Chapter One: The Little Fish Seller

  Fei Lai Mountain, this mountain range stretches for 800 miles, with steep peaks and ridges. Among them is the Ice Flame Valley, a mysterious and unpredictable place, rumored to be inhabited by demons and monsters. This area is desolate and barren, devoid of any signs of life, as if it has been abandoned by heaven and earth.

  Ten years ago, a great immortal Taoist passed through this place and laid down the Supreme Array, using three hundred infants as the array's soul to suppress evil spirits.

  Three hundred infants from Yin to Yang were sacrificed in the formation, but only ten of them walked out.

  This rumor is known to everyone in Qing Shui Town.

  Qingshui Town is located on the east side of Feilai Mountain. The whole town is not big, from head to tail, it's just a stick of incense.

  At night, doors are not closed and roads are not littered with lost items, which is a unique feature of Qing Shui Town.

  At this time, in the most bustling street of the town, vegetable buyers and small vendors selling meat were scattered around. At the end of the street, a thirteen-year-old boy sat upright with a wooden basin in front of him, containing several large carp.

  "Fresh big-headed fish, five cents a piece, don't miss out when you pass by, Mrs. Zhang, how about one?"

  The young man had clear eyebrows and eyes, with dark skin. His name was Liu Chen, a resident of Qing Shui Town. In fact, he was not a native resident, but came to the town as a beggar at the age of six. The town mayor took pity on him and allowed him to stay in the town.

  "Go away! I've been eating this big-headed fish for a month now and I'm fed up with it. Get rid of it tomorrow!"

  An old woman waved her hand and walked away.

  He didn't give up, continuing to shout and sell. Since he was ten years old, he no longer relied on the help of the townspeople, but instead made a living by fishing and selling his catch every day, and his life was quite comfortable.

  "Sold three today." 6th Chen smiled and counted the copper plates in his arms.

  "Little Sixth Prince."

  At this moment, a blue-clad young man walked quickly over. The young man was slightly older, with sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes. His name was Lin Yu, the son of the town master of Qing Shui Town, and he had been deeply affectionate with Liu Chen since childhood.

  She quickly put away the copper plate in her bosom and assumed an appearance of being poor.

  Lin Yu's face suddenly turned red with anger: "You little scoundrel, you're so stingy, hiding a few coppers and still expecting to have children?" He knew 6 Chen's temperament well - money was the most important thing, life came second. It was a typical case of wanting wealth but not caring about one's life.

  However, he still admired 6 Chen. Others were playing with mud balls at the age of ten, but this kid had already started making money. Moreover, there were only a few fish in Qing Shui River, and Uncle Lin had been fishing for a lifetime, but his daily harvest was not as much as this kid's.

  "Am I not poor enough?" 6 Chen didn't blush at all.

  Lin Yu rolled his eyes: "Short-sighted, not worth arguing with you." Then he revealed a fervent glow in his eyes and said: "Today an old man came to the town, he said I have a rare talent, and is preparing me to enter the immortal gate."

  As he spoke, his face was full of excitement.

  Immortals are not just rumors to ordinary people, many have witnessed them with their own eyes. It is said that they can float in the air and move mountains and seas with their power, and some even claim to be able to live forever...

  At these words, Liu Che's curiosity was slightly piqued.

  Lin Yu was still in a state of excitement, and he said: "I told that old man to take you along with me!" He was only fourteen years old, so in his mind, entering the immortal's gate was no different from going to school, having more people go would mean there was someone to look out for each other.

  He rubbed the back of his head, thinking to himself, is being an immortal good or selling fish good? Obviously with his personality, whether he's an immortal or not isn't important, money is what matters most.

  Lin Yu swept his eyes and immediately knew what 6 Chen was thinking. He said harshly, "I don't care, you have to go even if you don't want to, no way to escape." After that, he persuaded with a bitter tone, "What's wrong with entering the immortal gate? You can learn Mahayana magic, turn empty hands into fish, and money will come pouring in."

  Upon hearing this, his spirit was greatly lifted. He seemed to see countless silver coins floating around him, turning empty hands into fish - wasn't this an effortless profit?

