Cultivating Immortality Through a Hundred Lifetimes: I Possess the Heavenly Book of Merit

Yu Yan vanished into the shadow of the fir tree.

The slightly ajar temple gate was pushed open a crack from the inside, and a small figure slid out along the crack, moving nimbly like a cat.

It's a silver ring.

The young Taoist boy who stood on the left side of the altar during the day and who had previously led Yu Yan into the temple.

He was no longer the arrogant man he had been during the day. He walked briskly, glancing left and right, carrying a bulging package that was bigger than his head.

The package wasn't tied tightly, with a corner revealing the arc of half a silver ingot and a few neatly folded pieces of cloth.

He was walking so fast that he almost tripped over the threshold. He staggered and steadied himself, but the bundle in his arms swayed.

Ding--

A copper coin slipped out from the gap in the package, landed on the bluestone slab, rolled twice, and lay on the ground, gleaming with a dim copper light.

Silver Ring hurriedly bent down to pick it up, stuffed it back into the package, and then looked around warily.

Yu Yan concealed his figure slightly.

Silver Ring didn't notice him. She hugged the bundle tightly again, turned around, and quickly disappeared into the depths of the forest along another path.

Yu Yan did not pursue.

Because he has someone behind him.

The wind has changed.

The night breeze in the forest was disturbed by a presence, although that presence was extremely low and well concealed, almost blending into the darkness.

However, Yu Yan's divine sense still caught a faint, almost inaudible sound of clothes rubbing together.

This person was just three zhang away behind him.

He turned around abruptly, his right hand already gripping the handle of the replica pig-slaughtering knife hidden in his sleeve, spiritual threads spreading across it, ready to pounce at any moment.

The person immediately raised both hands.

Moonlight filtered through the branches and leaves, and fragmented silver light illuminated that face.

It was the young man from the altar during the day.

The one who could sense Yu Yan's divine sense was suspected to be the cultivator in the late stage of Qi Refining.

He didn't speak, but simply raised his hands, palms facing forward, waved to greet her, and then opened his mouth.

Judging from the lip movements, Yu Yan deduced that the other person was saying, "I have no hostility."

However, Yu Yan did not speak, nor did he put down the knife.

The two stood facing each other silently, three zhang apart.

After a long while, the young man slowly lowered his hand, not approaching, but simply standing there, seemingly having confirmed that no one else was around. Then he whispered:

"Are you here to find someone?"

Yu Yan nodded.

"Zhang Silin, have you heard of him, fellow Daoist?"

Now that both sides have discovered each other's identities, there is no need to continue pretending, and there is no problem with addressing each other as fellow Daoist.

"Zhang Silin, I seem to remember him."

The young man stroked his chin and pondered for a moment.

"I think I heard it when I first arrived. The previous group of people had already ascended to heaven, and Zhang Silin was among them."

Yu Yan remained silent for a moment. Given the current situation, Zhang Silin was probably already in grave danger.

My name is Zhou Yan.

Seeing that Yu Yan remained silent, the other party spoke up again:

"Don't you know your friend's name?"

"Yu Yan".

"Fellow Daoist Yu, since you have come here to find someone, I think your purpose is not much different from mine. As you have probably noticed, this place is not a proper place for cultivation. A friend of mine came here to explore before, and then disappeared without a trace. This abbot is not simple."

"Moreover, the Taoist temple at Qianmen Mountain..."

At this point, he softened his voice.

"I've been watching this for three months."

"Three months."

Yu Yan repeated the number, his gaze falling on the other person's face.

"So, what did you find out from your investigation?"

Zhou Yan's expression froze, and he quickly raised his chin, pointing to the path where the silver ring had disappeared:

"Hasn't this already made progress? Yinhuan is a Taoist acolyte in the temple, he must know a lot. If we capture him, we can definitely get a lot of information out of him."

Yu Yan nodded and looked into the dark, dense forest.

"It seems this Taoist abbot is no good; otherwise, why would even the young Taoist disciples want to run away?"

"Instead of investigating in the Taoist temple, it's better to get the information directly from living people."

Yu Yan made a decision.

"Walk."

Without saying much, the two disappeared into the fir forest one after the other.

The mountains and forests are more difficult to traverse at night than during the day.

The mist rose from the valley floor, turning the surrounding forest murky and gray.

The shadows of the trees are undulating, the vines are sprawling, and underfoot lies slippery moss and decaying leaves piled up over countless years.

Zhou Yan was in front, and Yu Yan was behind. In order to conceal their figures, neither of them used their spiritual power and relied solely on their physical strength to chase after Yin Huan.

However, the speed of the silver ring was completely different from before.

His steps were heavy, and his small figure staggered through the woods. His once rapid pace became unsteady, as if he were drunk.

He tripped over the overgrown tree roots several times and fell forward, but he held tightly to the large bundle in his arms and refused to let go, getting up and continuing to run.

They chased after them for a while longer, but the fog grew even thicker.

The speed of the silver ring visibly slowed down.

He began to frequently trip over pebbles, get his face scratched by drooping branches, and once even missed a step on a slope, tumbling into a bush, with several silver ingots jingling out of his bundle.

He hurriedly got up, knelt on the ground and groped for the silver to put back in his bundle, then got up and continued running.

But he could no longer run.

When Yu Yan and Zhou Yan chased him to a mountain hollow, they finally saw the figure.

Silver Ring lay fallen in the pile of dead leaves.

The bundle was still in his arms, tightly clutched by his thin arms, as if protecting something more precious than his own life. He lay on his side, his face buried among the decaying leaves, his body curled into a small ball, trembling incessantly.

"Wait a minute."

Yu Yan stopped Zhou Yan, and his divine sense probed out first.

There were no ambushes, no restrictions, and no traps.

Silver Ring curled up, letting out a reluctant whimper.

The two approached each other.

That once delicate and beautiful face was now as pale as paper, her lips were bloodless, and her eyes were sunken, as if something had drained all the moisture from her.

His eyes were wide open, pupils unfocused, yet he stared intently at the approaching figure, muttering incoherently:

"No, no, don't come any closer..."

Silver Ring shouted, but it wasn't directed at Yu Yan and the other person.

His eyes looked at them, but it was as if he saw something else through them.

Zhou Yan crouched down and reached out to check his pulse—

"Don't touch me!"

Silver Ring suddenly shrank back, shrinking even deeper into the pile of dead leaves.

His voice was shrill and broken, choked with sobs:

"Let me go home, please! I've already brought several groups of people here. Let me go, let me go..."

As he spoke, his voice grew softer and softer, while his body began to tremble violently.

Something was wriggling beneath the silver ring's skin.

Something alive was slowly moving through his veins.

The raised lines spread upwards from his wrist, into his sleeve, and then emerged from the side of his neck, finally converging at his chest to form a grayish mark.

The mark flashed by, but Yu Yan had already clearly seen what it looked like.

It's the Ganoderma lucidum tuber that the young Taoist boy brought before!

"He has a restriction on his body."

Zhou Yan said in a deep voice,

"The ones that the temple planted for them."

Before she could finish speaking, Yin Huan suddenly arched her body and let out a suppressed scream.