Chapter 87: Binding the Birth System to Become a Winner in Life Chapter 87: City Lord's Little Concubine (29)

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Protagonist:

Shen Yao

At the entrance of the Zheng Family Escort Agency, a long line of human figures slowly formed, stretching as far as the eye could see.

Fu Hengyan and Shen Yao stood in the middle of the line; ahead of them were the people responsible for clearing the path for the escort agency, also the main force of this escort mission.

Behind them were travelers who had paid separately to ride this route; they did not need the escort agency to be responsible for their safety, merely traveling together under the guise of affiliation.

Shen Yao had nothing to do, so she simply said a word to Fu Hengyan and then followed the line all the way to the back.

As a result, she actually ran into an acquaintance: Sun Tao and Zhang Laosan, whom she had escaped from Chengling Temple with a few days prior.

Shen Yao did not go over, and with many pedestrians coming and going around them, Sun Tao and Zhang Laosan kept their heads down talking and did not notice Shen Yao not far away.

No one knew what these two said; Zhang Laosan, his face full of shame and vexation, saw Sun Tao off, then turned around and ushered several people of various ages and genders into two carriages pulled by ordinary spirit horses.

He went to find an escort responsible nearby, and after a brief exchange, Zhang Laosan returned looking relaxed and drove the two carriages forward a distance.

"Third Brother, are we really leaving Yue Luo City?"

An old man's voice came from inside the carriage; hearing this, Zhang Laosan forced himself to perk up, "Father, for our safety, we must leave first."

"Rest assured; once the matter in Yue Luo City is properly resolved, I will come back to fetch you and Fifth Mother and the others together."

Although the possibility of this was very low, Zhang Laosan could only comfort his family this way.

What else could he say? The Chu Family was acting strangely, suspected of betraying the Tianjian Sect and the Imperial Court; speaking such rumors that misled the public was a capital offense!

Zhang Laosan rubbed his face hard with his hand, trying his best to look normal.

Sigh.

He could not panic, nor could he lose his composure; this was top-secret news that Eldest Brother had sent out at the risk of execution, and no matter what, he had to get his own family and Eldest Brother's relatives out.

As for Qian Laoer, since he did not trust Eldest Brother, he could only fend for himself.

Nowadays there are many disputes; everyone sweeps the snow in front of their own door, who cares about the frost on others' roofs?

Before the Treading Void Horse, Fu Hengyan watched Shen Yao return, smiling and waving his hand, "Back?"

Shen Yao made an affirmative sound, and the two boarded the carriage, once again arranging the soundproof barrier cloth.

"I saw two acquaintances."

Telling Fu Hengyan about Zhang Laosan and Sun Tao, Shen Yao took out a soft pillow woven from Yingling Grass from her storage bag and placed it in the bedchamber, then lay down sideways to rest herself.

Fu Hengyan's expression remained unchanged; he picked up a plate of spirit fruit placed before the Eight Immortals Table and handed it to Shen Yao.

Shen Yao took it, eating while speculating with Fu Hengyan why the other party was so impatient to leave Yue Luo City.

Fu Hengyan lowered his head and drooped his eyes, then sat himself on the half of the bedchamber Shen Yao had vacated, "Yue Luo City is about to change hands; some people with keen senses will send their families away in advance."

The news previously sent to the Tianjian Sect somehow leaked some rumors.

Fu Hengyan told Shen Yao the accurate signal that the Imperial Court was about to take action.

Shen Yao was not surprised, "Is leaving necessary?"

If the situation were critical, Fu Hengyan would not take Shen Yao away from Yue Luo City.

Fu Hengyan's expression was indifferent, "I don't know; whether it is escaping with their lives or making a bad situation worse depends on what those people of the Chu Family think."

However, Fu Hengyan still felt that staying in Yue Luo City would give them a greater hope of survival.

In these past few days, many people of the Chu Family had gone missing; neither seen alive nor found dead.

Fu Hengyan had once calculated with his fingers, and even at the cost of injury from karmic backlash, he could not see through how the path ahead would go.