  "I'm going!"

  Back in his small hut, Liu Chen painfully sent out the remaining fish, cleaned up a bit, and then came to the bedside. He pulled out a wooden basin from under the bed, which was filled with clear water, and there was a small black fish in the basin.

  But this little black fish didn't move at all, as if it were dead.

  At 6 o'clock in the morning, he put his hands into the basin, closed his eyes, and suddenly, the small black fish swam along his hand, disappearing into the basin in an instant.

  After opening his eyes, 6 Chen smiled with a "heh heh".

  This little black fish is his biggest secret, and he can find fish in the clear river all thanks to it. This is also the reason why he has a harvest every day. As for where this little black fish came from, 6 Chen was unclear. He knew that when he opened his eyes at the age of three, there was already a small black fish in his belly.

  When they arrived at the entrance of the town, there was already a crowd gathered there. Lin Yu was among them. The mayor's eyes were red as he exhorted something. 6 Chen glanced over and felt a ripple in his heart. Having parents is really good.

  He took another glance and only then did he notice an old man standing in front of Lin Yu. The old man had a youthful face, was dressed in simple yet elegant attire, and stood there with an air that made him seem out of place.

  "Is this old man that immortal?"

  With doubts, he left at 6 o'clock in the morning.

  Before long, the town mayor and others also repeatedly exhorted 6 Chen, which made his heart slightly warm.

  The old man watched quietly as this happened, his brow furrowed in concern. He thought to himself, "This child's innate talent is not good enough; even if I send him over, I don't know if anyone from the Five Sects will accept him."

  He sighed silently at this thought.

  At the behest of his master, he sent those ten children to the immortal's gate, and Lin Yu was one of them. Unfortunately, Lin Yu had a stubborn temperament and refused to take anyone else with him, so out of helplessness, he could only agree to this child's request.

  Unfortunately, out of the ten children from back then, only nine have been found so far, and one remains elusive.

  "Hit the road!"

  The old man didn't say much, his right hand waved, a golden light flashed, and a sailboat flew out, constantly growing larger, eventually becoming the same as what he usually saw. He moved his body, stepped onto the sailboat with one step, and waved his hand again.

  Lin Yu and 6 Chen suddenly felt their whole body floating, as if there was something supporting the soles of their feet, and in an instant they floated onto the boat.

  The two of them looked at each other, their faces full of surprise.

  Whoosh!

  The boat floated up and flew slowly towards the distance.

  At this moment, Lin Yu and 6 Chen were both looking at the small town, suddenly feeling stuffy in their hearts, and their eyes also became moist. It seemed that once they left, it would be unknown when they could return again.

  The two had their own thoughts. Lin Yu secretly thought: This time, I must stand out from the crowd. Liu Chen was thinking that this time, he must find more money and become a wealthy landlord.

  The sailboat sailed steadily, the old man didn't say a word. Behind him, the two men looked at each other in surprise for six days, constantly looking down and occasionally whispering to each other. However, they would often glance back at the old man, who had been selling fish since he was young and knew how to observe people's expressions.

  He felt that this old man looked down on him and brought himself to see Lin Yu's face.

  At this point, Liu Chen didn't care about anything else; he just wanted to learn the magical skill of turning empty hands into fish and make a profit without any investment.

  After a day passed, the old man in white wandered around the nearby villages and towns. There were more and more young people on the boat, both boys and girls, all with excited and curious faces.

  After calculating, adding myself makes a total of ten people, most of whom are around thirteen or fourteen years old.

  The old man stared at the few people and said quietly, "Still missing one, nine... forget it." After finishing speaking, the sailboat flew in another direction.

  From start to finish, no young man dared to speak with the elder, they were all nervous and frightened, but instead flew along the way, and ten people became familiar with each other.

  Another day passed, the sailboat crossed over endless mountains and finally arrived at a paradise on earth. The old man asked everyone to get off the boat. Not long after, ten young men went missing, three of them were gone, and the sailboat set off again.

