A Night of Desperation

Chapter 285: Route 283, 3

"I need to find a way to learn the true power system of the Innate Nine Sects! If I can spread it, I might stand a better chance against the Source Disaster in the future, have an extra ounce of self-protection. If I can bring it back, it would make things so much better for Yiyi!"

With that thought, Yu Hong immediately began searching "how to join the Innate Nine Sects."

Any power that advertises surely needs new blood.

So, all he had to do was to find their recruitment approach.

After some rapid-fire typing and clicking, Yu Hong started with the top-ranked Primordial Heavenly Master Mansion.

Although it was said that rankings did not matter, that was just empty talk. In organizations like this, with military power, being ranked number one is a very delicate position, definitely not insignificant.

A few minutes later.

The recruitment requirements of the Primordial Heavenly Master Mansion appeared before Yu Hong.

"The Heavenly Master Mansion does not recruit externally, only accepting outstanding graduates from the Primordial Taoist Advanced High School."

The corner of Yu Hong’s mouth twitched as he continued to search, "How to join this high school."

"Primordial Taoist Advanced High School, in principle, only enrolls graduates from the Primordial Taoist Junior High School. No external admissions."

"..." Yu Hong closed the webpage and went on to the next one.

He surely couldn’t be expected to go back through junior high school, could he?

Quickly, the requirements from the Secondary Heavenly Master Mansion turned out to be the same. They also cultivate students from a young age in elementary school all the way to university before directly advancing to the Heavenly Master Mansion for further study.

No chance at all.

Yu Hong went on to search the other Innate Nine Sects, only to find that almost all followed a similar pattern.

"Troublesome. And I’m facing another problem. I need to stay close to the coast as much as possible, or recharging the Black Ship every two days will be very inconvenient."

Thinking it over, he changed his approach and typed a new line of text into the search box.

This time, the content he wanted finally appeared on the screen.

Looking at these entries, Yu Hong carefully memorized them, one by one.

*

*

*

Past midnight.

Red Plum Inn.

The old man dozing off on the counter turned over, letting out faint snores.

Just then, a short figure silently approached from behind.

The figure gradually revealed its lower half, showing black school uniform trousers.

Under the dim light, the figure moved forward, revealing a sharp boning knife in hand.

"Grandpa!" Suddenly, a voice called out from outside, accompanied by the jingle of a bell.

The old man jolted awake, straightened up, and looked around.

"Ah!" He loudly responded, standing up and walking towards the direction of his granddaughter’s voice.

Meanwhile, the figure with the sharp knife slowly retreated, silently vanishing into the shadows.

Before long, the old man returned, exhaled, and started watching TV while cracking sunflower seeds.

After resting for a while, footsteps could be heard outside.

Around one o’clock, a tall silhouette hurried into the inn.

"Staying for the night?" the old man looked up and asked.

Only when he got a good look did he recognize him as the tall guy who had recently checked in.

"What brings you out so late?"

"Hmm, went for some web surfing," Yu Hong responded, glancing at the old man.

Suddenly, despite the normal appearance, Yu Hong noticed that the old man’s face seemed particularly pale, as if devoid of color.

"Boss, you don’t look so well. Are you sick?"

"I’m okay, probably just the lighting at night. Your complexion also looks quite pale," the old man replied nonchalantly.

"Alright then." Yu Hong scanned the surroundings.

The lobby of the inn at the ground floor, at this moment, only had the old man cracking seeds cheerfully at the counter. The rest of the place was dark, and the shadows in the corners seemed to hide something.

It gave off a sense of insecurity.

He focused and sensed around but detected nothing.

’My perception seems ineffective against the resentful mark here. It seems I’ll have to enhance it for this place once the Black Mark is strengthened.’

As he went upstairs to rest, he couldn’t help but glance at the old man again, noticing no anomalies; the old man was still happily watching TV and enjoying his seeds.

Yu Hong then returned to his room to rest.

In the following days.

Yu Hong began to selectively screen the other branches within the Innate Nine Sects. Since the main Nine Sects had strict selection, the slightly less prestigious Taoist branches couldn’t be as strict.

Moreover, he took Yang’s reminder into account, the supposed Yin Energy on himself. If there were misunderstandings with the Yin Energy Nine Sects, that could lead to trouble.

Confrontation would not be wise under these circumstances where the strength and power of the other party were completely unknown.

Through rigorous and continuous screening, he quickly found one Taoist Sect that met the criteria. It was very close, also by the seaside.

Thus, on the afternoon of the same day he found it, Yu Hong took a taxi to the registered address of this branch—the Qingchen Temple.

"Ah, our Qingchen Temple is the famous True Temple of Taoism known far and wide around here! Whether you are praying for children, wealth, or worshiping the Buddha... ah, I mean worshiping the gods, it’s all a very cost-effective place!"

The welcoming Taoist at the gate was bald, and even though he covered his head with a black Taoist hat, his slip of the tongue made Yu Hong suspect he might have just switched from a Buddhist temple.

Under his guide, Yu Hong entered the gates of the Taoist Temple.

To his surprise, Qingchen Temple appeared to be an open touristic spot.

