The two Junior Sisters stood in front of Lin Jue, one on each side, with a gap between them. An archer stood beside each, bows drawn and arrows ready.
Both Junior Sisters looked solemn.
"I'll ask, and you answer."
Lin Jue said to them, holding his pudao.
The two Junior Sisters fell silent, their expressions serious.
"What's our master's name?"
"He Xianyu!"
"He Xianyu!"
They answered at the same time. Hearing each other, they both turned and exchanged a glance.
"Cloud Crane Taoist!"
"Cloud Crane Taoist!"
Again, they answered almost simultaneously, in exactly the same tone.
"Hm?"
Lin Jue found it strange and tried to figure out why, but he kept asking, "Where did we meet?"
"On the road!"
"On the road!"
The two Junior Sisters looked at each other and added at the same time:
"Below Mount Langtou!"
"Below Mount Langtou!"
They exchanged another glance. Both Junior Sisters furrowed their brows deeply, their expressions growing even more serious.
"We drank Thousand Day Wine!"
"We drank Thousand Day Wine!"
"Don't speak at the same time. Answer one at a time. The one on the left answers the next question, and the one on the right answers the question after that." Lin Jue considered it. "Where did the Thousand Day Wine come from?"
The two Junior Sisters were both startled at once.
"Senior Brother, I can't tell left from right!"
"Senior Brother, I can't tell left from right!"
"Then whichever one I point to will answer." Lin Jue said helplessly, "If you still can't tell, I'll tie you both up and wait for Third Senior Brother to return, or for daybreak."
"Okay!"
"Okay!"
Lin Jue pointed to the one on the left. "You answer first!"
"Mountain Lord!"
Lin Jue pointed to the one on the right. "Who did you meet afterward?"
"Wolf Demon!"
Lin Jue furrowed his brows even more tightly.
The two Junior Sisters fell silent too. They both looked thoughtful, then raised their heads at the same time.
"Senior Brother, it knows what we're thinking."
"Senior Brother, it knows what we're thinking."
"Ask again."
"Ask again."
"When you ask, don't think about the answer."
"When you ask, don't think about the answer."
"Clever!" Lin Jue wanted to nod at his Junior Sister, but he didn't know which one was the real one, so he stopped himself. Then he pointed to the left and quickly came up with a question. "What's Fifth Senior Brother's name?"
As soon as he finished asking, he immediately quieted his mind and cast aside all distractions.
That might have been difficult for an ordinary person, and even someone just starting out in cultivation would find it hard. But Lin Jue had been practicing the Qi Nourishing Method for a long time, so it was easy for him.
"Jing Qi."
The Junior Sister on the left answered seriously.
As soon as she finished speaking, she lowered her head and closed her eyes, cleverly resorting to wildly thinking about anything and everything to keep the creature from reading her thoughts.
"What about Seventh Senior Brother?"
Lin Jue pointed to the Junior Sister on the right.
"Women can't hold office but they can cultivate the Dao and become immortals women have to get married but if I become a female Daoist I won't have to wait until I become an immortal and learn how to shatter stones nobody will dare throw me into a river..." The Junior Sister on the right's mouth started moving. In a light, rapid voice, she rattled off her thoughts. But as she went on, she gradually sensed that something was wrong. Her voice grew quieter and quieter until she was barely carrying on by sheer momentum.
"I won't have to be called to work every day either I can work when I want... I also... won't... be... sold..."
Until at last, she could no longer go on.
Poof!
The Junior Sister suddenly transformed into a strange bird. There were no visible wounds on its body, save for a patch of crimson where Lin Jue had breathed a mouthful of pure Yang Qi onto it.
Whoosh...
An arrow shot out and pierced it straight through.
Another burst of flame came hurtling after it.
"Gah!!"
Amid its shrill shriek, it dissolved into black smoke and a stench, then gradually turned to ash and vanished without a trace.
Lin Jue waved his hand, summoning a breeze.
The stench was blown out of the shrine too.
Everyone was still shaken and hadn't yet recovered.
Lin Jue looked at his Junior Sister and frowned. "Junior Sister, what strange things were you just thinking about?"
She was a little shorter than him, but lifted her head and met his gaze with a calm expression, without saying a word.
Seeing this, Lin Jue stopped asking.
A little while later, Third Senior Brother returned.
Lin Jue had even suspected that he might be the big bird in disguise. Fortunately, now that he knew the bird could change shape and understood its tricks, it was easy to tell them apart. Third Senior Brother had evidently encountered the bird while he was out too. They must have clashed, and the bird had fooled him as well. The moment Lin Jue tested him, he understood.
