How long has it been since you leisurely and peacefully read a book?

Not for the knowledge that will benefit you, not to escape what you should be doing.

Just for the language in the book, seeking a quiet afternoon, a rattan chair, a cup of tea, good or bad, a moment of stolen time in the midst of busyness, without worrying about life, without being troubled by human relationships, focusing only on the content of the words.

Creak—

The wooden door was pushed open, and a lot of dust fell into the narrow room.

The dust rose and fell. Zhai Yanjun covered his mouth and nose, frowning as he looked at the small room. After the old man passed away, he didn't leave too many things behind, just this room full of books. He harbored a last glimmer of hope, searched through them, but couldn't find anything of value like checks or savings books.

Zhai Yanjun sat on the narrow sofa, as if surrounded by books, and sighed.

What's the use of these books?!

They're not even as valuable as this house.

He felt a little unhappy and looked at the books, which were all ordinary old books.

Most of them were bought by the deceased old man over the years. They were printed copies, not very valuable. There were even some handwritten ones. Zhai Yanjun grabbed one, the cover of which only had the character "chuan" (传) left. Opening it, it was full of missing words.

Searching for the remaining content, it turned out to be Ge Hong's *Shenxian Zhuan* (Biographies of Divine Immortals) from the Jin Dynasty, but only the old man's handwritten version. Strangely, the words "shenxian" (神仙, gods and immortals) were completely missing from the book, as if they had never existed, while all the other characters, although yellowed, were still there.

He found some other handwritten books, and without exception, the two words "shenxian" were missing.

Zhai Yanjun didn't pay much attention to it, but was worried about how to deal with the books in the house.

These books were too old for him to keep. There were newer and better versions available, and most people were used to reading electronic books. After entering society, fewer people read physical books, let alone these old ones.

Thinking about whether he could sell them, he called someone who collected old books. The person came and weighed the books to buy them.

However, the book collector was sharp-eyed. After flipping through them, he picked out all the handwritten copies with missing pages and refused to take them, saying:

"I collect books to sell at stalls. These handwritten copies with missing pages will only cause me trouble if I sell them. You might as well try those places that specialize in collecting old things. Maybe they'll want them, or you can just put them in the bottom of a trunk."

The book collector left happily on his three-wheeled motorcycle, leaving Zhai Yanjun with a headache.

Places that collect old things?

He thought about it and suddenly remembered that there seemed to be a private folk museum in the local old district, which had paid to collect old objects in previous years.

………………

Wei Yuan took the elixir, and under its effect, the baleful energy in his lungs and internal organs was slowly drawn out. After recuperating for half a month, the injuries he sustained in the Liucun ghost domain while fighting the ghost king were finally healed.

It cost a full ten merit points.

In the past, the merit points Wei Yuan earned from slaying demons and eliminating evil might not have been enough to heal his injuries.

However, ordinary ghosts and demons could no longer inflict such troublesome injuries on him.

Wei Yuan used three cans of ice-cold cola to lure the ghosts out of the inner room, then closed the doors and windows, took out yellow talismans and pasted them on all sides, and sat cross-legged on the prepared futon. He exhaled and circulated the *Wohu Jue* (Crouching Tiger Art), a unique cultivation method passed down through generations of the Sili Xiaowei (Colonel Director of Retainers), flowing through his limbs and bones, approaching perfection.

Words appeared before Wei Yuan's eyes.

Spend thirty merit points to exchange for a deeper understanding of the *Wohu Jue* breakthrough.

In an instant, thirty merit points collapsed. Correspondingly, the *Wohu* waist牌 (waist牌, waist牌) lit up slightly, and then a talisman-like existence flew from the waist牌 into Wei Yuan's spiritual platform. The *Wohu Jue*'s circulation path changed, becoming more complex and varied, and even more perfect. Wei Yuan closed his eyes slightly, experiencing the predecessor's experience left in the *Wohu* waist牌.

Wei Yuan's current cultivation level was only equivalent to that of the thousand two hundred subordinates under the command of the Sili Xiaowei during the Han Wu period, at most considered elite. Once he broke through, he could receive an official position and be called a *zhuoyao zhishi* (捉妖直使, demon-catching envoy), traveling across China to capture demons and ghosts.

The experience exchanged for thirty merit points guided the flow of his magic power.

And he also meditated quietly, trying his best to remember the feeling of this higher level of cultivation method.

He didn't know how long had passed, but the talisman exchanged for merit points slowly dissipated, and Wei Yuan didn't even notice it. He was only focused on the circulation of the cultivation method in his body. Slowly, the *Wohu Jue* became more and more handy. Suddenly, his body trembled slightly, as if a fierce tiger was roaring softly in his ear, and his consciousness buzzed, as if spreading out.

When he slowly regained his senses, the *Wohu Jue* in his body had completely stabilized at this level and could circulate naturally.

A layer of invisible aura overflowed from him.

If he were wearing the wide-sleeved robes of ancient times, his sleeves would be rolled up and his black hair would be slightly raised.

But in this era, there was no such phenomenon.

It was just that the magic power that overflowed from his back seemed to have a faint roar of a colorful tiger, and then it dissipated.

Wei Yuan circulated the cultivation method several times before opening his eyes and clenching his fists. He didn't feel a surge of power just after breaking through. Unlike the evil ways that paid a certain price to gain extraordinary magic power, the orthodox cultivation methods essentially used the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to strengthen the person themselves, and this process inevitably required time. The improvement of the cultivation method only meant that the spiritual energy that could be mobilized became more, and the speed of one's own body changes was faster, and the upper limit was higher.

