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

Spring breezes once brought flowers to the Zen room, but a fleeting dream of love has vanished without a trace.

The moonlight was serene, and a beautiful woman danced, as if a gentle breeze could carry her into his embrace. Her slender waist was grasped, and tears streamed down her face. The middle-aged scholar felt a deep pity for her, and the night passed in silence.

The blinding sunlight finally woke the middle-aged scholar, who opened his eyes.

When the middle-aged scholar rose, there seemed to be a lingering fragrance in the air.

He couldn't help but smile and shook his head.

I never imagined that at my age, I would still have such an absurd dream.

He believed it was all a dream. Spring was in full bloom, and everything was coming back to life. The seasonality reminded him of the female knight he had chased after when he was young.

I washed my face and was about to change my clothes when I suddenly reached out and touched something.

He froze completely.

He then patted his body frantically with both hands, but found nothing—the hard spot was gone.

He frantically ran to the bed, patting every corner of it. He even lifted the blankets and shook them, but nothing he expected rolled out.

He bent over on the ground and examined it carefully, even lying on the ground and struggling back and forth under the bed for a long time.

A full hour.

The final conclusion is: the Sacred Heart Lotus Seeds are lost.

The loss of the Sacred Lotus Seed signifies the collapse of his and his senior brother's plans, both overt and covert.

Suddenly, the middle-aged scholar clutched his chest, a mouthful of blood welled up, which he then swallowed.

What a beauty!

What a springtime feeling!

What pity!

What do you mean by "first love"?

……

It was all fake; I'd been tricked.

Even though he was already a Grandmaster, he still fell for the trick.

Anger, impotent rage.

Because he had no idea who his adversary was, his most precious possession was stolen without his knowledge. He was filled with anger and resentment.

"Old monk, I have no grudge against you, why are you making me guard the Sacred Heart Lotus Seed?!"

The middle-aged scholar gritted his teeth.

If you can't find the thief, then start hating the source.

Why should I bear this huge burden all by myself?

"what--"

The middle-aged scholar lowered his voice and growled several times like a wild beast before slowly suppressing the feeling of palpitations in his heart.

"Senior brother, you must have felt that a very strong enemy has come looking for you recently, so you handed over this hot potato, the Sacred Heart Lotus Seed, to me. Heh... Why hand it over now of all times? You did it on purpose, absolutely on purpose."

The middle-aged scholar muttered to himself for a while.

"If you are unjust, don't blame me for being unjust."

The fact that he could steal the Sacred Heart Lotus Seed from the Grandmaster without anyone noticing, especially on the very night his senior monk brother had given it to him, inevitably aroused the middle-aged scholar's suspicion!

I have serious doubts!

The most deadly thing is self-inflicted imagination. As this middle-aged scholar thought about it, his eyes involuntarily revealed a fierce glint.

Jinzhou City, inn.

Zhang Zhengdao got up, and Guo Lanying handed him willow branches, salt, and a cup of water to rinse his mouth. Hu Yunying placed a basin of water and a towel on the floor and washed her face.

Guo Lanying then draped a Taoist robe over Zhang Zhengdao's shoulders, and Hu Yunying tied his belt around his waist.

Guo Lanying slung a peach wood sword across his back.

Hu Yunying used a comb to groom his hair and beard.

Guo Lanying gently applied powder to his face, then rubbed it lightly with her palms until all the powder was blended. She took two steps back and, seeing that he was a handsome young man, nodded in satisfaction.

Yesterday's earnings, so much cash—not only had Guo Lanying never seen anything like it, but even Hu Yunying had never seen anything like it. Although she came from a prominent family, her monthly allowance wasn't much.

This is what it feels like to be a master.

He wasn't stingy; he tipped each of them three taels of silver, and the two women happily went downstairs.

Anyway, there's no rush to get going.

Let the two women go shopping on their own first.

Zhang Zhengdao went downstairs and found a small restaurant to eat noodles.

There were quite a few people passing by early in the morning, mostly people from the martial arts world.

Among them were those who had been treated by Zhang Zhengdao after yesterday's fight.

