"Lin Beichen, could you slow down a bit? I'm barely keeping up with you," Xia Luyao couldn't help but complain.
Lin Beichen turned his head, glanced at her, and replied with a smile, "I didn't ask you to follow me. If you can't keep up, then don't."
"You..." Xia Luyao was momentarily at a loss for words, feeling that Lin Beichen's words sounded a bit strange.
"What's wrong with me?" Lin Beichen asked, puzzled, looking at her.
"Nothing," Xia Luyao replied in a low voice, pursing her lips.
"Alright, let's go. We're almost there," Lin Beichen said without thinking much, turning around to continue forward.
Xia Luyao watched Lin Beichen's back, inwardly cursing "bastard," wondering why he couldn't wait for her just a little bit.
A few more minutes of walking brought them to the end of the mountain path. Xia Luyao looked up to see an ancient, weathered Daoist Temple standing ahead. The temple's main gate carried a severely peeling plaque on its lintel, faintly discernible with the words "Xuanzhen Temple."
"This is it!" Lin Beichen pointed to the Xuanzhen Temple and said.
Xia Luyao surveyed the temple and couldn't help but sigh at its dilapidation.
She found it hard to imagine that Lin Beichen grew up here.
"Let's go in,"
Lin Beichen said as he pushed open the old door and walked in.
Xia Luyao followed closely behind into the temple.
"Why is this temple so empty? Where's your master?" Xia Luyao asked in confusion, looking around.
"He's probably out traveling. He does that often," Lin Beichen said casually. In truth, he didn't have a master; the previous claim was just to avoid freeloaders.
Xia Luyao nodded without suspicion, recalling that on TV, the old Daoists indeed enjoyed wandering around.
"Come on, let me help you clean up the guest room," Lin Beichen said, leading Xia Luyao toward the guest room. Since he had never stayed there before, the guest room remained uncleaned. When they opened the door, a puff of dust greeted them.
"Oh," both of them simultaneously raised their hands to wave the dust away and stepped back a few paces. "Lin Beichen, how long has it been since anyone stayed in this guest room?" Xia Luyao couldn't help but ask.
"Ever since I came here, I've never seen anyone use it," Lin Beichen replied with a light cough. Xia Luyao could say nothing in response.
The two of them spent quite a bit of effort cleaning up the guest room. After that, they began preparing lunch. Considering the limited resources on the mountain, Lin Beichen had bought instant noodles in advance. Fortunately, Xia Luyao wasn't picky, and with that, the two of them solved their lunch issue simply.
After lunch, they wandered aimlessly around the courtyard. "It's pretty boring up here on the mountain," Xia Luyao remarked. "By the way, Lin Beichen, what did you do before at the temple? Was it this boring?"
Lin Beichen thought for a moment before casually replying, "Not too bad. I usually meditate after eating and time flies by, so it's not that boring." "Meditation?" A hint of curiosity and doubt flashed in Xia Luyao's eyes. She had only seen meditation on TV and always assumed it was a trick used by frauds to mystify. But since meeting Lin Beichen, he had repeatedly turned her preconceptions upside down.
Many things she hadn't believed in before had been proven. Could meditation be real too?..."Lin Beichen, do you really meditate?" Xia Luyao asked curiously. Lin Beichen nodded, "Of course, you don't believe it?" Xia Luyao looked at him and slowly said, "I've never seen someone who actually meditates, so naturally, I don't believe it."
"Well, now you've met one," Lin Beichen said with a smile. "If you don't believe it, I can teach you to meditate today, and then you'll see if it's real or not."
Xia Luyao hesitated for a moment before nodding, "Alright." She also wanted to see what meditation was all about and whether it was as magical as they said on TV. Seeing Xia Luyao agree, Lin Beichen immediately took her to the meditation room to start teaching her meditation techniques.
They entered the Daoist Temple's Meditation Room and each found a cushion, sitting across from each other.
"Meditation primarily involves focusing the mind and clearing the mind of distractions. Close your eyes and follow my instructions," Lin Beichen instructed Xia Luyao with a calm voice.
Xia Luyao nodded in agreement. Although somewhat perplexed, she followed his instructions, closing her eyes and striving to eliminate distracting thoughts to seek inner peace.
Lin Beichen also closed his eyes and slowly began guiding her. "First, you must clear your mind of all thoughts, then feel the life energy flowing within your body, breathing deeply and steadily."
Xia Luyao obeyed Lin Beichen's guidance strictly with her eyes closed, yet she couldn't sense the Realm Lin Beichen depicted.
"Why can't I feel the flow of energy you talked about?" Xia Luyao couldn't help but open her eyes and ask in confusion.
She truly couldn't feel any energy flow—was Lin Beichen just toying with her?
Hearing her question, Lin Beichen opened his eyes and looked at her briefly before letting out a soft sigh.
"You can't feel it because your mind has yet to completely calm down."
"But I've tried not to think about anything," Xia Luyao said, showing a puzzled expression, "Is it really possible to have absolutely no thoughts at all?"
Lin Beichen sighed again and then explained in more detail, "How about this, place your hand on mine, and I'll let you experience it."
As he spoke, he stretched out his left hand, placing it in front of Xia Luyao.
Xia Luyao looked at Lin Beichen's hand, feeling a bit hesitant.
Noticing her hesitation, Lin Beichen softly asked, "What's wrong? Didn't want to continue learning? It's okay if you don't want to learn..."
"No, I want to learn." Xia Luyao quickly interrupted him and then slowly extended her right hand, gently placing it on Lin Beichen's hand.