A large stack of gold notes, silver notes, land deeds, and precious antiques.
Xiao Ning glanced at them casually, not particularly moved, and with a wave of his hand, put all the items into his storage ring.
"The pirate incident has been handled well, very good!"
Xiao Ning showed his appreciation and said, "According to convention, after breaking through to the Innate Realm, one can choose to go out for training or choose to cultivate diligently in the temple!"
"Then tell me, what is your choice?"
Upon hearing this, Xu Xian's expression became extremely conflicted.
He was no longer a fledgling, so he knew the temple's custom: after breaking through to the Innate Realm, one could go out to train, and the temple master would bestow upon him a better martial art to protect himself.
Of course, if you don't want to leave, you can choose to stay and cultivate diligently in the temple in hopes of breaking through to a higher realm.
"Reporting to the Abbot, this disciple..."
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Chapter 16 Returning to the Mountain
"Reporting to the Abbot, this disciple has decided to stay!"
After much deliberation, Xu Xian finally made up his mind.
"Oh? You've decided?"
"Don't you want to see the dazzling world outside? As far as I know, you've ruined almost all the courtesans in the brothels of Qiantang County!"
"The outside world is incredibly wonderful, and there are even better and younger women waiting for you, Xu Hanwen, to take your liking!"
Xiao Ning replied slowly, his tone seemingly serious, yet he was actually making a teasing remark.
Xu Xian broke out in a cold sweat and immediately bowed to apologize.
"I was presumptuous before, please forgive me, Abbot!"
Unexpectedly, the abbot even knew about such things.
However, Xu Xian thought again that the abbot was all-powerful and knew everything, so how could his little tricks escape the abbot's notice?
"This is your private life, and I have no intention of interfering. However, since you have chosen to stay, things are different!"
Xiao Ning waved his hand and said, "If you choose to travel abroad like Dong Da and the others, you will remain a novice Taoist for life and will never be able to access the core secrets of this temple!"
"However, since you've chosen to stay, your treatment will naturally be different!"
Hearing this, Xu Xian was very curious and quickly asked, "Please tell me, Abbot!"
Xiao Ning nodded and said, "Our temple is called Qingxu Temple Branch Temple, but the main temple is located in Qinghai County. Our temple ranks among the top three in the entire Song Kingdom!"
"The abbot of this temple is a Supreme Elder of equal status to the main abbot. However, he has grown restless and has been traveling outside the temple, so he built a branch temple outside Qiantang County!"
"Therefore, if you are willing to stay, you can become an inner disciple of this temple, and your treatment will naturally be the same as that of other disciples!"
With Xu Xian's cultivation at the Innate True Person Realm, he could enjoy the treatment of an inner disciple within the Qingxu Temple, so Xiao Ning naturally wouldn't mistreat him.
"Qinghai County...one of the top three in the Song Dynasty..."
Xu Xian's eyes widened in shock and disbelief.
He never expected that this unassuming Taoist temple would have such a significant background.
"This disciple will obey the Abbot's orders!"
He thought for a moment, then quickly bowed and replied.
Xiao Ning flicked his sleeve and helped him up, saying, "Becoming an inner disciple of this sect offers better treatment, but the requirements are also stricter. You must not violate the sect rules, so don't ruin your own life!"
"I will obey the abbot's command!" Xu Xian gladly accepted.
"Then you shouldn't go looking for prostitutes so casually anymore; it's not a good look!"
"Ah... okay!"
Xu Xian opened his mouth wide. Although he was extremely unwilling, he had no choice but to agree for the sake of his dream of immortality.
"Alright, stop worrying about it. Once you've achieved success in your cultivation, you'll have all kinds of women you could want! Compared to immortality, what are women? You should be able to figure out what's more important, so I won't say any more!"
Seeing Xu Xian's reluctant expression, Xiao Ning offered a few words of advice that instantly enlightened Xu Xian.
"What the Abbot says is absolutely right, and this disciple is completely convinced!"
Xu Xian bowed respectfully.
At that moment, he was completely convinced.
I've figured it out.
If he continues as before, he can only play for another two hundred years at most. After his lifespan ends, it will be too late for regrets.
The abbot was right. With infinite life and boundless power, one could have any woman one wanted; in fact, one could have everything.
"I will take you to our temple now. After you pay your respects to the patriarch, you will be considered a formal disciple of Qingxu Temple!"
Afterwards, Xiao Ning closed the gate of the Taoist temple, activated the formation, and Tengyun took Xu Xian to Qinghai County City.