He became the True Lord of Ten Thousand Laws starting from Liaozhai.

Until the sky turned a pale white, and the glow of dawn spread across the mountains and fields.

Xu Yi then bid farewell to Zhang Zhengyi and the other spirits, including Yun Song.

Xiao Chongshan is very comfortable. Xu Yi likes the atmosphere here very much. Perhaps he can establish a Taoist temple here and live in seclusion.

However, the Taoist priest had less than a hundred coins in total, which was not enough to buy bricks and tiles to build the Taoist temple, nor could he hire workers to build the house.

Let's go into the city and take a look.

As usual, Xu Yi rode the green ox backwards towards Fangyuan City.

After leaving Xiaochongshan, we passed through several small towns.

The roads have finally become wider, and there are more pedestrians on the road now.

Xu Yi stopped in front of a noodle stall and asked the owner for a bowl of hand-pulled noodles.

After being invited to sit down, Xu Yi casually tied the green ox to a pillar.

The large iron pot on the coal stove was bubbling and steaming, filled with milky white bone broth.

The owner was an elderly man with graying temples, and his son and daughter-in-law were helping out at the stall.

According to regular customers, the old man actually owns a shop in the city, but he moves his noodle stall outside the city to sell for several months every spring.

This strange rule has been in place for thirty or forty years. Xu Yi listened quietly, not thinking of asking any further questions.

It's just a bowl of noodles.

Although the boss was getting on in years, he was still very skilled with his hands, grabbing the risen dough and slamming it onto the cutting board with a "smack".

Rolling out the dough, cutting it, shaking it – all done in one smooth motion. Finally, grabbing the noodles and tossing them into the boiling water, the noodles immediately start tumbling and rolling around.

Next, scoop out the noodles, pour in the soup, and sprinkle with toppings.

When it was served, the noodles in the porcelain bowl were of uniform thickness and distinct strands, coated with a thick bone broth, topped with a few cloves of pickled garlic that had turned greenish, a handful of bright green chopped scallions, and a spoonful of chili oil floating on the soup.

As the saying goes, if you eat noodles without garlic, you lose half the flavor.

Since Xu Yi cultivated supernatural powers, he no longer needed to eat, but people always have some cravings.

He picked up the noodles with his chopsticks, and the hand-pulled noodles were chewy and smooth, with the unique fragrance of wheat. He slurped them down with a mouthful of Laba garlic, and it was incredibly satisfying.

After shoveling a few mouthfuls of noodles, I drank some hot soup to smooth it down and exhaled a breath of hot air.

Satisfied, Xu Yi paid the money, mounted the blue ox, and headed towards the city.

......

Entering the city requires checking identity and travel permits, which Xu Yi did not possess.

Without a travel permit, he could be detained at best, or even punished at worst, but this was no problem for him at all.

Xu Yi was unwilling to use deception to create some gold and silver, but making a fake road sign was still an option.

He pulled out a piece of white paper, flicked it lightly, and it transformed into a certificate of ordination. The name written on it was Xu Yi.

From this moment on, he is a legitimate Taoist priest.

The soldiers at the city gate were very strict in their checks, and each of them had a very serious expression.

The people queuing to enter the city were somewhat resentful.

Xu Yi also heard these words.

"It's really strange. It's been getting harder and harder to get into the city lately. They check this and that."

"Be careful what you say!"

"You may not know this, but a major event has recently occurred in this city."

"Hey, hey, what's up? Tell me!"

"That's right..."

"Hey, I heard it from my second maternal uncle. He works for the Deng family, a wealthy family in the city."

"I heard that Miss Deng has been cursed and has been in a coma ever since. It's been all over the news these days."

"A passing high-ranking monk said that someone had cast a curse on Miss Deng, and the person who cast the curse must be found."

How did you know about something so secret?

"Hey, you blind fool, just go check the notice board once you get to the city."

"Old Master Deng was a high-ranking official who retired from the imperial court; he held a powerful and influential position!"

"And Miss Deng is his beloved granddaughter, so naturally he's looking for some extraordinary people. The notices have been posted in several cities."

"Hey, can't you tell us something nobody knows?"

"hehe......"

Xu Yi listened carefully. Hmm, the eldest daughter of the Deng family is under a curse. Old Master Deng was once a high-ranking official in the court.

It seems he already has a plan on how to earn some money from offerings.

After checking Xu Yi's ordination certificate, the guards found that the Taoist priest seemed to have no luggage, so they did not bother him and let Xu Yi enter the city.

Upon arriving in the city, they indeed saw a notice board with a group of people discussing it.

The people of this world don't have much entertainment. The notice boards in Fangyuan City not only have some government decrees, but also some restaurant advertisements, or which opera troupe is coming to perform.

There are also missing person notices, or things that people are talking about right now.

The Deng family has specially assigned people to guard the notice board, just in case some expert happens to pass by and want to help, but can't find the location of the Deng family.

There were still many brokers and guides waiting at the city gate.

In this era, there are no convenient navigation systems, and almost no maps are readily available to everyone.

If you want to stroll around the city, you have to hire a guide, otherwise you'll get dizzy from wandering around the streets and alleys.

Brokers can provide intermediary services such as commodity trading, hiring laborers, or livestock buying and selling, and house rental.

However, Xu Yi had no need for these things. He came here only to earn some money so that he could purchase some materials to build the Taoist temple.

He found Xiaochongshan very comfortable, so he decided to cultivate there for a while until he dealt with the tree demon before going out to travel.

Wanted posters or notices were also posted on the city walls.

Most of those wanted were martial arts practitioners, but there were also some unorthodox cultivators; these were all announced by the government.

Within the territory of the Great Zhou, there are some lineages that operate in the mortal world, but most of the prestigious sects have explicit prohibitions against their disciples interfering in the affairs of the mortal dynasty.

Firstly, the dynasty has the blessing of fortune, which all goes to the emperor. If a cultivator indiscriminately kills innocent people, or if someone has the blessing of the dynasty's fortune, they will be punished by heaven.

When the supernatural powers are concentrated, the inner demons will take the opportunity to cause trouble.

Not to mention that at this time, the Great Zhou Dynasty was teeming with demons and monsters, and the secrets of heaven were not revealed.

If a cultivator gets too entangled in karma, it will be detrimental to their cultivation.

Therefore, most cultivators are unwilling to spend too much time in the mortal world.

However, the Great Zhou Dynasty is a vast territory, with both reputable and righteous sects, as well as heretical and unorthodox sects.

The Taoist tradition left behind by the Taoist temple has been passed down in the world and manifested before the people.

If one obtains the techniques and methods, one can borrow the power from the Heavenly Way, but one cannot achieve immortality. One should know that the manifest worldly traditions do not have methods for refining qi to achieve immortality.

......

Xu Yi's outfit made him stand out in the crowd.

Riding a green ox backwards, with a sword on his back, he exudes an otherworldly aura; no matter how you look at him, he doesn't seem like an ordinary person.

The servants of the Deng family who stood guard in front of the notice board were naturally all discerning and quick-witted.

Seeing Xu Yi approaching, he immediately came forward with a smile on his face: "This humble one greets you, sir."

"Sir, you can tell at a glance that you are a capable person..."