txolops Chapter 133 The Abbot
Chapter 133 The Abbot
Ming stamped his feet impatiently and paced around the house.
Qingyangzi has a talisman that, when activated with magic, can summon a carriage that can travel a hundred miles a day without the need for oxen or horses to pull it, simply by consuming magic power.
Mingxin had a wonderful plan. He brought his things to find Qingyangzi, and the two of them left in a carriage.
But who could have imagined that Qingyangzi would leave before him?
"Did I waste too much time just now? Did my master get impatient? But that shouldn't be the case!"
"I finished fooling that kid Mingyue and rushed over here. It only took me half an hour at most!"
Mingxin collapsed to the ground, muttering to herself, unwilling to believe what she was seeing.
He wasn't stupid; it didn't take long for him to realize that Qingyangzi was doing it on purpose.
Qingyangzi spoke sweetly, as if he were revealing his secrets to him and that he would run away with him.
But this was a complete deception; Qingyangzi never intended to bring him along from the beginning.
"That old bastard deliberately tricked me! He knows it's hard to hide this from everyone, so he tricked me into helping him keep it a secret from the other disciples."
"Hmph, if it weren't for Mingyue, that old man would probably have used the same methods he used on Mingyue on me! I... how come I didn't think of that before!"
Mingxin gritted his teeth and pounded his fist on the ground, making loud thuds.
However, no matter what he did, he couldn't bring Qingyangzi back.
Half an hour later, Mingxin forced herself to calm down and began to think about what to do next.
The fact that Qingyangzi ran away in such a hurry suggests that what he said earlier was probably true.
Soon, a large army will march on Chentang Pass, causing boundless calamity.
Moreover, the enemies that Qingyangzi provoked in the past will probably come to kill him before then.
"If I stay at the Taoist temple, I'll definitely be in big trouble. I used to be too close to that old man, and I even amassed quite a fortune. Those people won't let me off the hook."
"But how am I supposed to run? I can't summon a vehicle!"
Mingxin's eyes darted around, his mind was agitated, and he couldn't calm down for a long time.
Leaving is not an option, but staying is even worse; I'm caught in a dilemma.
After an unknown amount of time, the sun rose high in the sky, and the temple bell rang, signaling lunchtime.
Unlike Buddhist temples, Taoist temples do not have the rule of not eating after noon; they eat three meals a day at fixed times and places.
Upon hearing the bell, the servants in the Taoist temple dropped what they were doing and hurried toward a large, long building, which was the temple's dining hall.
These days, people outside often don't know where their next meal will come from, but people in Taoist temples can still eat three meals a day.
That's why there are so many people who come to the Taoist temple to do odd jobs.
They weren't just after Qingyangzi's "powerful magic".
Even if Qingyangzi was completely powerless, as long as the Taoist temple provided meals, they would still come.
In the past, when Mingxin heard the bell ringing for mealtime, he would rush over immediately to take charge of distributing the food and take the opportunity to win people's hearts.
But he couldn't possibly be in that mood right now, and remained sitting listlessly on the ground.
However, a moment later, someone walked over, stood at the door, and whispered:
"Senior Brother Mingxin, are you inside? Senior Brother Mingyue asked me to come find you and invite you to dinner."
This was a menial servant, sent here by Lin Xuan.
The servant, unaware that Qingyangzi had already left, spoke cautiously, afraid of disturbing his master.
Mingxin was extremely irritated at this moment and said impatiently, "Get lost! How can I eat right now? Go back and tell Mingyue... um, wait a minute."
He suddenly remembered something, suppressed his anger, and faced the door, asking:
"How did Mingyue know I was here?"
The servant was stunned for a moment, unsure how to answer. After a long while, he muttered softly, "How do I know how Senior Brother Mingyue knew you were here?"
This is like a tongue twister, and it's very disrespectful.
The servant realized something was wrong as soon as he finished speaking and apologized to Mingxin through the door.
However, Mingxin didn't care about any of that. She pushed open the door, didn't even glance at the servant, and went straight to the canteen.
A moment later, he arrived at the place and found that Lin Xuan had taken the seat of honor.
That's Qingyangzi's seat.
Although Qingyangzi almost never eats here, no one dares to sit in that spot.
Before Mingxin arrived, several fellow disciples were already standing beside Lin Xuan, kindly urging him to stand up quickly.
"Junior brother, although you are highly regarded by Master, you must not be ignorant of your place."
"That's right! Junior brother, if you don't get up soon, Master will definitely cause you trouble when he finds out!"
"You'd better get up quickly!"
The fellow disciples chattered away, one after another.
Some people even reached out to pull Lin Xuan.
However, Lin Xuan ignored him, sitting quietly in his chair, holding a jade slip in his hand and looking at it quietly, occasionally revealing a smile.
The Taoist priest who reached out and grabbed Lin Xuan exerted force, his forehead veins bulging and his face turning red.
But no matter how hard he tried, Lin Xuan remained motionless.
The Taoist priest tried for a long time, finally giving up. He took a few steps back, panting heavily, staring at Lin Xuan, and huffed and puffed:
"Junior brother, have you practiced martial arts before?"
In his view, this was the only explanation.
Lin Xuan remained silent, which made the Taoist priest's expression even more unpleasant.
At this moment, someone noticed Mingxin and they hurried over.
"Senior Brother Mingxin, go and try to persuade Mingyue!" someone urged.
However, the others were fanning the flames.
"Senior brother, I think Junior Brother Mingyue is eager to take the position of abbot."
