Chapter 65: The Wife of the First Seat

  Xiao Qiu was sent back to Yangshen Peak by the time it was already the second day in the afternoon. He didn't go to Si Zu Hall to disturb everyone's thoughts, but instead cultivated in his own room.

  Master Ning Qiwei was right, ignorance and numbness are the best state for refining the body. Every time Xia Qiu thought about being shrunk to the size of a grain of rice and suffering from pulls in all directions, he would immediately feel heart-wrenching pain. He had to forget everything and maintain his presence to escape this suffering.

  His first visitor was Yang Baozhen, who came to fulfill the promise of Shen Jixi, the head of the Five Elements Department, to provide assistance to a talented disciple.

  Yang Baozhen stood silently at the door, unaware of how long she had been there. When Xia Qiu finished her daydream and opened her eyes, Yang Baozhen cleared her throat and entered the room, raising the small ceramic bottle in her hand and placing it on the desk by the window. "Five-sectioned green wood fragrance ointment, apply a little to your lips, you can smell the fragrance as soon as possible, don't use too much, use once each during morning and evening exercises."

  "Thank you for teaching." Xiao Qiu hastily got out of bed and stood barefoot on the ground, bowing.

  "Your Mud Pill Palace's Heavenly Tribulation is not complete, you may experience it again, be careful and mindful, I and the others are always watching over you."

  Xiao Qiu said thank you again, standing in front of Yang Baozhen. Although he repeatedly warned himself not to be nervous, his heart was still tense, always feeling like if he relaxed a little, he would encounter danger.

  In fact, Shen Gong's mother had never shown even a hint of hostility. She treated Mu Xiangqiu no differently from the other disciples, just as the disciples who stayed behind said: she was never a passionate person.

  "After storing your thoughts, you can practice that set of Bone Tempering Fist, it's good for you."

  "That set of tempered bone fist... was taught to me by a mentor from the Nian Xin Sect." Xiao Qiu said truthfully.

  "All things in the world have their own advantages, no matter how big the mistake is, the fist method is always fine." Yang Baozhen turned around and left, without giving Xia Qiu a chance to ask questions.

  Xiao Qi let out a sigh of relief, the pain from being pulled was about to resurface again. He stopped thinking and followed Yang Baozhen's advice, practicing his grandmother's Tempering Bone Fist on the ground. The room was too small, he couldn't fully exert himself, so he reduced the amplitude, just going through the motions. Even so, he felt much more comfortable in his body.

  Xiao Qiu was immersed in boxing when another person appeared at the door, and Lin Sa also came.

  "The head of the Secret Department is very interested in you." He watched quietly, his eyes showing appreciation, and only spoke after Xia Qiu finished practicing a set of fist techniques.

  Xiao Qiu heard the voice and hastily bowed to Lin Sa, "The leader is interested in me because I was once invaded by the demon species, right?" He pulled out a chair to invite Da Jiang to sit down.

  Lin Xiao smiled and beckoned Xia Qiu to follow him out of the house for a walk.

  The disciples had not yet finished their morning meditation, the road was quiet, Lin Daoyi's footsteps were quite large, but when he stepped on the ground, there was no sound at all.

  "Don't think of Zuo Shou as too absolute, he is the best disciple of Pong Mountain in nearly ten thousand years. He has strict requirements for others and even stricter requirements for himself. He has no bias towards anyone, single-mindedly cultivating and single-mindedly eliminating demons. Before long, he may become the first Daoist to break through the Annotating Spirit Realm and attain the Fuyu Dao fruit in three thousand years of Pong Mountain. Looking at the nine major Daoist sects, he is also one of the few in a thousand years. That he can appreciate you is truly your great opportunity."

  "Is Left Stream...Left First Seat stronger than Bi Chongxiao?" Xia Qiu remembered that both of them were at the level of Annotating Gods, which was also the threshold for leaving a name in the Ancestral Tower.

  Lin Xiao chuckled twice and walked forward in silence for a while before suddenly saying, "Within the Taoist community, everyone is considered a fellow practitioner. Let's just call him Zuo Liu Ying then; this doesn't count as breaking any rules."

  "Yes."

