I am a prince in Zhutian Films

Chapter 514 The Taoist priest returns to the mountain
Five thousand years ago, when Chi You caused chaos, Ning Fengzi gave the Yellow Emperor a magical book called "Longqiao Jing". The Yellow Emperor eventually defeated Chi You and then appointed Ning Fengzi as the True Man of the Five Sacred Mountains, in charge of all the gods of the mountains and rivers.

Later, the Five Sacred Mountains Immortal Ning Feng Zhenjun settled in Qingcheng Mountain, and Qingcheng Mountain has since become one of the five great immortal mountains, along with Wudang Mountain, Longhu Mountain, Qiyun Mountain, and Jingfu Mountain.

Later, the Nine Pecks of Rice sect flourished in Qingcheng Mountain, and its popularity even surpassed that of the other four sacred mountains.

However, as time went by, although Qingcheng Mountain is still one of the famous Taoist holy sites, its reputation has long since faded. Many temples and monasteries have been destroyed and abandoned. The Nine Pecks of Rice sect on the mountain has been cut off, and the Taoists have been forced to leave Qingcheng Mountain and mostly travel among the people, becoming lay Taoists.

Fumo Temple is a temple for descendants hidden in Qingcheng Mountain.

The so-called Descendant Temple, also known as the Small Temple, is owned by a line of Taoist priests.

These types of temples can accept disciples and pass on their knowledge from generation to generation, but they are not allowed to hang bells or ordination bells, do not have the right to transmit precepts or ordination, and generally do not accept fellow practitioners from other places to stay.

Late autumn to early winter.

A young Taoist priest, about seventeen or eighteen years old, arrived at Mount Qingcheng. Judging from his attire, he was a Taoist priest from the Nine Pecks of Rice sect.

This person is Ying Xun, or more accurately, he is now called Zhou Cheng'an, and his Taoist name is Guanyi.

The world he now inhabits is the world of Snow Swordsman, and he came to Qingcheng Mountain to send his master "Xuanyun" back to his roots, take over the temple property of Fumo Temple, and make preparations in advance.

The so-called "paving the way" was mainly related to his mother, Wu Ning. His mother, Wu Ning, was from the Wu family's sword tomb, was a cousin of the Princess of Beiliang, and was an old acquaintance of Zhao Yutai from Qingcheng Mountain.

At the foot of Mount Qingcheng.

Zhou Cheng'an's spirit left his body and rose into the air, gazing into the distance.

As far as the eye could see, there were towering mountain peaks.

The mountains are shrouded in mist, and you can vaguely see dilapidated Taoist temples hidden among the green hills and clear waters, as well as a magnificent and towering group of buildings.

With just one glance, Zhou Cheng'an could sense that the magnificent buildings were perfectly in harmony with the surrounding landscape, and that many cultivators lived there.

Looking further, one sees two peaks facing each other, with an iron suspension bridge spanning between them. White cranes soar and cry out, and the sea of ​​clouds surges, creating a rare and beautiful scene.

Zhou Cheng'an looked at it for a while, but didn't think much of it. After his primordial spirit returned to his body, he followed the route map left by his master, and with the speed of the wind, he headed towards the Demon Subduing Temple in the mountains.

Along the way, we also caught a few pheasants and rabbits.

About half an hour later, Zhou Cheng'an saw a dilapidated Taoist temple.

The gate of the Taoist temple was half open, and several bamboo poles could be seen propped up in the courtyard, with some tattered clothes hanging on them.

Judging from the clothes drying in the sun, it can be inferred that there are people living in the Taoist temple, and quite a few of them.

However, there was no sound of speaking, footsteps, or even breathing in the Taoist temple at this time.

Zhou Chengan didn't interfere much and went directly to the back of the Taoist temple to bury his master's ashes.

The burial site was also marked by the master in advance, with the head resting on a golden mountain and the feet stepping on a jade belt, a place where wind gathers and water is stored.

Although this "Golden Mountain and Jade Belt" is rather small, Master's good fortune is not particularly deep, and it is just enough to suppress the terrain of this place. For Master, it is a rare treasure.

