Chapter 21: Tempering in the Mortal World

  So, every day before dawn, Master and I were dragged out of bed by our respective masters. Then we would rush to the temple to practice until daylight. With diligent training for two months, both Master and I reached a new level in terms of magic and physical reflexes. Of course, the price we paid was also enormous.

  Not to mention the various incantations and scriptures that we had to memorize, but even the actual combat training with our masters every day left us both exhausted. The two old men seemed to have a special fondness for tormenting people. Various incantations, scriptures, and talismans were used on me and Deng Cao without mercy. At first, each master trained their own disciple, but after getting bored, they started exchanging disciples to torture. It wasn't until the end that Deng Cao and I could withstand a round of fierce attacks from these two old men before they finally stopped temporarily!

  No wonder, after all the commotion, we barely managed to fend off Master's first wave of attacks. Through actual combat training with Master, I finally understood just how vast the gap between us was. With Master's grasp of Taoist techniques, he still got injured on his trip to Kunlun. If it were me, a mere amateur, wouldn't that be a journey from which I'd never return? Recognizing the gap, I became even more diligent and meticulous in my cultivation of Taoist techniques. This matter concerns my very life. If I slack off now, who knows when I'll meet my demise? I want to live to be a hundred years old, and I still need to carry on the family legacy.

  Affected by me, the lamp grass also buried its head and studied hard. There is no lack of meaning in competing with me here. With competition, there will be progress, regardless of where it is, this is an eternal truth.

  Because of my performance, Master Qinglian has been muttering to herself every day in front of the lamp grass, just like a parent nagging their child: "Why is someone else's grades so good? Why can't your grades compare to theirs?" That's roughly the idea.

  After a long time of murmuring to himself, Deng Cao suddenly enlightened. In order not to let his nerves be tortured again, he made up his mind and plunged into the world of scriptures with all his heart and soul.

  "Tempering iron with iron, sharpening the blade, and colliding with scriptures!" was the phrase that Deng Cao said the most during this period. The consequence of colliding was that within an extremely short period of time, Deng Cao completed tasks that outsiders thought were impossible to complete. He had memorized all the scriptures stored in Lingquan Temple. Even the Buddhist techniques of Qinglian Shibo were learned by him to a certain extent.

  In two months' time, I and Lamp Grass are like a completely different person. This is all thanks to Master's teachings, as well as oppression. People, damn it, really are forced out of desperation.

  Looking back, if Master didn't push me like this, I probably wouldn't have reached this level until two or three years later. Who knows what will happen in two or three years? In this world, everything is changing so rapidly.

  "Meng Meng, and Deng Cao! You two come over here for a moment." One day after lunch, I was lying on the couch with my legs crossed, dozing off, when I heard Master's voice beside my ear.

  "What's going on, Master? It's already midday!" I said to my master and his wife as Lian Cao and I entered the west wing of their residence.

  "You two also stayed at Lingquan Temple for over two months, and you both suffered through a hard practice for over two months. Jade that is not polished will not become a useful vessel, always staying in the theoretical stage, having a hundred harms but no benefits to your cultivation. So, I discussed with Qinglian Shibo, we decided to let you go into the mundane world to temper yourselves for a period of time, to let you integrate and understand those things that you previously memorized." Master said slowly while stroking his beard.

  "Good, Lamp Grass. This time you're following your senior brother to the mortal world for training, don't let the red lights and green wine confuse you. Remember, the purpose of training is to enable you to resist the temptations from the mortal world in the future. Miao Miao junior brother, I'm entrusting this journey to you." After hearing Qing Lian's instructions, I secretly thought to myself: This seemingly loyal Lamp Grass doesn't seem as pure as I imagined! Hmm, it can't be that simple! Why else would Qing Lian be so worried about him?

  "Master Qinglian, rest assured that I will assist and watch over each other with Dian Cao on the way." I humbly bowed to Master Qinglian.

  "So, I can rest assured now!" Qinglian Shibo looked at me with a faint smile and turned the Buddhist beads in her hand.

  "Master!" After chatting with Shifu's wife for a while, I turned around and stretched out my hand to Master.

  "What's going on?" The master's eyelids twitched twice, and he asked through gritted teeth.

  "You know!" I still stretched out my palm in front of him.

  "No!" The master's killing intent was palpable.

  "You want me and Deng Cao to go into the mortal world to beg for food?" I withdrew my hand, picked at my nose and said.

  "Wealth is like dirt, beauty is like a skull. You two, remember this!" The master said with a thick face.

  "Disciple requests Master's gift of a few turds." I said unyieldingly.

  "Hmmph!" The master cleared his throat, seemingly ready to explode.

  "The master's nephew and inferior disciple went out to practice, but it wouldn't be right without some silver money. As a master, I also have nothing valuable on me. Lantern, wait a bit, you and Mingming Master Nephew go to the main hall and open the merit box." In the end, Qinglian Master Aunt couldn't bear it anymore, and with a painful expression, she ordered Lantern to open the merit box and take out the incense money inside.

