This harvest of fortune’s light nearly tempted Lu Zheng to take out the remaining seventy cloud-patterned swords.
However, he currently had no shortage of fortune’s light, and he worried that revealing too much would be overly shocking, so he restrained himself.
Thirty swords could be explained as good fortune combined with years of accumulation.
A hundred swords, not produced by an official ironworks, would too easily suggest that Lu Zheng had acquired the technology to consistently produce refined steel and divine weapons.
The difference between double and triple digits was simply too vast.
Lu Zheng had no desire to draw such attention.
“I’ve also prepared some wine, quite a bit of it. Where should I place it, Uncle-Master Mingguang?” Lu Zheng asked.
Having revealed thirty swords and a storage artifact, Master Mingguang no longer viewed Lu Zheng lightly and immediately asked, “How much have you prepared, Nephew?”
“Knowing the temple has many people, I prepared one hundred jars of Wuliangye and one hundred jars of Huadiao wine,” Lu Zheng said with a smile.
Master Mingguang blinked. Though unfamiliar with Wuliangye and Huadiao, he assumed they were wine names, and two hundred jars…
“Follow me,” Master Mingguang said, leading them to the wine cellar in the rear hall.
At the cellar, he pointed to a small empty space. “Place them here.”
“Alright!” Lu Zheng nodded, tilted his gourd, and twenty-jin jars of wine flew out, landing neatly in the corner.
“Our temple has plenty of fine wine, but with the Spring Festival approaching, everyone can try something new,” Master Mingguang said with a smile, subtly swallowing.
…
In the afternoon, Lu Zheng and Yuanjing returned to Master Mingzhang’s courtyard, where they saw him sipping tea and chatting with another Taoist.
After introductions, they learned he was Master Mingxin, another temple uncle-master.
Lu Zheng and Yuanjing joined the conversation briefly, but with evening lessons approaching, and learning that Master Mingzhang would take his two disciples to attend, Master Mingxin took his leave.
…
Over the next few days, Lu Zheng and Yuanjing stayed in Master Mingzhang’s courtyard. They either accompanied him to visit friends or sparred and exchanged knowledge with fellow disciples at Baiyun Temple.
They also took time to visit the Jizhou prefecture, purchasing local specialties, all stored in Lu Zheng’s gourd, taking up no space.
Back at Baiyun Temple, Lu Zheng soon noticed a faint, familiar wine fragrance wafting through the temple.
As he walked, younger Taoists were polite, but the Ming-generation masters and even the elder Yue-generation masters greeted him warmly, praising his thoughtful and courteous gifts, leaving Lu Zheng both flattered and surprised.
After learning that the wine he gifted was self-brewed with complex methods and limited production, their attitudes grew even warmer.
“You’re truly thoughtful. When I was young, I learned a stealth technique during my travels. It’s quite interesting, so I’ll pass it to you,” one said.
“I have a dream-entry technique, useful for enlightening beings while travelling. I’ll teach it to you,” another offered.
“I hear you’re gifted, Nephew Yuanjing, and have mastered the Body-Fixing Charm. Impressive. I’ll teach you a Spirit-Attachment Charm, paired with a puppet technique, a minor trick for amusement,” said another.
…
“Thank you, Uncle-Master!”
“Thank you, Grand-Uncle-Master!”
“Thank you, Ancestor-Master!”
Several jars of wine Lu Zheng had kept in reserve vanished from his gourd.
In exchange, he gained various unconventional but wonderfully useful techniques.
The stealth technique was self-explanatory. Previously, Lu Zheng used illusions as a substitute, but the two were fundamentally different.
Illusions affect the environment or the target’s perception to achieve invisibility, but stronger opponents can easily detect them, and long-range stealth is difficult.
Illusions, when used as substitutes for stealth, limit their potential. As Master Yuting demonstrated, crafting a realistic world is the proper use of illusions.
The stealth technique, however, is specialized, acting solely on oneself without affecting others. Even against high-level cultivators, as long as they don’t focus on you, you remain safely hidden.
In terms of stealth, it far surpasses illusions.
The dream-entry technique was something Shen Ying had used on Lu Zheng, but that was her innate talent, unteachable.
Now, Lu Zheng had learned it. By placing a charm mark on someone, he could cast it, experiencing the mortal world in dreams and rapidly teaching knowledge, hence its use for enlightening beings.
Until Lu Zheng’s cultivation could support the spirit-awakening technique—like the one used by the cave elder on him and Hu Yijun with Liu Qingyan’s family—the dream-entry technique was highly practical.
The puppet technique and Spirit-Attachment Charm were even more impressive. Fortunately, Lu Zheng had cultivated the *Nine Heavens Golden Palace True Transformation Technique*, bolstering his mental strength. Otherwise, his two hundred years of Baiyun true qi practice wouldn’t suffice to use these techniques.
With the puppet technique, paper figures, wooden dolls, or clay statues could be shaped into human forms, even mimicking flesh and meridians, rivaling illusions. The Spirit-Attachment Charm then animated them, making them lifelike and obedient.
Compared to crude methods of summoning spirits into paper figures and controlling them with talismans, the Spirit-Attachment Charm had fewer drawbacks, greater power, and allowed puppets to exhibit significant strength, far surpassing spirit-summoning techniques.
Lu Zheng: ≧∇≦
Trading swords for fortune and wine for techniques!
This visit to Baiyun Temple had fully achieved his goals.
Master Mingzhang looked at Lu Zheng with exasperation, while Yuanjing gazed at him in awe.
“I’ve returned to Baiyun Temple multiple times, yet my rapport doesn’t compare to your first visit,” Yuanjing thought, glancing at his cloud-patterned sword and falling silent.
Of course, whenever Master Mingzhang visited friends, he brought a small jar of Wuliangye or Huadiao, delighting his hosts and boosting his prestige.
During this time, Lu Zheng had the honour of visiting the back mountains, meeting ancestors said to be over two hundred years old.
He couldn’t sense their cultivation, but their profound gazes and harmony with nature offered glimpses of wisdom, resonating with his own learning and sparking slight insights.
…
Ten days passed in a blink, and soon it was the eve of the Spring Festival. Baiyun Temple had prepared all the rituals for the next day’s ceremony, followed by an all-temple vigil.
