This humble Taoist priest wants to take the college entrance exam.

Chapter 22 Ordinary Taoist Priest

Chen Shi'an goes to bed early and wakes up early as well.

As dawn broke, he slowly opened his eyes.

He didn't have the habit of staying in bed, so after waking up, he pulled back the lightly covering him with the blanket and sat up.

However, today was a little different. After sitting up, he stared blankly on the bed for a while. Looking at the rented room, which was completely different from the room he lived in at the Taoist temple, he was still a little confused about where he was.

The sun had not yet risen, and the vast city hung between light and shadow, like dawn and dusk.

A soft light streamed in through the window, casting a narrow strip of light on the floor. Chen Shi'an stared at the ceiling. The plaster ceiling was as smooth as a freshly scraped putty, with straight lines at the edges that cut straight across his field of vision, unlike the beams of the Taoist temple in the mountains, which always had the natural curves of the trees, and whose growth rings could be seen faintly in the shadows.

The room was eerily quiet, yet unsettlingly noisy.

The silence was devoid of the sounds of insects and birds. A mountain morning is never truly quiet; as dawn breaks, a thrush first tentatively calls out twice, followed by the cooing of a turtledove drifting from the depths of the bamboo grove. Finally, all the birds on the back mountain awaken, chirping and chattering noisily, even causing the copper bells on the eaves of the Taoist temple to sway and jingle, their sounds mingling like sugar cubes soaking in water, slowly dissolving in the wind.

But the sounds here were muffled. In the distance, there was the faint growl of a car passing by, indistinct voices coming from downstairs, and a continuous hum hidden in the walls—Chen Shi'an later learned that it was the sound of the air conditioner's outdoor unit. These sounds were squeezed into the enclosed space, hitting the tiled floor and the glass windows, bouncing back with distorted tones, sticking to the skin like damp sweat.

"Hmm—I didn't sleep well—"

Chen Shi'an rubbed his temples hard, finally waking up from this confused morning.

The living environment and habits ingrained for eighteen years are suddenly changed, and it is really not easy to adapt in a short period of time.

This discomfort had nothing to do with cultivation level or Taoist practice; it was simply a natural physiological reaction, like hunger, to a living, breathing human being.

Fortunately, a lazy meow came, which finally gave Chen Shi'an a sense of familiarity with the mountains.

"Fei Mo is awake?"

"..."

How did you sleep last night?

"Meow."

Compared to Chen Shi'an, the black cat seemed much more used to it.

Chen Shi'an found the mattress too soft, not as comfortable as the hard bed in the Taoist temple, while Shi Mo loved the soft mattress the most. He would roll over and lie on it, exposing his little belly, feeling incredibly comfortable.

"Don't lie there now that you're awake, you lazy cat!"

Chen Shi'an rolled out of bed and threw the blanket onto the cat. By the time the black cat crawled out of the blanket like an earthworm, he had already opened the door and left. The cat then jumped off the bed and followed him outside.

The clock in the living room ticked away. Chen Shi'an glanced at it and saw that it was only five o'clock in the morning.

The house was quiet. The clothes I washed last night were hanging on the balcony, swaying gently in the breeze.

Li Wanyin's door was closed; she was probably still asleep.

Chen Shi'an had never lived in the city, but he knew that most people wouldn't wake up as early as he did.

So he kept his voice down when he moved around the house.

First, brush your teeth and wash your face, then go to the kitchen to make a simple breakfast.

Yesterday he bought noodles and eggs, so he'll have noodles for breakfast.

It was his first time using the gas stove, and he turned the knob for a while without seeing a flame. After thinking about it for a moment, he realized that he had to press down and then turn the knob to ignite it.

[Da-da-da]
He deliberately moved the pot aside to see how the fire started. He saw an electric arc emitted from the needle tip, followed by a soft 'pop', and then a blue flame began to flicker.

"So it was ignited by electricity..."

Chen Shi'an found it interesting and tried it again. This time, he deliberately turned on the gas without causing an electric arc. He pointed, and with another 'bang,' the stove lit up with blue flames once more.

"It seems that fire from magic can also start a fire..."

The young Taoist priest had a calm expression, but if others had seen this scene, they would have been astonished!

There's clearly no source of fire, so where did this fire come from? Is this even scientific? What kind of crazy thing are you using to conduct this experiment?!
Make a fuss over nothing, it's just a small trick...

Chen Shi'an stopped playing with fire. He had seen the 'danger warning' sticker on the gas meter, which was in bright orange. So he obediently lit the gas again and started frying eggs and cooking noodles.

His five senses are far beyond those of ordinary people. He can smell that the gas currently in use and the bottled gas commonly used by the villagers down the mountain are not the same substance. As for the specific composition, he does not know.

While the fire was burning, he observed the gas meter. Every now and then, the last digit on the meter would increase by one digit. Just like water for urban residents, gas was also delivered to each household through pipes and billed by meter.

This is much easier than using a gas cylinder.

The pan was already hot. He poured in the oil, casually cracked two eggs into the pan, and after one side was set, he used a spatula to flip them over and fry the other side until both sides were golden brown but not burnt.

He added an appropriate amount of water, and after the water boiled, he put the dough in as well, and then grabbed some seasonings to season it briefly.

Once the noodles were cooked, he realized he'd forgotten to turn on the range hood hanging on the stove…

No wonder there's so much cooking smoke; city life is such a hassle...

Chen Shi'an was a good cook. When they were on the mountain, cooking was the first thing his master taught him. But once he grew tall enough to reach the stove, his lazy master never cooked again.

However, no matter how good the cooking skills are, a simple bowl of egg noodles can't compare to delicacies; it's just something to fill your stomach.

