Chapter 579: Zhang Chulan

“Senior brother, I’ll go ahead first.”

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Zhang Jie led Zhang Chulan toward the cliff’s edge.

“Hmm, I hope you achieve a good ranking in the Luotian Da Jiao and show your true colors.”

Daoist Li offered his blessings.

“Senior brother, everything’s inside.”

As he brushed past Daoist Li, Zhang Jie slipped something into his hand:

“All the 1G seeds are in there.”

“1G… seeds?”

Daoist Li’s pupils dilated in shock, yet his hands moved without hesitation,

the object vanished soundlessly into his wide sleeves, leaving no trace.

Zhang Jie smiled faintly and stepped past.

Was it against the precepts to provide such things to Longhu Mountain disciples?

Daoists are human too; Zhengyi disciples aren’t like Quanzhen disciples—they can marry and have children.

Many of those fire-dwelling Daoists and lineage temples came about this way.

Zhang Jie was now a classic fire-dwelling Daoist:

the term sounds mysterious, but it’s simple to understand—“fire-dwelling” literally means “dwelling among smoke and fire.”

It means they live amid the mundane world, with kitchens and hearths at home,

leading ordinary family lives rather than severing worldly ties and practicing ascetic seclusion like monastics.

Though they’ve received formal religious initiation (chuandu),

fire-dwelling Daoists don’t leave home—they live among secular society,

can marry and have children, and aren’t strictly required to be fully vegetarian.

Of course, when performing rituals for believers—such as blessings, disaster relief,

or guiding spirits to the afterlife—they still fast, bathe, and cultivate their inner selves.

If you see a Daoist who has a wife and children, lives in a regular house,

and only puts on his Daoist robe and cap when performing rituals, he’s almost certainly a fire-dwelling Daoist.

Besides, Longhu Mountain disciples are vigorous and strong…

…

“Senior Jie, are we really supposed to cross this way?”

At the cliff’s edge, Zhang Chulan glanced down at the hundred-meter-deep abyss, then at the iron chain,

which, though heavy, swayed wildly under the fierce wind; his legs trembled, and he nearly turned to flee.

If he fell from here, even with the Golden Light Spell on his body, wouldn’t he just be smashed into a pancake?

Then the people collecting his body wouldn’t carry a stretcher—they’d bring a shovel…

He had acrophobia.

“Senior Jie, can you carry me across?”

Zhang Chulan came up with a plan.

With Zhang Jie’s uncanny abilities, under the watchful eyes of the guarding Daoists,

he could just teleport him to the other side without being noticed—no trouble at all.

“Go yourself!”

Zhang Jie kicked Zhang Chulan’s butt with no patience.

Caught off guard, Zhang Chulan stumbled forward several steps and landed squarely on the iron chain.

“Aaaah!”

His body swayed up and down, left and right with the chain, feeling like a tiny boat about to capsize in a storm,

Zhang Chulan let out a shrill, feminine scream.

Then he collapsed face-first, clutching the chain and trembling violently.

“Chulan, this poses no real threat to you.”

Zhang Jie sighed, reminding him.

The chain and cliff look dangerous, but they’re not truly unsafe—for ordinary people who don’t train.

Any adept who has trained for years, or even an athlete who’s mastered bodily balance,

would find this easy.

After all, Longhu Mountain set up this trial only to filter out impostors

or newbies just entering the adept world—not to decide winners here.

“Se-nior Jie, I’m a-afraid of h-heights.”

Zhang Chulan’s face twisted in distress, stammering out his plea.

“The more you fear something, the more you must face it—the best way to confront fear is to face it head-on, go on!”

Zhang Jie gave Zhang Chulan a pep talk, then turned, hands behind his back, and flew across to the other side.

This kid Zhang Chulan won’t show his true ability unless he’s pressured.

Pretending to be a pig to eat tigers had become his instinct.

But the premise of pretending to be a pig is remembering that you are always a tiger.

Otherwise, if you pretend to be a pig too long, you’ll truly become one.

“Chulan, keep going—I and Baobao are waiting for you on the other side.”

Feng Baobao waved her pink fists to cheer him on, then stepped onto the chain,

moving lightly as a lark toward the other side.

“Senior Jie, Baobao-sis…”

Zhang Chulan watched Zhang Jie and Feng Baobao’s figures shrink in his vision, letting out a desperate cry.

“Er… Zhang Jie, you don’t have to join the Luotian Da Jiao.”

“Why not come back now and try again next time?”

Daoist Li watched Zhang Chulan’s distress and offered advice.

During his earlier conversation with Zhang Jie, he’d learned Zhang Chulan’s identity.

Though Zhang Chulan hadn’t yet been registered in the Tian Shi Fu’s records,

since he’d received the Old Heavenly Master’s approval, Zhang Chulan was already one of them.

“No thanks, Senior Li.”

Zhang Chulan rejected Daoist Li’s suggestion without hesitation.

This Luotian Da Jiao was the Tian Shi Fu’s first in decades—miss this one,

and who knew when another would come? He wouldn’t give up this sole chance.

“I’ll do it!”

Zhang Chulan gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, refused to look down, and crawled forward on all fours.

Daoist Li watched in terror—if Zhang Chulan slipped and fell, this would be a disaster.

The Tian Shi Fu hosts a Luotian Da Jiao, and one of their own disciples falls off a cliff…

Daoist Li could already picture the headline on Jianghu Xiaozhan’s front page.

Society had entered the information age; the adept world had naturally kept pace, embracing the internet.

Jianghu Xiaozhan was an adept organization combining newspaper, website, and interviews.

“Mommy, look—that brother below looks like a caterpillar!”

At that moment, a mature, beautiful woman arrived holding her daughter.

The girl watched Zhang Chulan crawling forward and burst into bell-like laughter.

“Brother, go on!”

The little girl clapped to cheer Zhang Chulan on.

“Er…”

Zhang Chulan wanted nothing more than to crawl into a crack in the ground.

This was so embarrassing!

“I’m so sorry—LuLu doesn’t understand yet. I hope you, young brother, won’t hold it against her.”

The beautiful woman apologized to Zhang Chulan, flustered.

“LuLu, apologize to this brother right now!”

Then she sharply ordered the girl to apologize.

“S-sorry, brother.”

LuLu pouted but obeyed her mother and apologized to Zhang Chulan.

“Kids, you know—they speak without thinking, speak without thinking.”

Since she’d shown such sincerity, what could Zhang Chulan say? Of course he forgave her.

“Young brother, you’re so magnanimous.”

“Thank you, brother.”

LuLu also thanked Zhang Chulan.

Then, the beautiful woman hugged Lulu and stamped her red high-heeled shoe against the ground.

The mother and daughter instantly shot across like arrows released from a bow, hurtling toward the opposite shore.

Thud.

With a moderate thump as they landed, the mother and daughter arrived safely on the other side.

“You can do it, Zhang Chulan, you can do it!”

To avoid encountering other cultivators and falling into another awkward situation, Zhang Chulan psyching himself up,

continued crawling toward the opposite shore… but now at several times the speed.