"Moo~" Old Green Ox's cry finally brought everyone, who had been lost in shock, back to their senses.
One of the escorts looked at Fan Wu's back and could not help taking a deep breath.
Suppressing his fear, he said in a low voice, "No wonder that Imperial Astronomy Bureau official was so courteous to him at first. When I saw him earlier, I actually mistook him for a bandit blocking the road..."
At this point, he thought of a possibility and secretly swallowed. "This Daoist Master wouldn't happen to hold a grudge against me over that, would he?"
At that moment, he felt a chill around his neck.
He was terrified that Daoist Master Fan would give his neck the same treatment with a single sword stroke.
If he were struck by a sword from a Daoist Master who slew ghosts as easily as slaughtering chickens, he probably would not even have the chance to become an evil ghost, right?
Perhaps... he might not even get the chance to go to the underworld and reincarnate?
Hiss!!!
"Relax! With that kind of ability, how could a Daoist Master be so petty?" An old escort patted him on the shoulder and comforted him.
"I wonder whether that Daoist Master accepts disciples. If I could learn even one or two moves, maybe people would call me a grandmaster."
"Look at your sorry self. You still want to become his disciple? You're not even qualified to visit a brothel!"
"Hey, are you looking down on me?!"
"Tsk, since you're so confident, why don't you go try becoming his disciple?"
"Ah, this... Ahem, ahem!"
The escorts whispered among themselves, keeping their voices extremely low, as though afraid of disturbing Fan Wu.
Little did they know that Fan Wu heard every word they said.
With Fan Wu's exceptionally sharp hearing at this stage, even if their heartbeats quickened by only a little...
Fan Wu could hear it clearly.
Fan Wu could tell that a trace of fear colored the escorts' voices as they discussed him.
That trace of fear did not seem to be caused by ghosts or monsters, but by directly facing him, Fan Wu.
In other words...
In the eyes of these escorts, was Fan Wu perhaps even more frightening than a ghost?
Forget it.
Faced with the escorts' fearful murmurs, Fan Wu let them enter one ear and exit the other.
He paid them no heed at all.
He could not be bothered to care.
By then... he had already picked up the scabbard of the Demon-Slaying Sword.
After gently wiping the blade...
He returned the sword to its scabbard.
Then he went over to Old Green Ox and took a fresh undershirt and a Daoist robe from the pack on its back.
He put them on.
Afterward, Fan Wu noticed that Xie Jiuyi, the Imperial Astronomy Bureau Lieutenant, was walking over.
He had no intention of striking up a conversation with Xie Jiuyi, because he had always felt that people from the Imperial Astronomy Bureau were synonymous with trouble.
But Xie Jiuyi spoke first.
In a tone filled with both emotion and envy, he said, "Fellow Daoist Fan, with your current cultivation, you must be close to entering the realm of 'Qi Refinement into Spirit,' aren't you?"
Fan Wu: "?"
What Qi Refinement into Spirit?
Sorry.
I'm not familiar with it!
Hearing Xie Jiuyi use what sounded like Daoist terminology, Fan Wu was completely baffled.
All the scriptures his con-artist master had made him study in the past were fabricated nonsense.
How could Fan Wu possibly know anything about the technical terms used by these practitioners?
Seeing Fan Wu's expressionless face and silence, Xie Jiuyi thought he had said something wrong.
Recalling Fan Wu's ferocious display of tearing an evil ghost apart and smashing the corpse of a strange shadow...
Xie Jiuyi's heart jolted.
He immediately gave an awkward smile. "I was being presumptuous. I shouldn't have asked about such a private matter."
"Um, sir..." Escort Chief Lin also worked up his courage and followed over. In a probing whisper, he asked, "Shouldn't we leave this place and find somewhere to stay?"
Although the strange creatures here seemed to have been dealt with by this broad-shouldered Daoist Master...
Escort Chief Lin still felt extremely unsafe staying in a place like this.
He was afraid that several more evil ghosts might emerge from somewhere.
