Chapter Seventeen How Can I Bear Sudden Rain and Fierce Wind One

  Chapter Seventeen How Can I Bear the Sudden Rain and Fierce Wind

  Ji Ruocheng knew that this trip to Luoyang would be troublesome, but he still didn't expect the trouble to come so soon.

  He walked for seven days before leaving the vast Western Mystic Mountains and entering the territory of Yi State. As there was no time limit to reach Luoyang, he could go as fast or slow as he liked. Ji Ruoxue decided to take his time and slowly make his way there, so that he could carefully experience the worldly splendor he had been away from for five years.

  Not long after leaving Xihuan Mountain, Ji Ruochen set foot on an official road. After identifying the direction, he continued to move forward for ten miles and saw a column of smoke rising in the distance. A small town gradually emerged. At the entrance of the town, there was an inn with a somewhat tattered flag fluttering in the wind.

  Seeing this familiar scene, Ji Yu stood still for a moment before continuing on her way. In the blink of an eye, she had traversed the wind and sand and appeared in front of the inn, searching for an empty table to sit down at.

  This small place, the inn is not big at all, but it's slightly more prosperous than Longmen Inn back then. The front hall has six tables and already feels crowded, with a pine wood counter in the corner, the paint is mostly worn off, looking like it's been around for many years. Sitting in this small inn, whether it's the shopkeeper who is smiling and chatting in front of him or the boss who is hiding behind the counter frantically calculating accounts, Ji Ruochen feels extremely close to them.

  He casually ordered four dishes and a soup, and also called for a pot of wine. He slowly drank at the table, while observing the people passing by the entrance of the inn. The local customs here are spicy and numbing, the wine is rough but has a lingering fragrance, which is considered top-notch among homemade wines.

  At that time, the world was at peace and had long been free from turmoil. The people were prosperous and the Yi state was quite rich. Therefore, although this place was a remote small town, people lived leisurely and comfortably, not wealthy but obviously not worried about making a living.

  Ji Ruocheng beckoned the young waiter over, handed him a silver ingot and asked about the local customs and geography. The ingot was as heavy as five taels, and when it appeared, almost everyone in the inn turned their eyes to it. The young waiter's face flushed with excitement, he stuttered and couldn't speak, his hands trembling as he took the ingot, nearly dropping it on the floor several times.

  Xiao Er was too excited and drank several large bowls of cold water before he could speak. The town around here is not particularly special, nor are there any evil spirits or ghosts that harm the people. However, if you want to go to Dongdu from here, you have to pass through a dense forest. This forest is called Heifeng Forest, and it is said that fierce beasts often appear in the forest, so ordinary travelers usually choose to cross the forest during the day.

  Ji Ruocheng glanced at the sky and saw that it was already late, so he immediately stood up, ignoring Xiao Er's attempts to persuade him to stay, and left the inn. Not long after he left, the guests who were scattered about in the inn also settled their bills and hastily departed.

  Ji Ruochen strolled through the small town with an air of nonchalance. The town was bustling with people preparing for dinner, chickens clucking and dogs barking, smoke rising from cooking fires. However, in Ji Ruochen's mind, this peaceful and serene town seemed rather discordant. The town wasn't large, with only a thousand or so residents, yet among them were dozens of people carrying extremely weak spiritual energy. This spiritual energy was so faint that it didn't even compare to the energy of some ancient trees, and ordinary cultivators wouldn't be able to detect it at all. But after Ji Ruochen cultivated the Xian Jue, his spiritual awareness had greatly increased, far surpassing that of his peers, especially when it came to sensing the spiritual energy attached to magical materials. Although these people's magical tools had been disguised with multiple layers of concealment, how could they escape his detection?

  These people's Tao and virtue are weak, and they don't match the magical artifacts they wear. It's not easy to cultivate a powerful magical artifact, and it's even harder to conceal its spiritual energy. The aura of these magical artifacts has a profound and mysterious meaning, and they are by no means ordinary objects that serve no purpose.

