The more you believe me, the more real it becomes.

Chapter 240 Child, you're too attached to appearances! (3k)

Looking at the long-lost land of Qingzhou, Du Yuan was momentarily dazed. This was the first stop on her journey into this unfamiliar world.

The hardships and struggles of those days are crystal clear and unforgettable.

After smiling, Du Yuan stepped across the Mi River to the riverbank.

After checking the sun and figuring out the direction, they followed the official road and searched all the way there.

Before long, Du Yuan spotted the teahouse.

It's still small but perfectly formed, just like before. And it's still bustling with people. The only thing that's changed is the signboard.

What started as a simple two-coin bowl has now become a two-coin bowl, two bowls free, and three bowls half-price for customers.

This was the first time Du Yuan passed by this place, and the shopkeeper had already changed it. Although the shopkeeper had invited her to change it again later, it was already late at night, and Du Yuan didn't notice it.

After a knowing smile, Du Yuan noticed the bowl she had given to the shopkeeper—it was still properly displayed in the most conspicuous place in the inner room.

Du Yuan missed everything that was familiar. It had only been a short time since she left, but it felt like a year had passed.

Du Yuan paused and gazed for a moment before finding an empty seat by the roadside and calling out with a laugh:

"Shopkeeper, a bowl of hot tea, please!"

"Alright, here you come."

The voice that responded was still full of energy, exactly the same as in her memory. But what startled Du Yuan was that the shopkeeper, who had come quickly over with a rough pottery teapot and porcelain bowl, looked at her with the politeness of someone seeing her for the first time, as if he didn't recognize her at all.

After expertly filling Du Yuan's bowl with hot tea, the shopkeeper pointed to the sign hanging outside the shed and enthusiastically introduced the shop:

"Our shop has a rule: the first bowl of tea is free; if you're still not satisfied, you can add one more coin and have three bowls—it's a great deal!"

Du Yuan was quite surprised by these words. Did the shopkeeper really not recognize her?

Thinking of the elegantly dressed young man, Du Yuan suddenly looked at her own hands.

On that day on Cold Pine Mountain, even the young master Wang, who boasted that no one could surpass his eyesight, failed to recognize that the two had met before.

So, is it the same now?
Lost in thought, Du Yuan quickly called out to the shopkeeper, who was about to turn around to attend to other customers, and asked:
"Shopkeeper, take another look. Do you still recognize me?"

The shopkeeper stopped, turned around, and looked at Du Yuan intently. He frowned slightly, scrutinizing her for a long while, his gaze moving from her eyes and brows to her clothes, then slowly back again. Finally, he shook his head apologetically.

"I'm really sorry, sir, you look very unfamiliar to me and I really don't remember who you are."

After saying that, the shopkeeper added with a smile:

"How about you give me a hint? Maybe I'll remember it after I think about it for a bit?"

After hesitating for a moment, Du Yuan finally shook her head and said:

"It's alright, it's alright, you go ahead with your work."

The Buddhist monk from Qingzhou, the Taoist priest from the southwest, and the Confucian scholar who was going to the capital.

Du Yuan still intends to separate them properly.

This is very convenient for me and has many benefits.

Since I've made up my mind, I shouldn't let the shopkeeper know, not because I don't trust them.

However, in this world, it is always safest not to know. Once you know the truth, you are more likely to be drawn into complicated situations.

But Du Yuan didn't expect that just as she watched the shopkeeper turn to greet other customers, a hearty laugh suddenly came from beside her:

"You seem to be a kindred spirit, don't you?"

Du Yuan followed the gaze and saw that the man who spoke had a wide chest and a carefree demeanor. An outsider might have thought he was just an ordinary strong man who might know a few martial arts moves at most.

But Du Yuan could clearly see something unusual.

However, this "seeing" was very limited. He could only barely sense a faint trace of energy swirling around the man's body, slowly flowing beneath his skin, so faint that it was almost negligible.

Such discernment is far superior to his current cultivation in both Buddhism and Taoism, and even surpasses his level when he first set foot in Qingzhou.

Du Yuan looked on, a hint of amusement crossing her mind—it seemed that her cultivation in the Confucian lineage was still quite lacking.

Du Yuan didn't care much about this. After all, he wasn't really starting from scratch; he was simply exploring a new path based on his existing foundation.

Moreover, with his abilities, as long as he makes careful arrangements at the right time, he can easily make rapid progress! In this way, his current state seems all the more precious.

"Indeed, you are a fellow Daoist!"

Seeing Du Yuan readily admit it, the man's eyes lit up, his smile widened instantly, and he leaned closer to ask:
"I could tell from your extraordinary bearing that you are one of us! But I haven't dared to ask yet, which sect do you belong to?"

Du Yuan gently stroked the rim of the teacup with her fingertips for a moment, then slowly said:

“Surely speaking, it should be a branch of Confucianism.” “Confucianism?” The man frowned slightly, a look of confusion crossing his face. He had obviously never heard of Confucianism being a sect of immortals.

