Daoist Competition

However, there were still some bold villagers unafraid of challenges, daring to venture here.

Strangely, any villager who visited this temple would wake up the next day in their own bed, unable to recall what happened the previous day, yet finding themselves much stronger than before.

This news quickly spread, attracting even more people to come here.

About twenty miles from the Bat King Temple, there was a place called Wei Village. At the western end of the village was a drafty hut, where a child carefully wiped the saliva from the corner of his paralyzed mother’s mouth with neatly cut small pieces of cotton cloth. He softly said, "Mum, you rest easy; I’m going to accompany the son of Tong’s fourth family to study."

The old woman moved her eyelids a bit, considered as a response.

This little boy’s name was Wei Zihong. His father was conscripted years earlier to excavate a canal, but died of an illness, leaving behind a family of orphans and a widowed mother.

He was still very young, and the Wei family was paralyzed and forced to rely on neighbors and kin for sustenance, living in great hardship.

Upon hearing that an Immortal Master had a method to make people immensely powerful, able to fend off a hundred men, he decided to seek apprenticeship.

He did not think much; he just wanted to gain strength, earn money to cure his mother, and never worry about food and clothing again.

The distance from Wei Village to Bat King Temple was over twenty miles, which was nothing for villagers but extremely challenging for a child like him. If he went alone, even if he didn’t encounter human traffickers, bandits, or even wolves could carry him off.

Though only seven or eight years old, he had the maturity of an adult. Days ago, he had arranged with a familiar traveling merchant to go together while the merchant gathered his goods.

At this time, the sky was faintly brightening. Afraid of missing the timing, he decided to set off early.

First, he tucked half a dry cake into his clothes and went to the neighbor’s house to get some boiled water, poured it into a gourd, tightly sealed it, found several pieces of ragged cloth, stuffed some dry grass inside, then tied his calves with hemp rope, stomped his feet to make sure they wouldn’t fall off, and went out to find the merchant, setting off together.

He was sensible and took the basket to help the merchant, although he was small. Two hours later, they arrived at the town.

From there, it was still about five miles from the Bat King Temple, and since it was not yet midnight, he asked the traveling merchant for a small piece of realgar, bid farewell, and went into the mountain forest alone.

After a short walk, he chose a large tree, climbed up to find a sturdy branch with dense foliage, leaned against it to rest.

Due to the fatigue from walking, he soon fell asleep.

Unaware of how long he slept, he suddenly felt some movement. Opening his eyes, he saw a little white-haired monkey with big, round eyes, constantly nudging him.

Wei Zihong sat up, touching his head: "Little Monkey, is this your place?"

He looked up and saw the sky had turned dark, patting his forehead, exclaimed: "Oh no, I shouldn’t miss the apprenticeship time."

He looked around; at this time, the night was dense, and he was in the wilderness where he couldn’t see his fingers, making the path hard to discern.

Yet he had a talent: he could see objects in the dark, which gave him the confidence to come for apprenticeship.

Just then, he faintly saw a light ahead, towards the direction of the Bat King Temple, so he hurriedly climbed down the tree and ran towards the light.

The white-haired little monkey suddenly jumped onto his shoulder; Wei Zihong paused, curiously asked: "Little Monkey, are you going to apprentice too?"

The white-haired little monkey squeaked several times, nodding continuously; Wei Zihong saw its spiritual nature, grew a bit fond, and stroked its fur, feeling it was very soft: "Then let’s go together."

The white-haired little monkey chirped a few more times; Wei Zihong laughed a few times, allowing it to climb on him as he ran forward.

He often heard that this place was haunted; though braving to come, he couldn’t help but feel a bit uneasy.

Perhaps luck was on his side; this area, rumored among villagers to be extremely dangerous, had no strange occurrences, reaching the front of the Bat King Temple safely.

In the distance, there was a visible light, but upon approaching, it was pitch black without any sound to be heard.

Wei Zihong was still a child, slightly scared, slowed his pace considerably, but thinking of his paralyzed mother, he quickly regained his determination, walked up, and with a squeak, pushed open the decrepit temple door.

He poked his head in, held onto the door, stepped inside, and seeing no movement, became bolder and gingerly walked in about twenty steps, turned past a curtain, and saw a young Daoist sitting there meditating.

He couldn’t help but widen his eyes, then realized what to do, knelt down quickly, and said in a clear, childlike voice: "I am Wei Zihong, here to apprentice with the Daoist."

After speaking, he bowed repeatedly.

Zhang Yan opened his eyes, looked at the child.

He saw a fringe on the child’s forehead, frail body, fair skin, seemingly someone who could be blown over by a gust of wind, but his eyes were bright, and he had extraordinarily good bones.

He silently thought: "Could this be the child?"

Recently, more than ten people had come to seek apprenticeship, but none were the person he sought, and they had poor natural abilities, unable to learn Daoist skills, so he only pointed them to some body-strengthening Dharma techniques and sent them back.

He said kindly: "Since you’ve come to apprentice, come forward."

Wei Zihong followed the instruction and stepped forward.

As he stood still, Zhang Yan reached out, seemingly trying to lift the fringe from his forehead. Wei Zihong suddenly panicked, covered with both hands, and said: "Daoist, you mustn’t."

Zhang Yan withdrew his hand, smiled and said: "Why not?"

Wei Zihong kept his hands over his forehead, answering seriously: "Daoist, there’s something strange here. Once anyone sees it, they immediately faint."

...

...(To be continued. If you like this work, you’re welcome to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation, monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)