  There are many Taoist sects in the world, and there are not a few practitioners of Taoism either. However, when it comes to absolute numbers, there aren't actually that many. This small town has gathered so many practitioners of Taoism, even if their cultivation isn't particularly impressive, it's still quite unusual. Ji Ruochen stood at the exit of the town, hesitated for a moment, and had already made some calculations in his mind.

  The Taoist sect has three thousand disciples, with the Western Mystical Mountain as its base. The entire Western Mystical Mountain range has always been considered their territory. As Yizhou is adjacent to the Western Mystical Mountain, it can be said that it is half of the Taoist sect's territory. Practitioners cannot move around freely. If a large number of highly skilled practitioners come to Yizhou, if they are enemies, the Taoist sect will definitely be alerted. At that time, the Taoist sect may take advantage of the geographical location and wipe out the enemy in one fell swoop. If they are friends, it's not too much to send a courtesy visit. Only these low-level practitioners can come and go freely.

  Ji Ruocheng knew that these people had ulterior motives, and as soon as he made a move, many of them would follow him. The target was naturally himself. He estimated the moral character of these people and counted their numbers, then coldly smiled and increased his speed, disappearing at the end of the official road in an instant.

  It wasn't until his figure had completely disappeared that a pair of piercing eyes left the window slit they were peering out of.

  This was an ordinary civilian house, in the dimly lit and damp main room were crowded six or seven robust men, in the center of the room was placed a wooden table, on which was spread out a map that had been drawn extremely poorly.

  That peeping from the window is a thin man, looking very sinister, only a pair of eyes are unusually large. He turned around and said to a powerful big man: "Brother, he went to Black Wind Forest."

  That big fellow nodded, measured the distance on the map with his hand, and calculated it carefully, apparently a rough but meticulous person.

  He hesitated for a moment, then suddenly slapped his thigh heavily in the Black Wind Forest and said in a deep voice: "Let's catch that little guy right here!"

  This sentence startled several companions around him, and someone immediately said: "Senior brother! Before we set out, Master told us to secretly observe and confirm that he is taking the Yizhou line. It's best not to act rashly! Now that the task is complete, and this is also the territory of the Dao De Sect, let's not stir up more trouble!"

  The Great Han let out a cold laugh and said, "Third Young Master, you're just too timid, you'll never achieve greatness! His abilities are on par with ours, as long as we launch a surprise attack, succeed and then immediately retreat, what can the people of the Taoist sect do to us? Can't our Earthly Spirit Symbols be used?"

  This big Han has a majestic appearance, and as soon as he says this, the others dare not have any more dissenting opinions. Then another person pointed to the side house and asked: "What about this family of three? Let's kill them now!"

  The great Han thought for a moment, shook his head and said: "The vengeful spirits are too conspicuous, let them off this time. You go and tie them up tighter, let them starve to death on their own."

  At the other end of the town, a young man who didn't look out of the ordinary hastily walked into a residential house. In the narrow hall, an old man was playing chess with a girl, and two middle-aged men were watching on the side.

  That young man walked into the main hall, bowed and said: "Master Uncle, he went in the direction of Black Wind Forest."

  The old man hummed and said slowly: "Didn't let him find out?"

  The young man said, "Definitely not."

  The old man said lightly: "This is a bit too much."

  The young man's face immediately turned bright red, and the girl saw it and hastily mediated: "Shi Shixiong gave up his Taoist practice for the sake of the sect and lived in Daodezong for three years. How could he be discovered?"

  The old man patted his lower back and said, "There are many strange people in the world, as numerous as the stars. How can you guess? The nine old demons of the Daoist sect have a reputation for being ruthless, poisonous, or despicable. They are also extremely tyrannical, not even allowing people to walk freely in Yizhou. Now, how could they let such an important disciple travel alone to Luoyang? Not to mention anything else, how would he get past the three great danger zones? You should think about it carefully!"

  The old man stood up after a few words of warning, saying: "Now there are at least five or six factions hiding in this town. How could one disciple from the Dao De Sect cause such a stir? This is no ordinary matter! You young ones still have your whole lives ahead of you, stay here for now and return to the mountain tomorrow morning. I'm an old man with nothing left to lose, so I'll go take a look at Black Wind Forest."

