So it was this guy after all.
Qin Zifeng—Jiang Che still remembered the last time they met was several years ago.
Back then, Qin Zifeng was just an ordinary farmer, but his entire family had been slaughtered by monsters.
So he wanted to seek immortality and ask for the Dao, to exact revenge.
However, he was already over forty years old at that time, and without any talent, no place would accept him.
Later, unable to bear it, he went alone to hunt down the monsters for revenge.
Jiang Che happened to be leading his junior disciples out for training at the time and encountered him by chance, so he saved him.
After understanding the situation, Jiang Che pulled some strings and got him registered as a disciple of the Shenxiao Sect.
At that time, Shenxiao Town had no real governance, purely following the path of a harmonious world.
Jiang Che then appointed Qin Zifeng as the Town Chief of Shenxiao Town, gradually guiding him onto the path of seeking immortality.
Qin Zifeng wore a simple blue robe, made of ordinary fabric.
Though his face was full of wrinkles, it still radiated vitality, with a kind smile.
“Boss, your buns really smell delicious. I just happened to be out on business today, so I thought I’d come have a few.”
Saying that, Qin Zifeng took out several copper coins and handed them to the shop owner.
“How could we accept money when the Town Chief comes to eat our buns?”
“Ah! Just take it, this is a small business after all…”
They both refused for a while, and Jiang Che couldn’t help but feel speechless.
It was exactly like on Lanxing, when the elders in a family visit a relative’s shop and both sides keep politely refusing payment.
But what surprised Jiang Che was that Qin Zifeng was already well over fifty back then, and ordinary people usually didn’t live that long.
Yet now, his voice was stronger than before, looking like he truly had stepped onto the path of longevity.
“Huh? Who’s this kid?”
Qin Zifeng noticed Jiang Che standing nearby and asked.
“Uh… right, kid, I haven’t asked your name! You look unfamiliar.”
“Ah? I… I just arrived in this town, and I’m about to leave soon. Don’t mind me.”
Jiang Che answered awkwardly.
Qin Zifeng stroked his long beard and muttered, “Is that so, leaving in such a hurry…”
“Oh! Right, I have some business to attend to. Little one, although you’re leaving, I hope you have fun!”
After speaking, Qin Zifeng said a simple farewell and left.
“The Town Chief is still as kind as ever. By the way, kid, where are you headed next?”
“Uh… do you know which direction Heaven Town is?”
“Heaven Town? You’re going there? That’s far away. Why would you want to go there?”
“That’s where my family is.”
Upon hearing this, the bun shop owner didn’t doubt the kid much, only a little incredulous and silently thinking it over.
“At your pace, you’ll probably need over ten days to get there.”
Jiang Che was secretly surprised but recalled that after he collapsed in Shenxiao Town, someone had taken him to Heaven Town.
Though the details escaped him.
“Alright! Thanks, boss.”
Jiang Che thanked him in a childlike voice and walked away slowly.
As he left, the boss stuffed a few more buns into his hands.
The owner also told him to come by if he got hungry.
Jiang Che even asked for a sturdy stick to help with pathfinding—if he had to go slow, so be it.
Sigh.
After thinking for a long time, Jiang Che finally decided to see if there was any merchant caravan heading to Heaven Town or passing by it.
Suddenly, he realized someone had been tailing him.
The feeling didn’t seem like Lin Yin.
After all, Jiang Che didn’t know why, but he could sense that his internal spiritual energy had become much fuller.
Although he couldn’t cultivate, he could still perform some little tricks he had learned before.
So he had deliberately wrapped the Shen Shi Lin Yin had placed on him with his own spiritual power to make himself untraceable.
But if it wasn’t Lin Yin, then who?
The feeling was very eerie, like a ravenous wolf eyeing a rabbit.
Jiang Che could only weave through the crowd.
Just as he felt a breath of relief, suddenly someone covered his mouth and nose, and he lost consciousness.
………
Outside Shenxiao Town, past a bamboo forest, stood a strange wooden cabin.
A figure in a black robe was carrying a sack on his back.
The Heipaoren emitted a chilling aura that made people extremely uncomfortable.
“Hey! Didn’t you say you caught a baby boy? Where is he?”
Inside the cabin, a burly bald man with a bruised face came up the stairs from below—he was the brainless one Lin Yin had taught a lesson to.
Hearing this, the black-robed man first threw the sack on the ground.
“Stop talking. The ‘rabbit’ beat it away.”
His voice was as cold and sinister as his aura, sending chills down the spine.
“What kind of rabbit?”
“Big-chested.”
Old Meng was dumbfounded, wearing a look of disbelief.
“Believe it or not! But on the way, I saw that kid, and I felt an incredibly pure spiritual energy coming from him!
…Hiss!”
He then untied the sack, revealing the head of the person inside.
It was none other than the bound Jiang Che.
“Heh heh heh! Although this kid’s energy and blood are weak, it’s extremely pure. Definitely top-tier Furnace material!”
Old Meng grew confused listening, and when he saw it was a boy, the corners of his mouth twitched.
“I say, you pervert, you want boys too? We only came to help catch a kid for you; don’t come back without paying if you catch the wrong one!”
“Hmph!”
The Heipaoren snorted coldly, too lazy to explain more, crouching down and rubbing his rough hand over Jiang Che’s shape through the sack.
“Told you, you wouldn’t understand! When my Master sees this kid, he’ll be shocked.”
At this moment, Jiang Che struggled to control his breathing, not daring to move rashly.
It seemed he had been kidnapped, and the other party was very sensitive to physique.
Judging from this, the situation was quite troublesome.
His original Linggen had been an extremely pure Water Spiritual Root, superior even to the Mutated Heavenly Spiritual Root in terms of talent.
Even if the Linggen was gone, his body was still extremely rare material.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah! I can’t talk with you guys who cultivate by crooked methods. Let my boss handle this. Boss!”
Old Meng shouted.
A moment later, the previously seen well-dressed man ascended from the basement, holding a fan, looking even more refined.
Wu Qing came forward and took a careful look.
“Hm? You’ve got good eyes. You managed to catch this one…”
“Heh heh, it’s your good eye. This kid’s pretty good, right?”
“Too bad you still got the wrong one. This kid can’t be taken.”
The Heipaoren was stunned at Wu Qing’s words, looking at him.
“What do you mean?”
Wu Qing shrugged helplessly.
“I’ve seen this kid before. He has a Master with him, probably still nearby. His Master is not someone to be trifled with.”
“Hm? His Master? Who is his Master? Stronger than my Master?”
The Heipaoren scrutinized Jiang Che carefully but couldn’t see anything special.
“His Master is Lin Yin, Head of Lingjian Peak. If you don’t want to die, you’d better put him back where you took him from.”
The Heipaoren’s mind was struck like rotten thunder.
He had heard of the youngest Head of Lingjian Peak in the Shenxiao Sect.
If it really was her, charging in with a hundred of himself would only end in being crushed to dust.
“You-you-you’re not lying to me, right? Rumor has it that Head Lin disappeared long ago!”
“Why would I lie? Believe it or not!”