Dao Qi Wu Zang Guan Guan: I became a Daoist Master in the 1990s

Chapter 28 Landslide
Those eyebrows, that nose bridge… Her heart skipped a beat, and she abruptly put down the cards, frantically rummaging through a canvas bag with the words “Yunling Teachers College” printed on it and pulling out a neatly folded copy of the Nanjiang Daily.

With a whoosh, the page opened, and my fingers swiped eagerly across the page, stopping at the bottom right corner of the social news section.

A black and white passport photo is clearly visible!

The young man in the photo, with a somewhat bewildered look in his eyes, is none other than Qi Yun, the student on the ID card!

Li Juan suddenly looked up, her finger pointing excitedly at the newspaper, then at Qi Yun's face, her eyes wide and her voice trembling: "You...it's you! Qi Yun! The person in the newspaper! You...you didn't disappear?!"

This shout attracted the attention of several people around.

Zhang Qiang and Liu Wen were also stunned. They leaned over to look at the newspaper, then at the living Qi Yun, and their faces instantly turned bright red.

"Oh my god! Qi... Brother Qi!"

Zhang Qiang was the first to react, completely flustered, his face as red as a sheet of cloth, stammering, "I...I'm so sorry! I'm really sorry! We...we were just talking nonsense! We had a bad mouth!"
Please don't take it to heart! Look at the mess this has made... We thought... Sigh! It's good you're back! It's good you're back!

He rubbed his hands together, wishing he could disappear into a crack in the ground.

Liu Wen quickly apologized, his eyes behind his glasses filled with embarrassment: "Yes, yes, we were talking nonsense! Qi Yun, please don't mind! This... this is truly a case of the flood washing away the Dragon King's temple! Luckily you're alright!"

Seeing their embarrassed yet sincere expressions, Qi Yun smiled and waved his hand, "It's alright, it's alright. What you said isn't entirely wrong; I was indeed foolish and reckless."

Luckily, he survived and managed to find his way down the mountain. He just got back yesterday; the newspapers haven't updated the news yet.

The game is over.

Li Juan, both curious and frightened, pressed for details about what had happened.

Qi Yun was prepared and made up a more convincing story: he got lost, fell down a small slope, slept soundly all night, and woke up to find that he was not far from the village entrance. He told the story in a plain way.

The atmosphere eased, and it was lunchtime.

The group each took out some dry rations.

Li Juan brought bread and boiled eggs, Liu Wen brought pancakes, and Zhang Qiang brought pickles and steamed buns.

Qi Yun untied his huge snakeskin bag and took out a large bundle of smoked, glossy black cured meat wrapped in oil paper and several bags of walnuts. "Come on, try some of our classmate's local produce, the taste of the mountains."

The meat was fragrant and the walnuts were crunchy; this simple dinner while waiting for the train tasted especially delicious.

Upon checking their tickets, it turned out that all four of them were on the same train heading towards Hangzhou at 10 p.m., with Qi Yun taking the train a few stops further than the others.

Zhang Qiang immediately patted his chest enthusiastically: "Brother Qi, this is great! We'll travel together! We can look out for each other on the road!"

Time seemed to fly by as the young people chatted.

The topics ranged from the difficulty of finding a job to interesting things at school, and then to aspirations for the future.

Zhang Qiang wanted to make money and believed that going into business was the only way to succeed; Liu Wen wanted to take the postgraduate entrance exam and believed that knowledge could change one's destiny; Li Juan wanted to be a good teacher.

During their conversation, Zhang Qiang and Liu Wen's eyes kept glancing at Li Juan, revealing the undisguised admiration and competitive desire of young people.

Qi Yun didn't say much. He listened and occasionally responded with a few words, but in his heart, it was as if he was looking at them through a layer of frosted glass. Those burning ideals were too far removed from the strange immortal fire within him.

Finally, the announcement to check tickets came over the loudspeaker, and the crowd surged toward the platform like a floodgate had been opened.

The four quickly packed up and squeezed through the crowd.

