Chapter 123: Chapter 122: Yunyang: Good Friend! Gu Zhao: Spineless

During their tour, Gu Zhao teased Yunyang, "You guys from Quanzhen Dao aren’t that impressive, are you!"

Yunyang’s eyes widened. "What do you mean, not impressive?"

Gu Zhao ticked off the points on his fingers. "Look at the Zhengyi Celestial Master’s Mansion. It’s a tourist destination, too, but they have five masters who have cultivated True Qi. Then you look at your side..."

The West Capital Eight Immortals Palace has two, including Yunyang, while the Yandu White Cloud Temple only has Taoist Yi Hong to hold down the fort.

"How can you even compare?" Yunyang retorted angrily. "Dragon Tiger Heavenly Mountain is the main stronghold of Zhengyi Dao, alright? They have a whole mountain and the Celestial Master’s Mansion, plus tons of Daoists. With the thousand-year heritage of ’South Zhang and North Kong,’ it’s perfectly normal for them to have more experts!

If you’re going to make a comparison, you can’t use White Cloud Temple and the Eight Immortals Palace. You have to compare it with another famous Daoist mountain! Qingcheng Mountain is dominated by the Quanzhen Dragon Gate Sect now, and as far as I know, they have a ton of experts!"

Gu Zhao blinked. "How do you know that?"

"My uncle went there once!" Yunyang said. "He came back and kept sighing about what a great place Qingcheng Mountain is for Cultivation. He wanted to go there himself, but my master finally managed to talk him out of it."

Back then, Yunyang still hadn’t cultivated Inner Breath True Qi. As a Quanzhen Ten Directions Forest, it would have been a huge loss of face for the Eight Immortals Palace to not have a single high-level Daoist. If a powerful Daoist from another temple came to visit, they wouldn’t have anyone of stature to receive them.

Gu Zhao thought for a moment. ’Speaking of which... doesn’t that mean the Yandu White Cloud Temple is in a really weak position right now?’

Inside the Celestial Master’s Mansion, aside from the tourists, there were numerous Daoists walking about or practicing their Martial Arts, ranging from young to old. Some were even recording videos. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Accompanied by Chang Ning, the two toured the Celestial Master’s Mansion before heading out to visit the nearby Liu Hou Temple, Celestial Master Temple, and the ruins of the Grand Shangqing Palace.

"Tomorrow, I’ll take you up the mountain," Chang Ning said. He knew that Yunyang was primarily here to accompany Gu Zhao, and it was clear Gu Zhao had never been to Dragon Tiger Heavenly Mountain before.

Gu Zhao looked it up online. "The ticket price for Dragon Tiger Heavenly Mountain isn’t too expensive."

Chang Ning put on a serious expression. "As part of the Taoist Sect, our duty is to help the world and guide its people. Wouldn’t charging exorbitant ticket prices go against the teachings of our founders?"

Gu Zhao remarked drily, "Zhenwu Mountain’s tickets are pretty expensive."

Chang Ning’s tone instantly shifted. "That’s the Quanzhen Sect. We’re not close with them."

Yunyang shook his head, cutting in. He wasn’t about to take the blame for that. "The most prominent sect on Zhenwu Mountain right now is the Sanfeng Sect, but they’ve always been independent. They don’t belong to Zhengyi or Quanzhen."

Gu Zhao chimed in, "I think there’s a Qingwei Sect on Zhenwu Mountain, too?"

Chang Ning curled his lip. "But they don’t have any real influence."

Gu Zhao and Yunyang exchanged a smile. In this day and age, Daoist Techniques were obscure while Martial Arts were flourishing. The Sanfeng Sect, which traced its lineage to the famous Daoist Zhang Sanfeng, had an immense reputation in the world of Martial Arts. With its world-renowned Tai Chi Fist, it had naturally taken a dominant position.

They later proactively expanded their reach, got involved on the internet, and founded various martial arts academies and wellness centers. The snowball kept rolling and getting bigger, until in the minds of the general public, Zhenwu Mountain had become the de facto leader of the Taoist Sect.

This view wasn’t entirely wrong, either, as the current president of the Celestial Xia Taoism Association was from Zhenwu Mountain.

As for the other sects on Zhenwu Mountain, like the local Xuanwu Sect and the Qingwei Sect, they were all considered minor players.

’Speaking of which, Zhenwu Mountain has such a huge reputation,’ Gu Zhao thought. He wanted to take a trip up the mountain himself to see if there were any Daoists who had cultivated Inner Breath True Qi and could be chosen by his Five Thunders Order.