"What does Senior Brother like to do?"
"Him? He's just a farmer! Of course he likes digging the earth and planting crops!"
From the tone of that reply alone, Lin Jue knew this was the real Third Senior Brother.
"Senior Brother, come in quickly."
"When I saw the firelight and heard all the shouting over here, I guessed it had come back for you." Third Senior Brother said, "How many did you encounter?"
"Two. We killed one, and one got away."
"I can't believe there were three of those strange birds here."
"Three?"
"One led me away, and two came back for you. After I killed the one that led me away, I happened to run into the one that had fled from here on my way back, so I killed that one too." Third Senior Brother said casually, "These things really haven't grown strong yet. They're just cunning and deceitful, not particularly powerful. If you were prepared and alert, even an ordinary person could fight one off."
"We were tricked by it."
"Who wasn't?"
As he spoke, Third Senior Brother went to look at Zhang Da's injuries.
The man was badly hurt.
Besides the wound on his chest, his face had been clawed to shreds and was wrapped in strips of cloth. It was hard to tell whether it could still be healed. But he was a tough one; even in that state, he endured it, constantly calling for his mother.
Third Senior Brother had no choice but to visit his home again. When he found that the people there were all safe and sound, he returned and told Zhang Da. Only then did Zhang Da relax. He closed his eyes and fell silent.
"Ah..."
Third Senior Brother looked at Lin Jue and the other Junior Sister, then sighed. "Demonic Ghosts bring suffering to people! There weren't so many troubles in the past. The world's growing more chaotic by the day. You'd better understand that sooner rather than later; it'll make things easier for you when you leave the mountain."
"I understand."
"Understood."
Then everyone closed the shrine doors again and sat down. Before long, they were all growing drowsy.
Only the Fox was too lively to sleep. It ran around the shrine, occasionally sniffing deeply at the spot where the big bird had vanished, as if trying to remember or track its scent. When it grew tired, it ran back and lay down beside Lin Jue.
Early the next morning, at Wulong Mountain Village.
Some households had already opened their doors.
Footsteps hurried along the village lanes.
The villagers were still shaken and hurried home. Several black-clad martial artists carried Zhang Da back to his house, while someone took Daoist Master Qing Xuan's token and rode off to invite the Daoists of Mount Qi Yun.
Daoist Master Qing Xuan and the other Daoist had woken up too. Now they were taking a number of Magic Artifacts to the woods at the village entrance.
Lin Jue and the other two were more at ease and followed behind them.
As they walked through the village, they couldn't help looking around.
They hadn't seen much the night before, but now they could finally get a good look at Little Stream Village.
In Lin Jue's view, villages here could roughly be divided into three types. One type was like Heng Village, founded by renowned scholars and worthies, where entire clans lived together and traditions had been passed down for centuries. Some even had descendants serving as officials at court. Another type was like Shu Village, full of merchants. Though not prominent, the villagers traded together and were fairly well off. Then there were ordinary farming villages, which might have more than one clan and were mostly poor.
Little Stream Village belonged to the third type.
The houses here were smaller, older, and more dilapidated. Many had neither white walls nor green tiles; they were mud-walled huts with thatched roofs. The village had never been wealthy, and after suffering natural disasters and Demonic Ghosts, it had fallen into disrepair. Even its human presence felt faint.
Many people had opened their doors early, but they only sat at their thresholds, watching the group pass. They merely watched in silence, as though they had no strength to speak.
"The common folk suffer. In a few years, I'm afraid they'll be suffering even more." Once the villagers had fallen behind, Third Senior Brother sighed casually, then glanced at the two Junior Sisters. "The lingering souls have all been burned away. Once the fellow Daoists from Mount Qi Yun set up an incense altar and open the divine shrine, they can call upon the power of a Deity to cleanse away the Yin Qi and Death Qi, and that'll be the end of this. Junior Brother, Junior Sister, don't keep worrying about it."
Before either of them could respond, he went on by himself:
"This poor Daoist is thirty this year, a few years older than you. Things like this aren't actually that uncommon. When you see them, help if you can and want to. Otherwise, pretend you didn't see them. But no matter what, don't let things like this disturb your state of mind.
"Thinking about it too much won't help solve anything, nor will it help your cultivation. If you ask me, you're better off drinking.
"Think not of endless affairs beyond; savor the cup while life is still yours.
"..."
Lin Jue nodded. He understood, of course.
It was about separating reason from emotion.
But if it were that easy, what need would there be for cultivation?
Before you continue