The Fairy: From the Traveling Merchant

Chapter 940 Swallowing
The Kamikaze Festival is actually a traditional festival in Yingzhou, which is said to have existed since ancient times.

However, that was just a spontaneous ritual performed by the people to appease the "divine wind." It wasn't until two or three hundred years ago that a strict ceremony and rules were established, and the ritual was changed to be performed once every ten years.

Moreover, with the successful holding of each festival ritual, the image of "Kamikaze," the main figure in the ritual, has become increasingly clear.

Rumor has it that this time there are even real anthropomorphic statues!

"Haha... Finally, it's vacation time, I can go out and have fun."

Hong Xiaoxi is a fourteen or fifteen-year-old girl who is traveling with her best friend You Fei.

They were all apprentices of the "Qingyun Martial Arts Academy" in Xiongshan Port, and had already cultivated true qi.

"Qingyun Daoguan" is a cultivation school opened by the Shangzong Daoxianmen in various major towns in Yingzhou. Similar to the Daxia official school in Kyushu, it recruits children with cultivation talent. Among them, the outstanding ones may even be recommended to the inner sect of Daoxianmen, which can be regarded as a step to heaven.

As a result, the dojo is highly competitive, and the apprentices have very little time to rest on weekdays, with very few holidays.

The "Kamikaze Festival" is one of the rare holidays, as the dojo instructors are assigned tasks on this day to ensure the smooth completion of the rituals.

Hong Xiaoxi's father was a rogue cultivator at the Qi Refining level. His family background was better than his classmates who came from truly commoner backgrounds, and he also had a broader perspective.

She knew that Xiongshan was spared from the "divine wind" not because of any sacrifice, but because of the high-level cultivators of the Wang family. Therefore, she scoffed at the various rules of the "Divine Wind Festival" and didn't care about the "festival taboos" at all. She went shopping and had fun with her good friends, eating and drinking along the snack street. She was in a great mood.

The two little girls played until almost 9 PM before reluctantly preparing to return to the dojo. After all, they had to go to school the next day, and one of the taboos of the "Kamikaze Festival" was to remain outside after 9:30 PM.

Both were cultivators at the True Qi Realm, with lightness skills as their foundation, making them incredibly fast. In just a few breaths, they left the commercial street where shops were closing and entered the residential area.

The surroundings suddenly became quiet, but Hong Xiaoxi and You Fei were not too scared. After all, Xiongshan Port was guarded by the Wang clan, so the security was not bad.

As for holiday taboos? The deterrent effect of such vague and intangible things was not even as strong as the teacher's loud voice in the minds of the two girls.

"That's great! It would be even better if we could come out and play every day," Hong Xiaoxi said regretfully.

Yuffie, from a modest background, rolled her eyes at her friend: "Going out every day? Just tonight, we'd probably drop in the rankings..."

Competition within the Qingyun Martial Arts Academy is fierce, with some top students training relentlessly even on their days off.

“I’m not afraid, so what are you afraid of, you’re number one? Besides, practicing hard is useless. You need a stroke of luck to open your ‘acupoints’… Today is the Divine Wind Festival. Maybe we’ll be blessed by the Divine Wind Goddess and encounter the cave of some senior?” Hong Xiaoxi thought back to the stories she had read and couldn’t help but fantasize.

Although the instructors always said that we should cultivate our true qi to perfection before considering the cultivation of the acupoints, as that would be twice as effective, the competition in the academy was about combat strength, and those who had cultivated the "eye acupoints" and "ear acupoints" had a very obvious advantage.

Therefore, even if the results of the competition do not affect the final "ranking", the apprentices still pursue both internal energy cultivation and internal energy refinement.

However, the pills that aid in refining one's cultivation points are far too expensive; neither Hong Xiaoxi nor You Fei can afford them...

“I don’t remember you being particularly devout to the Goddess of the Divine Wind…” Yuffie gave her friend a look of “disdain” before saying, “I think the instructors’ constant emphasis on perfecting true qi before refining the acupoints must have a deeper meaning. Don’t rush the refining of acupoints.”

"How can I not be anxious? Once the eyes, ears and four orifices are opened, and the gun fighting technique is combined, I will immediately have the combat power of the peak of the orifice-opening stage..." Hong Xiaoxi stopped abruptly before she finished speaking, because a breeze from who knows where suddenly blew across her cheek, leaving a cut on her smooth, delicate face. At the same time, the dim streetlights around her seemed to be malfunctioning and began to flicker.

"The streetlights are broken? No, it seems... it seems it's already past 11:45 PM... right, Xiaoxi?" Yuffie's expression suddenly became tense, and she stammered. She seemed to want to hear her friend's mocking voice to bolster her courage.

However, she received no response for a long time!

Oh no! Yuffie hurriedly turned around, only to find that her friend Xiaoxi was nowhere to be seen, leaving only a few drops of blood in her place.

The little girl was ice cold all over. She shivered and squatted down, touched the blood on the ground with her finger, and confirmed with her intuition that it came from her friend.

Yuffie's eyes instantly filled with tears, and she wanted to break down and cry, but she forced herself to calm down and prepared to rush back to the dojo to seek help from the instructors... Maybe there was still hope for Xiaoxi!

But just as she was struggling to control her emotions, a gentle voice sounded behind her: "What happened here?"

Yuffie looked in the direction of the sound and saw a man dressed in black and wearing a mask.

For some reason, despite her suspicious attire, she suddenly felt at ease, believing the other person to be reliable, and told them everything that had just happened.

Upon hearing this, the man pondered for a few seconds, then took the drop of blood into his hand to "investigate." Just as he was about to ask another question, a gust of wind blew by without any warning. Its power was so great that even the man could not maintain his balance and was swept up, rushing straight towards the suddenly appearing "crack," as if he were about to enter another world.

Just before he was about to be swallowed by the crack, he could faintly see a glimmer of fire rushing towards him.

……

Nanshan, a hot spring hotel.

As the hour of Hai (9-11 PM) approached, eight figures draped in raincoats with distinctive patterns emerged from the mountains and forests, surrounding the entire inn.

Then, they each took out a command flag and planted it in the corresponding position.

The next moment, a tremendous power surged from the eight command flags simultaneously, and they connected with each other, instantly isolating the inn from the outside world.

General Su Xuanbing, who was meditating with her eyes closed by the hot spring, noticed something was wrong and opened her eyes.

"This is... the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation set up with array flags?"

"In addition, there are eight supernatural cultivators wearing 'heavenly dog ​​raincoats'... What a grand gesture!"

"There's definitely something wrong with this hot spring!"

Su Xuanbing snorted coldly, showing no fear in the face of eight cultivators of the same level forming an array to surround and kill him.

As a martial artist who specializes in "combat techniques," one may lack strength, but one must never lack courage.

She stood up abruptly, her white inner lining instantly turning red, and she entered battle mode.

The fiery wheels roared into the sky, and she pointed her flaming spear at the top of her lungs, shouting:
"Who are you, you cowardly rat? Dare to come out and fight!"

(End of this chapter)