The Emperor Reigns Them All

Chapter 141 The Taoist Temple on the Mountain and Its Master

“Pain is often a result of blockages at certain parts of the body, and one would feel painless once those blockages are clear. This theory also applies to loss of consciousness, which is often due to blockages at meridians, resulting in an obstructed flow of vital energy. Although Xiaozhuang’s behavior after going berserk wasn’t exactly the same as ordinary people, what took place inside his body was still the same.”

“Xiaozhuang should have gained back consciousness once I opened up his crucial acupoints. However, since these acupoints were blocked for too long and have lost their abilities, it’s normal that his vital energy doesn’t flow well, and he can’t move freely at the moment yet,” explained Li Ye in all seriousness.

“So that’s why Xiaozhuang can’t move at all?” questioned Su Emei. Apparently, she didn’t trust his words at all, since her expression showed a strong killing intent.

“That’s exactly why.” Li Ye shrugged and raised his outstretched hands.

“Are you even a doctor?” asked Su Emei as her grip on her sword tightened.

“As a matter of fact, I am.” Li Ye nodded solemnly. His cultivation had reached the level beyond Spiritual Master Realm, which meant no one could understand the human body better than him. It would even be an understatement to call him a doctor.

“I don’t believe you.” Su Emei couldn’t hide her killing intent any longer.

“Why not?” asked Li Ye resignedly.

“With that fair and educated look of a young gentleman, you’ll never appear to me as someone decent!” said Su Emei firmly.

Li Ye was speechless for a moment.

“What now? We are still in a rush to get to Qing Prefecture!” shouted Wei Xiaozhuang in despair.

“Just piggyback him or hold him up, everyone here is a cultivator anyway.” thought Li Ye as he glanced at Su Emei. It seemed that she could tell what he was thinking right away, because she stared back at him and said, “Stop looking at me! You better be responsible for what you’ve done!”

Li Ye rolled his eyes at her and replied, “All we can do now is to wait for a carriage to pass by.”

“And you’re waiting with us!” Su Emei was obviously afraid that Li Ye would run away.

“Naturally,” responded Li Ye emotionlessly.

An hour had passed. Just as Su Emei was about to get furious, Wei Xiaozhuang shouted excitedly, “A carriage is coming!”

There was indeed a carriage approaching from the other end of the official road.

Su Emei heaved a sigh of relief upon seeing the carriage. Even though Wei Xiaozhuang was unable to move, their schedule still mustn’t be delayed. Without the help of a carriage, their plan at Qing City might be disrupted, and the survival of Taoist Temple could be threatened—she was the only one in the knowledge of this.

Su Emei and Wei Xiaozhuang came from an obscure mountain called Boji Mountain. It was located deep within the forest and far away from civilization, and that made it a perfect place for cultivation without any disturbance. However, the temple was extremely small. Besides the two of them and their master, there were only a bunch of hens and ducks that they couldn’t eat and a hunter who visited only once in a very long time.

There was no fragrance of incense inside the temple and no one farms there. The cultivators weren’t allowed to hunt as their master did not wish to kill living creatures. Their master was so old that only two of his yellowed teeth were left, but he was a very kind man. Every time he traveled down the mountain, he would bring back a couple of men who were dying either of illness or hunger, and he would only let them leave when they had fully recovered under his care.

Without any financial assistance, a Taoist temple like this could never survive.

The person providing the aid was in Qing City, and it was said that his family was currently facing a very tough situation, that was why Su Emei and Wei Xiaozhuang were ordered to find this family by their master. If they were late, they might no longer be of any help. Su Emei never told Wei Xiaozhuang any of this, because she was afraid that he might leak this information to others. As cultivators who had never left the mountain before, they both found this trip extremely challenging, and it was not helping that their master decided to stay back and guard the temple. In such a turbulent era, there were many thieves and bandits in the mountains, and he was afraid the temple would be looted by them.

