A man from the Big Dipper, starting his charlatanship at Mount Tai.

"You don't know anything! This is called negotiation! My dad said that when it comes to business, you have to dare to speak up!"

"Your dad said riding a dog would make your crotch rip, why didn't yours rip?"

"You rode one too, didn't you? How dare you criticize me?"

Ye Fan: "......"

Lin Xiu: "..."

Lin Xiu felt he had discovered the key point.

These two little brats probably became acquainted with dogs much earlier than he imagined.

.......

Finally, Lin Xiu pulled out two more strings of candied hawthorns, and Wang Shu and Lei Bo each got one. Only then were they satisfied, and they skipped and hopped ahead to lead the way.

The two boys bickered while munching on candied hawthorns, arguing about everything from "who broke into the bigger bird's nest last time" to "who peed further in the river the day before yesterday," making Ye Fan's lips twitch.

The village was small, and some villagers peeked out from along the way. When they saw that the two were unfamiliar cultivators, their eyes showed wariness and unease. Some elderly people pulled the playing children back into their houses and hurriedly closed the wooden doors.

Wang Shu ran to a slightly larger stone house and knocked on the door repeatedly.

"Master Zhang! Master Zhang! A guest is looking for you!"

Inside the stone house.

Old Master Zhang sat at a dilapidated wooden table, on which lay a yellowed animal hide map. The map's lines were rough, marked with some distorted symbols, and a striking circle was drawn in vermilion in the center.

He stared at the red circle, his brows furrowed, and sighed deeply.

On the table was a rough earthenware bowl, half-filled with murky well water, reflecting his sorrowful, aged face.

"This month... we still need 30 jin of raw materials."

Master Zhang was deeply worried because... the bandits' appetites were growing ever larger.

Last time, that leader called Liu the Bearded Man came to the village with dozens of men. He held a gleaming knife to the neck of the villagers, grinned, and said that if they didn't pay their debts by next month, he would take a few people to the mine to pay off their debts.

Of course, Master Zhang didn't want anyone in the village to be captured. He knew very well that once someone entered those illegal mines, less than one in ten would come out alive.

But the source stones available for mining near the village are dwindling, and the young, strong men who go into the mountains every day are bringing back smaller and smaller stones. If this continues...

"Master Zhang Wu!"

His thoughts were interrupted by the knocking of two little kids.

Uncle Zhang got up, walked unsteadily to the door, and opened the wooden door.

Wang Shu and Lei Bo stood outside the door, their mouths full of sugar crumbs.

Behind them stood two more figures.

One was a young man dressed in a Taoist robe, with a handsome face and an otherworldly air, standing with his hands behind his back, like a banished immortal descending to earth. The other was a boy who followed closely behind, about fifteen or sixteen years old, with bright eyes and vigorous blood, clearly a cultivator.

Master Zhang's heart tightened.

A cultivator... another cultivator.

"What business do you two immortals have with me?" Master Zhang forced a smile and cupped his hands in greeting.

Lin Xiu's gaze swept over Master Zhang, then fell on the animal hide map on the table inside the room, a hint of understanding flashing in his eyes.

"Master Zhang, may I come inside for a chat?"

Upon hearing that the other party knew his name, Master Zhang hesitated for a moment before replying:

"Please, please come in."

Wang Shu and Lei Bo wanted to follow them in, but Zhang Wuye glared at them and said, "Go away, go away and play somewhere else! Don't cause trouble!"

The two boys stuck out their tongues, grabbed their candied hawthorns, and ran off into the distance.

Chapter 127 Immortal Master's Initiation (Second Update)

The room was simple, with only a wooden table, a few tree stumps serving as stools, some tools for mining Originium piled in the corner, and a few strangely shaped stone tools with blurry patterns engraved on the walls.

Lin Xiu sat down on the tree stump without ceremony, while Ye Fan stood beside him, looking around curiously.

"Uncle Zhang, the reason I came here today is actually to borrow a few things from you."

Lin Xiu got straight to the point.

"Borrow something?" Zhang Wuye was taken aback.

"What is there in my dilapidated house that would be of interest to you two immortals?"

"Of course it's the divine source stone armor left by your ancestors, and... the map and notes about Purple Mountain?"

[Huh? How did this young man know that?!]

