Chapter 4: Where Does the Spiritual Light Piercing the Top Come From

Thirty-Mile Shop is on the west side of Yuyang County, and there is also a cultivation dojo there, called Fengxian Shanzhuang.

This morning at the hour of the dragon, Old Qiu took his daughter to borrow grain. When they reached the vicinity of Baishui River, they happened to meet an immortal who had come down from the mountain to urge the payment of offerings.

At first, Old Qiu didn't notice anything wrong, only feeling that the leading immortal seemed to be very fond of his daughter, looking at her again and again, and even praising her for having spiritual light piercing the top.

Old Qiu originally thought this was a good thing.

It wasn't until he was carrying the grain bag on his back and taking his daughter home that he met Niu Er, who was responsible for supervising the transportation of offerings, who came to his door to offer congratulations, saying that his 30% offering this year could be exempted, and he only needed to send his daughter to the mountain, that he knew the sky was about to collapse.

Using living people to refine pills was not unheard of in Great Xia, but the Qiu couple never thought this matter would fall on their daughter.

At that time, neighbors and relatives gathered in the Qiu family's courtyard, while Old Qiu sat on a stone stool, his expression dull, not saying a word.

"What exactly is spiritual light piercing the top, immortal opportunity immeasurable? Ruru hasn't even seen an immortal, how could she have these... Those immortal masters must have seen it wrong..."

"Those are immortals. Since they have spoken, what can we commoners do?"

"Great Xia law can't control immortals. Since they have already spoken, I'm afraid no one can save Ruru."

Seeing her mother sitting in the courtyard crying, five-year-old Qiu Ru was quite frightened.

She was just a bit naughty and didn't listen to her mother, insisting on following her to her grandfather's house in Thirty-Mile Shop, thinking it was this that angered her mother.

Seeing her mother crying until she was out of breath, Qiu Ru moved her little legs and ran over to hug her neck: "Mom, I... I was wrong. I will listen in the future. Don't cry, I won't be naughty anymore."

"What's the use of knowing how to listen now? I told you not to go, but you insisted on going!"

Li Shuping was almost hysterical, pushing her daughter directly to the ground, and finally held her in her arms, crying loudly.

Steward Qiu was silent for a long time before raising his head, his lips trembling: "I will go to the county government office tomorrow to beg the Old Master to think of a way for us. After all, when I was at the Ji family, I had old ties with him..."

Ji You had arrived outside the city after hearing the rumors in the restaurant, and had been watching from outside the crowd for a long time.

After transmigrating to the Azure Cloud World, although his life was a bit bitter, overall it was relatively calm and stable.

He had no great ambitions; otherwise, who would go to study philosophy?

Anyway, he couldn't go back to his previous world; he just wanted to achieve something in cultivation and prove the Dao as a peerless bandit in two years to ensure he had food and clothing and meat for three meals.

But he never thought that the seemingly calm and stable life was actually vulnerable.

Immortals descend upon the world; if they want you to live, you live; if they want you to die, you die.

The so-called stability was just because it hadn't fallen on his own head yet.

Ji You didn't stay too long; after all, sadness is different from joy; it is not an emotion that needs to be shared with everyone.

He returned to the ancestral home along the road, pushed open the gate, and entered the second courtyard. The scholar with the strange habit in the neighboring courtyard was still sitting on the tree tonight, holding a book and reading it over and over. Seeing him return, he immediately stood up.

But this time, he didn't rush to leave, but looked down at Ji You from above.

"Something happened to the Qiu family."

The scholar's name was Xiang Kuangcheng, a descendant of a scholarly family in Yuyang County, and also a young master of a wealthy family, whose residence was adjacent to the Ji family's ancestral home.

This person loved to carry water for widows and guide the blind on weekdays, belonging to the type of "other people's children."

In Yuyang County, he was very famous and was regarded as a kind-hearted gentleman.

Because the two families were adjacent, he was one of the few people Ji You knew in this world.

When he first came to this world, he couldn't speak the Yuyang dialect, and it was only after listening to his reading aloud on the tree many times that he could barely speak.

This is the story Ji You knew.

However, what he didn't know was that the young master of the Kuang family and the young master of the Ji family were inseparable friends in childhood.

It was just that later, the young master of the Ji family didn't do his proper job, was greedy for wine and lust, and became a playboy, while the young master of the Kuang family studied poetry and books hard, full of righteousness, and the two naturally parted ways.

But after learning that something happened to the Qiu family, Xiang Kuangcheng still flipped through countless classics, found a way to break the situation, and waited for him here.

In his view, the Qiu family had grace toward him, Ji You; he was helping this old friend one last time.

Ji You nodded after hearing the scholar's words: "I just came back from the Qiu family; I already know about Ruru's matter."

"Since you know, then you shouldn't still be here."

"Then where should I be?"

Xiang Kuangcheng stood up from the tree branch: "You should be at the Fang mansion, begging Fang Ruoyao to help."

"Fengxian Shanzhuang is apprenticed to the Xuanyuan Immortal Mansion. Never mind ordinary people, even ordinary Immortal Sect members might not dare to manage this matter. But the Heavenly Tian Shuyuan has the responsibility of monitoring the Heavenly Dao and is the Great Xia Sacred Sect, so naturally, it can."

"Fang Ruoyao has now entered the Heavenly Tian Shuyuan, so she is a disciple of the Heavenly Tian Shuyuan. As long as you can beg her to come forward, the Qiu family girl might have a glimmer of survival."

Xiang Kuangcheng finished speaking in one breath, his gaze looking straight at Ji You.

