Yu Xu Palace...

Hmm, it seems I heard Yuan mention it before.

It seems to be the position he holds in the human realm's talisman Heavenly Court, and also the matter of the ancient emperors, Shu and Hu... Jue pondered thoughtfully, is this really Yuan, or is it just that the Great Wilderness also has a powerful figure with the name Yu Xu?

No, it can't be the latter.

The aloof girl thought casually.

The names of all the gods in the Great Wilderness Kunlun, the realms, and the seas are all recorded in her heart.

The Western Queen of Kunlun personally taught her for a thousand years. Power cannot be created, but she knows a lot about these miscellaneous studies.

So, it's Yuan?

Hmm... I can't reveal any problems, otherwise, I might be noticed.

The aloof girl maintained her poker face and nodded.

She looked like a loyal and reliable Guixu walker who had come for wealth.

She put away the jade talisman.

The Lord of Guixu was satisfied and handed over a token, saying slowly: "This is your traveling decree. Your last mission was quite good, so you are officially a walker now. If you can get the foundation, spells, fighting style, and direction of the Great Dao of Yu Xu this time, that would be best."

The girl nodded.

Feeling the jade talisman, she thought for a while and said, "I can."

Her voice paused slightly, "But, you have to pay more."

...

Human Realm, Longhu Mountain.

The distorted cause and effect destroyed everything around it. Nuba's pupils shrank, and she was horrified. The ends of her hair were faintly stained with flames enough to burn the soul. What she saw before her was only a slight leakage of aura, yet it caused such a terrifying scene.

It wasn't destruction by sword energy, nor destruction by power.

But because of the chaos of cause and effect, all things couldn't bear the weight of the superimposed closed loop of cause and effect and disintegrated on their own.

This... this power...

The Taoist closed his eyes.

The pair of eyes behind him were deep, reflecting the years and cause and effect. The illusion of one hand holding a jade pearl and the other holding a long sword disappeared. The surrounding cause and effect moved with his heart and reconnected. The disintegrated and annihilated things returned from the ashes, using the method of reversing cause and effect, evolving a vision as if the long river of time had solidified and then flowed backward.

So it was as if nothing had happened.

The stone table, the chairs, the flowers and plants beside them, and even the cup of hot tea in the Taoist's hand that was still emitting curling mist. Only slight ripples rippled on the clear tea soup. The crisp sound of birds could still be heard outside the window, just like a normal afternoon.

Even the birds that had just been affected by cause and effect and had their flesh and blood dissolved were resurrected...

Nuba stared blankly at the Taoist in front of her.

The white-haired Taoist put down his cup and stretched out his finger. The bird seemed to be completely unaware of what it had just experienced. It just landed on his finger, and the bird mistook him for a piece of grass and pecked at the white hair on the Taoist's temples. The Taoist raised his eyes and said in a gentle voice, "...Only when the cause and effect of life and death are extremely clear can reversing cause and effect achieve something similar to reversing life and death. In fact, there are many restrictions."

He sent it out with a wave of his hand, and the bird flew into the air: "I was a little distracted just now. My foundation and realm are not stable enough, and occasionally there will be situations where I can't control myself freely. Please don't blame me."

Nuba was silent for a moment and said, "You are now..."

The Taoist thought for a while and replied, "Just a slight breakthrough."

"Jue's situation is..."

Nuba rubbed her brow and said, "...If turbid qi overwhelms pure qi, the initial manifestation will only be an uncontrolled outburst of power like I had back then; if it continues, there will be other changes..."

"Until the end, she transforms into a spirit of turbid qi."

Wei Yuan held the jade hairpin in his hand and said, "I won't let that happen."

"Jue will be fine."

[Words become law].

Apart from not being able to make money, it is still very convenient to use.

This method is only ineffective when it comes to picking up money.

"Although my mythical authority is not good at killing, it is still very useful in other aspects."

The Taoist added.

Nuba raised her eyebrows, recalling the scene of the collapse of all things' cause and effect just now. She didn't say much and held a reserved attitude toward the self-assessment of 'not good at killing'. She took a sip of tea and said, "That's about it. I'm here to give you this jade hairpin."

"Also, there is one more thing I want to ask you."

"I once used the Kunlun Mirror in Kunlun to see your and Jue's past, or at least part of your past. You followed Confucius in the Spring and Autumn Period, and you experienced the troubled times during the Three Kingdoms Period. I won't mention these. I'm just a little curious, why, when you were in the Qin Dynasty, you had a very high military rank, but you never married?"

"Moreover, you seemed to have made an agreement with Jue at that time, right..."

