Setting Off, Seeking Someone

With such an unexpected delight, he had to make the trip himself.

If they could bring the person back, the Moon Embracing Sect would seemingly have two disciples carrying Protagonist Templates, and his own strength could rise by another wave. Why not?

Lin Fan immediately decided to set off!

Before this, he had honestly been a little timid.

What if he got himself killed?

But now, he was willing to take the risk!

"Fully activate the Sect Protecting Grand Formation. Don't worry about the consumption. While we're gone, there'll only be the seven of them here. Without this, their safety can't be guaranteed."

"Stay in contact with Fifth Elder at all times. If nothing unexpected happens, let them return on their own."

"And we~~~"

Lin Fan narrowed his eyes. "We'll go meet the person who fits the eighth sect rule."

"Set off!"

The five of them rose into the air and hurried toward Hongwu Immortal City.

"The Sect Master and the others have already set out. We should leave too."

"Lest the night grow long and dreams multiply."

"Yes, Fifth Elder."

Duan Qingyao and Xiao Ling'er, their appearances completely changed, also quietly set off...

Outside the inn, people had been keeping watch at all times. Though they had done so very discreetly, they could not escape the eyes of Liang Danxia, that "old monster."

Yet those people never imagined that Duan Qingyao and Xiao Ling'er could not only change their faces, but also alter the fluctuations of their divine sense and their aura. Just like that, they swaggered away right beneath their watchers' noses.

Their journey was completely unimpeded!

No one noticed them even after they had left Hongwu Immortal City, but neither of them relaxed their vigilance.

"Let's take a detour."

Duan Qingyao murmured, "There are quite a few people outside the city. Some of them are bound to be especially cautious. Perhaps they'll watch, or even follow, anyone heading in the direction of the Moon Embracing Sect."

"Therefore, we'll first head west. Once we reach an uninhabited place, we'll circle back and return to the Moon Embracing Sect from the side."

"We'll follow your arrangements."

Xiao Ling'er, disguised as an old woman, nodded gently.

As for Duan Qingyao, she currently looked like a rough old man...

The two left quietly. Thanks to the power of their transformation technique, they were not discovered.

Even if there were any minor "unexpected situations," Duan Qingyao's strength was enough to resolve them.

Elsewhere, Fan Jianqiang hid in the shadows and took out the divination tools he carried with him, casting a fortune for himself.

"Huh?"

"Great fortune?"

The result surprised him. "After so long of casting one fortune every day, this is my first time receiving an omen of great fortune. In that case, I absolutely cannot miss it!"

"According to the omen, I should disguise myself as a fortune-teller outside the northeast gate."

He frowned slightly. "I originally intended to slip away quietly, but it seems that doing so would not be the best choice. As long as I'm careful, nothing unexpected should happen."

A moment later, Fan Jianqiang finished preparing.

With a shake of his body, he transformed into a middle-aged fortune-teller.

He held a cloth banner bearing the four words: Iron Mouth Divination.

Then, just like that, he swaggered out of his hiding place...

Not long afterward, amid the many street stalls outside the northwest gate, an additional fortune-telling stall appeared.

Time passed, and the sun gradually sank westward.

Fan Jianqiang was in no hurry. He refused no one who came for a reading. He accepted Origin Stones, but did not disdain copper coins or silver either. On top of that, he truly possessed some skill, and his readings were quite accurate. Rather than dwindling, the crowd before his stall only grew larger and larger.

From time to time, the sound of something tearing through the air rang out overhead.

Cultivators came and went, and the place was bustling with life.

While telling fortunes, Fan Jianqiang's eyes had a somewhat furtive gleam as they constantly watched his surroundings, ready for him to flee at any moment.

"Even if it's an omen of great fortune, if danger appears, I still have to run at the first possible moment."

"I can wait slowly for great fortune, but if I lose my life, that'll be the end of me for real. Not worth it!"

The fellow shook his head as his eyes rolled busily around.

"They've already left, and the journey has been fairly safe."

Wu Xingyun and Lin Fan arrived outside Hongwu Immortal City.

The other three elders had gone to meet Xiao Ling'er and the other woman from the side.

However, unless Xiao Ling'er encountered danger, they would not reveal themselves.

Wu Xingyun protected Lin Fan as they landed outside the northwest gate. "Still, I'm afraid the person who fits the eighth sect rule won't be easy to find."

"Mm."

Lin Fan nodded. "Since he's extraordinarily cautious, he'll naturally hide himself deeper than anyone else. And... he most likely has a teeny tiny bit of trump cards too."

Wu Xingyun understood half of that.

She could understand hiding deeply.

But a tiny bit of trump cards?

What cultivator did not have trump cards?

"Let fate take its course."

Lin Fan was somewhat helpless as well.

Naturally, he hoped to bring back another disciple carrying a Protagonist Template, but such things were hard to say. It really depended on fate.

"Why are so many people lining up over there?"

With a sweep of his gaze, he spotted a stall.

Logically speaking, those setting up street stalls outside the city should all be insignificant nobodies. Otherwise, would it not be better to do business inside the city?

Yet that stall was packed to the brim, making it difficult not to notice.

"Iron Mouth Divination?"

Wu Xingyun swept it with her divine sense. "A fortune-teller."

"With so many people here, he should be rather accurate."

"Oh?"

Lin Fan's eyes lit up. "Then let's have him tell our fortunes."

"Fan Jianqiang is a cultivator, but this man has no cultivation. I'm afraid he won't be able to divine him. How could a mortal bear the karmic consequences of a cultivator?" Wu Xingyun was not optimistic.

"What harm is there in trying?"

Still, Lin Fan wanted to give it a shot.

It was not some sudden flash of inspiration. He simply wanted to see whether fortune-tellers in the cultivation world truly had real skill, or whether they were like the charlatans he had encountered before transmigrating—knowing only how to swindle and deceive.

He still remembered meeting a fortune-teller a few years ago. The bastard had leapt out and said, "Little brother, I see darkness upon your brow. A bloody calamity awaits you!"

Naturally, Lin Fan did not believe such a "classic" line. Then the man said, "Don't disbelieve me. Let me calculate something first, and you can see whether I'm right. Your... father lives, while your mother died first!"

Lin Fan thought it over. Damn, that was really accurate!

Then the man scammed him out of half a month's wages.

It was not until several days later that he realized the fellow had been a charlatan.

What "your father lives, while your mother died first"? Wasn't that an all-purpose line of nonsense?!

No matter how one explained it, it was right!

Father died first? Right.

Mother passed away first? Also right. His father lived, while his mother died first!

Even if both parents were still alive, the bastard could still claim he was right, because there was no way to expose him for the time being.

Surely one could not, just to prove the fortune-teller wrong, turn into a living King Yama and kill both parents on the spot at the same time, could one?!

But since the Immortal Martial Continent was a cultivation world, it could not possibly be full of charlatans, right?

Besides, this fortune-teller had set up a stall at the gates of an Immortal City and had so many people supporting him. He was presumably capable.

Lin Fan's eyes shifted. "Second Elder, we'll do this and that, then that and this."

"If he can pass the test, finding Fan Jianqiang should not be difficult."

"If he cannot, we'll only lose one Origin Stone at most."

"As the Sect Master says."

Seeing Lin Fan insist, Wu Xingyun naturally could not refuse. She immediately stepped forward and exchanged one Origin Stone for an early position in the line. The person she traded with was merely an ordinary mortal; upon receiving the Origin Stone, he was overjoyed and left with profuse thanks.

"Next."

Fan Jianqiang spoke, and Wu Xingyun stepped forward.