Su Emei and Wei Xiaozhuang found their master’s worry redundant. Besides the divine statue, there were only a few rooms left in the temple. They didn’t even have many pieces of decent clothing, let alone jewelry. Only amateur bandits would rob a temple like theirs, it was already quite a surprise they hadn’t been robbing the bandits.

However, their master insisted on staying back because he didn’t dare to leave those new mattresses alone, and that was one reason Su Emei and Wei Xiaozhuang couldn’t rebut. Seeing how their master had saved numerous people on the verge of death, one might think that he was an extremely generous man. However, he was actually the most stingy in the temple. Ever since Su Emei and Wei Xiaozhuang were old enough to remember things, they had never seen their master changing his Taoist robe even once. After all these years, there had been countless colorful patches on the robe. Even Su Emei and Wei Xiaozhuang had concluded that their master wasn’t the most stingy in the temple, but the most stingy in the whole world.

When one’s cultivation had reached Qi-refining Stage, especially the mid-level, it shouldn’t be of any difficulty for him to get anything he wanted and lived a wealthy life. Therefore, it was unreasonable to see their master leading such a frugal lifestyle. Fortunately, the only place bustling with events that Su Emei and Wei Xiaozhuang had ever seen was the countryside. They had never witnessed all aspects of this diverse world, so they had never felt sorry for their master.

When they once asked their master how big Qing City was, he said it was as big as dozens of markets combined. They never believed that answer, “There’re already hundreds of people in one market, there would be way too many people if it’s dozens of markets combined! If it’s truly big, blending into the crowd would just be like sinking into the ocean—no one can ever spot them!” Su Emei and Wei Xiaozhuang had also never seen an ocean, but since their master once said that a forest was as big as an ocean, it wouldn’t be too hard for them to imagine the size of an ocean.

Their master liked to brag, that was something Su Emei and Wei Xiaozhuang would both agree on. Whenever their master reminisced the days of past, he would tell them he traveled many places—be it the south of Yangtze River where bridges and creeks crafted breathtaking sceneries, Inner Mongolia where he braved the wintry wind, the boundless desert in the Western Regions, or the East Sea where the horizon was the only thing one could see.

He told them about the Great Wall that was built on steep mountains and stretches for more than thousands of miles. He told them about the capital city of the Tang Empire—Chang’an City, where one million people reside and every house were built to be as tall as a hill. He told them about many things, too many for them to remember, but they believed in none of them. To them, no one in his right mind would believe these stories. They thought these were just stories that their master made up when he was drunk.

Finally, the carriage stopped in front of the three of them. A chubby man with huge ears opened the curtain and looked outside. When the man saw Wei Xiaozhuang waving at him, he didn’t want to stop at first—he had never seen a Taoist dressed so shabbily, the sleeves of his robe were already turning white after numerous times of washing. He waved in front of his nose, as if he just spotted a disgusting fly. However, when his eyes rested upon Su Emei’s face, he could never shift them away again. He just stayed still with eyes wide open, as if he just lost his soul.

“Dear benefactor, would you mind if I hitch a ride? Don’t worry, I will not enter the carriage, I will only sit at the back,” said Wei Xiaozhuang with a smile.

“You? On my carriage?” The merchant-looking man glanced at Wei Xiaozhuang with disdain, yet when he looked at Su Emei, his eyes were filled with excitement and liveliness. He coughed twice and said pretentiously, “If this young lady would like to hitch a ride, I can bring you along as well. This lady may also sit inside the carriage.”

When he finished his sentence, he was already looking horny.

“I’m not sitting inside,” said Su Emei.

The merchant was stunned, he obviously didn’t expect Su Emei to reject his invitation. He believed all of them were from the countryside except Li Ye, so he assumed they would definitely want to approach him after seeing his fancy carriage. He thought women from the countryside couldn’t resist the temptation of wealth, so why wouldn’t she be willing to sit inside with him?

“What I meant was, the young lady could sit inside the carriage, and that gentleman could sit at the back.” The merchant decided to compromise a little.

