Chapter 340: The Daoist Calculation Method
The Imperial Preceptor of Yankang carefully placed Bian Zhenyun's head down and looked at the skeletal remains on the ground, his heart trembling. He saw that Bian Zhenyun had arranged the bones of the Qingmen Pass soldiers in neat rows. Despite the continuous heavy rain over the past ten-plus days, this old general had apparently been working in the rain to gather his soldiers' bodies together.
He also noticed that beside each skeleton lay a wooden plaque, inscribed with the soldier's name.
The Imperial Preceptor walked forward, flanked on both sides by the skeletal remains of Qingmen Pass soldiers. Every skeleton had a wooden plaque, and every plaque bore a name.
Bian Zhenyun had recognized every single soldier under his command and could call out each one by name!
"You were a worthy general."
The Imperial Preceptor stopped, not continuing further. He turned around, and as his robes billowed, countless skeletal remains rose into the air, following him as he headed toward Yankang.
In distant Yankang, their families awaited their return. Among them were young sons, aged fathers, husbands who had gone to war, and beloved daughters, wives, and mothers.
He would take them home.
"Loulan's Golden Palace."
The Imperial Preceptor glanced westward, then turned and walked toward Yankang.
As night fell, another world intersected with this one. An ancient boat with ghostly lanterns sailed in, its lights flickering. Old figures appeared beneath the lantern light, crafting paper figures, paper horses, and paper boats. The souls of the battlefield silently boarded the vessel, making no sound.
The Imperial Preceptor passed by them without disturbing these emissaries of the Netherworld.
These fallen heroes, along with the grassland herders who had perished in the plague, torrential rains, and floods, would be guided to the mysterious Netherworld. What awaited them there, no one knew.
At the Daoist Sect, Qin Mu ascended Mount Kunlun Yuxu.
This place, known as the Yuxu Cave Heaven, seemed less like a real world and more like a realm of immortals. Even the great snow disaster that had engulfed Yankang had not affected it in the slightest.
Unlike Mount Sumeru's Great Thunderclap Monastery, which stood high and resplendent with countless golden Buddhist temples visible from afar, inspiring awe at the vastness of Buddhist teachings, the Yuxu Cave Heaven lay hidden deep within overlapping mountain ranges. To reach this sacred Daoist site, one had to traverse countless mountains and rivers, yet even then, one might not find it.
The Daoist Sect consisted of cultivators who disliked outsiders disturbing their peace, and these Daoists rarely ventured out.
When Dragon Qilin arrived at the mountain's base, there were no guardian beasts at the gate of Yuxu Mountain—only a thatched hut where an old Daoist was cooking a meal.
Qin Mu dismounted from Dragon Qilin and greeted the old Daoist with a bow. "The Heavenly Demon Cult Leader seeks an audience with the Daoist Master. Please, senior brother, go in and announce me."
The old Daoist was surprised. He glanced at Qin Mu, then at the medicine basket on his back and the smiling cripple behind him. "So you're the Heavenly Demon Cult Leader. In the battle at the capital, you killed quite a few of my senior brothers." He then looked at the cripple with a puzzled expression.
Qin Mu smiled faintly. "Daoists dislike being disturbed in their peace, yet they come to disturb the peace of the world. They deserve to die."
The old Daoist shook his head. "For the sake of the world, a Daoist must act. Heavenly Demon Cult Leader, I won't argue with you. Just go up the mountain yourself. Don't disturb my cultivation."
The cripple chuckled. "The Daoist Sect has always been laid-back and doesn't forbid people from climbing the mountain. There aren't that many rules."
The old Daoist looked at the cripple again, then suddenly his face changed drastically. He shouted, "You can go up, but this old man cannot! He must stay!"
Qin Mu was puzzled.
The old Daoist fumed, "I didn't recognize him at first! It was only when I heard his voice that I remembered. That legendary thief once came to Yuxu Mountain, causing chaos, and nearly stripped the place bare!"
The cripple stammered, "That was how many years ago? I've long since reformed and turned over a new leaf!"
"Bah, bah, bah!"
The old Daoist ignored him and began calling for a dog. A big yellow dog wobbled out of the outhouse, wagging its tail. The old Daoist shouted, "A dog can't change its habit of eating shit!"
The cripple was furious inside: "This old Daoist is insulting me in a roundabout way!" Despite his anger, he kept a warm smile on his face, making others feel as if a spring breeze had passed.
Qin Mu's heart skipped a beat, and he silently prayed for the old Daoist.
Carrying the Village Chief on his back and leading Dragon Qilin, Qin Mu began climbing the mountain. Suddenly, the cripple moved like a ghost, his figure vanishing as he laughed, "If you won't let me up the mountain, see if you can stop me!"
The old Daoist hurried after him, and the two disappeared into Yuxu Mountain.
A moment later, Qin Mu saw the old Daoist halfway up the mountain, stripped completely naked, squatting on a cliff with nothing to cover him. When he saw Qin Mu riding Dragon Qilin up, the old Daoist quickly hugged his arms.
Qin Mu pretended not to see him and walked past.
The old Daoist sighed in relief, but then Qin Mu turned back and asked, "How do I meet the Daoist Master?"
The old Daoist, both embarrassed and angry, replied, "Lin Daoist Master is at the Yuxu Temple on the summit!"
Qin Mu thanked him, took out a piece of clothing, and tossed it to him. The old Daoist caught it and was about to express his gratitude, but Qin Mu had already passed the cliff.
At the summit, Qin Mu saw waterfalls and springs. Many Daoist disciples were practicing swordsmanship beneath the falls. Beside the waterfall lay the Daoist Sect's Fourteen Sword Techniques, left out for anyone to see.