Zhang Qiang volunteered to fill everyone's cups with hot water. After boarding the bus, everyone managed to squeeze into two rows of seats facing each other in the stuffy and humid carriage.

After settling in, the train started up with a clanging sound in the night, its monotonous rhythm like a lullaby.

After the initial excitement wore off, fatigue set in. Zhang Qiang leaned against the window and started snoring, Liu Wen bobbed his head like a chick pecking at rice, and Li Juan hugged her bag, her eyelids heavy.

Qi Yun watched the blurry black shadows rushing past the window and listened to the rumble of the railway tracks, his consciousness gradually fading.

I don't know how long I slept, but the car suddenly jerked to a halt, followed by a piercing metallic scraping sound. The momentum propelled everyone forward.

The carriage instantly erupted in chaos.

"What's the matter?"

"Have we arrived?"

"It doesn't look like it! It's in the middle of nowhere!"

"Something's broken?"

The loudspeaker crackled a few times, and then the train conductor's urgent voice came through: "Attention passengers! Attention passengers! There has been a sudden landslide ahead on the railway line!"
The train is temporarily unable to pass!

For everyone's safety, please take your luggage and belongings and disembark in an orderly manner!
The station has urgently arranged for a bus transfer! Please follow the instructions of the staff and proceed to the nearby temporary shelter! (Repeating...)

Panic spread like a plague.

Complaints, curses, and children's cries filled the air.

"Damn it! What bad luck!"

"There's no village or shop in sight!"

"How long do we have to wait? It's the middle of the night!"

"My goods! I can't afford any delays!"

The train conductor, holding a loudspeaker, struggled to maintain order in the carriage, his voice hoarse as he reassured everyone: "Don't panic! Don't push! Safety first! The train will be here soon!"
Please understand and cooperate!

We will proceed in batches, starting with carriage number one. Passengers in carriage number one, please disembark in an orderly manner and follow our staff! Watch your step!

Qi Yun and his three companions were from carriage number one. Following the flow of people, they stumbled and waded off the train.

The moment I stepped onto the ground, icy raindrops began to pelt down relentlessly!

It looked as if a hole had been opened in the sky!
The world was shrouded in chaotic darkness, with only a few dim beams of light from the train conductor's flashlight struggling to carve out swaying paths through the raging rain.

The gale whipped the rain, stinging people's faces, and the chill seeped straight into their bones.

"My God! It's raining so hard!"

Li Juan exclaimed in surprise, her voice trembling in the wind and rain, and subconsciously moved closer to Liu Wen.

Liu Wen quickly opened the umbrella, but the wind was too strong, and the umbrella ribs were deformed, allowing rainwater to pour in at an angle.

Zhang Qiang cursed, put his jacket over his head to shield Li Juan's other side, and shouted bravely, "Stay close! Don't fall behind! This godforsaken place..."

His voice was mostly drowned out by the wind and rain.

Several teenagers were frightened by the torrential rain and the dark night in the mountains!
Qi Yun silently tightened the heavy snakeskin bag on his shoulder. Rainwater flowed down his short hair and into his collar, but he didn't feel cold or afraid.

This darkness, this wind and rain, are like child's play compared to the ruins of the Five Organs Temple and the gloom of the Ghost Realm.

But this will inevitably lead to frustration and exhaustion!
He looked up and saw the flashlight beam casting messy, swaying shadows and puddles of varying depths on the muddy dirt road.

He took a step and steadily stepped into the first mud puddle, the mud and water instantly reaching his ankles.

The line of people, like a soaking wet, slowly wriggling worm, plunged headlong into the boundless, raging darkness of the rain, guided by the train conductor's hoarse voice.

Qi Yun walked at the back, watching Li Juan's staggering figure being blown by the wind and rain ahead, and listening to Zhang Qiang and Liu Wenqiang's calm words of encouragement that were broken by the sound of the rain.

I just feel that the path of the mortal world is not necessarily easier than the path of gods and ghosts.

(End of this chapter)