Chapter 73: Setting Out

Five days later, Sanyin Temple.

"Passing on sword moves to you is merely a technique for self-protection; if you rely on them to be bellicose and aggressive, I reckon any skilled wanderer you provoke on the road could cut you down."

Chen Ci looked at the two people before him and gave a few indifferent words of advice.

Aside from a dozen or so taels of broken silver, Chen Ci didn't even give them half a Bigu Pill; he was playing it for real.

Liu Heming carried some coarse grain cakes on his back, hid an ordinary short sword in his bosom, and had a simple water skin hanging from his waist; he bowed and saluted Chen Ci.

Beside him, Liu Yanyi carried a few pieces of clothing and shoes, her eyes revealing a certain clear-eyed foolishness; she was still planning to return to the Liu Mansion to earn some silver monthly wages to provide for the benefactor True Person, so why was she also following along to set out?

"Benefactor True Person, could I leave my younger sister at the temple and come back to pick her up once I have achieved something?"

Liu Heming bowed several times and finally gathered the courage to ask: "I don't know how far the journey to Quanshan is, and this young one dares not say for sure that I can arrive in one piece; I am somewhat uneasy about bringing Yanyi along."

Heh.

Chen Ci couldn't help but roll his eyes internally; whether you go to Quanshan or not is unimportant, alright? You are just an add-on; your purpose is to deliver this little burden beside you to Quanshan.

Failing to distinguish between the primary and secondary.

But these words could not be said so bluntly.

Chen Ci said indifferently: "This poor Daoist does not keep female dependents in Sanyin Temple, and besides, she is not well-born; leaving her in the temple would be an eyesore."

"Since you were able to be implicated by Daoist Ge, you are leaving, but how do you know if she won't be implicated while remaining in the county? Do you expect me to manage these trivial matters?"

"Moreover, the Immortal Dao is heartless, but people have feelings; the more human touch you show in your actions, the more favor you will receive from those Immortal Masters. The road is not so easy to walk; you must go to Xishan Prefecture yourself and then inquire about the method to reach Quanshan. Words have reached this point, so set off."

Liu Heming's heart shook; he had indeed thought of it too simply. It was easy for him to leave, but the same could not be said for those close to him.

"Yes, this young one has been taught."

Liu Heming took Liu Yanyi by the hand, bowed again to Chen Ci, and only then set out from Sanyin Temple.

Yet he still needed to find a way to hitch a ride with a merchant caravan; otherwise, let alone Quanshan, he probably wouldn't even make it through the eight-hundred-mile journey to Xishan Prefecture.

After walking a few steps, Liu Yanyi quietly looked back, only to see Chen Ci standing at the entrance of Sanyin Temple, his mouth seemingly curled in a smile as he watched them; she inexplicably felt her heart beating a bit fast, hurried a few steps, almost tripped over her own feet, stumbled, and subconsciously looked at her little finger.

The kindness of the benefactor True Person must indeed be kept in mind, it's just that she didn't know how to repay it in the future.

She was thin and dark, bullied in the Liu Mansion, and as a slave or servant, the benefactor True Person wouldn't even look at her; it was truly a difficult matter.

A small head, filled with great confusion.

Chen Ci was originally daydreaming about his own path to Longevity; one must know that a ten-thousand-foot tower must be built from the foundation up.

Longevity is the same.

The foundation of Longevity lies in the Superior Grade Qi Refining Method to cast an Upper Grade Dao Foundation.

But as for the paths he currently knows, there are only the two Superior Grade Qi Refining Methods of the He Mountain Sect: the Thousand Mountains Pulse Traveling Method and the Five Accumulations Yin Magic.

The former should be a lost cause.

The latter currently has some potential, but the Five Ghosts Possession Great Method has one flaw: the number of disciples in the He Mountain Sect who practice this Great Method and meet with accidents is a "billion" too many.

Hmm... and most importantly, the He Mountain Sect is not like Longhu Mountain; they haven't even verified a single True Person of Longevity.

According to Chen Ci's deduction, he wouldn't dare say much about Liu Yanyi, but she should count as a seed for an Upper Grade Dao Foundation; if he could really swindle a Qi Refining method out of her, he would probably have to flee the Liang Kingdom.

Flee then, so be it; as far as the present is concerned, either practice the Five Accumulations Yin Magic or sponge something off of Longhu Mountain; for the time being, no third path is visible. After all, in the Liang Kingdom, only these two can be considered to have a heritage.

Hmm, the Wenxiang Sect might have one too, but given his friendship with Lin Banshan, forget it; mentioning it hurts the wallet. That fellow himself is only struggling at the cultivation level of fifty-some apertures; perhaps in the future, he won't even be as good as himself.

A smile subconsciously appeared on the corner of Chen Ci's mouth, but he suddenly saw the cultivation seed he had placed high hopes on almost trip over herself, and his mouth immediately twitched.