Upon seeing Zhang Zhengdao, they all bowed and greeted him. Zhang Zhengdao didn't recognize them all, so he bowed back to each one and gave vague replies, as he had already paid for his breakfast.

Just then, an old monk and a young monk passed by and sat down in front of Zhang Zhengdao's stall, facing each other.

"Two bowls of vegetarian noodles!"

The old monk gave the order, and the young monk replied, "Three bowls of noodles."

The old monk glanced at him but said nothing.

What's wrong with a young person eating two bowls of noodles?

The old monk finished his noodles and waited for the young monk to have his second bowl.

"Boss, another bowl of noodles."

The young monk spoke again.

The old monk said nothing, waited quietly, closed his eyes, and kept stroking the prayer beads in his hand.

Zhang Zhengdao had been dealing with monks from time to time lately, and none of it had been anything good. He didn't intend to exchange more than a few words with these two monks.

The two monks had no intention of exchanging a word with him.

I finished eating quietly.

The young monk wanted a fourth bowl.

"gone!"

The old monk stood up and walked forward without looking back.

The young monk stood up regretfully, muttering as he walked away, "Why did my uncle chase us away after losing the lotus seeds?"

"Shut up!"

"I was just saying!" the young monk muttered. "Are we still going to Mount Hua?"

"go with!"

"Master, could you please say just a couple more words?"

"Let's go to Mount Hua!"

Young monk: ...

The two monks chatted casually as they walked away.

After finishing his noodles, Zhang Zhengdao returned to the inn and asked the waiter to retrieve the banner he had left there. The banner had gotten quite dirty over the past few days, so he had left it with the innkeeper to be washed, which cost him ten coins.

The money came from Hu Yunying.

This woman is generous when she has money, but when she doesn't, she likes to use her father's money to pretend to be generous.

Back in his room, he folded the banner and placed it on the table. He then took out a handkerchief from his pocket, spread it out on the table, and revealed a lotus seed.

Zhang Zhengdao picked it up and examined it carefully.

They found that their appearance was no different from ordinary lotus seeds.

Using a bit of his Golden Core spiritual power to probe, he suddenly sensed a white substance enveloping the lotus seed, resembling a viscous liquid. This substance felt very familiar to Zhang Zhengdao.

Just like the thoughts in the mind of He Xiuyuan, a precocious four-year-old child.

Perhaps the elements within these two things originally came from the same source.

This discovery greatly interested Zhang Zhengdao.

This thing is very active and has a strong vitality; it might have a catalytic effect on certain people or organisms. Like…some hormones on Earth.

Growth hormone? Thyroid hormone?

As for claims of bringing the dead back to life or restoring flesh to bones, those are likely exaggerated.

Back when I was on Earth, my teacher said that there are about 1000 million species on Earth, but only about 200 million have been discovered.

If a strange species were to appear in this world and display amazing characteristics, Zhang Zhengdao would not be surprised at all.

When I get home, I'll try planting it in the pond.

But first, you need a pond.

A pond can be dug at the edge of the peach grove in the backyard; this task should be left to Shu Baimei. After all, she's the only ghost guarding the Taoist temple now. I'll write a letter later and have the ghost deliver it to her.

And she also likes to dig holes.

He would bury his own corpse one moment and dig it up the next, and he even liked to tear it open to look at the internal organs.

Tsk tsk tsk, what a quirk!

Once this lotus seed is planted, the pond will be full of lotus flowers, which will be a very pleasant sight.

Lotus flowers, lotus flowers.

Thinking about this, Zhang Zhengdao suddenly had a bold idea.

He was also an educated person on Earth who had read the Investiture of the Gods.

Back then, wasn't that mischievous child who was pregnant for three and a half years before finally emerging, that brave little brat who caused trouble in the East Sea, pulled out dragon tendons, and even dared to kill himself...?

Just as he was pondering this, the two women returned from shopping.

Everyone was carrying a lot of things in their arms.

Their faces were flushed with excitement as they piled the items onto the table and began to explain to Zhang Zhengdao in detail how they had managed to buy so many things at such a low price.

Rouge, face powder, pendants, sachets, folding fans...

No, a folding fan?

Isn't it winter now?