Village or Holy Land?

Li Fan returned to Small Mountain Village and brought the firewood he had chopped to Uncle Zhang's home.

"Xiao Li, you've really gone to a lot of trouble!"

Uncle Zhang smiled.

"It's nothing. I'll split the wood for you, too."

He swung the axe and began chopping wood.

Meanwhile.

Two streaks of rainbow light flashed, and three figures appeared in front of Small Mountain Village.

"Girl, does that mighty senior live here?"

"It doesn't look like it."

Wei Yushan's face was full of doubt.

He couldn't sense any powerful aura. In fact, this place seemed... utterly ordinary.

It looked like nothing more than a plain, ordinary little mountain village.

"I'm not sure either, but that senior said he was going back to the village... This seems to be the only small village nearby."

Mu Qianning was uncertain, too.

"That's only natural," Yu Qishui said. "Many true masters and mighty figures like to wander among ordinary people or live in seclusion in the mountains!"

"'Deep in the mountains, tigers and leopards lurk; in the fields, qilin appear.' That's the meaning of it!"

Wei Yushan shuddered, thinking that those words rang true. "Yushan was foolish."

How could one judge such a mighty figure by ordinary standards?

"Come on, let's take a look."

Yu Qishui waved them onward and led them into the village.

"Well, look at that, three guests! Where are you from?"

As soon as they entered the village, they ran into Aunt Zhang.

Wei Yushan looked Aunt Zhang over and sent a message with his divine sense: "Just an ordinary person."

But Yu Qishui's eyes suddenly fixed on the hoe in Aunt Zhang's hands, and a glimmer of shock flashed through his old eyes!

"That hoe... There's something strange about it!"

He stepped forward and bowed slightly to Aunt Zhang. "May I ask you to let me have a look at your hoe?"

Aunt Zhang was puzzled. What were these people up to?

"It's just a broken hoe. What's there to look at?"

She asked in bewilderment, but still set the hoe down.

Yu Qishui took the hoe, and his excitement surged at once!

"Dao Rhyme! This hoe is full of Dao Rhyme!"

"This hoe must have been used by an unparalleled expert, leaving behind a trace of his aura!"

He exclaimed, "To leave behind Dao Rhyme like this... It seems the Old Ancestor really succeeded in Nirvana. He may even have broken through... at least to the Void Integration Stage, perhaps even the Mahayana Stage?!"

Mu Qianning and Wei Yushan were instantly stunned.

The Mahayana Stage!

—Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Divine Separation, Void Integration, Mahayana, Body Integration!

These were the cultivation stages of the Profound Heaven Realm. Above Body Integration came the word "immortal."

There were only a handful of Mahayana Stage experts in the entire Fire Kingdom. Each was a towering giant, far above the rest.

With a Mahayana Stage powerhouse guarding them, even Lie Huo Mountain would be no more than an ant!

"Could it be that the powerful expert... No, the Old Ancestor, really is here?"

Wei Yushan murmured.

"May I ask which senior used this hoe?"

Yu Qishui asked Aunt Zhang nervously.

"Me, of course. Hmm... Xiao Li often comes to help me pull weeds, too."

Xiao Li?

The three exchanged glances.

How could a Mahayana Stage powerhouse have any connection with an ordinary woman like this?

And the way Aunt Zhang spoke was clearly how one spoke to an ordinary person—warmly, but without the slightest reverence.

"Oh, I still have to go plant vegetables. Don't keep me from it."

Seeing that the three strangers seemed a bit odd, Aunt Zhang snatched back her hoe and headed toward the vegetable patch.

"Come on, let's follow and take a look!"

The three followed her.

Aunt Zhang entered the vegetable patch and began pulling weeds.

"Th-that's your vegetables?"

Yu Qishui was shocked all over again.

"These aren't vegetables. They're all Top-grade Spirit Medicine..."

Wei Yushan's breathing grew ragged!

This woman's vegetable garden was worth more than their entire Lihuo Sect!

—The whole Lihuo Sect had only three Top-grade Spirit Medicines growing on its grounds!

And here in this village, they had grown vegetables into Top-grade Spirit Medicine?

He wanted to plunder the whole garden!

"Auntie... this patch..."

Yu Qishui began in shock.

"Oh, this patch? Xiao Li helped me clear it, too. He's such a hard worker."

Xiao Li again!

"He just cleared a patch of land, and it turned cabbage into Top-grade Spirit Medicine?"

"That's pure fantasy!"

Yu Qishui of the Lihuo Sect was shaken to the core. At that moment, he began to doubt: even if the Old Ancestor had undergone Nirvana, could he really be this powerful?

"Auntie, could I have... some of those weeds?"

At that moment, Wei Yushan stepped forward and pointed to the weeds Aunt Zhang had just pulled.

Aunt Zhang was even more confused. What did he want weeds for?

To feed pigs?

"Take as many as you like," she said, unconcerned.

At her words, Wei Yushan hurriedly gathered up a big armful of weeds.

They were all Top-grade Spirit Medicine!

The young disciples of the Lihuo Sect desperately needed things like these.

The thought left him bitter. What his sect treasured like priceless jewels was really just a blade of grass by the roadside in this small village...

"Let me taste them!"

At that moment, Yu Qishui suddenly grabbed a handful and began chewing.

