Above the source of Tao

One day, a young man came to the Qiushui Tavern, holding a scroll of water-shadow murals in his hand. He went to the crowded inn, to the dining table of the diners, and attracted countless abuses from the people around him along the way. When he came to the counter of the tavern, he was out of breath, as if he had been running for a long time. He asked for a bowl of water, swallowed it in big gulps, and drank three bowls in a row, but still couldn't quench his hunger and thirst. The innkeeper had a stern face and wanted to yell at the visitor, but he saw the man stretched out his hand and revealed a water-shadow mural engraved with the word "Min" and mounted very beautifully. The innkeeper immediately became friendly, bowed respectfully, and asked in a low voice: "Are you the Qingzu Shilang of the Damin Dynasty?"

Because the Hundred Sects Conference was about to start in the past few days, the official residence of the Supervision Department ordered the servants to deliver shadow water murals to various inns and restaurants. This is a special item that can be used to capture images on portraits. It is said that it is a special skill that has been passed down from a long time ago. It is taken from the shadow stone. A master of formations, who had nothing to do, combined it with the scroll and created a formation that appeared on the mural, using it to view the specific situation of the Hundred Sects Conference.

The Minister of Light Foot panted and spoke slowly, "This is the Shadow Water mural of the Damin Dynasty. I was ordered to come and deliver this scroll of Shadow Water mural to the merchants in Nanshanfang so that those fellow monks who cannot go to the scene can feast their eyes on it. I hope that the merchants will hang it in the most eye-catching place in the store."

After the Minister of Light Foot finished speaking, the manager of the wine shop stood there in a daze, trembling with fear, thinking that if he had said it earlier, he would have displeased the Minister of Light Foot and complained to the Construction Supervision Department. Not to mention whether he could open the shop, he would probably be suppressed by patrolling guards on the spot, and his life would be in danger. Fortunately, before he could say anything, the Minister of Light Foot had already spoken, saving his life.

The tavern manager took the scroll of the water-shadow mural with shaking hands. The light-footed assistant clapped his hands, took a long breath, and pointed a finger at the water-shadow mural. His smile grew thicker, and he once again urged, "Please obey this. After the Hundred Sects Conference begins, patrol guards will come to the store to check. If it is not hung up, you know the consequences. I don't need to say anything more."

The manager of Qiushui Tavern said respectfully, "Please rest assured, sir. We will abide by the rules. Please rest here for a while and I will prepare a delicious meal for you."

The Qingzu Minister waved his hand and shook his head, saying, "Don't bother. We need to deliver all the goods in Nanshanfang today."

After that, the Minister of Light Foot tiptoed back along the same route, walked out of the Qiushui Tavern, and headed for the next restaurant. The manager of the restaurant hurriedly followed him and saw him off until he reached the door of the restaurant, slowly waving goodbye.

None of the diners around spoke. They just lowered their heads and picked up the food on the table and put it into their mouths with difficulty, for fear that the minister would look at them too long and get them into trouble.

Not long after, another old man came to Qiushui Tavern, sat at a dining table, ordered a pot of tea, and sipped it slowly. Although it was a tavern, it was almost always full due to the popularity of monks in the town recently. Some of those monks liked to drink wine, but some were only keen on tea. Therefore, Qiushui Tavern bought some high-quality tea from a nearby tea shop and provided it to those monks who only drank tea.

Qiu Shui Tavern changed a woman to serve. The previous waitress fell seriously ill due to working for three months in a row and was too tired to work. So they had to hire a new one. A business can't just stop doing business just because someone is sick.

The newly recruited maid had just sent off a table of diners when the old master sat down. The maid's name was Wasabi, and she came from Liulizhou with her mistress. Qiushui's maids were mostly carefully selected and were relatively efficient at work.

Qiu Shui Tavern was owned by the Qiu family. They were short of staff, so Qiu Shui assigned Wasabi to the tavern to help out so as not to neglect the diners.

As a maidservant of the master's family, Shanqi knows the etiquette of visiting guests. She follows the eldest daughter of the Qiu family all year round, and is attentive to everything including food, clothing, housing and transportation. Being a waiter is naturally no problem for her. Compared with the previous waiter, she works more efficiently and is naturally good at observing people's words and expressions.