  The whole process was clearly visible for 6 hours, and as soon as the ten people got on the boat, someone threw stones at them, immediately saying words of spiritual root, three people stayed behind, and this place he remembered, called Luoxia Gate, seemingly a fairy gate school.

  Next, the sailboat stopped at another place of worship, and two more people stayed behind.

  They flew all the way, and when they arrived at Xiaoshanhe Courtyard, there were only four people left on the spaceship. This Xiaoshanhe Courtyard was even more magnificent, with clouds and mist swirling around, auspicious colors everywhere, and white cranes flying around the mountain in flocks.

  That old man's face had always been proud and arrogant, but after arriving here, he also showed a look of reverence.

  This time three people stayed behind, including Lin Yu.

  At 6 o'clock, his eye sockets turned red, and at this moment he had a feeling that Lin Yu was more important than money.

  "Little Sixzi..." Lin Yu's eyes were also red, and he had guessed it as early as the first gate. He would part with 6 Chen, and then he threatened and bribed the old man, but to no avail.

  "It's okay, Xiao Linzi. In a few years, we'll definitely meet again." 6 Chen suddenly became more open-minded. He was a practical person and knew that nothing could be changed at the moment, so he might as well accept it.

  Lin Yu nodded slightly.

  Bang!

  Two brothers each raised their fists and struck in mid-air.

  This represents a mutual agreement between each other.

  The sailboat soared into the sky once again, flying towards the last sect, with only the old man and 6 Chen on board.

  Blue sky and white clouds, gentle breeze.

  On the boat, the old man Li Changhe gazed into the distance, and after a moment, he shook his head helplessly. He turned around to look, only to see that the child at the back of the boat had fallen asleep.

  Li Changhe was angry at this, how dare a mere mortal make him look like a boatman? But he thought again and had some appreciation for the boy's boldness. Among ten children, only this little devil dared to do so.

  Thinking so, Li Changhe sighed, unfortunately this talent... unfortunately was not among the ten children.

  Whoosh!

  The sailboat sailed across the sky, and it wasn't until sunset that it finally came to a stop.

  At 6 o'clock, he rubbed his eyes and looked up to see a scenery like a paradise, with green mountains and clear water, birds chirping and flowers fragrant. In front of him, a huge mountain peak stood tall, its summit flat as if cut off by a knife, with ancient houses visible on top.

  At the mountain gate there is a plaque with three characters - Qingyun Gate!

  Before the sixth watch, Li Changhe shouted for him to move forward. As they passed through the mountain gate, two young men in green robes bowed and saluted on both sides, no one dared to block them. After a while, the two arrived in front of a magnificent grand hall.

  The Azure Cloud Temple!

  After entering the main hall, 6 zhi (a unit of time) passed in a daze.

  The outside of the hall is grand and magnificent, but inside it's chaotic and dirty. There are fish bones and wine bottles all over the floor. In the main hall, a middle-aged man sits with a thick beard on his face, holding a wine bottle and drinking by himself. His clothes are stained with oil, and he looks like he hasn't taken a bath in several months.

  Is this an immortal?

  At 6 o'clock, I saw an old man in white and a sloppy middle-aged man talking continuously, but the conversation was incomprehensible. All I knew was that the sloppy middle-aged man was Qingyun's sect leader. Not long after, the old man left.

  Only two people were left in the main hall, and the atmosphere was slightly oppressive.

  He has been bold since childhood, belongs to the kind of person who dares to do things that others don't, so although he looks tense on the surface, in fact he is curious and eager to try.

  A middle-aged man drinking and sizing him up, the young boy in front of him was probably thirteen or fourteen years old, honest and simple, wearing a linen shirt on top and a grass shoe on bottom, very obviously a child from a poor family.

  After a glance, he said coldly: "This kind of talent is a dime a dozen among ordinary people. By rights, Qingyun Gate shouldn't accept this sort of quality, but since it's Li Changhe's personal favor, I'll take you in."

  "But don't think that just because you've joined the Immortal Sect, you can learn all sorts of powerful magic. Humph! My Qingyun Sect doesn't accept trash. If you want to learn inner skills, alchemy, or sword techniques, figure it out yourself."

