Chapter 2: Liao Scroll - Liao Flowers Abound, Mountains and Old Friends

Chen Huaisheng had long known he could not escape the notice of the other party.

The few people on the other side were all cultivators, and there were even qi practitioners among them, with keen senses. No matter how he tried to calm his mind and hold his breath, he could not escape their perception.

He had no intention of hiding.

However, the pain from his injuries still made his movements somewhat difficult. Although it seemed from his observations that the other party was not particularly vicious, it was better to be cautious. He did not dare to be careless.

"Liao County's Chen Huaisheng greets all of you. This young lady is correct; this is indeed a statue of Wuzhiqi, which can occasionally be found in our remote countryside. The authorities have not been able to completely ban it."

Chen Huaisheng limped out from the side hall, clasped his hands in a salute, and bowed.

At this moment, Chen Huaisheng noticed that the other party consisted of nine people, four women and five men. However, the leaders seemed to be the two women in the middle, no, a woman in her early twenties and a girl around twelve or thirteen.

Nine pairs of eyes fell on Chen Huaisheng's face and body, with surprise, astonishment, regret, and indifference.

"Brother Huasheng?!" The clear voice was filled with surprise and joy, "Brother Huasheng, is it really you?"

Chen Huaisheng was taken aback and his gaze fell on the girl who had stepped out from the group.

She was about twelve or thirteen years old, with a small face and a dimple on her left cheek, graceful and elegant.

She wore a white silk robe, her hair tightly bound, a jade hairpin horizontally inserted, and a pair of purple embroidered boots on her feet.

Her eyes still held a hint of disbelief. She took a few steps forward and confirmed, "Brother Huasheng, don't you recognize me? I'm Chimei, Xuan Chimei from Blackwood Cliff."

Chen Huaisheng then had a vague memory and said with surprise, "Ah, Chimei, it's been five or six years. You've changed so much, I really didn't recognize you. What are you...?"

Luohan Fort, Blackwood Cliff, Yuanbao Village, Gudian Post, and Fengtong Ridge were the five largest villages in Gudian, each with about three to five thousand people.

The remaining dozen or so small villages had populations ranging from a few hundred to a few dozen, scattered in the southeastern corner of the three-thousand-mile Yushan.

The others were quite surprised to see the girl, though most of them were teenagers around thirteen or fourteen, they looked at her with admiration.

Usually, it was not clear whether this girl would be called Senior Sister or Senior Aunt, but everyone knew she was a rare genius in the Jiulian Sect, having broken through to the second level of qi cultivation in less than four years, and she was not yet thirteen.

On this journey, several of them had tried various ways to attract her attention, but one cold glance from her was enough to make all their efforts vanish like snow in boiling water.

However, the attraction was too strong, and after a while, some would try again, only to return disappointed.

Fortunately, she did not go too far, just ignoring them.

Unexpectedly, this young man in his early twenties, who had yet to enter the path of cultivation, was so close to her, which was truly frustrating.

Could they be relatives?

"Little Sister joined the Jiulian Sect four years ago. This time, I accompanied Senior Sister Yu from our sect to Yiguo to recruit a few disciples, and I also came back to visit home..."

The girl smiled, her face as pure as a white lotus, and Chen Huaisheng was momentarily stunned, quickly composing himself and inwardly reproaching himself.

"Jiulian Sect?"

Chen Huaisheng had been away from his hometown for six years and did not expect that the little girl he had saved from the water had joined the Jiulian Sect not long after he left.

A wave of envy and jealousy surged within him. Was this the gap between heaven and man?

He had also tried to join these major sects, or rather, their branches, affiliates, or subordinate sects.

But he was either rejected or sent to do the most arduous and dangerous work, ostensibly to hone and train him.

If you were willing to do it, fine; if not, get lost. The key was that no matter how hard you tried to show your worth, you never had the chance to learn the Dao.

Every year, thousands of Dao seeds flooded in, and these major sects did not lack for those seeking the Dao, so they were very selective.

Major sects generally did not accept direct applications. They either selected and recruited themselves or recommended outstanding individuals from their branches, affiliates, or subordinate sects.

Someone like Chen Huaisheng, with no connections, could only try his luck with the branches and affiliates, but the chances were extremely slim.

