Chapter 50: Demonic Soldiers Appear on Yin Yu Peak

"Eh? You actually know Talisman arts?" Seeing Liu Xia take out a Yellow Talisman, the young woman leaned in to take a look, and upon seeing it, she couldn't help but cry out in surprise.

That first talisman was actually a God Summoning Talisman! That was a high-grade Dao Talisman!

"You! You, you, you! You actually know this kind of Talisman art!?"

She was so shocked she was incoherent, but Liu Xia was left with a blank look: What was wrong with this talisman?

Seeing his expression, the young woman assumed his Talisman arts were profound and that he was being nonchalant, so she hurriedly knelt on the ground and hugged Liu Xia's leg, calling out incessantly: "Since the Immortal Master has such great ability, your Daoist arts must be deep, and since we are fellow students, why not take this little woman along for once! ~"

Seeing her like this, Liu Xia was startled and stepped back, but the young woman had abnormal strength and actually held onto him tightly.

"Uh..." He was caught between laughter and tears and hurriedly said: "Young lady, please don't do this. I do not know any Talisman arts; this talisman was a gift from a friend."

"This little woman cannot cook, sew, or weave, but I look auspicious and will surely be able to please the Immortal Master. The Immortal Master must take this little woman along!" Deep in these mountains, there was a monster of unknown nature; since she had encountered a powerful being, she would be a fool not to scramble to curry favor.

Hm?

Wait!

What did she just say?

The young woman looked at Liu Xia with a blank face, as if she hadn't heard what he said just before.

"It's not yours?" She was stunned for a moment, then let go of Liu Xia and even pushed him away with disdain before standing up.

"I knew it. We are both Outer Disciples; there is no reason you would know such profound Talisman arts. Even if you could draw them, if you don't know how to chant the talisman, it wouldn't have the slightest effect." She complained while brushing the dust off her body: "And you made me waste my flattery for nothing."

This girl, why does her face change faster than flipping a book?

"I am Liu Xia," Liu Xia cupped his hands toward the young woman, "May I ask the young lady's name?"

"Eh? Your name is Liu Xia?" The young woman said in surprise: "That is truly a coincidence. My name is Banxia; our names both contain the character 'Xia'."

Liu Xia was slightly taken aback; he hadn't expected such a coincidence. While he was distracted, Banxia snatched a Yellow Talisman from his hand to examine it.

"Eh?"

This sound from Banxia made her immediately snap back to reality.

"Is there something wrong?"

"It's not that there's something wrong." Banxia pinched her chin, "When your friend gave you these Talismans, didn't you look through them?"

Liu Xia shook his head and asked: "You understand Talisman arts?"

"I naturally don't understand them," Banxia said as if it were a matter of course, "It's just that when I was cleaning the Hufeng Hall before, I accidentally found two volumes of 'Talisman Theory' left behind by the Scripture Managing Elder, so I flipped through them casually."

Left behind? I'm afraid they were left there on purpose.

"Cleaning the Hufeng Hall? Doesn't that place always have acolytes sweeping every day?"

"Look at what you're saying!" Banxia rolled her eyes at Liu Xia, "It's true there are some sweeping acolytes in the sect, but have you ever seen anyone who didn't have to call them 'Senior Brother'? You really thought they were just there for odd jobs? They are proper Inner Sect Disciples!"

What? Such a thing exists?

"Then... the ones in the... kitchen... also...?"

"Naturally!" Banxia looked at the surprised expression on Liu Xia's face and found him quite amusing, "In the entire sect, the ones with the lowest status are the sixty-four Outer Disciples in our Mei Lan Zhu Ju Four Courtyards. Did you really think they were just cooks when you ate every day?"

Liu Xia wanted to nod and admit it, but for a moment, he was trapped in astonishment and unable to extricate himself.

Come to think of it, every time he went to the Public Kitchen, those acolytes didn't have any airs at all; who would have thought they were Inner Sect Disciples?

Liu Xia coughed dryly to cover it up and hurriedly changed the subject:

"Since there is nothing wrong with this talisman, why did you say 'eh'?"

"Naturally, I had to say 'eh'. If I remember correctly, this should be a Child Talisman from a Child-Mother Talisman set, but what would one need a Child-Mother Talisman for in this Mountain-Arranging Array?"

"In that case, there should be a Mother Talisman as well." As Liu Xia said this, he handed the third talisman to Banxia, "Is it this one?"

As soon as Banxia took the Talisman, before she could look at it closely, she said categorically:

"I have never seen the way this talisman is drawn, but it is definitely not a Mother Talisman. Child-Mother Talismans are Edict Talismans, and the talisman heads are all the same, but the head of this talisman is open; it looks like the character for 'tripod'..."

Lingxiang gave a total of three Talismans. Since there is no Mother Talisman, then...

Zhao Wuyang was trembling as he picked the yellow-green fruits before him, looking around from time to time—for a long time now, he hadn't seen a single person, and while there was no wind here, rustling sounds would break out every so often, which was truly eerie enough to make him terrified.

These Spirit Keeper Fruits were also strange, growing one plant here and a cluster there. Uncle Danyang actually said there were places where Spirit Keeper Fruits grew lushly; was he teasing them, these Outer Disciples?

Zhao Wuyang was just about to stand up when someone suddenly covered his mouth, scaring him so much he sat back down on the ground, kicking his legs and arms wildly, scattering the freshly picked Spirit Keeper Fruits all over the ground.

"Don't be afraid! It's me!"

It was Xin Yi!

"Don't make a sound!" Xin Yi said in a low voice and let go of Zhao Wuyang.

Zhao Wuyang didn't know why Xin Yi was like this, but he followed suit and asked for the reason in a hushed voice.

"There are other things in the woods..." Xin Yi lay on the ground looking around, pressing down tightly on Zhao Wuyang.

Sure enough, before long, he saw another Outer Disciple running over from not far away, seemingly injured and stumbling.

But this person didn't run far before being tripped by something, and immediately some vines wrapped around him; in just a moment, he was wrapped up like a rice dumpling.

After the person's voice gradually grew weak until there was no sound, other vines hoisted him up.

Zhao Wuyang looked up and almost cried out: The space above his head was hung full of such "rice dumplings"!

"How did you find this place?" Xin Yi asked Zhao Wuyang in a low voice.

"It was Lingxiang's talisman that led me here." Zhao Wuyang's voice trembled, seemingly badly frightened.

"Talisman?" Xin Yi took out the three Yellow Talismans Lingxiang had given him that day from his robes, but he didn't find a Guidance Talisman, just a Fire Talisman and two talismans he didn't recognize.

"How many of those talismans have you used?"

"There are two left; one flew here and burned away." Zhao Wuyang said, taking out the remaining two talismans.

Xin Yi took them and looked; they were actually different from his!

What exactly is this little Peak Master thinking?

Just as he fell into deep thought, he heard a series of footsteps coming from the direction the Outer Disciple who had been tied up by the vines had come from.

Xin Yi hurriedly pressed Zhao Wuyang down again, then hunched his own body, holding his breath and focusing his mind; before long, he heard a series of cries.

The sound came from afar and drew near, shrieking and roaring, sounding extremely strange.

"It is a Demon Soldier!"

On Wangxian Terrace, Shangqing Zhenren exclaimed aloud, and the Elders were also extremely nervous.