Volume 1: Red Dust Sword Gate Chapter 4: Xiao Zhi

  Zhang Hao hesitated for a long time before finally asking the little Qianhe about the doubts in his heart.

  "It's ready to use!" The tone was flat and calm, without any hint of excitement. Zhang Hao listened but didn't pay much attention. Everyone has a different personality, some people seem cold on the outside but have a rich inner world. This kind of person is called - introverted.

  But for an NPC, it's quite interesting.

  He took out a symbol horse from the Qiankun bag, which looked like a small bamboo horse with a small bell under its neck and several small symbols attached to the bottom of its four hooves.

  He casually threw the jade horse on the ground, and the jade horse grew with the wind, transforming into a three-foot-tall white horse.

  Zhang Hao mounted the white horse and found a recess on its back, inside which was a thumb-sized spirit stone emitting dense spiritual energy.

  The white horse seemed to know the way, following the steep and winding path, slowly climbing up. When it reached the middle of the mountain, its speed slowed down even more, rising slowly like a snail.

  The sunset in the west has disappeared, leaving only a little residual red glow, which makes the sky look exceptionally beautiful.

  What's going on! Zhang Hao was staring at the cloud layer in the sky, lost in thought, when he suddenly felt that his symbol horse had stopped moving forward and seemed to be shrinking.

  Lowering his head to take a look, he saw that the crystal on the horse's back had already disappeared.

  A white horse turned into a bamboo horse, standing alone on a steep and narrow green path.

  Zhang Hao leaned against the cliff, looked at the precipice on his right, and thought that if he fell down, he would probably have to resurrect again. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but shudder.

  Put the geomantic horse on the ground into the Qiankun bag, looking at the winding mountain path in front of me shrouded in mist and fog, I reluctantly moved forward.

  I don't know how long I've been walking, but before I knew it, the sky was filled with stars, the moon was overhead, and the night air of the sparse wind and starry sky had a hint of chill.

  Zhang Hao walked a little further, gazing at the steep and narrow path ahead, looking up at the moonlight that was already somewhat western in the sky. In his heart, he had already begun to curse this hidden task.

  "Not a single hint, walked on foot for several hours, didn't see a single NPC, isn't this a rip-off?"

  "The slow mount that's as sluggish as a snail has broken down, and I'm forced to travel on foot for hundreds of miles. This is really frustrating! Moreover, there's only one road, and along the way, I haven't even encountered a single ghostly NPC. What kind of place is this Red Dust Sword Sect?"

  Zhang Hao thought as he walked forward helplessly.

  Tianmo Valley Entrance.

  A tall, red-faced man with a long beard stared at the nine-story pagoda in his hand, his eyes revealing a hint of confusion.

  The small tower was about seven inches high, with a diameter of about four inches. It emitted a bright red glow that flickered on and off, making it impossible to see what was inside.

  Dahan carefully poured a thread of spiritual energy into the small tower, without any reaction.

  "Hmm... why can't this tower be absorbed into my body?" the big man muttered to himself, and then eagerly began to infuse spiritual energy into the tower. Gradually, the smoke inside the small tower grew thicker and more turbulent, like boiling water, and purple electric lights danced and intertwined in a dazzling display.

  The Great Han suddenly realized the danger, but this tower was not an ordinary object, and he couldn't bear to abandon it. Just as he hesitated, the red blood light on the small tower suddenly transformed into purple lightning, and exploded with a loud crash.

  Boom, boom, boom, a series of intense explosions followed one after another.

  Smoke and flames billow, trees and rocks fly together.

  A huge pit of about 20 feet in diameter appeared around the giant, with many rocks and trees collapsing into it. The giant's entire body was buried under mud, rocks, and trees, leaving only a large black hand exposed outside.

  After a moment, the dark fingers trembled a few times, and the red-faced big man finally crawled out of the deep pit, dusting off the dust on his body.

  He glared in the direction of the Red Dust Sword Sect and cursed loudly: "Zhang Hao, you heaven-killing turtle son of a bitch, how dare you deceive me with a fake tower! And to make matters worse, you even set up the Seven Calamity Purple Yin Thunder inside!"