After a simple offering, Zhou Cheng'an skinned and cleaned the pheasants and rabbits by a nearby spring. Then he gathered some firewood and returned to the dilapidated Fumo Temple, where he lit a fire in the courtyard to roast the pheasants and rabbits.

Zhou Chengan is good at grilling meat, but he doesn't have any seasoning right now, so the smell of his grilled meat is definitely not good.

So he went straight into the Taoist temple's kitchen, since people were living there now and there should be some daily necessities.

After looking around, they couldn't find any seasonings, only a piece of salt.

Zhou Cheng'an crushed the salt bit by bit and sprinkled it on the chicken and rabbit: "Sigh, a little salt is better than nothing. It seems I'll have to put some seasoning in my space in the future."

By this time, the chicken and rabbit were sizzling and dripping with oil, and the aroma wafted out.

As the aroma grew stronger, Zhou Cheng'an took down a roasted rabbit that was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Just as he was about to start eating, he heard faint footsteps outside the Taoist temple.

A moment later, a thin, pale-faced boy, leading a little girl who was tanned dark by the sun, pushed open the courtyard gate and walked in.

The boy looked to be about eight or nine years old, and the girl was even younger, about four or five.

Before they even entered the courtyard, they heard the boy shouting, "What's that smell so good? Did Liu Luweiganzi and the others come back first today?"

As he finished speaking, he noticed Zhou Cheng'an in the courtyard and froze.

"You're a Taoist priest from the mountain... no, Taoist priests from the mountain don't dress like you. Where did you come from, and what do you want?" The boy pulled the little girl behind him protectively, looking at Zhou Cheng'an warily: "Let me tell you, Old Meng and the others will be back soon, so don't do anything rash."

The kid's pronunciation was a bit unique, clearly with a local accent, but Zhou Chengan could understand it after a little thought.

As for the little girl, she didn't say a word, but just poked her head out and stared intently at the pheasants and rabbits on the fire, swallowing her saliva incessantly.

Judging from their appearances, the two are not siblings, but their relationship is definitely closer than that of siblings.

Zhou Cheng'an ignored them, tore off a rabbit leg, ate it until only a bone remained, then tore off another rabbit leg, waved it at the two who were drooling, and called out, "Come and have a taste."

The boy, staring at the rabbit leg in Zhou Cheng'an's hand, didn't move forward despite his eyes gleaming and his mouth watering. Instead, he took a step back.

The little girl couldn't resist the temptation of the rabbit leg, but was stopped by the boy.

Seeing this, Zhou Chengan didn't say anything, just shook his head and smiled, and continued eating by himself.

Before long, he had devoured most of the rabbit.

Just then, the voices of adults could be heard outside the door.

"Damn it, I've wasted the whole morning again."

"Old Meng, there are fewer and fewer easy targets passing by lately."

"If this keeps up, we'll be starving. Old Meng, how about we learn from those bastards at Yingxuan Peak and be a little bolder?"

“If you’re tired of living, then go ahead and learn from those bastards. I’ll never agree to it. Even though we’ve become bandits, we can’t lose our conscience.”

The person who answered must have been Old Meng. His tone went from stern to earnest, and finally became quite emotional: "We've been in Qingcheng Mountain for almost twenty years now. The bandits in this mountain have come and gone, but are there any others who have lived as long as us and stayed here as long as we have?"

"Yes, yes, we all listen to Lao Meng. If it weren't for Lao Meng, we would be gone long ago."

"Hey, you lame Kong, you're standing at the very back again today. Are you thinking of slacking off again?"

"Fuck you, Liu the Reed, I've never slacked off, okay?"

As soon as those words were spoken, a group of more than ten people entered the Demon Subduing Temple.

They were all dressed in rags, and none of them looked to weigh more than 150 pounds; they were incredibly poor.

Most of the people, young and old, wore straw sandals, and even those who wore cloth shoes had them patched up so many times that they were tattered and worn out.

Their conversation revealed that they were bandits, but only a few of them had weapons, which were easily destroyed by wooden roots and spears.

