One divination a day, a trainee celestial master

Jiang Shou straightened his clothes, stood in front of the mottled red-lacquered gate of the Taoist temple, put his hands behind his back, and quietly looked down at the mountain path.

Before long, those figures emerged from the corner of the bluestone steps.

It turned out to be Zhou Guodong's family.

Leading the way was Zhou Guodong, a burly man wearing a clean shirt today, carrying two large, stuffed red plastic bags in his hands. Following behind him was his wife, Lin Juan, who also carried a bulging printed cloth bag on her arm, its contents unknown.

Between the two, ten-year-old Zhouzhou was holding her grandmother's hand, skipping and hopping up the steps, her little face rosy, showing no trace of the gloomy and listless sickness she had shown before.

Seeing the family carrying bags and looking so happy, Jiang Shou was overjoyed. But he tried hard to suppress the urge to smile, his eyelids drooping slightly, trying to appear calm and collected.

As Zhou Guodong looked up, he saw the "Little Celestial Master" standing in front of the Taoist temple, his robes fluttering. His eyes lit up, and he quickly ran a few steps.

"Little Immortal Master!" Zhou Guodong gasped for breath, his face beaming with a sincere smile. "Our whole family has come to thank you for saving our lives. We should have come to fulfill our vow much earlier, but we had some things piling up at the shop, and Zhouzhou was still weak after waking up, so we were delayed for a few days. Please forgive us."

Jiang Shou nodded slightly, his voice calm: "Layman Zhou, there's no need for such formality. We cultivators value the concept of 'karma.' Since our patriarch guided me down the mountain to help your child through the divination, it means that Shouyi Temple and this child have a good karmic connection. Since it's about forming a good karmic connection, there's no need for such formalities."

"Yes, yes, yes! What a blessing! What a blessing!" Zhou Guodong nodded repeatedly, his face beaming. "Thank you so much! Our Zhouzhou is lively and energetic now, eating even more than before! That morning, I, Zhou Guodong, was a scoundrel, looking down on people and showing disrespect to the Immortal Master. I am so grateful to the Immortal Master for your magnanimity, for not holding a grudge against a crude mortal like me, and for saving my son with your generosity..."

As he spoke, Zhou Guodong quickly called his wife forward to untie the large plastic bags.

Good heavens, it's full of seasonal premium fruits: red dragon fruit, big peaches, boxes of imported cherries, and another bag is filled with several beautifully packaged bundles of high-quality sandalwood that look expensive.

An elderly woman, pulling Zhouzhou along, came over, her face filled with emotion and her eyes reddening. She tugged at her grandson's sleeve and said urgently, "Zhouzhou, quick! Kneel before the Immortal Master! Kneel deeply!"

Xiao Zhouzhou was an honest child. Upon hearing this, without saying a word, he bent his knees and was about to kneel on the bluestone slab with a "thump".

"No!" Jiang Shou reacted quickly, grabbing Zhouzhou's arm and pulling him up.

Jiang Shou patted Zhouzhou's head, then turned to the old woman and said gently, "Grandma, I appreciate your kindness. But we Taoists don't do this. If you really want to thank me, let Zhouzhou go inside and kowtow to the Three Pure Ones."

After saying that, Jiang Shou turned to the side and gestured for them to come in: "Gentlemen, please come in."

The family of four followed Jiang Shou into the main hall. Zhou Guodong and his wife, along with the old woman, were extremely devout. They lit the finest sandalwood incense they had brought, knelt on the prayer mats, and respectfully kowtowed to the statues of the Three Pure Ones to make their vows.

After completing the entire process, just as he was about to leave the main hall, Zhou Guodong took out a thick wad of bright red hundred-yuan bills from his briefcase.

He held it with both hands and, without hesitation, stuffed it directly into the gap of the donation box.

"Hiss~~"

Jiang Shou caught a glimpse of the thickness of the donation box out of the corner of his eye and gasped. But he forcibly pulled his gaze away from the donation box, keeping his eyes down and maintaining his nonchalant attitude of "treating money like dirt".

A soft "thump" sounded.

Jiang Shou stood to the side, listening to the beautiful voice, suppressing a smile from the corner of his mouth. He gazed intently at the old locust tree outside the main hall, pretending not to see anything, maintaining his persona.

This book was first published on 2009.com, providing you with a reading experience free of errors and disordered chapters.

After exchanging pleasantries and expressing gratitude, Jiang Shou saw the family of four off at the gate of the Taoist temple and watched them walk down to the pavilion on the hillside below.

Zhou Guodong let his elderly mother, wife, and children get into the car first, but he rummaged through the trunk, took something out, and then turned around and jogged back down the stone steps.

Jiang Shou stood there, looking at Zhou Guodong, who had returned, with some doubt.

