My name is Zhong Rui. Master said he picked me up from a mass grave at the foot of the mountain. At that time, I still had a silver longevity lock around my neck and a note in my swaddling clothes.
It only has my date of birth and birth date written on it, and there is almost nothing else besides that.
The word "Zhong Rui" was engraved on the longevity lock, so Master gave me this name. From then on, I lived with Master in this immortal temple.
Originally, Master was still interested in helping me find my parents, but after reading the birth dates on the note, Master gave up that idea.
I was born in the year of Renshen, the month of Gengwu, the day of Guihai, and the hour of Renzi.
This horoscope, according to the "Shenluo Xiangren Sutra" taught to me by my master, is the fate of the evil star, Gu Chen, the natural evil star.
Marriage is difficult, relatives and friends are punished, six relatives are missing, and brothers are few, so I was abandoned by my parents when I was still in my infancy...
Fortunately, Master is a monk himself, so we have been able to get along with each other peacefully over the years.
Although Dengxian Temple is said to be a Taoist temple, it is located deep in the mountains.
Except for the occasional nearby mountain folk who come in to collect herbs or occasionally come in to ask for a drink of water, it's usually just me and the master.
Master treated me as his own child. He not only taught me to read and write, but also passed on all his skills to me.
However, due to the nature of a child, I really have no interest in the medical skills, divination, fortune-telling, spells, and martial arts taught by my master. I will never study hard if I can catch fish all day long.
Until I was eight years old, a family of three came to the mountains.
I remember clearly that the man was about thirty or forty years old, wearing a pair of thick gold-rimmed glasses, a white shirt, navy blue suit pants, and shiny leather shoes.
Although the woman standing next to him was ordinary-looking, she had a dark mole under her left eye in the uterus.
If you think about it now, this is a typical image of restraining one's children.
They held a dying little girl and followed the master in the backyard for a long time, kowtowing and begging.
After struggling for three days and three nights, I finally felt sorry for them, so I went with them to beg Master.
I only remember that Master's expression was very complicated at that time. He touched my head and said nothing for a long time. However, Master finally agreed to something.
Then, they stayed in the Taoist temple for seven days. It was not until seven days later that they drifted away with great gratitude.
After they left that day, Master told me that I had an extra daughter-in-law named Liu Mei.
Before I turn twenty-three, I must go to the Liu family in Fancheng to propose marriage. Don’t forget it!
However, I was very young at that time and grew up in the mountains, so I really had no idea what a wife was.
However, after they left, Master, who had always been in good health, actually started taking medicine.
I had to drink three large bowls of herbal medicine every morning and evening, but the master never let me see what kind of medicine I drank.
Even I was not allowed to look at the dregs of the medicine. I peeked several times secretly, but my master discovered them all. After being beaten, I never paid more attention to this matter.
However, thinking of Liu Mei being held in her arms by her parents, I asked Master about my parents for the first time.
I still remember the complicated look in Master's eyes at that time, but Master still didn't explain it to me in detail.
I just say that I have learned all the master's skills and can go down the mountain to find them.
From that day on, I seemed to have found a new goal. In order to find my parents, the things taught by Master no longer seemed so obscure.
The mountains are pure and time passes slowly.
On the day of my eighteenth birthday, I finally mastered the most obscure Taoist secret teaching technique to a small level.
I still remember that Master was very happy that day and dug out two jars of wine that he had hidden under the big pine tree at the door.
That night, Master specially asked me to kneel in the middle of the main hall and salute to the Sanqing statues in the main hall. Then he took me to the side hall and knelt three times and kowtowed nine times in front of dozens of portraits.
Big gift.
Then, he passed a sapphire ring on his hand to me, and told me that from that day on, I would be the thirty-sixth generation successor of the Qingwei Sect of the Dao Sect.
Finally, he gave me half a thread-bound copy of "Qingweixuanshu Zhenjie" wrapped in oil paper, and told me to practice the spells on it every day from now on.
Before you learn the above three kinds of spells, you are absolutely not allowed to do divination for others. Before you master the guidance technique, you are absolutely not allowed to do anything with others, and you are not allowed to leak the fact that I hold this book...
After saying this, the master also knelt down in front of the statue and cried loudly, like a child in confinement. He only said that he was sorry for the master and could not bring glory to the master.
Then, he made me cry and laugh again, and I don’t know why.
Although I was a little confused, listening to the tone of Master's words, I always felt that Master seemed to be explaining the funeral arrangements.
That day, Master drank a lot of wine. After drinking too much, he chatted with me for a long time.
Master told me that although my destiny is very tough, I will have a life and death disaster when I am twenty-three years old. After that, my life will be peaceful, but everything will come to an end.
If I want to survive this calamity, I either need help from noble people, or I have to rely on myself to resist.
Master has done the math for me, and my noble wife is my unmarried daughter-in-law, Liu Mei!
Therefore, Master asked me to propose marriage to the Liu family when I was twenty years old, and also gave me a marriage certificate signed by their father and daughter.
At that time, I just thought that Master had drunk too much, but I didn’t think much about it. After carrying Master back to the room, I went back to read.
However, when it was three poles up the next day, the master still didn't get up, and I realized that something was wrong.
When I pushed open the door of Master's room, Master was no longer breathing...
It was the first time in my life that I experienced separation, and I cried for a long time because of my ignorance. Only then did I realize that Master seemed to have prepared my funeral a long time ago.
I got up in the middle of the night, put on a pair of old Taoist robes, and left me a letter.
Master told me repeatedly in my heart that before I turn twenty-three, I must marry Liu Mei as husband and wife. Only in this way can my fate as a lonely star in the sky be solved.
However, after it was resolved, the skills I learned from my master disappeared. As for the inheritance of my sect, my master did not mention it at all.
Only then did I understand why Master cried so sadly last night. It turned out that Master was planning to use his sect’s inheritance to exchange for my peace for the rest of my life.
Master said that the master-disciple relationship was the blessing he gave me in exchange for his thirty years of life...
When I saw this, I burst into tears again, and then I understood what I was begging for them back then!
That is my master’s life span of thirty years!
The master said that Liu Mei died ten years ago, and it was because of his thirty years of life, plus Liu Mei's father's fifteen years of life, that he finally blocked that disaster for her.
It is precisely because of this that Liu Mei's fate began to become strange, which can just resolve the fate of me, a lonely star of evil spirits.
He also specifically told me that if they regretted their marriage, they would have to return the betrothal gift he had paid back then. When the time comes, Master will naturally have means to check and balance.
Full of regret, I knelt in front of Master and did not eat any water or rice for seven days and seven nights. It was not until Uncle Gangzi who went into the mountains to collect herbs found out that he saved me with a bowl of rice soup.
After I woke up, with the help of Uncle Gang, I reluctantly helped Master finish the posthumous affairs.
After burying Master, I always felt that Master's soul was still in this Taoist temple, accompanying me every morning and dusk in the mountains.
Time passed slowly, and my mood finally calmed down. While helping Master to keep vigil, I also studied the "True Interpretation of Qingweixuanshu" that Master left for me.
Until that day, several young men in black suits came to the door...