Chapter 59: No. 14 Chain Meditation Retreat

Chapter 59: The Fourteenth Chain Cultivation Abbey

[Po Lu Saber (Eighth-Rank Combat Saber Technique) learning complete, replaced Single Saber Technique (Ninth-Rank Perfection)]

[Po Lu Saber advanced to Eighth-Rank Mid-Stage 0/100]

............

Chengdu Prefecture, Shenhou District.

Li Jun, having just left the Shu Road Logistics Group, did not return to the residence arranged for the management by the group, but appeared on the streets of Shenhou District.

Compared to the other districts of Chengdu Prefecture, Shenhou District could not be considered prosperous overall; rather, it exuded a calm and leisurely temperament everywhere.

The shops lining the streets, regardless of whether they sold yellow paper, cinnabar, and other Daoist consumables, almost all had an electronic portrait of the Daoist Marshal Wang Lingguan hanging before their doors.

It was a Daoist immortal with a red face and beard, clad in golden armor and a crimson robe. In the portrait, he wielded a golden whip, looking supremely mighty and fierce.

Among the passing pedestrians, many also wore their hair in Daoist topknots, sported long beards on their lips, and carried themselves with the carefree bearing of immortals.

All of this was because this was the location of the Qingcheng Group, the oligarch of the Daoist sects in the Shu lands.

At this moment, Li Jun was not wearing that set of black martial attire, but had somehow bartered for a white short-sleeved shirt and yellow hemp trousers.

This getup was not eye-catching in the crowd; it even looked a bit shabby.

The rich wear bright silks, the poor wear barbarian garb.

In the Great Ming Empire, only those without power or influence would wear the clothes that had flowed in from the Western barbarian nations.

Even the Western suits and formal wear, touted by the Westerners as representing dignity, were virtually unheard of within the Great Ming; wearing them out would only invite ridicule.

After wandering aimlessly for a long while, Li Jun finally stopped before a house with an antiquated renovation; this was the purpose of his trip to Shenhou District.

"Qingcheng Group Fourteenth Chain Cultivation Abbey."

Li Jun murmured the name on the signboard, raised a hand to rub his face, and after rubbing all the coldness from his eyes, he lifted the door curtain painted with the Taiji Bagua and walked in.

The interior structure of the abbey was extremely simple, almost devoid of furniture, the space wide open and unobstructed.

Floating above the spirit altar in the center of the main hall was a holographic projection of the Daoist Three Pure Ones. Beneath the feet of the three supreme Daoist deities sat an eight-trigram platform covered with a bright yellow meditation cushion.

Yu Kou wore a plain Daoist robe, a far cry from his usual flamboyance, his expression solemn as he sat upon the platform, his right hand forming a Daoist mudra, his left hand gripping a copper chime hammer.

"Heaven and Earth are not benevolent; they treat the myriad things as straw dogs. The Sage is not benevolent; he treats the hundred surnames as straw dogs."

He never expected this sinister fatty, who dabbled in wine, lust, wealth, and qi, to have such a solemn and dignified side. A man truly has more than one face.

Li Jun was sighing inwardly when, in the next second, the expression on his face suddenly turned strange.

"The Great Dao is fifty, Heaven's derivation is forty-nine. If one is unwilling to become a straw dog, one must escape into the sole 'One'. This 'One' refers to the Daoist Gate."

"Those who enter the Daoist Gate may leap out of the Five Elements. This act defies Heaven, so it requires the cultivator to possess the heart of the Grand Supreme and supreme aptitude. But men are not sages; the Great Dao inevitably has flaws. What then is to be done?"

After Yu Kou posed the question, he raised the chime hammer in his left hand and struck the copper chime.

*Dong...* A melodious chime rang out.

"Naturally, one replaces their meridians at the Qingcheng Group, washes the marrow and cuts the bones, and rebuilds the Dao foundation. Henceforth, the immortal path is smooth sailing; riding a crane to ascend is just around the corner."

Li Jun's eye twitched. "Damn it, after all that, this fatty is just selling goods?"

