The author of this article

Chapter 259 Night Watch

Because there were clues to follow, Dou Yuankong's whereabouts were quickly ascertained.

He finally appeared in Nanming City, Wanquan County, Qingzhou. However, he had already left the city by carriage, and judging from the direction he was heading, he was probably going to Anyuan City, which was famous for brewing wine.

This stretch of road is not too far from where his old servant's body was found.

But soon, with the confirmation of Dou Yuankong's final destination, the rumors about the matter gradually subsided.

Neither Shengjing nor the Heavenly Academy sent any further news.

It wasn't until three days later that some scions of prominent families brought up the matter again, and the final clues about the search for Dou Yuankong's whereabouts gradually began to circulate.

"found it?"

"Yes, it's said that he went to a winery, and the winery owner said that he was drunk and insisted on finding some kind of singing girl. He left in a daze. The winery is surrounded by mountains and fields, and the owner said that he may have wandered into the mountains while in a daze."

"So you're saying it's purely bad luck? And has nothing to do with the evil seed? After all this trouble, how could it end up like this?"

"It's a good thing that it wasn't caused by human intervention. Does it really have to be another sorcerer?"

"..."

For the past few days, Ji You has been in the library of the inner courtyard, reading through records about the Dao, hoping to find out if there is a way to bypass the Questioning Heart Bureau and merge with the Dao.

As expected, nothing was found.

For thousands of years, the cultivation system of immortal cultivators has remained fixed, and it is rare to see one as abstract as his.

In addition, he also looked at the records about the sacred sites of the ancestors, as well as some history of the remnants of the race, including the research of the ancients on evil species.

The sacred land of the sages is a place where the human race's fortunes are revived, which is no different from what he had heard before.

Indeed, within the shattered space of the Holy Land, there are the Heavenly Dao Altar and the Human Race Ancestral Temple.

As for the survivors, there is little information available, and some things are difficult to verify.

He has also been paying close attention to Dou Yuankong's situation.

Because this matter is discussed every day, he doesn't even need to inquire about it; the news just drifts to his ears.

As Ji You was flipping through the book in his hand, Wen Zhengxin and Ban Yangshu arrived at the library. The two of them had personally experienced the matter of the evil seed, so they were naturally very concerned about it.

Upon hearing the results of the investigation into Dou Yuankong's incident, the two hurriedly came to find Ji You.

When Wen Zhengxin saw Ji You flipping through books in the library, he couldn't help but think of the rumors about Dou Yuankong only being able to strike a dozen or so times each time.

Junior Brother Ji's physique is probably equivalent to several thousand Dou Yuankongs.

"Junior Brother Ji, have you heard about Dou Yuankong's matter?"

Ban Yangshu sat down next to him at this moment: "It is said that his disappearance has nothing to do with the evil seed, it was just bad luck."

Ji You then looked at the two of them and said, "Have you noticed that although news has leaked out, those scouts from outside the sect have not returned?"

Ban Yangshu was slightly taken aback: "?"

"I feel it's fake, a fake news story deliberately spread."

"This...shouldn't be possible, right?"

Seeing Ban Yangshu's uncertain look, Ji You reached out and closed the book: "The Dean's Office has sent out two groups of disciples this time. Don't you think this is similar to the arrangement we made when we went to Qiling?"

Upon hearing this, Wen Zhengxin and Ban Yangshu exchanged a glance and suddenly understood what Ji You meant.

When the incident occurred at Qiling, they were sent out as the vanguard to investigate. It wasn't until it was confirmed that there was a chance to obtain immortality in the ruins that the seven major immortal sects sent out a second group of people to compete for the chance.

In other words, when the disciples sent out by the Head of the Academy for the second time, they most likely found some clues that could represent Dou Yuankong and the Evil Seed.

Otherwise, the lofty and powerful immortal sects wouldn't have gone to such lengths.

Wen Zhengxin opened his mouth, then lowered his voice after regaining his senses: "Could it be that they found something that can't be made public? Is that why they used a false result to quell the discussion about this matter?"

"That's a possibility."

"What could it be?"

