From Celestial Official to Great Celestial Venerable

Chapter 42 Harvest
Qin Chuan and Hong Zhu followed a Taoist priest into the abbot's office of Nongling Temple.

"Brother Qin, these chores can be done by our cooks, why did you have to come along?" Hong Zhu asked, somewhat puzzled. It was just cleaning and tidying up, yet Qin Chuan had come personally.

"Didn't you say you had some unwanted things? Let me see if there's anything I can take back and use," Qin Chuan said half-jokingly. "Opportunities to find bargains don't come often."

He turned to the Taoist priest who was leading the way and asked, "Fellow Daoist, may we take these unused items?"

The Taoist priest naturally recognized Qin Chuan and replied with a smile, "What's in the official quarters are nothing more than pen holders and writing brushes. Even if Abbot Guo had some treasures in the past, he wouldn't have left them here. If you see anything useful, feel free to take it, so as not to waste it."

Upon hearing this, Hong Zhu's eyes lit up: "I see! Then I'll have to choose carefully too."

After Qin Chuan's prompting, he realized that since it was the former abbot and deputy abbot's room, there must be a lot of things left inside. Although they wouldn't get their hands on the valuable items, they could pick up small items like brushes, paper, water gourds, and teacups since they were going to throw them away anyway.

This was Qin Chuan's first time visiting the temple's public offices. He saw a row of rooms with wooden plaques hanging on the doors, indicating their purpose.

"You two should first tidy up the abbot's room, and then the deputy abbot's room. Thank you for your hard work. I still have many official duties to finish here." After giving his instructions, the Taoist priest hurriedly went to attend to his own business.

Qin Chuan and his companion agreed and pushed open the door to enter the private residence of the former head of Nongling Temple.

Most of the items in the room had already been cleared away, and the bookshelves were empty, presumably because the important documents, papers, and scriptures had been taken away by the first group of people from the temple. At this moment, the room was even somewhat messy.

Qin Chuan immediately noticed a large character hanging on the wall – “Self-discipline and public service”, without any signature below.

He wondered to himself, "Do all these important figures have such a fondness for calligraphy and painting?" He couldn't help but think of Zhao Zhongji, the former deputy county magistrate who had been dismissed from his post.

He casually took the calligraphy and painting down. It was clearly a personal decoration, belonging to Guo Shanshan, and could not be left in the next abbot's quarters.

The moment the fingertip touched the scroll, the Heavenly Essence Furnace indeed stirred quietly.

Item: Calligraphy Inscription

[This inscription by Guo Shanshan for decorating public housing was the culmination of much effort and meticulous writing of dozens of pieces before this one was chosen. It contains a piece of calligraphic skill and could be further refined into 20 points of artistic merit.]

The 20 points of Dharma essence are more than the inscriptions Zhao Zhongji gave away. It seems Guo Shanshan took extra care in writing the inscriptions for himself, hence the richer amount of Dharma essence.

Qin Chuan accepted it directly.

"Brother Qin, do you think we should throw this cushion away too?" Hong Zhu tidied up the clutter and picked up a cushion. "It's all worn out from sitting on it."

Qin Chuan stepped forward and took it. The moment he held it, he blurted out, "Of course we can't keep this. How can we let the new abbot sit on this rotten prayer mat?"

"That's right." Seeing that Qin Chuan had it in his hand, Hong Zhu stopped paying attention and turned to pack other things.

Little did he know that Qin Chuan's heart was pounding wildly as he held the futon in his hands.

[Item: Meditation cushion]

[Originally a futon made of ordinary reeds, but because Abbot Guo Shanshan of Nongling Temple meditated here for many years, it has become imbued with his cultivation essence over the course of sixty years. It contains a copy of the 'Five Elements Immortal Foundation Technique,' the foundation-building scripture cultivated by Guo Shanshan, which can be refined or recycled into 200 Dharma essences.]

