Carp Tide City

From the very first moment he saw Deng Baiyi, Xie Xuanyi had known.

She was no ordinary woman.

To part with half one's family fortune, test a single prophecy, and trade it for a future—how many people would dare do such a thing?

"Cultivation..."

Hearing those two words, Deng Chicheng froze for a moment. Looking at his daughter, he suddenly understood why she had been so nervous before.

In most people's eyes.

Cultivators were beings beyond reach.

When common folk encountered them, they had to bow respectfully, kowtow three times and kneel nine times, and humbly address them as "Immortal Master."

Some things, if one was not born with them, would be difficult to possess later in life.

He looked nervously toward Xie Xuanyi. If his daughter could cultivate under this Sword Immortal, it would naturally be a heaven-sent blessing, far better than any relocation!

Xie Xuanyi set down his teacup and gave Deng Chicheng a look.

Deng Chicheng understood at once and hurriedly dismissed the servants.

Once everyone had gone to the rear courtyard.

Only Xie Xuanyi and Deng Baiyi remained in the main hall.

"You want to cultivate?" Xie Xuanyi smiled faintly.

"I do."

Deng Baiyi said earnestly, "Mainly, I want to cultivate with you."

"Cultivation is cultivation, no matter who you cultivate with."

Xie Xuanyi shook his head. "A master can lead one through the door, but cultivation depends on the individual. This sort of thing mostly comes down to talent. Some people are blessed with extraordinary gifts and can comprehend the Dao on their own without guidance. Others are the opposite: no matter how much guidance they receive, they still progress slowly."

Deng Baiyi looked thoughtful, seeming to understand yet not quite.

"I can guide you into the door, but I cannot be your master."

Xie Xuanyi said leisurely, "It is not that I am unwilling, but that I cannot... There are reasons I cannot conveniently explain. But since I promised to give you a great opportunity, I will not go back on my word. I will find you a good master."

Deng Baiyi's eyes lit up.

That was precisely the answer she wanted.

"Carp Tide City."

Deng Baiyi named a place.

She pressed both hands against the stone table and rose to her feet. Looking straight into Xie Xuanyi's eyes, she lowered her voice and said slowly, "That Daoist told me that if you wanted to find your flying sword after awakening, you should go to Carp Tide City. I do not know any more clues than that... If you do not trust me, bring me along on the road."

"Carp Tide City?"

Xie Xuanyi frowned slightly. The name sounded familiar.

He remembered.

East and south of Jade Pearl Town, in Azure Prefecture near the North Sea, there was indeed such a city. Neither large nor small, it was famed for "watching the tide." Every year, the eighth lunar month brought the great tidal season, drawing many visitors to admire it.

Carp Tide City bordered the North Sea.

After he had thrown himself into the North Sea all those years ago, it was entirely possible that the seawater had washed him ashore nearby.

Looking at it this way.

Carp Tide City was indeed worth investigating.

"What did that Daoist look like?"

Xie Xuanyi curled a finger and lightly tapped the stone table.

Deng Baiyi thought carefully, then said, "He had the bearing of an immortal and the bones of the Dao, with white beard and white hair, dressed in a white robe. He looked exactly like a lofty master who had attained the Dao."

"That is why you trusted him? It cannot be that simple."

Xie Xuanyi chuckled, folding his arms as he leaned back slightly.

"Did I have a choice?"

Deng Baiyi slowly sat down, her eyes full of self-mockery. The fingers of the hands that had been pressing against the stone table dug into her palms, pinching deep red marks into them.

Jade Pearl Town had been surrounded and hunted by great demons, while Tu Fei had explicitly demanded that she be taken into his chambers.

What could a weak woman like her do, no matter how she struggled?

"If he was a lofty master who had attained the Dao, why did you not ask him to slay the demons?"

Xie Xuanyi remained calm.

The more he thought back on it, the more he felt that... everything he had encountered since awakening from the coffin gave off a faint scent of conspiracy.

It was as though someone were plucking strings and laying lines, step by step piecing together this situation.

Deng Baiyi said hoarsely, "Of course I asked him. But his price was too high. I could not afford it."

Xie Xuanyi said gravely, "...His price?"

"To kill those demons, he wanted half my life!"

Deng Baiyi said bitterly, "To point out a path to survival, he only wanted half my family fortune. Tell me, which would you choose?"

Xie Xuanyi fell silent.

In his memory, cultivators capable of divining the threads of fate and pointing people out of confusion mostly came from the Daoist sect.

The Daoist sect acted without overstepping bounds, followed their hearts, and placed great emphasis on karma.

If fate brought them together, it was perfectly normal for them to issue a prophetic warning or even lend a hand.

But demanding "payment" was unheard of.

People of the Daoist sect had no such custom.

The very act of demanding half of Deng Baiyi's life was enough to prove that the mysterious, strange Daoist in white robes was absolutely no good person.

Xie Xuanyi pondered quietly for a moment.

A moment later, he made his decision.

"Prepare the carriages and pack your things. Those who wish to relocate may leave Jade Pearl Town with me and go to Carp Tide City."

