Xu Dao stood on the edge of the mist and did not immediately go deeper. He called a skeleton, took the clothes from the skeleton's hands, and gathered them up carefully.
When the scraping was completed, Xu Dao smiled on his face, threw the clothes out of the mist, and strode into the mist.
Walking in the mist, Xu Dao would hear crows chirping from time to time. As soon as he looked up, he would find crows with red eyes staring closely at him on the treetops.
These crows have jet black feathers, their eyes are eerily glowing red, and their beaks are sharp. They seem to covet the flesh and blood of Xu Dao and won't look away for a long time.
Xu Dao did not look at these crows, nor did he dare to drive them away. He just walked with his head buried in the thin mist.
There is something strange about the White Bone Temple. Taoist disciples who have entered the realm of refining qi will often have their yin spirits leave their bodies and move around hiding in the bodies of livestock. Maybe the crow on the tree is the pet of a certain Taoist disciple and is hiding the other person's yin spirit.
If Xu Dao offends the opponent, although the temple is not allowed to kill people easily, the hierarchy in the temple is also very strict. Those at the Taoist level have sufficient excuses. Killing a Taoist boy will only be fined a few talisman money.
Xu Dao walked with his head down, from the forest to the stairs covered with black stone bricks, and then walked straight along the wide stairs.
Pedestrians came and went from time to time on the road, either alone or in groups, but everyone kept their heads down and walked in a hurry, and no one spoke.
The atmosphere in the White Bone Temple was depressing. As soon as Xu Dao entered the mist, he also put on a mask with a dull expression on his face.
Finally, Xu Dao passed through a stone door built with skeletons and entered the real temple. He met more and more pedestrians. Occasionally, he could hear some conversations, but they were all in low voices, for fear of shocking someone.
Xu Dao avoided these crowds and slowly walked to a remote place along the path in his memory.
After a while, a series of low stone houses appeared in his eyes. The stone houses were piled up haphazardly, and wastewater flowed across the ditches. On the road in the middle, there were occasionally people wearing Taoist robes coming and going, all of them with pale and gloomy faces.
This is the residence of the Taoist boy in White Bone Temple.
Xu Dao looked at the simple and dirty environment in his eyes and thought to himself: "After entering the realm of Qi refining, you must move out of this place as soon as possible."
In the White Bone Temple, Taoist boys belong to the first class of slave boys, and their status is only better than that of mortals without magic power.
If you want to obtain a new residence and live alone, you can only achieve Qi Refining and be promoted to a Taoist disciple.
Fortunately, in the first three years after entering the temple, the Taoist boy does not have to be busy with chores. The temple will arrange food and drink, and even give out a talisman every month for the Taoist boy's spiritual needs.
However, if after three years, the Taoist boy has not yet entered the realm of Qi refining, he will be relegated to the level of a handyman and slave, doing chores in the temple.
At this time, there will no longer be regular payments every month, and all needs will depend on income from labor.
And this year is the third year for Xu Dao and his group of Taoist boys.
To be more precise, in just over a month, most of them will be beaten into slaves and sent to various places to do chores.
Faced with this situation, the Taoist boys who are about to expire for three years are all in danger, racking their brains and racking their brains to break through to the realm of Qi refining. If there is no hope of breakthrough, they all try their best to win.
The money is intended to be used for future bribes.
Because after a Taoist boy is sent to work as a handyman, he will not only be busy with chores and miscellaneous things, which will hinder his practice, but he may also lose his protection and become a human being.
It was precisely for this reason that Xu Dao came down the mountain for three months. He verbally wanted to practice and pass on the letter from the temple, but in fact he wanted to take advantage of the opportunity and even defected.
To give a few examples, the Taoist boys who watch the furnace for alchemy in the temple are used to test medicines from time to time to test the medicinal properties of the medicines. As a result, as many as 30% of the people died suddenly, and many others were disabled by poisoning.
And activities such as raising monsters and mining spiritual mines are also some of the major factors that lead to the death of Taoist boys.
Therefore, once the Taoist boys have no money to bribe the assigned deacons, they need to worry about their lives at all times.