Over these days, Chen Ci had also seen that although this young girl had considerable decisiveness in major matters—such as daring to mix into a herd of livestock to enter Sanyin Temple while carrying a severely injured person—in reality, she was not as precocious or intelligent as he had thought. Some things were no different from an ordinary child; after all, she was young, and her horizons were limited to that.

The combined age of these two was only a little over twenty; in his previous life, that was just the age of someone stepping into society. Letting them go alone to Quanshan a thousand miles away—although that's how it's written in storybooks and novels—was it not still a bit rash?

Chen Ci pondered for a moment and finally sighed; cultivation is difficult. As one of the backup plans for his Dao path, he always had to worry a bit more.

At least watch them leave Changping County?

Thinking of this, Chen Ci turned back into the temple to change his clothes, used a simple disguise technique from the world of wanderers to slightly cover his god-like face, and finally became a sallow-faced, down-and-out, handsome wandering swordsman.

"This humble one... *cough*, this humble one is Ye Gucheng."

Chen Ci blew at the hair on his forehead; if he had gotten a perm, it would have been closer to the looks of Li Xunhuan, but although that fellow had some charm, the things he did were too unlucky, so better to forget it.

"This old man is going to get rich!"

The fifty-some-year-old merchant caravan manager Zhang Yan smiled as he finished inspecting the caravan's logistics—that is, the places for washing clothes, tending to livestock, and setting up fires to cook—but his heart began to thump wildly.

He was already at his age, yet he never expected that this heaven-sent wealth would actually fall upon him!

As a logistics manager, he had quite a lot of contact with the employment agencies; after all, the leasing of some carters, porters, livestock, and vehicles all required him to handle them, and it just so happened that he had seen a portrait of a person at an agency and knew a few things.

For example, the half-grown boy who was hiding in the caravan's logistics helping with chores and looked seventy percent like the portrait might have several thousand taels of silver banknotes hidden on him.

Good heavens, this sum of money was enough for him to buy several hundred acres of fertile land, set up a house, raise three or five concubines, and retire in peace.

Isn't that much more comfortable than being exposed to the wind and sun following the merchant caravan?

Zhang Yan moved his palms, somewhat hesitant; a merchant caravan of dozens of people had many eyes and ears, and it wasn't convenient for him to do anything. Moreover, he was of an age, and although he had learned a few moves of fist and foot when he was young, after letting them go to waste for so many years, he really wasn't sure he could quickly take down that half-grown boy.

As for calling others over, these few thousand taels of silver wouldn't be enough to split.

Fortunately, he was also considered an old hand in the world of wanderers, so naturally, he had some methods.

"Use medicine, harm that boy, then say he suddenly came down with a malignant disease, and drag him out to bury him."

Zhang Yan took out a packet of powder and chuckled: "It just so happens there is still some maltose in the caravan; I'll pity that boy for working hard and reward him with two pieces of maltose. Is this reasonable? This is very reasonable."

"This brother, what are you doing?"

Beside him, a curious voice suddenly rang out, questioning him.

"Hehe, this old man is naturally... who are you?"

Zhang Yan gave a violent start, turned his head to look, and saw a somewhat unfamiliar face. After a moment of thought, he remembered that this seemed to be a down-and-out swordsman from the county, called Ye something-cheng; just hearing the name, he knew this person's sword skills weren't much, and he wanted to hitch a ride with the caravan to Xishan Prefecture to see the world.

"Why are you here!"

Zhang Yan's expression was displeased, and he flicked his sleeves fiercely: "If you aren't working properly, why are you wandering around here? The shopkeeper only let you follow the caravan because he pitied you; if you are lazy, don't talk about wages—I'll drive you out myself!"

"Easy, easy, I was just worried you needed help with something, so I came over to ask."

The swordsman surnamed Ye shook his head, quite helplessly: "In this world, I kindly care about you, yet you want to bully and scold me; what kind of logic is this?"

"Incomprehensible."

Zhang Yan's eyelids twitched, and he turned in another direction, intending to head toward a place with fewer people; doing this kind of thing is still more convenient when hiding from others.

"What, Steward Zhang is missing?"

The caravan master Kang Niu widened his eyes, somewhat disbelieving: "This old Zhang is a veteran of the caravan, how could he be so insensible?"

But the caravan only had a few dozen people, so a quick headcount revealed who was missing; yet Steward Zhang had still been checking things in the convoy during the day, so it was rather strange that his shadow had vanished just as the sky turned slightly dark.

"Forget it, the caravan has been on the road for a good half-day; perhaps he had urgent business and returned to the county."

Kang Niu frowned and instructed: "Tell everyone to be careful; I brought everyone out to earn money, it would be bad if something else happened on the road."

"Yes."

(End of this chapter)