I am Zhao Zhijing, a poor Taoist priest, and I have disciples all over the world.

Chapter 90 Huashan Jade Maiden Peak

The next morning, not long after everyone woke up from the cave, Zhao Zhijing wanted to wait until it was a little brighter, but he heard footsteps outside.

"Why is there a carriage outside this cave?"

Zhao Zhijing heard the hoarse and rough voice, and it was obvious that the person who spoke was quite old, so he immediately went to the cave entrance and opened the carriage.

The old man who was pondering at the entrance of the cave was startled by the Taoist priest who suddenly appeared. He stepped back and almost stumbled and fell to the ground.

Zhao Zhijing saw the old man's appearance and dress, and thought he must be a villager living nearby. He immediately bowed to him and said, "Don't be afraid, old man. I am a wandering Taoist priest. I saw that Huashan has beautiful scenery and gathers spiritual energy from heaven and earth, so I wanted to concentrate on practicing Taoism here."

The old man looked Zhao Zhijing up and down, and saw that he was indeed wearing Taoist robes and spoke politely. He did not look like a bandit who occupied the mountains and robbed people on the road. Only then did he feel relieved.

"Oh, you scared me, old man. Don't blame me, Taoist priest. I live in a small village nearby. I come to the mountains to collect firewood and dig vegetables every morning."

"I just passed by here and thought that I hadn't seen a carriage here yesterday, so I took a closer look."

Zhao Zhijing heard that he often went up the mountain to collect firewood, and thought that he must be very familiar with the situation in Huashan, so he took out a small piece of silver from his pocket.

"Since you have lived here for a long time, I would like to ask you if there is any Taoist temple among the five peaks of Huashan that has lost its incense. I would like to repair it so that my disciples and I can have a place to stay."

Zhao Zhijing saw the old man staring at the silver, wanting to take it but not daring to, so he took the initiative to step forward and put it in the old man's hand.

"Greedy for money, you are really kind-hearted. You will definitely become an immortal in the future."

The old man became much more enthusiastic after receiving the silver. Just when he was about to say that there was a suitable place over at West Peak, he saw more than a dozen young Taoist priests coming out of the cave one after another.

"I can't accommodate you. I have so many disciples. If I really want to stay in Huashan, I'm afraid I can only build a new Taoist temple myself!"

After hearing what he said, Zhao Zhijing realized that there was indeed a Taoist temple on Mount Hua where people could live, but it was too small to accommodate so many people.

Although the founder, Chongyang Zhenren, first lived in Chongyang Palace after being driven out of the Tomb of the Living Dead, and then slowly built Chongyang Palace.

But how can it be faster than doing it yourself?
"Well, if you want to build a Taoist temple, there is a very good place."

The old man thought of a place, but immediately shook his head and said, "No, no ...

Seeing that he had only said half of his words, Zhao Zhijing asked, "Old man, where can't we go?"

Unexpectedly, the old man seemed to have remembered something extremely terrifying. A look of panic appeared on his face, and he turned around and left without saying a word.

Seeing this, Zhao Zhijing didn't want to make things difficult for an old man, so he let him go.

Maybe he remembered some rumors about monsters and ghosts, so he scared himself and couldn't speak.

"Master, are we going to stay in Huashan?"

Zhao Zhijing waved his hand. It was too early to draw a conclusion now. Although it would not be easy to build a residence for more than a dozen people, he could just take it slow.

However, it is difficult to determine whether there is a suitable place on Mount Hua.

"Let's talk about it later. We visited the North Peak yesterday, and today we will visit the other peaks."

Hearing the master's words, the disciples naturally had no objections.

It was already early morning, there was light everywhere, and the clear chirping of birds could be heard in the woods. The disciples all began to study consciously.

Zhao Zhijing taught Guan Man'er to read and write. Past experience has proved that Guan Man'er is not incapable of learning, but he just needs to find the right method and spend more time than others. When it was bright, the disciples started to make fire and cook separately. Some disciples picked up some wild vegetables while picking up dry firewood, which was just right for cooking porridge.

