A pot of white porridge sat on a small stove. Still steaming, it gave off a tantalizing fragrance in the mountain night.
Lacking experience with lodging in this world, Lin Jue opted to watch more and speak less. Setting down his scholar's book chest, he followed the crowd's example, grabbed a coarse bowl, and joined the line for porridge.
The monk who had guided them earlier was serving. Wielding a small, long-handled gourd dipper, he scooped only half a dipper for each person—just enough to fill one bowl.
A younger monk stood beside him. Once the porridge was served, he dropped a few slices of pickled radish and a piece of fermented tofu into the bowl, which immediately sank beneath the broth.
"Thank you, Master."
Every merchant and traveler offered their thanks.
When Lin Jue's turn came, he stepped up and held his bowl out before the pot just like the rest.
The monk smiled faintly. Sinking the dipper to the very bottom, he dragged it slowly and scooped up thick rice—a stark contrast to the watery porridge given to the others.
"Thank you, Master!"
Taken aback, Lin Jue quickly voiced his thanks.
"Amitabha..."
The monk bowed with one hand, smiling.
He received the same few slices of pickled radish and piece of fermented tofu, but this time, they rested firmly atop the thick porridge.
Thanking them again, Lin Jue carried his bowl outside. Seeing many of the others sitting on the stone steps under the eaves, he headed over and took a seat when someone made room for him.
The merchants and travelers had clearly brought their own dry rations. Lin Jue still had a few boiled eggs and plenty of pan-baked stuffed flatbreads in his scholar's book chest, along with a few of the fruits gifted by San Gu. But before he could even reach into his chest, a merchant promptly offered him some dried meat and pan-baked stuffed flatbreads, politely inviting him to have a taste.
"Many thanks..."
"We're the ones who should be thanking you, young gentleman."
"You're too kind. I didn't really do anything; we just traveled together for a stretch... But is it alright for us to eat meat here in the temple?"
"It's fine. It's always been this way, especially since we're sitting outside," someone replied.
"We aren't monks, so there's no need to stick to a vegetarian diet. As long as we hold no disrespect for the Buddha in our hearts, we can eat what we want. Traveling every day, we'd never make it without meat," another person added.
"I see."
Satisfied, Lin Jue didn't press the matter and dug into his food.
It was an early summer night—the sixteenth of the lunar month. The rain had cleared, leaving a full moon hanging overhead. Its glow illuminated wispy, ink-wash clouds and cast a faint halo of colored light. The air was wonderfully cool. Surrounded by the sounds of people eating in the courtyard, Lin Jue finally felt at peace after two exhausting days of travel.
Pickled radish, fermented tofu, and white rice porridge. It was a plain meal, but compared to the dry rations he had been chewing on the road, it was far more comforting going down.
For a moment, he actually found himself enjoying it.
Aside from the food, the atmosphere was also pleasant.
Having encountered a monster, trekked through the night, and finally reached a place of safety, even strangers felt a sudden sense of camaraderie. They chatted casually, and people frequently came over to share food with Lin Jue.
"A mule must cost over ten guan right now, doesn't it?"
"More than that! That was last year's price. By the beginning of this year, it had already gone up to over twenty guan!"
"How come?"
"They're transporting military rations out west. There's a shortage of mules and horses!"
"..."
Just then, the short, middle-aged man with a wispy beard came looking for him. He glanced around until some of the other travelers pointed him in the right direction, finally spotting Lin Jue.
He hadn't come for anything else—he was here to offer thanks and a gift.
"Benefactor! Thanks to you, our family's livelihood was saved! Please, you must accept this small token of our appreciation to use for your travel expenses!"
He held out a string of Copper Coins.
The surrounding travelers saw it and quickly estimated it to be a few hundred coins. Having braved the road with Lin Jue, they now considered him an acquaintance. While they had no objections to him returning the mule he had found, they naturally hoped he would receive a heftier reward. Someone immediately spoke up, teasing:
"How much is a mule worth, and how much is that?"
