Chapter 7: Returned

"Hoo—"

Opening his eyes and once again seeing the familiar balcony beside him, Gu Zhao couldn't help but let out a long breath. He instinctively glanced at the residence opposite, but didn't see the Young Lady who usually had her window open doing yoga.

Then his second reaction was to "look" at the Five Thunder Token in his mind.

The result was that not only did the Five Thunder Token, the surrounding thunder and lightning, and the thunder seed orbiting the token still exist, but even the Innate Qi he had activated and the magic power within his body had all been brought back as well.

His left hand formed a thunder seal, and a surge of vast, righteous Qi burst forth.

"Awesome!"

Gu Zhao's eyes gleamed brightly. He felt the world before him had become three times more radiant. At least thirty-six ways to show off in front of others had already flashed through his mind.

Cultivate the Dao and refine the heart? Showing off is what keeps my Dao heart smooth!

He turned to look at the wall clock. It was already past six in the afternoon, roughly matching the time he had spent in the other world, and it seemed about time for dinner over there too.

"It's not a rule-based traversal with time freeze, so I need to properly allocate and manage my time, otherwise it'll be easy to slip up," Gu Zhao thought, looking at the wall clock. "Especially since people here might come looking for me at any time."

Although that other world was clearly somewhat dangerous, fortunately he now had his cheat.

He was now a Daoist Priest who could cultivate and possessed magic power. Not only did he have the Five Thunder Token as his portable cheat, but he also had an industrial civilization as his foundation. Once he became familiar with the situation over there, he would surely be like a fish in water, like a tiger with wings, like glue...

Gu Zhao cut off his wandering thoughts, gave cultivation a try, and then had to admit that the two worlds were indeed different.

In that world, as long as he circulated Qi to cultivate, he would continuously absorb some substance similar to the world's primordial energy from the surrounding heaven and earth, replenishing his magic power.

But in this world, no matter how hard he tried to circulate his internal breath, the energy absorbed from the outside world couldn't be said to be nonexistent, but it felt like a leaky faucet dripping one or two drops.

It couldn't be said to be nonexistent, but it was barely better than nothing.

Gu Zhao shook his head. "No wonder cultivation is impossible in this world."

In other words, when he cast spells in the modern world, it was very difficult to replenish his magic power by cultivating and absorbing the world's primordial energy. He would either have to grind through large amounts of time, or he could only replenish it by eating and refining food.

But it didn't matter, he could traverse to the other world at any time to recharge.

Then he saw the leather boots on his feet, as well as the silver, copper coins, and the wooden carving in his pocket—all had been brought back with him.

Gu Zhao returned to the living room, put the copper coins and silver ingot into the drawer, and casually placed the wooden carving on the entryway shelf.

There were no mages in the modern world, so a wooden carving placed here was just a craft item with decent wood quality. Gu Zhao didn't mind at all.

Then Gu Zhao began his experiments.

"Traverse!"

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh whoosh whoosh!"

Through several traversals, and the table and sofa in the living room that were now messily stained with mud and grass clippings, Gu Zhao roughly figured it out. This Five Thunder Token, besides being able to bring Gu Zhao and his personal belongings, could actually also bring along anything covered by his divine sense through the traversal.

In other words, as Gu Zhao's cultivation deepened, his Sea of Consciousness would grow wider and his divine sense stronger, allowing him to bring more and more things.

Gu Zhao's eyes gleamed brightly. "Tsk tsk... mighty power returns to the self. When the time comes, with a single thought, I'll directly bring the entire Yangcheng descending upon the other world, ascend to the pinnacle with industrial technology, and suppress all inauspiciousness..."

"Can't think about it anymore. If I keep thinking, I'll get so excited I won't be able to sleep. I have things to do tomorrow."

"Eat! Sleep!"

……

The next morning.

The first thing Gu Zhao did after getting up was to sense the Five Thunder Token in his mind, confirming that yesterday's experience wasn't a dream.

He exclaimed "Awesome" once more, then tidied up, washed up, got dressed, and headed out.

"There's quite a lot to do today." Gu Zhao picked up his phone and opened the notepad. Inside were several points he had written down yesterday, recorded in order of importance and urgency.

【Buy a few sets of similar ancient-style clothes, so I don't look too out of place when traversing again】

【Buy brushes, inkstones, cinnabar, yellow paper】

【Go to the other world to test which spells and talismans from the Daoist scriptures I learned are usable】

【Go to the nearest Xiuyue County and begin the journey of exploring the world】

【Find a way to communicate normally with the female ghost without having my primordial energy drained】

All of it was related to the other world. As for the modern world... actually, Zhang Hang's suggestion wasn't entirely without merit.

He had just graduated, after all. Leaning on his parents for a bit was understandable.

Gu Zhao: (•̀⌄•́)

Gu Zhao paid his respects to his mother, who was dozens of kilometers away, while biting into a char siu bun and boarding the subway heading to the City God Temple.

Yangcheng's City God Temple was very large in ancient times. It was said to have later been upgraded to a Metropolitan City God Temple, but by now it had become very small—at least not comparable to the Metropolitan City God Temples in several other cities.

But regardless, the City God Temple was the historical and cultural center of a city that had stretched on for a thousand years. So with the City God Temple as the center, radiating out for half a street, most of the shops dealt with traditional historical culture.

For example, stationery stores, calligraphy and painting stores, antique stores, jade stores.

Gu Zhao came here with the idea of getting his brushes, ink, paper, inkstones, and ancient-style clothes all in one go.

……

"What? Yellow paper?"

In Guyixuan, the boss looked at the perfectly serious Gu Zhao, somewhat bewildered. "I have raw xuan paper, cooked xuan paper, single-layer xuan paper, double-layer xuan paper, white xuan paper, yellow xuan paper. If you want yellow paper, did you come to the wrong place?"

Gu Zhao asked, "Then where should I go?"

The boss snorted, "The funeral street."

Gu Zhao was speechless. "The yellow paper I want isn't the kind used for burning."

"Then what is it for?" the boss asked.

"Drawing talismans," Gu Zhao replied.

This time it was the boss's turn to be speechless. "Then you shouldn't have come to a stationery store, you should go to a Daoist temple."

Gu Zhao asked, "Isn't the City God Temple a Daoist temple?"

"The City God Temple was torn down over a hundred years ago. Now there's only one main hall left—how does that count as a Daoist temple?" The boss pointed north, then pointed west. "If you want to buy yellow paper for drawing talismans, why not go to Yuanfa Palace or Huangxian Shrine?"

Gu Zhao's eyes lit up. "They sell cinnabar and yellow paper there?"

"At least they sell funeral supplies there," the shopkeeper replied.

Gu Zhao: "..."

The shopkeeper: "..."

Gu Zhao asked, "Why didn't you mention Six Guest Temple and Guangxiao Temple?"

The shopkeeper answered, "They don't sell funeral supplies there."

Gu Zhao was left speechless by the retort; seeking the afterlife at the entrance of a Taoist temple dedicated to the present life, and asking about the present life at the entrance of a Buddhist temple dedicated to the next life—this world was simply beyond explanation.

Gu Zhao: ╮(╯▽╰)╭

With no other choice, Gu Zhao first bought a set of wolf-hair brushes, then a Huizhou inkstone. Thinking that he would henceforth be a transmitter of ancient culture, he proceeded to buy various types of Xuan paper, as well as pine-soot ink and lampblack ink.

Then he stepped outside, summoned a runner, and had the young man deliver the items to his doorstep. Immediately after, he turned left, entered the shop, and continued buying clothes!