Under One Person: The Taoist Priest Descends the Mountain

Xia He turned her head and looked at Cheng Mo reproachfully: "Cheng Mo! Look how scared you've made Grandpa Xia!"

Cheng Mo innocently spread his hands: "I didn't do anything."

After catching her breath, Xia Liuqing pointed at Cheng Mo and said, "You didn't do anything, so why did you bounce back so far?!"

Cheng Mo pressed his chest, his tone helpless: "Maybe... I'm too strong. Grandpa knows about knee-jerk reflexes, right? It's that kind of instinctive defense that you can't control at all."

Xia Liuqing's face turned from red to white, then from white to bluish-purple. Her chest heaved violently. She pointed at Cheng Mo, her lips trembling, but she couldn't utter a word.

Xia He immediately stepped forward, hands on her hips, and scolded Cheng Mo, "Little Taoist! How dare you speak like that! Is that how you comfort someone?!"

After scolding Cheng Mo, she quickly turned around, adopting a docile and worried expression, and tried to soothe Xia Liuqing: "Grandpa Xia, please don't be angry. Don't take it to heart by arguing with that little Taoist priest. He's just not good with words! He definitely didn't mean it that way!"

As she spoke, she winked at Cheng Mo, then continued to smooth things over: "Could it be... Grandpa Xia, was the timing of your Qi circulation off? Or was the angle a little off? After all, this little Taoist's physique is a bit special..."

Xia Liuqing's expression remained ashen, but she had finally caught her breath and regained some of her composure.

He stared at Cheng Mo for a long time, then looked down at his own hands, which had been numb from the shock. After a moment of silence, he sighed deeply, and the anger on his face was replaced by a complex sense of dejection.

"Perhaps... I'm just too weak." Xia Liuqing's voice lowered, filled with a strong sense of defeat. "Kid, in your situation, I'm afraid I'm... powerless."

Xia He panicked: "Grandpa Xia..."

Xia Liuqing waved her hand, interrupting her, and looked up at Cheng Mo with a serious expression: "Young man, although I have a bad temper, I'm good at judging people. You are sincerely seeking the Dao and your character is righteous. Since I can't help you, I'll show you a way."

Xia He quickly pressed on, "Who? Is someone even more powerful than Grandpa Xia?"

Xia Liuqing said self-deprecatingly, "What's so great about me? I'm just an old man with a little reputation in this corner of the southwest. I'm talking about Zhang Zhiwei, the current Celestial Master of Longhu Mountain, the universally acknowledged peerless extraordinary person."

He paused, his tone complex: "If there's anyone in this world who can see through the root of your situation, perhaps only that one. His cultivation and his vision are beyond our comprehension."

Cheng Mo remained silent for a few seconds. If he told Old Man Xia that the Celestial Master had already issued a suspended death sentence, wouldn't Old Man Xia just give up?

His helpless expression faded, replaced by a calm demeanor, and he solemnly clasped his hands in a fist salute to Xia Liuqing.

"Thank you for your guidance, sir. If the trip to Guizhou is still fruitless, I must say I must go to Longhu Mountain and shamelessly ask to see the Celestial Master to try my luck."

……

Zhongnan Mountain, Liangyi Temple.

Cheng Shouzhen squatted by the poultry shed, watching the speckled chickens lead a flock of hens to peck at the grains, while the lynx dozed at his feet and the big yellow dog chased its tail not far away.

"Achoo!"

The old Taoist priest sneezed loudly, rubbed his nose, and casually scooped up the big cat, burying his face in its fur and rubbing against it.

"Big Fox, it must be that brat talking about me behind my back again... That heartless little thing, he's been down the mountain for so many days and hasn't even called back once..."

He held the cat, slowly stood up, and prepared to stroll back to the front yard. Just as he rounded the poultry enclosure fence, he vaguely heard some noises coming from the front yard. It must be that someone had entered the Taoist temple.