There is an old saying in the Azure Cloud World: if an immortal wants you to die at the third watch, who dares to keep you until the fifth watch? So this matter should have been unsolvable.

But the two immortals of the Heavenly Tian Shuyuan happened to be in Yuyang Town, and this was the variable, and variables usually mean the key to breaking the situation.

In his view, this key lay with the daughter of the County Magistrate.

However, Fang Ruoyao had once forcibly broken off the engagement with Ji You. In his view, asking Ji You to beg her was not an easy thing to accept.

Ji You looked up at him after hearing this: "Can she save her just by being a disciple of the Heavenly Tian Shuyuan?"

"This is the only solution to this situation."

"Where did Brother Kuang learn of this solution?"

"Naturally, I saw it in a book."

Xiang Kuangcheng thought he didn't believe it, so he threw the book over the courtyard wall to him.

Touching the familiar book pages, Ji You couldn't help but think of himself when he first came, completely in the dark.

Old Kuang's line of thinking from the book was correct. To make Fengxian Shanzhuang give up, only the Heavenly Tian Shuyuan could do it.

Seeing him silent for a long time, the scholar couldn't help but open his mouth: "Did you see it?"

"I saw it."

Ji You closed the book and couldn't help but look at the fire-red long sky in the north.

He saw that things were unpredictable, saw that fate was not in one's own hands, and saw that the Azure Cloud World would eventually lose a peerless bandit with amazing talent.

Xiang Kuangcheng stood on the tree looking at him inexplicably, and saw Ji You didn't go out and head straight for the Fang mansion, but pushed the door and entered the room with a solemn expression, covering the doors and windows with black curtains.

Perfection of the Lower Three Realms, self-entry into the immortal register, not bound by law, can enter the Heavenly Tian Shuyuan...

He was originally cultivating with the idea of becoming a peerless bandit, and he didn't feel that time was very urgent. But now that he was cultivating, he was still two realms away, and the time left for him was only two days.

Ji You sat on the bed, and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth began to pour into his bosom continuously, burning like fire in his body.

This realm, he had to lead the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to rush into the spiritual spring, and the time was only one day, which could be called nine deaths and one life.

At the same time, outside the city at the Qiu family, Old Qiu, burdened with worries, lay on the bed, listening to his wife's sobbing, and didn't sleep all night.

After finally making it to dawn, he immediately pulled the grain cart and rushed to the grain store in the city, exchanged all the family's surplus grain for silver, packed it in a bundle, and rushed to the mansion of County Magistrate Fang Zhongzheng, hoping to save his daughter's life.

But before Old Qiu could get close to the Fang mansion, he was stopped by the bailiffs guarding the intersection.

Today, Fang Zhongzheng and his daughter Fang Ruoyao were going to hold a banquet at the mansion for the Heavenly Tian Shuyuan immortals from Shengjing. The mansion had been busy since early morning, and servants carrying all kinds of delicacies walked through the halls and courtyards, just like the New Year.

Concerned about his daughter's future and the family's rise and fall, the Old Master was afraid that some unruly people would disturb the immortals' holy carriage, so he had issued a death order last night that he would see no one today.

But Old Qiu wouldn't give up, kneeling directly on the long street, knocking his head on the ground, begging for the blue sky's mercy, and his crying gradually attracted a crowd of passersby.

"Isn't that Qiu Zhong?"

"His daughter is going to be caught to make medicine. He came here to beg the County Magistrate for mercy, but how would the Magistrate dare to manage the immortals' affairs? Old Qiu is afraid he won't see anyone even if he kneels to death today."

"Eh, why don't I see that Ji You?"

"Heard that he secretly took a look outside the door last night, then turned around and left in fright. You also know that when the Ji family offended the immortals, he was scared out of his wits like this."

From early morning until dusk, the immortal banquet at the Fang mansion had long since ended, but Qiu Zhong was still kneeling in place, unable to see the Magistrate.

At this moment, a scholar in plain robes walked along the long street leading to the county government office, holding a copy of *Xia Law Immortal Regulations*, and everyone who passed by called out "Young Master Kuang."

He walked to the place where the bailiffs were guarding the road, looked at Qiu Zhong, who was already kneeling and withered, feeling three parts of unbearable and seven parts of indignation in his heart.

If it were Ji You kneeling here today, instead of Qiu Zhong, this matter might still be solvable.

Because the County Magistrate forcibly broke off the engagement back then, the reputation left in the county was not good. If Ji You knelt here and wouldn't get up, even for the sake of face, the Fang family would have to invite him in.

And as long as there was a chance to see the two Heavenly Tian Shuyuan immortals, the matter would still have a glimmer of survival.

It was just that since last night, that Ji You had been hiding at home and hadn't stepped out of the door for even half a step.

Then he remembered that when the Ji family suffered a disaster two years ago, Ji You also abandoned his parents and fled overnight, exactly the same as today.

He didn't expect that guy to have the courage to face the immortals, but he didn't expect that he couldn't even bring himself to beg Fang Ruoyao for the sake of the Qiu family girl.

Xiang Kuangcheng walked toward the bailiffs at the door with a dark face: "Please report, Kuang requests to see Miss Fang."

"Oh, it's Young Master Kuang. My young lady is drinking tea with the immortals from Shengjing and has no time to see guests."

"I can wait. No matter when, after all, I once had a classmate friendship with Miss Fang. She is going north to the capital tomorrow, so today is the only day I can say goodbye to her in person."

"This..."

Hearing that he came to see the young lady off, the bailiff hesitated for a moment and said: "Then Young Master Kuang, wait a moment; I will go into the mansion to report."

Xiang Kuangcheng bowed and arched his hands: "Thank you."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 5 =====