  Unconsciously, the two of them walked to the front of the Si Zu Hall. Lin Xiao turned around and entered a nearby sparse forest. He was extremely familiar with this place and could even tell the origin of several trees. After leaving the Shan Mountain Road far behind, Lin Daojiao suddenly said: "Zuo Liu Ying once had a wife."

  "Really?" Xia Qiu was shocked, Zuo Liu Ying's appearance was young and beautiful, but he seemed to have no interest in worldly life, the key was that he didn't understand why Lin Du Jiao suddenly started talking nonsense.

  "Is that Zeng Hou?" Xia Qiu couldn't help but be curious, thinking that the smiling waitress was closer to Zuoliang Ying, only slightly older in appearance. "Are they Dao Yuan?"

  Lin Xiao smiled and shook his head, "It's not Zeng Fu, nor is it Dao Yuan. Those two female attendants aren't even real Daoists. They were orphans picked up by Zuo Liuqing thirty years ago, without any spiritual roots. They were raised by him from a young age, learned some simple spells, and can read his thoughts."

  "Oh." Xiao Qiu didn't ask the two female attendants why Daogen was still able to live on Laozu Peak, but instead felt surprised again, thinking that adopting orphans wasn't something Left Flowing English would do.

  "Left Flowing Cloud's wife is someone he created himself." Lin Sa added.

  "Create... what create?" Xia Qiu was shocked and couldn't even close her mouth, unable to comprehend the meaning of this word.

  One of the responsibilities of the Forbidden Secret Department is to create new magical techniques, that is, to 'create something out of nothing'. Zuo Liu Ying's skills in the Nine Great Dao were unmatched, and about fifty years ago, he conjured up a woman out of thin air, calling her his wife. However, this woman was only visible to him, and others could not see, hear or touch her.

  "A treasure in the void." Xia Qiu said softly.

  "These are Mei Chuan'an's words." Lin Sa's face broke into a smile, "Mei Chuan'an idolizes Zuo Liu'ying, learning all his behaviors, including daydreaming."

  "Is Left Stream thinking of a wife for himself? Isn't that being bewitched?" Xia Qiu asked softly, and the image of the head of the Forbidden Department suddenly became blurry.

  Lin Sough sighed, "Fifty years ago, everyone had the same doubts as you, so the previous generation of masters personally tested him, and finally did not find any signs of demonic possession, but neither did they see the wife he mentioned."

  "How strange."

  "Even stranger things happened later. More than 30 years ago, Zuo Liu Ying traveled down the mountain and visited a small town where he encountered a magical tribulation."

  "Magic Tribulation?"

  "Yes, the demons are imprisoned in the void, they are gathering strength every moment and probing everywhere, occasionally breaking through into the mortal world."

  "Like what happened in Ye Lin Town?"

  "That's right, but the disaster that Left Stream encountered was much more severe. At that time, a thick black light several tens of feet high and thousands of feet wide descended from the sky, and all the houses, trees, and protruding rocks within hundreds of miles were reduced to powder. The clothes on the bodies of tens of thousands of people also disappeared into thin air. You can imagine how chaotic the scene was at that time."

  "Wasn't anyone killed?" Xia Qiu felt most surprised at this point.

  "There was no one else, just a person who was taken away, and that was the wife that only Zuo Liu Ying could see."

  "Is... this also what Zuo Liu Ying said herself?"

  "This time it wasn't, several Taoist priests who were traveling together saw with their own eyes a black light take away a woman from beside Liang Ying, just in the instant before that, they hadn't even discovered the existence of that woman."

  Xiao Qiu felt unbelievable, with her mouth agape and unable to utter a single word.

  "This incident shocked the nine major sects, and the nine masters gathered at Mount Pong to question the truth. However, Zuo Liu Ying was unable to provide even a single explanation, and the masters couldn't find any signs of demonic possession in his body. The whole thing ended without a conclusion. A few years later, the previous generation's master of Mount Pong passed away, and Zuo Liu Ying had been the most likely candidate to succeed him, but he voluntarily gave up."

  "It turned out that when I was a kid, I heard stories about the southern region experiencing catastrophic disasters with countless deaths and injuries. I thought it was just something adults made up."

