I Am a Pilgrim in Pursuit of Light

I Am an Ascetic in Pursuit of Light

This idiot!

Lin Wen had no time to cover his mouth. The moment the words left his lips, the sound of water abruptly stopped.

"Who's there?"

A woman's voice.

Lin Wen had a good memory. From that single word alone, he knew it was the voice of the one he had spent an enormous amount of good karma to find, placed boundless hopes upon, only for her to run away that very night.

Phoenix Chick, Qin Luoshuang.

Lin Wen coughed and stopped Xu Lin, who was curiously about to go have a look.

"I'm a good man just passing by. I didn't see anything. Please don't misunderstand."

Though he said that, he did not stop poking his head out. Sure enough, after roughly ten seconds of silence, when Lin Wen stretched his head out again, the sense of danger had vanished.

"Hello, I..."

Before he could utter the next word, a black fist struck him the instant his head emerged from behind the rock.

The punch was powerful enough to send Lin Wen sprawling backward onto the ground.

The intense pain kept Lin Wen from opening his eyes for a moment. All he heard was Xu Lin's voice:

"Who are you? How dare you hit Governor Lin!"

"Ow!"

Bang!

Thud, thud!

When Lin Wen opened his eyes again, Xu Lin was already lying on the ground, unconscious.

Before him stood a pair of snowy-white long legs.

As one thigh lifted slightly and a bare foot drew back, Lin Wen saw her pink shorts and the khaki petal coat flaring behind her.

At that instant, Lin Wen directly spent good karma to activate [Spirit Cat's Swiftness].

Sure enough, the next moment, a savage side kick, perfectly executed, came flying at his head.

Lin Wen's first instinct was to duck and lunge forward, but he was not Han Xin, the future God King of all heavens—how could he possibly bow his head?

So he raised an arm and blocked it head-on.

Bang!

Even with Lin Wen perfectly dispersing the force, the bones in his left hand still broke.

The woman gave a surprised "Hm?" and lightly sprang backward.

Lin Wen took the chance to roll to his feet and widen the distance. He touched his right eye socket, which had already swollen up. He had clearly become half a panda.

But what pained him more was [Spirit Cat's Swiftness]. Damn it, another 13 points of good karma were gone.

His total had only just risen into four digits, and before he could even warm his hands around it, it had dropped back to three.

Phoenix Chick had practically wrung him dry of good karma. Lin Wen had already made up his mind: before she earned back his lost good karma a hundredfold, he absolutely would not allow her to disappear again.

"You're that dumb-looking governor?"

Qin Luoshuang studied his face carefully and asked uncertainly.

"You're actually this skilled? Who's your teacher?"

"And how did you track me down here? Why were you chasing me?"

"Miss Qin." Lin Wen said unhappily, "Shouldn't I be the one asking you that? I promoted you properly, so why did you run away?"

Crack.

With [Spirit Cat's Swiftness] granting him perfect control over his body, Lin Wen reset his left hand. He moved it around and found that it felt fine. Only then did he have the leisure to observe this woman, who was full of suspicious points.

Compared with the ordinary, utterly unremarkable ugly duckling he had seen at the county government hall, the woman before him could only be called the swan among swans.

Lin Wen rubbed his eyes in disbelief. He even activated [Aura Reading] to take another look before confirming that she was indeed that disheveled-haired girl from before.

She was tall and slender, draped in a warm-toned khaki classic Imperial petal coat. The hem of the coat barely covered her shorts, making her long legs especially eye-catching.

Her finely tousled black hair fell just to her shoulders. It had not been carefully styled, yet it did not look messy. Instead, it carried an air of casual languor.

She merely stood there, simply draped in a coat, like a goddess from a dream untouched by mortal smoke and fire.

"Hmph. Do you think I don't know what men like you are thinking?"

Qin Luoshuang gave a soft snort and turned gracefully around.

The next instant, the khaki coat swept toward him, blocking most of his vision.

Yet Lin Wen did not panic in the slightest. He leaned to the right and casually raised a hand, catching the side kick coming from his right.

Unlike his hasty block last time, Lin Wen did not move an inch this time, while she immediately withdrew her leg.

Three more lightning-fast kicks followed—two from the left and one straight ahead—all perfectly blocked by Lin Wen.

Lin Wen tilted his head, and the coat only brushed past the tips of his hair before missing and falling to the ground.

At the same time, Lin Wen caught another heavy blow aimed at his kidney.

This was clearly an all-out attack from her, several times heavier than the previous ones, yet Lin Wen still caught it unscathed despite having no line of sight.

The girl could no longer maintain her composure. She staggered back several steps. "Y-you... who exactly are you?"

Lin Wen patted the dust from himself and looked at the girl before him. Of course, she was not naked—she still had a silver undergarment beneath.

