"Stockade Chief Lan, you have a chivalrous heart and saved my old friends from fire and flood. I am truly grateful. Please accept a jar of Eight-Treasure Flesh-Regenerating Pills and a jar of Heart-Strengthening Blood-Activating Pills as my thanks."
In the reception hall of the Silver Bell Miao Stockade, Cheng Xinzhan offered two bottles of pills.
Lan Yinluo's eyes brightened, but she still declined.
"You are too generous, Daoist. But to tell you the truth, when we rescued those mortals, we did not know they had a great cultivator like you behind them. Naturally, we were not seeking any reward from you."
"Oh?"
Cheng Xinzhan looked over with a piercing gaze and asked,
"Chief Lan, that is precisely what puzzles me. Your stockade is so well concealed. Why would you take the initiative to reveal yourselves and rescue my old friends?"
It was not that Cheng Xinzhan was measuring a gentleman's heart with a petty man's yardstick. This Miao Stockade looked like a secluded paradise rather than a demonic den, but in a place like Mount Wuling, he had to be on his guard.
"Since you have questions, Daoist, let this old woman explain."
Lan Yinluo understood what Cheng Xinzhan was thinking and explained,
"There were many reasons for taking these mortals in. First, our stockade is no immortal sect. Many mortals already live here, all of them our clanspeople. Our Silver Bell Stockade has lived in Jade Basin Valley for generations, cut off from the world. We need outsiders to marry and continue our lineages. This is not the first time we have taken in Miao people from outside."
Cheng Xinzhan nodded. The continuation of their people was indeed a reason of paramount importance.
"That day, these mortals were being chased by several demon fiends from Hanging Coffin Gorge.