As soon as the dozen or so people entered the courtyard, they saw the thin young man and the dark-skinned girl standing at the gate. The frail old man at the head of the group, presumably the one everyone was talking about, looked at Zhou Cheng'an, who was enjoying his meal in the courtyard, and asked with a mixture of wariness and suspicion, "Hey, Daoist Master, where did you come from?"

Zhou Cheng'an threw the rabbit bone he had finished gnawing on the ground, then stood up and bowed: "I am the new abbot of this Demon Subduing Temple. As for you, where did you come from?"

The Fumo Temple is a temple for descendants, the property of their lineage, and he is the only person in their lineage. In other words, the Fumo Temple now belongs to him, and he is the new abbot.

However, Zhou Cheng'an's pronunciation was unclear, and his awkward speech was clearly imitating the accents of these people, which confused the other party.

The gaunt old man exchanged glances with the others around him. Looking at Zhou Cheng'an, whose attire differed from that of the Taoist priests on the mountain, he showed no fear and began to speak to himself.

"What did he say?"

“I don’t quite understand.”

"He looks like a Taoist priest from somewhere else. Judging from how ravenously he was eating, he's probably been starving for days."

"What should we do, Lao Meng? Should we kick them out?"

"Drive him out? How can we drive him out? Anyone who can catch pheasants and rabbits at this time of year is definitely much better than us. And judging from his clothes, even if he's not a Taoist from Qingyang Palace, he's certainly not an ordinary Taoist."

“Yes, I think so too. Looking into his eyes, I immediately felt calmed down. Let’s wait and see.” Old Meng, who was in the lead, said, turning to the skinny boy and the little black girl beside him, and asked, “By the way, Little Hawthorn, Little Sparrow, when did this Taoist priest arrive?”

The thin, half-grown boy replied, "We don't know when he arrived. Anyway, he was there as soon as Little Sparrow and I got back."

At this moment, Zhou Cheng'an walked over with the pheasant and rabbit he hadn't eaten yet, handed them to Old Meng, who was in the lead, and said with a smile, "Although you have occupied my Taoist temple, it is fate that we have met. Eat up."

Although Lao Meng didn't quite understand, he could still grasp what Zhou Chengan meant.

Without standing on ceremony, he thanked him and then took the roasted pheasant and rabbit and distributed them to the people around him.

Immediately afterwards, he started gesturing and making sounds with Zhou Chengan.

……

Amidst the biting wind, the first snow of winter fell in a flurry.

Perhaps due to his exceptional language skills, Zhou Cheng'an was able to communicate with Lao Meng and the others in the local accent and became familiar with them, thus learning about their situation.

Although Lao Meng and his men were bandits, they could not be considered wicked or evil.

Nominally, they were bandits, but in reality, they were just a group of poor people who had been forced to go up the mountain. They lived a very miserable life. Apart from their leader, Old Meng, there was also Liu Luweiganzi, who was most concerned about Xifu, and Kong Bozi, who was timid and cowardly. They were already considered the backbone of this group.

The skinny boy, who was about half a year old, was called Little Hawthorn, and the dark-skinned girl was Liu Luweiganzi's daughter, named Little Sparrow.

Considering that this place is Qingcheng Mountain, Zhou Cheng'an was quite certain that the group of people he encountered were the same bandits, including Old Mengtou, whom Xu Fengnian had met during his first travels in the martial arts world with Lao Huang.

Zhou Cheng'an did not go up the mountain to find Zhao Yutai immediately, but instead stayed at the Fumo Temple for the time being, and honestly improved his cultivation.

After all, the Qingyang Palace on the mountain is not easy to break into.

Zhou Cheng'an sat cross-legged on the bluestone, his primordial spirit leaving his body. While comprehending the universe, he also had a panoramic view of all the peaks of Qingcheng Mountain.

With sixty-four peaks of varying sizes, the city is surrounded by ancient trees that remain green year-round, hence the name Qingcheng (Green City).

Qingcheng Mountain is known for its frequent fog, and now, with a once-in-a-century heavy snowfall pressing down on the mountain, the mountains are shrouded in clouds and mist, resembling a fairyland.

