Big Data Cultivation-Chapter 1919 - 1921: The Courtyard’s Nickname

The news that Feng Jun was going to give a lecture spread quickly, causing a sensation in the Daoist sects. Many people applied to attend.

Not only the younger disciples, but the heads of major sects also registered—after all, this was the first time Feng Jun was giving a lecture.

Teacher Mei initially wanted to do her best to accommodate everyone, but as the number approached three thousand, she became anxious, "We need to consider limiting the number of attendees, and you should be more restrained when applying."

Despite this, the number of attendees still exceeded four thousand. Starting from Saturday, people began arriving in a continuous stream. Undeterred by the cold weather and lack of accommodation, they simply stayed in their cars.

Saturday happened to be the day the Xiuzhen Courtyard opened its doors. It truly became a "Missing Children Courtyard" here, with over a thousand people queuing each time it opened, while the courtyard consistently only allowed a hundred families.

However, the parents had come to accept this. Previously, families that caused trouble at the courtyard met with a very unfortunate end—Beauty Lin’s team acted more decisively than the police.

Parents eventually realized that while mystical powers are supernatural, they can’t be exploited endlessly. Balance is crucial for sustainability—if the mystical powers were exhausted, wouldn’t the parents who came later be heartbroken?

The Daoists who saw this scene were also intrigued and went ahead to have a look.

The administrators initially wanted to stop them, but Gazi came out and said to let these people look around.

He knew well that when the Xiuzhen Courtyard first opened, believers were introduced by other Daoist sects, and the people of Luohua couldn’t forget their roots.

Many Daoists who came recognized Gazi, and even those who didn’t know him acknowledged that there was such a person in Luohua. Everyone greeted each other with cupped hands, some went to tour the courtyard, and others chatted about it.

This courtyard now had a very high reputation in the Daoist circles, and some even referred to it as the "Missing Children Courtyard." There was no mockery in this nickname; on the contrary, they greatly admired what Luohua had done.

Guan Shanyue also came ahead of time. After meeting Gazi, she said with a smile, "Your efforts to rescue missing children have put a lot of pressure on us at Danxia Heaven. Fortunately, with Master Lu in charge here, if it were Little Celestial Master Tang, I would have had to complain to her."

The Xiuzhen Courtyard was so popular that people came here seeking mystical powers, only to find that the line was too long and required testing. So they thought of Magu’s blessing at Danxia Heaven, which seemed somewhat similar.

Magu’s blessing at Danxia Heaven occurred twice a month, not nearly as frequent as the courtyard’s three-times monthly opening. However, when there were no other options, people tried their luck there.

This really worried Magu San Niang. It’s not that she couldn’t perform divinations, but she could, though they were less effective than Feng Jun’s and consumed a lot of spiritual energy.

Her ability to divine wasn’t as good as Feng Jun’s, and it consumed a lot of spiritual energy, with greater consumption over longer distances.

So she was troubled... Should she help or not?

In fact, she had helped a few times because the requests were earnest, and they promised substantial donations—families with missing children were generally not wealthy, but there were exceptions.

After Magu San Niang helped a few times, word quickly spread in the mutual aid group, and a large number of families flocked to her.

Guan Shanyue was quite frustrated and finally had to reluctantly announce that for finding missing children, Zhengyang’s Xiuzhen Courtyard was the specialist. At best, they could provide emergency relief, but you’d still have to offer a significant Patron, which wasn’t worth it.

She spoke the truth, and many parents understood—after all, each trade has its own specialist.

But understanding didn’t mean they could accept it calmly. In Zhengyang, you only had to pay an accommodation fee, and here you had to pay?

Alright, paying is normal. You can’t just assume everything should be free because something else is. However, fifty thousand just for one service, is that... is that taking advantage of people’s misfortune?

In fact, they misunderstood. For Magu San Niang, the consumption of spiritual energy wasn’t something Huaxia currency could replenish.

Anyway, because of this matter, Danxia Heaven found itself in an awkward situation, but Guan Shanyue couldn’t complain about Luohua—everyone wanted to do good, but Luohua had more resources to do so.

Gazi shook his head and chuckled silently, "Even if Little Sister Tang were here, so what? The capacity of the Xiuzhen Courtyard is limited. Even if the capacity were larger, could it satisfy all the wishes of the masses? Just fulfilling one or two is enough."

"Oh?" Guan Shanyue looked at him in surprise. The once naive young man had grown to such an extent, "No wonder Mountain Master Feng is becoming more reclusive, you all have grown and found your own paths!"

"I haven’t even entered the Dao, where would my path come from?" Gazi replied with a smile, "But Master Guan, you must be here for more than just the lecture, right?"

"The lecture is my main purpose," Guan Shanyue replied without hesitation, "but if possible, I’d like to ask Elder Feng for a power version of the Spirit Gathering Array. We also want to follow in the footsteps of the Xiuzhen Courtyard and rescue abducted women and children."

