Chapter 34: Lord Of The Gatekeepers
Yangcheng, Qi Men Dun Jia private high-end spa clubhouse main store, Gatekeeper Headquarters.
Wei Lao passed through the crowd in the lobby on the first floor.
He was clearly walking through the crowd, but the people around him seemed unable to see him or sense his presence. Even stranger, people within one meter of him would inexplicably subconsciously step back.
In front of him, the path ahead always seemed completely clear.
He walked straight into the elevator and went up to the top floor.
Above the building was a garden about half the size of a soccer field.
In the garden, there was a wooden cabin, a pool of artificial clear spring water, serene and elegant.
Beside the cabin was a gazebo where a long-haired middle-aged man dressed in coarse hemp clothes was brewing tea. He had a handsome and gentle appearance, pouring freshly brewed tea over a tea pet with a kirin shape while sipping from his cup alone.
“Young Master.” Wei Lao called softly.
The hemp-clothed man didn’t turn his head and greeted, “Wei Lao, sit down, come try the Mingmei that Celestial Master’s Mansion just sent.”
Wei Lao sat across from the hemp-clothed man, picked up the tea the man handed him, took a sip, and his eyes lit up.
“The Old Celestial Master’s spiritual tea seeds have borne fruit?”
The hemp-clothed man smiled and nodded: “Yes, this is the first batch. They sent me some as soon as it ripened. Though it has no great use for us, it can still nourish essence and supplement qi.”
Even someone as knowledgeable as Wei Lao couldn’t help but marvel: “It’s useless for us, but for those just starting on the cultivation path, it’s a rare immortal treasure. This one cup of tea is probably enough to transform an ordinary person completely and bring them closer to the Great Dao.”
Realizing the preciousness of the spiritual tea, he looked at the discarded tea water flowing over the kirin-shaped tea pet and felt heartbroken: “What a waste!”
The hemp-clothed man drained the tea in his cup in one gulp and said helplessly: “Tea is tea. No matter how extraordinary, it’s meant to be drunk. Besides, those who can drink this tea don’t care about its effects, and those who care about its effects aren’t qualified to enjoy it. In my view, it’s losing sight of the main goal. I don’t know if the Old Celestial Master has gone mad, insisting on cultivating something so useless.”
“If he heard that, wouldn’t he blow his beard and glare at you and fight you to the death?”
Wei Lao thought of that eccentric great inventor on Longhu Mountain and couldn’t help joking. After thinking, he added:
“He’d probably strike you with lightning.”
The hemp-clothed man smiled knowingly: “He really would do that.”
After the laughter, the gazebo fell into brief silence.
“Any movements from the gluttonous ghost?”
The hemp-clothed man suddenly asked.
Wei Lao shook his head lightly: “Except for a low-level gluttonous ghost from Blade Mountain Hell, nothing else has surfaced.”
“The person?”
“Dead.”
The hemp-clothed man leaned back slightly, resting on the bamboo chair, fingers lightly tapping the armrest, lost in thought.
Wei Lao didn’t disturb him and quietly savored the precious spiritual tea that the hemp-clothed man had discarded like worn shoes.
“Looks like we need to push a bit more. Have Hong Xingzhi and the others come back first. Xiao Lin alone should be enough. After someone dies, they’ll be very cautious in the short term, so the previous plan is meaningless.”
The hemp-clothed man said thoughtfully.
Wei Lao was somewhat unwilling: “Just let them lurk in Luocheng like this? Ye Lu Feng said he found a vengeful spirit one step away from becoming a fierce ghost. I suspect they created it.”
“Even if they created a real fierce ghost, I wouldn’t be surprised. But it doesn’t matter; they can’t stir up any waves.”
The hemp-clothed man spoke nonchalantly, not taking such a small matter to heart.
Wei Lao paused briefly and asked about other matters: “What did those people say?”
“Sweep the snow from your own door.” The hemp-clothed man sneered: “Hasn’t it always been like that since ancient times? If not for the common enemy of the gluttonous ghost, it would be good if they didn’t fight among themselves.”
“They can still stay calm at this point?” Wei Lao was very surprised by this.
The hemp-clothed man shook his head: “How many people do you think can see the future situation clearly? Very few! Besides the Old Celestial Master, the Shaolin Abbot, the Hanyang Liu family, and the Jiangnan Lu family who explicitly said they’ll help us whenever needed, the other sects have chosen to watch from the sidelines. They think it won’t burn them anyway.”
“Ignorant!” Wei Lao scolded angrily.