"At that time, Jue was only... well, although her actual age was over thousands of years old, she grew slowly and had a cold personality due to special reasons, and her appearance looked like she was only eleven or twelve years old. Don't tell me... you had feelings for Jue at that time..."

The white-haired Taoist's expression froze, and he raised his head.

He saw Nuba looking at him with a gentle smile.

He always felt that if he nodded in the next second, that gentle face would turn into a look of disgust, with an expression of 'you trash' and stepping on him. The Taoist subconsciously wanted to deny it. Jue was still a blank-faced little loli at that time. How could he have feelings at that time?

But just as he was about to deny it.

The Taoist's voice paused, recalling that the woman in front of him was the most fiery-tempered of the goddesses.

And she extremely disliked the emotional problems caused by Gengchen's excessive gentleness.

Extremely single-minded.

The Taoist thought for a while and decided to be honest, preserving his reputation and innocence: "Yes... at that time, Jue and I were just... she saved my life and gave me the opportunity to complete what I had to do, nothing more..."

"As for why I didn't marry."

The white-haired Taoist twirled a strand of hair at his temple and said with a self-deprecating smile: "It's because I... I did have someone I secretly loved back then."

Nuba's eyebrows raised slightly.

"That was my teacher. Without her, I might not have been able to enter the Black Ice Terrace. She also taught me swordsmanship for ten years and went everywhere to find spiritual herbs and fierce beasts, and even the blood and baleful qi of fierce gods, to cleanse my foundation."

Nuba's brows furrowed.

The Taoist said, "Therefore, I secretly admired her at that time."

"It's just that this is already something that happened more than two thousand years ago... It's funny to say, I haven't seen her for so long, I almost forgot what she looked like, forgot her voice..."

Nuba held her tea, and red flames flowed in her eyes.

In her heart, she didn't like it as Jue's sister, but she also felt that this behavior was indeed reasonable. It would be too much to demand that he not be allowed to have feelings for others when he didn't remember the past. She had to exhale and say:

"So, what is your swordsmanship teacher's name?"

The Taoist in green stretched out his hand and pressed his brow, and said two words: "Gushe..."

Nuba was stunned.

Then the awkward feeling in her heart suddenly dissipated.

She just muttered a few times to herself, then nodded with a smile: "It's a good name."

...

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, the old Taoist is late, I'm late."

"Heh... I had a bad stomach from eating something before, so I went to the outhouse. Don't blame me, don't blame me."

A moment later, Nuba drifted away, and Zhang Ruosu arrived here almost as soon as Nuba left. Wei Yuan didn't believe that he hadn't timed it right. He glanced strangely at the number one true cultivator of the human race and said, "Are you a little afraid of her..."

The old Taoist's expression froze.

He laughed heartily and glossed over the matter: "Haha, this matter, the Taoist's matter, how can you say I'm afraid? The cultivator's matter, this is called seeking good fortune and avoiding disaster, seeking good fortune and avoiding disaster."

"Speaking of which, Wei Yuan, what did you come to me for?"

"Oh, I plan to open a sect on a mountain later and teach some Taoist techniques."

"I'm just wondering if you're interested in going."

Zhang Ruosu breathed a sigh of relief and let go of the 'Heavenly King Heart-Protecting Pill' he was holding in his sleeve universe. Now, those ordinary heart-saving pills no longer have the effect of a placebo. A smile appeared on the old Taoist's face, and he stroked his beard and said, "Since you have Taoist practice, you should open up convenient methods and teach all living beings."

"It's a good thing that you're willing to open a mountain gate."

"The old Taoist should naturally go to support you."

"I wonder what it's called?"

Wei Yuan said casually, "Yu Xu."

Zhang Ruosu didn't take it seriously and stroked his beard in confusion: "Yu Xu Temple?"

"Not bad, not bad."

"But isn't this name a bit too common? In history, there are no less than eighty to one hundred Yu Xu Temples. Even if we talk about the Yu Xu Temples that have been passed down to this era, there are probably not less than ten."

"How many disciples do you plan to take?"

"Probably only two..." Wei Yuan thought for a while and replied.

Ye Ming will probably come.

And Ah Xuan.

The old Taoist said regretfully: "Two, a small sect."

Wei Yuan said: "Also, one of these two has to be asked for from you."

"I remember, although Ah Xuan has stayed on Longhu Mountain for decades, his appearance has not changed, and he has not been ordained, right? In the Zhengyi branch of Longhu Mountain, disciples who have not been ordained basically cannot be considered to have truly entered the sect. How about letting him follow me?"

