Chapter 17#

Widely Acclaimed#

That Buddhist shrine had been brought back by Lin Wu, and the story of it being entrusted by a dying person of the Chan Sect was also told by him. Gushan had not asked him for proof, nor had Lin Wu offered any.

Xiao Man had no right to question Lin Wu about anything. With his current realm and cultivation, he couldn’t even investigate the matter. Saying more would seem like sowing discord, and he was even more unwilling to talk much with Yan Wushu. His thoughts whirled as he said softly:

“This is Gushan’s business then.”

After saying this, he lifted his eyelids and cast a glance at Yan Wushu.

Tonight the starlight was bright, and with the lamps shining as well, it made this glance appear extremely indifferent, yet also extremely beautiful. A layer of clear light rippled across his pitch-black eyes, like glazed beads that had just been washed in water.

Yan Wushu looked steadily at Xiao Man, reading the meaning in his eyes. His brow twitched slightly, and he raised a hand to support his chin, saying soulfully: “Is this you driving me away?”

“I have my own things to do.” Xiao Man’s tone was neither hot nor cold.

“I won’t hinder you,” Yan Wushu said. He watched Xiao Man for a long while in that posture. Xiao Man first pursed his lips, then opened his eyes wide and glared back.

Seeing this, Yan Wushu stood up and drawled: “Alright, I’m leaving.”

Yan Wushu walked out while playing with his folding fan, but before he had gone three steps, he stopped and turned back to look at Xiao Man: “There’s one more thing.”

The latter didn’t even lift his eyes: “Speak.”

Yan Wushu smiled: “At a guess, in another two days, Baihua Peak will organize your batch of disciples to go out for a trial.”

Xiao Man’s eyelashes trembled, his expression surprised and curious. After hesitating several times, he still couldn’t help but ask: “How long is the trial?”

“Not long, about half a month to twenty days.”

Hearing this, a clear sense of disappointment surfaced on Xiao Man’s face: “Such a trial is inevitably too short.”

“Actually, it’s just a small task before the Sword Trial Assembly, it doesn’t count as a real trial,” Yan Wushu explained with a low laugh. “There are many types and quantities of tasks, but they aren’t assigned to everyone. According to Baihua Peak’s requirements, you form small teams with your fellow disciples freely, and each team sends someone to draw lots to cooperatively complete the task you’ve picked up.”

Xiao Man thought to himself that it was no wonder the time was so short, but after another thought, he felt it was strange. When did Yan Wushu become so clear about the matters of Baihua Peak?

Thinking of this, Xiao Man couldn’t help but study Yan Wushu.

“I won’t hide it from you, I am one of the leaders for this time,” Yan Wushu guessed Xiao Man’s thoughts, leaned to the side, rested his upper body against a tree trunk, and said unhurriedly.

Xiao Man raised an eyebrow in surprise: “You aren’t even an instructor.”

Yan Wushu gave a snorting laugh: “The tasks are scattered all over, how many instructors does Baihua Peak have in total? How could they look after everyone?”

Xiao Man didn’t believe him. He tidied his sleeves and fixed a scrutinizing gaze on Yan Wushu: “Although there are few instructors on Baihua Peak, every peak has elders, deacons, and disciples of no low realm. Drawing some from each peak would be perfectly sufficient to look after all the low-level disciples.”

“And you are the Peak Master of one of the twelve peaks, Gushan’s youngest Upper Taixuan realm expert, with an extraordinary status. How could such small matters be handed to you?”

As he spoke, Xiao Man realized a certain possibility. His eyes narrowed slightly, and his expression became somewhat tense: “Is there something wrong with this trial, or are there hidden dangers?”

After listening to Xiao Man finish his speech, Yan Wushu tapped his palm with his folding fan and asked with curved eyes: “Are you praising me?”

Xiao Man: “…”

Completely irrelevant.

He glared at Yan Wushu again: “Just the truth.”

Yan Wushu put on a look of disappointment, sighed while shaking his head, and told Xiao Man the reason: “There are no problems or hidden dangers. It’s because I already have business that requires a trip to the Divine Capital, and it just so happens that one of the tasks is near there, so I’ll look after things in passing. Besides, the role of a team leader is just to supervise you; we won’t interfere with the tasks, much less pay heed to requests for help, unless the situation is extremely dangerous.”

Xiao Man said “I see,” and quickly thought that since it was drawing lots, wasn’t it possible he could draw Yan Wushu?

Just then, Yan Wushu spoke again: “If you’re lucky, maybe you’ll draw me.”