In the end, Fu Hengyan chose to trust Shen Yao; this was also the reason the two of them were traveling normally.

As for the other people in Yue Luo City, Fu Hengyan had only calculated a sliver of hope for survival within the city.

As for the rest, Fu Hengyan shook his head, "The secrets of heaven must not be revealed."

After hearing Fu Hengyan's profound and inscrutable words, Shen Yao felt that things might not be so simple.

This group of people leaving with the escort agency—would they really be lively on the road?

Before departure, the escort agency had specifically informed Shen Yao, and incidentally mentioned where the car fleet would stop next to rest.

"Zhao Yang Mountain?"

Shen Yao murmured, turned around, and took out the Luoxing Commandery Map in her hand to check.

This place was located in a valley between Yue Luo City and Qingfeng Gully.

Someone had once seen the sun rise here and merge into one with the sun in the sky, thus earning the name Zhao Yang.

However, this claim was roughly problematic; the reason was that the geographical location of Luoxing Commandery was peculiar—the sun and moon were not things that coexisted at the same time; having a moon where there was a sun was itself a paradox.

The Treading Void Horse traveled while floating in the air, as steady as walking on flat ground; Shen Yao sat on the couch, truly bored, so she simply took out several travelogues about Luoxing Commandery to flip through.

The content in the travelogues was mostly about local customs and sentiments, such as the distribution of cities in Luoxing Commandery, the origins of the cities' early names, and several famous secret realms or trial grounds scattered around the cities.

After all, this was the Cultivation World; even in times of peace and prosperity, what people valued more was the advancement of their cultivation realm.

Shen Yao's current cultivation realm, if she wanted to advance to Foundation Establishment Late Stage, was still a long way off.

But this did not hinder her from learning more about these interesting pieces of information before her.

What if? The Cultivation World was not a place one only visited once; some taboos and sayings kept in mind might all come in handy at some point.

With this thought in mind, Shen Yao read even more seriously and attentively when she lowered her head to look at the book.

Before she knew it, the Treading Void Horse had stopped; the escort agency, after traveling all day, finally rested.

Lifting the carriage curtain and walking out of the carriage, Shen Yao looked at the escort agency that had already set up camp, and casually called over a young escort to ask where this was.

"Replying to Senior, this is on the road to Zhao Yang Mountain; we will rest briefly and then continue directly, and we can arrive at Zhao Yang Mountain tomorrow morning."

"Traveling at night, how do we pass through the Poisonous Mist Forest?"

Shen Yao and Fu Hengyan originally stayed at Chengling Temple to rest because of the poisonous mist when they entered Yue Luo City.

The Poisonous Mist Forest encircles Yue Luo City for a full circuit; although the direction they are currently leaving the city is opposite to when they entered, the poisonous mist forest outside is still there.

The young Escort wore a relaxed expression. "The escort bureau has a Xiguang Liuming Flower; it can be used to dispel the intrusion of poisonous mist."

Shen Yao was surprised. "Xiguang Liuming Flower?" The spirit flower rumored to be able to drive away all miasmic poison qi.

"This flower only grows within Liuming Island in the Southern Continent where miasmic poison is dense; for the escort bureau to possess this flower, the purchase cost must have been considerable."

At the very least, Liuming Island is not a place just anyone can enter, and Liuming Island is also in the Southern Continent.

The Southern Continent is the territory of Buddhist Cultivators; once you enter the Southern Continent's domain, even a mosquito has to kneel and kowtow twice to the Buddha Ancestor.

Wanting to enter the Southern Continent and retreat unscathed — that is basically a fool's dream.

"What the senior says is not false; this flower is indeed one of our escort bureau's town-guarding spiritual treasures.

It is said the Xiguang Liuming Flower blooms in three tiers — upper, middle, and lower calyxes — all possessing the best efficacy.

Our escort bureau only has the smallest one among them; ordinarily it is used to dispel poisonous mist."

These words have clearly been spoken many times; the young Escort explained without difficulty.

He even led her over when Shen Yao mentioned wanting to take a look at the Xiguang Liuming Flower.

