Two Realms: Starting with transmitting the Taiping Jing to Zhang Jiao

At this time, all of Lu Tangzhi's disciples were called away by Zhang Xiu to deal with the resettlement of the plague victims. The entire Yangxian Room of Chongxian Hall was deserted, with only flickering candlelight and a deathly silence.

In March, Lutang Mountain was still cold. The bright moon shone down, illuminating the seven Yangxian rooms on the east side. Before long, the scholar was panting and sweating profusely.

He was just recovering from a serious illness, and as he walked into the corridor covered in sweat, a cool breeze from the mountain made his hair stand on end. He suddenly felt weak in the legs, numb in the muscles, and dizzy.

"So be it. He's like a dragon whose head is seen but not its tail. If we're not meant to be, then so be it."

"If someone is truly capable, they might have anticipated my intentions and therefore wish not to meet me."

The scholar looked up at the cold moon in the sky. At this moment, there was no one around and the cicadas were chirping noisily. Just as he was feeling melancholy, he suddenly heard a strange sound.

Chongxian Hall is divided into Yangxian Rooms and Yinxian Rooms. The seven Yangxian Rooms on the east side are the living quarters for male disciples, while the seven rooms on the west side are the living quarters for female disciples, separated by a bamboo curtain.

Under the moonlight, a figure first peeked out from above the bamboo curtain, seemingly looking around, and then there was the sound of a heavy object falling to the ground.

When the scholar arrived at the scene, he found himself staring at Yi Chuan, who had just climbed back over the wall from the Yin Xian Room.

"Now that Lutangzhi has resettled many disaster victims, and his disciples have been taking care of them for days, it's understandable that they might be at risk of contracting the disease. It's quite reasonable for me to disinfect and inspect each room, isn't it?"

Yi Chuan patted the dust off his hands, spoke calmly, and tried his best to remain expressionless.

Yi Chuan's Donghan dialect was still not fluent, and the scholar couldn't understand things like disinfection.

So, this evil Taoist priest just sneaked out of the female disciple's room on the west side, right?

Thinking of this, the scholar's eyes narrowed instantly, and he immediately turned around to look around, as if searching for something.

Seeing this, Yi Chuan quickly stepped forward and asked with concern, "What are you looking for, kind believer? Do you need my help?"

"You audacious sorcerer! According to Han etiquette, boys and girls must sit separately from the age of seven! You dare to sneak into your own room at night and still dare to speak so shamelessly! I will seize you and hand you over to the magistrate for punishment!"

The scholar suddenly grabbed a broom and, in a fit of rage, lashed it at Yi Chuan.

Fortunately, Yi Chuan was prepared. He caught the broom with his right hand and struck the scholar's neck with his left, causing the scholar to fall to the ground immediately.

"It's precisely because I know the strict rules of etiquette between men and women in the Eastern Han Dynasty that I've waited until now..."

Yi Chuan sighed, squatted down, and looked helplessly at the scholar who had fainted on the ground.

This isn't the 21st century; trespassing into a woman's room might result in a maximum of seven days in jail.

In this era, transgressing the proper etiquette between men and women truly carries the penalty of being drowned...

"Even though I've practiced the Six Qi Food Qi Method, I shouldn't be this easily defeated, right?"

"When did I become so amazing?"

Yi Chuan looked around and, after much deliberation, moved the scholar back to his room.

Yi Chuan threw the scholar to the ground, his face showing helplessness.

If the scholar wakes up and starts ranting and raving, revealing the whole story, the image of a sage he's cultivated over the past few days of burning talismans to save people will be completely ruined.

"We can't just bury this guy, can we?"

Yi Chuan patted the scholar's face, feeling utterly disgusted.

When the scholar finally awoke, he felt a splitting headache and struggled to focus his eyes, clutching his head.

He was already physically weak, and the mountain wind had caused him to faint from the emotional agitation he had just experienced.

With a quick glance, the scholar spotted Yi Chuan standing with his back to him, his hands clasped behind his back.

Before he could rebuke her, Yi Chuan preemptively spoke, his voice full of vicissitudes.

"Since I entered the Dao at the age of ten, I have severed all emotions and desires, and there is no longer any romantic or sexual desire in my heart."

"It is understandable that believers view me from the perspective of ordinary mortals. I have spent my life helping people through tribulations. Let future generations judge my merits and demerits. However, if believers insist that I am the kind of person with wicked and evil intentions, I will never agree with that."

Yi Chuan turned around, his eyes calm. Seeing the hesitation in the scholar's eyes, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, this kid isn't hopeless; after all, I'm a celestial master who uses talismans to save people.

