Celestial Official!

Twilight Immortal Prefecture, the land of Nanzhuo, the Jade Sleeve Sect.

Shanxiafang City.

The wind howled, and the snow fell like woven threads. In the vast white expanse of heaven and earth, two figures could be seen swaying in the wind.

"Senior Brother Qu, this fellow from the Shangyang Yan clan is utterly foolish! He actually thinks I'm Senior Sister Zhu from the Melting Gold Valley and wants to join the Jade Sleeve Daoist lineage with me!"

"It's all thanks to Junior Sister Yan's silver tongue; she managed to bewitch this fellow with just a few words. Otherwise, how could she have so easily lured him here to kill him?"

"It's just bad luck that he appeared when you and I were hiding our mortal treasures. Otherwise, someone with such talent should be shining brightly in the Forging Academy!"

"Junior sister, don't be disappointed. The Ninth Academy has recruited another batch of mortal servants, mostly from local clans. If you and I work together, we'll make a fortune!"

The two stomped their feet to compact the snow, then hurried away, their figures gradually blurring and disappearing into the snowy haze.

Completely unaware, a pair of eyes and ears hidden in the shadows had witnessed the entire scene just now.

slam-la-

Suddenly, snow began to fall from a certain ancient pine tree, which was covered in a blanket of white.

Yan Chen leaned out from behind the tree, his arms tightly tucked into his cotton robe, rubbing his hands together and breathing out white puffs of air, gazing at the snow-covered ground covered with footprints.

"To stumble upon a murder so easily—this world is truly terrifying!"

The cold wind howled, swirling up snow and mist that gathered and then dispersed. Yan Chen vigorously rubbed the stiff, numb dough, his worries swirling in his mind like snowflakes.

"I only spent fifty yuan to find a small jade pendant at an antique shop that I couldn't tell was real or fake. Who would have thought that I'd be hit squarely by a flower bed thrown from a high-rise building the moment I stepped outside... dressed perfectly!"

The original owner was the only son of a wealthy merchant family. He had attended a private school and a Taoist academy. Although he could not compare to the pampered sons of those elite clans, he was still considered to be from a well-off family and lived a comfortable and prosperous life.

Yan Chen initially felt quite at ease, intending only to take over the family business step by step, get married, have children, and live out his life in peace.

But fate had other plans.

A day ago, he, along with his father and a group of servants, were transporting goods. On the way, they passed through a nearby market and planned to buy some odds and ends.

Unexpectedly, they were targeted by the tribulation cultivators who had been entrenched here and launched a sneak attack under the cover of night!

Although there were ordinary martial arts masters in the caravan, how could they be a match for the cultivators who had undergone tribulation?

At the last moment, the original owner's father risked his life to protect Yan Chen and help him escape, but unfortunately, he himself perished.

Perhaps not believing that anyone could survive in this icy wasteland, the other party stopped pursuing and let Yan Chen escape.

A whole day passed in this way.

Just as Yan Chen was feeling cold and hungry and was about to give up, he happened to witness what had just happened.

The conversation between the two of them involuntarily came to mind.

"The Jade Sleeve Daoist lineage is recruiting mortal servants... the Yan family of Shangyang?"

Yan Chen gritted his teeth and frowned.

Given his current condition, even if he manages to escape the pursuit of the Jie Xiu, it's impossible for him to return home safely.

Moreover, the original owner lost his mother at a young age, and now his father has also suffered this misfortune, so even if he had a home, he has become homeless.

Not to mention that his mindset had already quietly changed after suffering this calamity.

"What good is having a fortune if you don't have the power to protect you? You're nothing but fish on a chopping board."

"If you want to make a name for yourself in this world, following the rules is tantamount to waiting to die. You have to take an unconventional approach!"

"When you're traveling, you give yourself your own identity!"

Thinking of this, Yan Chen seemed to find some strength out of nowhere and walked towards the snowfield, his steps uneven.

Snow was still falling from the sky, and the body was buried very deep.

Fortunately, most of the area was covered in snow. Yan Chen held his breath and spent a quarter of an hour digging out half of the other person's body.

The boy was seventeen or eighteen years old, about the same age as Yan Chen. He had a bloody hole in his head, from which a layer of crimson frost had formed.

Yan Chen remained expressionless as he searched inside and out. As expected, the man and woman had robbed him of all his money and valuables.

