Young master, why not become a corpse immortal?

Chapter 101 Emerging from Long Clouds, Watching the Wind Turtle

After bidding farewell to the Taoist priests, Lin Jiang and his entourage's carriage rolled over the northward-bound ruts, leaving Changyun behind.

What follows is the chaotic second half of the journey.

According to Manager Liu's description, the latter half of this chaotic area was actually more serious than the first half. Bandits gathered here, and without Fang Gutou's travel permit, most martial arts practitioners had to obediently hand over their money, without exception.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Shanshen was overjoyed. She even asked Manager Liu twice to confirm, "Are there really so many bandits?"

After receiving Manager Liu's approval, Little Ginseng happily began swinging his big hammer.

Lin Jiang always felt that he had mismanaged the ginseng.

Yes, this is definitely not my fault.

However, after the carriage had been on the road for three days and was about to leave the chaotic area, nothing happened.

There were almost no bandits left to see by the roadside.

The few who did come were just stragglers wandering around in the mountains, with no real skills.

Those bandits were truly foolish. Upon seeing the luxurious carriage, they recklessly brandished their knives, only to have their limbs dislocated by Chen Dajiang and Xiaoshanshen in the blink of an eye. They fell to the ground, crying and howling in a miserable state.

Upon questioning, it was learned that the bandit leader of Huangdaozi Village had mysteriously disappeared, and the bandit stronghold had scattered like birds and beasts, unable to unite as one. Some had fled with their valuables, while others were vying for the top position, leaving the forest a chaotic mess, completely ineffective.

After sending the bandits to their deaths, Lin Jiang and his group continued onward, passing by sentry posts that were all deserted, leaving only a mess on the ground.

The bandits in the chaotic area dispersed.

A person without a backbone cannot be twisted into a pretzel.

"We're almost out of here, why hasn't anyone shouted 'This mountain is mine'?"

Little Ginseng sat on Lin Jiang's shoulder, sighing.

After reading these words, she even gave Manager Liu a rather resentful look, which made the latter laugh awkwardly.

Manager Liu was also surprised. The bandits in this area seemed to grow out of the ground, one generation after another, and they were impossible to kill off. But as soon as his young master arrived, they were scattered.

All I can say is that the young master is amazing.

But this is useless for small ginseng.

She had taken the first step toward becoming a great hero, but stumbled on the second.

Without the kind of classical bandits she could subdue and escort to the government, wouldn't she be unable to become a great hero?
"The bandits you took down earlier don't count? You've already taken down several mountain bandits."

Lin Jiang lightly poked the little ginseng with his finger, and the little ginseng got angry and immediately grabbed Lin Jiang's fingertip with its tiny, ink-painted hand, straining against him:
“What kind of bandits are those! They’re just petty thieves who can’t even use proper slang. Even if you take down a lot of them, they can’t be considered heroes.”

The young ginseng was very stubborn.

Lin Jiang felt that the great hero in Xiao Shanshen's mind must be based on a specific formula. Once this formula is satisfied, then that person is qualified to be called a great hero.

Manager Liu stroked his beard and smiled:
“You are mistaken, Shencao Jun. A true hero is not defined by how many bandits he captures, but by the righteousness in his heart. I see that Shencao Jun already possesses the demeanor of a great hero, and it would not be inappropriate to call him Shencao Xia Ke (Divine Herb Hero).”

"really?"

“Absolutely true.” Manager Liu wasn’t just trying to appease Xiaoshan Shen. “There are plenty of people in the martial arts world who call themselves heroes, but most of them are just talking about being heroes. Their actions may not live up to the title. But the heroes of Shencao have captured and killed mostly villains with the blood of innocent people on their hands. If you’re not a hero, then there are very few people in the martial arts world who can be called heroes.”

"Really? Hehe."

Little Ginseng chuckled foolishly, then scrambled onto Lin Jiang's shoulder, its slender legs swinging happily.
"Divine Herb Hero, hehe, Divine Herb Hero, what a nice name."

Lin Jiang simply placed the small ginseng on the chair directly opposite him and bowed solemnly:
"The Divine Herb Hero!"

Little Ginseng proudly raised its head: "That's me!"

Suddenly realizing he should return the greeting, he quickly and properly cupped his hands in a respectful gesture:
"Lin...Master Lin!"

Manager Liu chuckled softly, but upon seeing Lin Jiang glance over, he immediately straightened up:

"Young Master, I estimate we'll arrive in Xingyuan in a few days, at which point I'll take my leave."

"You and Daijang should go back together first."

"This won't do!" Before Manager Liu could speak, Chen Dajiang, who was driving the carriage, shouted out in a stern voice:

"My master asked me to take you to the capital and accompany you, so I have to take you to the capital!"

“You’re not as skilled as me, so why don’t you go back with Manager Liu later? The two of you can look out for each other if you travel by water.”

"No, I have to listen to my boss."

"I plan to take a detour to Feng'ao Mountain next. My destination isn't the capital; there are too many thieves and it's more dangerous there." Lin Jiang also earnestly advised Chen Dajiang: "If you go with me, it will be dangerous for you."

"That won't work either..." Chen Dajiang began racking his brains, trying to figure out how to get Lin Jiang to let him stay.

“Young Master, I’m a man of my word. I said I would accompany you to the capital, so I must stay there until I leave. If you think I might hold you back, I’ll just stay in the carriage and not go anywhere. After all, there’s a lot of your silver in the carriage. If you go off to do something and no one is watching over the carriage, won’t all the gold and silver disappear?”