As a result, he had not relaxed at all and remained somewhat tense.
After all, to him, escorting goods for the Imperial Astronomy Bureau could not suffer the slightest mishap.
If anything went wrong, he could forget about being an escort chief for the rest of his life...
It was even hard to say whether he would still be allowed to remain an ordinary escort.
Escort Chief Lin's question also allowed Xie Jiuyi to relax slightly, giving him an opportunity to change the subject.
"Mm." He turned to respond to Escort Chief Lin. "This place truly isn't suitable for a prolonged stay. Let's continue on our way."
"Yes, sir!" Escort Chief Lin nodded.
Then, unable to suppress his curiosity, Escort Chief Lin scratched the back of his head awkwardly and asked timidly, "Sir, what did you mean by 'Qi Refinement into Spirit' just now?"
Escort Chief Lin was very curious about such things.
If he knew a bit about practitioners, he would have plenty of capital to brag about in the future.
Xie Jiuyi answered casually, "It could be considered... a realm of cultivation. Qi Refinement into Essence, Qi Refinement into Spirit, Spirit Refinement into Void, and Void Unification with Dao—the four realms represent different levels of strength."
He smiled. "Take me, an Imperial Astronomy Bureau Lieutenant, for example. It sounds impressive, but I'm only at the level of Qi Refinement into Essence. And even among those at Qi Refinement into Essence, I'm merely average."
"Hiss!!" Escort Chief Lin sucked in a cold breath.
In his eyes, Xie Jiuyi, the Imperial Astronomy Bureau Lieutenant, was already a major figure—and the kind of major figure with formidable strength at that!
Yet this official had frankly admitted that his strength was merely at a basic, average level?
In that case... what level of strength did those even more powerful practitioners possess?
After this question flashed through his mind,
Escort Chief Lin unconsciously turned his gaze toward Fan Wu ahead.
This Daoist Master should be even more powerful than Sir Xie Jiuyi, right?
Escort Chief Lin discovered that whenever he approached Fan Wu,
he actually did not dare raise his head and meet Fan Wu's gaze!
There was nothing he could do.
The pressure Fan Wu gave him...
was simply too great!
Fan Wu completely ignored Escort Chief Lin. At that moment, he had keenly caught... a piece of information revealed by Xie Jiuyi's words, something he had never known before—the realms of cultivation!!
Qi Refinement into Essence.
Qi Refinement into Spirit.
Spirit Refinement into Void.
Void Unification with Dao.
Were these the universally acknowledged realms of all the practitioners in the World of Gods and Anomalies?
Fan Wu had seen Xie Jiuyi's methods of slaying ghosts.
Compared with the Abbot of Golden Dragon Temple in Prison Dragon County, or White-Bearded Old Daoist Yang Yizi, or the evil Daoist Xuan Shizi...
Xie Jiuyi was clearly more powerful than them.
A Lieutenant of the Imperial Astronomy Bureau like this was only at the realm of Qi Refinement into Essence?
It seemed that the waters of this World of Gods and Anomalies...
ran deeper than ordinary waters!!
Fan Wu shook his head.
Casting the distracting thoughts from his mind one by one, Fan Wu stroked Old Green Ox's neck, indicating that they should travel through the night.
He clearly had no intention of staying here for long.
Lest a few more "people" belonging to that "Great Venerable" emerge after a while.
Old Green Ox was highly perceptive, and the strange phenomena that had erupted one after another earlier had not frightened it into running wild.
After letting out a "Moo,"
Old Green Ox carried the pack and followed Fan Wu along the overgrown dirt road, continuing on their way.
Seeing this,
Although the escorts of Huwei Escort Agency feared Fan Wu's ferocious martial prowess, they were also afraid of encountering strange creatures like the one from earlier again.
Thus, they hurriedly drove their horses forward, wanting to catch up with Fan Wu.
There was nothing they could do. In the eyes of this group of people, Fan Wu was a powerhouse.
Following behind a powerhouse...
was at least a little safer.
Before you continue