Ji You shook his head: "I don't know, but there are many things in Qingyun Tianxia that cannot be made public, such as those family-inherited techniques and methods of determining the Dao. They are no longer new. I'm just afraid that they will bring either good or bad fortune."

Ban Yangshu and Wen Zhengxin exchanged a glance, then pursed their lips: "The things that the seven great immortal sects care about must be major events. It's better not to know, anyway, we insignificant people can't get involved."

Hearing their words, Ji You gently placed her hand on the desk.

The seven great immortal sects hold the reins of power in the world and have always been the true rulers who have led the human race to survive.

The things they plan are indeed beyond the reach of ordinary people, but the problem is that their decisions are not always good, which is the most worrying thing.

Fengzhou is just starting to develop, and the people are already living quite well. What they fear most is the unexpected happening.

However, it was already beyond my expectations that a mere village hermit could save a few children from dying in this world.

You should know that his initial idea was just to find a bandit's den to be the leader, and to rob immortals to help the poor whenever he had the chance.

Wen Zhengxin also noticed the book about the Dao of Fusion on the table and couldn't help but glance at Ji You.

Ji You had previously lived in her courtyard for a period of time while he was practicing Dao. After that, Ji You resolutely embarked on the path of body refinement.

He claimed to be interested in body refinement and said that a good man should have a good body, but Wen Zhengxin always felt that Ji You was incapable of merging with the Dao. Now, seeing the books he had read, she felt a little more certain.

Just then, Ban Yangshu's voice suddenly rang in her ears.

"Junior brother, what book are you reading?"

"?"

Wen Zhengxin turned his head and saw that Ji You had a book in his hand with three words written on the cover: "The Night Watchman".

Ji You picked up the book, pondered for a while, and then asked, "Do you know that there used to be a group called the Night Watchmen in Qingyun Tianxia?"

Wen Zhengxin frowned: "I've never heard of any Night Watchmen."

"It seems to be a story fabricated based on a real background."

"Fabricated? What are you researching, Junior Brother?"

"It's nothing, just browsing..."

After chatting for a while, Wen Zhengxin and Ban Yangshu left.

Just as they said, even if Dou Yuankong really is related to the evil seed, this is ultimately something they can't get involved in.

While everyone is talking about it, it's fine to join in the fun, but if something unexpected really happens, they can only pray that there won't be any dangerous repercussions.

Seeing Ban Yangshu and Wen Zhengxin leave, Ji You looked at the book "The Night Watchman" in her hand again.

He found this while researching. He was initially attracted by the name, which seemed quite intriguing, so he picked it up casually.

This book was placed on the bookshelf where body-refining techniques were stored, and body-refining techniques were located at the deepest part of the entire library. This book was in the most remote corner, making it very difficult for ordinary people to find.

After all, body-refining techniques have always been regarded as unorthodox and heretical practices, and no one would bother to look into them.

Even Ji You had never noticed this hidden corner before.

The book "The Night Watchman" doesn't tell the history of Qingyun Tianxia; it's more like a story from a traditional Chinese novel.

When Ji You first opened the book, she thought it had been misplaced by someone.

There is a legend in the story that says there is a terrible night hidden in this world, with countless dangers lurking in the darkness, including man-eating demons and world-ending disasters.

However, people are not worried about the coming of night, because the world they live in has the Night Watch.

This is a profession that has existed since ancient times, as long as the history of the advent of sacred artifacts.

Every generation of Night Watchmen comes from the Heavenly Academy, and their lineage, like that of the Heavenly Academy disciples, originates from the Heavenly Book's spiritual awakening.

However, the Night Watchmen do not live in the Heavenly Academy, but instead guard the deep mountains alone, resisting the demons and calamities that descend upon the world. Apart from the seven major immortal sects, they are basically unknown to most people.

Ji You considers it a vernacular novel because its descriptive style resembles that of a vernacular story.

Moreover, he had asked not only Wen Zhengxin and Ban Yangshu, but also an elderly elder who managed the library, and he had never heard of the Night Watchmen in reality.

When Ji You saw the phrase "guarding alone" and "until death," he couldn't help but complain, thinking to himself, "There are such beastly professions in the world? Even dogs wouldn't do them."

Indeed, only writers of vernacular novels could come up with such a plot.

