Junior sister, I really need to control you.

Inside the main hall of Huanghe Temple.

The young monk, draped in a sand-yellow cloak, sat in the main seat.

The abbot and Senior Brother Yang knelt before him.

The young cultivator looked to be only in his early thirties, but in reality, he was much older than the Abbot and Senior Brother Yang combined.

As the only true person in Huanghe Temple, even the abbot's master had to call him "uncle-master".

"In other words, during the years I was in seclusion, you secretly built a spirit-refining array on the spiritual eye of Xuanzhen Peak to steal spiritual essence."

Master Huanghe held a cup of tea, looked down at the two kneeling on the ground, and shook his head.

"I had no idea that Huanghe Temple was so lacking in spiritual energy."

The abbot raised his sleeve to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead: "This... Ancestor, although the abbot's temple is not in dire need of spiritual energy, its uses are infinite, so naturally the more the better..."

"Heh, Xiao Gao, you're not stupid after all. You even know that the more spiritual energy the better," Master Huanghe laughed.

The abbot could tell that the patriarch wasn't praising him, and even more cold sweat broke out on his forehead, which he had just wiped.

"I ask you, why didn't you inform me first of such a serious matter as stealing the spiritual essence of other Taoist temples?"

Master Huanghe slowly turned the cup in his hand, a fleeting yellow hue flashing in his eyes.

"Before I went into seclusion, I should have told you that you can handle minor matters yourselves and don't need to bother me. But if there are any major matters, you still need to consult me, and I will come out of seclusion on my own."

"Little Gao, when I went into seclusion, the Abbot was still your master. What? Do you think that my instructions before I went into seclusion were only for your master's ears?"

"He has passed away, and you have succeeded him as the abbot. Therefore, you are not required to obey my instructions to your master. Is that what you think?"

The abbot's face turned ashen, and he hurriedly shook his head: "No, no, no! Your disciple had absolutely no such intention! It's just that your disciple feels that such a trivial matter is not worthy of disturbing your peaceful cultivation..."

"Stealing the spiritual essence of other Taoist temples is a minor matter!"

Master Huanghe drank the tea in his cup in one gulp and gently placed the cup on the table.

The soft sound of a porcelain cup colliding with a wooden table was like a thunderclap to the abbot, leaving him dizzy and disoriented.

The abbot subconsciously activated his cultivation technique to defend himself, and argued, "Ancestor, you are wise! At that time, Xuanzhen Temple only had one Baihong Zhenren, whose cultivation had been completely destroyed, and one... a callow youth cultivator."

"At that time, although Xuanzhen Temple was a Taoist temple, it was far inferior to even the small sects and minor sects where independent cultivators banded together for warmth. Naturally, it was not worthy of disturbing the patriarch."

Master Huang He laughed: "Then how come you were beaten so badly? Even Little Huang was captured?"

"This..." The abbot lowered his head in shame, "I really didn't expect that in just over ten years, that kid from Xuanzhen Temple would become such a powerful cultivator."

"Hearing you say that, even now, you still think that there was nothing wrong with stealing spiritual essence from Xuanzhen Temple, is that right?" Master Huanghe shook his head.

"Grandmaster, you are wise. Not a single wisp of the spiritual essence that your disciple obtained from Xuanzhen Temple was used for personal gain. It was all for the sake of the temple!" the abbot said.

"I didn't say you used this for personal gain. I'm asking you, do you think you did nothing wrong by stealing the spiritual essence?" Master Huanghe asked again.

The abbot bowed his head and remained silent.

A porcelain cup smashed onto the abbot's forehead, knocking him to the ground, where half his head was buried in the floor.

"I have lived an upright life, how could I have such shameless disciples like you!"

Master Huanghe, who had thrown the teacup, stood up from his chair and pointed at the abbot whose head had been smashed into the ground, and scolded him.

The abbot, whose entire face was smashed into the floor, remained silent for a long time, whether out of fear of speaking or because he was stunned by the impact.

Not far away, Senior Brother Yang knelt with his forehead pressed against the ground, his eyes tightly closed, trembling, hoping that the Ancestor would not bother to pay attention to him.

It wasn't until Master Huanghe sat back down in his chair that the abbot, his face buried in the ground, began to make muffled sounds.

"Xuanzhen Temple's spiritual vein ranks among the top five in the Zhengyang lineage, and its spiritual energy is far superior to that of Huanghe Temple."

"With so much spiritual energy, yet only two cultivators and no spirit-refining array, they can't possibly use much of it. It's like two small fish occupying a large lake—it's a complete waste..."

"Oh, I understand now!" Master Huanghe said with a look of sudden realization.

"You mean, since they can't use it all themselves, instead of wasting it, we should take it. That's what they call 'the way of Heaven: taking from those who have more than enough and giving to those who have less'!"

"Our ancestor is wise!" said the abbot.

"Brilliant my ass!" Another teapot flew over and smashed the abbot's head completely into the floor.

"You know they don't need that much spiritual energy, do you?" Master Huanghe roared. "If you know that, why don't you go and buy it? Does my Huanghe Temple lack a few coins?"

The abbot remained silent.

At that time, Xuanzhen Temple was nothing more than fish on a chopping board in their eyes. Who would want to give them money for free?

"You are both wicked and stupid," Master Huanghe shook his head repeatedly. "For so many years, you have only known how to cultivate the Tao, but not how to cultivate virtue. You have truly failed to follow the righteous path."

The abbot finally couldn't help but say, "Ancestor, it is precisely because you are so virtuous that my Yellow Crane Temple has always missed the opportunity to rise up."

"Oh, so you're lecturing me now!"

