Don't farm, cultivate immortality!

Suddenly, the mother hugged Zhuang Xing into her arms, and the father also sat down.

The two looked at each other, hesitant to speak, while the father held his little hand and looked at it repeatedly.

"My son has grown so much," the father said suddenly with emotion.

Chapter 50 Choice

“Xiao He, when we went up the mountain back then, the youngest child was already seven years old…” the father said. “Our son is only five, so…”

“If we miss this opportunity, we’ll have to wait another ten years,” Mother said. “And the next one might not be Daoist Qingxuzi.”

"That's true..." the father sighed.

"Mother, Father, what are you talking about?" Zhuang Xing asked, looking up.

"Didn't you want to know how Daddy and Mommy met the Taoist priests?" Mommy held Zhuang Xing's little hand. "Actually, every ten years, the Taoist priests would come down from the mountain and bring some children up to the mountain."

“My mother and father were poor at that time and couldn’t afford to eat. The Taoist priest took pity on us and took us to the mountain.”

“We helped with odd jobs on the mountain, such as gathering firewood and sweeping the ground, and that was enough to fill our stomachs. If we worked hard, we could also listen in on the classes with the disciples on the mountain. That’s when my father and mother learned to read.”

"Then why don't Father and Mother stay on the mountain forever?" Zhuang Xing asked again.

“Because we are not destined to learn Taoism,” Mother said. “Only those who will become Taoist priests in the future, like Father and Mother, can stay on the mountain. When they grow up, they will be sent down to the village at the foot of the mountain.”

So that's how my parents met Master Qingxuzi.

Zhuang Xing was surprised to learn that his parents had such an experience. He was very curious about life on the mountain, so he asked his mother and father about it.

Father and Mother slowly recounted those old stories. They said that the Taoist temple on the mountain was very large, and many Taoist priests practiced martial arts there.

Every morning before dawn, the Taoist priests would go to the training ground to practice their swordsmanship.

Some children don't have to do chores; these children are the ones who will become Taoist priests in the future.

When talking about the Taoist temple, my father and mother reminisced about it. They said that if they met Master Qingxuzi at the temple, they could get a piece of candy from him.

Later, Father and Mother finally confessed their plan to Zhuang Xing.

They wanted Zhuang Xing to go up the mountain with Daoist Qingxuzi to study for a period of time. It seemed that Daoists only recruited disciples in the villages at the foot of the mountain once every ten years, just like today.

When Taoist priests recruit disciples, there are three ways if they want their own children to come up the mountain with them.

The first option is that if the family is willing and the child has the talent to learn Taoism, then he can go up the mountain to become a disciple.

However, the children who become disciples must stay on the mountain. Although it doesn't mean they sever ties with their families, they are basically cut off from the lives of ordinary villagers. They may only be able to return home once every few years, stay for a few days, and then leave again in a hurry.

The second option is to pay money to have the child come up the mountain with you.

My father said that ten years ago, you had to pay three strings of cash to let your child go up the mountain with you.

Three strings of cash is a lot for villagers who make a living by farming and weaving. It might take them three or four years to save up, so not many villagers are willing to pay.

These children can only stay on the mountain for a year or two. They need to do some odd jobs on weekdays, but a Taoist priest will take time out to give them lessons.

Because these children generally lack the aptitude for learning Taoism, Taoist priests do not teach them courses on Taoist practices.

They are taught to recognize characters and do simple arithmetic. In addition, the children can learn a skill according to their interests.

Because it was a large Taoist temple, ordinary craftsmen also lived there.

Blacksmithing, carpentry, tailoring, cooking... you can learn any skill, but whether you can learn it well depends on how hard you work and how diligent you are.

The last way to get up the mountain requires neither money nor talent.

If you have no family members and are under twelve years old and unable to take care of yourself, you can also go up the mountain.

This is essentially a good deed by the Taoist priests. The world may seem peaceful, but in reality, there are quite a few monsters that harm and devour people. Sometimes, unexpected disasters can destroy a happy family.

So the Taoist priests took in homeless young children, letting them do odd jobs on the mountain in exchange for providing them with a relatively safe environment and ensuring they had enough to eat.

Once these orphans have grown old enough to be independent, the Taoist priests will reassign them to various villages at the foot of the mountain.

From this, it seems that the village at the foot of the mountain and the Taoist temple have a mutually dependent relationship.

The village where Zhuang Xing lives must also be under the protection of the Taoist temple. No wonder the villagers live so peacefully. It seems that the Taoist priests in the temple are very diligent in exorcising demons.

However, listening to his father and mother's description, Zhuang Xing felt that it was very different from the Taoist temple he remembered. It was more like a small town where the Taoist priests lived than a Taoist temple.

Living there would be a lot of fun.

But... if he agrees, it means that at five years old, he will have to separate from his parents...

He had always wanted to leave the village, but he never planned to leave home at the age of five.

Although his mother and father had lived in that Taoist temple, and there was the Taoist priest Qingxuzi who loved to give candy to children to guide him, it was a completely unfamiliar place for Zhuang Xing.

He was somewhat uneasy, not quite in the mindset of running away from home, but... a bit like graduating from high school, receiving an acceptance letter, and being told that he had to study in a place far away from his hometown.