"Why don't you tell our master about this and ask him to step down and give way to a more capable person?"
Mingxin ignored them, walked through the crowd, stood in front of Lin Xuan, and asked in a low voice:
"Mingyue, do you know something?"
Lin Xuan didn't look up, still staring at the jade slip, but this time he did respond, saying:
"What are you referring to? Is it the matter that Master left the Taoist temple in such a hurry just now? I do know about that."
The moment Qingyangzi ran out of the Taoist temple, Lin Xuan received a notification.
Qingyangzi's actions were tantamount to relinquishing his position as abbot, so Lin Xuan immediately became the new abbot.
If Mingyue were also a player, she would notice that Lin Xuan's title has changed.
Abbot Lin Xuan
Mingxin gasped in shock; he hadn't expected Lin Xuan to actually know about this.
He mentally prepared his thoughts, wanting to probe Lin Xuan's words and see how much Lin Xuan actually knew.
But before he could sort out his thoughts, he heard two voices outside the Taoist temple.
The volume wasn't loud, but it was very penetrating, as if the speaker was right next to them.
"This is Qingyangzi's Taoist temple? Heh, this old man certainly knows how to enjoy life."
"Don't worry, it can't be wrong. Someone tipped me off a long time ago. Besides, I already scouted the area; this is it!"
The next moment, the two walked into the Taoist temple, seemingly taking slow, deliberate steps, walking steadily and calmly.
However, in a very short time, they arrived at the cafeteria entrance and looked into the inner room.
At this moment, the Taoist audience could also clearly see what the two looked like.
One of them was an old man with white hair and beard, dressed in a Taoist robe, holding a whisk in his hand, exuding an air of otherworldly wisdom.
The other one was less impressive; he was burly, with a large head and thick neck, clearly a martial artist.
The martial artist's voice was deep and gruff as he said, "Where is Qingyangzi? Tell him to get out here right now!"
Mingxin's face turned pale instantly. He didn't recognize the two people, but he could tell that they must be the enemies Qingyangzi had mentioned.
"No wonder that old man ran so fast; he's probably already discovered his enemies have found their way around!"
Not only did Mingxin's expression change, but all the other disciples and servants in the Taoist temple stood up angrily and glared at the two of them.
"That's incredibly rude!"
How could you say such a thing about my master?
Just as they were getting excited, Lin Xuan finally looked up, shifted his gaze from the jade slip, looked up at the two of them, and then he couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"Pfft!"
"You people here are quite interesting; you all like to put on airs."
"He clearly has no real skills, only some rudimentary supernatural abilities, yet he makes quite a show of it."
In Lin Xuan's eyes, two red health bars appeared in mid-air, corresponding exactly to the two people.
Next to their health bars are their identities.
【LV17 Martial Arts Master Wen Yong】
【LV18 Taoist Ke Cong】
Lin Xuan originally thought they were very powerful, but he didn't expect that these two might not even be able to beat the water monkey.
Although their level is much higher than that of the water monkeys, the water monkeys are elite monsters, so it's really hard to say who would win if they actually fought.
Upon hearing Lin Xuan's words, the two men's faces darkened, and they angrily retorted in unison, "Where did you come from, daring to spout nonsense here?"
Lin Xuan lowered his head again to study the jade slip and casually said:
"My name is Mingyue, and I am the new abbot of this temple."
"If you want to find Qingyangzi, then go look somewhere else. Don't get in the way here."
Upon hearing this, the two men didn't believe it at all and sneered.
Martial arts master Wen Yong rubbed his hands together, walked slowly over, and said as he went:
"Hehe, it seems you're quite a good disciple, actually speaking up for Qingyangzi at a time like this."
"But how can such a lie fool us? Tell the truth quickly, where exactly is Qingyangzi hiding?"
The old Taoist priest remained standing in the same spot and did not step forward.
However, he wasn't idle either. He raised one hand and moved his fingers, as if he were calculating something.
Lin Xuan's heart stirred, and he looked up. This was...
The method of locating objects by observing their aura!
When he was on his way to Hangzhou, he was stopped by a Taoist priest who used this supernatural power.
A moment later, the old Taoist frowned, thinking to himself that something was wrong. This arrogant young man in front of him hadn't lied after all; Qingyangzi's aura really wasn't here, but far away.
The distance was too far; with his cultivation level, he couldn't find Qingyangzi's whereabouts at all, and couldn't even determine his approximate location.
"This is terrible! Hmph, that big oaf is all talk! Qingyangzi has long since vanished, yet he claims he's still here!"
The old Taoist priest glared at him, displeased, and wanted to stop the martial arts master and confront him.
However, before he could say anything, he saw a dark shadow fly past him at great speed, creating a gust of wind.
The old Taoist squinted, subconsciously took two steps back, waved his whisk, and used a protective spell. Golden light shone from his body, and the faint outline of a suit of armor appeared.
Lin Xuan was somewhat surprised. He hadn't expected that this old Taoist priest actually had some skills. Besides the Qi Observation and Tracking Technique, he also knew a second technique.
However, the old Taoist priest did not notice Lin Xuan's gaze. He had already clearly seen that the dark figure that had just flown out was none other than the martial arts master Wen Yong.
He pursed his lips, took several steps back, gripped his whisk tightly, and faced Lin Xuan, asking warily:
"Who exactly are you?"
Lin Xuan didn't even look up, staring at the jade slip, and said calmly:
"I already told you that."