Lin Feng does not plan on entering the House of the Marquis of Xuanji,
Not mentioning whether or not the Marquis of Xuanji himself is at home, there won’t be a lack of other experts holding down the fort.
Since he already knows that Zhu Yi has thoughts of leaving the house of the Marquis,j Lin Feng decided to simply wait patiently.
Sure enough, after 10 days Zhu Yi carried a cloth baggage, heading on-foot towards Spring Mountain outside of Tianjing City.
He’s preparing to participate in the imperial examinations and doesn’t want to be bullied within the house. So he decided to simply go live on Spring Mountain for a period of time, like this he can also take care of his mother’s grave.
Meng Bingyun’s grave is right on Spring Mountain all by itself. With the status of concubine she cannot enter into the Zhu family’s ancestral hall after death.
Lin Feng waited unti Zhu Yi left the house of the Marquis and then silently followed behind him.
Zhu Yi walked all the way to the foot of Spring Mountain. After sweeping Meng Bingyun’s grave and burning incense he took residence in a little temple not far away from the foot of the mountain.
Lin Feng had already ascertained that this temple is a run-down buddhist temple. Inside the temple is only a regular old monk taking watch. Every year Zhu Yi will live here for a bit, one to take care of his mother’s grave, two for the peace.
After giving the old monk some incense money Zhu Yi rested in the side hall. Opening his bag and lighting some candles he prepared to start studying.
Stroking the book in his hands Zhu Yi muttered: “Whether or not I can rectify my dead mother’s name depends on the spring’s civil examination and the fall’s imperial examination. First I’ll get juren and then I’ll get jinshi. When one successfully passes the examinations their next three generations will also gain titles… The court will send a decree to confer the title of Lady upon my mother, then mother’s grave will be able to be led into the Zhu family’s ancestral grave. her spirit tablet can also be placed in the ancestral hall for oblation. (TL: Search imperial examination if you want to know more about juren and jinshi. Just think of them as your masters and doctorate degree.)
“Too bad I can’t practise martial arts and cultivate. Even though it’s civil officials who control the court of the Great Zhou Dynasty, to truly gain a title of nobility one must depend on military exploits. If I became a cultivator and then went into the army then I would have a high status. Then if I established a military achievement and obtained a title, my mother’s title wouldn’t only be Lady, she would also have a noble ranking… Her status would be far higher than that Lady Shao.”
Thinking of Lady Shao (aka. the Marquis of Xuanji’s main wife) made Zhu Yi think of his mother who died an early death, his eyes revealing sentiments of sadness and resentment.
Lin Feng silently stood outside of the temple, the corners of his lips revealing an interesting smile.
Going to the backroom first and knocking out the old monk to prevent him from leaking out information, Lin Feng then checked the surrounding environment. After confirming that there were no problems Lin Feng openly sat cross-legged on a rock in front of the temple.
Lin Feng circulated the Nine Heaven Thunder Technique at full power, purposely releasing the mana circulating in his body out from his nerve points.
This action of his is actually completely contradictory to normal cultivation. Cultivation is about channeling the spiritual energy of the world into the body and refining it, yet Lin Feng’s way of letting the energy spill out of his body means that he’s wasting it all.
Although, from the appearance that’s a completely different story.
The current Lin Feng is encircled by purple energy, occasionally electric sparks can be seen flashing in the air. Under the effect of the electric current all of his hair is slightly floating upwards.
The crackling sound of electric currents sounded non-stop and there was even the faint sound of thunder echoing in the mountains.
With your average qi disciple level 10 cultivator, even if they releaseed their own energy outside of their body it wouldn’t create such a big commotion.
Thank you system, thank you novice gift, thank you Nine Heaven Thunder Technique for such amazing visual and sound effects.
And then matched with Lin Feng’s clothing of a white, wide-sleeved robe and daoist crown, his appearance is completely perfect, definitely the model of a master sage.
The sound of weak footsteps came from behind him. Just hearing them one knows that it’s someone who’s never cultivated before, but they are steady and firm. Lin Feng knew it was Zhu Yi, hearing the green-clothed youth noticeably soften his breathing Lin Feng smiled in his heart: “He’s here.”
Lin Feng suddenly stopped his mana but did not turn around, saying lightly: “If you want to watch then why not come out and watch openly?”
The sound of breathing behind him slightly paused but then very quickly became calm. The sound of footsteps rose up and stopped not far away behind Lin Feng. A neither humble nor overbearing voice said: “I did not have any intention of spying, If there was anything that offended you I ask for your forgiveness.” Sure enough it was Zhu Yi’s voice.
Lin Feng suddenly asked: “Are you afraid?”
Zhu Yi was silent for a moment and then he spoke in a clear voice: “The books of the saints say that righteousness and intelligence are the key to understanding the world. As long as scholars have an upright, disciplined heart and possess strong and pure intentions they need not fear the evil.”
