Nightfall

“Waste! Scum!”

“Get out!”

In the depth of West-Hill, in a cliff cave covered by vines, some resentful, acrimonious, and raucous swearing words resounded. Even though they were so brassy and unbearable, somehow they were sealed within the cave and did not leak out at all.

The vines were stirred and a figure rushed out of the cave, falling heavily on the ground. It was a young man dressed in an old robe. After a long time, he finally woke up and struggled up, holding on to the wall and coughing painfully.

The Taoist was Long Qing. He held on to the vines to rest, until he confirmed he was not seriously injured. Then he walked to the edge of the cliff, picked up the buckets and box, then walked toward the higher caves. There was no fear or hatred in his eyes and he did not even look back at the cave.

Considering he had been taking care of these old, seriously injured Taoist priests for so many days, he had deeply experienced the horrible tempers of these abnormal people.

Since he had been humiliated and injured so many times already, he was numb to it and very clear that they were way more powerful than him, so he could not hold any grudges.

Although the Taoist priests in caves treated Long Qing badly, abusing and insulting him as they wanted, they knew well that if they wanted information to keep in touch with the outside world, they had to keep him alive. Therefore, they beat him to torture him but they never disabled him.

There were many caves in the cliffs and many old Taoists in them. Even though they believed they were self-controlled and Long Qing was not badly injured in every cave, as time went by, he became weaker and weaker by the day.

Because of the injuries, Long Qing moved very slowly. When he finished his work and went back to the Taoist temple, it was sunset. He stood in front of the hut beside the lake and watched the warm setting sun shining over the austere Taoist temple on the mountain, expressionless.

A middle-aged Taoist slowly walked toward him, looking at the lake at dusk. He did not explain to him about those old Taoists’ identities. Instead, he said, “The more beautiful it looked, the fewer people there will be.”

Long Qing saluted him and then said, “Uncle, are there only a few people all the time?”

From the South Sea to Zhishou Abbey, except for his three uncles, Long Qing had not seen anyone else. The beautiful and austere Taoist temple was always quiet.

“It was a little lively when Pipi and the little girl were still here ten years ago, but they all left. Only Ye Su would come back occasionally. It was inevitably lonely.”

The middle-aged Taoist said, “But I have heard that the little girl has inherited the position of Divine Priest of Judgment. As the positions of Divine Priests of Light and Revelation are going to be replaced, it will be noisier here for a couple of days.”

The celebrities, like the Hierarch of the West-Hill Divine Palace, the three Great Divine Priests, the Nation Master of Tang, and Master Yan Se needed to be baptized to award the position of Great Divine Priest. Long Qing had known that but when he realized that Ye Hongyu had stepped above him, he was somehow upset.

“As the sacred place in the hearts of Haotian Taoism disciples and the Unknown Place in the legends of cultivation, it is so simple, austere, and even boring. Is it different to what you imagined?”

Long Qing shook his head and said, “Since it is unknown and unimaginable, if we want to know, we have to see it. No, even if we live here, we are unable to understand it.”

The middle-aged Taoist smiled and said, “It is not bad for you to understand this. As a supermundane place, Zhishou Abbey can be simple, quiet, and even lonely, but if one thinks that what he has seen of Zhishou Abbey is the real Zhishou Abbey, he is truly stupid.”

“The Taoists living in this mountain are Zhishou Abbey. West-Hill Divine Palace is Zhishou Abbey. The abbey dean is Zhishou Abbey. You and I are Zhishou Abbey. The whole Haotian Taoism is Zhishou Abbey. Every place shadowed in Haotian is Zhishou Abbey. You were in Zhishou Abbey even before you came here.”

What he said was hard to understand, but at least, Long Qing understood the first sentence.

Considering the disabled old Taoist priests living in the caves that were all unknown in the world, but they all had extremely high cultivation realms, who even stepped beyond the Five States and became the Sages of legend— What an unimaginably great place Zhishou Abbey was.