His father and mother wouldn't see him off; if he agreed, he might have to set off alone.

Do you want to go?

If he says he doesn't want to go, he should run into his mother's and father's arms, and they certainly won't force him.

They never intended to make arrangements for Zhuang Xing's future. The conversation just now was clearly a discussion with Zhuang Xing, seeking his opinion, rather than informing him that they were going to send him to the mountain.

Zhuang Xing hesitated; he couldn't make up his mind.

His father and mother did not force him to make a decision. They simply said that they would take him to Master Qingxuzi tomorrow so that he could learn more about the situation from the master.

That night, Zhuang Xing lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.

In the dead of night, he quietly got out of bed and went to the big house alone.

He opened the window and, by the frosty moonlight streaming in, looked at the paintings hanging on the wall.

He sat quietly on the floor, clutching the amulet, and looked at it all night.

He only stood up when the first rays of dawn shone through the window.

A creaking sound came from beside him, and his mother pushed open the door. She walked over and touched Zhuang Xing's face.

His mother wasn't surprised to see him in the room. She seemed to have known all along that Zhuang Xing had come to this room in the middle of the night, so she must have been up all night as well.

Zhuang Xing silently hugged his mother. Although he didn't say anything, when his mother patted his back, he felt that she knew what he was thinking.

Suddenly I felt an urge to cry, but how could I be a true man if I cried at this moment?

It didn't really matter whether he acted like a man or not; he was just afraid his mother would worry about him, so he forced back his tears.

It's just that we're apart for a while, it's not like we'll never see each other again.

But only for a little while, just a little while is enough. He wanted to stay in his mother's arms a little longer.

Chapter 51 I want to go too

After breakfast, his mother advised Zhuang Xing to rest for a while, and that she would take him to see Master Qingxuzi in the afternoon.

But Zhuang Xing was wide awake. He was already a cultivator, and several months ago, his appetite had already surpassed that of an adult, as had his energy.

Even if the sky falls, people still need to sleep, but in a person's life, there are always a few things that are more important than sleep.

Even if he were to lie in bed now, he wouldn't be able to fall asleep, so his mother and father took him out.

They arrived at the village chief's house, where the Taoist priests were gathered in the open space of the courtyard.

Several men helped carry out a wooden table and stools and placed them in front of the house. The scene was lively, with many villagers watching.

The Taoist priests were distributing something to the passing villagers. Zhuang Xing peeked out and saw that it was some paper-cuts dotted with cinnabar.

"Zhu He, Liang Qing, you've come at the perfect time."

The voice of Master Qingxuzi came from behind. Zhuang Xing turned around and saw the old Taoist smiling kindly as he handed over a bundle of paper cutouts tied with straw rope.

“Take these amulets home. I drew them myself. Stick them on the doors and windows with rice, and there will be fewer mosquitoes in the house.”

"Thank you, Taoist priest..." Mother carefully accepted the paper cuttings.

The old Taoist patted his mother and father on the shoulders, and they exchanged a few pleasantries.

Before they could even get to the matter of Zhuang Xing, suddenly, the old hunter arrived with several teenagers.

"Master Qingxu, these are the ones." The old hunter bowed respectfully. "I watched these children grow up. They joined my team when they were six years old. I supervised their training in swordsmanship and archery. They are the children in the village who I think are most likely to cultivate true qi."

The old Taoist nodded, then took out the bag of candy and gave each of the boys behind the old hunter a piece of candy.

"Thank you, Daoist Master," the boys said in unison.

"You all go inside and wait. I'll be right there after I've distributed all these protective charms."

"Go on," the old hunter patted them on the back, and they went into the courtyard one by one.

"Speaking of which, Man'er, didn't you choose Zhu He's son?" The old Taoist turned to the old hunter and spoke again.

The old hunter glanced at Zhuang Xing and said, "This child is only five years old."

The old Taoist priest paused for a moment and asked, "Were you this tall when you were five years old?"

The old hunter shook his head: "When I was five years old, I couldn't see the Taoist priest's waist without looking up."

As he spoke, the old Taoist priest carefully examined Zhuang Xing, whose head had already passed over the old Taoist priest's robe.

“Man’er, I’ve always felt it was a great pity,” the old Taoist said softly. “If you had been willing to stay on the mountain back then, you might have been able to advance even further.”

"Master, someone like me who can neither master magic nor swordsmanship can do anything but come down the mountain and become a village guardian."

Do you still remember the sword techniques you learned on the mountain?

"I've forgotten most of it, but I still find that skinning knife easier to use. My father and grandfather were both hunters, so I should be a hunter too."

"When we dug you out of the snow, you were covered in blood. I thought you were going to bite someone. But I'm glad you're doing well."

The old Taoist priest smiled and then went elsewhere to distribute protective talismans.

Zhuang Xing thought to himself that the old hunter was also related to Daoist Qingxuzi. No wonder they seemed so close when they met at the village entrance yesterday.

So the old hunter was the village guardian?

This was the first time Zhuang Xing had heard this title. It seemed that not all children who were accepted as disciples by the Taoist priests would necessarily stay on the mountain.

If you lack talent, there seems to be another option.

I wonder if every village has a village guardian like the old hunter.