Capítulo 757: Chapter 739: Anti-Trickery, Follow Me

The old Taoist didn’t expect it to go so smoothly to bring Qin Liuxi back to the Daoist Temple. Looking at the figure with a slender body walking ahead, the old Taoist grabbed Sanyuan.

“Pinch me, I must be dreaming?”

Sanyuan rolled his eyes and said, “Cut it out. Even if she’s here, seeing the true state of the Daoist Temple, we might not be able to keep her.”

She’s obviously not someone we can fool easily; look at her demeanor. Is she anything like the silly old us back then?

If she can’t be fooled, then why did she come to the Daoist Temple? What is she plotting?

Sanyuan secretly became more vigilant.

Qin Liuxi, however, was looking at an old temple in front of her. The temple’s hanging signboard with the name was about to fall off. Although there were no weeds around, the door frame was peeling and breaking, looking like it’s going to fall off any moment.

“Is this what you call the ‘Eternal Sect with countless treasures’?” Qin Liuxi asked with a smirk, turning her head towards the old Taoist.

The old Taoist blushed and coughed, “Perhaps it was the strong wind last night that blew the sign down. We’ll just nail it back up later. As for treasures, the mountains of Dragon Tiger Mountain are indeed rich in treasures; that’s not wrong.”

Hehe.

Keep boasting; the bullshit hasn’t reached the sky yet!

Qin Liuxi walked forward, pushed with her hand, and bang.

The door fell to the ground, crashing down behind it, kicking up a cloud of dust. Right after, a stench wafted out from inside.

Qin Liuxi covered her nose and stepped back twice.

The old Taoist jumped up, rushed inside, and bellowed: “Which damnable bastard dares to break the door and defile in front of our Grandmaster? Are they not afraid of the Grandmaster’s wrath, bringing bad luck upon themselves?”

Sanyuan was beyond embarrassed; walking in, he indeed saw a mess and filth on the ground. He silently put down what he was holding, and went to the back kitchen to fetch a broom and dustpan to start cleaning.

The old Taoist thought of something and hurriedly ran to the back room, yelling curses and screeching.

“Damned thief, daring to steal and even target the Daoist Temple. My heavens, my newly bought pair of cloth shoes are gone, and so is my blanket… Sanyuan, quickly check your room; damned luck, everything’s gone, these bastards, treating our Dragon Tiger Temple like it’s an open chicken coop.”

Sanyuan threw down his broom and hurried over.

Qin Liuxi: “…”

She looked up at the mud statue of the deity, stared at it for a while, and said, “To have to deal with such unreliable master and disciple, hard times for you.”

She took three sticks of incense, lit them, respectfully offered her heart’s incense, then placed them in the incense burner, and lightly brushed her hand over the mud statue.

Qin Liuxi headed towards the back of the main hall where the old Taoist and the others lived.

The old Taoist inside was cursing non-stop, and Sanyuan was sitting collapsed in front of the house, holding a broken jar with a devastated look—he lost all his hard-saved money, stolen entirely.

“These bold thieves, stealing from the Daoist Temple, aren’t they afraid of divine retribution?” the old Taoist came out, saw his disciple’s grief-stricken face, looked at his usual money-saving jar, leaped over in two or three steps, and saw it was empty.

It’s over, now we’re truly impoverished!

The old Taoist saw Qin Liuxi swinging back towards them, chills ran through him, and he stood up, sheepishly saying: “I wasn’t home last night, and a thief slipped in, truly… but don’t worry, our Dragon Tiger Temple still has some foundation. You can read the scriptures anytime you want, and there are also talismans…”

He mumbled on and suddenly felt it was untenable, drawing talismans, others seemed pretty adept as well.

Unlike him, even drawing one useful peace charm took ages, and more often than not, he couldn’t afford vermillion—the woes of poverty.

“I think this Daoist Temple is not going to thrive,” Qin Liuxi stated.

The old Taoist’s face turned green, and he retorted, “You’re mistaken, look at our Dragon Tiger Mountain, with its lush greens and crystal waters, bursting with spiritual energy and visited by divine signs, how can you say it’s not thriving?”

“It’s just been robbed and turned into an empty shell. This isn’t the first time, I presume.”

The master and disciple exchanged evasive glances.

Indeed, it wasn’t the first time. Their temple was located on the outskirts of the city, neither too remote nor too central, but occasionally visited by beggars and refugees who knew people lived there and would steal when it was unoccupied.

The reason why they weren’t settling there was the eerily Yizhuang near the dilapidated Dragon Tiger Temple. Otherwise, they feared that thefts would occur even in daylight.

And yes, the Dragon Tiger Temple was indeed in ruins, barely attracting any devotees. Sometimes, not a single devotee would show up in a day, leading the old Taoist to set up a fortune-telling stall in the city for their sustenance.

In fact, unlike those truly ostentatious charlatan ‘God Sticks’, the old Taoist’s spiritual skills weren’t high, but he genuinely possessed some Daoist skills—he could handle little ghosts or do minor magical ceremonies without much fuss. By rights, they shouldn’t be living in poverty.

But their problem was one of the Five Disadvantages and Three Deficiencies—he lacked money, even more so than Qin Liuxi, often spending the fortune-telling fees he earned on a jug of wine or giving it away to pitiful little beggars, thus hardly saving anything.

Even so, the master and disciple barely managed to make ends meet, living as bleakly as the autumn breeze.

That was precisely why they were so eager to trick Qin Liuxi into joining them.

Capable, handsome, and impressive—if they could draw in such a golden boy to the temple, wouldn’t it be like acquiring a Wealth Attracting Deity? They could hardly sleep from excitement!

Meanwhile, at Qingping Temple, Master Chi Yuan felt a surge of annoyance upon calculating something, sensing someone was tampering with his territory.

Despite the old Taoist’s exaggerated stories, Qin Liuxi showed no interest, prompting him to say, “If you stay, the reward we received last night will be yours to manage.”

Qin Liuxi coolly replied, “Princess Rong’an gave me three thousand-tael silver notes as a reward.”

The old Taoist gasped, heart sour, as they had only a few dozen taels themselves.

“How about you donate some incense money to us then?”

Qin Liuxi chuckled, “Why should I? My money didn’t just blow in with the wind. Besides, with no Divine Presence gracing your temple and the incense offerings dwindling, even donated incense money won’t help you stand tall. You might as well dissolve the temple. I see you have some minor spiritual skills; stop struggling to maintain this temple and come work with me instead.”

The old Taoist: “?”

What does that mean?

Sanyuan lifted his head: “Work with you?”

“Yes.” Qin Liuxi spoke with his hands behind his back: “I am the Junior Temple Master of Li City Qingping Temple, where the incense is flourishing and we’re in a phase of expansion. We’re looking for Daoists with cultivation skills to join us; you’ll have food and drink, and if you’re earnest, you can learn the Xuanmen Five Skills.”

Sanyuan’s eyes lit up: “Skills as incredible as yours?”

“You wouldn’t reach my level of Daoist cultivation even if you practiced until you’re old and gray,” Qin Liuxi scoffed, giving him a sidelong glance. “But if you’re clever, you’ll learn far more at Qingping Temple than you do now. How about it, will you join me? Let’s make a big move.”

The master and disciple: “…”

This thuggish bluster… Is he really a Taoist?