Chapter 61: The Qingwei Sect (1)

Translator: Dragon Rider

He Zheng and Zu Zhichong traveled to Sui City by bullet train. The Qingwei Sect, established in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 AD) by a prominent Taoist priest named Zu Shu, had trained generations of exorcists over the years. Since it was a large geomantic sect nationally famous for consummate Fu-craft (Fu is a piece of rectangular paper on which magical figures are drawn by Chinese Taoist priests to invoke or expel spirits and bring good or ill fortune) and exorcism circles, it had a great number of worshippers who made donations to it on a regular basis. As one of the few major sects specializing in Fu-craft, the Qingwei Sect held very high prestige among citizens of Sui City.

It was in the afternoon that they reached the destination. Sui City was on the coast, near Hainan Island. Originally, the two of them had planned to go to the Supernaturalism Management Bureau of Sui City to inform the Wuwei-shizi Counter-demon Committee of their arrival, but since they had plenty of time, Zu Zhichong decided to take He Zheng to the Qingwei Sect first and schedule other matters later.

Since Sui City was on the coast of the South Sea, many citizens here were great believers in geomancy. Dozens of years ago, funded by some squires, extensive renovations to the Qingwei Temple located on the Qingwei Mountain were conducted, which made it even more imposing.

Surprisingly, they could clearly see the Taoist temple sited on the mountainside from the foot of the mountain, but after walking uphill for nearly half an hour, He Zheng found that they had not even covered one third of the distance.

Since He Zheng, a man ignorant of common things, seldom exercised, his const.i.tution was far less strong than that of Zu Zhichong, who had been frequently walking up and down mountains since childhood. After another dozen minutes' walking, He Zheng started panting heavily. Seeing this, Zu Zhichong in resignation supported He Zheng's shoulder with one hand and took He Zheng's suitcase with the other. Remarkably, though very thin, he had amazingly great strength. With such a heavy load, he still walked with flying feet. As if on wings, they headed uphill along the stone steps at a rapid pace.

Even with Zu Zhichong's a.s.sistance, it still took He Zheng quite some time to get to the temple.

"Huh–Huh–" Breathing heavily, He Zheng gasped, "Ar–Are you a mule or something? You covered such a good deal of ground in such a short time." Dehydrated and drained of energy, He Zheng, running out of puff, directly sat down onto the ground, beads of sweat the size of beans oozing out of his forehead before sliding to his eyes. He felt so miserable that he couldn't help but curse.

"The Qingwei Temple has so ma–many worshippers. Why di–didn't you build a vehicular road so that people can drive up here?"

It was the back door that Zu Zhichong had brought him to. Standing before the guardian rock, Zu Zhichong quickly made a sequence of exorcism mudras with his hands and then pressed them onto the rock. After doing all this, he softly wiped the sweat off his forehead and replied with a resigned face, "That's not my decision to make. My master shifu said that we would seem more secluded if we stayed this way."

At first Zu Zhichong had not noticed, but when he twisted his head around, he saw that He Zheng was soaking wet with sweat like a drowned dog that had just been fished out of a river. He hurriedly asked, "Where's the Thermos bottle Chief gave you? Did you bring it with you?"

He Zheng moved his backpack to his side, produced a Thermos bottle from it and took two sips of the water in it.

Strangely enough, in Thermos bottle of Li Zong was merely water, but it was giving off a smell of ginseng. After drinking the water, he felt a lot better. Even the soreness all over him was greatly reduced.

Mouth watering, Zu Zhichong stared fixedly at Thermos bottle in his hand. "Cutie, would you please be so kind as to let me take a sip of the water as well?"

"Don't even think about it." He Zheng rolled his eyes. "A lot of diseases can be transmitted via saliva very easily. What if you are a carrier of some kind of virus? You might pa.s.s it to me."

"Elder Sect-brother!"

Zu Zhichong was just about to curse when a silvery voice came from behind him. Zu Zhichong and He Zheng twisted their head around at the same time. He Zheng was still sitting on the ground, dirt all over him, looking rather unpresentable.

