Chapter Thirty-Four: Invitation

  "It is said that a long, long time ago, there was a country where people especially loved dragons."

  "They regard the dragon as a heavenly deity, with unparalleled reverence for the dragon. These people wrote numerous odes and stories praising the dragon, carved dragon patterns on doors and windows, and even built temples specifically to worship the dragon."

  The true dragon in the sky was very happy to know this, so he came down to the mortal world and made friends with these people. Indeed, the true dragon found a kindred spirit among humans and got along extremely well, feeling that his decision to descend to the mortal world was correct.

  "But, after tens of years, the True Dragon's friends - those ordinary people one by one passed away. Every time it lost a friend, the True Dragon would be heartbroken. When all its friends were gone, the True Dragon felt that its heart had died and everything was in vain."

  "Fortunately, the true dragon met new human friends again, but after decades, his new friends also left him one after another."

  "After experiencing heartbreak time and again, the true dragon finally understood that humans have only a few decades of life span, while dragons can live for thousands or tens of thousands of years. This huge difference determines their tragic fate."

  "The true dragon finally understood that being close to mortals brings brief joy, but sorrow that lasts a lifetime. The enlightened true dragon returned to the heavens, and even if those mortals worshipped him again, he would not give them another glance."

  Li Muran finished telling this story and paused for a moment before continuing:

  "There's a difference between immortals and mortals. Although I'm just a low-level cultivator, I've dedicated my heart to the Tao and won't be held back by worldly emotions; I hope you all understand!"

  The three members of the Guo family remained silent, but Li Muran's intentions were clear to them.

  "I'm leaving, and what happened here, please don't mention it to others." Li Muran took out the paper crane and prepared to leave.

  "Hey, Nameless Brother, wait a minute!" Yan Wu suddenly said, "I still have some of your old things here, do you want to take them away..."

  "It's unnecessary," Li Muran shook his head and said: "Past events have gone with the wind, why bother about these old things."

  Li Muran snapped his fingers, and a stream of spiritual energy shot into the talisman on the crane's back. He then mounted the crane and took off, disappearing into a black dot in the blink of an eye, vanishing from the sight of the three Guo family members.

  On the paper crane, Li Muran gazed down at the medicinal farmer village nestled among the green mountains and waters, and sighed softly: "Zhao Wuming's worldly bonds are all here, let's consider it a farewell for him. From now on, Zhao Wuming is Li Muran, and Li Muran is Zhao Wuming, a cultivator who will not regret seeking immortality."

  ……

  Li Muran flew to the vicinity of Fangshi and then put away the paper crane, switching to walking.

  It's not that he didn't want to spend yuanqi symbols to replenish the yuanqi of the symbol paper crane, but rather that he was afraid of being too high-profile and drawing attention.

  Although Li Muran was already a mid-term disciple of the Qi Mai, having a mid-term disciple of the Qi Mai who possessed the symbol paper crane was extremely rare. If he were to fly into the city so openly and ostentatiously, he would definitely be targeted by those hidden thieves in the city, becoming their target for action.

  Li Muran felt something strange as soon as he entered the market.

  Li Muran calculated the date and said in confusion: "Today is not one of those days at the beginning or end of the month, why are there so many disciples coming to the market?"

  Today, the streets of the city were exceptionally crowded. Many shops were surrounded by disciples from all over the world, and some even had long queues in front of them. This scene was something Li Muran had never seen before.

  "Could it be that all the shops have simultaneously lowered their prices and offered discounts, attracting so many customers?" Li Muran guessed, then went to a dan medicine shop to buy some Juyuan Dan, and casually asked the shopkeeper:

  "It's strange, usually many people buy dan medicine, but today there aren't more; those shops selling faqi symbols and talismans are doing extremely good business, what's going on? Could it be that the price of faqi symbols and talismans has dropped sharply?"

  The shopkeeper smiled wryly and said, "Those ritual objects and talismans not only didn't drop in price, but their prices have even risen by one or two percent compared to usual!"

  "Why are there still so many disciples competing to buy it?" Li Muran was even more perplexed.

  The shopkeeper said, "This young brother has just returned from a long journey, right? In the past few days, all four disciples of Kuang Lu have received an earth-shattering message. It seems that the four disciples will join forces to complete a task. Since the news spread, the streets have been bustling every day. Unfortunately, the elixir that can quickly enhance one's strength is not being paid attention to."

  "What's going on?!" Li Muran was shocked and couldn't believe that he had almost missed such a big event after leaving the sect for just over ten days.

  Li Muran bought a batch of talismans in the market and then hurried back to the sect to ask about the situation.

  As soon as he entered Zixia Peak, Li Muran saw the first person who was not a fellow disciple of Zixiao Temple, but Mo Shixiong from Chixiao Temple, also known as the one who took over his position in charge of the Cangshu Pavilion.

  "Zhao Shidi, you've finally come back!" Mo Shixiong was very enthusiastic when he saw Li Mu, and even took a few steps forward to welcome him.

  He glanced at Li Muran, and suddenly found that his breath was already extraordinary. He was stunned again: "Zhao Shidi, you are already a mid-term cultivator of the Qi Moons?!"

