Chapter 48

The middle-aged steward's mind went blank, and he raised his head in a daze, only to see two men dressed in simple clothes and wearing very ordinary fur coats sitting in the shop drinking together, while his own arrogant and domineering clan brother was standing respectfully to the side.

"Fellow Daoist has a good eye!"

Wan Yuankai looked at him, praised him, and smiled:

"Why not sit down and drink a few cups together?"

"That is exactly my intention!"

The young man in fine clothes sat down on the broken wooden stool without a care; the wooden chair immediately made a series of creaking sounds, as if it were about to fall apart at any moment, which left the middle-aged steward stunned.

"I am Xiao Yongling of the Xiao family in Xia Jun, under the jurisdiction of Qingchi; I have met the two fellow Daoists."

Xiao Yongling smiled quite politely, took the wine bowl handed over by Li Tongya, thanked him, and then spoke:

"May I ask who the two of you are?"

"Wan Yuankai of the Wan family of Huaqian, under the jurisdiction of Qingchi."

"Li Tongya of the Li family of Lijing, under the jurisdiction of Qingchi."

Seeing him so humble, the two felt much better and responded politely as well.

Xiao Yongling's smile remained unchanged when he heard of the Wan family of Huaqian, but he was stunned when he heard of the Li family of Lijing, and he said repeatedly:

"May I ask if this is the Li family of Lijing by the side of Wangyue Lake?!"

"Exactly; I didn't expect that my Li family, having only just stepped onto the immortal path with a small family and meager assets, could reach the ears of a great noble family like yours."

Li Tongya was also startled in his heart and secretly thought of Xiao Yuansi; Wan Yuankai was even more embarrassed and pondered:

"This Xiao family is a great noble family, so it's normal for them to look down on my Wan family; but this Li family, they've only been on the immortal path for a few years, how did they reach the eyes of this Xiao family!"

"Hahaha."

Xiao Yongling laughed a few times and explained politely:

"My clan uncle is Xiao Yuansi of Qingsui Peak; both our families are under Qingsui Peak, so naturally, I have heard of you."

"So that's how it is!"

Wan Yuankai's heart skipped a beat; only then did he remember that the Li family had a disciple who had joined the Qingchi Sect, and his heart was filled with mixed feelings. He looked at Xiao Yongling again and said:

"Fellow Daoist, you have cultivated to the Yujing realm at such a young age; that is truly a good cultivation base."

Xiao Yongling paused and answered awkwardly:

"Yongling only has the cultivation of the Chengming Wheel; it is only because I am a direct descendant of the Xiao family's main branch that the elders in the clan bestowed upon me a treasure that can identify those who possess cultivation, which is how I identified the two of you, not through the spiritual sense of the Yujing Wheel."

"It was my rashness!"

Wan Yuankai was also embarrassed and repeatedly cupped his hands in apology.

Xiao Yongling didn't mind, waved his hand, and said with a proud look:

"You are all here to pay the tribute, right!"

"Exactly."

Li Tongya and Wan Yuankai looked at each other; seeing Xiao Yongling's gossipy look, they were also amused and put on an appearance of listening attentively.

"The area from Wangyue Lake to Li Xia Jun is all under the jurisdiction of Yuehu Peak; Yuehu Peak now has four disciples left. Do the two of you know which envoy is coming?"

"We do not..."

"It is the Fairy of Qiuhu, Ning Wan!"

Xiao Yongling looked proud, but seeing the two men's confused faces, he couldn't help but pause and explain:

"This Ning Wan refined the Pine Forest North Wind to reach Qi Refining, and she is particularly skilled in formations; she broke through to the eighth level of Qi Refining at just twenty-four. I heard she is a top-tier great beauty who usually doesn't care about matters below. If it weren't for the fact that the disciples of Yuehu Peak couldn't spare the time, she wouldn't have taken this task of collecting tribute."

Xiao Yongling explained incessantly, then stopped abruptly, looked at Wan Yuankai in confusion, and asked:

"Speaking of the path of formations, does your Wan family have a heritage? This Wan family of Huaqian always sounds somewhat familiar."

"We certainly do."

Wan Yuankai had been holding it in for a long time; hearing this, his eyes lit up, and he explained with some pride:

"Two hundred years ago, my Wan family produced a formation master named Wan Huaqian; this Huaqian Mountain is named after him."

"I see..."

Xiao Yongling nodded and agreed:

"I have read the history cultivated by my clan, and it mentions this Wan Huaqian; the family speculates that he obtained the heritage of a cultivator who fell in that great war back then."

Hearing content he was interested in, Li Tongya was afraid that this person would shift the topic back to Ning Wan's beauty, so he hurriedly asked:

"May I ask about this great war..."

Xiao Yongling shook his head, pondered for a few breaths, and said softly:

"The clan is also vague about that great war; I only heard that someone raised the banner of the Yuehua Yuan Mansion of the Upper Sect and demanded that the Three Sects and Ten Gates all obey his orders, but in the end, they were attacked by the Three Sects and died on Wangyue Lake."

"How arrogant."

Wan Yuankai gasped, and he couldn't help but feel a trace of awe for that person.

"That great war caused the rivers to stop flowing, the spiritual energy of the earth's veins to be completely severed, the Three Sects lost fifteen Foundation Establishment cultivators, dozens of Qi Refining cultivators, and even two high and mighty Zifu cultivators died; the Ten Gates were left with only seven."

Li Tongya was also filled with emotion; it was as if the scene of the mountain ranges being severed and the rivers flowing backward three hundred years ago was appearing before his eyes.

"You say that Zifu has a lifespan of five hundred years; they spent so much effort to reach Zifu, it would be better to enjoy it, why must they go and fight to the death with others."

Wan Yuankai sighed and lamented with some regret.

"Hahahaha, for us small cultivators, this life is only about seeking Qi Refining, so naturally, we cannot understand these high and mighty great cultivators."

Xiao Yongling laughed, took a sip of snowflake wine, picked up his chopsticks and looked around at the side dishes on the table, then put his chopsticks down awkwardly, secretly pondering:

"Only the wine in this place is drinkable."

"Does Brother Xiao know what that Songlin Shuofeng is?"

Li Tongya knew his family's background was shallow and wouldn't let go of any opportunity to inquire about news, so he followed up on Xiao Yongling's words and asked.

"To advance from Taixi to Qi Refining, one must inhale a mouthful of heaven and earth spiritual energy; Pine Forest North Wind is one of them. One must find a pine and cypress forest in the cold, snowy weather, wait for the North Wind to blow, and collect it using a unique secret method. One strand is obtained in six months; it takes five years on a snowy peak, and if one waits for snow every year, I'm afraid it will take more than ten years."

Xiao Yongling smiled slightly and explained.

"So that's how it is!"

After chatting for a few more sentences, Xiao Yongling waved his hand and smiled:

"It's getting late, and I won't delay the two of you from heading to Guanyun Peak; let's part ways here. If the two of you go to Li Xia Jun for a visit in the future, you must come and find Yongling, and then we can drink and talk happily again!"

"That goes without saying!"

Xiao Yongling smiled and said goodbye to the two, then led his entourage out of the shop and headed east.

After walking only a few steps, Xiao Yongling appeared to be in deep thought; the middle-aged steward couldn't disturb him and could only walk behind him, bowing his body and following closely.

The middle-aged steward was watching Xiao Yongling's expression when he heard someone behind him ask in a small voice:

"Stupid donkey!"

The middle-aged steward took a step back, slapped the person hard on the head, and then whispered into his ear:

"Do you think these mortals count as people in the eyes of this master? Who would speak nicely to a dog!"