My Apprenticeship to Uncle Jiu: I Was a Warlord in the Republic of China

Upon hearing this, Jiang Li quickly bowed and said, "Master Uncle is right. I will definitely try to avoid having anything to do with the court in the future."

Zhang Wanhe smiled and nodded, "It's good that you know the answer." Then he counted with his fingers and said to Uncle Jiu, "Your disciples are pretty good. How about I personally preside over the ordination ceremony for them in three days?"

Uncle Jiu was surprised to hear this and said, "Master, you are very busy. How can I be patient with you for the trivial matter of teaching these useless disciples the ordination?"

Zhang Wanhe shook his head and smiled, "You are still so insincere, kid. I'll be frank with you. I am very optimistic about your third disciple. Conferring the ordination certificate on him can be regarded as establishing a close relationship with him. Don't refuse."

When Uncle Jiu heard this, he immediately said proudly, "If that's the case, I'll trouble you, Uncle Master."

He then said to his disciples, "Go down the mountain and put your things away properly, and then ask the mountain guards how to park the carriage!"

Jiang Li and others looked at Zhang Wanhe, and seeing that he didn't say anything, they bowed and left.

Zhang Wanhe saw that Uncle Jiu obviously had something to say, so he said to Zhang Chong, "You are the eldest disciple of Shoushan, so go with your fellow disciples!"

Seeing that everyone had left, Zhang Wanhe said to Uncle Jiu, "Everyone has left, just say what you want to say!"

Uncle Jiu organized his words and said, "I am ashamed to say that I couldn't let go of my obsession in my early years and searched for immortal fate everywhere, but I really got nothing for many years."

"Fortunately, I met this third disciple of mine a few years ago. Although his talent is only above average, he is mature and has a good character. He is also quick-witted and has a firm heart for the Tao. The key is that he is good at making money and has a lot of wealth..."

Seeing Uncle Jiu talking endlessly, Zhang Wanhe said unhappily, "You are a good disciple, but there is no need to show off like this. If you have something to say, just say it directly and don't beat around the bush."

Uncle Jiu heard that his uncle seemed impatient, so he immediately laughed and said, "It seems that his uncle is not immune to this, and he still gets angry!"

Zhang Wanhe glanced at Uncle Jiu and said speechlessly, "You are still as naughty as when you were a child. If you don't want to say anything, forget it. I still need to meditate. If you have nothing else, go down!"

Seeing that the desired effect had been achieved, Uncle Jiu immediately bowed and said, "I have two things to do on this trip. One is to bring a few disciples back to the mountain to receive the ordination. The second is that I bought a barren mountain in Renjia Town and want to build a Taoist temple here. I have come to report to the sect and want to ask for a plaque and a few statues."

Zhang Wanhe was surprised when he heard this and said to Uncle Jiu, "This is a trivial matter, but building a Taoist temple will cost at least a thousand dollars. It seems that you have made a fortune in recent years!"

Uncle Jiu frowned when he heard this and said, "I am ashamed to say that I killed an evil cultivator before and earned a lot of money. With the help of my disciple, we were able to collect enough money to build the Taoist temple."

Zhang Wanhe saw that Uncle Jiu had a sad face, so he said to him, "It should be a good thing that you have this opportunity, why are you frowning?"

Uncle Jiu then said to Zhang Wanhe, "I have something to report to you, uncle. Please forgive me."

Zhang Wanhe smiled and said, "If you have something to say, just say it. Why hide it? I saw you send someone away before, so I knew you didn't want to talk about anything related to the Taoist temple!"

"Tell me, if my old bones can help, I will not refuse!"

Upon hearing this, Uncle Jiu carefully took out a small cloth bag wrapped in talisman paper from his arms, slowly opened it and said, "Uncle Master, please look, this is the blood evil mushroom I found in Teng Teng Town after I killed an evil cultivator."

