Please call me Huanxian

Chapter 370: It’s better to stay away from each other

The autumn wind is bleak and the dusk is dark.

Xu Yuanchang wandered in the overgrown Bailin Valley where there were no paths. He reached out and gently stroked the leaves of the lush magical plants. The valley was desolate and he was alone. The willows were still there, but the persimmons had turned yellow, but the pretty girl of the past was nowhere to be seen.

Halfway up the mountain, the blue brick courtyard was uninhabited and had long been overgrown with vines and had collapsed and become deserted.

The wood energy in the valley is too strong, and the tree houses have grown so overgrown that they are no longer inhabitable.

Release the fourth-level incarnation and order it to open a cave on the cliff of Shiping.

Xu Yuanchang climbed over the mountain ridge and walked on the village path that seemed to have remained unchanged since ancient times. Compared with more than a hundred years ago, most villagers still lived a tight life and were reluctant to light oil lamps.

A poor yard with broken earthen walls and tiles, and the noisy smell of fireworks.

Xu Yuanchang walked alone on the road, passing by courtyards, brushing past children and dogs chasing after him. No one could see his presence, and he stopped in front of a mansion and stayed there for a long time.

The door lintel is noble, the eaves are black tiles, and the lights are bright, but it is a pity that my brother and sister-in-law are no longer with us.

Without entering the mansion, Xu Yuanchang continued strolling with a calm expression.

What he reminisced about were the past little things, and he no longer had any connection with this village.

After a tour around Shipan Village, Xiahe Village and Hongliu Village, he returned to Bailin Valley, where everything had changed and people had changed. After tidying up his simple cave, Xu Yuanchang stayed there. The next day, he went to the town and bought new household items such as a hoe, buckets, bamboo baskets, bowls and chopsticks.

He used a hoe to clear the original mountain road, reclaimed a vegetable patch, and built a new bamboo shed.

The smoke from cooking fires rises up, adding more mystery to the desolate valley.

Xu Yuanchang ignored the discussions, curiosity and inquiries of the villagers outside. He lived in seclusion in the valley, practicing alone, comprehending the way of heaven and earth, and cultivating his own peaceful and calm energy.

The place was filled with mist, and even monks could not enter without his permission.

Every day, I fetch water, grow vegetables, draw talismans and write calligraphy. I drink tea facing the wind in the tree pavilion I have built, watch the clouds roll by, and watch the sun rise and set in the west. I ponder Taoist maxims such as "keep quiet", "use slowness" and "be gentle", and realize the wonder of the invisible and illusory mind.

In the countryside, apart from the villagers occasionally chatting, no one comes to disturb them.

Five years passed without me noticing.

On the Mid-Autumn Festival, the sweet fragrance of osmanthus fills the air and families reunite.

Xu Yuanchang stood on the top of the cliff of Shiping with his hands behind his back, looking as if he were floating in the air, and his figure appeared and disappeared from time to time.

From the top of the mountain gate came a woman's voice as clear as a silver bell, "Xu Yaoling, a cultivator from the Xu family, is sorry to bother you with your quiet cultivation."

Xu Yuanchang woke up from the trance of heaven and earth. His figure solidified. He waved his sleeves and said, "The mountain fog has receded, and the rugged road has opened up. Little Taoist friend, please come down and tell me about it."

At the top of the mountain, a girl in pink clothes and blue skirt, with a pointed oval face, silver-parted hair, and a sword at her waist, bowed generously, walked into the newly-tended mountain gate with trees, and walked briskly down the mountain along the rugged path.

His cultivation has just reached the threshold of Qi Induction Stage, and he is full of curiosity about everything in the valley.

The pink-dressed girl walked onto the legendary gravel platform, and saw wild grass and shrubs everywhere. There was not a single bit of the fairy air that she had seen from the top of the mountain. She looked up and met the dark eyes of a middle-aged Taoist priest in a green robe in a pavilion full of lush trees. The girl hurriedly stepped forward and bowed down.

"Xu Yaoling greets the senior and pays respect to him."

"Get up. You don't have to be so reserved if you can walk into Bailin Valley. Where are you practicing?"

"Reporting to the senior, I passed the assessment five years ago and entered Yuru Temple to study Taoism. Now I have officially joined Yuru Temple."

The pink-dressed girl didn't dare to ask the senior's name and answered in a serious tone.

She grew up listening to the legends of the gods in Bailin Valley told by her elders. She left home 300 miles away from home to study Taoism for five years. When she was given leave to go home to visit her family for the first time, she heard from her family that there was often smoke rising from the Bailin Valley.