"Mmm! Excellent medicine, excellent medicine! It's even more potent than the three in our sect!"

He praised them with his mouth full!

"Oh no, did we run into three lunatics?"

Seeing this, Aunt Zhang felt a chill run through her. How could they even eat grass? She hurriedly shouldered her hoe and ran off.

"In my view, our Old Ancestor turned this place into a pure land!" Yu Qishui declared.

Wei Yushan couldn't help saying, "To casually grow Top-grade Spirit Medicine as vegetables... Only a Holy Land Level Force would dare do that, right?"

Yu Qishui grew even more excited at this. "Perhaps the Old Ancestor intends to use this place as a base and help our Lihuo Sect soar to new heights!"

"Come on, let's go see the Old Ancestor!"

They continued toward the depths of the village.

As they went, they were shocked again and again!

"Master, why does this ditch give me such a strange feeling? The water flowing through it seems to have a spirit of its own?"

"Master, look at this fruit tree. I wonder who planted it. It's actually showing signs of gaining spiritual awareness!"

"Master, look at this straw hat... Why does it feel like a magical artifact to me?"

Along the way, they saw all sorts of things in the village. Wei Yushan was constantly astonished, asking Yu Qishui questions one after another.

In so many small details, wondrous Dao Rhyme flowed!

"Master, look! Why does this stone house give me a sense of Great Dao Harmony? It's naturally rounded, as though heaven and earth themselves gave birth to it... This is truly a Supreme Grotto-heaven!"

When they reached a stone house, their eyes went wide.

"Xiao Li helped build this house for me. He's very skilled. If any of you need a house built, you can go ask Xiao Li."

An old man with a stooped back smiled. Li Fan often helped them, and his craftsmanship was excellent, but in this village, he couldn't earn much. So the old man wanted to take the opportunity to put in a good word for him.

Yu Qishui, Wei Yushan, and the others exchanged another complicated look.

"Come on, I can't hold back anymore. The Old Ancestor's cultivation must have reached a terrifying level. Our Lihuo Sect is destined to flourish!"

Yu Qishui's eyes were still wide. He asked the old man where Li Fan lived, then hurried off with Wei Yushan and Mu Qianning.

Meanwhile.

Li Fan had almost finished splitting the firewood. Years of exercise had made him feel no fatigue.

"Xiao Li, something's wrong! Three beggars just came to our village!"

Aunt Zhang suddenly came running over with a group of villagers.

"Beggars?"

Li Fan was puzzled.

Aunt Zhang then told him what had just happened.

"They even gawked at a hoe and a vegetable patch, and they ate the weeds... If they're not beggars, what are they? They must've come to our village to beg. But that girl really is pretty... Why don't you marry her? It's pitiful, wandering around like that..."

Aunt Zhang spoke as though she had seen it all with her own eyes.

"That's right, Xiao Li. Those people kept staring at the fruit tree you planted for me, even though the fruit isn't ripe yet! Three starving ghosts..."

"They're suspicious. They seem to have come for you, so you'd better be careful..."

Everyone chimed in with well-meaning warnings.

Li Fan thought it over. The girl they described looked a bit like Mu Qianning, whom he had met earlier in Red Leaf Valley...

Still, he wasn't worried. He had nothing to his name. What could they possibly want from him?

"May I ask if Mr. Li is here?"

Just then, a voice rang out.

Everyone turned around and saw Yu Qishui, Wei Yushan, and Mu Qianning of the Lihuo Sect walking toward them along the road.

"Xiao Li, it's them!"

Aunt Zhang pointed at them.

Li Fan looked up and saw Mu Qianning. He couldn't help smiling. So it really was that girl.

But she didn't look like a beggar...

"Two Sect Masters... He-he's the senior I told you about," Mu Qianning said quietly.

At her words, Yu Qishui of the Lihuo Sect immediately sized Li Fan up, but he couldn't detect the slightest trace of spiritual power!

He was just like an ordinary person!

Yu Qishui sucked in a sharp breath. Even a Mahayana Stage expert should have some aura leaking out, but this person concealed every trace of it. Could he be above the Mahayana Stage?

That was terrifying. Someone like this would surely be a figure of great renown throughout the Profound Heaven Realm!

"Master... look!"

Wei Yushan pointed to the "woodpile" beside them.

Yu Qishui looked over, and all of them stared fixedly at that pile of "firewood"!

"It really is Mystic Fire Wood... and it's all extremely old..."

"Any piece of it would cause a scramble if it ended up in the outside world. Here, it's really just firewood..."

Yu Qishui was shaken. What kind of person could burn Mystic Fire Wood as firewood?

"Master, what about the Soul Imprint Token? Is there any reaction?"

Wei Yushan asked immediately.

To confirm the Old Ancestor's identity, they had brought along a life token that contained a sealed trace of the Old Ancestor's soul imprint. If this really was the Old Ancestor, the Soul Imprint Token would react.

Even if a cultivator underwent Nirvana, their soul would never change.

Yu Qishui hurriedly checked it, too, but his expression stiffened at once. "There's no reaction."

"Did we... mistake him for someone else?"

Wei Yushan's face fell.

Disappointment!

Utter disappointment!

If this were the Old Ancestor of their Lihuo Sect, their sect would surely shine with boundless glory!

But now, it seemed they might have found the wrong person...