When Xu Dao thought of this, his heart suddenly tightened. Although the White Bone Temple was a place of cultivation, he could not help but be wary of the weak and the strong in the temple.
With various thoughts in mind, Xu Dao walked to an ordinary stone house. He recognized the house and pushed the door open.
There were candles as thick as a baby's arms burning brightly in the house, making the room bright and not as dark as the outside. The house was extremely simple, with no tables or chairs, only four stone beds.
Xu Dao walked in and saw a person sitting cross-legged on one of the stone beds.
The other party was also wearing a gray Taoist robe, with a cold face, and was squinting his eyes slightly, not knowing whether he was meditating and practicing, or thinking.
Xu Dao guessed it was the latter.
Because visualization practice requires a quiet environment, White Bone Temple has specially set up a curfew for this purpose. Yin soldiers will patrol through the house every night to prevent disturbing other people's practice.
Sure enough, as soon as Xu Dao walked in, the other party opened his eyes and said, "Xu Dao?"
The voice was slightly cold, but as clear as a bell. It was that of a woman.
In the White Bone Temple, Taoist-level men and women live together, and there is no distinction between male and female rooms. The person sitting cross-legged in the stone room in front of me is a woman among Xu Taoist roommates.
The other party had cold eyebrows and was about the same age as Xu Dao. She looked at Xu Dao, her eyes fell on the skeleton behind Xu Dao, and then said in surprise: "White Fox!"
The red-eyed white fox's limbs were broken, but it was not dead yet. It looked wilted and looked pitiful and cute in the eyes of others. Perhaps it heard other people's voices, and the fox still suppressed its whine and cried out: "
Chirp..."
Xu Dao looked at the visitor, bowed his head and said, "Fellow Taoist You Bing, I haven't seen you in three months."
After Xu Dao accepted the task of delivering letters, he went down the mountain for three months. This is why Ma Pi told him "I won't see you in three months."
You Bing has a cold temperament. When she saw Xu Dao, although her eyes were inexplicably filled with joy, her expression remained the same. After seeing the red-eyed white fox, her face showed a rare expression of emotion.
Xu Dao glanced at this person and walked to his own stone bed. He returned to the stone house to take away some sundries to facilitate his subsequent retreat.
While Xu Dao was sorting out, You Bing, who was sitting cross-legged beside him, said, "I wonder if you are prepared for what's coming next?"
When Xu Dao heard this, he knew that the other party was asking about the same batch of Taoist boys who would be beaten as handymen after three years. He pondered for a while and replied: "There are still more than a month, we will talk about it later."
You Bing paused and said: "Of the four people in the room, currently only Yu Yangyan has broken through to the realm of Qi refining. I wonder if you have someone to rely on?"
Yu Yangyan is the fourth person in the room besides Xu Dao, You Bing and Ma Pi.
Xu Dao was slightly surprised when he heard that Yu Yangyan had broken through to the realm of Qi refining, but when he remembered that the other party's family was rich, he understood.
It was impossible for Xu Dao to answer You Bing's question, but the relationship between the two of them was not bad on weekdays, so he casually said: "Without him, I'll just give it a try."
Perhaps realizing that he was being abrupt, You Bing fell silent for a moment.
Xu Dao ignored him and kept packing. After getting his things, he was ready to hand in the task, then went to the ghost market for shopping, and finally went directly to the quiet room for retreat.
You Bing sat cross-legged aside with a cold expression. She silently watched Xu Dao pack up. Just as Xu Dao finished packing and was about to leave, she suddenly said: "How long will you be in seclusion here?"
Xu Dao pondered for a moment and replied: "At least one month."
The two were speechless again
But when Xu Dao walked to the door, You Bing suddenly said on the stone bed:
"If you just stay in seclusion for the rest of the month, you won't be able to make a breakthrough. It's better to..."
When Xu Dao heard this, his footsteps stopped slightly. Before he could turn around, he heard the other party say again:
"You and I will try to practice together?"
Xu Dao raised his eyes and looked back at her with a strange expression.
You Bing's expression was cold and he whispered: "My Yuan Yin is still here, so I can help you and me practice..."