"You're being a bit too thrifty, brother."
Hearing this, the man was instantly struck with embarrassment.
Lin Jue didn't say anything, nor did he decline. With a smile, he reached out, accepted the money, and thanked the man.
At the very least, he had gained something.
Truth be told, that man had hit the nail on the head—
Travel expenses were exactly what Lin Jue lacked right now.
The crowd soon began to clamor, begging him to tell the story of how he retrieved the mule and drove off the monster. Unable to fend off their relentless questions, Lin Jue gave them an honest account.
Before long, the monk who had initially opened the gate for them walked over. Pressing his palms together and chanting a Buddhist greeting, he said, "There are simply too many benefactors staying with us tonight. By our count, we can't even fit everyone on the beds, so we must ask you all to squeeze together and make do for the night. We truly apologize for the poor hospitality."
"It's no trouble! As long as there's a place to sleep, it's fine!"
"At least it shields us from the wind and rain."
"The weather isn't cold anyway. Sleeping anywhere is fine. We appreciate the trouble, Master."
As they spoke, the crowd dug into their pockets and pulled out Copper Coins. The amounts ranged from a dozen or so to twenty or thirty, all handed over to the monk. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
"For incense oil..."
...they said as they paid.
Watching from the sidelines, Lin Jue roughly understood the situation—
This place was both a temple and an inn. It only made sense to pay for lodging, but they masked it slightly by calling it "incense oil money," which sounded and looked much better.
Lin Jue quickly brought out the string of Copper Coins the short, middle-aged man had given him, untied the string, grabbed a dozen or so, and handed them over.
The monk accepted them with the same beaming smile and thanked him. However, he paused in front of Lin Jue, bowed slightly, and said, "This poor monk observes that the benefactor is a scholar and quite young. You might not be accustomed to squeezing in with these merchants who travel all year round. As it happens, our temple has an attic that has been vacant for a long time. If the benefactor is brave enough to stay there, this poor monk will go and sweep it for you."
The moment the monk finished speaking, a merchant nearby interjected:
"Hey, Master! If there's an attic, why not let us stay in it? Why only offer it to this young gentleman?"
"Amitabha." The monk chanted the Buddhist name, perfectly polite. "Benefactor, you may not be aware. Only those of outstanding virtue and scholars are permitted to enter the attic in our back courtyard."
"Master, why are you looking down on us?"
The monk just smiled without answering, turning his head to look back at Lin Jue.
"Why wouldn't I dare?" Lin Jue was indeed unaccustomed to cramming into a room with strangers, let alone a whole group of them. Plus, he had been hoping to find a quiet place to study his Ancient Book. He accepted the offer. "But if the attic has been sealed in dust for so long and you're opening it just for me, I couldn't possibly trouble you to sweep it. Just lend me a broom and a feather duster."
"The benefactor is a reasonable man."
The monk pressed his palms together and bowed to him.
Lin Jue hurriedly stood up and returned the bow.
The moonlight grew clearer. The crowd finished their meal and headed back to their rooms one after another. Guided by the monk, Lin Jue arrived at the attic.
Besides the scholar's book chest on his back, he now held a broom and a feather duster.
"Thank you."
Expressing his thanks, Lin Jue took the oil lamp and entered the attic.
Under the glow of the oil lamp, he saw a pile of clutter taking up one side of the first floor. On the other side was a wooden staircase leading up. Just as expected, it was blanketed in a layer of dust and strung with cobwebs. It was obvious no one had been here for a long time.
Lin Jue was to stay on the upper floor.
But since they had been kind enough to offer him lodging, how could he justify sweeping only the few feet of space where he would sleep? So, Lin Jue simply set down his scholar's book chest and began sweeping from the bottom of the stairs.
Smelling the dusty air all the way, he carried the oil lamp up step by step.
