"Master, is there truly an immortal in this world?"
Inside Qingxin Hall at Purple Cloud Temple, the eight-year-old Li Ji'an looked up with pure, childlike eyes filled with expectation as he gazed at Liu Deshan, the Master of the Hall.
After a while.
"So much alike! Just like my junior..." Li Ji'an waited not for an answer but for Liu Deshan's absent-minded murmur instead.
A nostalgic smile involuntarily crept onto Li Ji'an's lips, and he bowed slightly, not wanting to disturb this former senior, now his master.
"Blessed Infinite Celestial Venerable!" After a while, Liu Deshan collected his thoughts and picked up the registry information to look at, his initially slightly cloudy eyes suddenly clearing a bit.
"Is your common name Li Ji'an?"
Li Ji'an didn't need to answer at all as Liu Deshan, looking at the registry information, felt a sudden heart thump.
Three days ago, while he was fasting and meditating, he heard that a child bearing the token of his junior Chang'an True Man desired to join his sect. Although he was in meditation and could not meet the child, he nonetheless instructed his people without hesitation to admit the child into Qingxin Hall.
Today, as soon as he exited meditation, he summoned the child.
At first glance, he was stunned...
At this moment, he could almost be certain — this must be my junior's child!
"Hmph, you preached crooked reasoning, telling me not to marry or have children, talking about the 'Red Skull,' talking about 'Water Moon Mirror Flower,' about being carefree and alone for life, but... fortunately, I didn't fall for it." For some reason, a wave of relief washed over him. Whether it was knowing his junior had an heir or finally being able to expose his junior's shortcomings, True Man Houde Liu Deshan seemed rejuvenated by thirty years.
"Qingyun, come in." In a good mood, True Man Houde called out towards outside the hall.
"Disciple greets master." A chubby Daoist child, similar in age to Li Ji'an, entered the hall, wobbling like a ball of flesh, and sat cross-legged on a mat beside Li Ji'an.
"From now on, this is your junior. Look after him well and never bully him; treat him as your brother, your beloved family." Liu Deshan solemnly admonished.
"Ah?" The little chubby Daoist child was evidently unfamiliar with this attitude of Liu Deshan.
"Oh, right, I haven't given you a Dao name yet; you... should be called Chang'an then." Liu Deshan pondered for a moment, then smiled, showing a rare hint of slyness from the always steady steward of the temple's philosophical education.
"Chang'an?" This wicked sense of humor of the senior...
"Thank you, Master, for the name." Li Ji'an bowed deeply.
"Chang'an, this is your brother Qingyun; from now on, no matter your relationship with other disciples, you must forge a deep bond with your brother Qingyun, sharing joys and hardships." Liu Deshan admonished once more.
Li Ji'an lowered his head and slightly tilted it, catching sight of the Daoist child Qingyun similarly looking at him.
Three days ago, he had caught sight of this chubby kid from afar and suspected; now, he was sure.
The ancestral rule of Purple Cloud Temple is prohibiting marriage, but over the past century, this rule has become virtually obsolete. Purple Cloud Temple is a family temple where master trains disciple, passing from generation to generation, not accepting outsiders lodging in, so over the century, it has become almost a direct lineage.
From the Observatory Master down to the disciples below, most have a home within ten miles in the county town.
However, the previous Hall Master of Qingxin Hall, namely their Master Shangshan Zhenren, was an exception, living a simple, solitary life, only taking these two disciples.
"Seeing this kid's age, my junior must have married before I returned to secular life? Ha."
"Alright, Qingyun, take your junior to familiarize himself with the temple and explain some rules." Liu Deshan, seemingly having urgent matters, hastily sent off the two disciples without answering the new disciple's compulsory initial question and left Qingxin Hall with a joyful face.
Though Qingyun is chubby, his movements aren't slow. He pulled Li Ji'an along in a few steps to the corner of the outer wall of the hall.