If this were placed in the real-world Qingyun realm, the Night Watchers would have the ability to resist demons, wouldn't they then establish a new immortal sect to lord it over everyone?

But when he looked further ahead, he fell silent.

The story says that in order to have enough fighting power to guard this world, the Night Watchers all follow the path of forging a superhuman body, achieving a state of perfection through their physical bodies...

The world is a strange place. When he specifically searched for information on body refinement, he found nothing, but now he found a few related words in a novel. Because of this one sentence, Ji You remained in a daze for a long time.

This story is too fantastical, it has a very exaggerated feel to it, it seems like it was written by Gongshu Chou.

But the information revealed in that sentence made him feel as if there was some connection in the universe.

Because the body-refining techniques he practiced haphazardly were almost identical to those described in this book.

Everyone in the world thought he was a hermit in the countryside with no family lineage, but only he knew that he actually had a lineage.

His legacy lies in the half-scroll of immortal scripture he found in that dense forest.

However, he had never found the source of that half-scroll of heavenly book, nor had he ever heard of a similar body-refining method, but at this moment he suddenly had a feeling that they were connected.

If the Night Watchmen are real, then what I'm practicing is probably not their technique.

Ji You closed the book and sat quietly in the library, lost in thought.

To save Qiu Ru, he broke through two realms in one night, then coughed up blood for several days, and his spiritual essence shattered.

He had always thought it was the result of a backlash, but if what he cultivated was truly the domineering body of the Night Watch lineage, then it meant that it was not a backlash.

This is very likely the correct path of cultivation for the Night's Watch.

From the initial awakening of spirit, the subtle illumination, to the condensation of essence, the hidden power of the cultivation technique had already been planted in his body. When the lower three stages were perfected, the spiritual essence would naturally break, allowing spiritual energy to flow into the whole body, laying the foundation for body tempering.

That makes sense.

After Ji You entered the Heavenly Academy, he investigated many rumors about the shattering of spiritual essence, and without exception, they all ended in death and the annihilation of their Dao.

If it weren't for the technique of forging a powerful body, he would probably have ended up like this.

However, why did I receive the Night's Watch's legacy?

Could it be that a night watchman once passed through Fengzhou and accidentally dropped half of the immortal book, which he then picked up?
So where are they guarding now?
Ji You has always been quite lonely, mainly because she can't find a sense of belonging.

Old Qiu called him Young Master, but he knew he wasn't that Young Master Ji.

As for the Heavenly Academy, forget about it.

He felt less attached to the Heavenly Academy than to the Spirit Sword Mountain, after all, there were some arrogant people in the Spirit Sword Mountain.

After learning that the Night Watchmen lineage existed within Qingyun Tianxia, ​​Ji You suddenly felt a sense of belonging.

This is not because they might be practicing the same techniques; part of the reason is that, according to the story, these Night Watchmen seem to be good people.

I wonder if we'll have a chance to meet in the future?

However, he decided against the solitary and lonely job of guarding the mountain alone, as it was not suitable for him. He couldn't even sit still at the Heavenly Academy, let alone in the mountains.

Honestly, this kind of job of keeping watch alone at night is not something just anyone can do.

Ji You pondered for a while in the library, then closed the book and stepped out of the library.

Knowing his possible lineage brought Ji You a degree of peace of mind.

Previously, he had always felt that his choice to cultivate his body was a last resort, especially since people around him said that cultivating the body was a heretical path, which made him worry that this path would be a dead end.

But now it seems that I wasn't just fixing things randomly.

The Night Watchers' lineage also comes from the Heavenly Book, but it is different from that of Daoist cultivators. This explains why their perception of the Heavenly Book differs from that of others.

Ji Bochang is indeed quite lucky; he managed to train so well just by picking someone up randomly, and he even picked up a beautiful girl.

However, Ji You still doesn't know why he saw Yan Shuyi in the Heavenly Book.

In the days that followed, Ji You paid close attention to the matter of the Night Watchmen, asked many people around him who were telling the truth, and even went to check the library of the Heavenly Academy.

The information obtained was very limited, even less than a single page in that book.

Cao Jingsong was also questioned by him, but he didn't provide any information: "What are the Night Watchmen?"

