What met the eye was a long-neglected, ruined and filthy dangerous building, and beyond the rusty iron sheeting was a bustling commercial street.
This was a plaster stuck on the city’s skin. Since childhood Lu Xiuyuan had heard people mention it endlessly, how stubborn and set in her ways his grandmother was, refusing to sign for the demolition, and how short-sighted she was, missing the chance to get rich overnight.
Lu Xiuyuan understood in his heart that his grandmother had stubbornly kept this old house to give him, young and with divorced parents, a place to settle. The houses allotted from the demolition were too new and too expensive, and the two of them, grandmother and grandson, couldn’t have held on to them.
At the time of the demolition Lu Xiuyuan had been too small. He only vaguely remembered his grandmother making a lot of effort to keep this house, until some time ago, when staff from the Culture and Tourism Bureau contacted him and he learned that it was actually a registered Daoist temple.
But because it had been vacant for too long, it no longer met the regulations and had already been removed from the list.
Lu Xiuyuan had thought his grandmother had used connections back then to get it listed. Reminded of the past, he returned to this city, and it was at this time, as Lu Xiuyuan was tidying up the house, that he inadvertently found the Sect Master Token and was bound to it.
Only then did Lu Xiuyuan realize that although his grandmother had used connections, she must really have produced the real thing to get registered.
As soon as they got back, the paper fox couldn’t wait to show off and demonstrate his usefulness.
“Sect Master, quickly draw cards!”
Come on, this kind of irreverent talk about drawing cards is only to be listened to, how could it be taken seriously?
“The sect has fallen on hard times and it troubles me to see it. Let’s repair the sect first.”
The paper fox froze on hearing this, then lowered his head, and his ears drooped along with it. The Sect Master was exhausting his heart and mind for the sect, while he, a sect guardian beast, only thought of selfish distractions. Thinking of this, he felt more and more unbearably ashamed and wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
Crying?
The little fox’s moral standard and sense of sect honor were actually this strong. Lu Xiuyuan hadn’t meant to make him cry, so he spoke again to coax him: “I know the Celestial Fox has worried himself sick over the logistics of Wenxin Sect’s development. From now on leave these to me. I’m the Sect Master; I should shoulder more.”
He stroked the paper fox’s head with a finger, and as expected came away with a hand covered in ink.
“But, but, if I do nothing and let the Sect Master do all the work, wouldn’t I be too useless?”
“You are the Celestial Fox of my Wenxin Sect. Naturally you are under my wings, receiving my protection and affection.”
The paper fox hugged Lu Xiuyuan’s finger and cried wuwu, “The Sect Master is the number one best Sect Master in the world, I want to be the Sect Master’s fox for life.”
Not Wenxin Sect’s fox, but Lu Xiuyuan’s fox.
Lu Xiuyuan’s eyes softened a little. Although he couldn’t make out the sobbing words, Lu Xiuyuan truly did feel his loyalty.
Little Celestial Fox, captured!
“Sect Master, I worked hard on the inherited memories and found a bit more!” The Celestial Fox, eager to show himself, worked very hard to say everything he knew.
Lu Xiuyuan already had a plan in mind for the building rewards he had received, and began planning right away.
Although he had harvested a wave of reputation points at the beach, Lu Xiuyuan was very self-aware.
If he wanted to keep up the sword-cultivator master’s pretense with his current low cultivation all the time, the resources poured in would be an enormous astronomical figure. He couldn’t possibly stand guard at the seaside saving people every day. If he appeared too often, what would become of the sword-cultivator master’s image?!
Wenxin Sect had to be a great sect that countless disciples entered only after begging, weeping, and going through a thousand hardships!
Thinking of this, Lu Xiuyuan was very satisfied with the location of Wenxin Sect.
Once there was any commotion, the attention it would attract here would absolutely be enormous!
Yang Kelin had not expected that the first big case of his legendary police career would start with a cult or pyramid scheme: “Sword cultivators? You mean, that sword cultivator from cultivation novels?”
The small police station was packed with people. Over a hundred men and women, old and young, had flushed faces, excited voices, flailing limbs, and booming voices, seemingly completely immersed in their own world.
“Yes yes yes! That’s the one! Officer, would you like to come with us to take part in our Wenxin Sect’s entrance trial? Let me tell you, our Wenxin Sect…”
Zhou Xingjian reminded them: “Master hasn’t told me when the entrance trial will be, or where.”
His voice, like a drop of water entering the sea, was no different from a mosquito’s whine to these people fantasizing about entering the trial together with Zhou Xingjian.
“Mm, I know the sect’s name is ‘Wenxin Sect.’ And then? What are your doctrines? Who is the leader of the organization, the Sect Master? How many senior leaders and elders are there?”
