Chapter 442 The Mountains and Rivers Have an End

"Zuo Chong, tomorrow you..." Yuan Ming's mother said as she walked into the study room. Her eyes met Yuan Ming and she was stunned.

Yuan Ming's mother had no talent for cultivating immortals and was always just a mortal. She was once so beautiful and charming, but now she could not escape the wear and tear of time. Her skin was no longer smooth and delicate, her figure was a little thin, wrinkles climbed up her forehead and eyes, and her long black hair was now more gray.

She looked at Yuan Ming, her body trembling, but she couldn't speak. Tears fell in big drops and soon soaked her cheeks.

She walked slowly towards Yuan Ming and carefully stroked his cheek with her hand. She didn't even dare to use force, for fear that everything she saw was a dream. If she used a little force, she would wake up from the dream.

Yuan Ming held his mother's hand on his cheek, feeling the warmth from her palm. Thousands of words, in the end, only converged into a simple sentence.

"Mother, I'm back."

...

"Report to the elder, the disciple who is responsible for monitoring the Yuan Mansion reported that Yuan Ming has returned home."

The middle-aged man in a purple and gold Taoist robe in the Taoist temple in the center of Qujiang City respectfully reported to a female cultivator who had reached the Jindan stage.

The man was the new national master sent by Changchun Temple, named Miao Qing, whose cultivation was much higher than Yuhu, and even reached the peak of foundation building.

The national master of Dajin, although the title sounds intimidating, is actually no different from the steward in charge of handling external affairs for a sect of immortal cultivation like Changchun Temple.

In Changchun Temple, any cultivator with some talent would not want to take up this position, but this position is very important. In a sense, it is equivalent to the facade of Changchun Temple. Therefore, without some background and means, one cannot be a national master.

Fortunately, there is no shortage of foundation building disciples with certain backgrounds but poor talents in Changchun Temple.

This is true for Taoist Master Yuhu and Miao Qing.

However, compared with Yu Hu, who was only in the initial stage of foundation building, Miao Qing's former identity and status were much higher.

He was the only son of an elder surnamed Miao in Changchun Temple. He should have a promising future, but he was seriously injured in an exploration of a secret realm. From then on, his foundation was damaged and he could never break through the Jindan stage.

Helplessly, he could only give up the idea of ​​going further and began to help deal with various mundane affairs in the sect. Because of his outstanding methods, he won the praise of many Jindan elders.

After Yu Hu's death, Changchun Temple had been arguing about who would be the next national teacher.

People of the royal family certainly don't need to consider it. After all, the position of national teacher was originally set up to restrict the royal family. If their people were allowed to take the position, it would be putting the cart before the horse.

But among those who are not from the royal family, few are willing to take over the mess left by Yu Hu.

Yu Hu said that what he did was for the good of the young emperor Liu Tianming, but in fact, it was a disguised suppression of the authority of the royal family. If it had been done, it would have been fine. Now, not only did it not work, but it also ruined the reputation of the national teacher.

If he took over at this time, he would be targeted by the royal family. Any slight mistake would further reduce the public's evaluation of Changchun Temple.

In this context, Miao Qing was forced to take on such a hot potato by several elders.

Those elders did not want to target him. After all, if he could do a bad job well, he could get reputation and benefits that could not be exchanged for a hundred good jobs.

However, Miao Qing was much more practical than them. After taking office, he directly adhered to the principle of not doing anything good. Except for his own job that had been set long ago, he ignored everything else and did not care about anything else. The highlight was that he did not touch anything.

Facts have proved that his strategy is useful. After the initial limelight passed, basically no one cared about how he was as a national teacher.

If nothing unexpected happens, as long as he has been in office for 30 years, he can be transferred to manage the monk market near Qujiang City through operations, which is a position with real benefits.

Unfortunately, six years ago, an accident happened.

"Why didn't the disciples arranged at the city gate report it, but the disciples in charge of monitoring came first?" Hearing Miao Qing's words, the female cultivator of Jindan opened her eyes and asked lightly.

She has a pair of phoenix eyes, willow eyebrows like the moon, red lips like fire, and a green shirt outlines her concave and convex figure, which is extremely attractive.

On her ears, there is a blue jade earring wrapped in a faint aura, with runes flashing faintly on it, which looks quite extraordinary.

"This... Maybe Yuan Ming disguised himself when he entered the city, and they didn't notice it in time." Miao Qing bowed his head and said.

"Didn't you issue a magic weapon that can see through disguises? In the end, you didn't care. Pass on my order to confiscate their monthly salary and reward each of them with ten magic whips as a punishment." Elder Cha said calmly.

Miao Qing nodded in agreement, but sighed in his heart.

The disciples in charge of monitoring and guarding were only Qi-refining. Yuan Ming was already in the foundation-building stage when he left Beijing. Now that he has been away for nearly 20 years, his cultivation may have increased. Even if those disciples have magic tools, it is easy for Yuan Ming to hide it. How can it be the responsibility of those Qi-refining disciples?

But he only dared to think about these words in his heart, and did not dare to tell this "iron-faced and impartial" elder in person.

