Within the territory of Great Li, all the mountain and river deities officially appointed by the imperial court were, in the eyes of the common people, nothing more than a clay statue with a golden body and a shrine. Even the Five Sacred Mountains deities were no exception.

However, outside Great Li, on the Eastern Precious Bottle Continent, even minor deities like the Iron Talisman River of Dragon Spring or the Red Candle Town’s Tranquil River, let alone major river deities, could openly establish mountain and river residences, provided they maintained good relations with the local government and there were no powerful immortal sects nearby. The scale of these residences was comparable to, or even exceeded, that of high-ranking officials like Dukes and Ministers of the secular court.

The Cold Food River Water God, one of the few significant deities in the Yellow Court Kingdom, had spent years constructing a lavish residence covering a thousand acres along a stretch of the Cold Food River, where there were no towns within a hundred li. The official story was that the owner was a descendant of the meritorious founding minister of the Yellow Court Kingdom, the Chu family, who had become wealthy through business acumen. In reality, the true owner was the Cold Food River deity.

Tonight, the residence was brightly lit, filled with music, dance, and the clinking of cups.

Wealth filled the hall.

Long-burning lamps hung on both walls, rare treasures even in mountain residences. Their value lay not in the intricately designed lamps, but in a drop of ambergris. Long-burning lamps were often used in imperial secret chambers and tombs. By adding a drop of oil extracted from the deep-sea ambergris whale to the wick of an ordinary candle, the flame could burn for a hundred years if the ambergris was of sufficient quality, and the fragrance would last, aiding in concentration and surpassing the finest sandalwood.

A man in a green robe sat in the main seat, holding a white jade wine cup, gently swirling the golden, viscous, and fragrant liquid.

The man’s robe had a circular patch embroidered on the chest, depicting a golden coiled dragon.

The twenty-odd guests who had traveled from afar were all cultivators of considerable status. However, they remained humble and respectful in the presence of the green-robed man, their expressions occasionally revealing a hint of apprehension, indicating that their respect for the host was not merely that of a guest.

Autumn Reed Inn.

Inside the room, the white-clad youth had been gone for some time. In the bright lamplight, Chen Ping’an finished carving the first white jade hairpin. He looked up at Li Huai, who was slumped across the table, and asked, “Do you want me to carve ‘Li Huai’ or ‘Huai Shade’? If I carve your name, like Precious Bottle and Guard One, it’s simple and clear. ‘Huai Shade’ has a bit more meaning.”

Li Huai was preoccupied. Hearing this, he smiled and said, “Whatever you want, it’s fine.”

Chen Ping’an picked up the ink jade hairpin. “How about this one? The color matches Huai Shade better.”

Li Huai nodded, then mustered his courage and asked, “Chen Ping’an, would you ever get so angry that you’d punch Lin Shouyi to death? I think that even though Lin Shouyi has become a Qi Refiner or whatever, if he fought you, I reckon it would be over in one or two punches. Actually, Lin Shouyi is a bit of a grump, a bit of a quiet type, and more cunning than us, but he’s not a bad person…”

Chen Ping’an was amused. “What are you thinking? Why would I fight Lin Shouyi?”

Li Huai added tentatively, “What if Lin Shouyi actively seeks a fight with you, Chen Ping’an? Then you can hit him, but just teach him a lesson. Remember not to hit him too hard. Lin Shouyi is a rich kid, not like me, thick-skinned. I can take a few hits from Li Precious Bottle without any problem, but I don’t think he can handle it.”

Chen Ping’an didn’t know how to explain some things about people’s hearts, so he simply said, “I’ll be careful.”