  "This temple of yours, the incense offerings aren't very good, are they!" After unlocking the iron lock on the merit box with a key, I glanced at the few pieces of renminbi at the bottom of the box and curled my lip in disdain, saying to the lamp grass beside me.

  "In front of the Buddha, can't you be more tactful?!" Lamp Grass stretched out his hand and swept the few 5-yuan and 10-yuan bills from the bottom of the box into his own pocket, blinking his eyes as he looked up at the statue of the coming Buddha.

  "How much?" I asked, tapping on the lamp post's shoulder after re-locking the donation box.

  "25 yuan and 50 cents!" Dēng cǎo carefully pulled out the few banknotes from his wallet, counted them again and again, and finally said to me with certainty.

  "Alas, the two of us don't even have enough money to get to the train station." I rubbed my nose and let Lamp Grass put the money into his own pocket. Looking at his cautious appearance, I couldn't help but secretly scold him as "useless!"

  "We can walk there!" The lamp grass raised its hand to touch its own bald head, but instead touched the lampwick's body. Helplessly putting down its hand, it said to me.

  "Hmm! That makes sense, then let's continue walking along the railway. By this time next year, we can leave Zhejiang Province!"

  "Ah!"

  "What the heck, just these two coins, not even enough for us to eat a meal. Hurry up, you go find Master Qinglian, I'll go find my master. Whatever we can get is what we'll get, this can't be it, just letting us wander around Hangzhou city twice and calling it training in the mortal world?"

  "What's wrong with your head? Why do you look like a Buddha? Are you going to become a Buddha on the spot?" Half an hour later, I saw Deng Cao again. This time, he had a big package on his head, and his beloved cat, Deng Xin, was being held in his arms with a pitiful expression.

  "I was beaten by my master with dozens of ruler sticks. Brother, I have no hope here! How about you?" The lamp grass put the wick on his shoulder and asked me while sucking in cold air. It seems that as long as it's a matter of money, not to mention ordinary people, even a high-ranking monk like Qinglian Shibo will turn against their own kin.

  "Unless the mountain is flat and heaven and earth are united, they won't give me money!" I rubbed my nose and shrugged awkwardly.

  "Alas! Let's take it one step at a time. My master just said that tomorrow morning, we'll be leaving Lingquan Temple." Denglao raised his head with some melancholy and said slowly.

  "This is to be cut off from all means of escape! Younger brother, from now on we'll have to rely on each other for survival." I walked over to the side of Lamp Grass and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with him, sighing as I gazed up at the sky.

  "There's still a wick!" said the lamp grass, taking the wick off its shoulder and teasing it for a bit.

  "Alright, and the lamp wick!" I raised my hand to touch the messy hair on my head, nodding. It's been several months since I last had a haircut, and it was just barely long enough to tie up into a ponytail on top of my head now. I touched my ponytail again, then looked at the bright and shiny bald head of the lamp grass. For some reason, I felt a sense of superiority, and my mood improved a lot because of it.

  "Unbelievable! Come here, you guys, and take a look at these two. How old are they? They dare to come out and learn fortune-telling from others. By the way, did you guys ask me before setting up your stall here?"

  Driven out of Lingquan Temple by Master and Mistress, I and Dengcao wandered around Hangzhou City with our shoulders together, and then decided to earn enough travel expenses first, and then go to Wudang Mountain to find the new White Tiger they mentioned. Finally, go to the Northeast to find the Zhuque who is farthest from us. Until the day when the four of us gather together, the training task will be considered completed.

  After some deliberation, I and Denglcao decided to set up a small stall by the Qiantang River to tell fortunes for people and earn some petty cash. Thanks to the popularity of "The Legend of New White Snake", the Qiantang River has now become a tourist destination. With many tourists around, our chances of swindling people have also increased. Perhaps in just a few days, we'll be able to earn enough money for our expenses.

  But we are still inexperienced and don't know that where there are many tourists, there are also many swindlers. Why? It's all about money. Where there are many people, those thieves can easily take action, and those who bump into you on purpose will have the opportunity. And most of the people who come to visit Qiantang River are outsiders.

  There's a saying that goes, "A mighty dragon doesn't oppress the local snake." Even if tourists know they've been cheated, most of them will just choose to swallow their anger. Unconsciously, this has also helped to inflate the arrogance of these scoundrels. In their eyes, people are becoming increasingly insignificant.

  This didn't happen on the second day I opened my stall. Someone came to cause trouble, and there were quite a few of them, about 4 or 5!

  "Is this preparing to build momentum, and then use the momentum to crush people?" I looked up at the young man in front of me, who was wearing a floral shirt on top and jeans on the bottom, with a floral headband tied around his head, looking very Hong Kong-style.

  "Are you deaf or something, old man?" The young fellow, seeing that I and the lamp grass weren't being as obsequious to them as we were to other merchants, suddenly became displeased. He raised his foot, ready to kick over our small stall!

  "Ah yo! Let go, you damn well let go, did you hear that?" Before his foot kicked the small stall, Deng Cao's hand had already reached out, and his fingers were like dragon claws, tightly grasping the man's ankle. Looking at the rascal again, he was now crying out in pain. However, even though the duck is dead, its mouth is still hard!