At the same time, Yu Kou glanced sideways at the figure standing at the door without changing expression, and declared loudly:

"The Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name. Fellow Daoists may enter the Qingcheng Grotto-Heaven to seek the gate of all wonders. Begone!"

With another chime, many neural bundles descended from the ceiling, landing precisely atop the heads of the dozens of cultivators sitting cross-legged on cushions.

"Many thanks for the Immortal Master's guidance."

The cultivators formed hand seals and bowed their heads, thanking Yu Kou in unison, then inserted the bundles into their own brain-computer interfaces.

The instant the bundles were inserted, vast clouds of mist seeped out from nowhere, spreading rapidly through the abbey.

Moments later, not a single cultivator could be seen inside the abbey; white mist curled everywhere, like an illusory fantasy realm.

*Click.*

Yu Kou stretched lazily, lit a cigarette and clamped it at the corner of his mouth, his slit-like eyes smiling as they looked at Li Jun. "Rare guest. If I recall correctly, this is still the first time you've come looking for me on your own, right?"

"Indeed, it is the first time," Li Jun scanned the surroundings, smiling faintly. "Didn't expect the Lord Commander to have a side job like this."

"Can't help it, life ain't easy. This cultivation business is a sequence that wastes the people and squanders wealth."

Yu Kou sighed at the heavens. "Nurturing essence in the grotto-heaven, nurturing Dao artifacts, carving talismans—everything costs money. The meager salary of us Embroidered Uniform Guards isn't enough, so I can only sell some artificial meridians to earn a little sweat-and-blood money."

Gray-white smoke rose from the corner of his mouth, drifting to the feet of the three Daoist Ancestors before slowly dissipating.

While speaking, Yu Kou's eyes constantly observed the expression on Li Jun's face, thinking to himself that this Martial Grade Eight Red Blood probably still didn't know the grudges between the Buddhist and Daoist sects and the Martial Dao.

Otherwise, even if he didn't dare show hatred, he would at least be a little awkward, not this calm and undisturbed.

Yu Kou asked softly: "Something happen?"

Li Jun's expression turned grave, his voice deep: "The Gu family has made a major move recently."

*Whoosh!*

An engraved talisman block shot down from the platform, hovering at the abbey entrance, ripples spreading through the air.

Yu Kou's expression turned solemn. "Speak clearly."

Li Jun then repeated what Gu Jia had said to him on the drill ground.

After listening, Yu Kou pondered for a moment, then suddenly laughed in spite of himself. "No wonder those two families have been frequently spotted in Mianzhou recently. So it was for Yang Zhan's brain tissue slices!"

"With the recommendation imminent, this thing suddenly pops up. The Gu and Wu families' scholar-seeds are bound to fight until heads are broken and blood flows?"

Li Jun looked at the self-talking Yu Kou, frowning. "Lord Commander, there is one thing I've never been able to figure out."

Yu Kou seemed to guess Li Jun's thought. "You want to ask what use this Number One Scholar's brain tissue slices have, why they're worth so much attention from both families, right?"

"Lord Commander is wise."

Yu Kou flicked his ash, shifted into a more comfortable sitting posture, and only then spoke slowly: "To understand the use of this thing, you first have to understand the Confucian so-called Six Arts."

"Rites, Music, Archery, Charioteering, Calligraphy, Mathematics—these are the Confucian Six Arts. These scholars pride themselves on embracing the world, pursuing balance and the mean. So they demand their successors be proficient in everything, incapable of nothing."

"If one day you run into a Confucian disciple and see them roll up their sleeves wanting to brawl with you, don't be surprised. Their fists are plenty hard too."

The corner of Yu Kou's mouth, clamped around the cigarette, revealed a trace of disdain. "They learn too many things. To master them, they rely on that bit of scholarly talent in their brains. But what if the brain isn't enough?"

Li Jun pondered slightly, picking up Yu Kou's train of thought. "Then they can only steal from others."

Yu Kou laughed loudly, praising: "Smart!"