Chen Dajiang is very stubborn; he has always been that way.

Lin Jiang had no choice but to agree to Chen Dajiang's request.

Chen Dajiang's words did make sense. He had too few people around him and was overwhelmed. One dark and windy night, he and Xiaoshan Shen went to kill... cough cough, to exterminate bandits. There was no one guarding the carriage, so it was easy for greedy people to steal it.

If I come back like that, I'll be penniless.

"I hope you will take good care of me in the future."

"Young Master, you're too kind. It's just my duty as a guard." Chen Dajiang patted his chest repeatedly. "What kind of guard would I be if I couldn't protect my employer?"

……

Later that evening, Lin Jiang took out the cultivation manual that Tai Nanzi had given him from his bosom.

According to Tai Nanzi, this booklet describes the entire Ta Yun Xia Gongfa (Stepping on Clouds and Mist Technique) in great detail. As long as one reads the booklet once, even a woodcutter from the mountains can get a glimpse of the path to Ta Yun Xia by practicing according to it.

Lin Jiang lifted the lid to examine it. He read it through from beginning to end, and when he looked up again, the moon had already moved halfway across the sky.

"Interesting, interesting."

Lin Jiang muttered something under his breath.

The techniques are varied and strange, but when traced back to their origins, they are all practical methods. Just as Tai Nanzi said, this skill originated from mountain climbing, and all the details can be summed up in the word "climb".

Using the feet as a medium, one can guide Qi into the meridians. Beginners may have strong legs and walk on mountain paths as if on flat ground. Once the Qi condenses into a flow of Qi, one can run as fast as flying even on the frozen surface of a mirror lake. When one reaches the highest level, the Qi net wraps around the feet like cotton, and one can ascend to the clouds by stepping on a single leaf.

However, this skill is not without its flaws. After careful study, Lin Jiang discovered that this skill has two unavoidable defects.

Firstly, even the most swift ladder requires stepping stones; the story of Tai Nanzi and the founder of the school using stone walls to move about is based on this principle. Secondly, beginners will exhaust their Qi after walking 108 steps a day and must regulate their breathing to continue. Only by walking 108,000 steps over many years can this skill be completely transformed.

However, this was already a rare skill for Lin Jiang, who had not learned any movement techniques.

Following the method of circulating qi, he infused his feet with qi, and with a few leaps and bounds, although he did not see any clouds following him, he felt as light as a feather.

That's truly impressive.

He excitedly ran around on the surrounding rocks and strange trees for a while, easily vaulting over them. He watched as Chen Dajiang clapped his hands repeatedly, exclaiming, "What amazing lightness skill!"

Little Ginseng was also waving his hands and making a racket:

"So awesome! So awesome!"

After Lin Jiang climbed down the tree, he waved and called over Xiao Shanshen and Chen Dajiang:

"Come on, you two, practice this skill too."

Chen Dajiang looked surprised: "Young Master, this is the method of Ta Yunxia. Wouldn't it be bad if Shencaojun and I learned it?"

“Tai Nanzi has already told me that he doesn’t mind if I teach this technique to the two of you. But if you two want to teach it to others later, you need to consider your character. If this lightness skill falls into the hands of a thief, it will be quite difficult to deal with.”

Chen Dajiang nodded seriously, and Xiaoshanshen did indeed scratch the little red bead on the top of his head:
"Who can I teach? How can I teach squirrels to stomp on pine cones?"

Lin Jiang chuckled softly, but suddenly a thought struck him.

Someone is calling softly from where the coffin hangs in the depths of my heart.

His thoughts froze, and he realized it was Tinplate calling him.

After calculating the time, Lin Jiang realized that Tiepizi should have already arrived in the capital and might have found out something about Sun Zhong. He closed his eyes and pondered deeply.

In the blink of an eye, they had arrived at the withered tree.

Inside the coffin, Tinplate was softly calling out:

"Senior Young Master? Senior Young Master?"

"I'm here."

Upon hearing Lin Jiang's reply, Tiepizi immediately laughed:

"Young Master, I have arrived in Kyoto."

"Was the journey smooth?"

"Nothing much happened, just a few scoundrels in the Casting Department gossiping, but I took care of them all." After finishing his chatter, Ironhide immediately said, "Senior Young Master, I have already sent someone to find out about Sun Zhong."

"How's it going?"

“Sun Zhong hasn’t been to the Ministry of Justice recently. It’s said that he received an imperial decree to transfer him to another region. He’s not in the capital right now, so I can’t contact him. I can only help you look into his life story first,” Tiepizi said. “It will probably take about seven days.”

"It's alright, this is already very important," Lin Jiang said. "Where did he go?"

“He went to the northern grasslands,” Tiepizi said. “There were some strange phenomena in several places in Daxing these past two days, and I only found out about them after I got back.”

"Strange phenomena? What are they?"

"One in the northern grasslands, one near the capital, and one in the northwest. I don't know the specifics of what happened."

Within the Northwest region...

Lin Jiang couldn't help but subconsciously think of Feng Aoshan.

That area is located in the northwest region.

At this point, Tinplate paused noticeably.

Lin Jiang keenly sensed that there was something more to Tiepi's words.

"Is there anything else?"

"Senior Young Master," Ironhide said hesitantly, "I have something I'd like to ask for your help with."

"You said."

“I have a patient here. Could you send a layer of your true qi to try and heal his injuries?”

　My first order didn't exceed the monthly pass limit, wiping away tears.

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(End of this chapter)