Chapter 93

The insect's eyes grew increasingly panicked.

I'm a bumpkin? As if you're of better birth than me! Yu Qing said with a mix of laughter and tears, "That's right, he does look a bit like a woman, but he is indeed a man. We traveled to the capital together, and I've hugged and embraced him countless times. How could I not know if he's a man or a woman? We'll talk about the specifics later."

The handsome man let out a meaningful "oh," "If you've already hugged and embraced him, then I must have been mistaken." He glanced sideways at the insect, who was blushing, and a faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, but he didn't say anything more.

Yu Qing waved his hand, "Insect, go wait in my study."

The insect had stopped crying, suddenly losing the urge to cry. He nodded and left with his head down, knowing where the study was.

The handsome man watched him go, "What a pity he's a man. If he were a woman, he'd be a beauty."

The insect, with his head down, quickened his pace and didn't look back, earning a light laugh from the handsome man.

With no one else around, Yu Qing finally felt safe to speak, "Uncle Master, why did you come here?" He took out the jade pendant and pushed it across the table to the other side.

The person in front of him was none other than one of the two remaining true disciples of Linglong Temple, the disciple of his great-uncle master, known as the young uncle master of Linglong Temple, named Zhou Xinyuan.

After the great-uncle master of Linglong Temple passed away, his disciple, the young uncle master, officially took over his responsibilities and began traveling the world to ensure the continuation of Linglong Temple.

The disciples of Linglong Temple who practice the "Observation" technique and those who practice the "Sound" technique have different responsibilities.

Disciples of the "Observation" technique are usually more intelligent, so they are typically the ones who take over as the head of the temple.

Disciples of the "Sound" technique, due to the special nature of their techniques, are better suited for combat and self-protection, and are thus assigned the responsibility of traveling the world.

In simple terms, they are responsible for earning money. A group of people hiding in the mountains need to eat and drink, and not only do they need to cover daily expenses, but they also need resources for cultivation. There must be a source of these resources, or how can they cultivate?

Overall, Linglong Temple has been in a state of long-term seclusion.

This is related to the cultivation techniques of Linglong Temple, which have extremely high requirements for personal talent.

For example, cultivating the "Observation" technique requires a great deal of mental effort when deducing cause and effect, making it particularly difficult to cultivate. It's not something that just anyone can inherit.

Yu Qing originally had more than three senior brothers, about a dozen in total. All the disciples admitted to Linglong Temple were specially selected, and the temple had no intention of keeping anything from them. They all hoped that the disciples would cultivate the "Observation" and "Sound" techniques. However, due to the unique nature of these techniques and the high requirements for talent, many of his senior brothers gradually fell out of favor during the internal cultivation process and became outer disciples. They themselves were unaware of the distinction between inner and outer disciples, which was the main reason why the three senior brothers were dissatisfied with Yu Qing becoming the head of the temple.

Therefore, it is very difficult for Linglong Temple to have a large group of true disciples.

Thus, the inner disciples have always been a small group, and there have even been times when the lineage was interrupted. In such cases, they had to entrust reliable outer disciples to help find suitable successors, which allowed the lineage to continue, albeit with great difficulty.

This is a sect that is difficult to flourish, and the lack of prosperity leads to limited strength. Limited strength means they cannot be too high-profile, and the special nature of their techniques makes them vulnerable to exploitation by outsiders, so they are particularly secretive and low-key.

However, for the survival of the sect, someone must go out and take risks.

This is a high-demand task, requiring not only the ability to earn money to meet the basic cultivation resource needs of the sect but also ensuring one's own safety and not exposing the sect. Additionally, they must take on the mission of finding suitable successors for Linglong Temple in the secular world.

Apart from the difficulty in finding suitable successors, the young uncle master has done well in other aspects.

Therefore, Yu Qing used to admire the young uncle master in Linglong Temple, because he was wealthy. Whenever the young uncle master returned to Linglong Temple, he was like a nouveau riche, and Yu Qing had personally seen him casually hand over a stack of silver bills to his senior brother, who was also Yu Qing's master.

Yu Qing would follow the young uncle master around, sweet-talking him, and when the young uncle master was happy, he would throw him twenty or thirty taels of silver as a reward.

The most anticipated event in the entire Linglong Temple was probably the return of the young uncle master.

Zhou Xinyuan said calmly, "What's so strange about me coming here? I happened to be in the capital these days. Yesterday, the entire capital suddenly buzzed with excitement. I thought it would be hard for the kid from the village not to have come to the capital. Everywhere people were talking about it, saying that a candidate had scored a perfect score in the imperial examination, and the name was 'A Shiheng.' There shouldn't be many people with the same name, so I immediately suspected it was the kid from Jiupo Village.

After inquiring, I found out it was Liang Tao from Lieshou, so there was no doubt. For such a big event, I naturally wanted to congratulate him. I might need his help in the future, so I came over after finding out his address. You escorted him to the capital, or did you come under the pretext of playing? Where is A Shiheng? Let him come and see me." He took back the jade pendant.

The reason he could enter the Zhong residence without registering was that A Shiheng recognized the jade pendant on him.

