Chapter 63: The Daoist Part 2

His intent was clear: the plants in the courtyard had already absorbed enough rainwater; he needed to go to the mountain to draw in essence from sun and moon.

Yan Xinfeng nodded. “I’ll send a few people with you. Remember to come back before dinner.”

“Got it.”

The two left the study together, then parted at the corridor corner.

Wei Tingxia raised his hand high and waved toward Yan Xinfeng’s direction. “See you tonight.”

Once Yan Xinfeng left, he stretched lazily and looked at the servants following him. “Help me hitch the carriage. What’s fun nearby? Best if it’s mountains and water.”

The servant thought for a moment. “There’s Jade Peak Mountain nearby—stunning landscape, and after the rain, few people. Very suitable.”

Wei Tingxia nodded. “Alright, there then.”

The servant went to hitch the carriage. Half a quarter-hour later, Wei Tingxia set off.

The carriage left the city walls and soon arrived at the foot of Jade Peak Mountain.

After the rain and initial clearing, the mountain hues were misty. There were few people at the base, only a few passersby.

Near the mountain entrance sat a carriage made of expensive materials but with minimal decoration. Wei Tingxia glanced at it a few times and recognized the carved emblem on the wheels.

It was Prince Chen’s carriage.

Still in the mood for an outing at this time?

The carriage stopped. Wei Tingxia jumped down, didn’t glance back again, and silently began scheming in his mind.

Mountain streams burbled, water fuller than usual after the rain. Freshly washed leaves dripped with green vibrancy, the whole mountain like a massive, meticulously polished piece of jade.

The three escorts were all Yan Xinfeng’s personal guards. They followed Wei Tingxia up the mountain without a word, extremely vigilant, as if worried thieves might leap from a tree to abduct him.

Wei Tingxia ignored him. He now felt extremely comfortable, with the power inside his body stable and active. A kind of throbbing satisfaction from deep within slowly surged up.

Yan Xinfeng thought he was a demon, but Wei Tingxia was gradually coming to think otherwise. The power this brought him did not feel demonic at all; instead, it was stable and warm. It was just that since it had only just awakened, it was hard to control, making it seem a bit violent.

He walked all the way up the mountain, stepping over a few damp bluestone steps, when he suddenly caught a faint scent of burning incense.

The smell was very light, mostly scattered by the mountain wind and the scent of grass and trees. If not for his senses seeming unusually sharp at that moment, he might not have noticed it at all. The smell came in intermittent wisps, as if from somewhere higher up.

Wei Tingxia paused slightly, a bit surprised in his heart.

It was just after rain on a clear afternoon—who would be burning incense and lighting candles in these deep mountains? He focused and carefully discerned the direction of the scent while silently asking in his mind, ‘Is there any special building on this mountain?’

System 0188 replied: [There’s a temple called Jade Peak Temple. The incense there is very prosperous and popular.]

Wei Tingxia instantly recalled Yan Xinfeng’s instructions before they left the borderlands.

There was a temple in the capital whose daoists were said to have profound magic.

It was probably this Jade Peak Temple.

System 0188 had evidently recalled Yan Xinfeng’s instructions too, and it said somewhat worriedly: [How about we leave? Don’t get captured.]

‘Get lost,’ Wei Tingxia mentally flipped it the middle finger. ‘You really think I’m a demon?’

[Just in case,] System 0188 defended itself. [The power in your body is very unstable. If you lose control inside the temple, it won’t look good.]

Far from just not looking good—it would be like a demon coming down the mountain to smash the place, rubbing the faces of a bunch of daoists into the dirt.

Wei Tingxia thought for a moment, then tucked his hands into his sleeves, pretending to be very obedient. ‘I just won’t touch anything.’

Not just anyone could use a carriage from Prince Chen’s residence. Since Li Ji himself was with Yan Xinfeng, the one on the mountain now could only be Prince Chen’s consort.

Wei Tingxia had to go take a look.

……

……

Prince Chen’s consort was surnamed He, with the boudoir name Chenshu. She had come to Jade Peak Temple today because she heard that a traveling daoist had recently arrived to stay temporarily. This daoist was said to divine fortunes with great skill, able to penetrate heaven and earth.

The rumors might be exaggerated, but for them to spread like this, the daoist must have some real talent. The consort had some questions in her heart and wanted to hear his answers.

Because of the rain last night that had only stopped this morning, there was less incense in the temple than usual. A few noblewomen offered incense and quickly left, not wanting to get their shoes, socks, or skirts wet.

The consort was not in a hurry to have her fortune told. As usual, she first donated incense money, then paid her respects one by one, sincerely praying. By the time she finally had a free hand to go to the tearoom for tea, half an hour had passed.

“Where is the Daoist Priest?”

The maidservant who accompanied her whispered, “The Daoist Priest sees only one person a day. He’s currently waiting in the side chamber. This servant secretly took a peek—there’s a huge screen set up. So strange.”

“Your mouth is getting more and more unguarded,” He Chenshu said mildly. “This is a place of pure cultivation. How dare you gossip recklessly?”

Her tone was calm, but the implication within made the maidservant’s legs tremble. She quickly retreated, knelt down, and kowtowed toward the statue of the true person.

“This servant dares not.”

He Chenshu wiped her hands, which had gotten a bit of incense ash on them from offering incense. “Get up.”

The maidservant rose trembling, not daring to say another word. She only carefully supported her arm and led her to the door of a side chamber.

She pushed open the door, and the scene inside entered He Chenshu’s eyes.

