Chapter 79: Strange Array and Peculiar Form in the Ancient Bamboo Forest

Lingxiang, that girl, for some reason, actually asked the Sect Leader for Rendong to be her personal disciple right there on Wuji Hall that day; Long Qi had been puzzled for a long time, and still could not figure it out.

Shouldn't she have taken him to Qingwei Peak?

Moreover, no one knew where she had gone these past few days; there was not a single person on Qingwei Peak, and even Rendong, whom Lingxiang had taken as a disciple, had disappeared.

Long Qi asked around everywhere, but could not find out a thing; could it be that this little girl had abducted Rendong and run down the mountain?

Lingxiang had indeed brought Rendong with her when she went down the mountain this time, and accompanying them was Yuancheng, the fourth disciple of Qianyuan Zhenren.

Since the incident at Yinyu Peak, the Yuanqing Sect had reinforced all the Mountain Guarding Arrays and sent people out in many directions to investigate secretly, yet they had not found the slightest trace of the Demon Race.

But Bai Wuchang would certainly not appear without reason; he must have had his own plans.

The reason why the Demon Lord still kept her in mind was likely because Lingxiang had used a Life-Prolonging Pill at the Taishang Sect, and they had found out about it.

Lingxiang was naturally aware of the stakes, which was why she asked Qianyuan Zhenren for Shoucheng to go with them.

Shoucheng practiced the Earth-Hidden Earth-Escaping Method and was skilled in concealment and earth-escaping techniques, with extraordinary attainments, and could take Lingxiang and Rendong to Zhulin Guan together.

And the reason Lingxiang wanted to bring Rendong along was that she wanted to take him to meet Zhuzhang Laoren.

Relying on Shoucheng's earth-escaping method, the three of them traveled and rested by turns, and in just one day, they arrived at the Ancient Bamboo Forest in Xianglin.

The Ancient Bamboo Forest was where the Daoist temple of Zhuzhang Laoren was located, and it was set with eighty-eight layers of Array Formations; ordinary people could not step into it at all, and while those with Dao could advance a little, they could not penetrate deep inside.

As for this Zhuzhang Laoren, he was also a peculiar person; he had cultivated for several hundred years, yet he had always lived alone in this Ancient Bamboo Forest and had never come out.

And it was quite a coincidence that Lingxiang came to know Zhuzhang Laoren.

Several years ago, Lingxiang had accidentally obtained a prescription from the pages of a medical book left by Tumi Xianzi, but the prescription was a fragment, looking as if it had been deliberately torn; it only had the first few medicinal ingredients, and one of the ingredients was the Heavenly Bamboo Flower.

However, the Heavenly Bamboo Flower mentioned in the prescription was not the common bamboo flower of the Arrow Bamboo that bloomed every forty years, but the Heavenly Fennel Bamboo in this Ancient Bamboo Forest.

This kind of bamboo would sprout in forty years, take root in forty years, and then grow into Cloud-Reaching Bamboo in twenty years; after becoming mature bamboo, it would bloom and bear seeds in about ten years.

It stood to reason that bamboo seeds were both a delicacy to satisfy hunger and a superior medicinal material, but this prescription required the flowers of the Heavenly Fennel Bamboo.

People in the world all said that bamboo blooming was an omen of misfortune; since this prescription was named "Return to Heaven," how could it use such things as pill ingredients? Lingxiang was also extremely puzzled, which was why she broke into the Ancient Bamboo Forest all by herself.

At that time, she had not yet refined the Life-Prolonging Pill and was only about eleven years old, so she snuck to Xianglin behind the backs of the sect's Elders. It should be said that a young girl of her age, with no profound cultivation, should have been helpless when facing the eighty-eight strange Array Formations of the Ancient Bamboo Forest; however, strangely enough, these arrays were useless against her at the time, and Lingxiang entered and exited as if there were no one there.

When Zhuzhang Laoren saw Lingxiang, he was so shocked that his beard flew up instantly, but when he saw the Silver Bell on Lingxiang's Universe Bag, he understood immediately.

