Big Bodhi

The two seemed to be going on about the same thing but no-one was breaking into the story, and the atmosphere gradually turned eerie.

"Brother Ji, I will leave this transmission jade talisman to you. I still have something to do, so I will take my leave first."

Soon, Baiyu Lou took out a blueish-white jade talisman from the ring-shaped storage treasure and handed it out to him.

Ji Yuenian accepted the jade talisman and nodded in response.

After taking one more look at Ji Yuenian, Baiyu Lou turned back and left the place.

His direction deviated slightly from the ancient city of Taichu, where Ji Yuenian was initially heading towards. His course now was set on the southern side of the Qingluan Mountain where the sea–with an area of thousand miles—lay on.

After an unknown period of time, a figure quietly returned to the place where they stood just before.

It was Baiyu Lou.

This time, he no longer had that ‘chaste-from-the-world’, naive expression from before. His aura had changed, and was as stalwart, and as stern as a general leading a battle—with an impressive cultivation that rose to half-step True Dao realm!

Baiyu Lou looked at the direction where Ji Yuenian disappeared, his gaze was full of doubts, and muttered to himself, "How could he possibly escape the wrath of the ghost? Where did this person come from?"

The Hundred Ghost Spirit Banner behind him, trembled slightly. Four translucent figures gradually emerged, and the dreadful cold aura spread out, forcing the grass and trees within a hundred feet to wither away.

Body ghosts, in the shape of translucent human figures, were special and extremely terrifying compared to other ghosts; it only appeared when celestial phenomena such as thunder, wind, rain, and snow occured. The creature possessed no cultivation, but if there was no special method to resist, the person targeted by this creature would have no choice but to die.

He had ventured into the Qingluan Moutain was not to capture those ordinary ghosts, but to take advantage of the storm of the past two days and capture body ghost within the Hundred Ghost Spirit Banner!

The other day, he noticed the traces of a body ghost and after capturing it with a specially-made Hundred Ghost Spirit Banner, he was surprised to find a brand in the depths of the body ghost's origin. Which showed that it had already chosen its target, but it never actually made a move which was very unusual.

So he followed this breath and found Ji Yuenian. But he was really surprised when he found that Ji Yuenian only had the cultivation level of the first stage of the Xuan Realm. So he intentionally approached him, hoping to get unearth the truth about him, but until the end, he did not gain any useful information.

"This person's cultivation is only at the initial stage of Xuan Realm but could also overcome an attack from a body ghost, so the only possibility is he must have something extraordinary in him." Baiyu Lou slowly shook his head, "Let’s leave an incense for the time being. It wouldn’t be too late for us to get in touch when we have the chance in the future."

Although the possession of the body ghosthad nothing to do with cultivation, but the higher the cultivation, the harder one could counteract the body ghost. It was a fact that could not be denied.

With this thought, he took out the psychic magic sword and held it with both hands. A moment later, the sword glowed, leading him across the extreme sky.

To break through the sky and sword travel, one had to break into the realm of True Dao Cultivation, Reverting to the Truth, only then he could do this.

Baiyu Lou was only half a step into the realm of True Dao cultivation, but he was able to fly with a spirit sword. Obviously, he also had a lot of secrets.

…

Ji Yuenian looked at the nearby village and stopped for a moment.

"Is the little master going into the village?" A crisp, sweet voice rang in his ears.

He turned his head sideways and saw a girl with braids in coarse clothes put down the wooden bucket in her hand with difficulty and was smiling up at him.

"Yes" Ji Yuenian's eyes moved slightly, and he gently flicked the sleeves of the Daoist robe, "Is it heavy?"

"It's not heavy, it's not heavy, I can do it myself." Seeing Ji Yuenian's face, the braided girl unconsciously dazed for a moment and only came back to her senses after a few breaths. She again lifted the wooden bucket full of water, while her fair and beautiful face was tinged with blush.

He nodded at her and headed toward the village first.

The braided girl was once again dumbfounded. She opened her mouth wanting to say something, but she didn't even say a word.

Looking down at the heavy wooden barrel in her hand, she stomped her feet lightly and followed Ji Yuenian towards the village.

"Greetings little Daoist Master."

"This young master is so handsome."

"Indeed, he is much better looking than that Daoist Master Ku Mu."

Along the way, many villagers greeted him one after another; they didn’t seem to be surprised by his arrival.

After walking along the village road for a few dozen meters, a short-clothed man greeted him with a smile and asked respectfully, "Daoist Master, please come inside."

Ji Yuenian had some doubts in his heart, but at this point, he vaguely guessed something and nodded: "Lead the way."

As expected, after walking for about half incense [of time], the two of them arrived at the place where the village chief lived.

After introducing Ji Yuenian into the main room, the short-clothed man stepped out politely.

"How come there is another one? Don’t tell me that the regent of Chu Yangcheng does not trust me and my two fellow brothers?"

Some disgruntled voices were heard from inside.

Ji Yuenian looked into the main room, and found two Daoists were sitting on the left side, while a white-robed youth with a sword was sitting on the right side, and a sturdy middle-aged man was standing in the room.

The one who had just opened his mouth was the one who had a slightly lower cultivation among the two Daoists.

Seeing Ji Yuenian enter, the middle-aged man was stunned for a while, and then he asked tentatively, "Daist priest is also from Chu Yangcheng?"

Chu Yangcheng was one of the several affiliated cities of the ancient city of Taichu. Almost all the areas outside the Qingluan Mountain were under the jurisdiction of Chu Yangcheng.

Ji Yuenian glanced at the two Daoists, then shook his head and said, "I'm from Taichu."

"The ancient city of Taichu!"

The Daoist who had spoken earlier called out again, but this time his voice was mixed with surprise and caution.

Even the other Daoist in the Upper Xuan Realm and the young man in a white robe with a sword turned their heads in unison and looked at Ji Yuenian with some solemnity and forbearance.

The ancient city of Taichu was one of the nineteen ancient cities under the Tai Yu Sheng Sect, which governed a vast expanse of territory. And people would look up to the cultivators from the ancient city of Taichu wherever they went.

The middle-aged man, who had been stunned for a while, became overjoyed and said with contentment. "So it is true that the master is from the ancient city of Taichu! Coupled with the two priests and Master Xu (Gongzi) sent by Chu Yangcheng, the matter in our Mao Cao village can finally be resolved!"

"Mao Cao village, is that the one neighboring villages lying to the west and is deserted?" Ji Yuenian's gaze passed through the wide-open door and looked to the west.

"It turns out that fellow Daoist is just passing by and still doesn't know what’s going on here." The Daoist in the upper stage of the Nascent Dao Realm stood up, his expression eased a bit, "Hundreds of people in the Mao Cao village died overnight. This village is adjacent to the Mao Cao village, and both villages are under the control of Chu Yangcheng, so the guard of Chu Yangcheng ordered me and my two brothers to come and take a look here."

After knowing that Ji Yuenian was not sent by Chu Yangcheng to steal the merit, the stunned Daoist at the initial stage of Xuan Realm also changed his face, pulled out a smile, and said, "Just now, I spoke out of turn. I hope fellow Daoist won’t blame me."

"It's alright," Ji Yuenian waved his hand lightly, "I just noticed something unusual about Mao Cao village, so I came to this village to inquire."