But he quickly masked his confusion and changed the subject, asking:
"I see. So, fellow Daoist, you've come to this teahouse today perhaps to probe the owner's background?"

"Oh? What do you mean?" Du Yuan looked up and asked.

The man glanced left and right, then lowered his voice and pointed vaguely towards the back eaves of the teahouse:
"Fellow Daoist, didn't you notice? Behind the tea stall of this shop, there are always twenty or thirty paper umbrellas soaked in tung oil hanging, day and night; and he respectfully offers three sticks of incense to those tung oil umbrellas every day without fail!"

At this point, he slapped his thigh, his tone very certain:

"Adding to the bits and pieces of information I've gathered over the years, I'm certain that this shopkeeper probably keeps dozens of ghost soldiers around!"

Upon hearing this, Du Yuan subconsciously turned around and glanced at the back of the tea stall, then looked around.

The tea drinkers at the next table were talking loudly about the recent grain prices in Qingzhou, someone in the distance was waving a handkerchief to call the shopkeeper to refill their water, and there was even a child chasing butterflies next to the man, but no one paid any attention to their conversation, as if something had separated their voices from the surrounding noise.

Du Yuan looked closely at the man and quickly realized the key was at his feet:

It wasn't the faint marks on the ground that looked like talismans, deliberately drawn with his toes, but something pressed down on the sole of his shoe.

A faint aura was slowly flowing along the sole of his shoe, but it clearly bypassed the deliberately conspicuous marks, lingering only on the sole.

Clearly, this man wanted to demonstrate his abilities while also keeping his distance from me.

Du Yuan understood: it wasn't malicious, just the common mindset of someone in the martial arts world—wanting to show off some skills to get closer, but also keeping something in reserve to guard against unexpected events.

This made Du Yuan raise the corners of her mouth slightly and ask in return:
"Even if he really does raise ghost soldiers, so what?"

Seeing that he wasn't surprised, but rather intrigued, the man leaned forward, his voice full of eagerness:

"I've got some good stuff on my hands, and I'm planning to trade it with the shopkeeper for a few ghost soldiers! Ideally, I could even ask him to teach me the method for raising ghost soldiers!"

"You have no idea how powerful these ghost soldiers are! Even the most powerful ghosts wouldn't dare to breathe loudly in their presence, let alone block the road and cause trouble!"

Hearing his words, Du Yuan suddenly felt a strange sensation: the man's words and actions revealed a rudimentary understanding of "immortal sects" and "ghost soldiers," which really didn't seem like a proper disciple of those old men.

He glanced at the man a few more times, his gaze inadvertently sweeping over the faint outline of Qingzhou City behind him, and a realization dawned on him:
This man, like the monk and Taoist priest of Qingzhou in the past, and those two or three insignificant little demons, was probably just a "pawn" placed by those old men.

He knew a little bit and some scattered information, but when it came to actually knowing something, he didn't even know as much as this stranger did.

However, judging from the man's open and honest appearance, and the eagerness he showed when speaking, he did not seem like a villain.

After pondering for a moment, Du Yuan considered offering her a suggestion. Of course, given her current limited judgment and short time spent with the person, she couldn't make a judgment based on this alone.

So Du Yuan silently uttered "Amitabha" before continuing to look at the man.

Then, Du Yuan smiled and said:
"Child, you're too attached to appearances!"

Du Yuan originally wanted to say "fellow Daoist," but just as she was about to speak, she couldn't help but utter "classic."

Upon hearing this, the man instinctively felt that something had changed, but his cultivation level was too low and his vision even lower. He could only vaguely sense something was wrong through the connection between heaven and man and the trace of goodwill from Du Yuan.

As for the rest, I can't say even a fraction of it.

But he's not stupid!

So he immediately changed from his previous carefree demeanor to sitting upright and formally. Not satisfied with that, he quickly stood up, cupped his hands, and asked:
"Please give me some advice!"

Du Yuan smiled and nodded at him, saying:
"You see other people's faces and think that as long as they're smiling, everything is fine. But have you ever considered whether there might be two hearts hidden beneath their skin?"

Does this mean...?
The man suddenly remembered his master who had taken him in as an outer disciple.

But this was ultimately only the other party's side of the story, so he still said:

"That's my mentor! Please be careful with your words!"

Du Yuan glanced at him, then suddenly raised the teacup in her hand and splashed it in his face.

The tea was warm, not even hot enough to burn a child, let alone a cultivator, so the man didn't feel any pain. He just instinctively felt humiliated, but managed to speak before he could.

Suddenly, he felt his mind was incredibly clear, and he also heard an extremely shrill scream from behind him.

Although the voice was distorted by the wailing, it sounded exactly like that of his mentor.

For a moment, the man's expression became extremely interesting.

Du Yuan also put down her teacup and said with a smile:
"Look at you, I haven't even said who it is, and you already think it's referring to your master. Doesn't that mean you already have a vague feeling that something's wrong? If that's the case, why are you still so fixated on that smiling face?"

After a moment of trembling, the man knelt before Du Yuan, drenched in cold sweat.

"I know I was wrong, please save my life, senior!"

(End of this chapter)