That’s called being unlucky, Xiao Man said wordlessly in his heart.

After Yan Wushu left, Xiao Man stood up and went back into the room, snapping his fingers to light the lamp.

Putting the matter of the task aside for the moment, he took out the wooden box Yan Wushu had given him earlier. Opening it, he saw dozens of Soul Grasses inside.

These were spiritual plants specifically used to nourish soul bodies, and they were extremely difficult to plant and keep alive. Almost no one at Gushan raised souls, so they never grew this in the spiritual fields. For Yan Wushu to have gathered such a quantity, he must have put in some effort.

Xiao Man carefully counted the number and released the Fuzhu deer from his prayer beads.

A faint light swept through the room, and the deer’s soul body landed in the center. It had returned to its original size, and with the pair of antlers on its head, it was about as tall as a person. Seeing Xiao Man, it wagged its tail very happily and trotted over.

As Yan Wushu had said, after the demonic nature on the Fuzhu was removed, spiritual energy alone was not enough to maintain its existence. Compared to three days ago, the light it emitted had dimmed considerably, and its color had become more transparent.

Xiao Man quickly handed out a stalk of Soul Grass: “For you.”

“Gu.” The Fuzhu’s eyes lit up.

“Eat up,” Xiao Man said gently.

This was high-quality Soul Grass. It was small when held in the hand, but became quite large after being offered. It looked like a spider plant, but without flowers among the leaves. Eating one such stalk would last for four or five days.

The deer lowered its head to graze. A soul body doesn’t make sound when eating; it absorbs the power attached to the Soul Grass into its body through some method.

Xiao Man slowly walked in a circle around it. Its fur was not good, perhaps caused by being refined into a demon back then, or perhaps destroyed by the seal. Xiao Man gazed at it for a long time, worried that its coat wouldn’t grow back. After all, it was a soul body; without a physical form, it seemed there was no way for it to grow.

The room was silent. Xiao Man walked to the window, appreciated the starlight falling on the ground for a while, and spoke: “Fuzhu is your clan name, just like fox, cat, or dog; it can serve as a designation, but it shouldn’t be a name.”

Although the Fuzhu couldn’t speak human language, it was born with awakened intelligence and understood human speech. Hearing Xiao Man’s words, it gave an approving “Gu,” with a hint of expectation in its eyes.

Xiao Man turned back to look at its bare fur, fell silent for a moment, and said softly: “A-Tu (Baldy). Let’s just call you A-Tu.”

“?”

The Fuzhu deer felt this name was very bad. Its eyes became panicked, it stopped eating the Soul Grass, and came before Xiao Man. Its front hooves held his hand, and its head rubbed against him one after another, pleading winningly for a different name.

But it was a soul body; apart from slight ripples of spiritual energy, Xiao Man felt nothing. Not only that, those antlers passed directly through his body.

“This is to motivate you to grow your fur out sooner,” Xiao Man said earnestly while looking at its bare back. “Go back and eat some more.”

A-Tu returned despondently, and Xiao Man was moved to a smile by the expression on the deer’s face.

Outside the window, the night wind drifted, bringing the scent of flowers; stars hung in the sky, like a long river.

Xiao Man took off the prayer beads from his wrist and slowly fingered them one by one.

There were one hundred and eight prayer beads. Usually, Xiao Man wouldn’t stop until he had gone through a full circle, but this time, his finger stopped abruptly.

His brow knitted, as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. After staring for a while, he brought the prayer beads before his eyes and looked closely by the starlight—on this bodhi bead held between his index finger and thumb, a trace of blood color had appeared at some unknown time.

Chaoyu Building was habitually lively before classes began. Someone was asking a fellow student to borrow the previous day’s homework notes, someone was laughing about an interesting story heard last night, and someone else was eating breakfast brought from Wugu Building—the smell was very strong, filling three rows in front and behind, making people frown.

Xiao Man sat in the second-to-last row by the window, far from the person eating breakfast, and was unaffected.

This was the third day Xiao Man had returned to Baihua Peak for classes after his realm had improved to the Upper Baoxu stage.

Wei Chuyun sat beside him, flipping through the textbook for this subject to prepare for class. Mo Juntian had gone to help the instructor organize things and had not yet arrived at Chaoyu Building. Qu Hanxing took out a stack of storybooks from his Qiankun ring and placed them on the desk of the person in front.

“Brother Man, Brother Wei, I heard yesterday that in the dozen or so years of your lives, you haven’t yet read a storybook. I stayed up all night to find these, they are all widely acclaimed.”