“I’m not sitting inside, he will,” said Su Emei once again. She was already feeling annoyed, it was just that she didn’t show it. She might be from the mountain, but she was not dumb, she was already very disgusted by the horny look on that merchant’s face. Moreover, people of the opposite gender should not interact with each other so casually, there was no way she would sit inside that narrow carriage with a man she knew nothing about!

“If this young lady insists on not sitting inside, I’m afraid we will have a problem here.” said the merchant casually.

“Let’s wait for the next carriage,” said Su Emei to Wei Xiaozhuang.

Wei Xiaozhuang nodded. He might not understand Su Emei’s situation fully, yet he was still disgusted by that merchant’s ill intention.

“There’s no need to wait, we will take this one.” Li Ye said all of a sudden.

Upon hearing that, Su Emei glared at him immediately. Even Wei Xiaozhuang said to him instantly, “We can’t take this one!”

“I already offered my help, now it’s your problem if you’re not gonna take it. I’m leaving!” said the merchant impatiently.

Just as he was going to put down the curtain, however, he suddenly stopped and was obviously attracted by something.

There was a lump of gold right in front of his eyes and it was as big as a baby’s fist!

Although gold wasn’t their official currency, its value was still widely recognized. If anyone could have a lump of gold that big, he would be rich enough to buy ten carriages already.

“I’d like to buy your carriage,” said Li Ye.

“No problem! It’s yours now!” The merchant ran down the carriage happily without hesitation. He grabbed the gold from Li Ye’s hand and bit it, and looked as if he was the happiest man on earth. He said, “Now the gold is mine and the carriage is yours. That was fair trade, you can’t take back your decision!”

Li Ye didn’t respond, but simply waved his hand and said, “Get lost.”

“Anything you said!” The merchant obeyed Li Ye’s order and ran away immediately.

Su Emei was confused for a moment. She looked at Li Ye, then at the merchant, apparently not understanding what just happened. After all, as someone who had been living on the mountain, there was no way she could have seen any gold. She only heard her master bragging about his encounter with mountains made of silver and gold, yet she had no idea how valuable that lump of gold was.

“Could this guy be rich?” Su Emei glanced at Li Ye and felt less disgusted by him. It wasn’t because Li Ye was possibly rich, but because she was touched by the fact that Li Ye was willing to be responsible for his action by paying for the carriage.

The carriage went back on track in no time. Wei Xiaozhuang’s round-shaped body almost filled up the entire carriage, and Li Ye sat in front as the one riding the carriage. Su Emei walked next to the carriage with her sword in her arms. She was the only one walking, since the carriage can only fit two people and she had no idea how to ride a carriage, there was also no way she was going to sit at the back of the carriage.

While such combination might look strange to others, Su Emei herself found no issue with that. She never intended to sit in the carriage anyway, so she had been walking casually alongside the carriage. On the other hand, all the passers-by couldn’t help but discuss among themselves as they saw the three of them.

“How much was this carriage? I’ll pay you back.” Su Emei said to Li Ye suddenly. She finally thought it through after all this while. If Li Ye wasn’t a bad guy who lied to them, and was indeed a doctor who cured Wei Xiaozhuang’s illness, they would have owed him a huge favor. Having thought about that, she felt Li Ye shouldn’t have paid for the carriage with his own money.

Before they left the mountain, their master kept reminding them to be cautious all the time. In his words, they would encounter many people in their journey and most of them could be evil in nature, so they should never let their guard down. “One should not have any intention to harm others, yet one must always guard against others for their own well-being.” That was what he said.

Their master’s words already made her extremely careful along the way, and the fact that she was the elder one among the two made her even more so, since she had the responsibility to take care of Wei Xiaozhuang. That was why Su Emei had never let her guard down since they met Li Ye.

“Is this enough?” Su Emei took out a purse made of cloth and took out a handful of coins from it. She was probably afraid that she didn’t give enough, so she thought about it again and took out a few more, then passed all the coins to Li Ye in all seriousness.

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