“That’s good too. If they weren’t ignorant, the Gatekeepers wouldn’t have grown so strong. Take Xiao Lin, for example—if the previous Lu Shan Sect Sect Leader hadn’t been shortsighted and feared his achievements would threaten his position, driving him out, I wouldn’t have found someone suitable to lead the Wound Gate.”
The hemp-clothed man comforted the angry Wei Lao.
Wei Lao nodded, gradually calming down, then suddenly said: “By the way, I found a good seedling in Luocheng. From the Buddhist Sect, with some connection to Jie Tan.”
Hearing this, the hemp-clothed man became interested.
“It’s rare for Wei Lao to rate someone as a good seedling. How excellent is he? Tell me.”
“Not only did he cultivate to seventh-rank Jianghu sorcerer by himself in just a few days, he also received blessings from the four sages in the Four Gods Hall.” Wei Lao said with a grin, quite like he’d picked up a treasure.
Unlike in Luocheng, Wei Lao didn’t hide his fondness for Jiang Ce at all now, showing it fully in front of the hemp-clothed man.
Hearing this description, the hemp-clothed man, who had been pointing at the world so casually before, was slightly dazed.
Seeing the hemp-clothed man’s reaction, Wei Lao was secretly satisfied. Heaven knows how hard it was for him to hold back his composure back then. Seeing you surprised too makes me feel better.
“However, I’m still puzzled about how he obtained four blessings. Even you spent a hundred years exploring the other three Great Daos to cross the half-immortal threshold before completing your path. A young man in his twenties, where did he get the time to study, until converting what he learned into his true heart and beliefs?”
Seeing Wei Lao’s puzzled face, the hemp-clothed man pondered for a while before finally speaking:
“Wei Lao, do you know what the greatest injustice in the world is?”
Wei Lao shook his head.
“It’s birth. All roads lead to Rome, but some are born in Rome.”
The hemp-clothed man smiled, stopping there.
Wei Lao understood his meaning and was even more shocked than when he first discovered Jiang Ce had received four blessings. He knew better than anyone how weighty that evaluation was.
“Does he need special attention?” Wei Lao asked, having realized this.
The hemp-clothed man shook his head: “No need. Let nature take its course. Too much intervention would be counterproductive. He naturally has his own path to walk; no one needs to pull seedlings to help them grow.”
“But Jie Tan seems intent on grooming him. On my way back, he asked me to request you assign that kid to his branch.”
“No.” The hemp-clothed man refused decisively. Mentioning Jie Tan, he seemed a bit headache: “Jie Tan is like an old nanny. Following him, besides cultivation, nothing else will grow. The most important thing in cultivation is still mentality.”
“Just let him stay in Luocheng. Start him from White Talisman. No special treatment. Xiao Lin will know what to do.”
“Good.”
“Besides this, any other matters?”
Wei Lao shook his head.
The hemp-clothed man put down his teacup, stood up, and stretched lazily: “Then I’ll trouble Wei Lao to clean up the tea set for me. I still need to meet a few people.”
Wei Lao nodded and didn’t ask more. He knew that if it was something he should know, the hemp-clothed man wouldn’t hide it. This was the tacit understanding built over many years between them.
A breeze swept by. When Wei Lao, who was drinking tea, put down his cup, the hemp-clothed man was already gone.
In the underground parking lot, in a black luxury car, the hemp-clothed man took off his long robe, revealing the black shirt and trousers underneath. He reached into the trunk from the back seat, took out a pair of leather shoes to change into, and tied up his long hair.
In an instant, the gentle and refined scholar turned into an elegant young nobleman.
He took out his mobile phone, which had over a dozen missed calls.
Interestingly, none of these calls were from cultivators; on the contrary, they were all from ordinary people.
He called one back. As soon as it connected, the other side started complaining: “Boss Cao, the girls are all here. How come you’re out of touch?”
“Coming, coming. I was just about to head out when the old man at home came back. I sat with him for a bit.”
After hanging up, the hemp-clothed man put on sunglasses, a slight smile tugging at his lips.
The luxury car’s headlights lit up, roaring like a wild horse.
Gatekeepers rarely abandon their lives as ordinary people.
So he could be Cao Gong, whom both righteous and evil paths feared with a flip of his hand for clouds and rain, or equally Boss Cao, indulging in sensual pleasures in the mortal world.
The greatest concealment is in the marketplace; this is one of the most important precepts of the Gatekeepers.
And the one who set this precept is naturally the Lord of the Gatekeepers—Cao Zheng.
Got a fever, feeling like my thoughts aren’t very clear. It actually took over an hour to write one chapter… But updates will still be guaranteed. The author is already quite useless; if I don’t work harder, I’ll just be waiting to die.