Li Huai was completely relieved. He immediately beamed and ran to the small book box, retrieving the painted wooden puppet and the silver ingot. Returning to the table, he placed the puppet on the silver ingot and casually asked, “Lin Shouyi told me earlier that the major cities and prefectures in the world all have City God Pavilions built according to the ritual system established by the Confucianists for the dynasty, while county towns have City God Temples. The prefect and magistrate, these ‘parent officials,’ govern one side of the *yang* world, while the City God is responsible for the security of the *yin* world, patrolling the jurisdiction to prevent ghosts and evil spirits from secretly causing trouble. Chen Ping’an, you said that the City God Temple we went to before was so big, and it was located in the prefectural city, so why is it still called a ‘temple’? Shouldn’t it be called a City God Pavilion? Besides, we wandered around the City God Temple for so long during the day, could we have actually encountered the City God, but we just didn’t recognize him?”

Chen Ping’an thought for a moment. “You’ll have to ask that Cui Dongshan about these things.”

Li Huai shook his head vigorously. “I don’t like that guy. He’s all mystical and weird.”

In a room, two girls, one big and one small, sat facing each other across a lamp. One was wiping a bamboo flute, while the other crossed her arms and glared.

Red Cotton-padded Jacket said, “Thank you. You snore loudly at night. I slept in my own tent, so far away from you, and I could still hear it.”

The dark-skinned girl looked up and smiled. “Sorry, I don’t snore when I sleep.”

Li Precious Bottle raised an eyebrow. “How do you know you don’t snore when you sleep?”

Thank you gently stroked the bamboo flute with her fingertip, deliberately imitating the red cotton-padded jacket girl’s eyebrow-raising gesture. “Because I’m a Qi Refiner, a mountain immortal in your eyes.”

Li Precious Bottle raised her chin high and asked, “Do you have a small book box?”

Thank you was speechless.

The triumphant little girl took out the stack of books from the book box and began to read by lamplight. It was her favorite travelogue of mountains and rivers, writing about strange mountains and unique waters, about mountain spirits and ghosts, and about scholars and fox spirits. The little girl read with focus and absorption, sometimes frowning, sometimes suddenly understanding, sometimes jumping for joy, sometimes staring blankly.

Thank you watched everything, and subconsciously extended a finger, gently hooking it along the edge of her cheek.

Lin Shouyi sat cross-legged in the small pavilion, calming his mind and concentrating his spirit, breathing in and out, carefully sensing the “water flow” between heaven and earth, sifting through the sand, taking the essence and discarding the dross, collecting the scattered water vapor essence floating around the well, and storing it in his acupoints.

Even though there was a lot of noise coming from the old well, the youth remained unmoved. Fortunately, the spirits and demons floating out of the well were clearly not targeting him, Lin Shouyi, and the two sides did not interfere with each other.

The *Cloud Above Langlang Book* that Lin Shouyi had picked out on Chessboard Mound was a Taoist secret manual for cultivating the Five Thunders Righteous Method, involving the specific cultivation of the lower five realms, with only some general and vague language. However, in the hands of Lin Shouyi, who was good at calculation and deduction, the effect was excellent.

Soon, the several *qi* reservoirs in Lin Shouyi’s body began to feel swollen. Lin Shouyi still refused to stop, having never felt such a rich and pure aura on the journey. Lin Shouyi did not want to miss it. After half an hour, Lin Shouyi’s face was flushed, like a famished mortal facing a feast of meat and wine, eating without restraint and becoming completely stuffed.

Suddenly, someone slapped Lin Shouyi on the shoulder. Lin Shouyi burped, and then spat out a mouthful of turbid *qi*. It was truly a turbid *qi*, foul and stinking. The uninvited guest quickly waved his snow-white sleeves to dispel the accumulated filth, complaining, “You kid are really brave, aren’t you afraid of stuffing yourself to death?”

Lin Shouyi was stunned, and asked in confusion, “Isn’t it better for a Qi Refiner to absorb as much spiritual energy hidden between heaven and earth as possible?”

The white-clad youth said angrily, “As Thank you said, how can a wine cup hold a thousand pounds of wine? As much as possible? According to your logic, those who established religions and became ancestors would have swallowed all the spiritual energy in several worlds long ago, where would there be any chance for other Qi Refiners? Of course, you have to proceed step by step, opening up a few cave abodes, and then absorbing that much spiritual energy.”