The disciples practiced their swordsmanship in a peculiar way, first using various calculation tools to compute something. Qin Mu saw that they had refined the Wuji Diagram, Taiji Diagram, Four Symbols Diagram, Five Elements Diagram, and Eight Trigrams Diagram into treasures, forming three-dimensional calculation tools for continuous computation.
"These Daoists are like geomancers," Qin Mu thought to himself.
Once they arrived at a result, the disciples would leap up, their flying swords moving with remarkable skill.
Qin Mu paused to watch for a while, inwardly praising, "The Daoist Sect truly is a sacred land, with a strong academic atmosphere."
A young Daoist nun, frustrated by an unsolvable problem, was scratching her head. When she spotted Qin Mu, she quickly approached and bowed. "Senior brother, who are you looking for?"
Qin Mu dismounted and said, "Is Lin Xuan Daoist Master here? My name is Qin Mu, and I have business with him."
"The Daoist Master is at Yuxu Temple. He only returned from Little Jade Capital two days ago," the young nun said, pointing to a nearby temple.
Qin Mu glanced at her calculation tool, reached out a finger, and adjusted a few things on her Eight Trigrams Disk. He smiled, "The sixty-four hexagrams' celestial pattern numbers can be solved this way."
The young nun quickly looked at the disk, blinked in surprise, and then beamed with joy.
An old Daoist nun nearby asked, "Who is that person?"
"He said his name is Qin Mu, here to see Lin Daoist Master."
The young nun laughed. "He casually solved that celestial pattern number problem for me! I was using it to calculate the Milky Way star numbers!"
The old Daoist nun was startled. "Qin Mu? That's the Heavenly Demon Cult Leader! That old demon has killed so many of our Daoist senior brothers, and he dares to come to our sect!"
The young nun was shocked. "The Heavenly Demon Cult Leader? Is he here to kill the Daoist Master? What do we do?"
The old Daoist nun smiled. "Yuxu Temple is full of our sect's experts. If he tries anything rough, we'll just have to appoint a new Heavenly Demon Cult Leader. Let's continue practicing our swordsmanship and ignore him."
Inside Yuxu Temple, Qin Mu saw a group of old Daoists and old Daoist nuns. Some were squatting in the garden, fascinated by a flower; others were lying on the ground watching ants fight; some were leisurely drinking tea and playing chess; others sat by a pavilion playing the xiao; and a few shuffled around in worn-out shoes with holes revealing playful toes.
Qin Mu stepped back out, looked up at the plaque hanging over the temple—it indeed read "Yuxu Temple"—then went back in. He asked an old Daoist, "Where is Lin Xuan Daoist Master?"
"Daoist Master!"
The old Daoist turned his head and called out loudly, "Someone's here to see you!"
Lin Xuan's voice came from deep within the temple: "Oh, I know, I'll be right out! You all entertain him for me; I'm at a critical point in my alchemy!"
The old Daoist turned back to Qin Mu and said, "Make yourself at home."
Qin Mu sighed in relief and waited. A moment later, a thunderous boom echoed, and a mushroom cloud rose from where Lin Xuan's voice had come. The old Daoists and nuns all laughed. "The Daoist Master's alchemy has blown up the furnace again!"
Lin Xuan emerged, covered in soot, his face blackened. "Uncle, if you hadn't called out like that, I wouldn't have blown up the furnace... Cult Leader Qin!"
Seeing Qin Mu, Lin Xuan was startled. He quickly wiped the charcoal off his face with his sleeve and said seriously, "Why does the Heavenly Demon Cult Leader have time to visit our sect?"
"Heavenly Demon Cult Leader?"
At these words, all the old Daoists and nuns in Yuxu Temple turned to look at Qin Mu. He immediately felt murderous intent in their gazes!
The enmity between the Daoist Sect and the Heavenly Demon Cult stretched back ten to twenty thousand years. The conflict was deeply ingrained, and with Qin Mu having killed nearly half of the sect's experts in the battle to suppress Ping Lingyu's rebellion in the capital, it was no wonder these Daoist masters harbored killing intent!
Qin Mu's expression remained unchanged. Just then, a white-haired head poked out from the medicine basket on his back.
The Village Chief emerged from the basket, glanced around, and wherever his gaze fell, the old Daoists and nuns quickly looked away, returning to their own affairs.
The Village Chief slowly retreated back into the basket.
Qin Mu took out the Golden Book Scroll and smiled. "The old Daoist Master once allowed me to read the Fourteen Sword Techniques, and I've always been grateful. Now that Brother Lin has become the Daoist Master, I've come to show you this book. I'll give you three days."
Lin Xuan laughed. "You also let me read the Great Cultivation Heavenly Demon Sutra, so you don't owe our sect anything. This book..."
His eyes fell on the first page of the Golden Book that Qin Mu had opened, and he couldn't look away. He instinctively took out various rulers and began measuring the diagram repeatedly.
As he measured, he calculated, muttering different calculation formulas under his breath.
The old Daoists and nuns in Yuxu Temple initially paid no attention, but as Lin Xuan's formulas grew more profound and his calculations more complex, their curiosity was piqued.
One old Daoist walked over, and his eyes were immediately drawn to the diagram on the Golden Book.
Soon, more and more old Daoists and nuns gathered around the Golden Book, all busily calculating and measuring.
They became so absorbed in their calculations that they lost track of time. Suddenly, a hand reached in and snatched the Golden Book away. Qin Mu's voice startled them awake. "Daoist Master, fellow senior brothers, three days are up."
"Three days already?" Lin Xuan and the others were shocked.
Qin Mu smiled faintly. "Farewell." He turned to leave.
"Wait!"
"Cult Leader Qin, wait!"
Qin Mu turned back, a smile spreading across his face.