  The middle-aged man took another sip of wine: "I only have one sentence, my Qingyun Gate is not a charity, if you have the ability, take out your knife and go rob, as long as you don't get caught, whatever you rob belongs to you, the more you rob, the happier I'll be for you, but if you can't even rob successfully, humph, that's all because you're useless."

  He threw out a jade token: "This is the identity jade token, which also records the sect's contribution points. If you don't understand anything, ask your senior brother to go down!"

  A middle-aged man with a bad temper, three or four words and he would start a fight.

  "Isn't this banditry?"

  Zhang Dazui was confused from start to finish, the only feeling is that this sloppy middle-aged man looked down on people just like Bai Laozhe.

  Just as I walked out of the main hall, a young man immediately came over. This young man was wearing a blue shirt and had a handsome face. If he wore flowery clothes, 6 Chen thought that he would definitely be more charming than the girls.

  The young man came before the Sixth Master and immediately said: "The master has spoken, your post will be at the Purple Bamboo Pavilion from now on, come with me."

  6th Chen hastily nodded and followed, along the way he curiously looked around, seeing a disciple on the left take out a wooden sword, with one slash, the ground was cut out of golden stars, suddenly on the right side a disciple stood like a wooden stake, his body floated in mid-air for one meter.

  Not far away, a disciple held a sparkling treasure sword and danced with it, the sword's edge was like a rainbow, extremely dazzling.

  Look at this, 6th day of the month is highly anticipated, all these are silver, have learned everything, afraid to become a wealthy landlord.

  "Don't look at them, they're all old disciples who have been in Qingyunmen for several years. You... are far behind, it's already good if you can complete your duties, just take your time!" The young man in blue seemed to know what 6 Chen was thinking.

  Liu Chen's heart was filled with doubts, but he still asked: "Senior brother, what is a duty? And what is the Purple Bamboo Pavilion? Is there another master in the Purple Bamboo Pavilion to guide me?"

  The youth in blue shook his head and didn't speak. Before long, the two arrived at a small village surrounded by purple bamboo, which looked like a purple ocean from afar. In front of the village was a small green pond.

  It is the Purple Bamboo Pavilion.

  "What is a duty? Simply put, it's doing work!" The blue-clothed youth pointed to the endless bamboo forest and said: "Cut down 100 purple bamboos every month, and the sect will reward you with 10 contribution points."

  "What's with the contribution points?" 6 Chen became increasingly confused.

  The young man in blue let out a sigh and began to explain in detail.

  After a long time, 6 Chen gradually realized that this immortal door was not as rumored. Everyone had food to eat and every day was like New Year's Day, full of joy. On the contrary, if you wanted to eat, you had to exchange contribution points; if you wanted to learn magic, you also had to exchange contribution points.

  This contribution point is equivalent to the silver in the mortal world.

  I used to be a fishmonger, blinded by money, but I didn't know that the Qingyun Gate was even more powerful and everything had to be offered in exchange.

  At 6:00, he opened his eyes wide and thought for a moment before asking the most critical question.

  "Senior brother, what can ten contribution points be exchanged for?"

  This is his duty, as long as he completes it every month, he can exchange for more things.

  The youth in blue robes sympathetically glanced at him and stretched out a finger, saying: "One contribution point can get you a meal for the day. As for the heart method, it requires several hundred contribution points. Some disciples spend their entire lives and only manage to grasp the first three layers of the heart method. I'm telling you this, brother, do you understand?"

  Next, the youth in blue spoke of his dwelling place and name, then slowly departed.

  Xiao Lian's face completely froze, her mind was dizzy.

  "Cutting a hundred stalks of bamboo only yields ten contribution points, which is barely enough for ten days' worth of food. This Qingyun Sect is really ripping people off! No free meals provided... Learning magic requires hundreds of contribution points..." Liu Chen felt extremely disheartened in his heart, thinking that this was not even as good as going back home to sell fish.