It is said that the immortals of Bailin Valley have a great connection with the ancestors of the Xu family, so they came here to seek opportunities. Xu Yuan looked at the rather smart girl for a few times. She had practiced for five years and entered the Qi-inducing realm. Her aptitude was not particularly outstanding, but it was not bad either. She was much better than his former host. He said, "Yu Ru Temple is stretching its hand too far. Why did it come here to assess and recruit apprentices from a distance of more than 350 miles?"

The pink-dressed girl quickly raised her head and said, "I heard from my sect sister that Yuru Temple comes to Shipan Village every ten years to assess the children of appropriate age, and does not recruit children from other nearby villages and towns."

Xu Yuanchang knew the reason, which was closely related to He Shutang, and asked, "In the past hundred years, how many monks have emerged from the Xu family in Shipan Village?"

"Reporting to the senior, there are three of them including the disciples, not counting the two Xu family ancestors who lived a hundred years ago."

The girl in pink cunningly changed the topic in a certain direction.

Xu Yuanchang said "Oh" and continued to ask: "What is your cultivation level? Where are you practicing now?"

"They are just like me, all practicing in Yuru Temple. They are my uncles and are currently stuck in the late stage of Solid Qi Realm, and have not made any progress in more than ten years."

The girl was very talkative and took the initiative to mention, "The Chuyun Monastery, which is sixty miles away, also recruits apprentices every ten years, which is staggered with the examination time of Yuru Monastery. My cousin Xu Yaobao, who is of the same generation as the disciples, studied Taoism at Chuyun Monastery for five years, but he did not find the sense of Qi, so he went down the mountain and returned to the village to become an ordinary Taoist priest at home, helping the villagers to do some rituals within his ability."

Xu Yuanchang sat down on a tree chair and motioned the girl to sit down and talk.

The girl went forward and picked up the copper kettle from the stove in the corner to pour water, saying, "In front of the elders, Yao Ling will serve tea."

Xu Yuanchang smiled and said, "Which branch of the Xu family are you from? Tell me about it."

The girl put down the copper pot, bowed respectfully and said: "My disciple's great-grandfather's name is Tongguigong."

Xu Yuanchang kept repeating "Xu Tonggui" and suddenly said, "You are the descendant of Guiwa, no wonder you look a bit old."

Guiwa is the second son of Gou Wa and Xu Shenghou. Before he left, he decided to leave Guiwa in the old house to carry on the family business and solve the worries for his elder brother. Shuwa's lineage inherited the winery business in the town.

The appearance he was talking about was that of the girl in front of him and Miss Du San, wife of Gou Wa, whose eyebrows and eyes were somewhat similar.

He is far away from the girl in terms of generation, but they still have some relationship.

The girl's eyes sparkled with joy. Seeing that the other party was willing to acknowledge her as a relative, she bowed and kowtowed: "Yao Ling greets the ancestor!"

As far as she knew, there were two ancestors in this lineage, but they had not returned for a long time. Perhaps their return did not alarm the clansmen. There were old yellow portraits in the ancestral hall of the mansion, and they all appeared very young, which was quite different from the appearance of the middle-aged Taoist priest in front of her.

She couldn't tell which ancestor this person was, so she bowed first.

Xu Yuanchang smiled and said, "A hundred years have passed in a flash. Looking back, my old friend is gone. Get up. I am Xu Yuanchang. Have you ever heard of me?"

The girl nodded repeatedly in surprise and bowed excitedly, "Yao Ling greets Taizu!"

Xu Yuanchang took out a storage bag from his sleeve and put ten crystal stones into it, which was equivalent to 100,000 spirit coins. He had no spirit coins in his space, so he handed it to the smart and lively girl as a gift and said, "It is fate that we can meet. You should practice hard in Yuru Temple. If you can advance to the third floor within 50 years, I can give you some advice."

The girl took it with both hands and thanked him happily.

He stayed for a while, refilled Taizu's tea three times, and then took his leave.

Although she was young, she was quite methodical in dealing with people. Without Taizu's permission, she would not brag about today's opportunity.

For the next seven days, Xu Yaoling did not come to the valley to disturb the family again. Carrying his luggage, he went to the town to rent a carriage and headed south alone, accompanied by his parents.

Xu Yuanchang saw everything, his figure as steady as a pine tree, seemingly not caring about it.

Everyone has his own fate. It is not a good thing for those with too low cultivation to get too close to him. The slightest fluctuation of his aura, retribution and other invisible things may be a huge wave to the cultivators below the third floor, and the impact produced may be enough to become a disaster.

It’s better for us not to meet each other if we are both well.

……

(End of this chapter)