Chapter 65: Returning to Simplicity and Truth

  The rooster crows white, and a thread of sunlight shines through the window gap, casting a golden glow.

  Pan Hao's eyes suddenly opened, with a faint red lotus appearing in his pupils before instantly disappearing.

  The divine position in the divine soul of Yongjun has become more and more solid, it seems that it will be fully formed soon. It's time to determine the next goal, a thought flashed through Pan Hao's mind.

  "Hmm!" The little girl seemed to have felt Pan Hao's awakening, and she hummed a soft sound. Then she turned over, her two small white hands tightly wrapped around Pan Hao, her entire body pressed against his, her small head buried in his chest, gently rubbing against him like a lazy little cat.

  "Little girl, it's time to get up!" Pan Hao pinched Xiao Yao's small nose and said with a smile.

  "Got it!" The little girl reluctantly patted down Pan Hao's big hand and let out a soft hum of discontent.

  "Huh? Is that the little girl?" Pan Hao's heart suddenly moved, and in his divine soul, the scene of Qingyu County City slowly unfolded. On it, a 15 or 16-year-old girl with a lovely appearance, bright and white teeth, was slowly entering the city with a group of people. This little girl turned out to be Qu Zhu, whom he had not seen for a long time.

  Only now Qu Zhu is even more spirited and vigorous than before, with a dignified demeanor when walking, and his breathing is long and powerful.

  "What's this? You've learned martial arts!" Pan Hao exclaimed in surprise. However, he quickly regained his composure, thinking that such a change was nothing to be surprised about, and that he had been overreacting.

  "Little girl, wait and go with me to Dong Street!" Pan Hao tidied up his clothes and said to Xiwen beside him.

  "Okay! Brother Hao, are you going to buy something?" Little girl asked with her head tilted.

  "It's just an old friend who has arrived!" Pan Hao said with a faint smile, wearing a jade crown on his head.

  "Good fellow!" The little girl's white and tender hands were helping to tidy up Pan Hao, muttering in puzzlement.

  ……

  "Qū Shī Mèi, let's eat here first and wait for Shī Shū and the others!" In front of a guest house on East Street, a young man wearing brocade clothes with a slightly pale face smiled ingratiatingly at Qū Zhū.

  "This?" The Gang's General Hall was just nearby, Qu Zhu couldn't help but hesitate a bit.

  Seeing Qu Zhu hesitating, the man in brocade clothes hastily gave a glance to the man in green shirt and armor beside him. The man in armor immediately understood and hurriedly said: "It won't delay much time, besides, Master Qu hasn't arrived yet!"

  "Alright!" Qu Zhu nodded. The man in brocade clothes was overjoyed and hastily came forward to lead the way.

  "Wait, Brother Pan?"

  Suddenly, a handsome young man wearing a white Confucian robe, with the air of a bookish gentleman, walked slowly from the opposite direction. Qu Zhen's eyes lit up instantly, and she stood frozen in place.

  Pan Hao's eyes looked at Qu Zhu, and he smiled slightly: "It's been over a year since we last met, little girl has grown up!"

  "Ah, right! Pan Ge, how did you end up here?" Qu Zhu asked excitedly, pouting her small mouth.

  "We live here!" A clear and pleasant voice sounded behind Pan Hao, and Qu Zhuo looked back. It was a 12 or 13-year-old little girl, wearing a pink dress with a white ermine coat on her body. Her small face was delicate and pale, looking very tender and lovely.

  "Who is this?" Qu Zhu looked at Xi Wen with a hint of confusion and asked Pan Hao.

  "I'm his wife!" Xiwen said with a crisp voice, her big round eyes rotating rapidly as she spoke. At the same time, she didn't forget to grasp Pan Hao's hand, as if declaring her sovereignty.

  "Pan Big Brother didn't expect you to already have a child bride!" Qu Zhu's originally bright eyes seemed to dim slightly, and she said in a disbelieving soft voice.

  In the Song Dynasty, child brides were a common phenomenon. The empress of Emperor Gaozong of Song, Empress Liu, was sent into the palace at the age of six to become the wife of the twelve-year-old emperor. In slightly wealthier families in the Song Dynasty, this was not unusual.

  "Who is this young master?" The man in brocade next to him raised his head slightly, asking with a hint of displeasure. Although Pan Hao was dressed elegantly, he had an air of bookishness about him, as if he were a weak and feeble scholar. Moreover, at first glance, he looked only sixteen or seventeen years old, and Qu Zhen's attitude towards Pan Hao made him not have the intention to get along with him.

  "Master Yuan, this is Pan Hao, Young Master Pan. Big Brother Pan, this is Master Yuan He, a disciple of the Divine Sword Sect." Qu Zhu hastily introduced them.