He had intended to make one for Li Wanyin as well, it was just a small favor, but she was still asleep, and the noodles would clump together if left out too long, so he decided to do it another time.

Chen Shi'an carried the noodles to the dining table and sat down. The cat on the sofa smelled the noodles and ran over.

"By the way, Fatty, do you want some cat food? I bought some for you, let me get you some to try."

"Meow?"

Chen Shi'an took a bowl, opened the chicken-flavored cat food he bought last night, and poured some into the bowl.

The black cat ran over, looking at the food with a picky attitude, sniffing it. These little bean-like things really didn't look appetizing at all.

"Don't just look, try it!"

"Meow." The black cat didn't eat.

"I paid for it."

"..."

The black cat finally managed to eat one, albeit reluctantly.

One piece was too few; I couldn't taste any flavor at all.

One more, so-so, not even as good as a mouse.

"What does it smell like...?"

Seeing Shimo's unsure whether the food was good or bad, Chen Shian picked up a piece of cat food and put it in his mouth to chew.

It tasted fishy and was hard, like chewing wood chips...

Chen Shi'an's expression changed slightly. He wanted to spit it out, but seeing that the black cat was staring at him without blinking, he simply gritted his teeth and swallowed it all. If he spit it out in front of Shi Mo, Shi Mo would definitely not eat it anymore. She was very proud!
"I feel okay... just a bit dry..."

"Meow?"

You rascal! You're trying to fool the cat?!

The black cat rolled its eyes at him, but in its opinion, this thing was neither particularly delicious nor too bad.

It ate a few bites of cat food, then went over to eat noodles with Chen Shi'an.

As for the remaining cat food in the bowl, we can eat it when we're hungry...

There aren't as many rats here as in the mountains. Even Shimo finds it hard to eat the rats in the sewers. It's like how many people love to eat fish but don't eat Egyptian catfish. To Shimo, how can the rats that eat garbage in the sewers compare to the rats that eat fruit in the mountains?
After breakfast, Chen Shi'an cleaned up the dishes and the kitchen.

The school requires students to be in the classroom for morning reading at 6:30, but it's only 5:30 now.

Just like going to class or performing religious ceremonies, Chen Shi'an didn't have the habit of arriving early.

He didn't waste the rest of his time either; he brought back some textbooks yesterday, which he could take a look at first.

All the textbooks he brought back were for the first year of high school. Chen Shi'an opened the Chinese textbook first.

Reading was not difficult for him at all. He read very quickly, turning the pages one after another, but he did not skim through the pages. He memorized the contents of the books, and only slowed down when he encountered some difficult parts.

During the initial assessment, it was evident that Chen Shi'an had a very solid foundation in Chinese language; what he lacked were some standardized test-taking skills.

Unfortunately, there were no Chinese language test papers for him to practice with at the moment, but after flipping through the Chinese language textbook, he roughly knew what was taught in Chinese language class.

As for subjects like math, English, physics, chemistry, and biology, he found them very difficult to understand. Lacking three years of junior high school foundation, even the first-year high school textbooks had significant gaps in his knowledge.

can't read.

But he didn't let it go.

If you don't understand, just memorize it!

Just like when we were children learning Taoist teachings, reading classics, and studying moral principles, if we didn't understand, we just memorized them! We always needed to have a basic understanding first.

When he was a child, if he couldn't memorize the books, his master would hit his palms with a ruler.

No one hits his palm anymore.

Even though Chen Shi'an has an excellent memory, it is not easy to memorize something completely unfamiliar and incomprehensible. But even though no one is supervising him, he is still focused on reading and memorizing.

The reason I'm struggling with my studies right now is simply to atone for my past arrogance in dropping out of school...

"It seems like just memorizing isn't enough for high school math, physics, chemistry, and biology..."

"Meow."

The black cat didn't understand. Anyway, it wasn't it that had to take the college entrance exam. It enjoyed the feeling of Chen Shi'an studying hard while it slept on the books. It slept better than on the sofa.

"take it easy……"

Chen Shi'an closed the book, glanced at the time, and saw it was already 6:08.

It's time to get ready to go to school.

He went to the balcony and reached out to touch the school uniform he had washed yesterday evening.

It wasn't dry; the fabric was still damp.

But Chen Shi'an took it off as usual, and then shook it gently as if he were drying clothes.

The damp school uniform suddenly shook out a lot of mist, and when you touched it again, it was already dry and comfortable.

At his level of cultivation, things like talismans and magical artifacts are merely auxiliary tools. Chen Shi'an can already use extraordinary methods that are like magic and difficult for ordinary people to understand with ease.

Of course, talking about moving mountains and filling seas, flying and escaping into the earth is too fantastical. It's just a mythical figure from storybooks and movies, far removed from reality.

When Chen Shi'an was a child, he thought his master could do it, but later he found that his master was just an "ordinary" Taoist priest like him.

We get tired, sleepy, thirsty, hungry, have worries, get sick, grow old, and one day, we won't survive the years.

When asked what makes him so special, Chen Shi'an believes it's probably that he understands things that ordinary people don't, and that his perspective has broadened, allowing him to see things more clearly.

[Thinking too deeply leads to forgetting to eat; overthinking leads to losing sight of the present. Human survival depends on harmony; to lean to one side leads to self-destruction.]
[Master, I know, it's about the unity of knowledge and action.]
[Hmph, you know everything, but you just won't do it!]
"It's being done, it's being done."

Chen Shi'an muttered to himself and went back inside to change into his refreshing summer school uniform.

"Fei Mo, let's go. Stay home and watch the house. Don't wander off."

"..."

The cat looked up at him, then turned back to look out onto the balcony; the sun had already risen.

(End of this chapter)