Reaching the second floor, Lin Jue first set the oil lamp down in a high spot. When he turned around, he froze in surprise—
The floor below had been coated in dust and cobwebs; forget about how much dirt he swept out, he had probably inhaled a good mouthful of it just from breathing. But the second floor was spotless. Not a speck of dust could be seen, and the furnishings were arranged with immaculate precision. To his surprise, the walls and floor were adorned with numerous paintings, mostly of bamboo, lotuses, pines, and willows.
There were even a few poems inscribed alongside them.
"?"
Lin Jue glanced around, utterly perplexed.
Had some monk been sneaking up here to relax and play?
Or could there actually be ghosts in the temple?
Finding no obvious answer, Lin Jue headed back down, hauled his scholar's book chest up, and conducted a thorough inspection of the second floor.
There wasn't much up here. A long wooden bed spanned the room, with its ends pressing flat against opposite walls. It was large enough for two people to sleep foot-to-foot. In the center of the bed sat a small wooden tea table.
A few wooden bookshelves lined the wall, though they were mostly bare, holding only a handful of common Buddhist scriptures. One of the books showed signs of recent reading. Not only did it fall open naturally to a specific page, but a bamboo leaf was also tucked inside as a bookmark.
Perhaps there had originally been more clutter, but someone had cleared it away, piling everything up on the very top of the shelves where it couldn't be seen.
Regardless, it was remarkably clean and secluded.
"Since I'm here, I might as well settle in."
Lin Jue took a few books from his scholar's book chest and set them on the small wooden table in the center of the bed. Then, taking out his small knife and pulling out two items of clothing to serve as a makeshift pillow and blanket, he arranged his sleeping spot at the very edge of the bed.
He even gestured to measure the space.
The long bed was about two or three chi wide—perfectly fine for one person. Sleeping was exactly what it was designed for. If he lay at one end, his feet would slide neatly under the wooden table, leaving enough space for a second person at the other end. In this era, when scholars hosted guests for late-night chats in studies or attics, those who didn't want to travel home in the dark would sleep on these long beds just like this. Their feet would meet under the central table. Over time, "sleeping foot-to-foot" had become a dedicated idiom for hosting a close friend in conversation until dawn before resting together.
The only downside was that turning over wasn't very convenient.
But he couldn't be picky. It was still far better than cramming into a room downstairs with a bunch of people, where he might have ended up sleeping on the floor or slumped against a wall.
Lin Jue brought the oil lamp over and placed it on the small wooden table as well. He glanced around the room one last time before casually flipping through a few of his books. Amidst his reading, he also checked on the Wordless Ancient Book.
As expected, no new page had appeared.
Lin Jue fell deep into thought.
It seemed his guess was right—
That strange feeling he had experienced earlier was a reaction from the Wordless Ancient Book—a sign that it was about to manifest a new page recording a spell. This chapter was copied from NovelPing without permission.
As for tonight...
Lin Jue thought back to his previous two encounters.
The first time, he had inhaled the smoke exhaled by the monster. The second time, the flames spat by the old man had scorched his hair. The third time, he had clearly witnessed the old man absorbing and drawing in fire qi. Did his body need to come into direct physical contact with a spell, or did he need to clearly see the general mechanics of a technique to trigger a reaction from the Ancient Book?
The sample size was simply too small to be certain.
Lin Jue sat there, pondering.
"..."
Truthfully, it was just idle speculation. There was no real point to it.
Shaking his head, Lin Jue cast the thoughts aside. He retrieved his travel funds from his scholar's book chest and carefully began to count them.
When the younger generation left home to seek an education, the elders naturally prepared travel funds.
His aunt had originally wanted him to take all twenty liang of silver he had earned from the Wang Family of Heng Village. But his uncle had just recovered from a long illness, and the family desperately needed the money to get by. Naturally, Lin Jue couldn't accept it. After a lengthy back-and-forth argument, he finally accepted a silver piece worth roughly five liang that his aunt shoved into his hands, along with over two hundred wen.