Lingxiang did not know the origin of this Silver Bell and just thought it was an ordinary little bell; feeling it was very cute, she strung it onto her Universe Bag, but this bell was actually a Mingchao Bell, a Spirit Treasure once used by the Yuan Qing Patriarch, Wuwei Laoxian.

Although the Mingchao Bell was a silver bell, it was refined from ore on the Kunlun Immortal Mountain and was an object from the immortal realm. Although the Mingchao Bell could neither ring crisply nor be used to perform spells, it could protect one from illusion arrays, and its uses did not stop there—that is a story for another time, so I will set it aside for now.

To continue, when Zhuzhang Laoren saw the Mingchao Bell, he recognized it immediately; he had cultivated with the Yuan Qing Patriarch for several years a hundred years ago, and the two had a very deep friendship, having seen Wuwei Laoxian wear this bell.

Later, after much questioning by Zhuzhang Laoren, he learned of Lingxiang's background, and after a sigh, the two actually became friends despite the age gap.

As for why Zhuzhang Laoren was so good to Lingxiang, it was probably because he saw his own shadow in her!

Rendong had actually never understood why Lingxiang would take someone like him with a False Spiritual Root as a disciple, and even take him down the mountain the very next day; it stood to reason that his kind of spiritual root aptitude would not be valued in most sects, yet that day on Wuji Hall, Lingxiang had actually said at the end that she would take him into Qingwei Peak.

He thought about it the whole way, but he still did not know what this so-called Fucang Elder was thinking.

When the three of them arrived at the entrance of the Ancient Bamboo Forest, Lingxiang had Shoucheng stop, then she pinched a mantra and took a jade flute out of her Universe Bag and began to play.

This flute was indeed a very beautiful emerald green, but the melody and rhythm played by the flute player were hard to compliment; sometimes the notes would even break, and even Shoucheng, who had been respectful to Lingxiang all the way, could not help but cover his ears after listening for a short while.

However, Lingxiang seemed completely indifferent and continued to play, lost in her own world.

Just when Rendong thought this Fucang Elder had brought him here on purpose to listen to her play the flute, he heard a rustling sound coming from the Ancient Bamboo Forest; after a while, it became a rumbling sound like rolling wheels, and after another while, it turned into something like footsteps.

Rendong was filled with curiosity and hurriedly looked toward the bamboo forest, only to see a tall figure walking out from the depths of the bamboo forest, accompanied by a strange gait and a thumping sound against the ground.

He was terrified and hurriedly looked at Lingxiang, but Lingxiang seemed unaware and continued to play the flute as if no one else were there. Seeing her like this, Rendong turned to look at Shoucheng, but Shoucheng was probably covering his ears and could not hear, just standing very far away with his back to them.

Just as Rendong was wondering whether to draw his sword to protect himself, he heard the person approaching speak.

"Alright, alright! I know it's you, stop blowing that thing endlessly!"

The voice was exceptionally shrill, which surprised Rendong immensely; however, while he was still astonished, he heard another thick voice ring out.

"That's right, that's right! I really don't know why that brat Zhuzhang gave you this flute; every time you play it, it's so unbearable to the ear, like ghosts crying and wolves howling!"

When the person approached, Rendong was even more astonished—this was no person at all! This was clearly a monster!

He saw that the "person" had five heads, but no hands or feet; it was just five round "heads" stuck together!

Lingxiang finally stopped playing the flute and even closed her eyes to savor it for a while; as she put the flute away, she even smacked her lips and muttered: "It's been a long time since I used it, this Jade Bamboo Flute is actually a bit out of tune."

Hearing this, Rendong could not help but be stunned: she could actually blame the flute for playing like that?!

Shoucheng, who was on the side, acted as if he had heard nothing, but his flushed face betrayed him; that was clearly the look of someone trying to hold back laughter.

And the "person" who came, upon hearing this, was like a lit firecracker, and the five heads shouted in unison: "When have you not played like this? And you even blame the Spirit Treasure!? You are truly shameless! You're a disgrace!"