These days, Qu Hanxing had found a folding fan and was constantly fanning himself. When he reached the main point, he lifted a hand to brush back his forehead hair, closed the fan, and pointed it forward. “Storybooks are an indispensable thing in life! Without them, who knows how lonely the long road of cultivation would be…”

Just then, a Daoist in green appeared in Chaoyu Building. The wind lifted his wide sleeves, and as he passed Qu Hanxing, he covered his head with a “swish.”

Qu Hanxing was only halfway through his speech when he was interrupted in such a manner. He was instantly enraged, brushed the sleeves off his head, gripped his fan, and glared at the person. He was about to start scolding, but then he suddenly lost his spark.

“P-Peak Master, why is it you…” Qu Hanxing gave a sycophantic smile and hurriedly tucked away the storybooks on the desk, putting on a humble appearance.

“What, it can’t be me?” Baihua Peak’s Peak Master, Ji Wuji, said with a stare.

Chaoyu Building became quiet.

Ji Wuji walked to the very front of Chaoyu Building, turned to face everyone, and after scanning the room, said: “I’ve come to announce one thing.”

The Peak Masters of Gushan were all in the Taixuan realm. Everyone present was a youth who had just entered the Dao and was still struggling in the lowest Baoxu realm. They didn’t dare to be flippant before a Great Power of such a realm. No one spoke up to ask what it was; even the most mischievous Qu Hanxing was silent, keeping his mouth shut and waiting for what was to follow.

“Regarding the matter of going down the mountain for a trial,” Ji Wuji continued.

As soon as he said this, the young disciples who had been cultivating hard on the mountain for nearly three years all showed expressions of joy. They had long heard the senior brothers and sisters talk about how there would be a trip out for a trial before the Sword Trial Assembly.

Ji Wuji spoke of the specific arrangements. When he reached the requirement to form small teams to complete the task together, whispering broke out in the building. Xiao Man had heard Yan Wushu mention it a few days ago, so his expression remained calm.

Qu Hanxing reached out and poked Xiao Man’s back, then poked Wei Chuyun. After both turned around, he pointed to the empty seat beside him.

The meaning was clear. Xiao Man nodded, in full agreement.

After Ji Wuji finished speaking, he left time for the disciples to talk. When they were about done, he flicked his sleeve, put his hands behind his back, and said: “If you have any questions, you may ask them now.”

Someone immediately asked: “Can we go into a secret realm?”

Ji Wuji: “If you are lucky, you might encounter a secret realm.”

“When do we draw lots for tasks?”

“Now.”

After saying that, Ji Wuji raised his hand, and a tripod cast from green jade appeared before him. At the mouth of the tripod, spiritual light flickered, misty and ethereal, with scrolls faintly visible floating within.

Presumably, those were the tasks.

A wave of clamor broke out.

The next moment, the disciples hurriedly stood up to find people for their teams. Chaoyu Building was exceptionally lively.

Mo Juntian arrived, and Qu Hanxing quickly explained the matter of the trial. After hearing it, Mo Juntian said seriously: “Since we’ve agreed to be a team of four, let’s go to the Peak Master to draw lots.”

“Who’s going?” Qu Hanxing rubbed his hands, his face full of expectation.

Xiao Man looked at him: “You go.”

Wei Chuyun nodded: “Agreed.”

Qu Hanxing looked at Mo Juntian.

“Go on, draw a good one.” Mo Juntian patted Qu Hanxing’s shoulder, entrusting him with the heavy responsibility.

“Alright.” Qu Hanxing stood up happily, adjusted his hair with his fan, and said: “I will certainly not fail the mission!”

Qu Hanxing strode to the front of Ji Wuji and bowed to him: “Mo Juntian, Xiao Man, Wei Chuyun, and myself, Qu Hanxing—we four are a team, and I represent our team to draw lots.”

As he spoke, a golden light flashed at the mouth of the tripod.

“Please,” Ji Wuji made a gesture.

Qu Hanxing reached into the tripod and grasped one of the scrolls.

“Selected?” Ji Wuji asked.

Qu Hanxing shook his head and changed to another one.

As far as appearance went, there was no difference between the scrolls, but Qu Hanxing was picking and choosing like he was selecting cabbages in a vegetable market. He changed them a dozen times in a row, finally holding onto one and saying: “This is it.”

As soon as he spoke, the names of the four of them appeared on the surface of the scroll.

Qu Hanxing took it out, but didn’t hurry to open it immediately.

He solemnly carried the scroll back to his seat, took a deep breath, and said to the other three: “Come on, let’s see what task we’ve drawn!”