Chapter 683: The Two Walkers

Several days later.

Yu Liancheng, inside the carriage, stretched his back. Suddenly feeling something, he lifted the window curtain and gazed into the distance.

He saw that amidst the hills to the south, several strangely shaped mountain peaks had abruptly appeared. The tops of these peaks were slightly arched, looking just like the black tiles on a roof. One could vaguely see an unknown number of temple buildings upon the peaks, and the leisurely tolling of bells drifted over.

"Mr. Yu, we have arrived."

Tianmaonv shouted happily.

Yu Liancheng put down the Heavenly Book 'Sha Scroll' and nodded with a smile.

——Washan, we have arrived.

The legendary Lanke Temple was located within Washan.

The history of Lanke Temple was extremely long. According to records, not long after the Xiling Divine Palace was built, trees fell deep within the then-secluded and tranquil Qingyouwashan, new pavilions and terraces rose up, and pagoda halls gradually took shape.

In the rumors of the cultivation world, Lanke Temple was the mountain gate left in the world by the Hanging Temple of the Buzhi Zhidi, much like the relationship between the Xiling Divine Palace and the Zhishou Temple, and thus it was highly respected; no one dared to easily offend the solemnity of its mountain gate.

The Yulan Festival was the most important festival of Buddhism, and the debate that had become the most popular over the past few decades also originated at Lanke Temple.

At this time, it was not yet the main day of the Yulan Festival, but the area before Washan had already become very lively. The second floors of the residential houses on both sides of the bluestone street were hung with all kinds of flags and banners. The colors of those flags and banners were very plain, mostly black and white, though it was unclear whether this was because the game of Go was most popular around Washan, or if it pointed to the true reason for the Yulan Festival: to deliver the souls of the dead from the Underworld.

For the people living in the present world, almost all had forgotten the origin of this custom.

The Yulan Festival was just a simple and pure grand festival; all they needed was to enjoy the festive atmosphere.

The carriage slowly drove into the small town.

It did not continue forward to the Washan Lanke Temple deep within the town.

Yu Liancheng and the others chose an inn to stay in, preparing to fully experience the atmosphere of this Yulan Festival tonight before going to Lanke Temple.

As the night grew darker, Yu Liancheng stood outside a guest room, waiting for Tianmaonv and Mo Shanshan to go together to stroll through the town's night market.

Yu Liancheng held the Sha Scroll, and with his hearing, he could clearly hear the rustling sounds of changing clothes inside the room, as well as the two women's conversation and giggles.

For some reason, he suddenly thought of two sentences.

——If a man can live for sixty years, at least ten years of his time are wasted in vain. Of these ten years, at least five are spent waiting for women to change clothes. Another five are spent waiting for women to take off their clothes.

While this statement was not absolutely correct—after all, not every man would have a woman willing to let him wait—it did indeed have some truth to it.

At least Yu Liancheng had indeed wasted a lot of time in this regard.

No matter how heroic and spirited a woman might be, when going out, she would always care about her appearance and attire, so she could not help but dress up meticulously.

Thinking of this, Yu Liancheng thought of Feng Siniang, that woman as free and easy as the wind, but her considerations in dressing and styling were far greater than those of ordinary women. Because she wanted to be the center of attention the moment she appeared, to attract all eyes. To her, the gazes of others were a form of praise and enjoyment.

So sometimes, strolling the streets with Feng Siniang was simply a form of torture.

Fortunately, Tianmaonv and Mo Shanshan were not such women.

Therefore, Yu Liancheng soon saw Tianmaonv wearing a lotus-colored gauze shirt, which made her look even more petite and cute. Her face was round and rosy, her cheeks flushed, and her eyes were like ripples. At this moment, she looked at Yu Liancheng with a hint of shyness, spun around slightly, her skirt fluttering, and biting her lip gently, she asked in a sweet voice: "Mr. Yu, h-how do I look, meow?"

Yu Liancheng was slightly stunned and praised her without reservation: "Cute, beautiful."

"Hee hee." Tianmaonv stuck out her tongue, her cheeks slightly red.

Seeing Yu Liancheng reaching out to touch her head again, Tianmaonv hurriedly covered it: "Don't, meow, don't always rub my head, it's very hard to fix."

Yu Liancheng pointed to the other side of the corridor and said in surprise: "Eh, isn't that Liu Bai?"

"Sword Saint Liu Bai?" Tianmaonv was slightly startled and turned her head, but there was absolutely no one there.

At this moment, Yu Liancheng's hand was already on Tianmaonv's head, rubbing it vigorously, and then he pinched her smooth, tender cheek, laughing loudly: "What do you mean it can't be rubbed? Bullying a child like you is the privilege of an adult."

"I'm not a child anymore, I'm already thirteen. I can get married next year; my senior sister is sixteen and already has two children."

