In the stream, a battered little boat rocked its way downstream at high speed. Suddenly, with a loud bang, the bow struck a reef beneath the water and split open.
"Watch out!"
Chen Xuan abruptly grabbed Crimson Fox by the scruff of her neck and landed on the riverbank in a tiger-like leap. Looking back, he saw the little boat stuck in the channel, stream water surging into the cabin. It was beyond use.
Crimson Fox was scared senseless. Knowing she had caused trouble, she clutched her head with both hands, crouched on the ground, trembled all over, and begged for mercy through her tears:
"Ah! Little Fox didn't see the rock. It wasn't on purpose. Please spare Little Fox, Qi Refiner!"
Chen Xuan stared at her and asked curiously, "How old are you?"
Crimson Fox stood there blankly. After pondering for quite a while, she began counting on her fingers, confusion flickering in her eyes. "Oh dear, Little Fox is one year old, or maybe two..."
"You...sigh, I'm used to it."
Chen Xuan was covered in black lines and fell speechless.
Chu Huo Gun, Li Han Song, and those old men in their sixties and seventies all claimed they were too old, yet insisted that they were at precisely the age when they should be striving.
The ghosts and monsters here in the Southern Wilderness were even more outrageous.
Ghost monsters in their infancy, only one or two years old with barely any teeth and unable to speak clearly, had also come to the dangerous Peach Blossom Garden to fight for a future.
"Hot-blooded youth—this is exactly the age to roam the world... Qi Refiner, wait for Little Fox."
As Crimson Fox spoke, she suddenly saw Chen Xuan shake his head and leave. Her heart immediately grew anxious, and she hurried after him in small steps. Tilting her head up, she ingratiated herself with him. "Little Fox will carry the luggage for Qi Refiner."
She was extremely diligent and quick to read the situation. She immediately took the fishing net from Chen Xuan's hand, placed it on her back, and carried it.
Crimson Fox felt that Chen Xuan was very reassuring because he was powerful and bore no hostility toward a tiny creature like her... After just being caught by the old fisherman, she temporarily didn't dare walk alone.
Chen Xuan did not care about the fox's little schemes. He lightly moved his fingertip, rubbing the blue-purple talisman hidden in his sleeve, and sent out a message with his thoughts.
"Are you there?"
In the Heartfast vision, the point representing the Mystic Cat Goddess was not in this realm. It had already drifted infinitely far away. However, Yan Yushu's black point was very close to him, only some ten or twenty li away.
"I am."
A few breaths later, Yan Yushu's cool voice rang out in Chen Xuan's mind through the communication talisman. She continued, "I'm currently following the Ancient People. I'm already on my way to the Peach Blossom Garden Ancient Village, where the Heaven's Chosen is."
"You were captured?"
Chen Xuan asked, puzzled as to why Yan Yushu had appeared among the Ancient People.
"The people here think I possess an ancient aspect. The moment they saw me, they cried out that I was the Divine Maiden descended into the world and begged me to meet their ancestor."
Yan Yushu's delicate laughter came through, as if she found the matter amusing. "So I simply went along with it and gladly agreed to visit their village."
With her high aptitude and beautiful appearance, she possessed the right to act without restraint. Wherever she went, she was surrounded by people and became the center of attention. Even the Ancient People could not resist her charm.
An ancient aspect meant the appearance of an Ancient Person, representing perfect Root Bone aptitude in an ideal state.
Chen Xuan frowned slightly. "Are you confident you can deal with that Heaven's Chosen?"
Yan Yushu laughed. "He's nothing but an old immortal dragging out his last breath. All the real treasures in the Peach Blossom Garden are in his hands... By the way, you cultivated a special Immortal Qi. You should have used it to set foot into your third Feather Transformation by now, right?"
She knew that in Six Desires Heaven, Chen Xuan had relied on his extreme comprehension to rapidly cultivate the special Immortal Qi from the true scripture's inheritance, which was why she asked.
Chen Xuan did not conceal it. He answered frankly, "Soon."
Yellow Millet Qi was a special Immortal Qi that reflected the Present World into the physical body. Its effects were many times stronger than those of ordinary Mountains and Seas Twelve Qi. At present, a massive amount of energy had accumulated throughout his body, like a flood that had reached its peak, ready to burst through the sluice gate at any moment.
He could try to break through the limits of his physique and advance another step.
Yan Yushu immediately said, "Bear with it for now. Tonight—come find me tonight."
She regarded Chen Xuan as a steadfast ally and absolutely would not allow anything to happen to him. She had decided to personally protect him.
During Feather Transformation, a Qi Refiner would fall into slumber.
They retained only a trace of awareness of danger in the outside world. With the slightest carelessness, they could suffer an unexpected calamity.
Afterward, Chen Xuan and Yan Yushu exchanged some more information before ending the transmission cleanly.
The two were merely cooperative allies on the Qi Refining Path, with no other unnecessary relationship between them. Thus, after exchanging a few words, each went on to deal with their own affairs.
Chen Xuan had a letter to deliver, while Yan Yushu also had a matter entrusted to her by Lu Zhuan.
The Peach Blossom Garden was merely a small secret realm. It was said to be a tiny fragment left behind after a Cave Heaven Blessed Land from the Mountains and Seas Era collapsed.