The Taoist Temple wasn’t large, with only a main hall in the center and three rooms on each side. Plus the entrance gate, they precisely enclosed a square courtyard.

The welcoming Taoist took Yu Hong into the main hall and began introducing it immediately.

"Over here, depending on the wish our customer has, we have incense of different prices. You see, for praying for children, the standard amount is three sticks, five yuan each. For seeking wealth, you need more, as you know this is like a small gamble to win big, so one set is nine sticks, three yuan each. Also, there’s for changing fortune..."

Yu Hong listened while checking out the deity statue presiding over the main hall.

There was only one statue.

It was a robust male figure, holding a steel whip, looking fierce and wrathful, dressed in luxurious purple and red Daoist robes.

"May I ask which deity does your temple enshrine..."

"It’s the Nine Palace Soul Devouring Venerable!" the Taoist replied, "He is one of the three major Heavenly Venerates of our Taoist Sect. Out of ten temples, eight enshrine him."

"I see." Yu Hong observed the bustling scene in the temple, "Actually, I’m not here to burn incense. I heard that your temple’s Taoist Yu Mo is holding an open recruitment, ready to accept disciples of a wide age range..."

"Oh, you’re talking about that matter, right? It is indeed happening. This way, please!" Hearing this, the welcoming Taoist’s smile brightened even more.

Soon, he led Yu Hong away from the bustling main hall to the back.

There was a small open space where two rows of brown wooden tables and chairs were arranged, with five or six people sitting scattered around.

Another Taoist was speaking aloud, seeming to be giving a lecture to these five or six.

At a glance, Yu Hong noticed half of them were dozing off, not listening at all.

"Right this way." The welcoming Taoist guided Yu Hong to a young female Taoist standing guard on the right.

"Yu Lin, this is Mr. Yu Hong, who admires the great reputation of our Qingchen Temple and has come to be an apprentice."

"Oh, it’s from Taoist Yu Mo’s side, isn’t it? The Golden Jade class, right?" Taoist Yu Lin yawned and squeezed out a smile at Yu Hong.

"That’s right, that’s the one. Yu Lin, please take him to complete the enrollment procedures," the welcoming Taoist said quickly.

Yu Hong was well aware of what both of them meant.

But his goal was just that. The so-called Golden Jade class was actually a gold-plated class used for collecting money.

Or rather, it shouldn’t be called gold-plating but rather a protective class.

Qingchen Temple and other minor Taoist Sects, for the sake of livelihood, would occasionally organize such classes, taking in a bunch of disciples regardless of age or background, only caring about the money.

After Taoist Yu Lin took over, she led Yu Hong to a room on the side to complete the enrollment process. Just the initial fee to become a disciple was thirty thousand yuan, and further offerings were to be continued.

This was sustenance for the master, also a special protection fee to get priority support in times of danger.

After the payment was made, Yu Hong was quickly taken out of the Taoist Temple and into a courtyard close by.

After receiving the standard Daoist robe and a booklet of matters needing attention, Yu Hong was given a Taoist name: Ding Rou.

Then he officially became a disciple of the Qingchen Temple’s Ding generation.

Even though it was only a bought position, Yu Lin also informed that there would be classes held behind the main hall every day. If he wanted to learn, he could go; if not, he could do other things.

Having established his identity, Yu Hong took a cab back to the inn.

Qingchen Temple was just outside Taizhou, and the drive took just over an hour; it was the nearest registered Taoist institution.

His purpose was only to study the system here. With the Black Mark as a foundation, as long as he got a complete structure, he could use the Black Mark to strengthen it into a type he could use.

So instead of putting a lot of effort into entering the Nine Sects and contacting big shots, it was better to get something from a slightly lower place first and slowly investigate the attitudes and real intentions of the Nine Sects.

In between, Yu Hong returned to the camp twice, bringing some Gold, which he converted into cash.

Realizing that this was not sustainable, he made use of his ability to breathe underwater, dived into the sea, caught some large shrimp and crabs, and sold them on the street.

After a few trips, he had over a hundred thousand yuan in cash on hand.

He then rented a house with a courtyard nearby, settling down in this place.

Time passed slowly with the regular routine of life.

Day by day, Yu Hong slowly settled in Taizhou, getting familiar with the environment here.

*

*

*

Qingchen Temple.

"Today is the day the temple is closed for private meditation. As usual, the list of advanced study disciples for this batch has been sent up, and Taoist Yu Mo will be coming over shortly. He will give one-on-one guidance to everyone, don’t miss this opportunity. This is a rare chance for close-up instruction!"

A Taoist with a goatee stood in front of the courtyard announcing loudly.

There were two groups of people standing in the courtyard.

To the left, four individuals wore gray and white Daoist robes with jade buckled leather belts, looking cool and aloof.

The group, two men and two women, showed a clear sense of distance from the others, not talking to those on the other side, and not even glancing over there.

They didn’t socialize with each other much; if they weren’t meditating with eyes closed, they stood upright, whispering something quietly.

To the right were six individuals, four men and two women, all in their twenties, with sophisticated attire that once seen makes it clear they were not from common households. They were casual in demeanor, whispering among themselves.

Yu Hong also stood among the six, belonging to this ’Golden Jade second generation’ who had paid to sign up.