Gou Zai Xianwu Wenjing Search for Opportunities

"A nominal disciple? Then you'll be a junior Taoist priest as soon as you go in!" Li Shi was quite surprised; this was a rather high starting point.

"It's just a guarantor's spot, not a recommendation spot. I still have to pass the autumn competition for registered disciples to get in. If I don't pass the autumn competition, I can only be a servant disciple. I'll think of something next year." Wu Yong was a bit arrogant at heart, but he never lied.

Good heavens, he really is from a powerful family. If he's lucky, he can become a nominal disciple, or at the very least, a serving disciple.

The peach blossom wine was so strong that Lin Yuan choked on it, and could only sigh inwardly, "Everyone has a different fate."

Everyone became interested and inquired about the Lin Yuan Immortal Temple's recruitment of disciples.

Lin Yuan Immortal Temple has three types of disciples: inner disciples, registered disciples, and attendant disciples.

According to Lin Yuan's understanding, serving as a Daoist boy in the Immortal Temple would only allow one to become a menial disciple. However, the Immortal Temple would teach Daoist scriptures and martial arts, but would not teach the Daoist methods of cultivating immortality.

Normally, young Taoist disciples enter the temple before the age of sixteen, and must leave the temple and return to secular life at the age of twenty-six. When they return to secular life, the temple will give outstanding young Taoist disciples the opportunity to be selected for official positions, but they can only be rated as low-ranking poor scholars, which is the ninth, eighth and seventh rank. The highest rank for a county-level temple is the ninth rank, and the highest rank for a prefecture-level temple is the eighth rank.

The disciples who are registered are somewhat like the outer disciples. They have the opportunity to practice Taoist arts, but this depends on fate. Once they enter the temple, they become junior Taoist priests. They can stay in the temple to practice for a long time, or they can leave the temple and return to secular life. When they leave the temple, the temple will give them an opportunity to be selected for officialdom. Those who are excellent will be rated as middle-ranking scholars, and those who are second-best will be rated as lower-ranking scholars.

The two were never on the same level from the beginning, which can be considered the promotion path for illegitimate sons of aristocratic families.

The inner disciples are those who enter the inner sect. They almost never recruit outsiders. Most of them are unsuccessful candidates for the Immortal Seeds, and a few are outstanding outer disciples who are chosen by the Immortal Masters to become disciples. Entering the inner sect means becoming a junior Daoist Master, who can cultivate Daoist arts. Once they have mastered the Daoist arts, they become a formal Daoist Master. They rarely leave the temple to return to secular life, but as long as they leave the temple, they are considered high-ranking scholars.

After all, the criteria for selecting scholars were in the hands of the Immortal Temple, so they naturally treated their own disciples well.

Lin Yuan finally understood. A few direct descendants of aristocratic families could be selected as immortal disciples. Even if they were not selected for an immortal sect, they could still become disciples in an immortal temple. Children born out of wedlock could directly compete for the title of registered disciple. As for menial disciples, they were reserved for the middle and lower classes.

Lin Yuan finally asked Li Shi, "Was that Taoist priest Gao a nominal disciple? Was that old Taoist master a disciple in his inner circle?"

"Hmm, not bad. Back then, the Earl's mansion had a spot for a disciple in the autumn competition, but unfortunately I couldn't beat my sixth uncle." Li Shi sighed, then laughed, "As a result, my sixth uncle lost the autumn competition and came back in a sorry state. Now he's still working as an instructor in the mansion."

Li Shi's tone was somewhat mocking; it's always a pity that such a golden opportunity was missed.

Everyone offered words of comfort, and another round of clinking glasses ensued.

After understanding the situation, Lin Yuan realized that it would be many years before Wu Yong left the temple and returned to secular life. This path could be left open, so he stood up to offer a toast. Hu Cai and Zhao Sheng also raised their glasses together, and everyone said some polite words.

Actually, Wu Yong was just being polite, since no one can guarantee what will happen many years from now.

Lin Yuan finally raised his glass to everyone and said, "My fellow disciples, if we become rich and powerful, let us not forget each other."

"Having studied makes all the difference! Cheers!" Li Shi raised his glass first, then repeated to Wu Yong, "If we become rich and powerful, let's not forget each other."

Wu Yong, enjoying his drink, immediately exclaimed heartily, "Excellent!"

"Let's do it!"

"Let's do it!"

The group then engaged in another round of toasts and celebrations.

Wu Yong raised his glass again: "In the next few months, I need to practice my swordsmanship diligently and get some real combat experience so I can pass the autumn competition this year. So I'd like to ask my three junior brothers to be my sparring partners."

"As you would expect!" the three immediately agreed.

Once the conversation gets open, people become closer. Most of those present are young, so it's inevitable that they'll share their thoughts and dreams about the future.

Wu Yong spoke first: "The path of cultivation is too difficult. I only ask to enter the upper ranks of officialdom, to become a third-rank official, to wipe away the shame of my family, and to win an imperial title for my mother!"

After saying that, he drank it all in one gulp, his eyes sparkling.

Li Shi raised his glass and said, "I'm content to have become the head of the Lishui Pavilion in this lifetime. I'll spend the rest of my life saving up some money for my children and grandchildren."

Having said that, he also drank it all: "I hope my descendants will bring honor to our ancestors!"

Zhao Sheng chuckled: "I just want to work in the county government as a thief clerk, and live like a city dweller!"

Hu Cai raised his glass in response: "I want to be an official, even a minor one, preferably a county lieutenant!"

After saying that, he tilted his head back and drank it all.

Everyone looked at Lin Yuan. Seeing that they were all sincere, Lin Yuan thought for a moment and then spoke his mind: "I want to cultivate the Dao!"