“Instructor, it seems you know very little about this world.”

"?"

Ji You didn't continue with the question, but changed the subject: "Teacher, have you received your monthly salary yet?"

Cao Jingsong immediately waved his hand: "No, not a single cent."

"Wait a minute, isn't it already past the day for monthly pay?"

"There are only a few disciples stationed in the Dean's Office now; the others haven't returned yet, so the monthly salary payment has been delayed."

Ji You frowned upon hearing this: "The people from the Head of the Affairs Office haven't returned yet?"

Cao Jingsong nodded, his expression becoming more serious.

Ji You believes that the story of Dou Yuankong encountering the evil spirit due to bad luck is false, and Instructor Cao also knows about this.

He initially thought his wayward disciple was exaggerating, but after noticing that the disciples in charge of affairs had not returned for a long time, he began to have some doubts.

However, just a few days later, Ji You received a note from Kuang Cheng, inviting him to come down the mountain.

Ji You then went down the mountain to Kuang Cheng's courtyard, where she saw Kuang Cheng looking at her with a somewhat solemn expression.

"Brother Ji, did you hear about Dou Yuankong's matter a few days ago?"

"I heard that he was just unlucky. He got drunk and wandered into the mountains. He got lost and wandered around aimlessly. He doesn't know how he ended up in Sanli County, where he encountered the evil seed."

Kuang Cheng looked at Ji You and said, "Things aren't that simple."

Ji You raised her eyes and glanced at him: "What did you find out this time?"

“I have a colleague who just returned from Anyuan City, and he went there on the way.”

"Could it be that there aren't any wineries there?"

Kuang Cheng shook his head: "There is a winery, but there is only wine inside and no one. It's like they've vanished into thin air. Either there was no one in the winery before, or it disappeared after the Seven Immortal Sects went there. But the truth is definitely not what they said."

If there was no one at the winery before, then there couldn't have been an owner who revealed Dou Yuankong's whereabouts.

If none of the seven major immortal sects found talent after visiting, it means there are things the sects don't want the outside world to know.

Ji You had already guessed this before, so he wasn't surprised: "Are the outsiders of the seven great immortal sects still in Anyuan City?"

"They're gone. According to my colleague, there are no cultivators in Anyuan City now."

"But they didn't come back either."

In fact, Ji You had already sent a letter to Lingjian Mountain after learning about this matter.

In his view, regardless of whether the matter was concealed or not, Yan Shuyi still knew what had happened.

However, he has not received a reply to this day.

So for the next few days, Ji You continued to refine his body.

Having realized that he wasn't just blindly practicing, he became less cautious. He continued his cultivation until autumn approached, at which point Ji You and Kuang Cheng left the Heavenly Academy together.

With the Heavenly Dao Society and the cultivation in the sacred land of the sages, another autumn day has arrived in the blink of an eye.

For the two of them, there were some important matters of the world that they could not interfere with, and even if they cared about them, it would not make much difference. However, the autumn harvest in Fengzhou was something they should do.

"Ji You has returned to Fengzhou again?"

"Autumn is coming again, and he goes back around this time every year, doesn't he?"

The Heavenly Academy had been quiet about Ji You, but after learning of his departure, a new wave of discussion suddenly broke out.

Because almost everyone knew that he had returned to Fengzhou for the autumn harvest.

This matter seemed very important to him; he would always make time to go back whenever he attended the Heavenly Dao Assembly.

The reason this is attracting attention is mainly because Ji You is still at the Tongxuan level after leaving the sacred land of the sages. Therefore, in their view, those immortal villages that once submitted to Ji You's tyranny may no longer be so cooperative.

But to their surprise, the reality was quite different.

The young men from the immortal villages in Fengzhou were mostly from prominent families in the north.

Therefore, they had sufficient channels to know what happened after Ji You returned.

It is said that after Ji You returned for the first time, he rested for a day and then visited several of the larger aristocratic families in Fengzhou.

At the time, the attitude of these immortal estates was not good; even the doorman who opened the door had a cold face.

Surprisingly, when Ji You came out, his previous indifference was completely gone. Not only did the manor lord personally see him off, but everyone was also bowing and scraping...

(End of this chapter)