Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 30 Who is our Master?
After settling the old man down, Young Master Liu held a banquet to thank "Second Young Master Xie".

Ren Yuan happily sat down to the table, and when he was drunk, he asked, "How could your father know so much about the temple's movements when he was ill?"

"Well..." Young Master Liu hesitated for a moment, then lowered his voice and said, "To be honest, it was the teacher from the Hebo Temple who said that when she came to collect donations."

"My father's illness was not that serious at that time, so he met with the teacher," he paused and said, "The teacher told him that the mountain temple was building a charity bureau, an orphanage, and the like. This move was too powerful. If the Hebo Temple did not follow up, the incense offerings would be snatched away."

"So the Hebo Temple also plans to follow suit, hoping that the Han family can donate a thousand strings of cash..." Young Master Liu laughed bitterly and said, "This has completely aroused my father's illness. From that day on, he has been guarding the treasury and not letting anyone in."

"I see." Ren Yuan nodded and ended the topic.

~~
At dusk, both the host and the guests were enjoying themselves, and Ren Yuan said goodbye and left.

As for the ten thousand copper coins that Mr. Liu promised, they weigh almost 80,000 kilograms. Even if the red leopard was pressed into a piece of paper, it would not be able to carry it, so they could only send a convoy to deliver it to the mountain temple tomorrow.

On the way back, Ren Yuan was a little silent.

"What are you thinking about?" Senior Sister teased him for a long time before Ren Yuan spoke:

"I wonder if we are also living in the inner world of some god or man?"

“Maybe.” Senior Sister smiled and said, “There are 36,000 gods in the human body, and there are 36,000 gods in the sky. It may not be a coincidence.”

Ren Yuan looked up at the sky full of stars and suddenly felt that they were like a pair of eyes of gods, gazing down at this small world from above.

He couldn't help but feel a chill all over his body. If this was the case, then human beings were too insignificant. What was the point of all their efforts?
"Don't scare yourself here." Senior Sister giggled and patted Ren Yuan's head and said, "We are just teasing you. In fact, the 36,000 gods only exist in ancient legends. There has been no god in the world for 2,000 years."

"Oh..." Ren Yuan let out a long sigh of relief, finally feeling less depressed. But he suddenly remembered something and asked, "But I remember Wen Li said that there are real gods in this world."

"You don't have to emphasize 'truly'," the senior sister tapped his head and said, "I said that there are no gods in the world, but I didn't say that gods don't exist, nor did I say that there are no gods on earth."

"..." Ren Yuan silently chewed on Senior Sister's words, feeling that the amount of information was too huge to digest for a moment, and couldn't help but admire: "Senior Sister, you really know a lot."

"Of course, otherwise how could I be your senior sister?" The senior sister was very proud, sitting cross-legged on the leopard's back and shaking her head. But she was an honest person after all, and after being proud, she still told the truth:
"In fact, these are what the master said. I am just a parrot, knowing the results but not the reasons."

"Who exactly is our master?" Ren Yuan asked curiously, "Why does Senior Sister never want to elaborate? Is there something taboo?"

"What's the taboo?" The elder sister waved her hand carelessly, then smiled bitterly and said, "Alas, it's not that I don't want to elaborate, it's that Master is too tight-lipped and never told me his origins."

She recalled: "I only know that our master is an old Taoist priest who is addicted to alcohol and gambling and has no moral integrity. He said that he owed gambling debts and hid in our mountain to avoid the limelight. He recommended himself to me as a temple priest. I despised him at first, but he said that he didn't want wages, but only provided food and accommodation, so I agreed..."

Ren Yuan's mouth twitched. This was indeed in line with Senior Sister's style. "But later I discovered that he was actually very powerful and very cunning. It was almost as if others owed him gambling debts." Senior Sister said and analyzed:
"I speculated with Liu Zhongjun behind his back that the current emperor worships Buddhism and exterminates Taoism, and ordered all Taoists in the world to return to secular life and convert to Buddhism. I guess the old Taoist is a leading figure in a Taoist temple, and in order to avoid being hunted down by the court, he found an excuse to hide in our small temple."

"Hmm." Ren Yuan seemed to be listening with great interest. Although he disagreed with his senior sister's unoriginal guess, he did not dare to disturb her interest.

"So I pestered him and asked him to be my master, and then I learned the authentic skills of Taoism from him." The senior sister pursed her lips and said sadly, "Maybe it's because I'm too stupid and I can't get the master's approval, so he never even revealed the sect."

"It has nothing to do with whether you're stupid or not. The main thing is that I'm afraid you'll let something slip." Ren Yuan hurriedly comforted him.

"Hate it, are you talking about my big mouth?" A Yao twisted Ren Yuan's ear angrily.

"Be gentle, be gentle, it's twisted into a dough." Ren Yuan begged for mercy while trying to divert the attention of his senior sister: "What happened next? What happened next?"

"After that, my master taught me for less than a year, and suddenly one day he disappeared, leaving behind only the Immortal Pillow..." Senior Sister sighed sadly:
"So I only learned half of it, otherwise I wouldn't have been ambushed by a tomb ghost."

"I'm sorry, Senior Sister. I won't mention this matter again..." Ren Yuan regretted it deeply. He was used to bickering with Senior Sister without restraint, and indeed neglected the harm that incident had caused to Senior Sister.

"What's the matter?" The senior sister was confused.

"I'm talking about you, you flipped over..." Ren Yuan said softly.

"It's okay, it's okay." Senior Sister smiled brightly and said, "Your Senior Sister is not that fragile. I just feel regretful. I was too careless at that time, you know?"

As she spoke, she raised Saiyue Qishuang's arm, clenched her fist and said, "Believe it or not, even if I do it again a hundred times, I will never lose again!"

"I believe it, I believe it, absolutely!" Ren Yuan nodded hurriedly. He was not just trying to make amends, after experiencing the magical journey today, he was convinced by the strength of his sister.

"Based on the magical power that Senior Sister displayed today, even if the two siblings were tied together, they wouldn't be enough for you to carry their shoes."

"Hehe." Although Senior Sister Ren Yuan was very happy to hear that, she couldn't mislead her junior brother, so she said seriously: "You can't make that analogy. The inner world and the mortal world are two completely different worlds. In the former world, it's a big fight between gods, but in reality it's just curing an old man's madness. Do you understand?"

"Is that so..." Ren Yuan suddenly realized that it was similar to the relationship between humans and ants. But he still said with envy: "The magical power of that senior sister is beyond my reach. I don't know if I can catch up with your level in this lifetime."

"Of course you can!" Senior Sister said to him with confidence: "A Yuan, you are very talented, and you have the help of the Youxian Pillow. You are making rapid progress. I estimate that if I teach you for another month, there will be almost nothing left to teach you."

"Senior sister thinks too highly of me. Without the Tianmu ointment, I can't make any progress now." Ren Yuan said with a distressed look, "I'm almost suffocating to death."

"Who said there's no more?" Senior Sister smiled slyly, took out a jade bottle like offering a treasure and said, "Look what this is?"

ps. I'm just asking for a monthly ticket~~~
(End of this chapter)