  Mo Shixiong was extremely surprised at Li Muran's cultivation, but Li Muran just smiled faintly and nodded, not saying anything more. His cultivation had already reached this point, and there was no need to hide it. A disciple who had advanced to the middle stage in just over a year of practice was rare, but not unprecedented.

  "Is Master Mo waiting for me?" Li Muran asked curiously: "I don't know what Master Mo has to instruct?"

  "Ha! No one enters the Three Treasures Hall for no reason," said Mo with a smile. "This time, I've come to find Zhao, and indeed it's about something big, and it's all good!"

  "What a wonderful thing? Brother Mo, please tell!" Li Muran smiled slightly and looked at the other party with profound meaning.

  "Brother Mo's voice dropped, with a hint of mystery and delight, saying: 'To be honest, I've discovered a precious spiritual herb, but unfortunately, there's a guardian demon beast watching over it, making it impossible for me to obtain the herb...'"

  Without waiting for the other person to finish speaking, Li Muran smiled and said: "So, Master wants to invite me to go together to deal with that guardian monster?"

  Mo Shixiong was taken aback and said: "Hehe, Zhao Shidi is indeed clever, that's right!"

  Li Muran looked at each other twice, but did not respond.

  "What, Brother Zhao isn't interested?" Mo Shixiong said with some disappointment. He added, "As long as you lend a hand, the chances of success will be great. Once we get that spiritual herb, both of us can split two to three hundred spiritual stones!"

  Two or three hundred spirit stones, for a mid-term disciple of the Qi Mo Sect, is undoubtedly a windfall. Even Li Muran's face changed color when he heard this number.

  Mo Shixiong was overjoyed, thinking he had moved Li Muran.

  However, Li Muran said: "I'm just curious, in terms of friendship, I and Master Mo are only acquaintances; in terms of actual strength and cultivation, I am even more ordinary, why did Master Mo specifically invite me to assist?"

  "This...". Mo Shixiong was momentarily speechless, and he said somewhat awkwardly: "Although I haven't interacted with Zhao Shidi much, I have always admired his character and conduct, so I also plan to take this opportunity to get to know Zhao Shidi better."

  "This excuse is extremely far-fetched, Li Muran didn't even bother to refute it and didn't want to pay attention to this person anymore. He said: 'I'm afraid my abilities are too weak, I don't want to ruin Master Mo's good deed! Master Mo should find other brothers for help instead, it's just that I don't have this opportunity.'"

  Having said that, he nodded his head and left directly, without even bothering about the other party's continued persuasion behind him.

  Shouted a few times, Li Muran didn't respond, so Mo Shixiong had to give up and leave Zixia Peak dejectedly.

  "Hmph, this trick is a bit too obvious!" Li Muran shook his head and sneered inwardly as he watched the other person leave.

  "Appointment to find treasure", is a technique mentioned in the "Thieving Scripture" that allows thieves to lure their target to a suitable location and then take action against them. This method can easily arouse the target's suspicion, so it is necessary to have an irresistible reason and a natural excuse to conceal one's purpose, which may lead to success.

  Otherwise, this trick can only lure those inexperienced new disciples - and such people are often also penniless, not worth becoming the target of a thief.

  "I don't know what this Mo Shixiong is going to do, but it's definitely not good!" Li Muran thought to himself: "If there are any brothers who agree to go with him, it will likely end in disaster rather than fortune!"

  Li Muran walked quickly towards the inner peak, and soon several familiar figures appeared in front of him. They were Qingfengzi, Muli and other fellow disciples.

  "Qingfeng Shixiong, where are you all headed?" Li Muran saw that these few people were traveling together and seemed to be in a hurry, so he knew they had something going on.

  "Ha, Zhao Shixiong, you're back just in time!" Mu Li replied hastily. He then saw Li Mou and said excitedly: "Shifu has summoned us, saying there's something to announce. We were just about to go to the main hall to pay our respects to Shifu. You should come with us too."

  "Master has summoned us? Of course we have to go!" Li Muran replied without hesitation, and then walked towards the seven or eight fellow disciples.

  "Huh? Zhao Shidi, your cultivation..." Qingfengzi was the first to notice Li Muran's change in aura, and his expression changed slightly.

  After he said that, several other fellow disciples naturally took a few more glances at Li Muran, and were instantly shocked.

  "Wow, Zhao Shixiong has already reached the middle stage of Qi Mo! This is truly a joyous occasion!" Mu Li exclaimed excitedly, almost jumping up.

  "It seems that Zhao Shidi's experience of breaking away from worldly attachments this time has yielded quite a bit!" Qingfengzi said with a smile: "Tsk, tsk, Zhao Shidi has only been formally cultivating for over a year and has already advanced to the middle stage of Qi Mo, worthy of being called a cultivation prodigy. Master will definitely be very pleased when he sees him!"

  The rest of the disciples also praised in unison, and couldn't help but feel a little envious.

  Li Muran humbly said: "I'm just luckier, I believe that each of you will soon encounter your own opportunities."

  "Zhao Shidi's words are quite right!" Qingfengzi laughed and said: "Look, the opportunity has arrived! Master summoned us, most likely for that matter!"