Yang Kelin was so dazzled by the brightness of his own prospects that he couldn’t sleep, but seeing so many people brainwashed, he felt extremely pained.
“No no, now is not the time for heartache. I have to pull them back before they hurt themselves!”
“Hurt themselves how?”
A strange voice exploded beside his ear, and only then did Yang Kelin realize he had accidentally said his thoughts aloud. In order not to alert the enemy, Yang Kelin racked his brains to smooth over what he had just said: “Uh, what I mean is—”
Zhou Xingjian said firmly: “Master did not hurt me! He split the sea and saved us. If not for Master, the three of us would all have died in the sea!”
The only two survivors who had missed the miracle because they had passed out nodded with evasive eyes.
The scene of seeing a real sword cultivator had been too shocking and too sudden. Although some people had recorded it, the footage was shaking terribly, and with the phone owners and people around them screaming throughout, there was hardly any watchable footage.
Yang Kelin had also seen their so-called “sword flight,” “standing in the air,” and “sword splitting the waves,” but with AI special effects technology so advanced now, what couldn’t be faked? The credibility was nearly zero.
“Mm, I believe you. Then can you tell me about the features of ‘your master’?” Yang Kelin went along with Zhou Xingjian while giving the one big and one small a reassuring look.
Judging from the two’s behavior, they must have only just been proselytized and were brainwashed the least, making them his breakthrough point.
The young rookie policeman couldn’t yet hide his expression well. Zhou Xingjian easily guessed his purpose, but without any displeasure, said openly: “My master wears white with black hair and a sword at his waist. As long as you see him, you’ll definitely recognize him!”
The others immediately chimed in: “Right! Master is the most handsome sword cultivator!”
“Pfft—” Yang Kelin really couldn’t hold it in and clumsily covered his mouth, but still drew the gazes of over a hundred people.
Yang Kelin’s scalp tingled, and he instinctively wanted to explain: “Uh, I—”
The crowd paid no attention to Yang Kelin’s nervousness and instead all pointed at Zhou Xingjian’s trouser pocket.
“It’s glowing, it’s glowing! Senior Brother Zhou, quickly take it out! Master must be sending you a message!”
Zhou Xingjian fumbled to take out the jade tablet, and instantly a beam of light shot into the sky—
From outside came a child’s exclamation: “Wow! Mommy, the sky is bright!”
The crowd hurried out, leaving the duty officers where they were.
Yang Kelin was dazed: “A, a highlighter?”
The older officer reacted immediately: “Come on, let’s go out and look.”
Outside the police station, or rather over all of Lincheng, the sky had lit up.
On the other side of the city, several beams of white light shot into the sky, intertwined with one another, and pierced straight through the clouds, lighting the entire sky like daytime.
Compared with those few beams, the light in Zhou Xingjian’s hand was not much different from a highlighter.
Those beams lasted only about ten seconds, but they let everyone see it as clearly as could be.
Yang Kelin patched it up dryly: “Isn’t there a lunar eclipse? This might be… emmmm, a sun-spitting?”
Everyone ignored his sleep-talk, shouting and jumping: “It must be that our Wenxin Sect is opening the sect and taking disciples!”
Yang Kelin was about to say “absurd,” but the two words stuck in his throat. Before his astonished eyes, a palm-sized paper crane drifted over to in front of Zhou Xingjian.
A clear, distant voice came: “The first of the seventh month, Wenxin Ladder.”
A small drone imitating a paper crane with a recording function, a rare design, but kids’ toys these days come in all kinds, so it’s also quite—
After saying the important message, the paper crane turned into a dark-iron sword about a forearm long, then spun once in mid-air and drew a bloody line across Zhou Xingjian’s forearm.
The officers: “!!!”
Right after, the forearm-length dark-iron sword turned into a long sword more than a meter long.
The officers: “???”
What about the law of conservation of mass?!
“I want to cultivate, I want a master, I want to join Wenxin Sect!” Jiang Yuhuai wiped his tears, crying as he ran toward Jiefang Road.
As the only “lucky one” who had gotten a trial jade tablet, Zhou Xingjian was crowded by people at every moment. They all wanted to follow Zhou Xingjian to try their luck, and shamelessly called him Senior Brother Zhou one after another.
It was as if Zhou Xingjian had already passed the trial and entered the sect, and they too had gotten the trial qualification by riding his coattails.
“Wuwuwu, there’s also me who became Master’s disciple, I’m the senior brother!” Jiang Yuhuai wished he could cry until the seawater flowed backward and time turned back.
But amid the noisy flattery of several hundred people, his crying was so insignificant.
The hope of following Zhou Xingjian’s big crowd was too slim. Master was kind-hearted, but cultivation depends on affinity. If following along could get you into the trial together, why wouldn’t the trial jade tablets be sent out in a mass message?!