  A great Han scolded and adjusted the spiritual energy in his body, waiting for the spiritual energy to recover. He took out a black wooden box from his bosom, muttered some words, and then poured a stream of spiritual energy into the box with two fingers together. A strange black shadow appeared in the box and disappeared instantly.

  Ahhhh! "My corpse puppet can't sense anything anymore."

  A tall, red-faced man with a long beard suddenly burst into loud shouting, stood up and crushed the wooden box to powder with one foot, his eyes blazing like fire as he looked up at the sky and shouted again, before disappearing without a trace using a hidden escape technique.

  "Sister Shifu, did Brother Shifu really lose his memory?"

  Inside the Tianfeng Cave Mansion, a 12 or 13-year-old girl with a round face like an apple looked at her eldest sister Mu Rongxue who was sitting on a futon and curiously asked.

  "No matter whether he really lost his memory or not, if he can't even enter the sect, I would have gone against Master's last wish."

  Murong Xue's voice was soft and gentle, yet it had an irresistible majesty.

  "But... Master said that Brother is the most talented person to master the Red Dust Sword Technique!"

  "I know this! But he indulges in debauchery every day, lingering in brothels and taverns, his behavior is unbearable, if you don't punish him a little, he will never make progress."

  Master...! The girl wanted to say something else, but was interrupted by Murong Xue.

  "Xiaozi, you are kind-hearted and selfless, never biased towards anyone, but you have never thought about yourself or known what to strive for. As cultivators, we should uphold the principle of being true to oneself and seeking one's true nature. I don't know if your personality is good or bad, but in this matter with Zhang Shixiong, there's no need for you to persuade me, I have my own judgment."

  The girl called Xiaozi, after hearing Murong Xue's words, stopped making a sound. Seeing her master's eyelids drooping and entering a meditative state, she carefully took two steps forward and secretly looked at an ancient, simple mirror on the central incense wood table in the room.

  The scene reflected in the mirror is exactly what's around Zhang Hao.

  Blinking big eyes, staring at Zhang Hao leaning against the cliff to sleep, looking at his appearance as if he was still sleeping very sweetly, staring at a smile on the edge of Zhang Hao's mouth.

  Xiaozi happily smiled, he didn't know why, as long as Shixiong smiled she was happy, even if his smile wasn't for her it was okay, because he was happy, Xiaozi was happy too.

  Xiaozi gazed at her senior brother in the mirror, watching as fireflies flew over his head and the stars gradually faded away until she fell asleep with heavy eyelids.

  Murong Xue opened her eyes, and a cold glint appeared in her clear pupils. This glint seemed to pierce through the mirror as she turned her head to look at Xiaozi, and her gaze returned to normal.

  "Master, Xue'er doesn't know if you'll blame me for doing this, but Xue'er has no other choice! Xue'er has decided to demote him to an outer disciple. If he has the ambition, he will surely be able to take over the Hongchen Sword Sect. But if he's just a useless burden, Xue'er will do her best to support Xiaoyi in becoming the sect leader."

  Murong Xue finished speaking and turned around to gaze at Zheng Xiang's small figure sleeping on the fragrant wood desk.

  Xiaozi opened her eyes to see Murong Xue, rubbed her somewhat blurry eyes, looked at the icy expression of her senior sister, and then glanced at the mirror where her senior brother was sleeping soundly. Xiaozi shifted her body slightly to the right, so that she could block the mirror.

  "You go and lead him in! Give this to him, and also this jade tablet!"

  Thank you, Senior Sister! Xiao Zi took over the token, and Yu Jian hurriedly thanked her with a happy expression.

  As soon as he lowered his head to look at the characters on the token, his face changed color.

  "Sister, isn't this a bit too cruel? Brother is after all Master's true disciple."

  Go! Murong Xue said faintly, and with a flash of light in the cave, Xiaozi was sent out.

  Looking at the outer disciple token in her hand, Xiaozi felt a pang of loss. A true disciple had fallen to become an ordinary outer disciple. Could her master brother accept such a decline? Moreover, Master Sister said that Master Brother's entire cultivation had disappeared. Wasn't this a double blow, like a roof leaking on a rainy night?

  Xiaozi thought of this and hesitated in her heart.