The region was not large. White mist shrouded its entire perimeter, and deep beast roars occasionally emerged from within, making one's heart tremble with fear. Anyone who accidentally entered would disappear from then on.
"It's only a few dozen li. With my current foot speed, half an hour will be enough."
Chen Xuan muttered to himself. Then, with one man and one fox, he continued upstream along the river, intending to reach the Peach Blossom Garden Ancient Village before nightfall.
But before long, he was forced to stop. A group of Qi Refiners blocked his path.
There were more than ten of them, all Qi Refiners who had come from every direction and eventually gathered beside the stream.
"Fellow Daoist, traveling alone? Join us and hunt the Ancient People together."
The middle-aged cultivator leading them wore a broad smile and warmly invited Chen Xuan to accomplish something big with them and seize ancient artifacts.
"The Ancient People are all beasts—ignorant fools who have never seen the world. They picked the wrong people to provoke." A cultivator in the crowd laughed coldly, looking down on the Ancient People in the Peach Blossom Garden.
Chen Xuan shook his head and refused. "Thank you for the offer, but I'm heading to the central region."
Qi Refiners were no pushovers. As time passed, cultivators scattered throughout the area gradually gathered together. They were no longer lone lambs waiting to be slaughtered. Their position against the Ancient People was gradually changing, with the roles of attacker and defender reversed.
The middle-aged cultivator was startled. "You're going to the central area? There are many Ancient People there, and the Heaven's Chosen is presiding over the overall situation. We can't just snatch things at will."
In the outskirts, scattered settlements of Ancient People were free for burning, killing, looting, and wanton acts. No one would care.
But the central area was inhabited by a vast number of Ancient People, who were educated and governed by the Heaven's Chosen. It possessed stable order and rules. They would not casually attack and capture cultivators, but correspondingly, the cultivators could no longer act with abandon or seek out opportunities as they pleased.
Chen Xuan refused again. "Fellow Daoist, there's no need to persuade me. My mind is made up."
His goal was clear. After bidding everyone farewell, he set off again.
The ancient artifacts on the outskirts were not worth much. Even if he brought out the rotten fish fork and broken fishing net in his hands, after enduring the erosion and dust of time from ancient to modern times, how could they transform into priceless divine weapons?
The true treasures in the Peach Blossom Garden were all in the hands of that Heaven's Chosen, the "ancestor."
"The fish fork and fishing net this man carries are ancient artifacts. Should we..." Someone stared at Chen Xuan's departing back and whispered, signaling to the other Qi Refiners. His meaning was perfectly clear.
"He can hunt Ancient People alone, and you think you're worthy of coveting his things? Are you trying to lead us to our deaths?" The middle-aged cultivator looked utterly shocked when he heard this.
The others were also astonished. They did not understand how such foolish words could come from a person's mouth. One after another, they retreated several steps from him, afraid of being tainted by his stupidity.
Chen Xuan possessed two ancient artifacts, clearly seized from the Ancient People, and he appeared completely unharmed. A person who kept such depths hidden...
They themselves needed to gather in groups before finding the courage and strength to hunt lone Ancient People. How could they lose their heads and provoke a troublesome person like Chen Xuan?
"This person is heading straight ahead. He must be confident he can enter the Peach Blossom Garden Ancient Village. Someone like him is dangerous." The middle-aged cultivator solemnly warned the others to behave themselves and not let greed take root. Then they hurried to continue discussing their plans to hunt the Ancient People on the outskirts.
From far away, the sound of their discussion could no longer be heard.
Chen Xuan traveled swiftly. Along the way, he encountered groups of cultivators several times, and there were still people whose eyes lit up as they warmly invited him.
Chen Xuan refused them one by one. Later, finding it troublesome, he began taking detours whenever he saw a group of cultivators.
Crimson Fox also saw quite a few groups of ghosts and monsters. A few times, she even spotted familiar friends, but ignored them all. She was determined to follow Chen Xuan to the central region of the Peach Blossom Garden. She was a little fox who was going to accomplish great things too...
During the latter half of the journey, the figures of cultivators and ghosts gradually grew scarce. Only scattered lone travelers appeared from time to time.
Chen Xuan moved quickly, overtaking many people along the way, and reached the foot of Peach Mountain without stopping.
"We're here."
At the foot of the mountain stood a tall wooden paifang. Peach blossoms blazed brilliantly, while a winding mountain road disappeared amid them and led to an ancient village behind, where cooking smoke curled upward and the occasional cries of chickens and dogs rang out.
Beneath the tall paifang, several sturdy Ancient People held weapons gleaming with cold light rather than crude farming tools. Clad in armor and imposing in bearing, they were maintaining order:
"You greedy people of later generations, don't cause trouble. Behave yourselves, and the ancestor won't deny you a future!"
"We understand the rules. We understand them!"
Four or five cultivators and ghosts who had arrived early hurriedly nodded. Then someone stepped forward and called out loudly:
"I have a token! I have a token!"
Behind a wooden table, an ancient scholar holding a writing brush and flipping through a book raised a stern face at the sound and reached out for it.
"Bring out the token..."
"..."
With the fish fork on his back, Chen Xuan observed from far away for a moment. After confirming that there were no hidden dangers, he walked toward the crowd beneath the paifang.
Sorry, I had something to deal with these past two days and owe two chapters. I'll make them up tomorrow.
Before you continue