Outside Qingfeng Temple on Cat Ear Mountain.
Moon Yingying, dressed in white, paced back and forth outside the temple gate, occasionally glancing up at the towering plaque above the door.
Several times she walked up to the door, reaching out to knock, but each time she shook her head and stepped back.
“That ungrateful disciple! Can’t even borrow money for two days without causing trouble?”
Moon Yingying frowned deeply, silently cursing Ling Xiaodong, her unreliable reverse disciple.
“Could it be that he really became a disciple under that Qingfeng woman?”
The very thought made Moon Yingying even more agitated, quickening her pace as she paced.
“Have I been too harsh on him lately?”
Thinking of how she had often scolded and ordered Ling Xiaodong around, the guilty master surprisingly felt a rare pang of conscience.
Since her fallout with Qingfeng Mingyue Temple five years ago, she had never set foot inside Qingfeng Temple again.
But now, her only laborer—or rather, disciple—had been missing for two unusually long days, leaving her anxious.
The laundry waiting to be washed inside the temple had piled up for two days.
The scattered books in the courtyard remained unorganized.
The gate she had once kicked down still hung precariously on its hinges.
Most importantly, no one had cooked for two days!
Though Moon Yingying had long since learned to abstain from food, that didn’t mean she wasn’t hungry.
Just like Ling Xiaodong’s ironclad body, even if it was tough to hurt him, it still hurt when struck.
After waiting for two whole days, Moon Yingying could no longer sit still.
She approached the old mountain gate, searching for any sign of Ling Xiaodong, but halted in front of Qingfeng Temple’s main gate.
To enter or not to enter?
Moon Yingying lowered her head in thought.
Her feelings were complicated, a kind of “the closer to home, the more timid” emotion.
Back then, in a fit of anger, she had rashly severed ties with her sect.
Five years had passed, and she no longer dwelled on past grudges.
Yet now, she stood in front of the old home like a child who had quarreled with her parents and run away, wanting to return but too proud to face them.
After all, she had thrown down harsh words back then; going back now would be humiliating.
Just as Moon Yingying wrestled with herself at the gate, the once-closed door was pushed open from inside, and a young novice nun holding a broom stepped out.
The young nun glanced at Moon Yingying at the gate and politely asked,
“Daoist Sister, may I ask if you need anything?”
“Have you seen Ling Xiaodong? Has he come to Qingfeng Temple recently?”
Moon Yingying seized the chance as someone appeared.
“Brother Xiaodong? Yes, I’ve seen him. May I ask how you are related to him?”
The young nun tilted her head, a trace of caution in her bright eyes.
After all, it wasn’t the first time women from the foot of the mountain had been dazzled by Ling Xiaodong and come searching.
They only knew Ling Xiaodong as a Taoist from Cat Ear Mountain, unaware that there was also Mingyue Temple on the mountain.
Because of this, Qingfeng Temple’s incense offering had flourished quite a bit.
“I am his master, Daoist Mingyue.”
“Oh! You’re Brother Xiaodong’s master? Please come in and sit!”
Upon hearing that she was Ling Xiaodong’s master, the young nun’s eyes sparkled as she eagerly pulled her inside, as if meeting her future mother-in-law.
Moon Yingying was tugged by the young nun’s sleeve but thought to herself that this was Qingfeng Temple inviting her in, not the other way around.
Her internal knot loosened, so she let the young nun lead her inside.
Qingfeng Temple was vast, not at all like a mere Taoist temple.
With three pavilions and six halls, each building was so familiar.
Walking along the main path with the young nun chattering non-stop, Moon Yingying was soon immersed in memories.
Every corner of Qingfeng Temple held traces of her past.
They were brought to the reception hall.
Before Moon Yingying could ask anything, the young nun busied herself with making tea and pouring water, acting demure and obedient.
After the young nun finally finished, Moon Yingying spoke up, and the young nun answered truthfully.
“What? You said Ling Xiaodong and Ye Yiyun went to Peng City?”
“Yes, they left two days ago. Didn’t Brother Xiaodong tell you?”
“Did they say what they went to Peng City for?”
“The temple leader said the City Lord of Peng City sent a letter inviting her to the city to exorcise demons.”
The young nun responded obediently.
Exorcising demons?
Moon Yingying gazed off toward Peng City, her heart inexplicably uneasy.
At her level, any special feeling was no longer a mere guess but an innate intuition.
It seemed something was about to happen in Peng City!
Moon Yingying quickly asked the young nun to fetch a Luo Pan compass.