"Little Celestial Master." Zhou Guodong was a little out of breath, holding a yellow steel tape measure used for construction. "When I came in just now, I noticed that the temple gate had some paint peeling off, and a piece of wood at the bottom was rotten. I come from a construction background, so I know these things well. I want to take the dimensions and go back to find the old carpenter to build two sturdy new gates for the temple, as a way for our whole family to express our gratitude to the Three Pure Ones."

Jiang Shou instinctively wanted to refuse, after all, one cannot accept something for nothing, and it would seem a bit greedy to accept the incense money and then ask the other party to pay for the repair of the door.

But before he could finish speaking, the old plaque he had split open and the cultivation manual that had fallen out of it flashed through his mind.

Jiang Shou swallowed back the refusal that was on the tip of his tongue, smiled slightly, and changed his words accordingly: "Layman Zhou is too kind. Since it is for the sake of repairing the ancestral master's gate, this humble Taoist will accept this kindness on behalf of the ancestral master."

Seeing that Jiang Shou had agreed, Zhou Guodong happily accepted. He took a measuring tape and carefully measured the area in front of the gate, noting down the measurements in his notebook before respectfully taking his leave and descending the mountain.

Watching Zhou Guodong's car disappear completely from sight, Jiang Shou slammed the Taoist temple gate shut with a "bang" and then bolted it shut.

His previously calm and composed expression vanished instantly. Jiang Shou rushed into the main hall and grabbed the donation box.

He eagerly pulled out the stack of bright red banknotes.

"Pooh."

Jiang Shouji unceremoniously spat on his thumb and began counting the money with a "swish swish swish".

"One north, five north, one thousand... four thousand nine, five thousand!"

A full five thousand yuan!

Jiang Shou grinned from ear to ear. This was more than he used to earn delivering food on the streets under the scorching sun for a month! Cultivating immortality? Nothing beats the joy of counting money!

Just then, a noise came from the direction of the backyard.

Fat Tiger had wandered over at some point, swaying his plump orange buttocks as he slowly strolled into the main hall.

As it passed Jiang Shou, it glanced sideways at him and the banknotes in his hand, giving him an undisguised look of disdain. It probably had just finished eating and drinking in the backyard and was looking for a good spot to sunbathe on the high wooden threshold of the main hall.

Jiang Shou was in a great mood today and didn't care about the cat's provocation at all.

"Hehe." Jiang Shou stuffed the money into his pocket, looking at Fat Tiger's round back. "A fat cat, all he knows is how to steal food, what does he know about the joy of RMB?"

Oh right, he remembered the offerings that the Zhou family had just sent.

Jiang Shou walked to the offering table and picked out large, plump dragon fruits from a red plastic bag. He wiped them casually on his clothes, peeled off a bit of the red skin to reveal the purplish-red flesh inside, turned around, walked to the threshold, and handed them to the fat cat that was sunbathing.

"Would you like some fruit after dinner?" Jiang Shou placed the dragon fruit in front of Pang Hu.

Fat Tiger raised its eyelids and glanced at the dragon fruit, then brought its pink nose close to sniff it. Next, it lazily meowed, opened its mouth, and took a small bite, seemingly quite satisfied with the foolish human's offering.

Jiang Shou smiled, put the remaining fruit away, and turned to go back to the backyard.

……

into the night.

The temperature on Cuiwei Mountain dropped, and the mountain breeze carried a hint of coolness.

The doors and windows of the side room were half-open, and the moonlight, like water, poured into the room through the window frame, spreading a layer of silver frost on the floor. On the old tree outside the window, several cicadas were tirelessly chirping their clear, crisp calls.

Jiang Shou sat cross-legged at the head of the bed, his eyes slightly closed, his hands forming a mudra and placed on his dantian.

He cleared his mind of all distractions, and his breathing became long and rhythmic. His mind sank down, settling deep into his dantian.

The pale golden [Guardian of Oneness - Dao Seed] rotated steadily, enveloped in true essence. Jiang Shou guided the true essence in his dantian, slowly circulating it through the eight extraordinary meridians, beginning the internal cycle of Qi.

True essence is like a warm spring, flowing through the limbs and bones, gradually widening and nourishing the meridians wherever it passes.

With each cycle of his inner vision, he could feel himself becoming more in tune with the energy of heaven and earth. The chirping of cicadas outside the window and the rustling of the wind through the pine forest became incredibly clear to him.

Jiang Shou was completely immersed in this mysterious state, and unconsciously forgot the passage of time.

The moon sets and the sun rises; I spent a sleepless night.

He didn't open his eyes until the first rays of sunlight streamed into the room the next morning. Far from feeling the fatigue of staying up all night, he was instead brimming with inexhaustible energy.