"Because I know you like to keep a low profile. I didn’t want to cause any trouble for you, and besides, there are countless eyes watching us from the shadows where I come from."
"Thinking ahead, well done. Cheers to you."
"Thank you, brothers. I’ll finish mine, you all take your time!"
The next day, the two were ready to leave.
After all, the task at Lingyun Mansion was already completed, and they were eager to bring the Soul Breath Immortal Grass back to Old Mo as soon as possible.
"Are we leaving just like that, without saying goodbye?" Zhou Qing asked.
Yan Xiaohu shook his head. Although Lingyun Mansion was indeed prosperous and had everything one could want, a golden nest or silver nest couldn’t compare to his own home.
"What about the female ghost... I mean, Tao?" Zhou Qing couldn’t help but tease.
Yan Xiaohu said helplessly, "I’ll say it again, there’s nothing between us. I don’t even know her well."
"At the auction that day, I saw you kept looking her way."
"I wasn’t looking, you imagined it."
"I never said where you were looking exactly, senior brother. What are you talking about?"
"Hey, little brother, I think it’s time I teach you a lesson!"
After bidding farewell to Qian Dafu, the two playfully exited Lingyun Mansion and set off on their journey home.
If all went well, they would be back at their sect in three months.
Ten days later, as they reached a range of mountains, Yan Xiaohu suddenly said, "Little brother, the mountains and waters here are beautiful. I think I’ll take the Nascent Soul Formation Pill and step into the Nascent Soul Realm here."
Zhou Qing was stunned. "Here?"
Yan Xiaohu nodded, "Yes. Don’t forget, we might encounter people from the Cangyan Daoist Palace on the way. If I break through to the Nascent Soul Realm, at least our safety will be better ensured. Besides, it’ll be a surprise for Old Mo when we return."
Zhou Qing thought for a moment and agreed.
"Alright, I’ll guard you!" Zhou Qing said.
Then, the two controlled their swords and descended, finding a perfect spot. They drove a late-stage Foundation Establishment Realm Bear Demon out of a cave and set up a barrier around it.
Just as they were about to plant the final Array Flag, their expressions changed instantly as they readied themselves for combat.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The next moment, a gust of black wind swept in, carrying countless howling evil spirits.
Yan Xiaohu shouted, conjuring a blazing ball of fire in his hand and hurling it out.
Zhou Qing made a gesture and a beam of blue light flashed, instantly forming a protective barrier around them.
With a thunderous roar, the impact caused a massive ripple that collapsed the surrounding rocks and mountains.
Yan Xiaohu staggered back, hastily securing the old hen behind his waist to prevent it from getting hurt.
"It seems to be a mid-Nascent Soul stage. Be cautious!" Yan Xiaohu said with a serious expression.
Zhou Qing, gripping the Broken Sword, frowned as he looked skyward.
There, a gaunt figure holding a black banner glared down at them.
The black banner was shrouded in a nauseating black mist, with ghosts continuously howling.
"Didn’t you say the tracking mark you placed on them would be undetectable? If I hadn’t intervened quickly, they might have set up the array to counter us."
The Ghost Daoist sneered as he looked to the side.
Another figure then descended from the clouds.
When Zhou Qing and Yan Xiaohu saw who it was, they were full of disbelief.
"Shopkeeper Qian, why is it you?"
Yes, it was Qian Dafu, the shopkeeper who had entertained them with good food and drink at Lingyun Mansion and even put up his retirement money as a future investment.
At this moment, Qian Dafu, with three long swords on his back, looked down at Zhou Qing and Yan Xiaohu and sighed, "Two Nascent Soul Formation Pills, four Top-Grade Spirit Stones, and a Soul Breath Immortal Grass worth five Top-Grade Spirit Stones, not to mention that hen that can lay Spirit Eggs. I saw everything."
"Why did you tempt me? I’m also human. I can’t just sit there waiting for old age and be replaced by someone new in a year or two, forgotten by everyone."
"But the things you carry gave me a different kind of hope. Maybe I, too, could step into the Nascent Soul Realm and live for another thousand years. You flaunted your wealth, and that is your fate, as well as mine!"
By the end of his words, Qian Dafu’s emotions had spiraled out of control, and he began to shout frenziedly.
He was unwilling to accept that this was his life.
He envied them for being Core Disciples at such a young age.
Envious of them having a master who cared for them.
Envious of how they could casually bring out Top-Grade Spirit Stones, a treasure he couldn’t even touch in a lifetime as a shopkeeper.
It wasn’t fair, how unfair the heavens were!
Everyone came into this world the same way. Why did they have such opportunities and fates while he had to fade into oblivion like an insignificant mayfly?
He refused to accept this fate; today, he would defy it!
As they stared at the manic Qian Dafu, the two could hardly believe that this was the same honest and loyal shopkeeper they had lived with for days.
"Never test human nature; it was never wrong!"