"Hmm? It seems like Xiao Li wouldn't be delivering things today..." Cheng Shou muttered to himself, quickening his pace.

As soon as I entered the front yard, I saw Hua Feng, the head of the Northwest Region of Nadutong, standing in the yard with a smile, carrying two boxes of exquisitely packaged pastries. He looked like he had just come in and was looking at the old pine tree in the yard.

"Oh, what a rare guest." Cheng Shou walked over carrying the cat, speaking slowly, "Xiao Hua, you're such a busy person, what brings you to my shabby Taoist temple? And you're even carrying things, why are you being so helpful?"

Hua Feng placed the snacks on the stone table in the courtyard and found a stone stool to sit down: "Look at you, no matter how busy I am, I have to make time to come and see you, right?"

Cheng Shou glanced at the pastry box and raised an eyebrow: "Don't give me that. You, Hua Dafeng, don't come here unless you need something. Tell me, has my good-for-nothing disciple gotten into trouble again?"

Hua Feng waved his hand, his smile unchanged: "No, no, Master Cheng is very clever. I came here mainly because I was passing through and thought that I hadn't visited you in so long, so I thought I'd stop by and take a look."

Cheng Shou sat down opposite him, placed the large fox on the stone table, picked up a pastry, broke it open, and fed it to the large yellow dog that came over, with a forced smile.

"You little brat, you're not being honest at all. Within a radius of twenty miles, besides that village at the foot of the mountain, there's only my Taoist temple and one road leading up the mountain. You've taken a really roundabout route just to pass by!"

Hua Feng's smile remained unchanged: "As expected of you, sir, you saw right through me."

Cheng Shou rolled his eyes: "...Alright, alright, stop with the nonsense. What's wrong? What happened to that brat this time?"

Hua Feng stopped beating around the bush and his smile faded slightly: "Actually, it's nothing serious. It's just that young Daoist Cheng Mo has been getting a little closer to the Quanxing people lately. Of course, it's not a matter of principle. Young people like him, it's normal for them to meet different people and see different paths."

He paused, observed Cheng Shou's expression, and then continued, "The main thing is... Young Master Cheng himself said that he has absolutely no Qi sensation. Old Master Cheng, is this... true?"

Cheng Shou chewed on a snack and mumbled an "Mmm": "Really? No Qi sensation? No Qi sensation? It's not a big deal. Does this kind of thing... really require you, the regional head, to come all the way here to ask me?"

Hua Feng no longer concealed his intentions, leaning forward slightly: "Then do you think that Master Cheng's situation might not be an isolated case? If his method of cultivation can achieve... well, a rather powerful level, and if it could be popularized..."

He didn't finish his sentence, but his meaning was clear.

Hua Feng had naturally been paying attention to Cheng Mo's itinerary during this period. A person with no Qi sense could render the Corpse Demon Tu Junfang helpless and defeat a slippery person like Wang Zhenqiu, who had to lose an arm and escape. The combat power he displayed was far beyond that of an ordinary superhuman.

If this method can be replicated and scaled up, it means that, theoretically, it is possible to mass-produce a large number of quasi-superhumans or even superhumans with formidable combat capabilities.

This will completely disrupt the delicate balance of the existing population proportion of superhumans.

It's important to know that the proportion of extraordinary individuals in the total population has a dangerous threshold that has been repeatedly verified throughout history—approximately one in fifty thousand.

If this value is exceeded, the power imbalance between superhumans and ordinary people will be disrupted, which could easily lead to uncontrollable turmoil and conflict.

Maintaining this balance is the bottom line that all major forces, including NaDuTong, tacitly agree on, and it is also the red line that they try their best to avoid touching.

If there is any possibility of a large-scale disruption to this balance, it will inevitably attract the most severe attention, and even... suppression.

Cheng Shou suddenly realized, brushed the crumbs from his hand, and chuckled, "So that's what you're worried about. Well, you can rest assured now. My good-for-nothing apprentice is a one-in-a-million exception!"