Half an hour later, a modest caravan left Jade Pearl Town.

There were eleven people in the caravan altogether, with four carriages.

Not everyone possessed Deng Baiyi's courage to gamble everything. Nearly half the servants of the Deng Household chose to remain in Jade Pearl Town.

Most of those who chose to leave were relatively young.

Deng Chicheng sat alone in the middle carriage, feeling deeply uneasy. From time to time, he lifted the curtain and looked back at the town, now only an outline in the distance... Having lived in Northern Prefecture for many years, he had long wanted to leave, but he had never had the chance. Now that his "dream had come true," he was not as happy as he had imagined.

Xie Xuanyi had said he would arrange a new residence for the Deng family, one where they would not have to fear demons wreaking havoc.

As far as he knew.

The entire Northern Prefecture was a complete mess. Other places might not be any better than Jade Pearl Town.

The Carp Tide City they were heading for was only somewhat more stable, not necessarily much more peaceful.

Great Chu travel permits were worth a thousand gold pieces and nearly impossible to obtain. If this young man said he could bring one or two people to Central Province, Deng Chicheng would believe him completely.

But judging from Xie Xuanyi's attitude.

It seemed that however many people he brought did not matter...

Was this really all right?

A heap of questions like these surfaced in Deng Chicheng's mind. Yet what unsettled him most was not actually the relocation.

He kept lifting the curtain and looking back because he was observing the movement in the last carriage.

That young Sword Immortal had agreed to teach his daughter cultivation!

He wondered how her cultivation was going now.

The harsh winter was approaching, and the north wind cut like knives. In such weather, almost no one traveled through Northern Prefecture. The Deng family's carriages sped along the border official road, the sound of hooves ringing like bells and drums all the way. Yet inside the last carriage of the caravan, the surroundings felt as silent as a heavenly realm.

There were three people inside this carriage.

Xie Xuanyi sat opposite Deng Baiyi.

Between them lay a little girl, sleeping soundly.

Jiang Huang had not awakened since being brought back to the Deng Estate. The old maid responsible for caring for her had bathed her, combed her hair, and changed her clothes. She had originally intended to take her to another carriage and look after her properly.

But Xie Xuanyi rejected that request outright.

The little girl looked as delicately carved as jade and utterly harmless, but she was actually a Phoenix Blood Great Demon capable of swallowing everyone in a single bite!

For safety's sake, it was better to keep her by his side and watch over her personally.

If anything happened, he could respond at once.

At this moment, the carriage was extraordinarily quiet.

Deng Baiyi sat ramrod straight, both hands resting on her knees, her head tilted back as she studied with great attention the yellowed talisman pasted to the ceiling of the carriage.

She had heard of immortal talismans before.

But this was still the first time she had witnessed such an immortal trace with her own eyes—

A sheet of ordinary talisman paper!

Yet with only a few messy ink characters added to it, it could completely isolate an entire carriage from all outside sounds!

"All things possess spirits; Heaven and Earth possess primordial energy."

Xie Xuanyi pinched a fresh sheet of talisman paper between two fingers. With another finger lightly dipped in ink, he traced and tapped across the paper.

"The flowers, grasses, trees, birds, beasts, fish, and stones you see are all creations of Heaven and Earth. We are the same. Humans and the Demon Race alike may be considered favored children born of Heaven and Earth."

"So-called 'cultivation' is the process by which all living things borrow a trace of spirituality to communicate with the primordial energy of Heaven and Earth."

"The higher one's spirituality, the smoother that process of communication becomes."

"And the more primordial energy one possesses... the stronger a cultivator naturally becomes."

Deng Baiyi stared intently at Xie Xuanyi's fingertips.

"Most Immortal Masters people see are merely Qi Refiners capable of wielding primordial energy. In the cultivation world, they are the lowest-ranked sort of existence."

Xie Xuanyi smiled. "As long as one can borrow even the tiniest bit of Heaven and Earth's primordial energy, one can inscribe talismans and create immortal traces..."

He lifted the carriage curtain and tossed the talisman paper outside.

With a boom!

That sheet of talisman paper shot out like a flying sword, flying dozens of zhang into the nearby forest before exploding in an instant!

Several fine horses were startled at once and quickened their pace, causing the caravan's speed to surge sharply!

Xie Xuanyi's casual toss.

Sent Deng Baiyi's Heart Lake surging in great waves that refused to settle for a long time.

She stretched out her arm, keeping the carriage curtain raised as she gazed raptly at the billowing smoke rising in the distance.

"Most Qi Refiners are merely the lowest-ranked sort of existence..."

Xie Xuanyi's words echoed endlessly through Deng Baiyi's mind.

She remembered clearly that an aloof so-called Immortal Master had previously arrived in Jade Pearl Town and declared that he would slay demons and eliminate evil.

Yet not long afterward, Tu Fei and the others had torn him apart and eaten him!

Above Tu Fei stood Reverend Heavy Mist, a Yin Mountain Heretic Cultivator who practiced the Spirit Domination Art!

And Xie Xuanyi, who could kill Heavy Mist... what sort of being was he?

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