  "Pan Gongzi should not be at the age of weakness yet! I wonder which academy student he is?" Yuan He said with a hint of pride. Pan Hao's body was only fifteen years old, in the Song Dynasty, it was just the year of binding hair. As the saying goes, nine years old enter elementary school, learn small etiquette and small Tao; bind hair to enter university, learn big etiquette and big Tao. Men are only twenty years old at the age of weakness.

  It turns out that Pan Hao is even one year younger than Qu Zhu, but at the time on Baiyun Mountain, Pan Hao's appearance was too shocking to Qu Zhu's heart. Moreover, as a traverser, Pan Hao naturally had a mature and stable aura, so Qu Zhu took Pan Hao as an older person and addressed him as "big brother".

  In the martial arts world, people have always revered martial power. Faced with a weak and bookish-looking Pan Hao, Yuan He couldn't help but feel contemptuous, and coupled with Qu Zhen's expression just now, he became even more repelled and filled with hostility towards Pan Hao.

  "Haha, Pan Mou is studying at the Wenyu Hall!" Pan Hao felt a sharp sense of the man in front of him emitting thick hostility towards himself. Looking at Yuan He occasionally scanning Qing Zhu with his eyes, Pan Hao suddenly understood the source of the hostility.

  "Xing Cao Tang?" Yuan He involuntarily compared the various famous academies in Qing Yu City, but couldn't match it. Yuan He naturally didn't know that Xing Cao Tang was a small study room where Pan Hao and Yang Hao used to read before crossing over, and it wasn't even located within Qing Yu City.

  "Come on, Brother Pan! We were just about to have dinner. How about you? Join us!" Qu Zhu obviously could also sense a bit of hostility from Yuan He towards Pan Hao, and wisely chose to ignore Yuan He, hastily saying to Pan Hao instead.

  "Ah, okay!" Pan Hao replied with a smile. Pan Hao observed that although Yuan He had some martial arts skills, his feet were floating, his body was loose, his face was pale, and his eyes were lifeless. It was clearly a sign of excessive indulgence in desires. Thinking of his hostility, he didn't have the heart to reason with Yuan He anymore.

  "Are you the Shen Jian Sect?" At this time, a middle-aged man wearing black clothes, tall and majestic, with a fierce and powerful aura, walked slowly towards them.

  "Not bad, we are indeed the Divine Sword Sect!" At this time, Yuan He puffed out his chest and said with a proud face.

  "Is that so? Then you're not wrong, hand over the ginseng!" The middle-aged man stretched out his big hand and said in a stern tone.

  "What is ginseng? We don't know!" Faced with the other party's strong momentum, Yuan He's heart wavered and his eyes flickered.

  "Right! What ginseng!" The strong man in a green robe next to him echoed Yuan He's words.

  While Pan Hao was by her side, Qu Zhu slightly furrowed her brow, her eyes sank, and her expression began to become serious.

  "Don't pretend to be stupid, everyone knows that your Divine Sword Sect obtained the White Jade Ginseng in Daxing Mountain this time and returned in two batches. You are the first batch!" The middle-aged man's voice was loud and clear, mercilessly exposing Yuan He and others' lies.

  "How is this possible? How did the news leak out!" Yuan He's eyes widened instantly, with an expression of utter incredulity.

  "Haha, now the entire martial arts community in the county knows about it and is rushing here to fight for it. Are you going to give it up or not?" The middle-aged man laughed loudly, overjoyed that he had been the first to get his hands on it.

  "Ginseng is not on us, how can the elder of the faction let us young people carry such a valuable thing!" Yuan He hurriedly retorted.

  "Is there, search and you will know!" After finishing speaking, the middle-aged man's true energy burst out in his body, his palms changing to a dark greenish-black color with a metallic luster. His finger joints became thick and large, like a fan, and his aura was frightening. This is the manifestation of the Iron Sand Palm true energy running, legend has it that only when the Iron Sand Palm is cultivated to the prenatal stage will the iron palm transform into a pure and white crystal, and during operation, the palm becomes crystal clear and extremely delicate. Obviously, the middle-aged man in front had not yet reached the prenatal stage.

  "You!" Yuan He's heart tightened, but his long sword still rang out of its scabbard, a three-foot-long sword flashing with cold light.

  "A mere district, a third-rate swordsman, and you dare to draw your sword!" The middle-aged man said disdainfully, at the same time his palm, as big as a winnowing fan, swung over, the air whistling, the palm as fast as lightning, swooping down in front of Yuan He.

  Clang, clang! Before Yuan He could even react, his long sword was snatched away and a series of metallic clanging sounds rang out. The long sword was crushed into an iron ball right before Yuan He's shocked eyes by the middle-aged man.

  "Bang! Boom!" A middle-aged man slapped his palm on Yuan He's chest, the huge impact sent Yuan He flying out one zhang away. Yuan He suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood from his mouth, and his whole body was already severely injured.

  "It's time to hand it over now!" The middle-aged man raised his head and said coldly to the five people.