Chapter 28: Old Man Guo

  Li Muran followed the sound and saw a dirty old man with a white beard.

  The old man was extremely excited when he saw Li Muran, muttering "nameless, nameless" as he rushed towards him. The people around also rushed to Li Muran, begging him anxiously.

  At this time, a disciple with the surname Wang shouted loudly: "Everyone stay where you are! Those who don't follow the rules will be expelled from the hall!"

  The sentence seems to have an extremely strong impact, and these mortals immediately dare not move again, only constantly begging in their mouths.

  "This old man, do you know me?" Li Muran was very curious and was about to walk towards the old man when Wang's disciple quietly told Li Muran: "Zhao brother, this old man has been here for several months, his request is extremely troublesome, all the brothers are unwilling to take it on, that's why it's been delayed until now!"

  "Thanks for reminding me, brother. I'd better ask clearly!" Li Muran nodded with a smile to the young man surnamed Wang, then walked towards the old man.

  "Old man, do you recognize me?" Li Muran asked curiously.

  "Of course I recognize you, you're Zhao's young son Zhao Wuming! You've grown so much, when you left the village, you weren't even eleven years old, now it's already...," the old man excitedly counted on his fingers: "more than six years, you must be almost seventeen!"

  "It turned out to be Zhao Wuming, an old acquaintance from the secular world!" Li Muran's mind suddenly cleared up, and he continued, "I don't know what to call you, elder. What brings you here seeking help from our immortal sect?"

  "I'm Old Man Guo, I've been watching you grow up since you were a kid, don't you recognize me?" The old man's face was full of astonishment.

  Li Muran shook his head and said: "To be honest, a few years ago I suddenly fell ill, and everything before that is completely forgotten."

  "Are you ill, Anonymous? How are you now? Are you feeling any better?" Old Guo's expression suddenly became very tense, his concern evident in every word.

  "It's all right now!" Li Muran smiled and said, "Alright, you first tell me, what brings you to kneel down at the Immortal Gate, despite the hardships?"

  "It's all because of that damned bird!" Old Guo said with a scowl, "The bird at Cliff Peak has been constantly harassing us medicine collectors, and several villagers have lost their lives as a result. We ordinary people can't deal with that bird, so we've come to seek the help of an immortal!"

  "Yao bird? Have you seen it with your own eyes? How big is it and what magical powers does it have?" Li Muran asked carefully.

  Mr. Guo said as he gestured, and Li Muran roughly understood what had happened after listening to him.

  According to the old man, it should be a demonic bird. Even if ordinary large birds were bigger, they could only stir up a gust of wind at most, but the gale stirred up by that demonic bird was sharper than a knife blade and could easily cut off the lifeline tied around the waist of the herb picker, and even leave deep marks on hard mountain rocks.

  "It should be Wind Blade Technique, a primary wind attribute spell. This is a demonic bird, it should have opened its spiritual sense not long ago." Li Muran thought to himself.

  What is called "opening the spirit" refers to the demonic class, similar to the human "opening the light". After humans open their lights, they can cultivate into immortals; and demons also need to open their spirits before they can be distinguished from ordinary flying birds and beasts and become cultivable demon tribes.

  "No wonder the other brothers didn't want to take on this old man's request. Dealing with a demonic bird is much more troublesome than dealing with a demonic beast!" Li Muran finally understood what Wang Shidi meant after hearing him out.

  Perhaps the strength of the same-level demon birds and demon beasts is not much different, but the demon birds can fly in the high sky. If the demon bird encounters danger, it will fly to the sky, making it impossible for these disciples to kill them. And these disciples can hardly afford to buy flying talismans like paper cranes, even if they have paper cranes, they are reluctant to consume a large amount of yuan energy to fulfill a mortal's wish.

  Anyway, the tasks of breaking through the dust are many, and most disciples choose to complete the easiest one. This old man Guo will have a hard time finding a disciple who is willing to accept his plea even if he waits any longer.

  "That demon bird must be the one that killed your father all those years ago!" Old Man Guo added with hatred.

  "My dad?" Li Muran was taken aback, and then immediately understood that Old Man Guo was referring to Zhao Wuming's father.

  Li Muran said to Old Man Guo, "Let's go, I'll report to the sect and then we'll find a way to get rid of that demon bird."

  Guo Old Man was overjoyed: "Wú Míng, you've already learned the immortal method?"

  "Met some." Li Muran smiled slightly.

  He intended to take this opportunity to understand the life of Zhao Wuming, after all, he was now existing in this world as Zhao Wuming.

  "Let it be a repayment for Zhao Wuming's upbringing in that small village." Li Muran said to himself.

  Wang's disciple saw Li Muren intend to take over, and immediately frowned, whispering: "Zhao brother, you really want to take on this task, it's quite a tricky one! Moreover, the sect has strict rules about this, if you can't complete it, you'll also face certain punishment."

  "Alright then!" Li Muran smiled and took out two pieces of spiritual stones from his bosom, stuffing them into the other person's hand. "Junior Brother Wang, I'll have to trouble you to arrange for him to clean up and change his clothes first, then I'll follow him to cut off his mortal ties."