In the past few years, he had joined two branches of major sects.

At one, he worked in the spirit fields for two years, with nothing to show for it except for the labor. If learning to plant jade wheat and jiahe could be considered a skill, then it was a stretch.

At another, he became a "hunter," an assistant to those in the sect who specialized in hunting low-level demonic beasts.

He could learn some combat experience, but it was very dangerous.

Of the nine who joined at the same time, seven became hunters. In just over two years, three died, one was disabled, he and another left the sect, and one continued, with an unknown outcome.

He also joined a small sect, but within three months, the small sect had a conflict with a neighboring sect.

They, the uninitiated disciples, were of no use and quickly scattered to save their lives.

"Jiulian Sect, I haven't congratulated you, Chimei. It's one of the top major sects in the Great Zhao, a once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity..."

Seeing Chen Huaisheng's strange expression and muttering, the girl smiled and said, "Thanks to the grace of the sect's guiding immortal, I have been admitted. I remember Brother Huasheng was also a talented Dao seed, even more outstanding than me. In these few years..."

In the girl's memory, this savior was one of the few Dao seeds in Yuanbao Village, and he had left to travel as soon as his spiritual roots were clear. She did not know what had happened to him in the past few years.

The woman beside her, experienced in the ways of the world, knew that although this young junior sister was outstanding in cultivation, she was still too young and naive in human affairs, not noticing the awkward and embarrassed look on the young man's face.

She quickly said, "Chimei, everyone's circumstances are different. Your brother must have returned after a period of travel, surely with some aspirations..."

Chen Huaisheng understood that the woman was trying to smooth things over for him and was secretly grateful.

In this group, he could see that both the woman and Xuan Chimei had already entered the qi cultivation stage, and the other few young men and women were likely the selected disciples Xuan Chimei mentioned.

Major sects had their own channels for recruiting disciples and generally did not accept direct applications. Instead, they used their recruiters in various places to screen and recommend candidates.

These recruiters usually had special relationships with the major sects.

They were either older disciples who had returned to their hometowns to enjoy their twilight years after failing to advance, or local gentry with close ties to important figures in the major sects, or officials in the local government.

As recruiters, they had certain privileges but also significant responsibilities, which included selecting the most outstanding Dao seeds for the sect, leading to intense competition in each area.

Jiulian Sect was once the top major sect in the Great Zhao, but in recent decades, it had declined due to internal strife and been surpassed by several newly rising major sects.

However, a dead camel is still bigger than a horse, and Jiulian Sect was far from dead. It had only declined from its dominant position and was still one of the top five major sects in the Great Zhao.

Chen Huaisheng cleared his throat and was about to explain when the girl raised her eyebrows in surprise, "Brother Huasheng, do you also know about the changes in the village?"

Chen Huaisheng was taken aback and quickly asked, "What changes?"

Seeing Chen Huaisheng's puzzled look, the girl asked, "Brother Huasheng, have you been out of touch with home while traveling?"

Chen Huaisheng stammered, "I've been traveling in Jizhou, Qiaozhou, and Suizhou for the past few years and haven't returned home. My parents passed away long ago, and I've been wandering, so I haven't had much contact with the village..."

"Is that so..." The girl was about to say more when the woman in purple changed the subject, "Looking at your condition, it seems you are not well. When we entered the courtyard, we sensed some lingering traces of spiritual energy. Do you know what happened here before?"

Chen Huaisheng was puzzled by her apparent intention to avoid the previous question.

But as the leader of the group, he did not want to be impolite and had to explain everything.

"I don't know. I was resting in this dilapidated temple, planning to return home the next morning. But earlier, it seems that mountain demonic beasts entered and fought, and I was caught in the crossfire in the side hall, injuring my internal organs and falling unconscious. I'm not sure how long I was out, but I was woken by the sound of your horses..."

In front of them, Chen Huaisheng did not hide anything.

He had no grudges with the Jiulian Sect and had a connection with Xuan Chimei, so he was not worried about his safety.

This was the truth.

He had only caught a glimpse of the bearded man transforming into a tiger but did not see the other figure clearly and did not know what it was.

But to be able to fight a transformed tiger, even if the outcome was unknown, it must have been an extraordinary demonic beast.