Five Elements Immortal Foundation Technique!
As a Foundation Establishment cultivator at the Great Perfection stage, Guo Shanshan's cultivation method must be a Foundation Establishment realm cultivation technique. If it can be extracted, based on past experience, at least the first level can be obtained; if it is recycled, it can be exchanged for 200 Dharma Essence.

Qin Chuan suppressed his excitement and carefully put away the futon. His eyes then lit up as he scanned the other items in the room, examining each one. [Item: Tea set]

[A set of ordinary purple clay teaware is not of high value, but after being used daily by Guo Shanshan, who has reached the Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment, to brew tea, it contains a portion of 'tea art' cultivation, which can be recycled into 50 points of Dharma essence.]

He also took the old teapot.

Hong Zhu had initially thought the teapot was useful, but seeing Qin Chuan take it, he felt embarrassed to argue. In his opinion, while these old items were still usable, it wasn't worth arguing with Qin Chuan over them; it would be too undignified.

Instead, he felt a little emotional, thinking to himself, "Although Brother Qin has been officially promoted, he has only received two months' salary. He treated everyone to water today, which cost a lot. He must be short of money right now, which is why he is so frugal and only taking some household items home."

With that in mind, he was even less willing to compete with Qin Chuan. Instead, when he saw something he thought was useful, he took the initiative to hand it over: "Brother Qin, do you want to take this potted plant back to decorate your room?"

Qin Chuan was taken aback, then immediately understood what Hong Zhu was thinking, and felt extremely embarrassed. He hadn't expected the other party to actually think he was there to scavenge for a living—although he said that, he still felt his face burning when he was actually treated like a scavenger.

However, the moment he took the potted plant, he instantly forgot all his embarrassment.

Item: Money Tree Potted Plant

[An ordinary potted plant, originally not a spiritual plant, has been carefully cared for by Guo Shanshan and nourished daily with the 'Minor Cloud and Rain Technique'. It has now transformed into a spiritual plant, containing a portion of the 'Minor Cloud and Rain Technique' cultivation, which can be refined or recycled into 100 points of mana essence.]

He was utterly shocked. Just how many times had Guo Shanshan performed his "cloud and rain magic" on this money tree?
It can even extract a hundred points of magical essence from it, and even transform ordinary plants into spiritual plants!

He accepted it without changing his expression, saying, "Then I won't be polite."

After accepting it, he secretly wondered, since he had already cultivated the Lesser Cloud and Rain Technique, if he were to refine this Lesser Cloud and Rain Technique, which was worth one hundred magic essences, would it overwrite the original spell's layers, or would it be directly added on top of it?
After all, the Lesser Cloud Rain Technique, worth one hundred mana, would certainly no longer be like a small cotton ball in the palm of your hand.

He was polite to Qin Chuan.

Hong Zhu returned a kind smile without saying much, because although he was still just a Taoist priest specializing in fire-making, his family was actually quite well-off, and he didn't need these things.

The two spent a good half hour tidying up, and Qin Chuan found a total of seven items containing magical essence: an inscription, a futon, a tea set, a bonsai, a writing brush, a paperweight, and an inkstone. The total magical essence was as high as 555 points.

After tidying up all the things that needed to be thrown away, clean the room thoroughly.

The two then headed towards Liu Shichang's public housing.

As Qin Chuan had expected, Liu Shichang's house also contained many precious items.

Half an hour later, Qin Chuan obtained something worth 400 magic essences.

If all the magical essence within these things were recycled, there would be 955 magical essence. I wonder how much his techniques and spells could be improved.

Such a bountiful harvest, comparable to dozens of trips to the flea market, made Qin Chuan secretly fantasize:
"If one day I could get a job searching and confiscating the immortals' caves, I wonder how wonderful that would be."

If so many items imbued with Guo Shanshan's Buddhist teachings could be found in a public residence, one can only imagine what would be gained if his private cave were searched!

(End of this chapter)