Everyone who often saw him would recognize it, as it was his personal item. Moreover, there was a little story between A Shiheng and the jade pendant.

Back then, Yu Qing was a glutton. Once, he learned that A Shiheng was going to town and actually stole this jade pendant, giving it to A Shiheng to exchange for some food. A Shiheng, not knowing the origin of the jade pendant, did as he was told. Later, when he found out, both boys were beaten by him.

So that's how he found out, Yu Qing scratched his head, and finally said, "Uncle Master, don't look for him, he's right in front of you."

"Huh?" Zhou Xinyuan was taken aback, looked around again, and even leaned forward to look behind Yu Qing. After a moment, he said, "There are only three people in the courtyard, what are you talking about?"

Yu Qing pointed to himself, extremely embarrassed, "I am the A Shiheng you're looking for."

Zhou Xinyuan lightly tapped the table with his fan, "Feeling itchy again?"

"If feeling itchy and getting a beating from you could solve this, I'd rather be itchy and need a beating." Yu Qing sighed deeply, took a big sip of tea, and spat out the tea leaves, "Uncle Master, let's be frank. A Shiheng was injured and couldn't come, so I took the exam for him. The A Shiheng you're looking for is actually me."

"Um..." Zhou Xinyuan was speechless, observed him for a while, and realized he wasn't lying. Just as he was about to ask what happened, he suddenly became furious, "Nonsense! Do you think I don't know how much knowledge you have? A perfect score in the imperial examination, and you claim you took the exam for him? Do you think I'll let you say it and then make you eat your words?"

Thud! Yu Qing fell face-first on the table, and said with a mix of laughter and tears, "Who wouldn't think that? I thought the same thing. I didn't think I could pass, and I still don't understand how I passed. Uncle Master, I'm in deep trouble. I definitely won't pass the palace examination in a few days, and I'm worried about whether to run or not." Suddenly, he lifted his head, full of hope, "Uncle Master, you came at the right time. You're senior, so you should make the decision. If something goes wrong, it won't be just my fault."

At this point, Zhou Xinyuan also felt something was off and asked, "What exactly happened?"

"Ah, that insect you saw earlier, he's my nemesis. The whole thing went wrong because he, with good intentions, stole the exam questions for me, leading me down the wrong path..."

Yu Qing quickly recounted how the insect overheard Cao Xinggong and Xu Fei's conversation, stole the exam questions, and gave them to him. He also mentioned Mr. Ming's background, the process of having Mr. Ming solve the exam questions, and how he ended up passing with a perfect score.

He didn't lower his voice, not afraid of anyone eavesdropping, because he knew that as long as the young uncle master was there, it was almost impossible for anyone to get close and eavesdrop without being noticed.

Zhou Xinyuan was also stunned after hearing the story, "There's such a bizarre thing?"

"Who would have thought? It's so bizarre, that Ming guy, who failed nine times, solved the exam questions I gave him casually, and he passed with a perfect score. Who would believe it? I'm so frustrated, where can I go to complain? Uncle Master, I'm almost spitting blood! The problem is, the palace examination is in a few days, and I dare not go. If I go, it's a death sentence!" Yu Qing pounded the table and complained.

Zhou Xinyuan seemed to understand his frustration, thought for a moment, and said casually, "What's so hard to handle? If something goes wrong, you can't do anything about it. A Shiheng can only accept it. What's there to hesitate about? Run, just run. Go back quickly and hide A Shiheng. If they can't find the real A Shiheng, you can hide for a while and get away with it... No, that's not right!"

He looked around, suddenly stood up, "What bad luck! Why did I have to run into this now? If you run, they might suspect me. I'm too conspicuous, and if the Jin Dynasty court really starts looking for me, I won't be able to run."

The more he talked, the angrier he became. He hit Yu Qing on the forehead with his fan and pointed at him, "You're usually so smart, don't you know that taking the exam for someone else is a serious crime? Don't you know it's a capital offense? I'm puzzled, why did you have to help him take the exam? Now you've caused this mess, and you've probably dragged me into it too. If it leads to a family tragedy, will you be happy? No, I can't stay in the capital. I have to run first. You should run too, and quickly tell A Shiheng to hide. Don't drag the entire Linglong Temple into this."

He put away his fan, tucked the jade pendant into his waistband, and turned to leave, as he said, he had to run first.

Yu Qing, who also stood up, looked at his back and said sadly, "Uncle Master, my master has passed away!"

Zhou Xinyuan, who had just stepped over the threshold, froze like a statue. After a long moment, he responded coldly, "If you say something wrong, slap yourself. I'll let you say it again!"

Yu Qing said sadly, "Master has passed away. It was Master's last wish that I escort A Shiheng to the capital for the exam."

Although there were things he didn't want to face, Zhou Xinyuan knew that Yu Qing, no matter how mischievous, would never joke about such a matter. Realizing this, his heart suddenly felt like it was being cut by a knife, and two tears streamed down the handsome man's face. He took a deep, trembling breath and said, "Why did another one go? When I left, everything was fine. Master was still young, and his cultivation wasn't something that would lead to a short life... Linglong Temple doesn't meddle in the world, and we don't harm others. What's going on?"