  If she didn't go and bring her senior brother in, she feared that he would be stuck on this reincarnation path for a hundred years without being able to get out. Thinking of this, Xiaoyi gritted her silver teeth and quickly ran towards the mountain gate.

  Zhang Hao shivered and woke up, his whole body already wet with dew. The fog on the road ahead seemed to have dissipated a lot. He looked back at the way he came, only to see layer upon layer of stone steps, like a heavenly ladder descending from the clouds, seemingly endless. And the road ahead of him was also hidden in the clouds, invisible to the end.

  In the depths of the clouds, a huge golden eagle flew towards the Wheel of Rebirth.

  Listening to the distant eagle's cry.

  Zhang Hao looked up and saw a huge golden eagle, as if it had burst out of the sunrise. The smooth feathers on its back shone with an otherworldly glow. A lovely little girl stood on the eagle's back, shouting at him from afar: "Big Brother Master!"

  "Who are you?" Zhang Hao looked up at the girl above his head and asked with a hand shading his eyes.

  Xiaozi looked at Zhang Hao with concern and furrowed her brow: "I'm Xiaozi! I'm your junior sister!"

  "I forgot, I also forgot, who am I!" Zhang Hao said this sentence and found that the little girl's concerned eyes made him feel a kind of inexplicable warmth.

  "It's okay, I can tell you everything that happened and help you recover slowly." Xiao Wei patted the slightly heaving chest reassuringly.

  "Right, who am I?" Zhang Hao asked a very low-level question.

  Xiaozi listened and hurriedly looked at Zhang Hao seriously: "Senior brother, it's our Red Dust Sword Sect's Haoran Sword!"

  "Hao Ran Jian! What's going on?!" Zhang Hao saw Xiao Zi's serious face and hastily asked.

  "Of course it's Brother Shang's Hao Ran Sword Manual! Brother Shang's Hao Ran Sword Manual and Sister Shi's Li Shui Sword Manual are known to everyone as the Red Dust Twin Swords."

  "Right, what's Xiaozi's name?"

  "Zhang Hao!"

  "What a coincidence!" Zhang Hao exclaimed in his heart, could it be that his real name and the task role's name in the game are the same? He wondered if there would be any special rewards after completing this plot.

  "By the way, Xiaoyi, what's your teacher's sister's name?"

  "Murong Xue!"

  "It's really a case of 'a name that suits', it's so cold and scary." Zhang Hao hastily commented after hearing his senior sister's name.

  "Big brother, don't say that about big sister. Big sister is actually quite good. After Master's ascension, she has been taking care of everything in the sect. Don't blame her."

  "I don't blame her! But how about we give her a nickname?"

  "No!"

  "What about calling you 'Extinction Master', how's that?" Zhang Hao looked at Xiao Wei and couldn't help but tease her.

  Inside the cave, Murong Xue looked at Zhang Hao's smiling face in the mirror. When he heard him say "Mie Jie Shifu!", a chill flashed across his normally calm face.

  "Big brother, how can you say such things about big sister!"

  Xiaozi looked at Zhang Hao with a serious expression as he smiled and joked around.

  "What's wrong? Are you angry?" Zhang Hao felt that Xiaozi's expression was a bit off.

  "I'm not angry, but if Shizi knew you gave her this nickname, she would be very sad. Actually, I know Shizi hopes you can become the leader of Hongchen Sword Sect, it's just that, Brother... The rest of the words Xiaozi doesn't know how to continue."

  Looking at Xiaoyi's flushed face, Zhang Hao felt a bit embarrassed. He raised his hand and waved it, saying, "I'll never make this kind of joke again."

  Looking at Xiao Zhi's face with a hint of resentment, Zhang Hao's heart softened unknowingly, and he also had a very bad premonition. After sleeping for a night and waking up, he felt that everything here was too real, too vivid, this was not just a simple hidden plot in the game, it seemed like another world, another real world, and he was just a poor online gamer who got struck by lightning and crossed over.

  Xiaozi looked at Zhang Hao who suddenly fell into thought and thought about the fact that he was demoted to an outer disciple, feeling a little sorry for him.

  In an instant, more than half of the anger in her heart dissipated. She picked up the thing that her senior sister had handed over to her and said softly: "This is for you." With a small gesture, she handed over a token, a jade slip.