He paused for a moment and then continued saying: “Even though evil spirits all know witchcraft of shapeshifting and deception, evil spirits are all formed by intangible thoughts. Even if they are powerful enough to manifest themselves they are nothing but cold blobs, they won’t have the feeling of a flesh and bone body.”
Zhu Yi’s voice became increasingly more calm, his thinking also became increasingly clearer: “Not to mention lightning is the most extreme yang energy essence of the nine heavens and is the bane of yin spirits. You are able to manipulate lightning and possess a strong body, naturally you are not an evil spirit. Although you are probably not a regular person either, are you an immortal or swordsman living in the mountains?”
Lin Feng slowly turned around. Looking at Zhu Yi who was speaking with confidence and composure he suddenly revealed a smile: “You seem to be very knowledgeable about demons and the like. Scholars speak not of the supernatural and violence, you are not a regular scholar.”
Zhu Yi answered openly: “Those are simply bookworms. We scholars harbor righteousness, understand the world, know the supernatural and reach the gods, this is the true nature of things.”
Lin Feng smiled saying: “I didn’t think you’d be so interested in cultivation.”
This time Zhu Yi did not answer at the first moment, his eyes flashing he pondered in his heart: “Could it be that this daoist wishes to take me as his disciple?” He grew up in the house of the Marquis and his mother died early. As a bastard he’s used to seeing the fickleness of human nature and the struggle for power so his vigilance is very high. Seeing Lin Feng appear strangely he had to be careful.
“My father does not allow me to cultivate and I don’t have the money to hire a master to teach me. Now seems to be a chance but who knows what this person’s background is?”
Seeing Zhu Yi hesitate Lin Feng immediately guessed his thoughts, saying in his heart: “Just as I predicted.”
Anyhow I never thought of taking him in as a disciple just like this, guess I’ll stick to the original plan.
Not waiting for Zhu Yi to formulate his response, Lin Feng let out a long laugh: “Too bad everything you know is just based on gossip. How can cultivating be so simple, the people outside of the door naturally cannot understand what’s behind the door.”
“I was simply passing by here, I did not expect to meet an interesting little guy like you. I had a nice time talking to you but I have something to do and am unable to continue chatting with you. Good-bye, maybe we’ll meet again another day.”
Finishing speaking Lin Feng did not wait for Zhu Yi’s reaction, using the ability of Cloud Dragon Escape with lightning suddenly flashing around his body, disappearing from the spot.
Using the flashing lightning as a cover-up, Lin Feng’s body soared and quickly hid into the forest beside the old temple, retracting his aura and hiding his location.
Zhu Yi who was blinded by the lightning slowly regained his vision at this time, blankly staring at the rock in front of him, seemingly not expecting that Lin Feng would actually just up and leave.
Zhu Yi looked around the old temple for a moment. With his senses that have never been trained he naturally cannot discover Lin Feng’s whereabouts.
Returning beside the rock Zhu Yi muttered to himself: “And I thought that daoist had thoughts of taking me as his disciple, turns out I was thinking too much.”
“Wait a sec, is he playing hard to get? But it doesn’t look like it or else he wouldn’t have left without saying anything.”
“That daoist looks young but I wonder what his true age is? Dao techniques, cultivation… If I achieve success in cultivation could I make father admit his mistake and make Lady Shao stoop her head?”
“A person outside the door is unable to understand what’s behind the door… This door, how can I enter it?”
Zhu Yi suddenly let out a surprised sound. Walking over to the rock he bent over to look, picking up a purple crystal from the rock.
Lin Feng laughed silently. The fish has taken the bait, it should be about to bite the hook.
He left the opening chapter of the Nine Heaven Thunder Technique within that purple crystal and did not add any restraints. Zhu Yi may not have cultivated before but as long as he focuses his mind on the crystal he’ll be able to read the words within.
Zhu Yi was playing with the purple crystal when he suddenly smelt a burning smell with his nose. Turning around and heading back to the temple he immediately cried out: “Oh no!”
Turns out when he came out he forgot to close the room door. The winds in the mountain are strong and they blew into the room through the door, actually blowing his book onto the brazier.
Seeing the book already burnt to ashes Zhu Yi felt very upset, but looking closely he discovered that in the brazier there was a piece of paper with a faint dark-gold color within the ashes of the book.
The golden paper is packed with small text and also has illustrations. It seems to be gold but it was not burned by the fire.
“Ksitigarbha Sutra… Thi, this is a buddhist dao technique?” Zhu Yi was greatly shocked and then overjoyed: “Just now I was distressed over how to enter into the door and now a dao technique has appeared before me.” (TL: Don’t ask me how to pronounce that.)
Outside of the door Lin Feng was dumbfounded, his lower jaw nearly hitting the ground.
“That works too? That book, if I remember correctly he just got that book from the used bookstore before he left the city? Max blessing of 10, a blessing of 10… Hehe, fuck!”