Chapter 5: Making Things Difficult

"No, I'd like to try it myself." Shen Luo smiled and said.

He still remembered that over a year ago, he asked for Luo Daoist to teach him the talisman technique. Normally gentle Master Luo directly refused him, even when he offered an astronomical price of 200 gold coins, the other party was still unmoved.

Master Luo made it clear, the talisman technique taught in the Pavilion was not a swindling trick used by the fraudsters in the world outside, but a real secret technique that could only be learned by inner sect disciples who possessed mana. Even an official outer sect disciple could hardly dream of learning it, let alone a registered disciple like him.

"Okay, I'll bring some for you." Bai Xiaotian nodded after hearing him out.

"If possible, see if you can get some chicken blood and black dog blood from the restaurant." Shen Luo added as he saw him about to leave.

"I know you often read some miscellaneous books, but don't take too seriously the things written by those literati..." Bai Xiaotian frowned and said.

Being one of the only three inner disciples, naturally, he could get access to the real talisman technique. However, due to the stringent rules of the sect, even if he had a good relationship with Shen Luo, he would not reveal even a bit of it.

"Don't worry, I know my limits and won't mess around." Shen Luo yawned and vaguely replied.

Knowing that persuasion was useless, Bai Xiaotian just raised his hand and turned to leave.

Watching his figure disappear into the forest, the smile gradually faded from Shen Luo's face.

He knew that the other party was concerned about his missteps out of good intentions, but only he understood his own predicament.

It's not that he wanted to engage in these devious ways, but his limited lifespan forced him to seek another way out.

The Yin Qi invaded his body more than two years ago, which had damaged his vitality. These two years on the mountain, he relied more on the "Red Snow Powder" taken every three months to sustain his life.

Even so, he still felt that his body was deteriorating. Walking a little more than usual would cause him to pant. Especially last winter, even when he was wearing a fur coat, he still felt chilly inside, with his limbs icy cold.

The reason why he took the medicine only once every three months was not that he couldn't afford that hundred taels of silver, but that it could maximize the effectiveness of the medicine. More frequent consumption would be not only wasteful but also possibly counterproductive. Master Luo did not allow it.

As for cultivating the Small Transformation Yang Skill, his progress was too slow. Up until today, he had just entered the beginners' phase. But even with this rate of cultivation, he was inferior to the outer disciples with the worst foundations in the Pavilion. Moreover, as Master Luo said, even if the technique was mastered, it would increase one's lifespan by at most 10 to 20 years.

But given his cultivation speed, he's afraid he might not have a chance to master it and might die first.

He had paid a heavy price to come to this mountain daoist temple, not just to prolong his life for a few more years.

Shen Luo silently pondered while slowly heading down the mountain.

The Spring and Autumn Pavilion nestled back against Qinghua Mountain and was built on the mountain side. Apart from the mountain gate close to the mid-mountain, the rest of the buildings such as Lingguan Hall and Jade Emperor Hall are distributed up the slope. The most important San Qing Temple is at the top of the mountain.

Apart from the inner disciples, the living quarters of the other disciples are concentrated on the mountainside cliffs on both sides of the mountain path from the mountain gate to Lingguan Hall. Because the terrain here is still relatively open, almost everyone can have a room to themselves.

The Pavilion has few restrictions on the cultivation of its disciples. Except for the teaching days when all disciples are required to go to San Qing Temple to listen to Master Luo and other elders explain the Taoist classics, they do not need to do morning lessons together at other times.

After all, the Pavilion has already given the Small Transformation Yang Skill to every disciple. Everyone then practices according to their own abilities.

The place where Shen Luo cultivated was not far from the Jade Emperor Hall, and he had already returned to the square in front of the hall.

As he approached the palace door, he didn't enter. Instead, he kowtowed outside the palace, took a break, then turned around and was about to leave towards the downhill direction by the stone steps.

"Isn't this Junior Brother Shen? Have you returned from your cultivation? How is it? Have you made it into the Small Transformation Yang Skill?" At this moment, a familiar voice came from inside the hall.

Shen Luo sighed inwardly and turned around.

As he had expected, it was Brother Ding who didn't get along with him on usual days. The man hadn't even stepped over the threshold and a bulging belly had already poked out of the door.

Behind him were two young men dressed in green cloth Daoist robes. One held a broom in his hand and the other held a water bucket, looking as if they had just finished their cleaning duties.

"I greet all Fellow Senior Brothers." The amiable smile had returned to Shen Luo's face as he greeted the others.

"Junior Brother Shen, it's not that I want to belittle you. When cultivating the Small Transformation Yang Skill, one mustn't be too hasty for success. Despite the fact you haven't made any progress in two years, you shouldn't be too anxious. After all, there's plenty of time in the future. The issue with your aptitude... there's no point rushing, just continue to work hard..." Brother Ding found Shen Luo polite and so first comforted him with false pretenses, then began to lecture him in a senior brother's tone.

"Thank you for your concern, Senior Brother. I've managed to luckily enter the threshold today. Brother Bai has confirmed it too." Shen Luo blinked and casually responded.

"Wha...What, you've entered the threshold? Bai Xiaotian also knows?" Brother Ding was taken aback, his face immediately looking slightly unwell.

The other two teenagers also looked at Shen Luo in astonishment, surprise filling their eyes.

After all, they knew about Shen Luo's situation. Otherwise, they wouldn't have struggled to make progress after two years of hard cultivation.

According to their private guess, given Shen Luo's physical condition, even if he continues to cultivate for another three or five years, he might not be able to enter the threshold.

Shen Luo had anticipated their reactions, but did not say anything more, just smiling and nodding.

Brother Ding's eyes flashed with frustration. If Bai Xiaotian didn't know about it, he could first conceal it and then try to cancel the bet. But since the other party already knew, he really lost the bet.

"If there is nothing else, then I won't disturb the Fellow Senior Brothers duty working." Shen Luo smiled and bowed to the three of them again.

"Wait a minute, Junior Brother Shen, don't be in such a hurry to leave. Although Bai Xiaotian has confirmed it, he's only just entered the threshold, and he could have been mistaken. How about letting your Senior Brother confirm it once more?" Brother Ding's eyes slanted, he said with a smile yet not a smile.

At his words, Shen Luo's heart immediately became a bit displeased.

This Brother Ding didn't really have any grudge with him, but he had a big conflict with Bai Xiaotian.

The reason was simple. Ding Yuan, the biological younger brother of this Senior Brother Ding, was also a disciple of the Spring and Autumn Pavilion. Like Bai Xiaotian, he was one of the three core disciples of the Pavilion.

Ding Hua was apprenticed to the Pavilion Master, Bai Xiaotian to Luo Daoist and another to Elder Master Wang. The three of them were the highest ranked in terms of cultivation talent in the Pavilion and naturally competed with each other openly and secretly.

"I think there's no need for it. Senior Brother Ding is busy with his cultivational duties, you don't need to worry about me." The smile on Shen Luo's face faded.

Although he was courteous to people on usual days, he was not a pushover.

He knew clearly when to show some hardness and when to make concessions.

"Junior Brother Shen, how can you speak to Senior Brother Ding like that? He's being nothing but kind," said one of the men behind Ding Yuan sternly.