Chapter 7

Shen Luo coldly glanced at the person speaking but said nothing more.

The three of them were not much better than Shen Luo in terms of talent. Normally, they relied on their relationship with Ding Hua, which was why others treated them with respect. Now, seeing Shen Luo's expression, they felt quite at a loss, unsure of what to do.

"What are you all gathered here for?" At this moment, a cold voice suddenly sounded from the side.

Shen Luo turned his head to look, and saw a young man in a green robe, with a slender build and a sallow face, walking slowly over with one hand behind his back, his expression cold.

"Ding Senior Brother..."

Seeing this, everyone's expressions turned slightly serious, and they all greeted him, including Ding Yuan. This person was none other than Ding Hua.

Although he and Ding Yuan were brothers, they looked very different and their talents were worlds apart. If someone didn't know, they would never connect the two.

Upon hearing the question, Shen Luo briefly recounted the events, without any hint of dissatisfaction in his words.

"A bet..." Ding Hua's voice trailed off, and he frowned slightly.

Ding Yuan's face immediately broke out in cold sweat, his expression full of tension, fearing reprimand.

Though he was the elder brother, in front of his younger brother, he didn't dare to act like one, let alone call himself "elder brother." He had been unapproachable since childhood.

"White Xiaotian is just being idle, betting with you all." Ding Hua finally snorted, speaking coldly.

Shen Luo's eyes flickered.

This Senior Brother, a direct disciple of the Daoist Master, didn't care about the dispute between him and Ding Yuan. The only one he cared about was White Xiaotian, another inner disciple.

As for the rest of them, including Ding Yuan, they didn't even enter his field of vision.

Thinking of this, Shen Luo bid farewell and turned to leave.

He hadn't walked far when he faintly heard Ding Hua's cold voice: "Competing with a waste of space, what a great ambition. You've disgraced me..."

Hearing the words "waste of space," Shen Luo's gaze turned cold, but he didn't stop.

Being a registered disciple who could practice the Lesser Yang Transformation Technique was already not very popular.

Moreover, he was a "rich man" among the disciples, the only one who entered the sect with gold and silver, so it was understandable that he would be criticized behind his back.

But what they didn't know was that he spent money, not to cultivate, but to save his life.

Regarding money, he was quite open-minded. He would often let these senior brothers take some advantage of him, so his relationship with almost all the disciples was not bad.

However, the only ones he truly considered friends were White Xiaotian and Tian Tiesheng, who were also disciples of Master Luo.

Thinking about the possibility that he might not live much longer, Shen Luo's mood turned extremely bad, and he felt a chill deep in his heart, his steps quickening.

On the way down from the Jade Emperor Hall, he encountered many senior brothers. Shen Luo greeted each one he met, occasionally joking with those he knew well.

After about half an hour, he arrived at the green stone platform near the Spirit Official Hall, where his living quarters were located.

However, Shen Luo didn't immediately return to his quarters. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve, turned out of the green stone platform, and walked toward a lateral mountain path.

The road here was narrower than other parts of the mountain, and few people walked it, so it was rarely cleaned. The path was covered with many withered leaves, some of which had already rotted and become soft, making a squishy sound when stepped on. Occasionally, he could see some dilapidated houses on both sides, some made of stone and others of wood, all in poor condition.

Shen Luo seemed quite familiar with this place. After walking for a long time, he finally saw an old house surrounded by waist-high wild grass on the side of the road.

This old house had clearly been abandoned for a long time, with no repairs made for years. The red paint on the walls had dried and peeled off, making it look quite shabby. The white paper pasted on the doors and windows was mostly torn, and there were even signs of insect damage on the window frames.

Shen Luo looked at the house for a moment, nodded, and then parted the wild grass, walked to the porch, and pushed open the drafty wooden door. A damp, moldy smell immediately hit him.

He turned his body, covering his nose with one hand and waving the other in the air.

After a moment, he scanned the room with his eyes.

The room was not large, and it was filled with various broken and damaged chairs and tables, as well as old brooms and buckets, all piled up in the corners.

"Given this mold, I doubt there's anything left to see." Shen Luo muttered to himself.

Though his words were filled with disdain, his actions were not delayed.

He walked forward, taking down the broken chairs and tables one by one and piling them on the other side of the room.

After about fifteen minutes, he had finally moved most of the broken furniture to the other side.

Shen Luo's chest was heaving as he looked at the tables and desks that had been hidden underneath, and he let out a long breath.

After practicing the Lesser Yang Transformation Technique, he felt his constitution had improved significantly, but even this small task had made him sweat profusely.

After resting for a moment, he walked forward and pulled open the drawers of the tables and desks, searching through them one by one.

"Nothing..." The first drawer was empty.

"Nothing..." The second drawer was also empty.

"Nothing..."

...

After searching through seven or eight tables, just as Shen Luo was feeling depressed and thought he would have to work for nothing, he finally found something.

"Got it!"

The ninth table, which was left with only two legs, had a drawer that, when pulled open, revealed an old book with a green cover.

He had not worked so hard to clean these broken tables and chairs just to tidy up the room; his goal was to find books left behind by the previous owner.

The Spring and Autumn Daoist Temple had few books besides the basic Daoist classics like the *Tao Te Ching*. Most of the books were private collections of the senior masters, and borrowing them was very difficult.

Shen Luo had always enjoyed reading various miscellaneous books and odd records. Later, to find a way to save himself, he read a large number of books. The few effective medicines in his family's pharmacy were the result of his extensive reading, where he summarized the advantages and disadvantages of various prescriptions and formulated them himself.

Those years had formed his habit of reading at night. Since the Spring and Autumn Daoist Temple had been closed for a long time, he couldn't ask his family to send books, so he had to search for books around the temple.

Because he had previously found some useful books like magazines and travelogues in other abandoned houses, he came here to try his luck again, and unexpectedly found another book.

"Chronicles of Zhang the Celestial Master's Demon Extermination..." Shen Luo picked up the slightly damp old book, carefully examined the large vertical characters on the cover, and read them aloud.