Some emotions emerged in Shen Lian’s thoughts. Yet, these emotions did not disrupt him from receiving external information. In fact, the amount of information one person could receive and remember was substantial, but one’s psyche would not be able to process this much information simultaneously, leading to selective filtering to avoid overloading in one’s body.
Shen Lian was no ordinary man. Even if he was working on tens and hundreds of tasks at the same time, he would execute them with zero error.
This was comparable to the character of Pang Tong in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, who had put away his governance for months, yet he could flawlessly solve all his accumulated tasks in one day.
All the mixed noises in front were heard. Once Shen Lian fixed his mind on it, he already knew what was going on. Someone was hitting on the gong, and there was a notice posted on the wall behind him. The notice read that a demon had appeared in a wealthy family in the city, and they were offering a thousand sterling silvers for someone who can catch the demon.
The crowd went to read the notice, but no one was taking the offer. It seemed that there were a few other Daoist monks who went for the job, but all of them had failed miserably.
One should know that these demon catchers relied on their reputation to make a living. Once one failed the job, one would lose reputation, credibility, which was not worth the effort.
This was the first time Shen Lian had witnessed an incident where a demon was causing trouble in a worldly city since there should be little demons and fairies in the humanly world. It would take a long time for a demon to grow from being plain psychic to possessing a protective shield. If one was in a place saturated with humans, it would be detected before all these could happen.
Most of the powerful demons stayed in deep mountains and reservoirs which were filled with mana and safe. Unless it had grown and gained physical shape, a mere demon would not leave its own realm.
Once gaining physical bodies, many demon kings would not bother roaming around as they would occupy a mountain and lived their trouble-free lives there.
As Shen Lian saw that no one would take up the job, he intended to walk up, since he was in the city where a monster had emerged. He could check what was going on, and whether this monster was really causing harm. He could offer some help.
At that moment, one person was thrown out of a gambling den. He lied on the ground, wailing a few times. Shen Lian looked and saw a man in ripped and dirty Daoist robe, but his mustache was well groomed.
Judging from his looks, he had some similarities with Sanwen Daoist. However he looked like forty years of age at most, he couldn’t be Sanwen Daoist himself. Let’s not mention he was the reincarnation.
In a big wide world, it was not strange to see similar faces. However, this person had some solid foundation of inner Qi, quite similar to the Qi technique of Qing Xuan sect. He might be the descendant of Sanwen Daoist.
Everyone was looking at this shabby looking Daoist, laughing while pointing at him. He had obviously lost all his money to the gambling den and got chased out.
He casually dusted off his robe, got up from the ground, had a look at the wall notice, smiled and walked towards the person with the gong ringer.
That person knew him apparently, and said, “Qi Sanguang, you have even lost your own monastery and all your mystical instruments. How are you going to catch this demon?”
Qi Sanguang was well known in the area. He came from generations of Daoist masters, had quite a number of field lands, and a monastery. Unfortunately, with such an unfilial person like Qi Sanguang who was addicted to gambling, once he was in the gambling den, he would gamble through the night, never left the place until he had lost all that he had.
While his parents were still alive several years ago, they could still barely keep him in check. Then when the parents had died, there was no one to control him, his addiction got worse and lost all his properties and inheritance.
He was not originally named Sanguang as well, that name came from outsiders who saw him as a person who would gamble until he had lost all three currencies: Gold, Silver, and Bronze.
That was when he got the nickname Sanguang, which was directly translated into “three empty”, and he was not ashamed by it. Instead, he embraced it, replaced his old name and called himself Sanguang Daoist.
Sanguang Daoist obviously lost it all again. He looked at the wall notice, which mentioned of the one thousand silvers reward for capturing a demon, of course, he would look happy.
He smirked, “If one needed an instrument to catch the demon, you would not have needed me”.
The gong ringer just wanted to bring a Daoist master back and finish his job. Since no one took up the offer, he had to pass the job notice to Sanguang Daoist.
He thought, if this guy lost a couple of limbs from the monster, and could not enter the gambling den again, that would be doing good too.
Sanguang Daoist took over the notice and followed him back to the family.
While there were wasted food rotting away in a wealthy family’s backyard, some people were seen starving to death on the streets. Sanguang Daoist compared himself with this wealthy family’s premises, now he felt quite ashamed of himself.
The main entrance had a monument set up, with the carving of some scholar’s name. The tablet on the lintel had “Shuo Family” written on it, that reminded him of this Mister Shuo, who was the scholar from this town, and became the minister in charge of salt transportation in Qingzhou, Zhizhou of the Southern East region.
Mister Shuo was a lucky man. As he left his position from Qingzhou Magistrate, he was transferred elsewhere. During the Qinghe Rebellion, he managed to escape investigation.
While he was in Qingzhou, everything was smooth, and he got the highest grade, got promoted as Salt Logistics Minister and became rich.
Seven years ago, he retired before turning fifty and returned home. It was said that the transportation of his properties and belongings went on from day till night, without pause.
Since he was a scholar, rich and loaded with properties, even the town council minister came over to pay him frequent visits.
Sanguang Daoist even remembered that his monastery was sold to Mister Shuo, only for two hundred silvers. He thought, when he had gotten rid of this monster, maybe he could try buying the monastery back, so he would not be beaten up by his ancestors in the underworld.
That was what he wished. Only when he was at the door, the guards did not let him in.
The person with the notice managed to convince the guards to let him in.
While he was entering the building, Shen Lian followed right behind.
Shen Lian looked very sharp and presentable. The door guards immediately greeted him politely. As soon as Sanguang Daoist saw this scene, he was pissed off.
He looked at Shen Lian who was also honing a Daoist robe and looked especially posh. In actuality, Shen Lian was not wearing any posh attire, but in fact, his robe was just clean, and he had this pure aura around him, immediately escalating the quality of the robe, giving it such posh effect.
The door guard was especially observant on such things. He could see that Shen Lian looked extraordinary, beating any sons of wealthy families in town. It looked as though a filthy rich young man had entered this rustic farm town.
Even though the local farm owner’s son was equally literate, Shen Lian’s outlook still stood out in multiple levels.
Moreover, although the Empress had changed her alignment, and practiced Buddhism, there were still many Daoist monasteries around, with deep foundations. Since this place was so far and secluded, no one cared about it.
The previous Dawei Dynasty had many practitioners of Daoism, hence the saying “Zhao family, Daoist family, all are one family”.
Therefore, Daoist cultivators were still very respected in such places, not to mention Shen Lian who dressed so clean, neat and tidily.