The room was quite neat, with furnishings as simple as elsewhere in the temple: green brick floor, log tables and chairs, and a few elegant ink paintings of Daoist diagrams hanging on the walls.

But this ordinary simplicity was completely shattered by the enormous object in the center of the room.

An extremely tall screen stood majestically, almost dividing the entire space in two. The screen’s frame was thick and heavy, covered with thick plain silk or fine linen, completely opaque, thoroughly blocking everything behind it.

The light in the room seemed dim and deep because of this massive barrier. The only light source seemed to come from behind the screen, from a window near the inner wall.

The daylight carrying the post-rain dampness filtered through from that side, outlining a clear, backlit silhouette on the plain white surface of the screen.

It was the figure of a man.

Blocked by the screen, He Chenshu could not see clearly, but from the shadow, she could tell the man was extremely tall and slender, straight-backed, with what seemed to be a Daoist crown on his head. His other features, expression, and even the folds of his robes were completely swallowed by the thick barrier, leaving only a silent and mysterious outline.

He Chenshu’s gaze lingered on the silhouette for a moment.

The screen blocked the view but spread an intangible, serene yet slightly oppressive aura. She moved her lotus steps lightly into the room, and the door behind her was silently closed by the maidservant.

She sat on the room’s only chair. “Greetings, Daoist Priest.”

The shadow behind the screen moved slightly. “Madam is well too.”

The voice sounded young, with a clear and bright quality. Paired with the silhouette, it indeed gave a feeling of being otherworldly.

He Chenshu smiled faintly, pursing her lips. “From your voice, Daoist Priest, you sound very young.”

“A person’s age often does not match their voice.”

The silhouette paced to the center of the screen and sat down leisurely. “From Madam’s voice, your majestic bearing is slightly stagnant. It seems you have something on your mind.”

“Your divinations are so accurate—why not divine it for me?”

The man burst into laughter upon hearing this.

“Madam, from your speech, I know you are knowledgeable. You should also know that worldly affairs cannot be decided by a few copper coins or drawing lots. If seeking lots and asking divinations could fulfill every wish, what need would there be for princes and generals, civil and military officials?”

A daoist who had made his name in the capital through divinations actually directly denied his own fortunes. He Chenshu did not feel offended; instead, a sense of novelty rose in her heart.

She asked, “In that case, Daoist Priest, can you not divine fortunes?”

The silhouette shook his head, his tone still carrying a smile.

“Not at all,” he said. “Fortunes can be divined; whether to believe them and how much to believe is up to Madam herself.”

“Jianghu charlatans always say that.”

“Under the heavens, most who claim they can divine are charlatans. Back in the day, even Emperor Taizu had a daoist by his side, said to penetrate heaven and earth with his divinations. Didn’t he end up the same way?”

The daoist he mentioned was one of Emperor Taizu’s strategists, who had won many battles for Taizu. Unfortunately, in his old age, he indulged too much and did not meet a good end.

He Chenshu was also startled in her heart upon hearing this. She had not expected the daoist to be so bold as to openly discuss such old matters. But precisely because of this, she believed a bit more in the rumors about him.

“Since Daoist Priest speaks so frankly, I won’t hide it either.”

She said softly, “I have a beloved daughter who died young at three. It remains a pain in my heart. Lately, I’ve been distracted and keep dreaming of her. Should I change her burial place?”

……

……

After the tea had gone cold, a personal guard knocked on the door of the side chamber.

“Mr. Wei, the person has left. When going down the mountain, the maid left a few taels of silver, saying it was incense money.”

“Not bad. Keep it.”

Behind the screen, Wei Tingxia stretched his muscles and bones, walked slowly to the water basin in his Daoist robes, and leaned over to use the water surface as a mirror.

“Good-looking? Not too stiff?”

He turned to ask one of the personal guards.

Mr. Wei was the marquis’s beloved, the future marchioness. Some things they should not say.

So the personal guard held back for a long time before squeezing out, “Particularly like it!”

Wei Tingxia laughed.

He took off the Daoist robes and hung them casually on a nearby rack. In a good mood, he directed the personal guards to clean up the aftermath while he pushed open a hidden door behind the screen.

In the interplay of light and shadow, inside the hidden door, a middle-aged man who was firmly bound curled up on the ground. Upon seeing Wei Tingxia’s face clearly, terror surged in the man’s eyes.

“Spewing nonsense and lies.”

Wei Tingxia squatted down and asked with a smile, “What kind of daoist are you?”

As he spoke, the man’s fear deepened. Broken whimpers squeezed from his throat as he futilely begged for mercy.

Evidently, he was the real Daoist Priest that He Chenshu wanted to see. But Wei Tingxia had been one step faster, sneaking into the side chamber first to knock him out, tie him up, and stuff him into this hidden door, then taking his place.

“I know you’re begging me to let you go now. No can do.” Wei Tingxia murmured gently, with an irrefutable mildness. “You’re a key part of the plan. I can’t let you leave… I know a place that’s quite suitable for you. Go stay there for a while.”

With that, he waved his hand casually. The personal guard immediately stepped forward and hauled the man up.

Watching the man’s legs shake like a sieve full of chaff, Wei Tingxia rarely showed mercy and finally instructed, “If you want to make a living in the future, remember to do honest work. Don’t cheat people all day and not even gain a reputation from it…”

The personal guard took the man out the back door and would arrive at the place Wei Tingxia mentioned half a day later.

Having settled everything, Wei Tingxia left the side chamber in satisfaction.

It was still early. Going back might run into Prince Chen, so he might as well play a bit longer!