Chapter 55

"Shrine maiden? Why should you care who it is?" The old woman said, "People outside call me the Vulture Mist Old Woman. You can call me that too."

"Vulture Mist?" The name was strange.

"Heh heh!" The old woman laughed with a peculiar sound, "This is Vulture. As for Mist? I have lived here for a thousand years, and the mist has always been here for a thousand years. So they call me that."

Lin Fan was amazed, "A thousand years." This old woman's cultivation must be quite high. Although Nangong Wuhen was four or five hundred years old, he already looked like a man in his sixties. Lin Fan realized he had been impolite and said, "Thank you for saving my life."

The old woman's expression was rather cold, "Don't thank me yet. Her name is Wuer."

Lin Fan bowed, "Nice to meet you, Miss Wuer."

Wuer hurriedly returned the bow, somewhat at a loss.

The old woman said, "I found her seventeen years ago, and she has been living with me ever since. The condition for saving you is to take her away. The Cang Mang Forbidden Land is frequented by evil sects, and I am not at ease. It's rare for a righteous person to enter this mist, so I saved you."

"Take her away?" Lin Fan didn't understand.

"Are you a disciple of the Yunqing Sect?"

"How did you know?" Lin Fan was surprised; he hadn't brought any items from his sect.

"I've had dealings with the Yunqing Sect before." The old woman was too lazy to explain, "Take her to your sect and have her join the Yunqing Sect. She is already at the initial stage of the Golden Core, so she won't bring shame to your sect."

Lin Fan was troubled, "But Miss Wuer has already practiced another sect's cultivation method. If she practices the Yunqing Sect's method, she might suffer from a mental breakdown."

"Don't worry, she practices the Tai Chu method."

The Tai Chu method? Lin Fan was surprised. The five primordial elements of Tai Chu are Tai Chu, Tai Yi, Tai Shi, Tai Su, and Tai Ji. Tai Chu refers to the initial stage, and the entry-level cultivation methods of all righteous, demonic, and evil sects are based on Tai Chu. The reason is that the Tai Chu method progresses very slowly. For a girl to reach the initial stage of the Golden Core at seventeen years old without external help, her talent is extremely rare. Practicing the Tai Chu method allows one to learn other cultivation methods of righteous, demonic, and evil sects without conflict.

"Only practicing the method, I'm worried she will become a solitary cultivator. Young man, will you agree or not?" The Vulture Mist Old Woman asked.

"Of course, I will recommend her to my sect, but whether she will be accepted... even if not, I can help Miss Wuer find a place." The Hundred Flowers Garden is a small sect of scattered cultivators in Dongzhou, which only accepts female disciples. Last time in the Jiulang Mountains, he got along well with several disciples.

"En!" The old woman nodded, "You can leave after a hundred days." With that, she walked away on her own.

Lin Fan found the relationship between the Vulture Mist Old Woman and Wuer quite strange. It seemed that Wuer was very afraid of her, and there was no trace of familial affection. Wuer saw the old woman leave and nodded, "Sir, please rest, the medicine is almost ready."

"My name is Lin Fan." Lin Fan introduced himself.

"En." Wuer nodded, pulled up her sleeve, and began to check the medicine. Lin Fan noticed that her arm had many bumps and red stripes.

Lin Fan asked in confusion, "Were these from a whip?"

Wuer quickly pulled down her sleeve, grabbed her arm with her right hand, and lowered her head. She used her left hand to pick up the medicine pot, poured the medicine into a bowl, and placed the bowl on a chair about ten feet away from Lin Fan, "Sir, please take your medicine."

Lin Fan thought for a moment and asked, "If I don't agree to the Vulture Mist's request, then..."

"Then you will die." Wuer lowered her head and softly answered, "Last year, a demonic sect person entered the mist and refused to comply with the strict rules, and then... Sir, please take your medicine. Don't think too much. After you leave, I will find my own way and won't cause you any trouble."

Ugly as she was, she was a good person. Lin Fan asked, "Your face..."

Wuer lowered her head even more, "It has been like this since I was young, possibly due to miasma. It should get better after I leave. Sir, please don't look."

Lin Fan smiled, "Whether I look or not, it's still there. Although I find it ugly, I think you are a good person, so I don't care about these things. Why do you worry so much?"

"..." Wuer didn't answer, covering her face, "Sir, please rest after taking your medicine."

"Thank you."

"Sir, do you have any use for the fox?"

Lin Fan was pleasantly surprised, "The white fox's body is still there?" When one is well-fed, one thinks of lust. Lin Fan despised himself for not being able to escape material desires.

"Yes." Wuer said, "Sir, please rest. I know how to skin the fox."

"Thank you, Miss Wuer." Lin Fan politely responded.

"En." Wuer softly said one word and quickly walked away, lowering her head.

At seventeen, practicing the Tai Chu method to reach the initial stage of the Golden Core, a thousand-year-old woman living here for a thousand years, indicating her cultivation was already very high... no wonder he didn't die, and the Hundred-Eyed Demon Lord didn't dare to directly enter. He didn't expect such a remarkable person to be in the Cang Mang Forbidden Land. However, Lin Fan didn't have a good impression of the old woman, not only because she didn't care about him and would kill him if he didn't agree to her request, but mainly because he thought Wuer was very kind, and the whip marks on her arm indicated that she had suffered a lot under the Vulture Mist Old Woman. Looking at the Vulture Mist Old Woman and Wuer, he couldn't see any trace of familial affection.

So, the question arises, why did the Vulture Mist save Wuer? Compassion? It doesn't seem like it... more like treating Wuer as a servant. But why would she want him to take the servant away?

Starting from the second day, the Vulture Mist Old Woman never appeared. Wuer rarely spoke but was very diligent. Since there was no clean water in the misty swamp, she had to go twenty miles away, through a mountain crevice, to fetch clean water to boil medicine for Lin Fan. Fortunately, she was a cultivator; otherwise, it would have been very difficult.

Wuer didn't live in the mist. This wooden house was originally where she lived. After Lin Fan moved in, she sat in the open air, rarely speaking. When Lin Fan asked questions, Wuer gave simple answers, either "en" or "oh," showing no curiosity and not asking about the outside world.

A few days later, Lin Fan's foundation-building lotus seeds began to recover. Lin Fan also helped with some chores. Besides taking care of Lin Fan, Wuer was also responsible for the Vulture Mist Old Woman's life, fetching underground water to boil and serve her tea, washing the old woman's clothes, and driving away the poisonous insects in the mist from the wooden house. After finishing her tasks, Wuer would sit on a stone by the foul-smelling pond, facing away from Lin Fan. When Lin Fan approached, she would lower her head, and when he walked to the side, she would turn her head, seemingly unwilling to let Lin Fan see her face.

One day, Lin Fan got up and saw Wuer by the pond, touching the bumps on her face and crying quietly. Lin Fan came out of the house, and Wuer quickly wiped her tears, brought the water over, placed it on the stone table, and put a towel that had been dried in the sun inside for Lin Fan to wash his face.

Lin Fan smiled and took out a piece of paper from his sleeve, "Look, what is this?"

"En?" Wuer tilted her head to look, "Ah... who is this, so ugly..." As soon as the words came out, she realized they were inappropriate.

Lin Fan said, "This ugly ghost is called Zhong Kui... do you want to hear his story?" Lin Fan found this place very strange, with no books or documents. From what he understood, Wuer had never left the misty swamp, and the Vulture Mist Old Woman would never chat with her. Lin Fan was sure that Wuer didn't know Zhong Kui.

Wuer nodded happily.