After breakfast, Zhao Zhijing took the lead and headed for the Huashan Middle Peak, ready to see the place where the legendary Jade Maiden lived in seclusion.

When talking about the Jade Maiden Peak, one naturally thinks of Ning Zhongze, the "Jade Maiden of Mount Hua".

Ning Zhongze was worthy of being called a female hero who was as brave as any man, but unfortunately, fate played a trick on her and in the end the four members of her family became sisters.

Zhao Zhijing went to the North Peak of Mount Huashan for the Sword Contest yesterday. This time he was not in a hurry to go to the Middle Peak, so he did not go fast. Instead, he focused on checking whether the terrain and environment were suitable for building a Taoist temple.

Hundreds of years later, the Huashan Sect where the heroine Ning Zhongze lived was located at the Jade Maiden Peak of Huashan, but this does not mean it is a suitable residence now.

The road winds up, and the scenery is different from that of the North Peak yesterday. From time to time, you can see mountain people going up the mountain to collect herbs. However, when they see Zhao Zhijing and his group of more than ten people, they are obviously a little scared. They either avoid them from a distance or hide in panic.

"Master, these people seem to be very afraid of us."

"Well, he doesn't look like a gangster, so just be careful and alert."

When they were almost at the mountainside, the road was narrow and steep, and the carriage could not go any further up. Zhao Zhijing asked his disciples to wait there and not to argue with the passing mountain people.

Zhao Zhijing led Yang Guo, Zhang Qingzhi, Xu Qinghao and several other disciples to the mountainside. After turning around a rock wall, they felt the view in front of them suddenly opened up.

A wide open space, surrounded by mountains like the moon surrounded by stars, with an excellent view. Above it is a winding mountain road that leads to nowhere, and below it is a trestle bridge made of wooden planks nailed into the rock wall with iron spikes. However, the trestle bridge is broken in the middle, and there is a bottomless cliff below.

"Master, there are several rooms over there!"

Yang Guo pointed to the other side of the open space. Zhao Zhijing saw that the house was not old and its construction style was also unique, but it did not look lively at all and it was obvious that it had been abandoned for some time.

The Jade Maiden Peak of Mount Huashan has a pleasant scenery to itself, and what is even more rare is that there is such a flat open space on the mountainside. Looking at those houses, they are also carefully built. How can they just give them up?

"Follow the master and do not act rashly."

Zhao Zhijing became more cautious and asked his disciples to follow carefully behind him. They slowly approached while sizing up the surrounding situation.

The walls of the house were covered with moss and half of the door was missing. It looked like it had been destroyed by someone with heavy hands. The windows were broken and leaked, and they made a humming sound when the mountain wind blew through.

Zhao Zhijing's martial arts skills are now quite profound, and his five senses are far superior to those of ordinary people. At this time, he did not notice that there was anyone in the house, but he still asked first, "I am traveling here in Huashan, and I don't mean to offend you. I wonder if anyone is here?"

No one answered.

Zhao Zhijing then walked into the house carefully and immediately saw two skeletons lying on the ground. They had obviously been dead for some time.

Then there were bloodstains on the wall that had dried into a dark purple color, with four large characters written on them: trespassers will be killed.

"It seems like it might be a vendetta."

Just looking at the situation, it has been at least one or two years. Such a good place, not to mention a hidden place, how come no one has occupied it and it has been abandoned until today?

Zhao Zhijing went to look at the corpses again and found that the chest of one of them was black and the leg bones of another were black, which should be caused by poison. There were also a few silver needles scattered on the ground nearby.

"Master, be careful. I recognize this poison needle!"

Yang Guo walked closer and saw the silver needle. He immediately remembered the time when he was in Jiaxing and was almost poisoned to death.

(End of this chapter)