Zhang Ruosu raised his eyes and looked at Wei Yuan. After a long time, he muttered, "Ah Xuan, if you are willing to accept him, and if he is willing to follow you, then that's fine. Taoist disciples come and go as they please, which can be considered carefree. If you seek carefree life, how can you be restricted by the sect?"

"The old Taoist is too lazy to care."

"Just remember to let him come back to Longhu Mountain to sit around when he has nothing to do."

He took out a teapot filled with strong liquor, took a sip, and said with a slight drunkenness:

"Speaking of which."

"Who else is going to your mountain gate this time? If there are other Taoists, the old Taoist won't be too bored and can still chat with people to relieve boredom."

Wei Yuan thought for a while and said:

"There is an old friend, who can barely be considered a Taoist, but is not a Taoist."

He emphasized the word 'barely'.

Zhang Ruosu laughed loudly: "He follows the Great Dao, but does not enter the Taoist school. He cultivates in the wild and is not even considered a wild Taoist, hahaha, how bold and arrogant! What kind of spirit is that!"

"The old Taoist is interested and will definitely have a good discussion with him!"

"Anyone else?"

Wei Yuan smiled and thought for a while and said, "You probably won't be interested in the others."

"By the way, this old friend of mine will come, but coming is different from coming."

"As for whether he will come alone."

"Or whether he will come with a fourteen-year-old monk, I don't know."

"Little monk?"

"Hmm."

Zhang Ruosu took a sip of wine and frowned: "Mahayana Buddhism or Hinayana Buddhism? Is it Chan Buddhism? Tiantai Buddhism? Or what school is it? It's not the Pure Land sect, is it? Your relationship with them is not good enough to be at that level."

Wei Yuan caught a falling leaf and thought for a while and said, "A little monk can't be called a little monk either."

"It's not Mahayana Buddhism, not Hinayana Buddhism, not primitive Buddhism, and certainly not esoteric and extreme methods like the Tantric school."

"He's not a monk, not a novice, not a priest, at most he's a young cultivator."

"What are you talking about in the fog?"

The old Taoist nodded, curled his lips, and said, "In short, I don't have much affection for monks. When the time comes, I'll have to see the little monk's Taoist practice and see what kind of quality a monk who can go to your Yu Xu Temple is."

Wei Yuan looked at Zhang Ruosu, who was rubbing his fists and preparing to challenge the old Taoist and the little monk together.

Then he packed them up together and took them all. The corners of his mouth curled up little by little.

A Taoist who is not a Taoist.

A cultivator who is neither a monk nor a Buddha.

The white-haired Taoist smiled and said, "...I'm looking forward to it."

After chatting for a long time, Wei Yuan said goodbye and left. When he left, he stood on the cliff of Longhu Mountain and heard other Taoists talking in whispers: "It seems that Curator Wei plans to accept Little Ancestral Master as his disciple..."

"Eh? Little Ancestral Master? But he has never been ordained, so that's okay."

"Yes, it is said that Little Ancestral Master pointed at the Sanqing Hall and said that he was a disciple of the Heavenly Lord of Primordial Beginning. That's why he had a connection with our Taoist school and stayed on Longhu Mountain. However, although he can't reach the Heavenly Lord of Primordial Beginning, it's also a good way out to find Curator Wei."

"That's true... He's a Taoist disciple. Moreover, the former Celestial Master divined back then and only got the eight-character motto [comes by fate, leaves by fate]. Perhaps that's why the old Celestial Master didn't force him to stay... and never ordained him."

"Meow! What are you doing!"

"Don't you go fishing for me!"

The sound of a black cat came, and then two older Taoists went to fish in a funny manner.

They went to the fish pond in the back mountain to help catch two fish.

The wind blew, and the branches of the pine tree stretched out and swayed gently. The Taoist in white hair and green shirt stood with his hands behind his back, stepping on the pine tree and said to himself: "Comes by fate, leaves by fate..."

He sighed with a smile and said, "Wrong."

"It's comes by Yuan, leaves by Yuan."

The Taoist who had just left asked in confusion: "Strange, did you hear any sound just now, Senior Brother?"

"Sound? What sound?"

The older Taoist had already rolled up his sleeves, puzzled and looked back, and only saw long white clouds, yellow cranes flapping their wings, only an old pine tree stretched out its branches and pointed straight to the clouds, with a clear mountain breeze and a bright moon in the sky.

That's all.

ps: Today's second update... four thousand words

It seems that there is a fully subscribed extra chapter on 515 that has already been opened.