  Suddenly, at 6 o'clock, he thought of something and his eyes lit up.

  "One hundred purple bamboo for ten contribution points, so I'll cut down a thousand, that's one hundred."

  He was bold and clever since childhood, thinking in a different way, he immediately found the key.

  At this moment, Liu Chen's expectations rose, and he really didn't want to go back like this. He hastily put his bundle into the small villa, rummaged through it from inside, found a hatchet, and rushed into the purple bamboo forest with great relish.

  Clap! Clap! Clap!

  The purple bamboo forest sways in the wind, the bamboo is like purple jade, shining brightly. These purple bamboos absorb the earth's spirit to grow, let alone a small body of 6 chen, even an adult can hardly cut one in a day.

  Two hours passed and night fell, 6 Chen fell on the grass, secretly resentful.

  These bamboos are as hard as iron, and it's not easy to cut a knife mouth. Who knew that after a stick of incense time, the knife mouth automatically recovered? Looking at it this way, even in a month, one can't cut down a single stem.

  Two hours of fighting, the machete didn't even get a scratch, the bamboo didn't break, but my hands got blisters.

  Dragging his weary body, he returned to the small village at 6 o'clock and ate a few mouthfuls of dry rations he had brought with him, then fell into deep thought.

  Burying his head in hard work isn't his style, mainly because he's been working so hard for nothing, suffering losses without gaining any benefits.

  "A hundred stalks of purple bamboo, ordinary people can't even do it." 6th Chen made a judgment in his heart, and at the same time, he pondered how other disciples entered the immortal gate to make contributions.

  The next day, at 6 o'clock in the morning, he got up early and brought a few dried sweet potatoes to his neighbor's place. It was a medicinal field, and the one guarding it was none other than the blue-robed senior brother from yesterday - Fang Yu.

  Put dried sweet potato into Fang Yu's bosom and ask him about his inner doubts after six days.

  Fang Yu looked at the dried yam with a strange expression, but still explained.

  Originally, every new disciple had two things: one was the Washing Spirit Pill, which was used to wash away impurities and strengthen their body. The second was the First Layer of the Refining Qi Heart Method. With these two things, although it was still difficult for a new disciple to make progress, they wouldn't be as hopeless as 6th Chen.

  While Zizhu Pavilion is the most difficult to defend and contributes the least points.

  Upon hearing this, the fire in his heart suddenly burst into flames. Why did other disciples get something when they entered the sect, while he got nothing? Was it because he had come in through the back door that he didn't count as a disciple?

  Just as he was about to find an excuse, he suddenly thought of those words.

  "I, Qing Yunmen, am not a philanthropist. If you have the skills, take out your knife and go rob. As long as you don't get caught, everything you steal is yours to keep. The more you steal, the happier I'll be for you. But if you can't even manage that, then all I can say is, you're useless."

  This has been made very clear, you are just a low-ranking disciple, but the rules of Qingyun Gate are like this, other disciples are the same.

  As he thought about it, 6 Chen gradually understood.

  He stared straight at the 6th senior brother, who had previously seen him explode in anger, seemingly wanting to reason with him. This made him secretly astonished, as any disciple who entered the sect was supposed to be well-behaved and obedient. But this little junior brother was surprisingly bold, actually daring to look for the sect leader to argue with him.

  "Hey younger brother, don't be too hard on yourself. Look at Lin, he's over 70 and still sweeping the floor, but he's doing fine. These days will pass quickly, just hang in there."

  He also felt some sympathy for his younger brother, pointing to the medicine field and saying: "Look at me, I'm cultivating a spiritual gathering grass, but I'm worried that it won't be harvested, afraid of pests, and after a year, I'll only get a hundred or so contributions. What a hard life!"

  At 6 o'clock, Chen swept his eyes over the medicine field and saw that it was full of lush green grass. He also let out a sigh in his heart. The rules of the Qingyun Gate are strict like this, and you're not the only one. The weak will be eliminated, and the strong will remain!

  He stuffed the last few pieces of sweet potato into Fang Yu's hands and left dejectedly at 6 o'clock.