  "This is easy! Please wait a moment, Brother Zhao!" The Wang surname disciple happily accepted the Ling Stone and promised to comply, then led Old Man Guo into the inner hall.

  Other ordinary people who saw this scene were both disappointed and envious, and gradually stopped their crying and begging voices.

  Half an hour later, Old Guo came out wearing a clean Taoist robe, with a large package of dry rations on his shoulder.

  It was probably a while before they found suitable mortal clothes, so the Wang surname disciple had an old man named Guo change into a Taoist robe.

  But this getup made Old Guo look particularly spirited, and he seemed like a completely different person from before.

  Li Muran had already registered with the Outer Affairs Department's executive elder brother, so he took Guo Lao to leave Yuanshu Sect together.

  Li Muran had been cultivating for over a year, and the heavenly and earthly primal energy in his body was abundant. This primal energy nourished his body at all times, so his physique had become extraordinary, exceptionally robust and agile. Walking on mountain roads was nothing to him.

  That old man Guo was also very robust, don't look at him being over sixty, but he could climb mountains and walk dozens of miles without resting.

  Li Muran was curious and asked, Old Man Guo said that the medicine pickers often climb steep cliffs to pick herbs, these mountain roads are nothing to them, as flat as a plain!

  The two of them moved extremely quickly, and after several days they arrived at the outer reaches of the Kuanglu Mountains. Old Guo said that if they crossed over two more mountain peaks and walked along the mountain valley for over a hundred miles, they would arrive at Yao Nong Village, where Zhao Wuming was from.

  As they walked, Li Muran suddenly stopped. The narrow mountain road in front of them was completely blocked by a fallen tree. If they wanted to continue on their way, they would have to either destroy the tree, fly over it, or go through the forest beside it.

  "Hmph, a petty trick!" Li Muran thought to himself. In the "Thieving Scripture", this could only be considered the most unrefined of traps, and probably only a few ignorant and inexperienced youngsters would fall for it, any cultivator with even a bit of experience wouldn't be deceived.

  Li Muran looked towards the broken part of the forest, and indeed saw a block with a relatively smooth gap, which was obviously man-made, indicating that this tree had been deliberately felled to block the mountain road.

  "This place has already left the range of Kuangtuo's four clans and is considered a secular world. I didn't expect that there would also be thieves and ambushes hidden here!" Li Muran's heart skipped a beat, his eyes looking deep into the mountain forest: "The thief should be hiding in the mountains, who knows if there are other mechanisms inside."

  "Let's take a detour!" Li Muran said to Old Man Guo. Destroying the trees blocking their path would be easy for Li Muran, but he didn't know what kind of thieves were hiding here and didn't want to take any risks.

  "Alright then!" Old Man Guo also saw through the mystery here.

  Just as the two were about to turn around and leave, a sudden burst of noise came from the woods, and immediately afterwards, seven or eight big men with knives and axes in hand, looking ferocious, rushed out from various parts of the woods, surrounding Li Muran and his companion.

  "It turned out to be just a group of ordinary mountain bandits!" Li Muran couldn't help but chuckle, if those fellow disciples knew that he almost got scared into taking a detour by this group of ordinary mountain bandits, they would definitely tease him for a long time.

  "I'm a bit too cautious, but after all, it's not a bad thing!" Li Muran said with self-mockery.

  Guo Old Man immediately took out a few pieces of silver from his bosom, held them in both hands, and stepped forward, saying: "Gentlemen heroes, this is just a small token of our appreciation. We two have borrowed your place for the time being, please do us a favor!"

  "Hmm!" Li Muran let out a light hum from his nose, and didn't stop Old Man Guo's actions. He wasn't bothered to use physical force against these ordinary people; if they knew what was good for them and left now, that would be best; if not, he could always make his move later.

  Unfortunately, these mountain bandits did not leave. The leader of them sneered at Li Muran and said: "This kid is thin-skinned and tender-fleshed, but he has a noble air, just like the young master of a wealthy family. With only this little silver, how can it be enough? Old Fourth, go and search him!"

  "Yes, big brother!" A lean man responded with a soft voice, slowly approaching him. He held a knife in one hand and pointed at Li Muran with the other: "Be honest and don't move, otherwise Fourth Master I..."

  "Looking for death!" Li Muran snorted coldly.

  He turned around and said to Old Man Guo: "Stand still, don't move!"

  Old Guo was stunned, not yet understanding what was happening, when Li Muran slapped a talisman on his back. Instantly, a layer of yellow light burst out from Old Guo's body, transforming into a transparent stone armor. At the same time, Li Muran also stuck a Stone Armor Talisman on himself.

  "How dare you!" The thin man was taken aback, and with one swing of his knife, he chopped towards Old Guo. Old Guo was so frightened that he wanted to dodge to the side, but then he remembered Li Muran's previous warning, gritted his teeth, and remained motionless, allowing the knife to chop towards him.

  "Whoosh!" With a light sound, the blade of the lean man's knife had just touched the stone armor when it involuntarily veered to one side and then heavily chopped onto the mountain rock, sending sparks flying.