The Dense Forest South of the City

After setting out the food and dishes, the two invited Lin Xiao and Sun Yigao to come out and eat.

Under the quiet night sky, four teenagers sat around the dinner table, eating heartily and enjoying their meal.

Sun Yigao was alright, but for the other three, the rich and flavorful soup and dishes, along with a large bowl of white rice, were simply divine!

After all, they had only been able to eat this kind of food once a year during holidays for the past ten years or so.

However, thinking of the spirit grains already planted in the sect's spirit fields, they were filled with anticipation.

The rice smells so good!

They could easily eat several large bowls of that spirit rice without any side dishes.

After dinner, everyone washed up and took out their Peach Blossom Spirit Gathering Formation to begin cultivating.

Sun Yigao continued studying.

The moon is high in the sky.

Sun Yigao habitually rubbed his neck, then carefully put away his books before preparing to go back to his room to sleep.

Upon entering the room, he saw Lin Xiao and the other two still meditating and cultivating diligently. He didn't disturb them, gently lifted the covers and lay down, soon falling asleep.

After sleeping for two hours, he got up, and Lin Xiao and the other two also stopped cultivating at this time, as if they had agreed beforehand.

Upon seeing that Sun Yigao woken up, they heated up the dry rations they had brought and ate them.

It was still too early; the chickens and dogs weren't awake yet, so they decided to make their own breakfast and not bother the Fang Household.

Unexpectedly, there was a knock on the door.

It turned out to be Aunt Fang Household bringing them breakfast.

Aunt Fang Household didn't go inside either, but only said from the doorway:

"Knowing you have to get up early for your exams today, and I was worried you wouldn't have time to pick up breakfast, I brought it over."

The four accepted the gifts, expressed their gratitude, and bid farewell to Aunt Fang Household. They then went inside and took out a portion of the breakfast she had brought, placing it in Sun Yigao's exam basket.

After he enters the examination room, he won't be able to come out until evening, so he will definitely have to eat lunch in the examination room.

When they found fresh food, they replaced the dry rations they had kept for two or three days.

Since Sun Yigao couldn't bring his Storage Bag Storage Bag into the examination room, he handed it over to Lin Xiao for safekeeping.

After getting ready, the four of them went out into the night.

The examination venue wasn't very close to their residence, but fortunately they were fast walkers, and when they arrived, the line wasn't very long.

The scholar who vouched for him happened to arrive just then. After exchanging greetings with him, Sun Yigao went to queue up.

For the county and prefectural examinations, a candidate must have a scholar as their guarantor or five candidates as guarantors before they can take the exam.

However, because the tutor who taught Sun Yigao was old and could not be too tired, the Landlord Sun hired another scholar to act as guarantor for him.

Sun Yigao was near the front of the line. After another half hour, the examination hall opened, and after his identity was verified and he was searched, he successfully entered the examination hall.

After Lin Xiao and his companions saw him go inside, they bid farewell to the scholar and returned to their courtyard.

When the three of them returned, they saw Tuantuan eating the food they had left aside.

It's basically just some broken-up dry food.

Upon seeing them return, Tuantuan drank some water, licked its paws, stopped eating, and stared at the three of them with its golden cat eyes.

Especially Liu Yunan and Jiang Youfu.

The Spiritual Power on their bodies has disappeared!

Although Tuantuan had already Spirit Awakening Seventh Layer, it had always lived in the Mortal Realm and rarely saw cultivators, so it did not know that cultivators had items that could conceal their cultivation level.

Lin Xiao saw that it had woken up, smiled, and asked it:

How did you get into this state?

Tuantuan turned to look at him, thinking of the person before whom it knew it couldn't beat at all, and a glint of light flashed in its eyes.

"I'll tell you, if you help me get revenge, I'll give you a gift."

Lin Xiao was taken aback, not expecting it to want revenge. He paused for a moment, then realized it made sense; cats do hold grudges, especially after being beaten so badly and almost killed.

"Tell me about it first." He neither directly agreed nor refused.

Tuantuan scratched its forehead with its front paws somewhat impatiently.

"Three hundred li west of this county town is Liaoju Prefecture. South of Liaoju Prefecture, there is a dense forest. In that forest, there lives a cultivator who is equivalent to the Core Formation Late Stage realm of our Demon Beast. He has abducted many human children about your age. When I discovered this, he was afraid I would leak the news, so he tried to kill me. Unfortunately, he didn't expect that we cats have escape methods and couldn't deliver the final blow."

The Core Formation Realm of Demon Beast is equivalent to the Foundation Establishment Realm of a cultivator; Lin Xiao had heard Senior Liao mention this before.

Upon hearing this, he asked with a solemn expression:

"You said that person kidnapped a lot of children, is that true?"

Tuantuan frowned slightly, somewhat displeased, and his long beard twitched involuntarily.

"Why would I lie to you? He did kidnap a lot of children. Those children are still alive now, but it's hard to say what will happen in a while. I don't think he's given them anything to eat; they're so hungry they're eating tree leaves."

Hearing this, Lin Xiao felt the situation was somewhat urgent, and he immediately said to Liu Yunan and Jiang Youfu:

"You stay and take care of this kitten. Remember to pick up Yigao later. I'm going to the prefectural city to check on things."

He wasn't going to avenge the cat demon, of course; he was going to check on the abducted children. If he could save them, he would do his best.

Knowing they wouldn't be of much help if they went along, the two could only nod and instruct him:

"Brother Xiao, be careful in everything!"

"Brother Xiao, remember to use the Teleportation Talisman!" Jiang Youfu said anxiously.

Reminded by him, Lin Xiao remembered that he had bought a set of Child-Mother Locating Talismans when he went to seal the Silver Frost Python Demon. So he took out the Mother Talisman and placed it in the courtyard.

"I'm leaving. If I haven't returned by the time Yigao exam, don't worry about looking for me. I'll be back within three days."

Then Lin Xiao turned around and went out.

After leaving the city, Lin Xiao sped westward towards the prefectural city.

We set off early in the morning and arrived at midday.

Once inside the city, Lin Xiao slowed down; there was no way around it, there were just too many people.

He tried to avoid crowds and hurried south.

After navigating through many alleys and streets, we finally saw the dense forest that Tuantuan had mentioned after about half an hour.

This dense forest is extremely large, and behind the forest is a long, continuous mountain range.

There is no city wall to the south of Liaoju Prefecture; it relies on this mountain as a natural city wall.

Lin Xiao used Concealment Technique to quietly enter this vast, dense forest.

He hadn't forgotten what Tuantuan had said: that man had abducted many children around his age. What if that man also took a liking to him?

Since other cultivators couldn't discern his cultivation level, they naturally treated him as an ordinary child.

That cultivator was in the Foundation Establishment Late Stage, so he still had to be careful.

Not long after Lin Xiao entered the dense forest, he encountered a person.

But that person didn't notice Lin Xiao.

The man appeared to be about twenty-eight or twenty-nine years old, dressed in a close-fitting outfit, and had a very ordinary appearance.