’But not right now. I don’t have enough Thunder Seeds,’ Gu Zhao mused. ’Even after I take care of the Golden Wind Sect and unify Changping Prefecture, I’ll probably only scrape together two or three. That’s not even enough for all the Daoists on Dragon Tiger Heavenly Mountain and Qingcheng Mountain, let alone anywhere else.’

’One step at a time.’

...

That evening, after having dinner with Taoist Zhi Qing, Gu Zhao and Yunyang returned to the guesthouse at the Celestial Master’s Mansion, which was reserved for its visitors.

While Yunyang was in the room meditating and practicing Qi Refining, he saw Gu Zhao holding a book in one hand and tracing patterns in the air with the other.

Yunyang, for his part, knew that Gu Zhao was a genius dozens of times more brilliant than himself. After all, this was the man who could actually draw a Celestial Spirit Talisman and a Shangqing Great Forbidden Dragon Binding Talisman.

The effects of those two Talismans were shockingly potent for all to see. It was no wonder Taoist Yi Hong had swallowed his pride and gone all the way to Yangcheng to try and pull him into the Quanzhen Dragon Gate Sect, just to have him hold down the fort at White Cloud Temple.

"Why are you learning the Vajra Profound Talisman?" Yunyang asked. "What’s the use of something like that in modern society? Shouldn’t we be focusing our efforts on Conserve Spirit and Refine Qi?"

"To make Protective Talismans," Gu Zhao replied.

Yunyang was confused. "Protective Talismans?"

Gu Zhao casually slipped the Celestial Spirit Bracelet off his wrist and tossed it to Yunyang.

Yunyang caught it and immediately sensed the bracelet’s extraordinary nature. He couldn’t help but gasp. "What kind of Talisman is this?"

"A Celestial Spirit Talisman. You’ve seen one before," Gu Zhao said, continuing to trace patterns in the air.

"No, I haven’t. You folded it up that time," Yunyang said, exasperated. He could feel the faint Spiritual Power emanating from the beaded bracelet. Its aura was so well-contained that he could only sense it by holding it directly in his hand.

"What an amazing Magical Artifact. It can nourish the body and prolong life... it definitely counts as a Protective Talisman," Yunyang remarked with awe.

"Have you forgotten the most important function of the Celestial Spirit Talisman?" Gu Zhao asked, looking up.

"What is—" Yunyang paused, suddenly remembering the surveillance footage from that day. He gasped again. "It automatically counter-attacks against dark and malevolent energies?"

Gu Zhao pointed to the book. "The Vajra Profound Talisman does the same thing."

Yunyang was still confused. "If you already have the Celestial Spirit Talisman, then what do you need the Vajra Profound Talisman for?"

"The Celestial Spirit Talisman targets dark and malevolent energies. The Vajra Profound Talisman targets physical attacks," Gu Zhao explained.

Yunyang was a Quanzhen Disciple. While he, like the Zhengyi Disciples, studied foundational texts such as the Tao Te Ching and the Supreme Sensing Chapter, the scriptures they read diverged once they entered their respective specializations.

Every school and sect had its own canonical texts. Even the books read by non-cultivating Daoists differed from those read by cultivators. Furthermore, in an age where Spiritual Qi was scarce and Daoist Techniques were difficult to master, nobody was interested in reading these texts, even if many of them were available online.

The Celestial Xia Daoist Canon alone was sixty million characters long, and many of its scriptures only scratched the surface of their topics. How could an ordinary Daoist ever finish reading it all? Besides, the Celestial Spirit Talisman and the Vajra Profound Talisman weren’t particularly famous, nor were they part of the Eight Great Taoist Spells, so it was perfectly normal for Yunyang to be unaware of them.

"For physical attacks?" Yunyang’s eyes went wide with disbelief. "You mean the Vajra Profound Talisman can be used as an automatic shield?"

"According to the description in the Daoist Canon, it should," Gu Zhao confirmed with a nod.

Yunyang thought for a moment, then proposed a scenario. "So, if someone carrying a Vajra Profound Talisman gets into a car crash, it will trigger Vajra Body Protection?"

Gu Zhao nodded again. "I believe that’s how it works."

Yunyang gasped for a third time. He shot to his feet and grabbed Gu Zhao’s hand. "My friend, my dear friend! I’ll take that for my commission! Five wouldn’t be too few, and ten wouldn’t be too many!"

Gu Zhao shot Yunyang a sidelong glance. "Pathetic!"