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

In his previous life, Qi Fei had seen many women.

It's sad to say, but generally speaking, women don't care about his looks.

In rare cases, blind women have also taken a liking to him.

Those blind women were unforgettable to him, but the girl in front of him was clearly not one of them.

Qi Fei knew the answer.

He had traveled thousands of miles from Tianlan City to Nanshan Town without ever being approached by anyone. Why was he suddenly receiving such treatment upon arriving in Nanshan Town?

Offering unsolicited favors is either a sign of malice or theft.

As he was thinking, the girl opposite him turned her eyes, her gaze seemingly hooked, and gently slanted at his face.

"Unfamiliar face?" She rested her chin on her hand, her eyes curving into crescents. "You seem like a sly one to me."

Qi Fei remained calm and said indifferently, "Shouldn't you say your own name before asking someone else's? That's what politeness is."

The girl paused for a moment, then smiled.

Even through the veil, you could still see a hint of that smile.

"Ruyan," she said, then asked, "And you?"

"Lin Bei," Qi Fei casually made up a pseudonym.

"Lin...Bei." Ruyan nodded, commenting seriously, "A good name."

What's so good about it?

Qi Fei thought to himself, "You don't understand the Minnan dialect, how would you know what's so good about this name?"

"You came here for it too?" Ruyan raised her hand, her slender fingers pointing to the distant, mist-shrouded mountain silhouette.

Qi Fei continued, following her line of thought, his tone calm: "Aren't all these people in town here for this reason?"

He added, "I heard that a few years ago, sword energy soared into the sky there, causing quite a stir. I'm just here to try my luck."

Upon hearing this, Ruyan gently shook her head: "A few years ago, the sword energy was indeed soaring into the sky, and the entire mountain was shrouded in sword energy, which could be seen for miles around."

"But two years ago, that sword energy suddenly went silent, and there was no sound at all."

She looked up at Qi Fei, her eyes filled with a hint of inquiry: "No one can say for sure when the sword energy will rise again next."

"When the sword energy soared into the sky," Qi Fei asked casually, "didn't anyone go in to check?"

Ruyan didn't respond to that.

She simply shook her head and said, "I'm going into the mountains in a few days. If you'd like, why don't you come along?"

Qi Fei felt a chill run down his spine.

This girl only met me today, and after exchanging only a few words, she invited me to come along?

How is this any different from how he asked a girl out to a movie and dinner as soon as he met her in his previous life?

Although he thought that way, he smiled and casually replied, "Who knows what will happen in a few days?"

Ruyan smiled and said, "Don't worry, I just..."

Just then, a person suddenly entered through the inn's entrance.

He was a tall, pale-faced man with a clean-shaven face and little expression. As soon as he entered, his gaze swept around the hall and landed on Ruyan.

When Ruyan saw the person, she nodded slightly, as if to greet him.

Qi Fei witnessed this and asked, "Do you know them?"

"Friends from the martial arts world," Ru Yan replied casually, standing up.

She didn't say anything more and walked straight towards the pale-faced man. The two whispered a few words at the door, then walked out of the inn side by side and disappeared into the crowd around the street corner.

Qi Fei gazed in the direction they had left before picking up the teacup on the table and taking a sip.

Friends from the martial arts world?

I'm afraid not.

"Boy, what sect or school do you belong to?"

No sooner had Ruyan left than the child-like Taoist priest appeared and sat down opposite Qi Fei. His voice still carried a hint of childishness, but his gaze was incredibly shrewd.

Qi Fei raised his head and met those overly mature eyes.

"The Himalayas," he calmly announced, "the Loyalists."

The Taoist nodded, a hint of satisfaction flashing in his eyes.

"Clear-headed and bright-eyed, his whole being pure," he remarked in a wise, old-fashioned manner. "Rare indeed!"

After saying that, without waiting for Qi Fei's reaction, he stood up, walked back to his seat with his hands behind his back, picked up his teacup and continued drinking, as if nothing had happened.

Qi Fei: "..."

baffling.

He looked at that small figure from behind, and a vague guess formed in his mind.

The reason he had attracted their attention was probably because of that phrase, "pure and innocent." He remembered that the last person to describe him with a similar word was Yun Qiyue from the Taiyin Palace.

"Clean".

That's what the child in the jujube tree said back then.

Qi Fei looked down at his hands, then at his clothes, somewhat puzzled.

So, no matter how he disguises himself, in these people's eyes, isn't he still a firefly in the dark, so dazzling that he can't hide it?

As he was pondering this, Ruyan and the pale-faced man had already left the town and arrived at a secluded hillside outside the inn.

There was no one around, only a valley in the distance.

Ruyan stopped and turned around to look at the pale-faced man who had been silent the whole way.

"Yixin," she began, her tone completely different from her words at the inn. Gone was the alluring charm; instead, it carried a hint of coldness. "What happened here?"

The pale-faced man raised his head.

It was Zhu Yixin, who had met Qi Fei once before.

This was Zhu Yixin's true appearance. The sallow-faced, sickly-looking Taoist priest in Tianlan City was merely a disguise he had conjured up on the spot.

In the world of cultivation, who doesn't have a few aliases?

That day, he was beaten so badly by Qi Fei that he was powerless to resist and fled in panic as a shadow, hiding all the way in Tianlan City.

During his recovery, he pondered the boy's methods repeatedly, but couldn't figure it out. How could a mere novice who had only cultivated for three years be so effective at controlling him, a veteran protector?

Until one day, he accidentally triggered the hidden mark left by the saintess.

Those marks are hidden in the shadows of Tianlan City, and only the members of the Shadow God Cult can sense and decipher them.

After reading the explanation, he learned that the Holy Maiden had already set off for Nanshan to find the legendary Sword Immortal's residence.

So, as soon as his injuries had healed a little, he hurriedly headed south.

Qi Fei destroyed several of his handy magical artifacts, so he casually disguised himself and mingled with a caravan heading south, hoping to travel safely for a while.

Who knew that Qi Fei was actually in that caravan!

He was terrified, afraid of being recognized, and kept quiet the whole way. Halfway there, when his injuries had almost healed, he took the opportunity to slip away and find another way south.

After a long and arduous journey, we finally arrived at Nanshan Town a few days ago.

I also met her.

"Holy Maiden," Zhu Yixin said, "I've been exploring this area these past few days and have seen many people enter that valley, but I've never seen anyone come out."

"I suspect...that's a secret passage into Nanshan."

As he spoke, he pointed to a mountain valley shrouded in mist in the distance.

Ruyan, or rather, Ying Wanning, the Holy Maiden of the Shadow God Cult, gently took his hand.

"Yixin, I've told you so many times, just call me Wanning."

She removed her veil, revealing a stunningly beautiful face.

Her eyebrows and eyes were exquisitely beautiful, her skin as white as snow, and a faint smile played at the corners of her lips. In that instant, even the wind blowing across the hillside seemed to soften.

Zhu Yixin did not pull her hand away, but stubbornly shook her head.

"No," he said. "The saintess will always be the saintess of the Cult of Shadows."

There was one more thing he didn't say.

She was also the saint in his heart.