📖 Chapter 1294 - Daoist Priest

02 Apr, 2024

Five years flew by in the blink of an eye.

Here in the first domain of the Immortal Astral Continent, there was a certain city. From a distance, this city looked like a gigantic snail that gave off an invincible aura. The real city was contained on the snail’s shell.

Evidently, the city had its own gravity; the shell was standing upright, but people walked around perfectly fine on its sides.

In this major city, the appearance of a new Daoist Temple initially didn’t attract much attention. After all, it was rather small, and the choice of Daoist Temple was extremely important to most people.

In the Immortal Astral Continent, a majority of families would send their children into Daoist Temples at the appropriate age in order for them to receive guidance on the path of cultivation. It was like how children on Earth would be enrolled in school after a certain age.

The purpose of these Daoist Temples was to discover those with outstanding aptitude and send them up to a sect. There, they would rise through the ranks and ultimately contribute to the entire Immortal Astral Continent.

As time passed, countless inspiring stories circulated. Every year, children in cities all over the continent rushed to register with Daoist Temples.

It could be said that Daoist Temples were the places where a majority of cultivators first came into contact with cultivation.

After all, almost all of Daoist Temples in the Immortal Astral Continent were built by major sects, and the cultivation techniques they passed down were all authentic. Even cultivators, as long as they didn’t have a certain degree of resources, would choose to send their children to a Daoist Temple.

There were also differences among Daoist Temples. Daoist Temples were ranked based on how many talents they cultivated. Therefore, families would naturally try to send their children to more famous Daoist Temples.

Five years ago, a new Daoist Temple had appeared in this snail city. People originally didn’t pay much attention to it until three years ago, when its first batch of students graduated. Out of this first batch, dozens of children managed to enter the top sect of the territory, and the reputation of this Daoist Temple instantly resounded to the heavens.

There were numerous sects in each of the Immortal Astral Continent’s territories. Each territory was home to thousands of cities and countless people. For a sect to be revered as the number one sect of the territory was incredible praise, and this sort of sect obviously had stringent requirements for its disciples.

Thus, with dozens of disciples coming from the same Daoist Temple, it naturally attracted attention. Moreover, those who didn’t end up in the number one sect were still immediately taken in by the second- and third-ranking sects. This behavior, as if the top three sects were dividing this batch among themselves, instantly caused a commotion.

It had to be known that other Daoist Temples couldn’t even guarantee that all their students would get into a sect, much less every single student getting into one of the top three sects of the territory.

There were even rumors that the first-ranking sect originally planned to take all the students who came out from that Daoist Temple. However, the other sects seemed to go crazy, leaving the first-ranking sect with no choice but to share some of the spoils.

But there was an even more famous incident. Among the batch three years ago, there was one who could be considered a direct disciple of the Daoist Temple’s Daoist Priest. This person… was actually taken in by the Profound Heaven Sect, the number one sect of the entire first domain. Compared to the others, the commotion caused by this incident was on a completely different scale.

Thus, whenever, this Daoist Temple opened up its doors, countless families rushed to send their children to attend.

At the same time, more and more people began investigating this Daoist Temple, and they quickly found that it was extremely strange. Other Daoist Temples all had four, five, or even more Daoist Priests. But this Daoist Temple had only one.

In other words, throughout the entire Daoist Temple, there was only a single teacher.

This person was called Daoist Priest Wang. Nobody knew his real name. His origins were obscure, his cultivation base was unknown, and everything about him seemed cloaked in mystery. No matter how people investigated, they couldn’t find any information about this Daoist Priest Wang at all.

It was as if… everyone who knew anything about him avoided speaking of him. Even if his name came up, everyone who heard would choose to remain silent.

Gradually, the Daoist Temple with this Daoist Priest Wang became more and more mysterious.

And the identity of Daoist Priest Wang was, of course… Wang Baole.

Five years ago, when he sensed his senior brother’s birth, Wang Baole left his mountain and entered the snail city. He purchased a villa not far from his senior brother’s family and set up a Daoist Temple.

Obviously, Wang Baole understood the importance of Daoist Temples in the Immortal Astral Continent. His original plan was to wait until his senior brother grew up, bring him into the temple, and personally teach him the techniques of the Underworld Sect.

He had taken in some students on a whim. As for the matter of his students being split up among the great sects three years ago… no matter what kind of rumors swirled around outside, Wang Baole knew that it was because the ancestors of those great sects did it because they wanted to form a good relationship with him.

Even the Profound Heaven Sect that ranked at the top of the entire first domain, whose sect ancestor was one of the nine suns hanging in the vault of heaven, was no different.

Although these matters were slightly bothersome, Wang Baole didn’t mind too much. Now that he was living in the Immortal Astral Continent, he wasn’t averse to sowing karma here.

Today, Wang Baole had sent away all the children who had come to his little Daoist Temple. Dressed in a Daoist robe, he raised his head with a serene expression and looked out beyond the temple gates. At this time of year, the leaves were in the middle of transitioning from green to red. As a gentle breeze blew, some of the swaying leaves fell from their trees. Many of those fallen leaves, as if attracted by some sort of force, drifted into the courtyard of the Daoist Temple, spinning on the ground around Wang Baole as if they didn’t want to leave.

Wang Baole didn’t look at the falling leaves. The focus of his gaze remained unchanged, and he seemed to be able to vaguely make out the house a certain distance away.

A cold wind blew, carrying the feeling of autumn as well as the sound of a child’s laughter. Listening to this laughter, Wang Baole’s expression softened. He took out a broom and gently swept the fallen leaves into a corner of the yard. The rustling sound of the broom being dragged across the ground echoed out, and the whole world seemed to become tranquil.

The aura of Dao gently wafted off Wang Baole’s body. This aura was also full of peace and tranquility.

Just like that, time went on, and autumn gradually passed by. On the day of the first snowfall, Wang Baole was sweeping snow in the courtyard, and when dusk arrived, he suddenly lifted his head.

Knocking could be heard from the temple gate. Outside, there was a man and a woman standing there nervously, holding gifts in their hands and pulling along a five-year-old boy.

“Daoist Priest Wang, I am Chen Yunluo, and this is Chen Qing^[1]. I would like for him to pay respects to the Daoist Priest and receive your enlightenment. Daoist Priest, please grant my wish.” As the temple gates opened and Wang Baole’s figure appeared, the man and his wife bowed deeply to Wang Baole.

However, the boy just looked at Wang Baole with curiosity. He seemed to want to say something, but his father quickly glared and tugged his sleeve for him to bow.

Wang Baole turned sideways, avoiding the boy’s bow. Then, staring into the boy’s eyes with a gentle smile on his face, he softly spoke. His words were so quiet that only the boy could hear him.

“In this life, I am very willing to enlighten you.”