Chapter 4: The Forbidden Grounds of the Taoist Temple

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At dawn's first light, a faint blue-purple hue spread across the horizon, mingling with the gentle mist drifting through the mountains. Occasionally, a few late-falling leaves floated slowly down in the morning breeze.

“Breathing techniques are the foundation of harmonizing yin and yang, balancing qi and blood, and strengthening internal energy,” Zhuang Yun spoke slowly.

“Perhaps, after a millennium, the cultivation methods you use have become fragmented and incomplete.”

“Today, I will teach you the ‘Pure Heart and Focused Mind Technique.’”

The disciples formed a circle, each holding their breath and focusing their gaze intently on Zhuang Yun.

“Calm your mind, concentrate your spirit, and feel the flow of qi within your body.” Following Zhuang Yun’s guidance, the disciples began adjusting their breathing, attempting to center their attention on their dantian.

However, when Zhuang Yun opened her eyes again, she saw their faces flushed red, beads of sweat forming as if they were on the verge of losing control.

Alarmed, she acted swiftly, striking each of their chests with a fist and expelling a black mist—that was the stagnant, impure qi clogging their bodies.

“This shouldn’t be happening.”

Zhuang Yun traced the Ren meridian on her third junior brother with her fingers, which were frosted with a shimmering blue frost. “Drinking iced cola during the Dog hour? The Du meridian’s frozen solid like quick-frozen dumplings!”

Suddenly, she spun around, flicking her sleeve. The swirling air lifted the floor tiles—

Within the crack was a cluster of sizzling black mist. Using a light-brain scanner to investigate, it was identified as the “Soul Devouring Gu, Model Three (X Corporation Military Issue),” with instructions noting “suitable for suppressing spiritual energy.”

Zhuang Yun’s gaze fixed on the land before her, her eyes deep and dark. Inwardly, she pondered, “The Daoist temple is so weakened now, someone must be deliberately suppressing it.”

“What’s wrong, Grandmaster?” Zhuang Qi Tong looked at Zhuang Yun’s troubled expression, feeling something amiss.

The disciples’ hearts filled with doubt as well. Could it be that their aptitude was too poor? They looked crestfallen, as if all hope had vanished in that moment.

“What are you thinking? As long as you are disciples of the Yunyin Temple, none of you are inferior!” Zhuang Yun’s voice was firm and powerful, infusing everyone with endless courage.

“The formation must have been damaged. Let’s go to the Qianqiong Garden.”

Qianqiong Garden, the location of the Yunyin Temple’s formation, lay on the mountain behind the temple.

The withered roots of a maple tree entwined with the wreckage of a mech armor. The tree rings bore a bronze compass embedded within a tree hollow, from which mechanical chanting echoed: “In the Northern Sea, there is a fish named Kun...”

Zhuang Qi Tong muttered, “So this place actually exists? Master never told me.”

He had always assumed it was just an old, abandoned house and had never set foot there.

Yet, when he first entered this eerie place, he couldn’t help but feel a stir of emotion.

Hearing this, Zhuang Yun’s resolve only deepened. An important forbidden area of the temple, hidden from the heir—someone must have maliciously concealed it.

“I didn’t know about this place before. Later, out of curiosity, I snuck in secretly. Probably no one has discovered it yet.”

Zhuang Yun recalled the past, her heart filled with both nostalgia and suspicion.

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No, that’s not right! Even though I didn’t have the token to enter here, the formation was personally taught to me by Master. Could it be that all of this is fated? Zhuang Yun was greatly astonished.

The thick dust inside the room made everyone cough uncontrollably.

Zhuang Yun carefully felt along the cracked walls until she found a protrusion.

With a slight transmission of internal energy and a gentle press, a door appeared on the wall.

Along the corridor, ancient divine beasts were painted on the stone walls. The old, weathered wall lamps flickered intermittently, casting mottled shadows.

At this moment, it was so quiet that only the sound of heartbeats and breathing could be heard.

“Be careful, there are traps here. Follow my footsteps closely.”