Like I said, we can't really bury this guy, can we?

"Who are you, and what brings you to this Yangxian Chamber?"

Yi Chuan calmly sat down, picked up the teacup on the table, and asked a question in return.

Seeing Yi Chuan's calm and composed gaze, the scholar hesitated for a long while before finally bowing to Yi Chuan.

"The family is surnamed Zhang. There are three brothers in the family. They were recommended as candidates for the civil service examination in Julu. They were ordered by the Sili of the Imperial Court to go to Sichuan to find a suitable place for the Temple of Heaven. They contracted the plague in Mianzhu County and were taken to Lutang by the county magistrate for isolation."

Yi Chuan had learned that the scholars of the Eastern Han Dynasty were different from those who studied and took the imperial examinations in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. There was no imperial examination in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Officials were selected by recommending filial and incorruptible individuals from various places, and those recommended were all called scholars.

"Is he a national civil servant?"

Yi Chuan felt something was off, but it seemed that this civil servant's career was not going well. He had not been appointed as an official but had been sent down to the desolate land of Sichuan. Clearly, he had no background and had been dismissed at will.

Throughout history, there has been a tradition of offering sacrifices to Heaven, such as the most famous Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai. In addition, the imperial court would also send people to find other suitable places to offer sacrifices to Heaven.

However, ancient transportation was extremely difficult and isolated. Apart from the area near the capital, would an emperor, after having too much to eat, really go to a remote place like Sichuan to offer sacrifices to Heaven? Searching for the Temple of Heaven in such a place would be a waste of time and would offer no chance of advancement.

In response, Yi Chuan finally understood why the boy always had a melancholy look in his eyes.

This child was driven to desperation.

Seeing that the scholar's emotions had stabilized, Yi Chuan nodded: "What brings you to Yangxian's room?"

The scholar paused for a moment, then cupped his hands and said, "I came here only to ask the abbot a question."

"Are there immortals in this world?"

The scholar raised his head, and looking into the scholar's stubborn eyes, Yi Chuan felt a sense of disorientation.

Three years ago, when I was diagnosed with a terminal illness and the old abbot brought me to Baiyun Mountain, I think he had the same look in his eyes.

"I asked that same question to someone else before," Yi Chuan said after a long pause. "Do you know how that person answered me?"

"That person said, 'If you believe, then it exists. If you don't believe, then it doesn't exist.'"

"And what about you, Taoist priest?" The scholar looked at Yi Chuan with dissatisfaction.

"I am not."

Yi Chuan shook his head: "At least not now. I am just a cultivator."

Yi Chuan tried his best to use a language that the scholar could understand.

Perhaps one day he will be able to truly become an immortal after collecting all the Dao Fruits, but the first Dao Fruit is in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and he has gone to great lengths to find it but has not succeeded. Yi Chuan has a premonition that this road will be long and arduous.

Anyway, Yi Chuan, who gets caught even for using a VPN, will absolutely never admit that he is an immortal.

"If the Taoist priest is not the one in question, why doesn't he clarify things when facing the infected people? Instead, he brazenly accepts the worship of the people? Is he trying to bewitch the people?" The scholar's voice rose slightly, trembling a little.

This is, after all, a teenager, and for him to be so ruthless and uncompromising shows that he has made a great decision.

"You're wrong." Yi Chuan shook his head, calmly gazing at the scholar's angry yet slightly immature face.

"They are not worshipping me, but life itself."

The calm words fell like a thunderclap from a clear sky; the scholar's pupils contracted sharply.

Yi Chuan pointed to the disaster victims outside: "When people are desperately waiting to die, they always pin their hopes on something ethereal. This thing can be real or illusory, but it must exist, otherwise the person waiting to die will really die."

"This being on whom people place their hopes can be a wandering knight, an emperor, or even an immortal."

Whether a wandering knight truly upholds justice, whether an emperor is wise, or whether immortals truly exist—none of these matters, because they are merely the thoughts of a dying man.

"What I'm portraying now is this very thought."

"With this thought in mind, even though I will still die, at least I have the possibility of living..."

Having said so much, Yi Chuan, feeling a bit thirsty, took a sip of the bitter tea in his cup and glanced sideways at the scholar.

"Otherwise, do believers think these people, already mentally unstable, would willingly drink bowls of talisman water mixed with paper ash?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the scholar suddenly slumped into his chair, his face flickering in the candlelight.

"Taoist Master, how...how did you know all this..." The scholar raised his head with difficulty and noticed Yi Chuan's clean face.

This Taoist priest clearly didn't look much older than me.

Yi Chuan put down his teacup.

"Because I, too, have prayed devoutly."