Chapter 1459: The Food’s All Gone
Ning Shu greeted the old man, calling him ‘master.’ This old man’s name was Tao Cheng. He was the successor of Mt. Mao’s exorcism techniques. He had adopted all of these disciples that were currently in the house.
These children were orphans. As of now, the world had already moved into the modern era so Mt. Mao’s Daoist arts were considered complete superstition. They were taken to be charlatans who preyed on people’s superstitions to trick money out of them.
Who would be willing to let their children learn this? So Tao Cheng found orphans to pass on Mt. Mao’s techniques, which were already deteriorating.
They weren’t getting by very well.
When Tao Cheng saw Ning Shu, his brows lifted as he laughed. “You woke up late today. The food’s all gone.”
Ning Shu saw that there were only the bones left on the table. The children were currently eating the steamed bread by dipping them into the broth.
The broth was probably cooked from a wild animal that Old Tao Cheng had caught in the mountains.
Ning Shu rolled her eyes. “I’ll just eat steamed bread.”
She reached out, but the last steamed bread in the big bowl got snatched by another a child.
Ning Shu: “…”
Kids would seriously eat the parents out of house and home!
Tao Cheng was raising more than ten children; it was seriously hard. Tao Qin had also been brought up by him.
From time to time, Tao Cheng would take Tao Qin with him to safeguard the human realm (swindle money out of people).
Although Tao Cheng had real ability, he liked to act cool a little too much and always wanted people to pay a high price. That was why what he did end up managing to earn was nowhere near enough to raise such a large number of brats.
A little boy saw that Ning Shu had nothing to eat, so he tore half of his steamed bread and gave it to her. Ning Shu took it and started eating. “Good boy, I’ll bring you a gift once I’m back from training.”
Tao Cheng rubbed his chest, then said to Ning Shu, “There’s actually something I need you to do.”
Ning Shu stuffed the rest of the steamed bread in her mouth, then asked Tao Cheng, “Master, what is it?”
Tao Cheng stood up, burped, then headed into the temple. Ning Shu followed him into the hall.
This Daoist temple was very old and in complete disrepair. The Three Pure Ones statues in the main hall were covered in a layer of dust. There was a smaller statue beside Three Pure Ones.
This was probably Tao Hongjing, the founding father of Mt. Mao.
Tao Cheng bowed towards the statue and lit two sticks of incense. Ning Shu copied him in worshipping the statue.
After she finished, she asked Tao Cheng, “What exactly is it, old man?”
Tao Cheng rubbed the bun on his head as he said, “You are twenty years old now. It’s time for you to go out and gain more experience.
“Recently, an acquaintance came to me with a job. If we succeed, there will be a lot of money. It’ll be enough to last us for a while.”
“An acquaintance? What happened?” asked Ning Shu.
Tao Cheng said, “His son got possessed by a ghost recently and is nearly half-dead. His family’s pretty rich.”
Ning Shu thought about it for a moment. This probably had something to do with the phantom king Feng Yin.
F*ck, she was a little scared.
Any ghost in red garments was obviously malevolent.
Even Tao Cheng couldn’t beat Yin Zhen so Mt. Mao’s Daoism ended up becoming a lost art. There had been no successor.
However, if they ignored this, then naturally wouldn’t end up implicated.
Ning Shu asked Tao Cheng, “Old man, you’re not going?”
“You have to gain experience. If I went, what would you do?” Tao Cheng rubbed his chest and a little ball of dirt formed. Ning Shu rolled her eyes.
She then asked, “Old man, what if I encounter danger? You should do a divination. I don’t have a good feeling about this.”
MTL Editor: Meraki
TLC: Kaho