  "The sky is falling is true, countless deaths and injuries are false."

  Two people walked to a clearing near the forest, dozens of disciples of Luanshan were practicing under the leadership of Douchu, Lin Sa quickly turned around, one arm on Xiao Qiu's shoulder, pushing him back.

  When he could no longer see the guest, he continued: "The Nine Great Paths once thought that was the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Demon Clan, but after waiting for thirty or forty years, nothing happened, and there were still demonic breeds infiltrating, but not more frequently than before."

  "The demon clan just wanted to abduct Left's wife, created from his imagination?"

  "So far, this is the only explanation." Lin Xiao stopped in his tracks, his red face looking very serious, "So you can understand why Zuo Liu Ying particularly dislikes you, right?"

  "......" Xia Qiu was stunned for a moment before reacting, "Because I snatched away Fang Fang? That's not the same thing at all, I..."

  "I know it's not the same thing." Lin Sa nodded, "It's just that the two words 'snatch relatives' are very easy to arouse Left Liu Ying's disgust. Moreover, you also need to understand one more thing: Left Liu Ying has not given up on his wife, he has been working hard to persuade the various major Daoist sects to launch an attack on the demon clan in the void, he has already won over a group of people, but there are still many more who need to be persuaded."

  Xiao Qiu finally understood why Lin Duojie had told him these secrets: "You mean, if I want to confront the Demon Clan directly, I have to join the Forbidden Department?"

  "The Tao and the Devil cannot coexist, joining any of them can resist the devil's breed, it's just that everyone has their own way, Zuo Liu Ying and some people want to take the initiative to attack, while others hope to eliminate all the monsters in the world first, and then accumulate strength to wait for labor."

  "Zong Shi and Wu Xing Ke are 'some others'."

  "I still say that the Taoist school is fighting against demons, just with different methods." The sound of footsteps came from the Yonglu Road, and the concentrated meditation class in the afternoon had already ended. Lin Sa repeated one sentence, "Just with different methods."

  This is the help provided by the Secret Science, no elixirs, no rituals, but an astonishing story and a choice.

  Xiao Qiu walked towards the dining hall, and from a distance, he heard Da Liang Shen Xiu Ming's voice. He was arguing with someone, looking very unconvinced. "Brother Xiao Qiu is really knowledgeable about the Three Tomes, he wasn't brought to Lao Zu Peak because of causing trouble."

  Then came Zhou Ping's voice, he couldn't keep his tone calm and steady, with a hint of disdain, "Fantasizing, Mu Xingqiu will open up the three fields? Only you people from Ye Lin Town would believe that, I guarantee, he'll never come back."

  Another disciple of the sect spoke up, "Honestly, someone like Shen Ji has just opened his seven apertures, what's so special about Mu Xunqiu that he can penetrate the Three Fields? It's simply a joke. He's just bragging. Alas, it's a pity about Shen Gong, he was the real genius, having already penetrated the Three Fields, but was trapped in the cave for five years to reflect."

  "Shen Gang deserved it! Five years is too little, he should be made to reflect for the rest of his life." Da Liang said angrily, the murderer who killed his brother and Xiao Qiuge's reputation, these are his two bottom lines, all of which have been touched by this name.

  "Letting Shen Geng go is a loss for the entire Pong-san Taoist tradition." Zhou Ping cut in, his excitement making him even more agitated, "Mu Xingqiu should..."

  Zhou Ping and several disciples were left speechless, staring in disbelief at the person who walked out of the forest. Behind them, Da Liang shouted loudly with joy, jumping up over a zhang high.

  Xiao Qiu smiled and walked towards the crowd, he had already understood the truth of San Tian, this was a fact that could not be hidden and did not need to be hidden. However, there were some things he would not say, although no one below the Zong Shi level asked him to keep it a secret, he would not reveal the true nature of Yang Shen Peak, nor would he spread the story of Zuo Liu Ying. If possible, he also didn't want to mention that he had obtained the forbidden secrets and the competition between the two schools of Wu Xing. What he needed to do was to work hard on his cultivation, making the last tribulation of San Tian a perfect one.

  "Great, let's go eat." He said with full of expectation after three years.

  (Collection needed, recommendation needed)