Chapter 382: Afterwards It Became Lively

“Treasure!”

Any normal cultivator, upon seeing Dharma money, would instinctively exclaim this word in their heart. The local Earth God of Lilong Township was no exception.

The coin in Mr. Ji's hand was larger and thicker than ordinary Wutong coins. Its gilded surface subtly concealed a divine essence, and a faint aura surrounded it, drawing nearby spiritual energy to coat it like a layer of spiritual film. The visible shimmering light also originated from this spiritual energy.

The Earth God could imagine that the coin's true marvels were still hidden within, not yet revealed.

He wanted it! Desperately wanted it!

“This, this... Ah, hehe, Mr. Ji, the coin in your hand is clearly a treasure. Are you sure you want to use this to buy ink?”

The Earth God had originally intended to say, “I cannot accept this treasure,” but his desire was too overwhelming. What came out instead was a question to Ji Yuan, confirming his intent.

All sentient beings have desires, both public and private. Their significance merely depends on one's perspective and needs, with no inherent hierarchy. Huangqiu was merely a minor village Earth God, whose exposure to treasures was naturally limited. How could he let such an opportunity slip away today?

Ji Yuan said nothing immediately. Instead, he directly handed over the Dharma coin. After a moment of feigned reluctance, the Earth God accepted the coin and clutched it in his hand, examining it from all angles.

“This item was refined by me, Ji. It is indeed a treasure. Strictly speaking, it's similar to the Dharma money some local customs involve, where sorcerers perform rituals and burn it for ancestors. The crucial difference lies in the spiritual techniques imbued within it, which are vastly superior.”

“Oh, I see, I see!”

Clutching the Dharma coin, the Earth God grew fonder of it with each passing moment. Holding it, he could more clearly sense the Dao essence emanating from it. He had heard of Dharma money before, and even seen some, but those items were incomparable to the treasure in his hand.

The Dharma coin in his hand possessed profound spiritual techniques, yet it was remarkably translucent and pure, without any impurities. Combined with the coin's ability to be wielded as one pleased, it was truly a versatile and excellent item for any purpose.

It could assist in casting spells and refining objects, and even serve as a last resort in life-threatening situations.

Moreover, the pure Dao essence within it carried a refreshing sensation. It's no exaggeration to say that this probably embodied an unfathomable "Dao Realm." With just a brief glance, the Earth God felt that if a cultivator made a mistake in their practice and showed signs of qi deviation, this Dharma coin could potentially bring them back.

The Earth God didn't know how profound Ji Yuan's cultivation truly was, but from all the clues he had seen and heard so far, any estimation of its depth would not be an overstatement.

“This is too precious, far too precious... This humble deity, I, I will certainly help Mr. Ji find more good ink!”

Returning it was absolutely out of the question, and the Earth God felt he had nothing that could possibly compare to the Dharma coin, so he could only say what he did.

Ji Yuan nodded with a smile.

“Then I shall trouble you, Earth God. Also, I won't go to Moyuan County. I'll just stay temporarily in your Earth Temple. That way, it will be convenient for you to find me when you have news. What do you think, Earth God?”

On one hand, he would wait for the Earth God to acquire the ink, and on the other, he would use the opportunity to thoroughly investigate the nature of these "characters."

The Earth God nodded repeatedly.

“Of course, of course! Mr. Ji's willingness to stay here brings immense honor to my humble temple. I will immediately send a dream to the temple attendant, telling him to prepare a guest room. Please follow me, Mr. Ji!”

With that, the Earth God hopped off the stone and extended his hand in invitation.

“Hm!”

Ji Yuan looked at the Sword Intent Scroll.

“Let's go together. Bring these inksticks and ink blocks. Since things have come to this, you can take these items. Don't let it happen again.”

Upon hearing this, a clamor of voices immediately erupted from the Sword Intent Scroll.

“Hahaha, thank you, great master!” “Thank you, great master!”

“Mine, mine, the one I have left is the biggest!”

“Go away, go away, mine is the biggest.”

“Ah, don't steal mine!” “Let go, let go!”

Ji Yuan shook his head at the noisy squabbling. With a sweep of his sleeve, he gathered the still-bickering letter spirits and inksticks, along with the Sword Intent Scroll, into his sleeve. Then, he looked down at the paper crane in his arms, which was carefully observing the scene, and said:

“You are not to learn from them!”

The Earth God, on the side, acted as if he had seen nothing. Only after Ji Yuan had finished did he lead the way, quickening his pace towards his Earth Temple with Ji Yuan following.

During this, he would occasionally take out the Dharma coin to examine it. After discovering that flicking it produced an endless echo, he would frequently flick it for fun, just like a child who had received a cherished toy.

This made Ji Yuan realize that perhaps his Dharma coin might be even more popular than he had imagined.

Moyuan County was renowned for its ink production. Inks produced in different townships within the county varied slightly depending on their location. Lilong Township primarily produced pine soot ink, supplemented by other types.

Moyuan County was considered one of the wealthiest counties in Tingliang State, with many prominent families having amassed their fortunes through ink production. Temples for deities were also frequently visited, so the Earth Temple in Lilong Township was not the small, dilapidated temple Ji Yuan had imagined. Instead, it was a grand temple complex with two expansive courtyards.

It also contained numerous side rooms and a hall for the so-called "Merit Donation List," which was essentially a ranking of who donated the most money to the temple. This money, however, never reached the Earth God; it all went into the temple attendant's pocket.