A young man in a Taoist robe, who had a Taoist-style bun on top of his head just like Zu Zhichong did, was standing behind them, a pleasantly surprised look on his face.

"Younger Sect-brother," Zu Zhichong was also somewhat pleasantly surprised.

"Elder Sect-brother, master shifu informed me of your return and had me come here to meet you." He fished a cellphone out of his pocket. "Let me send a message in our WeChat group. This is fantastic. We'll have some additional courses once again."

The corner of Zu Zhichong's mouth involuntarily twitched with embarra.s.sment. He was positive that he had not misheard. The last remark of Cheng Dong's was all that mattered.

"Cutie, this is Cheng Dong, my Younger sect-brother," Zu Zhichong smiled, patting Cheng Dong on the shoulder.

Cheng Dong, who seemed a man of rusticity, stroked his head somewhat embarra.s.sedly. "Nice to meet you, Benefactor."

"Oh, the Impulsive Band (The last Chinese characters of Zu Zhichong's and Cheng Dong's names are "Chong" and "Dong" respectively, which can be combined to form a new Chinese word "Chongdong" meaning impulsive or impulse). I get it." He Zheng impa.s.sively brushed the dirt off his clothes. "Nice to meet you, too. Now let's get going." It was not until they walked a few steps forward that He Zheng found the dense woods around them had turned into s.p.a.cious level ground. Taoist temples of different heights were shrouded in coiling mist. Standing out in relief against the clean blue sky, they seemed even more solemn and respect-worthy.

He Zheng, who had never had any chances to visit a Taoist temple before, had a rather favorable first impression of this place in his maiden visit to it. When he caught sight of the majestic front gate of the Qingwei Sect, in particular, an exclamation of awe escaped from his mouth. "The Qingwei Sect is indeed something."

"Tell me about it." Smug, Zu Zhichong planned to do some boasting.

However, before he could get started, a roar emanated from an awe-inspiring Taoist temple. "Zu Zhichong! You still remember this place?! Have you any idea who's been paying your credit card bills this month?!"

Zu Zhichong, who was from a rich family, was thrown into frustration.

A middle-aged man with a mustache strode out of the Taoist temple. The Taoist robe he was wearing had alternating yellow and black patterns on it, lending him quite some immortal-like presence. On seeing He Zheng, the man was sent into a brief trance of surprise. And then, with a pleasant and benign countenance, he said to He Zheng, "Are you the exceptionally talented young believer in Taoism Zu Zhichong mentioned?"

The corner of He Zheng's mouth involuntarily twitched. 'This voice is so familiar. He was thundering just a minute ago, yet now he looks so nice and amiable. Maybe what the Qingwei Sect really excels at is not Fu-craft or exorcism circles but changing face."

Zu Zhichong, who had always been a loudmouth, hurriedly replied, "Yes, Master Shifu. Cutie managed to invoke a thundercloud when he performed the enchantment for the first time."

Zu Zhichong stole a glance at He Zheng, took a stride forward, his eyes sweeping across the ring on He Zheng's left third finger in a seemingly unintentional way, and then whispered something into the ears of Sect Leader Zu, who, after hearing it, eyed Zu Zhichong disbelievingly and asked, "Really?"

"Yeah. It's even more real than me."

Zu Zhichong lowered his voice. "This is our Chief's sweetheart!"

Sect Leader Zu inclined his head and smiled, making no immediate reply. 'So he's marriage partner of Supt. Li. I've got to receive him with extra hospitality.'

He looked at He Zheng with an even more pleasing and gracious face. "I'm glad to tell you, young friend, that my younger sect-brother has finished his closed-door cultivation. Would you care to go and see him right now?"

Naturally, He Zheng raised no objections, thinking, 'This venerable Taoist is so kind.'

"Zhichong, lead He Zheng there straight away. Soon your sect-uncle will go to his bedroom to rest."

Zu Zhichong hurriedly gave a bob of his head and took He Zheng away.

As regards He Zheng's baggage and backpack, someone had delivered them to the guest room for him.