Gazi looked at her for a moment and then shook his head, "I think that’s a bit unrealistic, but... I’m not in charge of Elder Feng’s decisions, so you can bring it up when you see him."

At that moment, a young man in his twenties walked briskly in from outside. He was tall, with long legs and a sunny disposition. He approached a staff member and said cheerfully, "Hello, Master, could you tell me where to go to fulfill a vow?"

"Fulfill a vow?" The staff member glanced at him, then led him to cut in line in front of those waiting, "Please wait a moment, there’s someone here to fulfill a vow... it’ll be quick."

Letting people who are fulfilling vows cut in line is a common practice in many places. It’s not that they’re latecomers, but rather they’ve been here long before. Plus, those fulfilling vows usually offer a larger donation.

However, the Blessing Courtyard does not focus on donations, which everyone knows. The staff just wanted to make it convenient for the young man.

But the young man clearly misunderstood. After burning incense, he picked up his handbag and gave it a pat, saying with a smile, "I’d like to meet the abbot and thank him in person... and also make a donation."

But Gazi had already learned through Lin Heihu who he was, so he said sternly, "Forget about the donation. It’s not easy for you to earn this money... such a little achievement doesn’t warrant a special visit to fulfill a vow."

It turned out that the young man was the swimmer who recently won a gold medal at a national competition, not only reaching the Olympic A standard but also breaking the national record. After receiving his bonus, he eagerly came to fulfill his vow.

Gazi had heard about him and knew how hard it was for professional athletes to make money, living on their youth, "I’ve told you, come back after breaking a world record. What are you doing here after breaking a national record?"

The young man smiled brightly, "Once I break the world record, I can come back again to fulfill my vow."

Then he paused, "How did you know I plan to fulfill my vow after breaking the world record?"

"What’s so surprising about that?" Gazi shook his head, "I am the abbot here. I know everything that goes on."

The young man looked at him suspiciously, wondering if this was the deity who appeared in his dreams.

It’s a good thing Lin Heihu was focused on the live broadcast at that moment; otherwise, he might have blamed Gazi for intercepting his followers.

The young man insisted on giving money, but Gazi was resolute in refusing. Left with no choice, he placed a stack of hundred-dollar bills into the Merit Box.

When he tried to put in a second stack, Gazi coldly said, "If you continue, I’ll retract my blessings... You make a living in your prime years, and you’ll face health issues as you age. Do you really think you have money to burn?"

The young man hesitated and eventually didn’t persist, bowing deeply, "Thank you for your concern, Master. I have nothing to repay you with... I’m resting today and tomorrow, so I’ll help you maintain order."

Gazi waved his hand, "Suit yourself... Oh, by the way, we’re not responsible for your meals. There are many stipulations regarding an athlete’s diet."

After this little episode, there wasn’t much else worth mentioning. Feng Jun worked with Lin Heihu through the night, and by noon the next day, they had sent off all the visitors at the Blessing Courtyard.

The number of fellow practitioners arriving increased, and conveniently, the Blessing Courtyard became available. A room housing four or five people could barely accommodate a thousand people.

Don’t complain about the crowding; this is treatment reserved for distinguished Taoists. Those without a reputation were sleeping in cars or sleeping bags, enduring the harsh, cold weather.

Some couldn’t bear the cold and considered asking someone from Luohua if they could start a fire, but others stopped them, "Are you here to practice Dao or to seek comfort? Do you think it’s appropriate to start a fire outside someone’s Dao arena?"

The person mumbled an explanation, saying they heard during ancient Dao discussions, practitioners were quite casual, and they thought they could do the same.

Others refuted him with a chorus of objections, "You’re not wrong, Dao discussions during ancient times were like that, but that was a Dao discussion. You’re here to listen to someone teaching Dao today; are those the same?"

At that time, Feng Jun was entertaining some old friends in the manor. As it approached eleven at night, Qing Xiaozi got up to bid farewell, saying he needed to go instruct his disciples and ensure they were seated quietly.

The others also took their leave upon hearing this. The sermon started at three o’clock, but they couldn’t arrive at two fifty with over four thousand people attending, as it would take significant time to enter and exit.

Guan Shanyue lingered behind and was about to speak when Feng Jun smiled, "I already know what you’re going to say, but I can’t provide you with another Spirit Gathering Array... Danxia Heaven can’t handle it."

Apparently, Master Guan had considered this issue and replied with a smile, "We could say we borrowed it from Luohua."

Feng Jun rolled his eyes and replied, half laughing, half crying, "The problem is, Luohua can’t handle it either. They’ve already taken two machines from me and still want more."

Master Guan nodded thoughtfully, "I see, in that case... Your Xiuzhen Courtyard is quite large, with dozens of empty rooms; might we..."

Feng Jun simply shook his head, "Sorry, no rules, no boundaries."

(Recommend a book written by a fellow book friend, "Myriad Heavens Abysmal Sea." It’s already contracted. Feng Xiao has read it and it doesn’t have the common rookie problems—worth a read, nearly 300,000 words. Also: Updating, summoning monthly tickets.)