  The night curtain finally fell, and the bustling town gradually fell into silence. However, outside the town, in the dark forest of Heifeng, there was a sudden rustling sound, and all the birds were startled awake.

  After the birds in the trees had flown away, a suppressed voice finally echoed through the dark forest: "Third! You want to die?!"

  Another extremely low voice trembled and said: "Sorry, 70% of the Tao has been sealed, it's really not suitable..."

  Then, the Dark Wind Woods fell silent once again.

  In the midst of a quiet and dark place, there was a soft and gentle glow. This lustrous light, even when reflected on weeds and rocks, gave them a layer of treasure light. The center of the light was a small box about an inch square, carved out of purple crystal. Purple crystal was already a rare spiritual material, but just by roughly looking at it, one could tell that the small box was indeed a masterpiece of divine craftsmanship, and its value might not be lower than that of this piece of purple crystal.

  The amethyst box was half open, revealing a pearl inside with a diameter of about half an inch. The soft and precious light came from this pearl.

  Pearl of the Night!

  The Night Pearls are not only treasures worth a city, but also extremely rare spiritual objects that can be used to refine elixirs and create artifacts. If in the hands of a true master, it's possible to forge a magical treasure that rivals the divine. This Night Pearl is perfectly round and flawless, and is considered top-grade among pearls.

  A small purple crystal box lay slanted on the ground, as if it had been inadvertently lost by someone.

  In the darkness, it is unknown how many pairs of eyes are staring at this pearl in the night sky, and it is also unknown how many throats are trembling up and down.

  A black whip, ten feet long, burst out of the wind, breaking the suffocating silence, like a poisonous dragon rushing towards the night pearl on the ground! Just as the whip tip was about to touch the purple crystal box, another large hand suddenly stretched out from the darkness and grasped the long whip! No matter how hard the whip struggled, that hand remained motionless, like a rock.

  On the black night sky, a black tail mark was quietly added.

  A short arrow without feathers flashed through a distance of ten zhang, inserting into the throat of the big man, and then pierced out from the back of his neck, nailed to the trunk of an ancient tree with a "ding" sound. The big man's face was full of shock, his lips opened and closed, but he couldn't make any sound. Finally, he loosened his hand, letting the long whip in his hand fall, then fell backwards, falling beside the night pearl. The soft glow of the pearl shone on his face, and those people hiding in the dark could clearly see that his eyes were still open.

  On top of a towering ancient tree, a man wrapped in black stood upright. He let out a cold laugh, put down the golden short crossbow in his hand, and grasped the hilt of a ten-zhang-long whip.

  Just as his five fingers touched the hilt of the whip, a four-foot-long knife with an entirely ink-colored body appeared quietly and silently swept past his neck.

  On another ancient tree, a Taoist dressed man was closing his eyes, with a seven-inch steel needle shining brightly between his fingers, just about to fly out of his fingers when a hand suddenly grasped his wrist. A black-clad man then leaned close to his ear and whispered, "Brother, that Ji fellow has been surrounded on the other side!"

  The Taoist was shocked, and reluctantly took a look at the Night Pearl, weighing the pros and cons, finally gritted his teeth and followed the black-clad man to sneak into the east end of Black Wind Forest.

  Hei Feng Lin Dong had a clearing of over twenty zhang in diameter, and Ji Ru Xue was standing right in the center.

  The sky was filled with dense lead clouds, but a gap just happened to appear, allowing the moonlight to pour down like a waterfall, falling on Ji Ruochen's body, making him look even more ethereal. Ji Ruochen stood with his hands behind his back, looking up at the sky, gazing intently at the half-moon, completely ignoring the people lurking in the surrounding woods.

  He reached into his pocket.

  He had just moved when he heard a cracking sound. In the depths of the forest, a withered branch had already been trampled and broken!

  Ji Ruochen pretended not to have heard and took out a silk handkerchief from her bosom, then smiled slightly. Under the encirclement of strong enemies, she actually covered her own eyes!

  After tying the silk scarf, Ji Ruochen slowly raised his right hand with his fingers pointing at the sky.

  In an instant, all eyes were focused on his hands.