"In addition, since Yuan Ming has returned home, the personnel arranged in other places should be withdrawn and transferred to the outside of Yuan Mansion to watch. You go there in person and bring Yuan Ming to see me." Elder Cha said again at this time.

Miao Qing sighed softly. Although he was reluctant in his heart, he could only nod and agree under the pressure of Elder Cha, and turned around to make arrangements.

The night gradually darkened.

Yuan Ming sent his sleepy mother back to her room, and talked with his father for a long time before returning to his own room.

The furnishings in the room were exactly the same as when he left. Although twenty years had passed, it was still spotless.

Yuan Ming looked around the room and couldn't help but sigh again. However, now was not a good time to recall the past. He still needed to find out the intentions and movements of Changchun Temple as soon as possible.

Soon, Yuan Ming took out a sound transmission talisman from his storage bag and silently cast a spell to activate it.

"Your Majesty, I have returned to the capital and found that an elder of Changchun Temple was under surveillance outside because of Zuo Qinghui's matter. I wonder how much you know about this matter? Can you tell me the inside story?" Yuan Ming whispered to the sound transmission talisman.

A blue light rose from the sound transmission talisman, but it dimmed after a moment, as if Yuan Ming's words had been transmitted to another talisman corresponding to it.

But soon, the sound transmission note in Yuan Ming's hand lit up again, and Liu Tianming's voice came out of it, but there was only one sentence:

"The backyard of Tianming Book Club, the mountains and rivers will eventually end."

Then, the sound transmission note completely turned into flying ash and fell.

Yuan Ming's eyebrows moved, and he secretly said in his heart, "As expected."

Although the content of the jade slip placed on his father's desk was simple, only people in Changchun Temple could understand such a precise situation. Among the royal family, the only one who could be so close to his Yuan family was the little emperor Liu Tianming.

As the saying goes, a new emperor has his own ministers. Even Liu Tianming's grandfather didn't pay much attention to Yuan Ming and Yuan Zuochong.

However, Yuan Ming didn't expect that Liu Tianming was now in the capital, and the meeting place was set at Tianming Book Club, and there was a secret language communication. Perhaps he sneaked out for this matter and it was not convenient for him to meet him face to face.

While Yuan Ming was thinking, there was a knock on the door outside the house.

"Young Master, the Imperial Master Miao Qing is here to visit you and wants to see you." Fu Qing's voice came from outside the house.

"... Tell him that I'm out on business in the market and I'm not home now. Let him come back tomorrow." Yuan Ming murmured for a moment, then ordered.

"Yes." Fu Qing took the order and left.

"Wait a minute, if he doesn't believe me and insists on seeing me, you can ask him to wait in the front hall and tell him that you have informed me and he will be back in a while. Don't let him alarm his parents." At this moment, Yuan Ming remembered something, and hurriedly opened the door, stopped Fu Qing, and added.

"I know." Fu Qing nodded.

Yuan Ming looked at Fu Qing's leaving figure, and in his heart he was thinking about the purpose of Miao Qing's arrival.

After meeting his parents, he did not deliberately conceal his identity, so many servants in the mansion also knew about his return.

If the person watching outside the house was not blind, he would definitely notice this situation. Moreover, it is still unknown whether there are mortal spies from Changchun Temple among the servants in the mansion.

If it were an ordinary cultivator, he might not attach importance to the role of mortals, but the national teacher who is in the political center of Dajin would definitely not despise these mundane means.

Taoist Master Yuhu is an example.

However, no matter how Miao Qing knew about his return and what the purpose of his visit was, Yuan Ming was not going to pay attention to him.

All the responses had to wait until he met with Liu Tianming before they could be completely settled.

…

One stick of incense later, Tianming Bookstore.

After changing his appearance, Yuan Ming avoided the monks of Changchun Temple who were monitoring Yuan Mansion and quietly came to the backyard of Tianming Bookstore, which had already closed.

Many rooms in the backyard were still lit, and the guys in the bookstore lit candlelight to proofread the engravings and print the next batch of books to be sold.

Yuan Ming's spiritual sense swept through the bookstore and soon found the residence of the bookstore owner.

He went forward and knocked on the door. Not long after, the bookstore owner, who was in his fifties, quietly opened the door and saw a stranger standing outside the house. He was surprised.

"Who are you?"

"The mountains and rivers have their ends." Yuan Ming did not take off his disguise and calmly said the codeword.

Hearing this, the surprised expression on the shopkeeper's face quickly disappeared, and he opened the door a little more and led Yuan Ming into the house.

"We meet everywhere, please come this way, the master has been waiting for a long time." The shopkeeper whispered, walked quickly to the wall, and took a book from the bookshelf.

With a slight sound, the floor slowly opened, revealing a staircase leading to the underground.

Yuan Ming walked towards the basement calmly, and the shopkeeper of the book club did not follow him. He just waited for Yuan Ming to go deeper and closed the secret passage again.

The staircase was not long, but at the end it was blocked by a stone door engraved with a ban. Before Yuan Ming could react, the stone door slowly opened, and Liu Tianming, with a smile on his face, also came out to greet him.