"Tell me honestly, are you also Master's son?" At this moment, Little Qingyun's face was somewhat flushed, seemingly feeling a bit aggrieved, as if he might burst into tears at any moment.
"..." Just like my senior when young, not too clever.
Li Ji'an decisively shook his head.
"Really? Phew~ scared me. That's good; it seems my mother lied to me—Dad couldn't have other women." Li Ji'an raised his eyebrows slightly, "Ah, my senior has turned bad."
"Well then, follow your senior; he will protect you from bullying. Let me tell you a secret—don't share it with others; my father is this!" The little chubby boy smiled openly, proudly giving a thumbs-up, very pleased to have Liu Deshan as his father.
Good.
Watching the little chubby boy take pride in his father, Li Ji'an genuinely felt happy for Liu Deshan.
To become a source of pride for his son, as a father, my senior should be satisfied.
"Junior, this is Jade Emperor Hall, the Observatory Master's domain. The master is fierce and stingy, so don't come here idly.
This is Dharma Propagation Hall; they have lots of good food whenever they go down the mountain for rituals..."
Purple Cloud Temple isn't large, lacking those big temple's hierarchies of "three capitals, five masters, eighteen heads"; there is just one Observatory Master and five Masters of the Hall, together with the disciples and Daoist children, totaling less than a hundred.
Returning to places familiar, like it was just yesterday.
"Unknowingly, fifty-four years have passed!"
Fifty-four years ago, Li Ji'an awakened his innate wisdom; at that time, he had been traversing this world for eight years, born from the mother's womb, eight years old!
Immortal Dynasty, a feudal imperial world unheard of.
There's no need to elaborate on the woes of the common people in a feudal society.
Yet, upon awakening his innate wisdom, Li Ji'an neither wallowed nor despaired; instead, he was fully confident, not even panicking without a system, drawing from his twenty-year experience as a genuine reader of the genre's scripts—he was well-versed in an imperial storyline like this.
Initially, he decided to fast-track through it.
The result was getting fed a mouthful of incense ash talisman water and weasel blood...
It wasn't until he discovered the existence of martial artists that he realized it was a low martial upgrade flow script.
The opening struggles, endurance, and even humiliation were all necessary.
Enduring until both parents died and the fiancée broke off the engagement, he knew the buffs were maxed out, it was time for him to rise.
Sell the family's few acres of good land without regret, all turned into silver, heading to the town's martial arts school full of vigor.
The result... A year had passed, and he still hadn't entered.
As a child of a rural farming family, always wavering around the subsistence line, his bones were frail, lacking funds to purchase high-quality medicinal baths and supplements, coupled with the limited capabilities of the town's martial arts school.
Even when the silver was nearly spent and he still wasn't accepted inside, he trained fiercely in martial arts, injuring his lungs and coughing uncontrollably like a sick ghost.
Unable to survive in the town, he reluctantly returned to the mountain village.
Fortunately, nobody wanted the mud house, so he still had a place to stay.
In the end, he became a tenant farmer, uncertain of his next meal, living in daily despair.
He muddled through life, somber and joyless, waiting for a hope he wasn't sure would ever come... until he turned thirty, when he unexpectedly found his sickly body healed, all negative conditions vanished, and his body returned to that of the eight-year-old boy when he first awakened his innate wisdom!
Yet the timeline hadn't changed.
Worried he'd be seen as a demon, he fled the village before he could rejoice at this delayed gift.
In ancient times, transportation was inconvenient, with populations restricted, so he had no choice but to return to the town in search of opportunity.
However... before understanding the gift's use, he was caught by human traffickers and tormented!
Recalling this, Li Ji'an's heart clenched violently, his face pale.
Even though twenty-seven years had passed and he had experienced rejuvenation once more, the traumas of those five years still often haunted him.
Fortunately, at thirteen, with one arm deformed and a wound on his back that never healed, continuously festering, Li Ji'an met Shangshan Zhenren, the Hall Master of Qingxin Hall at Purple Cloud Temple.