Before the words had finished, the sharp whizzing sounds of concealed arrows suddenly shot out from the walls on both sides of the corridor, flying as fast as meteors streaking across the night sky, glinting with deadly chill.

The eldest brother reacted swiftly, drawing his sword and rushing forward to block the onslaught. Sparks flew everywhere.

“Follow me, remember where I step!”

The group followed Zhuang Yun, each step precisely landing on specific patterns on the corridor floor.

“Keep up!” When Zhuang Yun stepped on a loose floor tile, beneath the bluestone slab appeared a half-pack of “Pepper Salt Fasting Pills” produced in the Interstellar Era, bearing the “Lin” brand logo. The production date was the very day Zhuang Yun had transmigrated.

They passed through the passage, reaching the end where a hundred-meter-high stone cavern awaited.

Zhuang Yun softly chanted the incantation, and a grand formation materialized before their eyes, golden light illuminating the entire cave.

The disciples gazed in awe at the magnificent and resplendent formation.

Yet, with a quick glance, Zhuang Yun detected something amiss. Deep within the formation’s black hole flickered chains, and a crack appeared on the east side, allowing impure external forces to seep in and poison the Daoist heart. No wonder the disciples had no progress despite such long cultivation.

But who could have destroyed it? Zhuang Yun put aside her doubts for the moment.

“Watch closely.”

Zhuang Yun formed hand seals with lightning speed, her fingers deftly weaving through the air as spiritual power swiftly gathered around her.

Murmuring the incantation: “From Dao comes all things, like a mirror reflecting emptiness, unbound by form, unshackled by matter.”

She bit her finger, and blood was quickly absorbed into the formation.

The golden light grew even more dazzling.

As Zhuang Yun’s blood merged with the formation, the bronze array lines moved as if alive.

A holographic projection appeared on the ground: a scene of Daoist disciples forming a formation three thousand years ago, overlapping with their present figures. The third junior brother’s mechanical arm suddenly synchronized, releasing a blue lotus shadow.

“This formation!” Zhuang Yun shouted.

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“Unite!”

With her shout, the black hole in the formation vanished without a trace.

Suddenly, a golden light entered Zhuang Yun’s forehead, transporting her into another space where three thousand years of time flashed rapidly before her eyes—rituals collapsed, music and rites fell apart, nine kingdoms fought for supremacy, and the world was unified... In an instant, a millennium was traversed.

The disciples noticed nothing unusual, marveling at Zhuang Yun’s astonishing power and silently memorizing the incantations and hand seals.

“Truly worthy of being Grandmaster!”

Zhuang Yun opened her eyes again, seeing the same scene as before. The restoration of the formation had consumed seventy percent of her internal energy.

“Woo~ woo~”

Zhuang Qi Tong’s light-brain vibrated nonstop, receiving dozens of messages at once and automatically downloading the “Mech Meridian Transformation Guide · Authored by Zhuang Fenglu.”

“Hey, there’s a signal!” Zhuang Qi Tong exclaimed excitedly.

“Wow, after all these years! Finally a signal!” the junior disciple joyfully echoed.

“Master, what’s going on?” the second senior sister asked curiously.

“Well, they want me to pay the rent quickly,” Zhuang Qi Tong scratched his head embarrassedly.

...

“First, try practicing the breathing method I taught you.”

Everyone sat down to meditate, gradually feeling a warm qi flow slowly circulating within—the first sign of internal energy awakening.

The second senior sister exhaled white breath that condensed into a miniature mech, while the eldest brother’s palm lines shimmered with circuit patterns.

The third junior brother suddenly opened his eyes: “Grandmaster! I heard the Wi-Fi password! It’s ‘The Dao that can be told is not the eternal Dao’!”

“It worked! Thank you, Grandmaster!” The disciples’ faces lit up with surprise and joy, filled with gratitude.

Zhuang Yun looked at them, her heart overflowing with warmth.

Overnight, she was no longer the little junior sister who secretly followed behind her brothers, breaking rules to eat meat. Now, she would do everything in her power to be responsible for the temple.

“All right, then you cultivate well. Your master and I will—”

“Go!”

“Pay!”

“The rent!”