Chapter 90: Taoyuan Xujing

Not far away, a young man dressed as a Confucian scholar seemed to notice Su Yuanshan observing him; the young man smiled and cupped his hands toward Su Yuanshan.

"I am Situ Wuhen. Is fellow Daoist also a rogue cultivator?"

Su Yuanshan lowered the brim of his hat and nodded.

Situ Wuhen seemed to notice the cluster of Fox Fire hovering above Su Yuanshan's shoulder and could not help but say.

"Your magical treasure is quite unique. I wonder what kind of Daoist arts you practice? Pill Path, Body Cultivation, or...?"

Su Yuanshan coughed once and said in a low, hoarse voice.

"Don't you think you talk too much? Knowing too much about me won't do you any good." Hearing this, Situ Wuhen felt a bit awkward and said with a sheepish grin.

"I wanted to invite you, fellow Daoist, to explore the Taoyuan Opportunity together, which is why I wanted to learn a bit more. After all, one must know oneself and the enemy to be victorious in every battle. Since I cannot yet know the enemy, I can only start by knowing myself."

As he spoke, he spread his hands and said in a low voice, sounding somewhat self-deprecating.

"I think you can tell, my spiritual root is very rare, but it is a Waste Spiritual Root. To this day, I might not even count as a cultivator, but I still want to fight for a chance. If my talent is insufficient, I will make up for it with my brain; my brain is still quite useful."

In truth, he was right. Su Yuanshan had a sharp eye and had long since seen that he had no value for cooperation, which was why he had spoken that way on purpose. He did not expect him to expose his own shortcomings, which surprised Su Yuanshan a little.

He looked Situ Wuhen over with interest and said.

"You are an interesting person. By exposing your own shortcomings like this, aren't you afraid you won't find any teammates?"

Situ Wuhen smiled.

"In front of them, I naturally wouldn't be foolish enough to expose my own shortcomings, but I see that you, fellow Daoist, seem different from them. I feel you have a very strange aura about you that seems discordant, so..."

He leaned slightly closer to Su Yuanshan and said with a low, faint smile.

"If I may be so bold, I feel... fellow Daoist must have disguised your appearance. The purpose, I assume, is that you don't want us to see through your true self..."

Having said this, he moved slightly away from Su Yuanshan again and spoke in a normal tone.

"So, I want to take a gamble."

Su Yuanshan raised an eyebrow, a bit surprised. He had not expected this fellow to see through his illusory appearance at a glance. Although his guess differed somewhat from the actual situation, it was already quite impressive.

This person might have a very poor cultivation level and thinks he poses no threat to me, which is why he dares to speak the truth to me, gambling that I won't kill him!

Not bad at all. Although he has a Waste Spiritual Root, his senses are sharp enough; he might still be of some use once we enter the Taoyuan Xujing.

Seeing that Su Yuanshan had no reaction at all, not even a flicker of emotion, Situ Wuhen began to feel uneasy, thinking to himself, could my deduction be wrong?

At this moment, Su Yuanshan spoke indifferently.

"If you are not afraid of death, you may follow me, but I will tell you clearly: I will not guarantee your safety. Whether you live or die depends entirely on yourself."

Only then did Situ Wuhen breathe a sigh of relief, thinking to himself, I passed.

He nodded.

"Rest assured, although my cultivation is not high, I am not so useless that I would become a burden. I have made full preparations for this trip to the Taoyuan Xujing."

"Full preparations?" Su Yuanshan glanced at the cloth bag he had placed to the side and said.

"Is it that bag? I imagine it would be a struggle just to carry it, right?"

However, Situ Wuhen just smiled, walked over, and reached out to pull away the black cloth covering the object beside the bag, which made Su Yuanshan's eyes light up as he said.

"It is actually a puppet? I never thought a cultivator like you would also understand Puppetry."

Situ Wuhen explained with some helplessness.

"It is all just side-door trickery. Since my talent is lacking, I can only rely on other things to make up for it, so I have learned a bit of everything."

Su Yuanshan nodded slightly and said nothing more.

At this time, Situ Wuhen glanced at the cold-faced girl in the purple dress and whispered.

"I can sense that that woman is also unusual. If we can pull her over, it will be much safer for us when we enter the Taoyuan Xujing. I am going to win her over; you don't object, do you, fellow Daoist?"

Su Yuanshan said indifferently.

"Be my guest!"

He thought to himself, just don't get yourself killed while trying to win her over; that would be a joke.

He could sense the chill emanating from the very bones of that girl.

But unexpectedly, the girl in purple actually agreed to Situ Wuhen's proposal to cooperate in searching for the opportunity.

Situ Wuhen was clearly relieved and felt somewhat happy.

"What should I call you, Miss?"

"Nameless!" Although the girl in purple had agreed to Situ Wuhen's suggestion, she seemed not to want to pay him much mind and quickly turned her face away to look at the scenery elsewhere.

Although he felt a bit awkward, Situ Wuhen seemed to be used to it.

Thus, these three strangers, temporarily joined together, began their adventure while remaining wary of one another.

The Gumu Jinxu in the territory of Huangliang Xian was unprecedentedly lively today.

Su Yuanshan estimated that there were at least ten teams, large and small.

The group at the very front, wearing luxurious clothing with the characters "Guiyuan" embroidered on their chests, were undoubtedly disciples of the nearby major sect, the Guiyuan Sect; they were formed into a separate team.

There was another team with strange attire, wearing outfits that looked like those used for shamanic dances, and they even wore red ghost masks with two horns. Judging by the surrounding chatter, they were members of the Five Ghosts Sect.

Besides them, there was a group of people who looked like scholars from the Kaiyuan Academy. In fact, they were also cultivators, but unlike ordinary cultivators, they practiced the Confucian Path, which emphasizes pacifying the world through essays and killing enemies with poetry—breaking armies!

In addition to these Confucian cultivators, there were a few monks from the Wuyang Temple. They wore gray monk robes, and their shiny heads were covered with ordination scars.

Another major sect consisted of several beauties in palace attire from the Yunu Gong. Apart from these major sects, there were smaller sects and rogue cultivators.

Su Yuanshan was surprised to discover that even Lv Qingshan and his disciple Cailian from the Qingyun Temple, as well as the Sect Master of the Yao-guang Sword Sect, Xie Lingyu, her junior brother Huang Yang, and disciple Tian Ruoyun, had all arrived.

It could truly be said that all the worthies had gathered!

Su Yuanshan thought to himself, it seems the miasma poison she was afflicted with is no longer a concern.

However, Su Yuanshan had already changed his appearance, so they clearly did not recognize him, and Su Yuanshan naturally had no interest in going over to greet them.

The Taoyuan Xujing, one of the Baoxu, was located within a Cold Pool in the Gumu Jinxu.

The area around the Cold Pool is an oval-shaped sinkhole naturally eroded by rainwater; the surrounding stone walls are covered in moss and stained with water marks from long exposure to the elements, and above, the vegetation is lush and verdant—though it is already late autumn, the plants around the Cold Pool show no signs of turning yellow or withering, which appears quite peculiar.

The plants grow on the rock walls, hanging suspended in the air, looking from afar like a woven grass ring.

And that Cold Pool is like an eye set in the middle of the grass ring.

As the surface of the Cold Pool rippled, someone suddenly shouted.

"Look quickly, the time has come, the entrance to the Taoyuan Xujing is about to open."

At his shout, suddenly..........