Tianmaonv pouted, stomped her feet in anger, punched Yu Liancheng in the chest twice, and then hurriedly took out a small bronze mirror to start fixing her hair.

"Clearly still a child, how are you already thinking about having children."

Yu Liancheng covered his forehead, speechless.

Reminded by Tianmaonv, he recalled that in the Dahe Kingdom, one could get married at fourteen, and Southern Jin was about the same. Even in Datang, where the marriage age was higher, the age for marriage was only sixteen.

However, he was not surprised. In the worlds he had experienced, except for the "Zhu Xian" world, a cultivation world where one lived for hundreds of years, the marriage age in other worlds was not much different.

"Hmph, I'm not a child, I'm not a child." Tianmaonv muttered to herself after fixing her hair, giving Yu Liancheng a resentful look.

At this time, Mo Shanshan finally walked out, still in her white clothes as pure as snow, only with a few more small accessories than usual. Reflected by the lights, she shone even more brilliantly.

Her black hair was let down and tied up casually, giving one the feeling of a lotus rising from clear water. Her skin was even whiter than snow, her appearance stunningly beautiful, and at this moment she stood proudly, too beautiful to be looked at directly.

"Ah, Mountain Master, you are so beautiful." Tianmaonv hugged Mo Shanshan's slender waist, her eyes shining.

Yu Liancheng looked her up and down. Wasn't it just a different hairstyle from her usual attire? Why did this woman fuss in the room for so long? He originally wanted to tease her a bit, but seeing the expectation in Mo Shanshan's eyes, he still praised her: "Hmm, truly peerless, almost catching up to me."

"Let's, let's go quickly." Mo Shanshan automatically ignored the latter part, a flush of red staining her fair cheeks, and she gently tugged at her skirt.

"Alright."

Thus, the three of them broke into this world of brilliant lights.

There was no Moon in Haotian's world, and the starlight seemed particularly dim.

But at this moment, the small town was like silver flowers of light, illuminating the entire long street.

There were many tourists in the town, coming from all directions, either devoted to Buddhism or here to experience the festive atmosphere, all wearing the same happy smiles on their faces. Even though it was already night, the entire long street was still bustling with people, noisy and lively, boiling like a river.

There were various performances in the town, stilt walking, lion and dragon dances. There were also all kinds of delicious snacks, both meat and vegetarian. For ordinary tourists and even the small-town residents, this Yulan Festival was more like a grand fair used for entertainment, rather than some sacred religious festival.

Tianmaonv, with a candied hawthorn in her mouth, squatted beside a stone pool filled with hundreds of red fish, holding a small wooden stick with a fine net to scoop fish.

The net was easy to break and cost five wen each; no one knew how many people had failed, making the boss's face twist with a smile.

Tianmaonv was a cultivator after all, and she had practiced the Hand-held Sword; her control over force was by no means comparable to that of ordinary people. Scooping fish was certainly not difficult for her; she used only one net and scooped up seventeen or eighteen fish.

Mo Shanshan tugged at Tianmaonv's sleeve, signaling her to look at the stall owner. The stall owner's face was already covered in black lines, his eyes filled with a hint of pleading. It was as if he were saying, little girl, go cause trouble somewhere else; if you keep scooping, there really won't be any fish left.

Tianmaonv stuck out her tongue and gave all the scooped fish to the children watching nearby, making them very happy, jumping and hopping, and several children even used candies as a return gift.

Tianmaonv was very happy, and with these children all calling her "Big Sister, you are so amazing," she felt a bit floaty, patted her not-very-developed chest, and indicated that none of the tricks here could stump her.

Thus, Tianmaonv soon led a group of children and swept through the long street.

Nesting dolls, smashing golden eggs, grabbing little figures... one small game after another, she was invincible, followed by a group of children, becoming like a king of children, walking with her head held high, arrogant and conceited, until she fell on her bottom and finally decided to behave.

"This little girl, and you say you aren't a child."

Yu Liancheng looked at the excited Tianmaonv, shook his head with a smile, then turned to Mo Shanshan and said with a smile, "How about we go to the snack stalls?"

"Mm, okay."

Mo Shanshan nodded.

It is worth mentioning that Mo Shanshan was wearing a wooden mask.

There were many people on the street, and her appearance was extremely beautiful; although this was the territory of Lanke Temple and there was no risk of someone forcibly abducting a common woman, the pairs of eyes staring at her still made her cheeks burn and her body stiffen, giving her an uncomfortable feeling.

Yu Liancheng noticed Mo Shanshan's strangeness, so he casually bought a mask for her to wear, and the situation improved much better.

In fact, Yu Liancheng's appearance was even better than Mo Shanshan's, and he had attracted the gazes of countless young girls and married women along the way, but he did not care.

