Chapter 2: Courageously Helping the Weak, the Noble One Rejoices

Lin Ying gently pushed open the moss-covered wooden door, only to step into a bizarre and surreal world. Bubbles of brilliant, kaleidoscopic colors floated in the sky, each one reflecting a different dream. As she reached out to touch one, it burst softly, and the imagery within transformed into specks of starlight that settled into her palm, warm and wondrous.

In the distance, a castle made of clouds rose slowly, its gates flung wide as if inviting her inside. She took a deep breath and stepped onto a path woven from rainbows; each footfall produced a unique melody, as if the entire world were providing her with an accompaniment.

At the end of the path stood a fairy draped in silver gossamer, her smile as radiant as a blooming chrysanthemum. "Sister, you finally decided to come back and see me!" she cried out. She threw herself into Lin Ying's arms, holding her tight while sobbing and choking back tears. Lin Ying, at a loss, murmured, "Who are you? And who am I?"

The silver-clad fairy froze for a moment, observing her closely. "So, Sister has not regained the memories of her past life; your spirit must have merely wandered home by chance." She pulled back, saying, "Sister, I am your younger sister, Lin Jiao."

She stopped pressing the matter and, linking her arm affectionately through Lin Ying’s left, began to guide her through the fairyland. Along the way, she reminisced with a light laugh, "We used to play here all the time. There is a ferocious beast in that lake. When I was five, I accidentally fell in, and you jumped in without a second thought to save me. You were ten then. You fought the beast with everything you had; though you killed it, you were so severely wounded that it took you half a year to recover!"

"This is the Garden of Immortal Blooms, where we loved to play hide-and-seek... that is the Peak of the Medicine God, where our ancestors once lived in seclusion... and this... this..."

"This is the Pavilion of Pure Elegance, where we lived and cultivated together for many, many years."

"Our founder attained immortality through medicine and alchemy, hence the name 'Medicine Immortal Sect.' Our sect possesses fifteen secret techniques. I need you to review them one by one. This is the 'Dragon’s Chant Nine-Turn Art,' the immortal path technique spanning from the first to the twentieth realm. Once you have mastered this, we shall move to the next." With a gentle tap of her finger to Lin Ying’s brow, Lin Ying’s spirit flared with a sudden ache as countless techniques flooded her mind. Soon, she committed them to memory and began to meditate, with Lin Jiao by her side to explain and clarify any doubts.

Fifteen days later, Lin Ying had mastered all fifteen techniques. It was truly a case of one day in fairyland being a thousand years on earth!

The time for parting came, heavy with reluctance. Lin Jiao instructed, "Sister, your spirit has returned here for a visit. Once you return to your physical body, do not cease your cultivation. When you reach the fifteenth realm, you will be able to return home in your true form!" Lin Ying nodded, committing the words to her heart.

Lin Jiao tapped her brow again. "Goodbye, Sister! Return to your body!"

When dawn broke, Lin Ying awoke feeling slightly dizzy and lightheaded. The scenes from her dream were as vivid as if they were right before her eyes, and the chants, movements, and postures of the fifteen techniques of the Medicine Immortal Pavilion were clearly etched into her mind. So, her spirit had wandered in her sleep and returned to her past sect, meeting her sister Lin Jiao!

After centering her thoughts, Lin Ying sat cross-legged and began to practice the Dragon’s Chant Nine-Turn Art.

Li Chen had learned the young girl’s background: she came from a middle-class merchant family in the county. Because the head of the Patrol Bureau was greedy for the Lin family’s assets, the entire family was wiped out in a single night. She had survived only because she was out playing at the time, and had been wandering ever since. Her name was Lin Ying, and she was fifteen.

Li Chen was delighted to have gained a sister of the same age. From that day on, Lin Ying lived in Li Chen’s home, and the two forged a profound and boundless bond.

That night, after Li Chen’s thrilling and successful performance of "young hero bravely rescues beauty from dark forces," his karmic reward arrived instantly. The old man in the green robes, who had used his bamboo flute to play the "Soul-Stunning Melody" and incapacitate the villains, saw that Li Muzi possessed extraordinary talent, exceptional bone structure, and a natural sense of righteousness, hatred for evil, and a drive to protect the weak.

The man in green was no ordinary person; he was Kunlunzi, the current sect leader of the immortal cultivation sect, the "Kunlun Immortal Sect." Seeing that Li Muzi was a talent worth molding, he realized that if he took him as a disciple, his sect would have a successor!

After introducing himself, Kunlunzi began to boast: in this world, if he claimed to be second, no one dared to claim to be first... and so on.

Kunlunzi then said to Li Muzi, "If you can learn and master my abilities, then riding the clouds, mist, and moving mountains or draining seas will be nothing but trivial tricks!"