Only palm-sized, leaving nothing but a bare stem and seven lonely petal patterns, a flower radiating brilliant golden radiance like morning light everywhere on its body entered Shen Yao's sight.

Beautiful

Shen Yao looked at the flower, and all sorts of words of praise surfaced in her mind.

Worthy of being called a holy flower by the Southern Continent's Buddhist Cultivators; it is indeed divine and elegant.

Hmph, when she goes to the Southern Continent, she will collect one no matter what.

"You like it?"

Fu Hengyan looked at the returning Shen Yao; his amber eyes were clear and cold like water. He straightforwardly took out a jade box from his storage bag and handed it to Shen Yao.

Shen Yao: ……

Shen Yao's mood became complex; based on her years of companionship experience with Fu Hengyan, what was placed inside this wooden box was certainly an item related to the Xiguang Liuming Flower.

She silently opened the jade box before her; streaks of brilliant radiance flashed so that Shen Yao's eyes hurt.

Truly a tycoon, and the kind who is a tycoon without realizing it.

For a moment, Shen Yao felt a bit sour, like a lemon spirit.

What Fu Hengyan handed to Shen Yao was a Xiguang Liuming Flower with all three calyxes present.

Golden radiance filled the entire jade box; on the petals there were even faintly visible swastika Buddhist mantras manifesting.

She felt that this Xiguang Liuming Flower in her hand was even more precious than the one in the escort bureau.

"This was given to me by Pure Dust Master; years ago I once helped Wanfo Temple a small favor in the Southern Continent."

Fu Hengyan explained very lightly, but Shen Yao lowered her head to look at the jade box held in her own hand, deeply feeling that "a small favor" might have some discrepancy.

This Xiguang Liuming Flower is stained with dense Buddhist qi; it bears the Buddhist Gate's mark.

Not to mention its own efficacy of dispelling poisonous mist, I'm afraid it can even suppress demonic evil magic beasts.

After all, Buddhist Gate objects are utterly true and pure; they have always been the nemesis of certain evil things.

Fu Hengyan, does this person have other treasures she doesn't know about?

Without waiting for her to speak, Fu Hengyan very naturally took off his storage bag and handed it to Shen Yao.

"Inside are some gifts or congratulatory gifts others gave me in earlier years.

If you like them, you may freely pick and take them for your own use."

Fu Hengyan has no interest in such external possessions; if not for Shen Yao seeing the Xiguang Liuming Flower today, he would not have recalled the matter with Pure Dust Monk.

To a certain extent, Fu Hengyan is a person who is extremely easy to get along with yet hard to approach.

Fortunately Shen Yao and Fu Hengyan's relationship is intimate; she is also familiar with Fu Hengyan's temperament.

Smilingly she accepted the storage bag Fu Hengyan handed over; Shen Yao gave an "mm" and nodded, and after reconfirming with Fu Hengyan several times that there were no items inside she must not touch, Shen Yao turned and sat on the couch to fiddle with them.

The jade boxes in the storage bag were taken out and opened one by one.

From an initial expression of surprise to a later unchanged face, it only took Shen Yao the time of a cup of tea.

Fu Hengyan is truly rich beyond measure, simply a walking spirit stone mining wealth.

"Pei Li Chunhua Grass, You Ming Duan Gu Grass, Ten Thousand Year Qing Ling Vine, Three Leaf Green Lotus, Purple Leaf Orchid Grass, Earth Fire Spiritual Plant……"

These are all ingredients for refining various alchemy medicines; some can even improve constitution if swallowed directly.

Besides those there are also Chicken Crown Phoenix Sunflower, Tian Xin Flower, Mu Ling Three Needle Flower, Thousand Illusion Jia Lan, Tian Ma Jade Stone Essence, Seven Color Moon Orchid, and other spirit flowers and spiritual plants with endless wonderful uses.

By the time she saw the later ones, Shen Yao no longer needed to speak; after all, seeing many good things makes a person calm — as if!

Truly enviable; how can there be so many treasures, she can't even fit them all.

