Zhuliu City

In the far west of Fufeng Commandery stood a small city called Red Willow. Zhuliu City was modest in size, with three streets in each of its four quarters and a mortal population of roughly thirty thousand.

On this day, a youth dressed in blue and a girl dressed in red arrived there.

The youth was none other than Xu Yan. After traveling for several days, he had finally reached the Zhuliu City the girl had spoken of.

As they drew closer, an old, rustic city lifted its veil before them.

Yet the first thing that caught Xu Yan's eye was not the city itself, but an endless expanse of crimson sand, a sight that struck him with tremendous visual force.

No other plants grew on that crimson sand, only a kind of red weeping willow, its trailing branches dancing in the wind amid the boundless Red Sand.

Seeing Xu Yan gaze curiously at the scene before him, the girl beside him spoke in a clear, sweet voice.

"Honored Immortal Master, Zhuliu City takes its name from these red willows."

By now, the girl in red was no longer as frightened as she had been at first. Over the past few days, she had discovered that as long as she did not provoke the youth before her, her life would not be in danger.

"Oh."

Xu Yan paid no real attention to her words and merely nodded instinctively. At that moment, his gaze was fixed entirely on several men riding fine horses up ahead.

Four sturdy men in black robes rode ahead of them, each mounted on a chestnut horse. They thundered toward Zhuliu City, their horses' hooves throwing up great clouds of Red Sand.

The reason these four had caught his attention was that he could sense fluctuations of spiritual energy from them. They were cultivators.

For some reason, however, all four were dressed as mortals and had come to this ordinary mortal city.

As their figures receded into the distance, he withdrew his gaze and stopped speculating. Still, the sight had put him on his guard.

With cultivators here, he would have to tread carefully. Even now, recalling his experience at Separation Valley Market left him trembling with fear. At the thought, a flicker of anxiety crossed his brow, and he urged the girl onward.

"Hurry up!"

Startled by the sudden change in his tone, the girl in red thought she had somehow offended this cold-hearted youth. She hastily bowed to Xu Yan, then quickened her steps toward the city gate.

After entering the city, the two soon arrived before a dilapidated old residence.

It was a sizable estate in the northwest of Zhuliu City, but it had fallen into terrible disrepair. The pair of stone lions at the entrance were missing limbs and no longer resembled their original forms. Large patches of the red walls had peeled away, and only on a battered plaque above the gate could the words "Lin Residence" still be faintly made out.

Inside a room in the rear courtyard of the Lin Residence.

An old man in a coarse hemp robe held the girl in red and wailed.

Xu Yan watched the grandfather and granddaughter embrace and weep before him, feeling somewhat moved. During the past few days of travel, he had learned the girl's background in full.

Her parents had both died when she was young, leaving only her grandfather, with whom she depended on each other for survival.

The old man before him was named Lin Rongfu and was around seventy years old. He looked terribly frail, as though suffering from a grave illness. The girl in red had traveled far from home to gather medicinal herbs for him, only to encounter the bandits of Horse Mountain Stronghold and be taken captive to their stronghold.

Only after a long while did the old man stop sobbing. Forcing his trembling body to move, he knelt before Xu Yan and said, "Thank you, Honored Immortal Master, for saving my granddaughter's life."

"This old man has no other way to repay you. I will fetch my ancestors' legacy for you at once."

Once he had finished speaking, the girl in red helped him up and supported him as they went into the inner room.

Seeing that the old man knew what was expected of him, Xu Yan said nothing more. Though he was moved, there was no chance he would give up his reward.

Before long, supported by the girl in red, the old man returned with a Bronze Chest held in both hands and placed it before Xu Yan.

"Honored Immortal Master, this is the immortal legacy passed down by the Lin family's ancestors. Please examine it."

After setting down the Bronze Chest, the old man quietly stepped aside.

The Bronze Chest before him was one or two feet long and about a foot high, with various designs carved over its surface. Perhaps because it had been stored away for so long, many of those designs had grown indistinct.

At the sight, Xu Yan's heart stirred slightly. He then slowly opened the Bronze Chest before him.

Click!

With a crisp sound, the Bronze Chest passed down through the Lin family for hundreds of years was opened fully.

Two objects lay quietly inside the Bronze Chest. One was a Storage Bag, just as he had already suspected.

The other object, however, was entirely unexpected.

It was a Mask made from some unknown material, its color much like human skin. It lay quietly beside the Storage Bag.

The fact that this Mask had been kept alongside a Storage Bag piqued his interest. When he touched it lightly, a faint chill seeped from it, though its texture felt just like human skin.

Xu Yan picked up the Mask and lowered his head to study it for a while. He could make nothing of it, but his instincts told him it was no ordinary object. He immediately prepared to put it into his Storage Bag.

Very soon, however, something startling happened: the Mask could not be placed inside the Storage Bag. He was greatly shocked, but showed none of it on his face. After turning it over in his hands for a while, he slipped it discreetly into the front of his robe.

As for the Storage Bag inside the Bronze Chest, he naturally tucked that straight into his robe as well. He felt it would be somewhat improper to inspect their ancestral belongings in front of the grandfather and granddaughter.

Now that he had the items, Xu Yan began thinking of leaving. He intended to return to Horse Mountain Stronghold and focus on cultivating to improve his strength.

Before leaving, however, he intended to test this gravely ill old man and see whether he was a cultivator in disguise.

"Old sir, hold out your hand." Xu Yan looked at the old man before him and spoke calmly.

At his words, the old man immediately answered respectfully, then extended his trembling hand.

The moment Xu Yan touched him, he discovered that the old man was a mortal and that his condition was caused by pathogenic wind invading his body.

Xu Yan therefore clasped the old man's thin, withered hand and quietly sent a strand of magic power into him. A few breaths later, the old man's face flushed red, and he opened his mouth to spit out a mouthful of black blood.

After spitting out that black blood, the old man was noticeably better than before. With proper rest and care, he would recover fully.

"Thank you, Honored Immortal Master!"

At the sight, the girl in red immediately tried to kneel before Xu Yan, but this time she did not succeed. He caught her with his hand.

After stopping her, Xu Yan said calmly, "Our transaction is complete. Neither of us owes the other anything now. Helping your grandfather took no more than a lift of my hand."

With that, Xu Yan made to head outside.

At that moment, the old man beside him spoke up to ask him to stay. "Honored Immortal Master, it is already dark. Why not spend the night in this old man's humble home? It will not be too late to set out at dawn."

The old man's words stopped Xu Yan just as he was about to move. As the old man had said, night had indeed fallen. Recalling the four cultivators he had encountered while entering the city, he felt the suggestion made good sense, so he nodded and agreed.

The old man's ailment did not seem feigned. He probably isn't a cultivator! A sharp gleam flashed in his eyes. He had only intervened to test him, after all. A cautious hand could keep a ship sailing for ten thousand years.