You've only been cultivating for a few years, and you're already talking about cultivating

Wherever there are people, there are towns.

Cultivators are also human beings, and Nanshan Town is such a town.

Ghost Mountain is often rumored to be filled with ghostly wails and howls, and is also associated with terrifying and eerie legends.

But the amazing thing is that, precisely because of these true and false legends, Nanshan Town and the nearby mountain villages are doing quite well.

Qi Fei slightly altered his appearance to make himself look different from before. He spent a day traveling to Nanshan Town.

As soon as he entered the town, he sensed something was amiss.

This Nanshan Town is completely different from Dayan Village Town, which we passed through before.

Among the people walking on the street, three or four out of ten are dressed in unusual ways.

Some wore cloaks, some wore straw hats, some had strange accessories hanging from their waists, and some carried boxes of unknown material in their arms.

It was obvious that they were all cultivators, or thought they were cultivators.

In the town, ordinary people were a minority. They either watched the cultivators with a sense of accustomedness or numbness.

Qi Fei walked calmly down the street, glancing at the cultivators out of the corner of his eye, wondering if this town had always been like this, or if it had just recently become like this.

Suddenly, he heard a voice.

"bass--!"

It sounded like the ringing of a sword, or perhaps the chanting of a sword.

The sound was extremely faint and distant at first, as if it came from afar, so faint that one might think it was an illusion.

But the next moment, it suddenly became clear.

"Clang!"

The sound of metal was crisp and sharp, not like something heard from the ears, but rather like something that exploded directly from the heart.

The sound pierced through the eardrums and went straight to the brain, as if someone had struck an invisible sword inside the skull.

Qi Fei felt a tingling sensation on his scalp, and his whole body froze for a moment.

The metallic sound was like a sword slicing through the sky, or like hundreds of swords ringing out at the same time—clear, sharp, and captivating.

Qi Fei stopped and listened intently. But the people around him covered their ears and frowned, complaining.

"It's starting again!"

"The wailing from the ghosts on Ghost Mountain has been getting louder and louder lately. Are they trying to kill us all?"

"Exactly, it's giving me a headache from all the noise."

Qi Fei was stunned.

A ghost's cry?

What the hell is crying?

He only heard the sound of swords ringing out.

Wait, could the wailing sound they're talking about be the sound of a sword ringing out?

The sound was clear, sharp, and piercing; how could it possibly be a ghost's cry?

The sound of swords chirping lasted for a quarter of an hour before gradually fading away.

Qi Fei suppressed his doubts and continued walking forward, arriving at the largest inn in town.

The inn's facade was small, but the interior was spotless. Several tables were occupied by people, some drinking, some eating, and some talking in hushed tones.

Qi Fei found a corner to sit down and was about to call the waiter when he suddenly heard someone at the next table talking animatedly.

The speaker was a young man, who looked to be in his early twenties. He was handsome with delicate features, dressed in a silk robe, and holding a fan in his hand.

He was showering a girl next to him with attention, his fan swaying loudly.

"Let me tell you, this Ghost Mountain wasn't called this a hundred years ago. It was called Nanshan."

The girl wore a veil, revealing only her eyes.

Those eyes had a slight upturn at the corners, revealing a subtle, alluring charm, a half-smile, a hint of unspoken words.

She simply blinked, and her gaze seemed to come alive, shimmering with light and sparkling with life.

They're looking at you, yet it's as if they're looking at something very, very far away; it's a casual glance, yet it sends a shiver down your spine.

With just a pair of eyes, one can guess what kind of stunning beauty lies beneath the veil; no wonder young men fawn over her.

"Nanshan has a long history, said to date back several thousand years," the young man continued, his voice tinged with pride. "Back then, a great cultivator lived in this mountain, possessing boundless magical power. He later ascended to immortality, leaving behind a mansion..."

"Oh?" The girl blinked, her gaze falling on the young man's face. "How do you know so much?"

The young man straightened his chest, closed his fan, and gently clapped it in his palm: "To be honest, my master is a cultivator."

"I grew up with him, and naturally I know things that others don't."

He leaned closer, inhaling the girl's fragrance with a hint of intoxication: "Especially the current state of Nanshan, which is said to be related to that earth-shattering battle a thousand years ago..."

He stopped mid-sentence.

The young man's mouth was open, but no sound came out.

His lips seemed to be stuck together, and he could only make muffled "ooh ooh ooh" sounds, his face turning red with anxiety.

A child slowly walked down the stairs.

The child looked no more than eight or nine years old, wearing a small Taoist robe, with his hair neatly combed, but his face carried a maturity and indifference that were completely out of character for his age.

His gaze swept over the young man and then landed on the girl's face, his expression so cold it could freeze.

"Don't talk nonsense if there's nothing wrong with it."

The child walked up to the young man, put his hands behind his back, and looked up at his apprentice.

He looked just like a little adult scolding a child who didn't know any better.

Then he turned to the girl, stared at her, and said, "You're hiding your face, who knows where you're from. How dare you spout nonsense?"

The girl frowned slightly when she heard what the child had just said.

Behind the veil, those beautiful eyes narrowed slightly, a hint of coldness flashing across them.

"You old codger pretending to be young," she said coldly, "and you're talking about others too."

The child's hand, holding the teacup, paused.

He slowly raised his head, his gaze falling on the girl, his expression dark and gloomy, completely out of character for his age.

The girl didn't back down and looked at him coldly in return.

Two pairs of eyes met across several tables, and the air seemed to freeze. Guests at nearby tables lowered their heads, not daring to even breathe.

Qi Fei was sitting in the corner eating melon when suddenly the girl's gaze swept over him and landed on him.

Her eyes lit up immediately.

Those eyes, which were just moments ago as cold as ice crystals, now held a smile, their gaze carrying a warmth that was hard to decipher.

She stood up, swaying gracefully, and walked slowly to Qi Fei, sitting down opposite him.

"Young man," she said, resting her chin on her hand, her eyes crinkling into crescent shapes, "you look unfamiliar."

Qi Fei was taken aback.

Was he... hit on?

In his previous life, he lived most of his life with an ordinary appearance, and he was always the one who struck up conversations with others. He never imagined that in this life, with a different body, he would receive such treatment.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the childlike Taoist priest watching him.

A flicker of surprise crossed the child's eyes, but he quickly regained his composure, saying nothing and simply lowering his eyelids to continue drinking his tea.

Qi Fei's heart skipped a beat.

What does that mean?

One or two people were looking at him.

Is there anything special about him?

Is there something wrong with his outfit?

Qi Fei suppressed his doubts, looked at the smiling eyes opposite him, and said, "Unfamiliar face? My name isn't unfamiliar."