Though puzzled, the young nun wanted to impress her potential future mother-in-law and hurried to the storeroom to retrieve a three-yuan compass.
Moon Yingying cast the divination.
Her expression grew even graver: the Water Thunder Zhen hexagram!
The Water Thunder Zhen hexagram was clear in its image.
The upper trigram was Kan, the dark flowing water, symbolizing hidden risks and obstacles.
The lower trigram was Zhen, thunder continuously rumbling, representing a greater crisis lurking beneath the surface, ready to erupt at any moment.
Ye Yiyun had tried to divine her fortunes before leaving, but she could not match the genius intuition of her junior sister.
She had only seen the superficial danger, unaware that a far greater disaster lurked deeper still.
“No, I must go myself!”
Moon Yingying dropped the Luo Pan and strode quickly out of the courtyard.
The young nun hurried after her, seeing her head toward the eastern library pavilion, and called out, “Daoist Mingyue, you’re going the wrong way, the gate is that way!”
But the next moment, the young nun was stunned.
Moon Yingying lifted her foot, stepping into thin air.
She did not fall but instead floated upward, several steps later standing high in the air, riding the wind toward Peng City.
The young nun’s already wide eyes grew even larger.
Flying freely through the air was a divine skill unique to practitioners at the Bagua Realm!
*****
Meanwhile, in Room Number One of the Heavenly Hall.
A woman suddenly cried out in alarm, followed by a heavy thud, as if a heavy object had fallen.
Ye Yiyun propped herself up with one hand, covering her chest with the other, her face flushed red like a frightened little rabbit.
If an outsider were to witness this, they might think some respectable lady had been assaulted by a scoundrel.
“Ow, that hurts so much! Aunt Yun, you didn’t have to be so harsh.”
Ling Xiaodong rubbed his backside, climbing out from under the bed.
Just moments before, the two had shared an intense gaze, but Ye Yiyun, suddenly sober-minded, had kicked him off the bed.
“What did you do to me?”
Ye Yiyun’s pretty face was scarlet, and her eyes cast wary glances at Ling Xiaodong.
“What did I do? It’s not fair! I woke up being held by Aunt Yun, couldn’t even move.”
Hearing this, Ye Yiyun’s ears reddened further.
“From now on, you sleep on the floor. Don’t be so naughty every day!”
“I…”
Ling Xiaodong was about to argue but was interrupted by Ye Yiyun’s angry outburst.
“I don’t want to hear anything! It’s decided! Get out! I’m going to change my clothes!”
Having spent so much time with Moon Yingying, Ling Xiaodong was well experienced at handling unreasonable women.
He knew this was not the moment to speak and stir up Aunt Yun’s wrath.
Standing outside the door, Ling Xiaodong frowned, pondering how Aunt Yun had transformed from tender and tolerant to just as unreasonable as his master.
Could it really be his fault?
After eating the free breakfast in the main hall, Ling Xiaodong quietly followed Ye Yiyun eastward, saying nothing.
Curious, Ling Xiaodong asked, “Aunt Yun, where are we going now?”
“To the tailor’s. Look at your clothes. If others saw you like this, they’d think I mistreat you.”
After last night’s rough chase, though uninjured, Ling Xiaodong’s already heavily patched Taoist robe was even more tattered—almost on par with the beggars of East City.
“By the way, what about the ten taels of silver I gave you?”
“Huh? The silver? I… I lost my pouch last night while being chased.”
If the displeased Ye Yiyun knew he had used her money to win over other girls, she’d probably tear him apart alive.
Ling Xiaodong silently praised his own quick thinking.
“Hey, isn’t that the handsome young man from yesterday?”
A heavily made-up woman spotted Ling Xiaodong in the crowd and eagerly ran up to greet him.
Ling Xiaodong looked up in confusion, his heart sinking.
It was the courtesan he had met in a narrow alley the day before.
“Why did you run off so fast yesterday? Come visit your sister at Yixiang House sometime!”
Ling Xiaodong broke into a cold sweat, frantically making faces at the heavily made-up woman.
He didn’t need to look back to feel Aunt Yun’s freezing gaze filled with murderous intent.
The courtesan was skilled at reading people.
Seeing Ling Xiaodong’s frantic signals and the radiant beauty behind him with a face as cold as still water, she quickly understood the situation.
“Oh! Your lady friend is here? Then I’ll take my leave first. Come visit often!”
She winked at Ling Xiaodong before disappearing into the crowd, leaving him frozen in place.
From behind came Aunt Yun’s icy voice.
“Oh? Yixiang House? Lost silver?”
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