Master Zhang was startled, but he forced himself to calm down in the next second.

When Zhang Wuye looked up at Lin Xiu, only pure confusion remained in his cloudy eyes.

"Immortal... what did you say? I don't understand."

Lin Xiu: "......"

Lin Xiu didn't bother with Zhang Wuye's pleasantries and spoke frankly.

“Master Zhang, now that we’ve come all this way, we must have made thorough preparations.”

“Even before I arrived, I had already foreseen that the fifth generation Source Master Zhang Lin would enter Zishan in his later years and never return. But he left behind the legacy of the Source Book, and the Source Master lineage has been rooted in Shizhai ever since.”

"Later, your ancestor entered Purple Mountain and lost the Origin Book there, right?"

........

"Who...who exactly are you?"

Master Zhang's face turned pale, and he took half a step back, his back pressed against the rough stone wall.

He never imagined that the secret that this village had guarded for generations would be revealed so casually by a stranger!

Who I am is not important.

“The important thing is that I can help you retrieve the Source Book,” Lin Xiu said softly.

"Before you refuse, please hear my terms."

"After the matter is accomplished, if you are willing, Master Zhang, I can pass on the Origin Book to you on the spot."

"If you feel you are too old to cultivate, I can promise to take a talented descendant of your Zhang family as your disciple in the future and pass on the Origin Book."

"Ok?"

Master Zhang also realized something; the cultivator in front of him... didn't seem to be here to forcibly seize or plunder?

While it is indeed a bit direct and domineering, this condition... seems pretty good for him?

......

The room fell silent for a moment.

After a long while, Uncle Zhang let out a long breath and his shoulders slumped.

"Alright... since you already know, I... have nothing to hide." Master Zhang smiled wryly.

"I can give you the stone armor, the map, and the ancestral notes. I only ask... I only ask one thing of you, Immortal."

"explain."

Zhang Wuye looked up, a glimmer of hope appearing in his eyes:

"If the Immortal Master can truly retrieve the Source Book... I beg the Immortal Master to take one of my Zhang family's descendants as a disciple in the future and pass on the Source Book."

"As for myself... I am old and frail, and dull-witted, so I do not aspire to embark on the path of cultivation."

Lin Xiu remained silent for a few seconds, then suddenly laughed heartily.

"Haha~"

"Master Zhang, what if I told you that with my help, you could not only cultivate the Origin Heaven Scripture, but also embark on the path of cultivation?"

"what?"

Master Zhang was stunned for a long time.

"I... I can actually embark on the path of cultivation?"

Why not?

"You have the bloodline of the Source Celestial Master flowing through your veins, and your sensitivity to mountains and rivers far surpasses that of ordinary people. However, you are getting old, your qi and blood are declining, and you find it difficult to master ordinary cultivation techniques."

"However, I have a method to empower you and help you ascend to the highest realm, directly entering the Four Extremes Secret Realm. But... this method goes against the will of Heaven and is quite opportunistic. After the empowerment, your cultivation will hardly advance any further."

“If you don’t mind the consequences, I can initiate you and guide you into the Taoist path.”

Master Zhang stood frozen in place, as if struck by lightning.

Four Extremes Secret Realm?

Although he was not a cultivator, he had heard of the divisions of cultivation realms. The Sea of ​​Wheels, the Dao Palace, the Four Extremes, the Dragon Transformation... The Four Extremes Secret Realm was a realm that even many elders of small sects might not be able to reach!

One leap to the top, but then it's impossible to make any further progress...

As long as you can reach the fourth level, it doesn't matter if it's difficult to make any further progress!

Uncle Zhang's breathing became rapid.

He is now over sixty, and according to the lifespan of an ordinary person, he can live for at most another twenty or thirty years. If he can attain the cultivation of the Four Extremes, his lifespan can be extended by several hundred years!

More importantly... only with strength can he protect the village and the villagers who watched him grow up!

"Is what you say true, Immortal?" Master Zhang asked again to confirm.

“Of course,” Lin Xiu nodded again.

"Okay...I do!"

Old Master Zhang was overcome with tears and was about to collapse to the ground.

"I beg the immortal master to grant my request and guide me into the path of Taoism!"

......

Before Master Zhang knelt down, Lin Xiu raised his hand to support him, using his divine power to lift Master Zhang up.