A Tale of Encounters with Immortals: A Peach Blossom Temple in the Martial World

A gentle breeze rises in the reed marshes, and a light shadow of a crane flies like a white ribbon.

A single sword pierces the clouds, its mysteries even immortals cannot fathom.

The sword light shot straight into the sky, causing the heavens to tremble. The water in the lake rose up with the sword energy, like a white ribbon rolling up the Milky Way.

Then a figure flew up from the reeds and landed at the entrance of the cave. The long sword then twirled behind her back. The Golden Spider Queen frowned, deep in thought.

While practicing swordsmanship today, I felt something was off. I looked at the manual, and it seemed the same as before, but how come the power has increased so much?

That's practically double the fighting power!

This is a good thing.

But the unexpected good fortune made her somewhat uneasy.

Having been a demon for so many years, especially having cultivated under the Buddha for so many years, not only weaving webs by the water, but even in the Great Thunderclap Temple on Mount Ling, having listened to the Buddha's teachings for so many years, she naturally knows that there is no love or hate without a reason, and that there are no free lunches.

But at least for now, it should be a good thing for Lü Dongbin and the reinforcements he's calling for.

The sky trembled.

It wasn't just in the reed marshes; even Jiangning and Chengdu felt it.

Lu Dongbin was searching everywhere for Tieguai Li in Jiangning City, but he hadn't found him yet. He found a place to eat, and just as he picked up a chicken leg, he felt the whole city of Jiangning shake.

It looked like a shockwave falling from the sky.

Some of the older people were unsteady on their feet and fell to the ground.

There was a "dang" sound.

The chicken leg fell and smashed onto the plate.

Many tables and dishes in the store were shaken off and fell to the ground, shattering everywhere.

Only Lü Dongbin's table remained stable; the food and wine were untouched, yet the chicken leg still fell from his chopsticks. It wasn't that he hadn't held it properly, but rather that he was deeply shocked.

After all, he was a deity, so it was easy for him to determine where the center of the tremor came from.

It came from the cave on the other side of the Qinhuai River, near the fairy's cave.

This power—

This directly broke his defenses.

The sky is falling!

He just fought that spider demon, and they were evenly matched, neither of them gaining the upper hand. How long has it been? His combat power has skyrocketed? And by such a large margin?

If they really called upon their master, Tieguai Li, to join them, the outcome of the battle would change from being a sure thing – like catching a turtle in a jar – to something completely unpredictable.

"Master, where are you?"

Lü Dongbin looked worried and stared blankly outside.

Just then, a little beggar rushed in and said to Lü Dongbin, "Master, do you still want your chicken leg?"

Before Lü Dongbin could speak, the little beggar grabbed the chicken leg and ran out.

The waiter, regaining his senses, rushed over and shouted at the little beggar, "Stop!" before chasing after him.

The chicken drumsticks are all gone!

Lu Dongbin suddenly realized that even immortals weren't omnipotent, and at least for now, he was in a terrible mood.

It's not that I can't catch up with the little beggar, but would I chase after a beggar just for a chicken leg?

This is not something a deity could do; people would laugh at us if word got out.

The people of Jiangning City are all talking about this major upheaval.

As a result, even the incense in the temples became very popular, especially at Jinguang Temple, the largest temple in Jiangning City, where crowds of people came to pray for peace.

We're all terrified, by natural disasters and man-made calamities.

This was something Zhang Zhengdao hadn't anticipated. He had modified the Heart Sutra simply to enhance the Golden Spider Princess's combat power so that she wouldn't be completely annihilated by Lü Dongbin and his disciple Tieguai Li when facing them.

After all, he can be considered my indirect successor.

Moreover, this Golden Spider Queen's way of doing things is quite unique. She doesn't kill or rob, but only abducts some young and strong men, absorbs their vital energy, and doesn't damage their fundamental nature; in fact, she can even help them recover.

She's a breath of fresh air in the fairy world!

Some of the demon kings I had subdued in Qingcheng Mountain before were never this pure.

Let's try to get it covered if we can!

but now……

This is ridiculous! They created this mess, and the monks benefited from it.

On that one day alone, this one temple earned more than 20,000 taels of silver.

At night, when the abbot and monks lit lamps to count the money, they were blinded by the glint of the silver and copper coins. Passersby could faintly hear eerie laughter emanating from inside the temple.

I thought the temple had been overrun by demons.

Lü Dongbin, in particular, was furious. As he passed by the temple, he couldn't help but complain, "The temple is full of vampires, but the monk Baoxiang is sitting inside."

Tieguai Li, who was standing nearby, said, "We're here to ask for help, so don't talk nonsense."

Lü Dongbin was somewhat unwilling: "How can a monk who only cares about gold and silver cultivate himself into a Buddha?"

Tieguai Li ignored him; it was all Tieguai's doing.

A knock was made, and a monk who was in charge of receiving guests opened the door, bowed, and said, "One should not enter the temple at night, nor burn incense at night. Please leave, benefactor!"

With a loud bang, the door slammed shut.