Holding a pot of tea in his hand, he looked at the handsome and elegant old man with a smile on his face. He placed the tea on the table and took out the treasure of the store, the moon jade bowl, and poured a bowl of hot tea for the old man, "This old man, please enjoy your meal."

The old man waved his hand to signal her to leave. Wasabi was very tactful and stopped disturbing her. He gently picked up the tray with the pot of water and slowly left.

------

Yun Changan was sleeping soundly, vaguely heard someone standing at the door, talking in a low voice. Rubbing his eyes, he stood up and looked at the door, and saw Xiao Hulu lying at the door, seeming to be a little alert. Although Yun Changan felt strange, he just called Xiao Hulu softly, but did not show anything. Xiao Hulu came to him and told him what he heard at the door. It turned out that it was almost noon, and there were two women outside the door, talking in a low voice. Should he go in and take a look? As a woman from a sect, she naturally knew that disturbing someone's sleep was a shameful thing. Qiuyue didn't want her sister to disturb Yun Changan who was sleeping peacefully at this time, so the two of them had a dispute at the door.

Qiu Shui was of course somewhat dissatisfied with Qiu Yue for bringing a man back in the middle of the night. She frowned and couldn't help wanting to see who this man was and why he let his sister come back in the middle of the night and brought him to the backyard to live there.

This morning, Qiuyue naturally didn't want to disturb Yun Changan's sweet dream, so she tried every means to stop him, and also relied on her eloquence to persuade her sister to wait until the guest woke up before questioning him. Qiuyue agreed at once, thinking that as a cultivator, he would not sleep in and neglect his practice. After waiting for a long time, Yun Changan in the guest room did not wake up, so she became a little impatient and came to his door and had an argument with Qiuyue.

After hearing what happened, Yun Chang'an roughly understood it. He gently stroked the little gourd's forehead and let it stay quietly by the side. He slowly walked to the door and pushed it open.

What came into view was that two women were pushing and shoving each other. When they heard the noise, they stopped what they were doing and looked at Yun Changan, who was standing at the door with an indifferent and silent expression. No one spoke first, and the atmosphere was a little awkward. Yun Changan smiled and said softly, "Ladies, do you have something to ask me?"

Qiuyue was surprised. She turned around and introduced her to her sister, "This is my friend, Yun Changan." Then she turned around and said to Yun Changan, "This is my sister, Qiushui."

Qiu Shui had a cold expression on his face. He was a head taller than Qiu Yue. He crossed his arms and said indifferently, "Are you my silly sister, a friend I just met?"

Yun Changan didn't care about it. He seemed to be used to other people's indifference. He said softly again, "You two should come in and talk."

Qiu Shui's eyes kept looking at the young man in front of him. Yun Changan was obviously a little uncomfortable with such a close gaze. He shook his body and stretched out his hand to make a gesture of invitation, showing his generosity. However, the shabby air on his body did not dissipate at all.

Qiu Shui did not move, but Qiu Yue beside her was a little unhappy. Seeing that her sister was not polite to her friend, she felt a little uncomfortable. She pulled her sister and said, "Don't you want to meet Yun Changan? Why don't you go in now?"

I have always felt that Yun Changan and my sister are very similar. Now that they meet, it is true. They both look arrogant and neither of them is willing to bow their heads. After waiting for a few breaths, Yun Changan has already entered the door first, leaving only the sisters standing outside the door. Qiuyue pulled Qiushui and repeatedly advised, and finally they entered this small room one after the other.

Qiuyue thought that after they met, they would get along well and be able to chat, but the opposite happened. The two of them didn't say a word. Yun Chang'an was just stroking the black dog at his feet, and her sister did the same. She folded her arms and never put them down. She just stared at Yun Chang'an, motionless, which made her feel very headache.

The atmosphere fell into silence for a moment, and Qiuyue took out a few pieces of Liu'an Xianweng tea from her sleeves and threw them into the teapot on the table. With the help of magic, the cold water in the pot instantly became steaming hot. She filled a cup for each of them to ease the awkward atmosphere. "You two, for my daughter's sake, do you want to say something?"