“I know clearly about the terrible temper they have. Although it’s good for your heart training, you’d better do something to treat your injuries, otherwise, they will become an obstacle in your cultivation. So, make some medicine for yourself.”

The middle-aged Taoist looked at him and said.

Upon hearing this, Long Qing seemed to recall something and he asked, “Uncle, I saw a medicine tripod when I cleared up the medicine storehouse. Can I use it?”

The middle-aged Taoist felt satisfied and he said, “You must have learned something from the ‘Sha’ book and were not disturbed by these attractive skills. It’s lucky for you to find a way to refine drugs. If you need the medicine tripod, you can use it. Just don’t forget to clean it afterwards.”

Zhishou Abbey’s medicine storehouse was not located at the shore of the lake; instead, it was situated in the western cliff. It was a two-story building with complicated inscriptions and ornate patterns on the beam columns which looked dignified. Comparing to the huts worshiping the seven Tomes of the Arcane, it seemed to be the main hall of the Taoist temple.

In front of the Hall of Medicine was a large meadow. Beneath the meadow was an abyssal cliff, which was even unclimbable for a monkey. The mightly masters would be killed by the tactical array under the meadow, even though they had climbed up the cliff.

Long Qing watched the meadow, shadowed in the twilight, which seemed as if burning. He was feeling the power of the array. After a while, he turned around and walked toward the Hall of Medicine. He was holding a big old iron hoop with many normal keys. Without them, he would never step into the Hall of Medicine.

The door of the Hall of Medicine slowly opened and a tremendously huge space showed up. Many rows of shelves extended to the depth of the hall, as if they were miles long and with no end.

Numerous rare and precious drugs and materials were placed on the shelves and each kind of drug was provided with suitable ventilation and temperature by certain arrays.

These drugs and materials were so rare in the world that many of them were noted as missing in the scriptures of West-Hill. If they appeared in the world, they would be fought for by countless cultivators. But in this hall, they were just like normal drugs and materials as if no one had cared for them for a long time.

It was hard to imagine but easy to understand. Whether the emperor of South Jin Kingdom or the monarch of the Kingdom of Song, being rich or being poor, they all showed their respects to West-Hill Divine Palace and consecrated their fortune to West-Hill Divine Palace as if the treasures and resources all meant to belong to it.

In Master Lotus’ words, the West-Hill Divine Palace was a dog raised by Zhishou Abbey. It plundered all the resources of the world to maintain control over the world. The most precious treasures would be sent to Zhishou Abbey. From this point of view, the middle-aged Taoist was right about saying that everything in the world belonged to Zhishou Abbey, except the kingdom called Tang.

As Long Qing had been cleaning the entire Zhishou Abbey every day and picked up the drugs for the horrible Taoist priests in the caves, he became familiar with the place. He walked into the deep hall with the keys and did not pay attention to the herbs on the sides of the hall.

Anyone could do this if they had lived here for a long time. However, when Long Qing reached the depth of the hall, he became dignified.

Behind the cutout-ebony door was the most important room of the Hall, where the rarest drugs and materials were kept. He had never been able to open the door before because he did not have the key.

The medicine tripod Long Qing needed was outside the door. He happened to see it once through the door. He was surprised when his uncle allowed him to use it.

He found the simplest key on the hoop and inserted it into the lock. The lock clicked and the door slowly opened.

Long Qing entered and began to search for what he needed. Since only two materials of the drug he was going to make were carefully reserved in there, he was a little nervous.

The drug he prepared was called Earth Pill in the “Sha” Handscroll. Aside from being able to cure the wounds made by the old Taoist priests, it could stabilize his Snow Mountain and Ocean of Qi which was repaired by the abbey dean. In other words, it would help him with his cultivation.

The pill was valuable since it was so helpful. In the scriptures of West-Hill, it was described as the mightly pills that would revive human beings. Long Qing would never have expected to have a chance at refining the drug by himself. It was understandable for him to be nervous.

However, the next moment, he was shocked by what he saw.

He did not find the materials he needed; instead, he discovered a small porcelain bottle among so many bottles.

A very light fragrance of medicine emerged from it.