The petty person in Shen Yao's heart bit her little handkerchief while stuffing these jade boxes into her own storage tools.

It's not that she won't leave any for Fu Hengyan; for some spiritual objects useful to Fu Hengyan's cultivation, Shen Yao absolutely will not touch them.

There are also spiritual objects useful for the few children; Shen Yao will separately set those aside and store them properly.

What Shen Yao takes the most for herself are spiritual objects similar to the Xiguang Liuming Flower.

After all, they have high looks but not much use; Shen Yao takes them and can occasionally take them out to use.

Simply leaving them with Fu Hengyan would just be the ending of being tossed aside to gather dust.

Shen Yao upholds the principle of not wasting; she simply collected them all to her side.

After finishing these matters, the escort bureau unknowingly set off on the journey once again.

Shen Yao opened the glass jade cup in the carriage compartment, and from her storage ring took out the spirit meal packed earlier.

Fu Hengyan consciously sat over to accompany Shen Yao together; the two people also did not have the habit of not speaking while eating or sleeping; Shen Yao speaks when she wants, and Fu Hengyan occasionally also opens his mouth to agree a couple of sentences to keep the topic going.

The escort bureau's people rushed day and night without stopping, especially at night; with the Xiguang Liuming Flower continuously emitting golden light placed at the front of the carriage, the pitch-black night road was clearly visible.

Perhaps because they had just left Yue Luo City, the road was still fairly calm, and the escort agency's car fleet encountered no trouble.

Shen Yao and Fu Hengyan meditated for a night, and when they opened their eyes it was the faint morning light of a valley.

Zhao Yang Mountain has been reached.

The carriages began to stop, and the escort agency's people busied themselves feeding the horses.

Shen Yao and Fu Hengyan got off the carriage and walked back and forth around the surrounding empty space.

Zhao Yang Mountain is very large; they have only just arrived now, and crossing it smoothly will still take two days' kung fu.

This car fleet departing from Yue Luo City bound for Rong City, if smooth, will arrive in one month.

From this one can know how much time must be spent on the road.

The wind brushed lightly over her cheeks, lifting a few stray strands of hair at Shen Yao's forehead.

Today Shen Yao changed into another set of makeup and attire, setting off her lips red and teeth white, her countenance beautiful; what she used was precisely that Emei Moon Hairpin bought from Yue Luo City.

"In a while we'll say a word to the escort agency's people, and we can go take a look at Zhao Yang Mountain."

Fu Hengyan draped the floor-length great cloak over Shen Yao, his gaze looking toward the half of the valley dyed red by the morning light ahead.

Shen Yao stretched her hand to gather the two sides of the great cloak, "Why go to such trouble; listening to the escort agency's escorts, the scenery is even better when we exit Zhao Yang Mountain in two days.

At that time we'll take advantage of the rest to go over and look, and it won't count as having come for nothing."

At this kind of time, the Shadow Recording Stone's benefit manifests.

Shen Yao engraved the scenery she considered good into the Shadow Recording Stone, and when idle she can check it at will.

The Shadow Recording Stone is very similar to Modern Times' mobile phones, but the Shadow Recording Stone has one benefit compared to mobile phones: no matter how it's used it will never be not enough.

A Shadow Recording Stone the size of a chicken egg can be used by oneself for a very, very long time.

The pale green transparent stone was received into her hand and hidden away, and Shen Yao turned around and left with Fu Hengyan.

As a result, before the two even walked to their own carriage front, they heard arguing coming from the distance.

Shen Yao raised her head to look, seeing a crowd gathered, not knowing what they were doing.

Eyes looking left and right, Shen Yao learned from a middle-aged man coming over from the distance that someone had gone missing, and now they were making a fuss wanting to go back and find them.

"Hmph, where could you find a person; besides it's merely traveling the same way as the escort agency, the escort agency would also have to be willing to help."

The man's words had just finished when he was pulled away by a peer, the two whispering and muttering, their voices not deliberately lowered, all drifting into Shen Yao's ears.