All that remained was a letter and a palm-sized jade plaque with a large character "晏" engraved on it.

"It's the same character '晏'? What a coincidence! Could it truly be a predestined fate?"

Surprised, Yan Chen put down the jade pendant and instead controlled his fingers to gently open the letter.

[Jade Sleeve Scholars' Appraisal: The Yan family of Shangyang, with a history of over a hundred years, produced a young boy of exceptional talent and intelligence. He had long yearned for the ways of the immortals and, with a heart set on seeking the Dao, he paid homage to the disciples of Jade Sleeve...]

The letter, which is about four or five hundred words long, must have been written by one of the elders of the Yan family. Every word and line reveals the expectation and hope that their own children can enter the "immortal sect".

In addition, Yan Chen unexpectedly discovered a coin with a face value of one thousand.

Perhaps it was for the use of the Yan clan elders, and was carefully hidden in the lining of the cowhide envelope, which is why the two men did not find it.

Yan Chen was overwhelmed with mixed feelings and could only let out a soft sigh.

He reburied the body, resealed the letter, and tucked it, along with the jade pendant that symbolized his identity, into his bosom.

"What is this?"

Yan Chen pulled his hand out from his cotton robe, and in his palm was a jade pendant, about the length of a finger joint, with a lustrous red color, shaped like a human.

The human figure was seated cross-legged, wearing a loose Taoist robe with folds that spread like water ripples. The carving was exquisite and lifelike, but the face was not very clear, which made it seem beautiful but not quite so.

"Isn't this the jade pendant I bought for fifty yuan? How did it end up here too?"

Before Yan Chen could think it through, a loud bang, like a great bell, exploded in his mind.

hum-

When I came to my senses again, the human-shaped jade pendant that had been lying in my hand had disappeared.

Instead, a illusory image of a Dharma body sat above his field of vision, its aura surging like boiling gold and cooking fire, or like the red sun in the blue sky, covering the four fields and spreading in all directions!

Yan Chen's pupils stung, and tears almost welled up in his eyes. At the same time, a line of tiny, tadpole-like characters caught his eye—

[Immortal Official's Edict!]

[Opportunity granted by heaven, karma formed by human actions!]

……

[A young man from the Yan family was abducted and killed on his way to join the Jade Sleeve Sect. You took his place, impersonating him and forging a karmic bond with the "Shangyang Yan Family."]

[The young man from the Yan family was abducted and murdered on his way to join the Jade Sleeve Sect. You witnessed the perpetrator burying his body in the wilderness, thus forming a karmic bond with Qu Ying, the supervisor of the Forging Institute, and Yan Mo, the supervisor of the Quarrying Institute.]

……

[Clearly discern cause and effect, gain insight into the past!]

……

Celestial Official?

cause and effect?

Yan Chen stared blankly, as if he had seen a ghost, until the biting cold wind pierced his neck, and he finally came back to his senses.

After taking several deep breaths, Yan Chen gradually calmed his restless mind.

"The arising and ceasing of things are all governed by cause and effect, just like throwing a stone into water, creating ripples... People, events, and things are all contained within this! And this strange jade pendant is equivalent to making this ethereal theory concrete!"

"Does getting entangled with someone create karma?"

"What does it mean to have insight into the past?"

Yan Chen paused for a moment, then tentatively asked in his mind—

"Immortal Official, please inquire about the movements of Qu Ying, supervisor of the Forging Institute, and Yan Mo, supervisor of the Quarrying Institute, today."

[Targets of the investigation: Qu Ying, Yan Mo.]

[Time required: Eight hours.]

"Will it really take this long? Oh well, I'll see tomorrow!"

Following the scattered information mentioned in the letter, Yan Chen mustered his courage and wandered through the snow, stopping and starting, taking nearly an hour to finally get out of the market town built against the mountain and onto the main road.

……

Meanwhile, on the other side of the main road, a carriage was slowly making its way through the snow, followed by a group of Taoist priests.

Two young Taoist boys, wrapped in padded jackets, accompanied them, chatting amongst themselves.

"These vile robbers outside the market are truly hateful. During the Nine Academies' recruitment this time, quite a few young men from various villages were brutally robbed, and some even lost their lives. It's a real pity!"

"Relax. Looking across the entire Nanzhuo region, only the Jade Sleeve Sect leads the righteous path. If it weren't for the higher-ups' requirement to increase the production of the 'Yanli Sword' and the 'Kunshan Seal,' even ordinary villagers would struggle to obtain a position in the Nine Academies!"