Today, the temple attendant was resting in a side room of the Earth Temple, while two temple workers naturally handled the temple's affairs.

He had only intended to rest, but the attendant unknowingly drifted off to sleep.

“Knock, knock, knock... Knock, knock, knock...”

The knocking sound startled the attendant awake.

“Who is it? I was just trying to get some sleep!”

“Knock, knock, knock...”

No one answered, but the knocking continued. The attendant, annoyed, got out of bed, went to the door, and opened it.

“Who is it?”

The moment he opened the door, there was no one in sight. Just as he thought it was a prank, his peripheral vision caught something below.

He looked down and saw a hunched old man, roughly half his height, standing at the doorway, leaning on a cane.

“Earth God!?”

The attendant gasped in shock. Although he had profited considerably from the Earth Temple, he paid homage to the Earth God every day. Even though he had only ever seen the clay statue before, he recognized the real deity at first glance.

Legends said many Earth Gods were short; it turned out to be true!

“Hmph, at least you have some discernment!”

The Earth God grunted and, without further ado, spoke directly.

“A distinguished guest will visit today. His surname is Ji, and he is a refined gentleman in white robes. Do not address him by his full name; simply call him Mr. Ji. Quickly prepare a quiet and tidy guest room. Mr. Ji may stay for a few days. Remember, quiet and tidy, and be quick about it!”

“Yes, yes, yes, I'll attend to it immediately!”

After bowing in acknowledgement, the attendant saw that the Earth God had already vanished.

“Oh dear...”

With a jolt, the attendant awoke from his bamboo reclining chair, sweat still on his face. He looked around the room, then at the door; there was no movement whatsoever.

“Was it a dream? No, this dream was too real!”

With a start, the middle-aged attendant with a short beard quickly got up from his chair. Without a second thought, he rolled up the bedding from his own bed, took a fresh set from a chest to replace it, and then began to clean the room.

In terms of quietness and tidiness, his own room was the most suitable in the entire Earth Temple.

As it turned out, the attendant's reaction was perfectly correct and incredibly timely.

About another quarter of an hour later, a temple worker hurried to the attendant's room. Seeing the attendant cleaning, he carefully knocked on the door.

“What is it?”

“Uncle Zhao, a Mr. Ji in white robes has come to the Earth Temple looking for you. He says you know him.”

The attendant was startled, then quickly responded after understanding.

“Yes, yes, I know him, I know him! Quickly invite him in—no, I'll go with you to welcome him!”

Although the guest was courteous, the attendant was clearly still nervous.

He did everything possible, bringing the guest to the room to settle in, and assuring him that three meals a day would be prepared and he would not be disturbed.

Seeing that the guest showed no signs of displeasure, the attendant finally relaxed. Then came an irrepressible feeling of excitement: this was a distinguished guest whom the Earth God had instructed him to host in a dream. Could he be an immortal?

Ji Yuan, however, paid no mind to this and settled comfortably into the temple.

This Earth Temple was considerably grander than he had imagined. In fact, this room might even be better than a high-end inn room. What he had thought would be resolved by simply sleeping on the floor now felt like he had come for leisure.

Once the attendant left, Ji Yuan closed the door, sat at the table, and spread out the Sword Intent Scroll.

The paper crane in his embrace quickly squeezed out of the brocade pouch, flapping its wings to fly to the edge of the scroll. Even the usually "aloof" Green Vine Sword materialized and hovered before the table.

However, the Sword Intent Scroll was remarkably quiet at this moment. Not a single character on it made a sound, as if they sensed that scolding was imminent. One could actually feel a sense of tension emanating from the scroll.

“When did you all start to have feelings and your own thoughts?”

Ji Yuan spoke calmly. To prevent the room from turning into a marketplace, he immediately pointed a finger at the character "Sword" on the scroll.

One stroke of the character "Sword" lifted a corner from the paper, as if it furtively glanced at Ji Yuan, then floated off the paper.

“To answer you, great master, we started having some vague feelings about ten years ago. Later, after listening to your teachings several times, the longer we were by your side, the more... aware we became! But we could only listen and think; we couldn't move or speak!”

Ji Yuan nodded. No wonder these little ones were aware of some of his unique skills.

“Wouldn't it be better to just stay on the Sword Intent Scroll? This scroll is, after all, your home. It's quite inconvenient to be outside. Why did you leave?”

It would have been better if he hadn't asked. The moment he did, the Sword Intent Scroll erupted into chaos.

“We wanted to stay on the scroll!” “Yeah, but we didn't have the strength then, the scroll was too heavy, we couldn't lift it!”

“Yes, we couldn't move or fly while carrying the scroll!”

“Yeah, we searched for a long time afterward, hiding from the wind and rain, until we ate good ink and gained some strength to absorb spiritual energy ourselves...”

“Oh, great master, we suffered so much!” “Great master, please don't be angry, don't blame us!”

“Great master, you gave the scroll to that person named Yan at the time...”

“We all thought you didn't want us anymore!” “We just wanted to come and find you!”

“Right, the first thing we did after we could move was to find the great master!”

“Yes, yes, we knew you were going north!” “No, it was west!”

“Wrong, it was north!” “West!” “North!”

“Waaah, you're wrong...” “Ahhh, no, you're wrong!”

“Stop arguing, stop arguing...”

Ji Yuan didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Even after the room quieted down, he still felt a buzzing in his ears.

“Sigh! It's going to be lively from now on...”

The paper crane, flapping its wings back and forth beside the Sword Intent Scroll, clearly expressed its emotions.