Little Qingyun suddenly turned back, just in time to see the terror on Li Ji'an's face.
"Don't be afraid, junior brother. I'm here." Awkwardly shielding Li Ji'an, Little Qingyun pointed at the statue in the hall eagerly: "It's fake, all fake; just clay figurines."
Coming back to the present from his memories, seeing Little Qingyun shielding him, Li Ji'an smiled slightly, suppressing his negative emotions.
After this incident, Little Qingyun decided not to take Li Ji'an around the temple any longer and resolutely returned to Qingxin Hall.
However, just as they reached the prefecture outside Qingxin Hall, Little Qingyun suddenly paused, seeing a group of senior brothers waiting at the entrance, among them were figures from the Precepts Hall.
"Oh no! Have they found out about me spitting in the Master of Internal Affairs Hall's food?" Little Qingyun shivered and instinctively hid behind Li Ji'an.
Crash~
Seeing the two figures, the group rushed over, their faces filled not with the usual tranquil peace of Daoists but rather urgency.
"I was wrong, I was wrong, I'll never do it again." Little Qingyun was nearly frightened to tears, retreating several steps and falling on the ground, pleading.
"You..."
After a moment of waiting without hearing any reprimand or feeling someone pull him, Little Qingyun cautiously peered through his fingers.
He saw the group surprisingly surrounded Li Ji'an instead.
"Not here for me?" Instantly relieved.
"They're bullying junior brother!" Then suddenly burning with anger.
"I'll go find my dad." Yet he dared not face the fierce figures from the Precepts Hall himself.
"Hmm?" Before he could sneak away, the group suddenly knelt around Li Ji'an.
On their faces was no longer urgency but instead kindness and gentleness.
He even clearly saw that the once repugnant face of the brother from Precepts Hall now gently stroked Li Ji'an's head, with tears glinting in his eyes...
"So... So alike..."
"Junior brother... are you called Li Ji'an?"
"Li Jizhang, no, no, I mean Uncle Chang'an, is he..."
"Don't ask what you shouldn't ask!"
"Is Uncle... well?"
...
Li Ji'an looked at these now grown children and smiled contentedly.
Because he experienced rain and was given an umbrella by his master, he's more willing to hold an umbrella for those in the rain.
Twenty-seven years ago, after enduring five years of hell, he was brought back to this place by Shangshan Zhenren, at the age of thirteen.
Those five years made this place feel like heaven, so he settled here peacefully, actively contributing ideas for Purple Cloud Temple's development, and his original traveler's resolve was immersed in the kindness of his master.
During this time, with past life knowledge, he improved effects like phosphorus fire and smoke for the Dharma Propagation Hall, added acts like retrieving Yin Souls bare-handed from oil pots, extracting objects from void, and holding True Fire in his mouth, and through means like "Fish Belly Hidden Silk Book," "Auspicious Signs Appear in the Purple Sky," "White Jade Turtle," etc., turned the once obscure Purple Cloud Temple into a coveted place among Shangyi County Town's nobility, greatly increasing its income.
On this foundation, the Observatory Master agreed to establish Charity Hall there, sheltering those children born into sorrow yet powerless to resist.
Until Li Ji'an reached thirty, all eighteen children in Charity Hall were personally rescued by him.
Ten years have passed...
Now the oldest child is already over twenty, serving as the Disciplinary Officer in Precepts Hall.
Moments later, a group of Daoists respectfully kowtowed three times to the direction Li Ji'an pointed.
"Junior brother, if you ever have any issues, come to us."
"No one can bully you in the temple."
"We're all true brothers from now on..."
...
"Junior brother is... this amazing? Why?"
Little Qingyun looked on, mouth agape, at the scene, not realizing when True Man Houde stood beside him.
"Because his father is," True Man Houde raised a thumb.
"Ah, dad... Oh no, master, you mean... his dad is even more... this?" Little Qingyun solemnly admired, looking at Li Ji'an with eyes full of envy.