Qiuyue felt a little helpless. It was clearly her sister who came to see Yun Changan, but she didn't say a word.

But she was still very clear that this was her sister testing Yun Changan's character, and she had experienced this dozens of times.

This time will certainly be no exception. If Yun Chang'an can't stand his sister's cold face, Qiu Shui will label him as narrow-minded and immature in her heart, and will ask Qiuyue to cut off contact with him.

Fortunately, Yun Chang'an was indifferent to this. He just stopped what he was doing, slowly raised his head and looked into those cold and beautiful eyes, with a sense of tit-for-tat.

The expression on Qiuyue's face was extremely wonderful. Seeing that they were silent, she simply followed their wishes, closed her mouth, and sipped the fairy tea alone.

It's like two crickets trapped in a cricket jar, staring at each other, wishing they could see through each other and find the other's flaws.

Qiuyue found this scene very funny, but she didn't dare to laugh out loud. She could only cover her mouth and laugh secretly, her body shaking unconsciously.

Qiu Shui was a little confused. All the friends her sister had known in the past were from the countryside and none of them was worthy of her attention. But today she had met a worthy rival.

Yun Chang'an looked at each other unintentionally, his eyes as clear as the vast galaxy, with starry lights shining on them. He was not like those worldly cultivators who had lived in the mortal world for many years and had more or less some materialistic flaws.

If it was a cultivator who came from the mortal world, she could see clearly that no matter how they tried to hide it, those cultivators who lived in the market for a long time would have some market aura on them, which was unintentionally contaminated, but could not be seen. The longer they stayed, the stronger the aura became. Even if they had cultivated to a certain level, as long as they stayed in the mortal world for a long time, they would be contaminated. They were not like the cultivators who practiced in the mountains, who focused on concentrating their spirits and concentrating their auras. They were also not as pedantic and corrupt as the cultivators in the mountains, and their brains were relatively active. A cultivator below the Transformation Sea Realm was relatively more fond of being in the mortal world, so these auras would appear more.

Seeing his aura, Qiu Shui understood that the young man in front of him was not simple, and asked in a low voice, "A cultivator coming down from the mountain?"

Yun Chang'an, who paid Yuan Jing to live here, was naturally a cultivator from the mountains. If you want to say where there are the most mountains and rivers, it is still in the Wuyuan domain, where there are mountains and forests, overlapping and continuous, and the most conspicuous is the 100,000-mile black ebony forest. There are mountains and ridges stretching for 100,000 miles, and you have to go through two domains to block the two domains. On the north and south sides of the 100,000-mile black ebony forest, there are mostly plateaus. Shanglin City is a mortal city deep in a mountain range, and Shangyang Sect is also in the Tibetan-blue Mountains that stretch for thousands of miles.

Yun Chang'an accidentally saw a fish-patterned necklace hanging around Qiu Shui's neck, which seemed to be a symbol of status. Then his eyes moved upwards. Her beautiful face was like a pool of clear water. A stone thrown into the water splashed ripples. She was very charming. Her temperament was obvious. She was like a family disciple who had been immersed in a scholarly family for many years. She was extraordinary and unworldly. I think she was also a lady of a well-read family. Unfortunately, she was full of hostility in front of him. It was as if she was saying that a monk from the mountain dared to touch his sister. She looked so disdainful and unreserved.

Yun Changan frowned, "Are you a cultivator from an aristocratic family?"

Qiu Shui did not get angry but laughed instead. It was the first time that someone actually asked him about his identity as a cultivator from an aristocratic family in front of him.

Although he didn't have a very good impression of this sister's 'friend', he still maintained a hint of politeness in front of Qiuyue, "So, you admit it?"

Yun Chang'an felt that the woman in front of him was a little out of his reach and didn't want to have too much contact with her. She didn't look like someone who was easy to mess with.

Following the principle of less trouble is worse than more trouble, Yun Changan responded angrily: "What about the cultivators on the mountain? What about the cultivators from aristocratic families? Aren't they all striving to move forward in pursuit of the great way? Is there any difference?"