Master Huanghe raised his eyebrows and stopped referring to himself as "this one." He raised his hand and released a yellow crane, which picked up the abbot and transformed into a streak of light, bursting out of the main hall and dancing wildly in the air above the hall at a speed that was difficult for Senior Brother Yang to discern with the naked eye.

A moment later, the light carried the abbot back into the hall and threw him to the ground.

The abbot had messy, gray hair and beard, a pale face, and empty eyes.

"Hmph! All you think about is how to bully the weak, kick someone when they're down, and rob someone when they're in trouble," Master Huanghe said with a look of utter disbelief. "Don't you even consider how many of the world's extinct lineages perished because of insatiable greed?"

"Misfortune and fortune have no fixed gate; they are summoned by oneself. Such a simple truth, yet so many people cannot understand it!"

"Leaving aside everything else, just this one incident. For such a tiny bit of spiritual energy, you offended a prodigy who was barely in his early twenties and yet managed to capture Little Huang. Do you know how huge a mess that is?"

"Twenty-three years old, and he captured the deputy abbot of my Yellow Crane Temple!" Master Yellow Crane shook his head and sighed, "Such a prodigy is not something that comes along every generation, even within a lineage."

"Who knows, in another ten or eight years, I might have to call that kid a fellow Daoist."

The abbot lowered his head in shame, no longer daring to argue.

At this point, Master Huanghe said with a face full of jealousy, "What's going on with Xuanzhen Temple? Before that incident, as one of the top three Taoist temples under the Zhengyang lineage, it was reasonable for it to produce a sword immortal seed like Bai Hong."

"This place was almost on the verge of collapse, how could such a rare genius, one that's unparalleled even in the entire lineage, suddenly appear?"

"Why do all the geniuses go to their Xuanzhen Temple? My Huanghe Temple can't get a single one!"

Master Huanghe scratched his head vigorously, becoming more and more annoyed the more he thought about it.

"You!" He pointed at Senior Brother Yang.

Senior Brother Yang shuddered.

"Later, I'll accompany you, my good-for-nothing uncle, and bring enough talisman money to redeem those disgraceful bastards for me. Also, if you can buy their magical artifacts, try to buy them back as well."

"Remember, you must never force a sale... Never mind, you don't have the ability to do that."

Master Huang He shook his head.

"Ancestor!" The abbot's eyes widened. "Are you really going to apologize to that brat and pay him back?"

"Otherwise what? If you offend someone, you either resolve the grudge or eliminate them completely." Master Huanghe spread his hands. "If you have the ability to eliminate them completely, then go ahead. I won't stop you. Go ahead."

"Your disciple is incompetent," the abbot persisted, "but what if you, the patriarch, were to personally intervene..."

Master Huanghe looked at the abbot with the eyes of someone looking at a pig: "If we only teach him a lesson but don't kill him, then we will have another great enemy in the future. If we do kill him..."

"The master of Huanghe Temple personally intervened and killed a young prodigy in the Zhengyang lineage who was likely to become a master before the age of forty."

Master Huanghe smirked, "If this gets out of the Jade Altar Temple, you can expect your lineage to come and plow the land of Huanghe Temple!"

"This..." The abbot could only lower his head.

"Besides, Bai Hong is said to have lost all her cultivation, but in reality, it should only be that her meridians have collapsed and her sea of ​​consciousness has sunk, so she has cultivation but can't use it."

"But if she's willing to risk her life and fight to the death, she could probably recover about 70-80% of her fighting strength temporarily," Master Huanghe laughed. "Otherwise, why do you think so few people have gone to Xuanzhen Temple to cause trouble these past few years? Is it because they're all as kind as I am?"

"Master, sword cultivator, if you were to fight to the death, tsk tsk tsk... it wouldn't be impossible for you to take down two or three fellow cultivators."

The abbot had nothing to say.

"Alright, go ahead. You have to clean up your mess before dark." Master Huanghe waved his hand.

"This disciple takes his leave," the abbot said, rising to his feet.

"Wait, besides the money for the talisman, could you also bring that kid a small gift for me, as a way of making a good connection?"

With a flick of his wrist, Master Huanghe sent a pale yellow bird egg, twice the size of a fist, into the abbot's hand.

The abbot's hands trembled, his face filled with disbelief: "This...this is your pair of yellow cranes..."

"This is unacceptable, Ancestor!" The abbot knelt down, holding the egg. "The Yellow Crane is a sacred beast, the very foundation of our Yellow Crane Temple. Not even a single crane egg can be allowed to leave the temple..."

"It won't hatch. This is an unfertilized egg where yin and yang failed to combine. Otherwise, would I have been willing to give it away?" Master Huanghe waved his hand.

"This isn't for him to be a spirit pet; it's for him to eat."

"Eat?" The abbot's eyes widened.

"That's right, it's for eating," Master Huanghe explained. "The Yellow Spirit Crane is a spirit beast. Although the widowed eggs cannot hatch, they still contain a lot of pure primordial energy."

"Although consuming it cannot increase one's cultivation level, it can enhance one's vital energy and strengthen one's foundation, surpassing even the most miraculous elixirs."

"I reckon that the boy's cultivation is so high at such a young age. He must have pursued rapid progress in his cultivation, which has made his foundation somewhat weak. This crane egg can help him to improve."

"Giving such a treasure to that kid would be a waste, wouldn't it? Why doesn't the patriarch bestow it upon a younger generation in the temple?" The abbot was still somewhat reluctant.

"I also wanted to reward the outstanding younger generation in the temple, but none of you have satisfied me," Master Huanghe sighed, shaking his head.

"Tell me now, who is this so-called outstanding junior you speak of? And where is he?"

The abbot of Huanghe Temple glanced at the timid and trembling Yang family member behind him and fell silent.