But he had quietly slipped the silver piece back before leaving.
So, in reality, he had only brought a little over two hundred wen.
The gap between rich and poor in this world was massive. Even within a village setting, there were prominent, wealthy clans like the Wang Family of Heng Village, and ordinary households like the Lin Family, who couldn't even afford medicine when someone fell ill.
When it came to silver and copper, most commoners barely earned a few coins throughout the entire year, though they rarely needed to spend much, either. But the moment you stepped out into the wider world and actually had to spend money, funds suddenly felt disastrously insufficient.
Lin Jue figured that if push came to shove, he could perform Fire Spitting in the cities to scrounge up some travel money. Besides, it was early summer. The wild berries in the mountains were gradually ripening, and if he put in a little extra effort foraging, he wouldn't easily starve even if his funds dried up completely. It would be a harder life, but he could endure a little hardship.
With a bit more money kept at home, his uncle would have less pressure on him, and his cousin could marry and start his own life sooner.
He owed them, not the other way around.
Because of this, Lin Jue had been extremely frugal throughout his journey.
Subtracting his expenses, he had exactly two hundred wen left. Tonight, he had received the short, middle-aged man's thank-you gift, and after paying the incense oil money for lodging, that gift still amounted to four hundred and thirty-five wen. Altogether, he had six hundred and thirty-five wen.
The sound of counting coins filled the room in the dead of night...
Followed closely by a room full of sighs...
Lin Jue carefully divided them into seven piles and strung them on seven separate strings. Six strings held one hundred wen each, and the seventh held thirty-five wen, making them easy to access.
He had to admit, the currency of this era was heavy. Holding it in his hands truly gave him a sense of ownership.
Even if it was just a few hundred coins.
As for the mule he had found tonight, Lin Jue had absolutely never considered taking it to the market to sell—
Even a dog knew it had to be returned; how could he be worse than a dog?
"Sigh..."
The young scholar packed away his money.
Outside the window lay the temple lights, the moonlit mountain forest, and the winding official road that snaked through the landscape like a jade belt. A breeze swept through the bamboo grove, bringing a crisp chill into the room.
Gradually, the temple lights also dimmed.
The birds fell silent. Apart from the howling of the wind and the chirping of insects, not a single sound could be heard.
It was a familiar summer night.
Without realizing it, Lin Jue had already turned his gaze out the window.
This was his world now—
If not for the moonlight, this place would have been pitch black.
Nor were there many entertaining or interesting things to do.
Lin Jue slowly lay down. Perhaps it was because encountering a monster halfway through the day had been too stimulating, but he couldn't find a single shred of sleepiness. He could only lie there with his eyes wide open, letting his thoughts drift freely.
In his past life, he would have likely enjoyed this kind of environment. Sometimes, he would even specifically leave his usual living spaces to seek out places just like this. But now that he was truly here, and after experiencing it for so long, he naturally understood a harsh truth: the bustling, dreamlike world of his memories was the true result of progress.
Winters were so cold they made hands and feet sting, and summers were swarming with mosquitoes. People couldn't eat their fill or dress warmly. A single illness could kill even an imperial prince or grandson. Nothing was convenient. Very few modern people could tolerate this kind of life.
Fortunately, this world had monsters and spirits, cultivation and spells, and countless wondrous tales.
That was one of its rare blessings.
Buddhism spoke of the Great Thousand Worlds in the universe. He wondered where his own origins fit into all of that.
He wondered when he might be able to touch that level of understanding.
If he could arrive here, could he return?
Legends often spoke of the path of immortality and eternal life. Given a thousand years, he wondered what this world would look like.
Compared to testing for imperial merit, these were the things he truly wanted to pursue now.
Infinite reveries drifted through Lin Jue's mind.
Before he knew it, he had fallen asleep.