Mountain and sea lantern

Chapter 671 A Glimpse

Shi Chun did as instructed, pricking his finger and dripping a drop of blood onto the token. The blood sizzled as it landed on the slightly glowing token, like water vapor being poured onto a red-hot iron before disappearing.

The light on the sign faded, and Manxi laughed as he tossed the sign to Shi Chun.

Just as Shi Chun was about to thank them, Mu Lan interrupted, saying, "You may go."

He clearly had something else to discuss with Manxi privately.

So Manxi said loudly, "Someone come here." After calling people over, he pointed to Shi Chun and Mulan Qingqing, "Centurion of number three thousand, take them back to their unit."

"Yes." The general bowed and accepted the order, then gestured for permission to proceed.

Shi Chun and Mulan Qingqing had no choice but to leave.

After leaving the hall, Shi Chun examined the token in his hand and found that it indeed had the number '3000' on it. There were five battle teams, each with 3000 tokens. In other words, he was in the third thousandth team, which was the last in the Heavenly Court battle team.

Just then, several people emerged from the corridor at the other end, coming down a staircase on one side. In the middle, leading the group, was a slender man dressed in plain clothes.

The woman had fair and clean skin, and her beautiful face exuded a noble and aloof temperament. Her appearance made it immediately clear that she was a woman dressed in men's clothing, especially since the curves of her chest were not concealed in any way.

The woman dressed as a man held up her long black hair with a simple hairpin, exuding a unique purity and radiance, as bright as the moon, seemingly radiating an invisible glow.

The faint glance in his eyes seemed to reflect a view of countless beings across mountains and rivers, as if he had seen it all and was indifferent to everything around him.

This woman dressed as a man wasn't particularly stunning, but she possessed a perfectly balanced and elegant beauty—the kind of beauty that could draw attention the moment she walked by.

As Shi Chun was examining the token in his hand, he vaguely heard footsteps behind him. His habitual vigilance made him subconsciously turn around and look at the group of people who had suddenly appeared in the corridor ten feet away.

Although the distance was a bit far under normal line of sight and the light in the corridor wasn't very bright, Shi Chun's gaze instantly ignored everyone else and stared blankly at the face of the woman dressed as a man. His mind went blank for a moment, and he instantly recalled the graceful figure dancing in the wind and sand, and the smiling profile of the woman with long hair flowing in the wind on the cliff at sunset.

Laughter drifted from inside the cave amidst the sounds of bathing. "Spring, ever heard of 'lower back dimples'? I have them on my lower back, they're really pretty, want to see them...?"

The playful laughter that had lingered in his youthful dreams seemed to echo in his ears once more.

He seemed to lose his mind in an instant, remaining in the position of looking back, the scenes from the past appearing as if in a dream.

The woman dressed as a man glanced over indifferently, her cold eyes and aloof face showing no unusual emotion. She then turned into the corner downstairs with the group of people, and their figures disappeared.

Mulan Qingqing turned around when she realized that no one was around. She saw Shi Chun standing there in a daze and called out, "Shi Chun."

The general who led them away also stopped and turned around. It was unclear what he was looking at. If it weren't for the people Mulan had brought, he would have already shouted at him.

What left him speechless was that after Mulan Qingqing woke that guy up, not only did he not follow, but he even turned around and ran back. What the hell?

Upon realizing that the group of women dressed as men had disappeared, Shi Chun immediately ran after them.

Mulan Jin and Manxi, who were talking in the hall, turned around at the same time and saw the figure running past the door, then Mulan Qingqing's figure flashing by, and then the figure of the general who led the men out.

The two were startled, turned around and looked at each other, both bewildered and not knowing what was going on, and then they both slipped away.

When Shi Chun ran to the stairwell, he found a passageway at the corner that seemed to lead directly to a courtyard or something, but there was no one in sight.

Mulan Qingqing, who had been chasing after them, hurriedly warned, "Shi Chun, what are you doing? Don't run around like that."

The general who had just arrived looked grim; had it not been for Mulan's sake, he probably would have already lashed out.

Unexpectedly, Shi Chun, as if courting death, suddenly flashed through the passage and landed among the pavilions and towers outside. He quickly turned around and looked around, but saw no one. He didn't know which room or tower they had gone to. So he activated his right eye's special ability to search for the figures of those people from before.

The next moment, someone slapped him on the shoulder. It was the general, who warned in a deep voice, "This is not a place you can trespass on. Get out of here immediately!"

"What's going on?" Manxi's voice came from behind him; he and Mulan had arrived as well.

The general who held Shi Chun down said, "Commander, this guy has been running around aimlessly since he left home, I don't know what he took."

Manxi frowned instantly upon hearing this. With such an important matter imminent, no one would like to encounter someone who doesn't follow orders and acts recklessly. He had heard that this guy was good at causing trouble, but he didn't expect to experience it firsthand on their first meeting.

Unexpectedly, Shi Chun didn't care about any of that. Seeing that he was being controlled and unable to break free, he looked at Mulan Jin and hurriedly said, "Master, I just saw a very important acquaintance. Could you help me find him?"

He asked for help because his right eye, which he uses to detect, couldn't find any trace of those people. He clearly saw them just a moment ago, but how could they disappear in the blink of an eye when he chased after them?

He's very anxious now, you could even say he's lost his composure.

Upon hearing this, everyone understood what had happened with his reaction earlier; it did indeed seem like he was looking for someone.

Manxi and Mulan exchanged glances and both found it strange that Shi Chun might have some kind of acquaintance here, especially one who could have caused Shi Chun to lose his composure like this.

Seeing that there was a reason for this, and also out of respect for Mulan Jin, Manxi nodded to his subordinate generals, signaling them to release Shi Chun, and then asked, "Who is it?" Shi Chun replied, "A woman, a woman dressed as a man."