This young scholar, though exquisitely beautiful, spoke with a deliberately mature tone:

"Furthermore, even nags are divided into different grades, let alone people. Our Gold Melting Valley selects mortal servants just like 'sifting through sand to select gold.' Those cultivators who have undergone tribulations can help us filter out the waste materials and leave behind only the best talents!"

"Senior Sister Zhu, am I right?"

The young Taoist priest raised his delicate eyebrows and looked at a quiet woman sitting in the carriage, asking loudly.

The woman was about twenty-four or twenty-five years old. Her eyebrows were as green as emerald feathers, and her eyes were like autumn water. A touch of crimson between her eyebrows added a unique charm to her already beautiful appearance.

The woman was sipping a cup of hot tea, and upon hearing this, she didn't look up. As she spoke, wisps of mist drifted in the breeze between her lips.

"You two, stop talking nonsense. How well have you mastered the Qi-absorbing method I taught you last time?"

"Senior Sister, there are people ahead!"

"Don't make jokes."

"There really is someone there! Don't believe me, senior sister, just look!"

The woman raised her eyebrows slightly and glanced towards the end of the road.

There stood a down-on-his-luck boy, wrapped in a tattered cotton robe.

"May I ask if you are Senior Sister Zhu from Melting Gold Valley?"

Although Yan Chen had already heard the young Taoist boy call out "Senior Sister Zhu," he still respectfully inquired about her.

He had learned from the letter that the current head of the Molten Gold Valley was named "Zhu Zhilan," a cultivator at the fifth level of Qi Refining, who oversaw all matters concerning the Molten Gold Valley and its three subordinate academies!

"Who are you, and what do you want?" the precocious-looking young Taoist asked as he stepped forward.

Yan Chen didn't say much. He took out the letter and the Yan family jade token and presented them to the young Taoist boy who looked no more than eight or nine years old.

"A member of a local clan?"

The young Taoist priest stared at Yan Chen for a few more moments before running back to the carriage and tiptoeing to deliver the letter and jade token into the sedan chair.

Another young Taoist disciple approached Yan Chen, first giving him a curious look before asking:

"How could a dignified member of our clan have gotten himself into such a sorry state?"

Yan Chen already had a plan in mind, only saying that he had narrowly escaped after encountering a calamity cultivator, omitting everything else.

The young Taoist priest asked again:

"As a member of a clan, you should have learned the clan's secret techniques. How could you have suffered at the hands of a treacherous cultivator?"

Upon hearing this, Yan Chen felt a chill, but in an instant, he understood.

"How dare I presume to learn the techniques without first acknowledging the lineage? Wouldn't that be a transgression of the taboo?"

The Southern Immortal Continent maintains extremely strict control over its lineages, to the point of being harsh.

Even if one comes from a clan with a lineage of spiritual cultivation, one cannot cultivate without permission. One must be accepted into the lineage to be qualified to cultivate; otherwise, one may bring about the extermination of one's clan!

Yan Chen secretly rejoiced that his predecessor's years of studying Taoism had not been in vain, as it had actually come in handy at a crucial moment!

At the same time, the young Taoist boy returned the letter and jade token to Yan Chen, and also brought him a cup of fragrant hot tea.

The moment the hot tea entered his mouth, a warm, dry sensation rose in his abdomen and dissipated through his meridians, reviving Yan Chen's blood, which had become slightly stiff from the cold, and finally bringing some color back to his face.

call!

Yan Chen felt refreshed and relaxed. He immediately chewed and swallowed the tea leaves, and the hunger in his empty stomach melted away like snow under the warm sun.

"Let me offer you a cup of coarse tea to warm you up."

A soft, melodious voice drifted in from inside the carriage at just the right moment.

"I have heard that the Shangyang Yan clan cultivates the Bing Fire Dao, while in the three academies under my Rongjin Valley, the 'Grinding Academy' and the 'Quarrying Academy' both belong to the Wu Earth Dao. As the saying goes, 'too much earth obscures fire,' which may be detrimental to your future cultivation."

"The way of Bing Fire is yang and fiery. It would be better to enter the Fire Forging Academy. In the future, when you open your meridians and manifest your essence, you can enter the path of Qi Refining and it will be more convenient to consume the fire element."

……