In addition, he could further use magic power.

Outwardly, it meant that he could attach magic power to the sword, so that ordinary iron and wooden objects could also kill ghosts.

And the effect of the spirit infusion technique was improved.

With the remaining merit points, Wei Yuan wanted to try the various battlefields recorded in the *Wohu* waist牌 after he became more proficient in the cultivation method. Each generation of *Wohu* would leave the powerful enemies they faced and the demons and ghosts they were wary of in the waist牌 through Moon Dew Shadowing, so that later generations of Xiaowei could hone their skills through the shadow.

The focus was on the inheritance of experience, to avoid being a *Wohu* and capsizing when facing certain demons and ghosts.

So as not to ruin the reputation that had been passed down from generation to generation for more than a thousand years in the hands of some descendant.

As for the coveted thunder techniques, the merit points required were too high. Unless he didn't improve the *Wohu Jue* and didn't heal his injuries, Wei Yuan couldn't even afford the introductory thunder techniques for the time being, so he had to put them aside. However, this thunder technique was passed down by Zhang Daoling, giving Wei Yuan the illusion that he was catching a sheep and plucking its wool as hard as he could.

Zhao Gongming, the righteous god of the Thunder Department in Taoist history, was also known as the Marshal of the Righteous and Mysterious Altar.

The meaning of "Xuan Tan" (玄坛, mysterious altar) refers to the fact that he once protected Zhang Daoling and guarded the pill furnace when he was refining pills.

Since learning this story from searching through the *Daofa Huiyuan* (Daoist Compendium), Wei Yuan has been unable to look directly at the Marshal of the Righteous and Mysterious Altar. He always felt that this originally high-ranking title was actually similar to that of a certain Curtain-Rolling General (referring to Sha Wujing from *Journey to the West*).

He exhaled a mouthful of turbid air.

Wei Yuan held the eight-sided Han sword and performed a set of swordsmanship. The magic power flowed at will, much smoother than in the past.

When he was in high spirits, the sword momentum became more and more rapid, and the sound of breaking through the air was like thunder.

The sword light was cold, as if snow had fallen into a ball.

Suddenly, the magic power flowed on the sword.

A sword energy slashed past.

The sound of cracking made Wei Yuan's swordsmanship stop abruptly.

He looked down.

A dark gash appeared on the already small refrigerator, sputtering sparks and smoke. Wei Yuan opened his mouth, and the sword energy lifted the yellow talisman on the door. The ghosts outside heard the sound and stuck their heads out of the door, then saw Wei Yuan, who was calmly sheathing his sword.

And the completely scrapped refrigerator.

Water ghost: "…………"

Lying on the ground, his lips twitched.

"Wuwuwuwu..."

A burst of ghostly wails.

……………………

After swearing that he would definitely find someone to repair the refrigerator tomorrow.

If it couldn't be repaired, he would buy a bigger one.

And at the cost of three bottles of ice-cold cola and a bowl of meat and egg double-fly premium instant noodles for each ghost, the Sili Xiaowei successfully reached a consensus with the three ghosts, and ruthlessly rejected Hong Xiu Xie's request to play the song *Jia Yi* (嫁衣, Wedding Gown) at three in the morning, and clapped his hands to press two layers of yellow talismans on the gloating Iron Scissors, and once again maintained the peace of the museum.

Congratulations, congratulations.

After finally sending these ghosts away, Wei Yuan breathed a sigh of relief and looked up outside. It was already night. He ate something casually, circulated the cultivation method several times, and then suppressed the joy brought by the breakthrough of the cultivation method, washed up and rested.

And this time, the *Wohu Jue* after the breakthrough did not give him a good night's sleep.

He had that dream again.

A desolate Taoist temple in the wilderness, the earth covered with corpses as if dyed red with blood.

The difference was that this time, Wei Yuan was standing directly in the Taoist temple, looking around with his sword in a daze. Accompanied by a fierce tiger roar, the threshold of the Taoist temple became a row of white teeth, and the tall and empty interior turned into a scarlet mouth. The entire Taoist temple shrouded in the dream was like the head of a fierce tiger, biting down heavily.

Wei Yuan only had time to grip his long sword and slash horizontally.

Then the whole person was swallowed and torn apart.

………………

"Ah!!!"

Wei Yuan suddenly opened his eyes because of the nightmare, breathing heavily.

His breathing was rapid, and it took a long time to calm down.

It was that dream again.

The dream was long. Although it seemed simple, a night had passed.

Wei Yuan had no sleepiness anymore and prepared to get up, then he was slightly stunned to see that the sword that should have been hanging on the wall was now by his side. The sword was out of its sheath, and a thin stream of fresh blood was slowly flowing down the well-wiped and maintained blade.

Baleful energy remained on the sword, still firmly guarding its master.

This dream, and the changes in the sword in his hand, made Wei Yuan unable to explain.

So after thinking for a moment, he knocked on the door of the flower shop opposite.

Although they were already friends, there were still some things that he didn't want to tell Zhang Hao and Zhou Yi, but facing the Heavenly Maiden who knew each other's hidden identities, these concerns didn't exist, and the other party's strength and knowledge were above his own, even though she had been injured, so she could definitely give relatively direct and effective advice.

Wei Yuan told the Heavenly Maiden what he saw in the dream.

The girl thought for a while with her right hand on her cheek and pointed to the sofa next to her.

"You sleep once now, let me see."

ps: Second update today...