"Women?" Manxi was taken aback, then turned to ask the general, "Are there any women working here? I didn't know that."

The general paused for a moment, then shook his head and said, "No, I don't think I've seen her before. I would remember if there were women among them. Could it be because she was dressed as a man?"

Manxi then asked Shichun, "What was that woman's name?"

"..." Shi Chun was indeed asked a question. He didn't know the woman's name, or rather, no one in the entire Dongjiuyuan knew it. When asked her name, she raised her hand to the wind, but couldn't grasp it, so she smiled and said, "Let's just call her 'Wind'."

This was clearly a random pseudonym, and saying it aloud would be considered lying, so I could only stammer, "I don't know her name either. I just saw her coming down from the building around the corner with five or six other people."

Is it reasonable to say someone is a very important acquaintance when their name is unknown?

The others looked at Shi Chun with suspicion, but they also felt that Shi Chun had no reason to talk nonsense.

“And a group of people…” Manxi muttered. If Shi Chun wasn’t talking nonsense, he was also curious about where this woman came from. He wanted to verify whether she was real or not, so he immediately said to the general, “Since she came down from upstairs, go up and ask her who she is.”

"Yes." The general accepted the order and left.

The people present looked around and Manxi quickly realized something was wrong. There wasn't a single guard standing guard among the surrounding pavilions and towers.
As he was pondering this, another group of people who were changing shifts arrived and dispersed to their respective posts.

Before long, the general returned and reported, "Commander, the guards upstairs said they didn't see any women or any group of people."

Shi Chun immediately blurted out, "How is that possible? How could no one see a group of people walking around?"

Manxi immediately asked Mulan, Qingqing, and the general, "You came out with him, did you see him?"

The general shook his head and said, "I didn't see it."

Mulan Qingqing shook her head, but hesitated for a moment before saying, "It seems like I heard some footsteps."

Manxi then stared at the general and asked, "Didn't you hear me?"

The meaning is simple: your cultivation level is far superior to theirs; they can all hear you, so how could you not?

The general was immediately uncertain. Was it unusual to hear footsteps here? Perhaps it was someone patrolling or something. The problem was that he had been caught up in the current events, and his memory was hazy. After thinking for a while, he hesitated and said, "I think there were some, but I don't think there were any. I don't remember."

"Alright," Mulan asked Shi Chun, "aside from the woman dressed as a man, what did everyone else look like?"

"..." Shi Chun was speechless again, only then realizing that his attention had been completely drawn to the woman, and he hadn't noticed the appearance and clothing of the other people. He could only sigh and say, "I didn't look carefully. There were five or six people, but I was a little distracted and didn't remember their appearance clearly."

It sounds a bit far-fetched, and now is not the time to put aside important matters to investigate this. Manxi immediately said to Mulan Jin, "Investigate later. The army is on its way and can't wait for anyone."

The cultivation world is bustling with people, and it's normal to have a few acquaintances from the Heavenly Court. We really can't let Shi Chun's trivial matter delay our expedition. Mulan Jin immediately said to Shi Chun, "Alright, we've found you now but we don't have time to communicate. Let's talk about it when we get back. We'll question the outer guards later to see if anyone has gone out, and then we'll know."

Shi Chun hesitated, eager to see her. So many years had passed, and he had so much to say to her. But reason told him that he didn't have time to deal with such a small matter for someone like her. Even if he found her, there was no time for idle chatter. He could only nod silently.

So the general took Shi Chun and Mulan Qingqing away.

Shi Chun couldn't help but keep looking back and using his right eye's special ability to survey his surroundings. He would occasionally touch his face, puzzled. Even though he was wearing armor, his appearance shouldn't have changed that much. He recognized his teacher, so why didn't his teacher recognize him? He had clearly shaved off his beard from when he was in prison. Was it because the teacher didn't see it? Or was it because he had turned white?
Mulan Qingqing kept glancing at Shi Chun's reaction. She remembered what Shi Chun had said earlier: "A very important acquaintance."

She is a woman, therefore a very important woman to Shi Chun.

After leaving the house, the general took the Mingshan Sect members who were waiting outside with him.

Hundreds of thousands of soldiers gathered like clouds, and even the scattered whispers could be gathered into a surging buzz. They couldn't stand in any orderly or disciplined manner. Some had their hands behind their backs, while others crossed their arms. Although they were all wearing the same armor, they looked all different and were clearly the kind of people who had no military discipline.

The general led a group around the edge of the road, bringing them to a group of people in an inconspicuous corner at the rear. He introduced Shi Chun to the group, saying, "This is your centurion." Then he said to Shi Chun, "These are your men. Get to know them on your own."

He left after speaking, but there were guards watching him, so no one else could leave.

The men in the 3,000th sequence all looked at Shi Chun with curious eyes. Just a moment ago, they were wondering and asking each other, "Who is our centurion?"
They searched everywhere but could not find him, and asked each other, "Where is our centurion?"
It's strange. The centurions from other units have already shown up and started exchanging pleasantries with everyone, but their leader is nowhere to be seen. It feels very abnormal and gives off a bad vibe, especially since they're going to risk their lives.

It has finally appeared.

It just looks unfamiliar; I don't think I've ever seen it in the previous centurion battles. But that's understandable; with countless battlegrounds, it's impossible for everyone to watch all the rounds. It's normal not to recognize it.

It was actually delivered personally by a high-ranking general from the Heavenly Court. It's obviously extraordinary. Although he looks young, appearances can be deceiving. His cultivation and strength must be exceptional.

With a master in charge, the chances of survival and meritorious service have greatly increased—that's a good thing!

The group looked at Shi Chun with a hint of solemn respect.

(End of this chapter)