said that since you are an entry-level disciple, you should be given all kinds of things. Come and check if there is anything missing." The Taoist child pointed to the bamboo basket on the back of the middle-aged man behind him.

The middle-aged man hurriedly put down the bamboo basket on his back, and saw two sets of blue-patterned Xuanyun Taoist robes, an identity token, several books, and food for the evening.

Wu Yi glanced at the items in the basket and stopped looking. No matter how the fight in the temple was, these basic things would always be there for him, otherwise it would be too ugly to eat. You must know that Wu Yi was recruited by the temple master after all.

Wu Yi laughed and said, "Brother, I still trust you, no need to look."

In fact, if the relationship with someone is not extremely bad, it will never be checked on the spot. Wouldn't it be embarrassing to give people a bad relationship?

The Taoist boy waved his whisk and said to the middle-aged man behind him, "Why don't you move the things in for Brother Wu?"

The middle-aged man smiled honestly and immediately started to move things in and out, busy and happy.

Wu Yi warmly invited the Taoist boy to visit the cave, and when they parted, the two put their sleeves together. The Taoist boy's sleeves sank unconsciously, and his face became more friendly. He left the cave happily.

Finally, he welcomed the two out of the cave, and Wu Yi breathed a sigh of relief. Wu Yi was not good at welcoming and seeing off people, and it was not in line with his nature, but living in such an environment, Wu Yi had long learned to be tolerant, more realistic, and choose those who were good to him. He did not learn his grandfather's character of adhering to his heart and not wavering.

In the Great Xuan Kingdom, his grandfather was the prime minister and had great power in the court. Although he was not liked by the school officials, even if he did not associate with others and lived and studied alone, no one dared to offend him. Now that he came to seek refuge, the phoenix with feathers shed was worse than a chicken. How could he dare to do the same thing as before? It was true to build good relationships with people who could be friends with him.

The golden crow set in the west, and the sunset filled the sky, magnificent and magical. Wu Yi had no time to appreciate the beautiful evening scene. After sending the two away, Wu Yi immediately moved the sealing stone to close the cave, lit the fire stick, lit the lamp, took out the books sent by the Taoist boy, and read them under the lamp.

The title of the first book is "Small Zhoutian Moving Technique", which is an introductory breathing method. As for the other books, some talk about the rules of the temple, some discuss the customs and customs of the cultivation world, and some simply introduce the realm of cultivation and the characteristics of each realm.

Wu Yi read quietly by candlelight. He turned the pages very slowly, but he would never turn them again after turning them. This is how serious reading is.

The candlelight flickered, and there was no one around. I don’t know what kind of animals outside the cave sang to the moon, and the rustling sound of turning books in the cave was heard from time to time, a quiet scene.

Although he was alone, Wu Yi did not feel uncomfortable at all. He experienced such a life almost every day before, but he was happy and leisurely, and no one disturbed him.

Although the cave was quiet and undisturbed, it was too poor. There was only one lamp on the stone table. The light was dim, and Wu Yi's eyes felt numb, swollen and painful.

Fortunately, Wu Yi was not without a solution. He took out a red bead from his package, took out the lamp stand and placed it on the candle flame. As the candle flame continued to burn the bead, the bead became crystal clear. Later, it actually emitted a bright light like a small sun, but it was not dazzling, nor did it feel hot. It was magical.

And this bead also has a history. Three years ago, a meteor landed in Dangmang County of Daxuan Kingdom, and the huge Dangmang Lake dried up by nearly half. The drought caused by this affected several counties, nearly one million refugees, and 20 to 30 rebellions, which shocked the court and the public.

At that time, the imperial party thought this was a good opportunity, so they let Wu Yi's father serve as a pacification envoy and censor to pacify the refugees and investigate the matter.

Wu Yi's father, like Wu Yi's grandfather, opposed the national teacher, so he took the opportunity to find a stone and said that this was the resentment of the heaven against the national teacher's abuse of power (at least Wu Yi thought so).

The National Master Party was unwilling to be outdone and fought back, believing that this was the reason why His Majesty did not govern with virtue, and this incident became the fuse of the dispute between the two parties.

In order to prevent the National Master Party from using this bead to cause trouble, Wu Yi took the bead out of the Great Xuan Kingdom, and the discovery of the magical properties of the bead was an accident during the journey.

Once, Wu Yi accidentally knocked over the candlestick while reading, and the flames engulfed the package Wu Yi carried with him. Wu Yi was about to save it, but saw the package emit a bright white light, and the fire snake gradually faded.

However, Wu Yi found out through many experiments afterwards that the bead only had this magical property, and he was very disappointed. As far as he knew, the emperor had given his grandfather a night-shining pearl as big as a fist. When placed in a dark room, the dark room was like daylight, and there was also a diamond that emitted colorful light after being illuminated. This bead was not as magical as the night-shining pearl and diamond, and it should be an ordinary thing without a doubt.

With the red bead, reading was much more convenient, and Wu Yi returned to the stone table to read seriously.

Time passed quietly. Wu Yi first looked at the rules of the temple instead of the cultivation method. First, if he practiced the method randomly, he would be inferior. Second, he was now a formal disciple. If he was not familiar with the rules, even if the rules were not strictly enforced on weekdays, it would be much easier for others to find fault with him.

It was late at night and the only sound of flipping books could be heard from time to time.