I was turned away.

Lü Dongbin spread his hands: "I told you it wouldn't work; they only care about money."

Tieguai Li remained silent, but made a hand seal, and a stream of light flew out from his fingertips and entered the temple.

Then, in a meditation room in the temple, a beam of light suddenly fell onto a table by the window.

Four words suddenly appeared on the table.

"Open the door to welcome guests"

The two people playing chess on either side of the table exchanged a glance and smiled helplessly.

One of the old monks in the yellow robe said, "I knew it when the sky shook during the day; there was no escaping this trip."

A middle-aged Taoist priest on the other side said, "You can make tens of thousands of taels of silver in just one day, so you still need to put in some effort."

The old monk sighed, "But... this spider demon is not easy to deal with!"

The middle-aged Taoist priest also said, "Your sudden increase in skill must be due to some extraordinary encounter."

The old monk closed his eyes slightly, shook his head, and said, "I can't figure it out, and I don't know if she has a powerful backer."

The middle-aged Taoist priest laughed heartily: "Isn't her backer the Buddha of your Buddhist sect? This spider demon ran down from Mount Ling. What's yours will come to you; you can't escape it."

The old monk in the yellow robe nodded: "This is my karma."

With a flick of his sleeve, the temple gate opened, and after Tieguai Li and Lü Dongbin went inside, the gate closed again.

Outside the meditation room, flowers and trees swayed in the breeze.

Inside the meditation room, a single lamp cast a dim light, its glow casting shadows on the paper windowpanes.

"Everyone, sit down!"

The old monk in the yellow robe waved his sleeve and spoke to Tieguai Li and Lü Dongbin.

The two sat down, and before Tieguai Li could speak, the old monk in the yellow robe said, "Thanks to you, the temple has made tens of thousands of taels of silver. I have a share in this."

The middle-aged Taoist priest next to him said, "Don't look at me, I'm not getting involved."

Tieguai Li said, "This matter is usually easy to resolve. However, it involves a Taoist priest. This Taoist priest is very strange. He is not in the Heavenly Dao and has profound magical powers. As long as he intervenes, everything will be resolved."

The middle-aged Taoist priest said, "Then why don't you go find him?"

Tieguai Li smiled wryly: "That Taoist priest has a rather strange temper, and this spider demon seems to have some connection with him. Lü Dongbin also has some grudges against him, so..."

The old monk in the yellow robe said, "The spider demon's improvement in cultivation must be related to that Taoist priest, right?"

Tieguai Li nodded: "Exactly!"

The middle-aged Taoist priest then asked, "How do you compare to that Taoist priest?"

Tieguai Li remained silent for a moment, then said, "If you cannot know its source, you cannot know its depth. Compared to him, I am like a firefly compared to the brilliance of the sun and moon."

After he finished speaking, the entire meditation room fell silent.

Tieguai Li felt it the most deeply.

Although he hadn't personally witnessed Zhang Zhengdao's actions back in Zhujia Village, he knew that the fire at the home of the Zhu family's Vice Minister in Zhujia Village after he left that day was related to Zhang Zhengdao.

A large fire is actually not that difficult to start.

All four of us here can do it.

However, this fire was no ordinary fire; it originated from the chaotic universe, from the evolution of the Great Dao.

Tieguai Li deeply understood this point and had previously been extremely worried and fearful. His worry stemmed from the fear that this Taoist would act entirely according to his whims, disregarding the rules of Heaven, because Heaven could not control him.

Judging from the current situation, he still feels at ease with this person's nature.

However, it was really difficult to get him to help subdue the spider demon. He raised the spider demon's cultivation level just to warn Lü Dongbin, who was even more outrageous than him.

Lü Dongbin acted without thinking. He hadn't been an immortal for long and hadn't adjusted his mindset yet, thinking he was the best in the mortal world.

"Um... I need to pee, I have to go now!"

The middle-aged Taoist finally spoke, but his words were immediately followed by an excuse to urinate. He pulled a paper bird from his sleeve, tossed it into the air, and the paper bird transformed into a crane. The middle-aged Taoist leaped and landed on the crane's back.

The crane soared into the sky and disappeared.

Tieguai Li cursed, "I knew it! When trouble comes, he'll run faster than anyone else."

The old monk in the yellow robe laughed: "It has nothing to do with him. Why let him get involved in such things? The karma under the Great Dao is not something to be trifled with."

The crane flew in the night sky.

Zhang Zhengdao sat on the roof ridge, pointing to the cranes and Taoist priests in the night sky, and said to Bai Mudan sitting beside him, "Look, those are immortals."

Bai Mudan rested her chin on her hands, elbows on her knees, looking somewhat envious: "You said I was a fairy descended to earth, so when can I regain my fairy status and fly away on a crane like him?"

Zhang Zhengdao said, "What's so good about riding a crane? Even cranes run out of energy eventually, and they might fall off."

"Ouch, you wretched beast..."

With a furious shout, a man and a crane suddenly fell from the sky above Man Qinghui.

White Peony: ...