Having said that, he downed the rest of his drink, gave a self-deprecating laugh, and said, "Don't laugh at me for overestimating myself. You still have to have dreams; what if they come true? What if?"

Li Shi didn't mind, and then made a roundabout way of saying, "This peach blossom wine is too intoxicating; everyone is just talking nonsense."

"Junior Brother Lin, if you hadn't said the second half, I would have believed you!" Wu Yong immediately laughed and raised his glass to toast him.

"Yeah, my uncle just said he wanted to cultivate Taoism, it really startled me!" Zhao Sheng chimed in with a laugh.

"What did I say?" Lin Yuan feigned drunkenness. "I can't hold my liquor, I drank too much..."

"Ha ha……"

Hu Cai glanced at Lin Yuan a couple of times. The two of them had been together for a long time and gradually came to understand each other's temperaments. He knew that Lin Yuan never talked nonsense, let alone drunken talk.

The crowd dispersed.

In the afternoon, Lin Yuan returned to the Hu family home, cleaned himself up, changed into a clean light blue long gown, tucked in a thick stack of Six Ministries' commentaries, and headed to the school.

"Junior Brother Lin, are you still working for Xu the Stingy for free? Didn't we agree to practice the Seven Slaying Serpent Techniques this afternoon? You've been writing books for half a year now, and I don't see any use for them. You might as well focus on practicing martial arts." Hu Cai didn't want him to be fooled by Xu the Stingy.

"It's alright, I'll be back in a bit. I haven't been to school for two days, and I've written a lot of things on paper. I'll just hand this over to my teacher and that will be enough." Lin Yuan understood Hu Cai's good intentions, but he was just thinking about having a backup plan.

The Lin family doesn't have many resources. Apart from getting some random opportunities through the mirror, Lin Yuan can only rely on his own efforts. Whether it's Master Xu, Li Shi, Hu Cai, or Wu Yong, he has to keep all these connections. As long as he can use any one of them, it won't be a waste of time.

Cast your net wide, and you'll catch more fish.

Upon arriving at the school, Master Xu immediately instructed the students to study and review on their own.

The two went to the study, where Lin Yuan handed in his homework. Master Xu flipped through it one by one, but he was old and his eyesight was not good, so he could not read it quickly.

Lin Yuan wasn't in a hurry. After half an hour, Master Xu finished reading the questions and then discussed a few of them with him.

After the discussion, Master Xu breathed a sigh of relief, patted Lin Yuan's hand, and smiled with satisfaction: "That's about enough! I think we should stop here for this book of explanations. I'll use my connections to help promote it, first making it famous in Lin Yuan County, then sending it to the prefecture, and finally to Li Prefecture."

Lin Yuan was somewhat surprised. Master Xu had always been a perfectionist, even nitpicky. The current level of this book could only be described as having some merit, but that was about it. It hadn't covered all the difficult questions about the Six Ministries, and some of the more difficult ones were so difficult that even the two of them couldn't handle them, so they were put aside and now they had piled up into a thick stack.

I never expected it to end like this!

Seeing his confusion, Master Xu chuckled and explained, "As long as this book can showcase our abilities and gain the approval of the world, we'll have achieved fame. We must always leave room for others to add to it; everything in excess is as bad as deficiency!"

"My mentor's words are thought-provoking." Lin Yuan understood that this was a way of leaving some benefits for others to share. As long as someone knowledgeable wanted to benefit from it, they would have to hold this book high and proud. "Has my mentor found someone yet?"

"This matter requires connections with the Marquis's family. Among the direct descendants of the Li family is a knowledgeable Third Master. He has served as an official for many years, holding the position of Left Vice Minister of Jiangyou Prefecture, a high-ranking official of the third rank. He has loved reading and mathematics since childhood. If we can gain his favor, this matter will be easy!"

No wonder Master Xu has been studying mathematics so diligently; it turns out the crux of the matter lies here. It turns out he was catering to his interests and had planned this all along!

As expected of Master Xu, he would never shoot an arrow without a target. He would shoot the arrow first and then draw the target, and he would never miss!

This is the true essence of a sharpshooter.

Lin Yuan understood; this was true mastery.

No wonder Master Xu was able to climb higher and higher from the bottom, and even in his old age, he might be able to cross another social class.

However, only Master Xu could have access to such a relationship.

"My esteemed teacher is a master strategist, and he is sure to achieve his goals. With this resounding victory, my esteemed teacher will surely be selected for officialdom." Lin Yuan immediately bowed and praised his teacher, while also emphasizing the issue of credit for the victory.

"You little rascal, you're getting better and better at sweet-talking me and making me happy." Master Xu understood what he meant immediately and patted his hand. "Remember what I told you back then?"

Lin Yuan did not understand his meaning.

"In my actions, I have always treated people kindly, allowing each to take what they need. I haven't climbed very high in my life, yet I've been able to retire unscathed and live out my days in peace, all thanks to this. My wise disciple, I give you these words today, hoping that when you rise to prominence in the future, you will remember to cultivate good relationships and avoid making enemies. You can't be a thief for a thousand days without being on guard against them."

"Thank you for your guidance, Master!" Lin Yuan understood what Master Xu meant. He wouldn't deliberately smear himself for the sake of credit; his goal was to make fewer enemies.

After all, a late-stage Body Tempering Realm martial artist can easily shed blood if angered.

"Once it's done, you'll get a share of the credit. Go back and practice your martial arts with peace of mind. I'll come looking for you when I have good news." Master Xu finally gave him a leave of absence.

"I am deeply grateful for your great kindness, Master!" Lin Yuan immediately bowed and remained kneeling for a long time.

Master Xu gently helped him up: "He's a good boy, go on."