In fact, Mount Qingcheng is also very prominent in the Taoist history of this world. It is the location of the fifth grotto-heaven, which is ahead of the two ancestral temples of the Taoist lineage, Mount Longhu and Mount Wudang.

As far as Zhou Chengan knew, there were three magnificent scenic spots in Yongzhou, where Qingcheng Mountain was located.

At the far east lies the "Westward Sword Pavilion," said to have been carved out by a swordsman who cleaved it from the east with a single sword strike, and is known as the most precipitous place in the world.

To the south lies the Kuimen Pass, a place said to be traversed by a sage riding an ox, its grandeur unparalleled.

The last and most wonderfully beautiful place is Mount Qingcheng.

Qingcheng Mountain was originally a blessed land occupied by the Nine Pecks of Rice sect. However, after Wu Lingsu, the Qingcheng King appointed by the old emperor of the Liyang Dynasty and the master of Qingyang Palace, came to Qingcheng Mountain, he drove out all the flourishing Nine Pecks of Rice sect, leaving only Qingyang Palace to dominate.

Wu Lingsu was originally a Taoist priest from the Longhu Zhengyi sect. After he usurped the position, the once lush and verdant Qingcheng Mountain has seen a decline in incense offerings year after year, becoming much more deserted than other famous Taoist mountains, which is truly inconsistent with Qingcheng Mountain's renowned reputation.

With fewer pilgrims, the number of bandits who had taken over the mountains increased. These scattered and unpredictable groups of soldiers claimed the title of king alongside Wu Lingsu, the King of Qingcheng, making it very difficult for the government to suppress them.

Even with a hefty reward and experienced hunters in the mountains willing to risk their lives to lead the way, they would often come up empty-handed.

After several setbacks, the prefect saw that Wu Lingsu not only did not appreciate his efforts, but also blamed the government for causing trouble and making a ruckus in this quiet place of cultivation. In a fit of anger, he was unwilling to waste manpower and resources to go into the mountains to suppress the bandits.

Unless a high-ranking official or nobleman who came to Qingcheng Mountain to explore its beauty was robbed, the government would not be forced to send troops into the mountain under pressure. Ordinary people in danger were ignored.

Therefore, it was possible for bandits like Old Meng, who were old, weak, sick, and disabled, to stay in Qingcheng Mountain for nearly twenty years.

It was afternoon, and Old Meng was leading his men to rob people on the mountain road again.

However, whether there will be any gains is hard to say.

Anyway, Zhou Cheng'an stayed at the Demon Subduing Temple for more than half a month and never saw Old Meng and his group make any gains.

Of the dozen or so bandit gangs of varying sizes in the surrounding area, Old Meng's group suffered the most.

There are roughly two reasons why they are living in such a miserable state.

Firstly, apart from outsiders, very few ordinary locals go up the mountain to cause trouble.

Furthermore, and most importantly, Old Meng and his gang did not completely lose their conscience. Even when they robbed people, they only sought wealth and did not take lives. Moreover, they would not rob the victim of all their possessions.

For the past two weeks, apart from occasionally going out to hunt, Zhou Cheng'an has basically been meditating in the Taoist temple to improve his cultivation. So at this time every day, he is basically the only one in the temple.

Of course, sometimes Little Sparrow would be left behind to keep him company.

"Brother Zhou, Brother Zhou, something terrible has happened!"

With a frantic shout, Little Hawthorn came running down the mountain path, panting, and said, "Brother Zhou, those bastards from Yingxuan Peak have stopped Old Meng and the others, and they're demanding that Old Meng pay back the money!"

Zhou Cheng'an was sitting cross-legged on the bluestone, meditating with his eyes closed, but when he heard Xiao Shanzha's shout, he opened his eyes and got up.

He only said two words to Xiao Shanzha.

"lead the way!"

Xiao Shan hurriedly pointed to the mountain path ahead: "It's on the mountain path not far from the Yin-Yang Pavilion."

Zhou Chengan nodded, picked up the hawthorns, tucked them under his arm, and took a step that covered several meters.

This made Little Hawthorn exclaim in surprise, "My goodness, Brother Zhou, Old Meng was right after all! You really are a master!"

(End of this chapter)