When Zhang Wanhe heard the words "blood evil mushroom", he stood up in shock, walked to Uncle Jiu, looked at the dried mushroom in his hand, and said tremblingly, "Is this a mature blood evil mushroom?"

Uncle Jiu gritted his teeth and said angrily, "It is indeed mature. All 1,200 people in Teng Teng Town are dead."

Zhang Wanhe closed his eyes and exhaled deeply, "What a sin, what a sin, this evil cultivator was so ignorant that he killed innocent people for this thing. After death, he will be doomed to eternal damnation without any hope of salvation!"

Then he said to Uncle Jiu, "Since you recognize this thing, why don't you destroy it? Why did you bring it to Maoshan?"

Uncle Jiu frowned and said, "I also want to destroy it, but firstly, I am not familiar with it and don't know how to do it safely. Secondly, I know that it is very effective, so I brought it back to the mountain to let the seniors in the sect take a look and see if it can be useful!"

Zhang Wanhe sighed, then took Uncle Jiu to the Sutra Library, took down a treasure map and handed it to Uncle Jiu, saying, "It records in detail the effects and uses of the blood-killing mushroom. Take it and have a look!"

"But I remind you that this thing is extremely evil and cannot be controlled by mortals. You'd better not try to use it and destroy it as soon as possible!"

Upon hearing this, Uncle Jiu opened the book and after flipping through a few pages, he found the record of the blood-killing mushroom.

It turns out that the blood mushroom relies on blood nutrients to grow, and any living creature that is killed will have negative emotions such as resentment, fear, despair, and grief. These negative emotions will be absorbed by the blood mushroom along with the blood and then accumulated.

Therefore, when the blood evil mushroom matures, it contains a large amount of evil energy, and this substance is invisible and intangible and cannot be removed at all.

If taken, it can certainly greatly strengthen the body, but these negative emotions will erode the human soul, which can cause mental disorders at the very least, and at worst, people can be infected by evil thoughts and turn into monsters.

After Uncle Jiu finished checking, he frowned and remained silent for a long time. Then he put the book in his arms and said, "I already have an idea about this matter. I have another thing I would like to ask Uncle Master to take care of."

Zhang Wanhe said, "You have accumulated a lot of things in these years since you came down the mountain!"

Uncle Jiu smiled awkwardly but did not explain. Instead, he said, "My third disciple has a crazy idea. He actually wants to raise a spirit beast to extract its blood and refine essence pills to assist in his cultivation."

"Look, he really got a bargain and got a few spirit beasts, but you know, uncle, each spirit beast has different blood properties."

"So the medicinal materials and recipes needed are also different. I went down the mountain to train early, so I don't know much about these. I hope that Uncle Master can give me a few recipes to help my disciple."

Zhang Wanhe smiled and said, "Although we are close, you also know the rules of Maoshan. If you want to get the secret recipe of the elixir, you have to exchange something. Are you ready?"

Uncle Jiu heard this and said, "We brought two spirit beasts this time. We can take their blood and offer it to Maoshan. We also got a set of methods to tame spirit beasts, which we can also offer."

"In addition, we passed by a market on our way here and got a hundred-year-old lightning-struck jujube wood. We can also take out half of it. I wonder how many secret techniques and elixirs these can be exchanged for."

Zhang Wanhe said, "These things are quite good. You can exchange them for five books of your choice."

When Uncle Jiu heard that there were only five books, he immediately took out a jade bottle from his bosom and said, "If I want to build a Taoist temple, I need some secret skills as a foundation. I wonder what kind of magic skills Uncle has accumulated over the years. I am willing to exchange six Essence Pills with Uncle."

(There should have been seven, but one was given to Qiu Sheng.)

Hearing this, Zhang Wanhe looked at the jade bottle in Uncle Jiu's hand with surprise, opened it, poured out a pill and observed it carefully, then said, "What grade of spirit beast blood is this essence pill made of, and what is its efficacy?"