"Don't be afraid, little girl."

He smiled amiably.

"I am Lin Wen, the Long Mountain Commandery Governor, known as Uncle Little Yellow, a man thirsting for worthy talent who appoints people solely by ability."

"And you are the Phoenix Chick fate has destined for me. As long as you follow me, you'll be able to fulfill your ambitions, spread your wings, and accomplish a great undertaking."

Lin Wen felt he had performed fairly well, but the girl before him was not buying it. Instead, she asked warily, "What's a yellow book?"

Lin Wen instantly felt the enormous generation gap between them. Sure enough, the gap between mortals and an Immortal King is too great. Communication is difficult.

He was also becoming a little anxious. Every additional minute of lockdown meant another minute of danger that he might happily acquire ill fate.

Besides, many matters still awaited him at the temporary resettlement site. That was the most important work at present, and absolutely nothing could go wrong.

"Then I can only forcibly invite her back first and persuade her slowly afterward."

Having made up his mind, he was about to step forward when warning bells suddenly rang wildly in his heart, and a sense of foreboding surged up.

Th-this... what is this?

Lin Wen was so startled that he backed up two steps, and the foreboding instantly vanished.

What the hell is wrong with this divine ability?

Lin Wen stepped forward two paces, and nothing unusual happened. But the instant the thought of making a move arose, that ominous feeling immediately surfaced again.

So if I lay a hand on her, something ill-omened will happen?

Whenever matters involving cultivation were concerned, Lin Wen's mind always worked very quickly.

Excluding the possibility that she was also some fairy maiden about to transmigrate, and combining it with the description of [Wingless Phoenix]—

There was only one answer left.

Making a move might produce malignant karma.

For instance, if the girl could not bear the humiliation and found an opportunity to kill herself, then that black hat would definitely be pinned on his head. He would one hundred percent gain ill fate.

Even if that had not been his intention, his actions would have caused that outcome.

[Wingless Phoenix] could do that too?

Lin Wen was both shocked and delighted. He had truly struck gold.

To the current Lin Wen, this was far more useful than any divine ability for fighting and killing. After all, fighting and killing could only be done once he reached the cultivation world; in the martial world, everything was about human relationships and worldly affairs.

"Hey."

Qin Luoshuang could not help speaking.

"What exactly do you want?"

Lin Wen came back to his senses. After hesitating for a moment, he still spent 13 points of good fate to activate a new Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart.

Watching his good fate diminish once more, he instantly felt as though his body had been hollowed out, yet his face bloomed with smiles.

"Miss Qin, your beauty makes even the sun pale in comparison; your radiance brings a new spring to this desolate land."

"Your arrival has stripped the four seasons of their colors; your sigh makes snow fall from the sky."

"You are the only light in this world, and I am an ascetic pursuing that light."

Lin Wen felt his neck dip slightly, realizing that he ought to bow elegantly now. So he bent slightly at the waist and performed the courtesy of a nineteenth-century English nobleman.

Unexpectedly, there seemed to be a similar etiquette here as well.

The girl raised her hand slightly, her fingertips hanging down, seemingly offering a hand-kiss.

But as far as Lin Wen knew, in his original world, a hand-kiss was a courtesy reserved only for married ladies.

Though he did not know how things worked here, Lin Wen still gently took the girl's fingertips in his hands and lowered his head to kiss them softly. But in the next instant, Qin Luoshuang's slender hand turned and seized Lin Wen's wrist.

In that instant, Lin Wen felt the world spin around him. His body was flung into the air—she had actually thrown him.

The moment she let go, Qin Luoshuang turned and ran. But Lin Wen twisted himself around in midair like a cat and landed steadily on the ground.

Under the effects of [Spirit Cat's Swiftness], Lin Wen was extremely fast. Within seconds, he caught up to her.

But she suddenly lunged forward, pulled something from the clothes scattered across the ground, then turned and pointed it at Lin Wen.

Lin Wen instantly felt a needle-like pain in his left shoulder. Without even thinking, he sidestepped.

Bang!

A flash of fire lit up as an enormous gunshot thundered across the open fields.

The bullet struck the air viciously.

Qin Luoshuang gripped the gun with both hands and took aim again. A needle-prick pain stabbed into Lin Wen's thigh once more.

Bang!

That shot missed again.

Lin Wen moved too fast, with an uncanny sense of foresight, as though he could see the future.

Panic crept onto Qin Luoshuang's face. She aimed directly at Lin Wen's torso and fired three shots in succession.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Not one hit.

Lin Wen had not even moved his feet. He had evaded her shots with nothing but a twist of his body.

In despair, the girl pressed the gun to her own temple.

"Don't come any closer!"

she shouted, tears already glimmering in her eyes.

"I will never go back!"