"Demons?!" Everyone was shocked, and the young men and women could not help but draw their swords and look around.

The woman in purple was also startled and then solemnly focused, searching the area within ten zhang but found nothing unusual, and she was slightly relieved.

"Brother, you are sure it was a demonic beast? What was it?" The woman in purple asked a series of questions before the girl could speak, "Where did the demonic beast come from?"

Chen Huaisheng briefly recounted what he had seen and heard.

Partly true, partly false, he only mentioned the tiger's form.

He did not mention the transformation or anything he did not see or thought would cause more trouble.

The woman in purple and her disciples carefully examined the courtyard, and the evidence confirmed Chen Huaisheng's account.

The small pavilion by the well was overturned, the courtyard wall was knocked down, the side hall's stone wall had a dent from Chen Huaisheng's impact, and there were bloodstains on the ground, all matching his description.

"Is it a demon tiger or a tiger demon?" The woman in purple muttered, "Why would it appear here? And what was it fighting?"

A demon tiger and a tiger demon were two completely different concepts.

A demon tiger was a tiger that had attained enlightenment and the ability to transform, essentially equivalent to a mortal who had attained the Dao.

A tiger demon, on the other hand, was a mutated tiger, more accurately, a beast that had developed special abilities in a specific environment, possibly without intelligence or with partial intelligence.

This was not uncommon in the three-thousand-mile Yushan, especially in the forbidden areas deep in the mountains.

The woman in purple leaned towards the latter, which matched some of the information she had.

If it were the former, it would be hard to imagine.

A transformed demon tiger could easily hide among mortals to cultivate, and as long as it was careful, even cultivators would find it hard to detect.

Why would it come to this remote mountain shrine to fight a demonic beast? It didn't make sense.

Although this place was some distance from the forbidden areas in the Yushan, it was not uncommon for demonic beasts to emerge due to unexpected factors, and this had become more frequent in recent years.

But for the spiritual energy from a demonic beast fight to injure Chen Huaisheng, who was in the side hall, was alarming.

Demonic beasts came in various types and levels, and there were several types of tiger demonic beasts, with different ranks.

Based on his description, this must have been at least a third-rank demonic beast.

Even a cultivator at the third level of qi cultivation would be powerless against such a beast, and even a beginner at the foundation stage would struggle to survive.

Thinking of this, the woman in purple was also nervous and even considered leaving quickly.

But since they were already here, if a demonic beast was lurking, they could not escape, and leaving would be even more dangerous.

Moreover, demonic beasts often preyed on cultivators with Dao energy and spiritual power.

Chen Huaisheng, though not yet a cultivator, was a natural Dao seed. Why hadn't the beast eaten him?

This was a mystery.

Perhaps the two demonic beasts had fought to a stalemate and fled?

The woman in purple did not dare to be careless.

"Ling Fan, Yao Wenzhong, Zhang Zhiruo, Xu Beihuai, you four come with me to set up a perimeter..."

The young men and women named by the woman in purple followed her out, but she looked serious, "Take out the divine wood talismans from your bags..."

They were all surprised.

When they left home, the sect had given each of them a divine wood talisman as a safeguard in case of emergencies.

Although they thought it was unnecessary, the Jiulian Sect was one of the top major sects in the Great Zhao, especially strong in the eastern counties. Even though they were in the Yushan, they were still in Yiguo territory. Could there really be someone foolish enough to provoke them?

But thinking of the demon tiger Chen Huaisheng mentioned, they felt a chill down their spines. Demonic beasts did not care about jurisdiction.

Seeing the shrine dedicated to Wuzhiqi, a malevolent deity, they could imagine the area was not peaceful.

Seeing their hesitation, the woman in purple said sternly, "There's no need to be alarmed. When traveling, it's always better to be cautious. I will set up an array outside the temple. If a demonic beast comes, it will not be able to return. But I need your divine wood talismans."

With her words, the others had no choice but to take out their talismans and hand them over.

Chen Huaisheng watched from a distance. The divine wood talismans looked ordinary, but the talisman material had a faint glow, indicating it was infused with spiritual energy.

The woman in purple went out, followed by the others.

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(End of Chapter)