He would seize the initiative. He would go to Jiefang Road! Master had asked him for directions, so that place must be his chance!
To show his determination, Jiang Yuhuai even ran there on his own two legs.
“I-I can’t, I’m really going to run till I throw up, if I don’t rest, I, I’m going to, die, blegh—”
Having run more than twenty li, Jiang Yuhuai, his whole body somewhat misshapen, had two even more misshapen girls following behind him.
Tao Yuxiang and Huang Ruihe were the only two “witnesses.” They didn’t want to accept fate either. Between following Jiang Yuhuai to look for a vague chance and shamelessly following Zhou Xingjian, they decided by tossing a coin to follow Jiang Yuhuai.
All three were “frail scholars” who had just finished the gaokao this year. Normally, running eight hundred or a thousand meters left a taste of blood in their mouths, but for cultivation they had run until they had no feeling in their legs.
“Thud!”
Losing her footing, Tao Yuxiang fell to the ground. Jiang Yuhuai’s steps paused, but he did not stop.
Tao Yuxiang’s brain rattled from the fall. Whether her whole body hurt too much or was numb from exhaustion, when her bloody knees and palms came into view, she couldn’t even feel the pain.
“Xiangxiang!”
Huang Ruihe instinctively wanted to help her up, but Tao Yuxiang called out to stop her.
“Don’t stop!” Tao Yuxiang’s voice was hoarse beyond belief. A struggle flashed in her eyes, but gradually it turned resolute. “Good sister, don’t forget me when you get rich. If I can’t catch up but you do, when you’re able to take disciples, you must take me! I want to be the personal-disciple eldest senior sister!”
Tears streamed out uncontrollably: “I, I have no feeling; I can’t stand up at all. If you take me along, I’ll surely be a burden.”
Huang Ruihe’s hesitating movement, on hearing her say “no feeling,” immediately turned around and ran back: “Can you hear me? Can you see things? Don’t move, let me feel your pulse, you might die!” Both her parents were doctors, and from exposure she knew some of the symptoms of cardiac arrest, cerebral hemorrhage, and severe shock.
Which youth hadn’t dreamed of cultivation? With the chance right before their eyes, saying it wasn’t a pity at all would be a lie. But a vague, uncertain chance had no comparison with a friend’s life!
Tao Yuxiang’s face went white with fright, and Jiang Yuhuai, who had been about to run off without looking back, also stopped in his tracks.
He looked back. It had been only an instinctive motion, but when he looked back his eyes suddenly widened.
A black monster five or six meters tall had appeared in the grass at some point and opened its bloody maw toward the two sobbing girls—
“Holy shit, run!!!” There were sword cultivators now, so Jiang Yuhuai never doubted that his eyes might have deceived him.
“Do you have any humanity? Not helping is one thing, but she’s like this and you’re still standing here making sarcastic remarks! Do you know—”
Huang Ruihe seemed to sense something and instinctively looked over. Nothing was there—
Her arm was suddenly grabbed, and the next second a sharp pain swept over her.
“Aaaaah, it hurts so much—”
Blood spurted inexplicably from Huang Ruihe’s back. Jiang Yuhuai scrambled and stumbled, dragging the two forward, but a weakling on low health dragging two badly wounded people could not possibly escape alive, however he thought about it.
What to do, what to do, what to do, his sword-cultivator career hadn’t even begun, and his life as a rich second-generation was finally about to gain freedom. He couldn’t die here!
Run. Since Master had picked him, it proved he had boundless potential and surely could get away, but, but what about them…
“Is it a demon beast? Or a demonic cultivator?” Although Huang Ruihe couldn’t see it, she had already guessed. “You run…”
Could an eighteen-year-old girl go to her death calmly? Then could she justifiably demand that others give their lives for her?
“You run…” Tao Yuxiang cried until she could hardly shed tears. “I…”
The agonizing choice left them all speechless. Just then, several beams of white light shot into the sky from not far away, and the whole city seemed enveloped in light.
A majestic, biting, and magnificent great gate appeared before the three. On the lintel were inscribed in flowing calligraphy the three large characters “Wenxin Sect.”
The three had no time to be shocked before a deafening scream came from behind them.
“Aaaaaaah—”
Huang Ruihe and Tao Yuxiang’s eyes widened. A huge black-haired monster had appeared behind them, its teeth still stained with blood, clearly the monster that had bitten Huang Ruihe.
But this terrifying existence that had put them in mortal danger was actually cut into pieces amid its screams.
A flash of sword light, and a patch of white clothes appeared in the three’s sight.
Having survived a catastrophe, the three shouted out, trembling—
“Master!”