Chapter Ninety-Seven: First Meeting

Before setting out, Lin Ze gave Wang Yao a few simple instructions. He still had great confidence in this disciple.

But as soon as he finished, he saw the young man looking at him with utmost seriousness.

“Master, please be careful. These are dry rations I made myself. They may not taste very good, but they are clean. There are a few water flasks here, all filled with spirit spring water. If you get thirsty, drink this. The water outside can give you stomach trouble. And there are two or three sets of clothes for changing. Disciple...”

“Enough, enough.”

Looking at the large bundle Wang Yao was hugging in his arms, Lin Ze pressed a hand to his forehead and helplessly cut him off.

How had he not noticed before that this disciple had such a housekeeper’s temperament? Not only was he skilled at cooking, laundry, and cleaning, but this habit of attending to every little detail—was it a blessing or a curse?

“Ah!” Wang Yao slapped his own forehead and suddenly understood. “Disciple should have prepared a storage pouch.”

“That is not what I meant...” Lin Ze sighed and glanced toward the mountain summit.

“Also, don’t spoil them too much. Let them do their own work. At the very least, you are a Foundation Establishment cultivator, not some servant of Green Mountain.”

“Oh.” Wang Yao nodded, half understanding, then heard his master say coolly, “Of course, your master is an exception.”

“Disciple understands!”

...

Three figures slowly made their way down the mountain path.

Lin Ze had already been in this world for half a year. During the first three months, he had remained in a thatched hut in Xiao Family Village like an invalid, entirely dependent on little Xiao Bao’s care.

In the three months that followed, unless it was necessary, he would not easily step beyond Green Mountain.

The reasons were complicated.

Apart from concern for danger, he had been born with the temperament of a tireless busybody in his former life. He had never expected that after crossing over, he would instead awaken a hidden talent for idleness. Lying back in a chair and soaking up the sun was unbelievably pleasant.

But his curiosity toward this strange new world had never faded.

He took two candy pills from the cloth bag and tossed them into his mouth to chew. These were leftovers from the last batch he had refined for Xiao Bao. Turning back to the two beside him, he asked, “Do you want some?”

The white fox curled her lip. “I eat meat.”

Yu Huan shook her head with a cold little face, but before she could refuse, two candy beads were forced into her mouth. She blinked in surprise.

“There are also apple and cherry flavors. Which do you like?” Lin Ze lifted the cloth bag.

Feeling the sweetness spread across her tongue, the girl answered succinctly, “Cherry.”

Among the entire Eastern Peak Sect, Lin Ze was probably the only one who used an alchemy furnace to make candy pills, so these things were not commonly seen in the sect.

Yu Huan’s expression did not change much, but each time she finished one, she would raise her neck slightly and look at the Daoist. She would merely stare without speaking.

Lin Ze simply tossed the whole small pouch to her.

The white fox looked at the girl’s puffed cheeks and suddenly felt a little hungry. She licked her lips and reached a hand toward the pouch.

Yu Huan reacted swiftly, hiding the pouch behind her back. She glanced at the fox in silence and said softly, “Mine.”

The white fox raised a brow. That sounded oddly familiar.

Especially the way she said it, it was almost as if she had been carved from the same mold as Lin Ze.

As they spoke, the three had already approached the ancient bronze gate.

Compared with the usual quiet, the scene before them was now a sea of people. More than a hundred mountain gates, over nine hundred cultivators gathered in one place. The crowd was enormous, yet it did not feel noisy.

If the outer-sect contest was a grand occasion for the disciples, then the interception of the demon calamity was the true chance for the various peaks to reveal their strength.

More than nine hundred people in all, and the lowest among them was already at the early Foundation Establishment stage!

Lin Ze’s cultivation was utterly unremarkable in such a crowd, only average at best.

Compared with him, Yu Huan was far more eye-catching.

A Qi Refinement disciple standing among these people was like a lamb among wolves.

Many stewards looked over in confusion. “Which mountain gate is that? To be so perfunctory?”

The interception of the demon calamity was a major event that only came once every ten years. The Eastern Peak Sect could not afford to lose even once, so no wonder they were displeased.

Soon enough, a familiar face came over. Elder Crane lowered his voice and asked, “Elder Lin, where are your Foundation Establishment disciples? Why have I not seen a single one?”

As he spoke, he also glanced at the figure behind Lin Ze, the one wrapped head to toe in a black robe.

For some reason, he seemed to sense a trace of unpleasantness from that figure.

It was an indescribably strange feeling.

Lin Ze only smiled faintly and shook his head, offering no explanation.

Elder Crane meant well; he did not want the others to misunderstand. But Lin Ze could hardly tell everyone, Please don’t worry. I may not have brought any Foundation Establishment disciples, but I did bring a great demon at the Golden Core stage.

Although... even if he did say it, it would not matter, unless they dared to go and trouble Qin Hongxiu.

Still, there was no need for that. It would only make things more troublesome.

Lin Ze could not bring himself to force other cultivators to view the demon race objectively. The white fox had never killed a person, but it was still a demon. Heaven knew how many cultivators’ parents, wives, and children had died in the jaws of beasts.

To advise people to be generous without regard for the situation was a sure way to invite heavenly lightning.

“This...” Elder Crane patted his belly helplessly. “This little girl’s level is far too low. This matter is no joke. Every time, countless cultivators perish in the Demon Mountains. If you cannot gather enough people, I can spare you one from my Little Pill Peak.”

If someone else said that, it might have sounded mocking, but Elder Crane was surely speaking from the heart.

“You don’t need to worry about me.” Yu Huan suddenly looked up in displeasure.

“...”

The round-bellied old man scratched the back of his head in bewilderment, not knowing what he had done to offend the child.

Lin Ze first frowned at the girl, his gaze cool. Only after she obediently lowered her head did he turn back to Elder Crane and say, “No need. You all have your own difficulties as well.”

For the larger mountain gates, this was an excellent chance to display their power.

But for smaller mountain gates like Little Pill Peak or Mystic Method Mountain, they were even forcing their elders to personally take the field just to barely preserve their place among the mountain seats.

“Elder Lin is taking part for the first time...” Elder Crane was still trying to persuade him when a pale-skinned man slowly walked out from the crowd and did not stop until he reached the very front.

He looked to be in his thirties, though a cultivator’s true age was often not reflected by appearance, so he was likely older still.

“Everyone, I will not waste words.”

There was a trace of darkness hidden in the man’s features. Sweeping his gaze over the crowd, he smiled with a sharp, thin voice.

“Senior brothers from the inner sect have already departed. We need only follow after them. I hope that this time... the various peaks will be able to give Han some pressure.”

At this, Elder Crane could only shake his head helplessly and mutter, “Hidden Dragon Mountain still loves to show off as much as ever.”

The man drew everyone’s attention to himself, and no one paid further attention to Yu Huan. Naturally, no one noticed the change in the Daoist’s expression beside her.

Lin Ze felt the violent pounding in his chest and slowly narrowed his eyes.

The man’s face was somewhat sinister, but by no means ugly. Yet it made him feel nauseated all the same.

“Clear Spirit and Bright Qi!”

He formed a hand seal, and a cool current rushed into his mind.

Only then did Lin Ze feel a little better.

He swore he had never seen that man before, yet the feeling of revulsion seemed to have been born with him.