The small town at night was also extremely lively, with crowds flowing; to prevent getting separated, Yu Liancheng casually took hold of Mo Shanshan's slender hand. Mo Shanshan's body stiffened, her cheeks burned, and she struggled lightly twice, but she was never able to break free, so she had no choice but to accept it.

The snack stalls were very lively, with vendors selling thousand-layer cakes and fried white sausages, others selling clear bean paste cakes and cotton candy, and there were roasted Hongshu and boiled tea eggs... the varieties were too numerous to count, and the colors, aromas, and flavors were enticing.

Yu Liancheng walked and ate the whole way.

As for Mo Shanshan, she was quite reserved, only taking a shallow taste of things she was extremely interested in.

Just at this moment, a cluster of fireworks rose into the sky, gracefully blooming into thousands of gorgeous sights, briefly brilliant and dazzling, before vanishing into nothingness.

Afterwards, clusters of fireworks rose into the sky one after another, bloomed, and then returned to the void.

"Most good things are not durable; colorful clouds are easily scattered, and glazed glass is fragile," Mo Shanshan said with a sigh as she watched the fleeting fireworks.

Yu Liancheng smiled and said, "Silly girl, if fireworks lasted long, that would be called a fire, a disaster."

Mo Shanshan suddenly felt the trace of inexplicable melancholy and romance being dispersed; she suddenly straightened her expression, looked toward the other end of the long street, and said solemnly, "Someone is following us, those two... are very strong."

"It is Demon Sect Walker Tang, and Daoist Sect Walker Ye Su."

Yu Liancheng looked up at the night sky, his tone indifferent, not even turning his head to take a look.

The firmament without a full moon hanging high always seems so lonely; this is an imperfect world.

At least that is what he thinks.

"What, it's actually them? How could they come here!? What do they want to do?"

Mo Shanshan was startled, her moth-like eyebrows slightly knitted.

The Four Unknowable Places belong to people outside the world and do not usually appear in the world, but every Unknowable Place has the most outstanding figures of the younger generation who walk the world to handle affairs, known as "Walkers." Currently, the Academy has no Walker, and the other three Walkers are Zhishou Temple Walker Ye Su, Demon Sect Walker Tang, and Hanging Temple Walker Qinian...

These three Walkers are considered the three most outstanding young people in the world, and they all have the potential to Leap Five Realms in the future.

"It doesn't matter, I will make a move."

Yu Liancheng stood with his hands behind his back, replying in a calm and indifferent manner.

After watching the fireworks, the two continued to stroll.

However, because Mo Shanshan realized that two people were following them, and they were two world Walkers, she appeared somewhat vigilant and was not as relaxed and happy as before.

Yu Liancheng sighed softly, sent Mo Shanshan to Tianmaonv's side, and said, "You two go ahead and stroll, I will be back shortly."

"... Be careful."

"It is they who should be careful."

Yu Liancheng unfolded his figure and in a moment arrived at a secluded place in the small town.

Here, two people were already standing in silence; the person on the left was a Daoist, with peaceful brows and eyes, a thin appearance, wearing a thin, collarless, moon-white green robe, and carrying a thin, sheathless wooden sword. His black hair was combed into a Daoist bun, with a very ordinary ebony hairpin inserted in the middle. His clothes fluttered, and his whole person carried an air of aloofness, like a cloud, a blue cloud that could drift away from the mortal world at any time.

The person on the right had a tall and sturdy build, like an iron tower, with a rugged appearance and calm brows and eyes. He wore animal skins, carrying an air of wild, primitive nature, his pair of hands were the size of cattail-leaf fans, and beneath his clothes were bulging, solid muscles, as if he could erupt with terrifying power that could make the world boil at any moment. His bare legs wore shoes picked up from who knows where, and it seemed he could shatter the sky with one stomp.

Daoist Sect Walker Ye Su.

Demon Sect Walker Tang.

These two people who should be at odds with each other were actually walking together.

Seeing Yu Liancheng arrive, the two immediately released their respective Qi, which intersected and merged, indistinguishable from one another, actually carrying a sense of jointly resisting a great enemy.

Yu Liancheng's gaze swept toward the burly body of Demon Sect Walker Tang, his expression carrying a hint of excitement, and he shouted sternly, "What a piece of Demon Sect scum, to actually appear under Washan in broad daylight, truly bold and reckless; do you really think there is no one in the righteous path of the world?"

His gaze then looked toward the proud and aloof Ye Su: "Nephew Ye, if you and I join forces, we can capture this Demon Sect scum today and remove a scourge for Haotian."

Every time he was called Demon Sect scum by others, he finally had the chance to call someone else Demon Sect scum.

For some reason, Yu Liancheng always felt a bit of excitement.

Ye Su, Tang: "..."

PS: Seeking monthly tickets.