Lin Shouyi felt a little scared, and raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

The white-clad youth sat cross-legged, looking at the old well from which spiritual energy was rising. However, only an initiated Qi Refiner or a martial arts grandmaster could see this ethereal scene. To the common people, even if they stuck their heads into the well, they would only feel that it was cooler than other places.

The youth, Cui Chan, turned his head and smiled, “I saved your life, how about you lend me a talisman? It’s a loan, and I’ll return it later.”

Lin Shouyi hesitated for a moment.

The youth, Cui Chan, tugged at the corner of his mouth, “Don’t worry, it’s not the four most precious ones, just a good, but not the best, gold-powder talisman.”

Lin Shouyi nodded. “Okay.”

Cui Chan snapped his fingers, and a golden talisman slipped out of Lin Shouyi’s arms and floated into his palm. Cui Chan lowered his head and examined it, his eyes showing appreciation.

Talisman paper is one of the foundations of the Talisman Sect, a major branch of Taoism. Ordinary talisman paper in the world is yellow *biaozhi* paper. One level above that is hard yellow paper, known as “Yellow Seal,” which is commonly used by Taoist sects around the world.

There are also some special cases, such as blue talisman paper with the beautiful name of “After the Rain, Clear Sky,” and some colorful talisman paper, many of which are imperial decrees specifically used by the families of emperors, often used to reward civil and military ministers during festivals. Ordinary wealthy families cannot buy them no matter how much money they have.

Talisman paper is generally used for drawing talismans in Taoism. Taoist talismans are the orthodox and fundamental talismans in the world, known as the ancestral line of many talisman lineages. However, talisman paper is not necessarily limited to yellow paper. Taoist masters and land immortals do not need physical talisman paper to draw talismans out of thin air and create a spirit talisman. The Military School also has killing and town talismans. Confucianism also has canonical content, which is slightly more complicated than the Military School, and the fonts are mostly regular script, which is divided into seven or eight calligraphy masters’ fonts, with many sayings such as “Eight Straight” and “Straight Nine.” Buddhism excels at forming mudras, and although there are talismans, they are relatively rare.

Lin Shouyi asked curiously, “What is this spell technique?”

Cui Chan carefully put the gold-powder talisman into his sleeve, and said casually, “You’ll understand when you reach the middle five realms. At that time, Qi Refiners can condense their intentions into heartstrings. The level of Daoism and the depth of cultivation will determine the number and thickness of the heartstrings. The so-called telekinesis is like this.”

Lin Shouyi is now at the peak of the third realm of Qi Refining. Such speed in a few months can be described as a meteoric rise.

This is because the youth was born to cultivate the Dao, and also because of A Liang’s pot of wine.

Wealthy people like to buy large snakes from mountain woodcutters, dissect their gallbladders and put them into wine, with amazing medicinal effects.

Then, the mystery contained in medicinal wine soaked with the demon core of a flying-realm great demon can be imagined.

The white-clad youth stood up and smiled, “A Liang is the guide for your path to cultivating the Dao, you must cherish this opportunity. If you don’t cherish it, I will…”

Lin Shouyi asked directly, “What will you do?”

The white-clad youth changed his words and smiled, “Will be unhappy.”

The youth, Cui Chan’s original statement was, “I will kill you.”

After the swelling sensation gradually subsided, Lin Shouyi began to close his eyes and concentrate his spirit again, using his body to gather wind and water, to build his own bridge of longevity.

The white-clad youth tapped his toes and leaped out of the pavilion, walking towards the old well, pinching the gold-powder talisman borrowed from Lin Shouyi between his fingers.

Lin Shouyi shouted softly, “Cui Dongshan, what are you doing?!”

The white-clad youth had a playful smile on his face. He walked to the well, facing Lin Shouyi in the pavilion. The youth, Cui Chan, raised his fingers high, gently shaking the talisman between his fingers, and retreated, sliding into the well. At the same time, he silently recited, “Water Avoidance.”