The Immortal Clan begins with deductive intelligence.

As soon as I stepped off the spirit boat, a wave of heat mixed with all sorts of chaotic hawking cries hit me.

As Xu Changqing led the three children and the adult along the bluestone pavement of Qinghefang Market, he felt a sharp pain in his head.

There are too many people here.

The crowd was packed with monks.

There were scions of noble families dressed in fine robes, looking down on others; there were also rogue cultivators wrapped in tattered animal skins, with fierce expressions; and there were many more family groups like them, who had come with their families to try their luck.

Xu Yanfeng carried the large knife wrapped in rags on his back, his eyes wide open, everything was new and exciting to him, and his mouth never closed.

"Chief! Look at that! Isn't that a second-tier magic artifact? It's even emitting smoke!"

Xu Yanfeng pointed to a pill furnace by the roadside, which was used to attract customers. His loud voice made several female cultivators nearby frown and move away in disgust.

Xu Changqing raised his hand and slapped him on the back of the head.

"Shut up, that's because someone ruined their pill refining. That smoke contains pill poison. Try taking a few more puffs."

Xu Yanfeng shrank his neck, chuckled foolishly, and didn't feel embarrassed at all.

The three younger ones behind them were even more naive and unsophisticated.

Xu Xiwen hunched her shoulders and clung tightly to Xu Yanfeng's clothes, afraid of being separated by the crowd.

Xu Xiyue, that girl, was quite bold. Her big eyes darted around, and she spotted a vendor selling candied hawthorns by the roadside.

Those are no ordinary hawthorns; they are first-grade low-level red spirit fruits coated in spirit honey, and a single bunch costs half a spirit stone.

She stared at the candied hawthorn, unable to move, and kept glancing back at Xu Changqing, her eyes overflowing with longing.

Xu Changqing pretended not to see it.

Half a spirit stone for a string?

Why don't you just rob it?

The little bit of spirit stone we have at home should be used wisely; we shouldn't even think about these kinds of snacks that are just for show.

The most troublesome one is Xu Xining.

That kid is the type to just let go.

One moment they'd dart to this stall to touch the animal hides, the next they'd squat at the entrance of that shop to peek at the array formations.

"Hey! Kid! Don't touch that! Can you afford to pay for it if you break it?"

The stall owner was a dark-faced man. Seeing Xu Xining's clothes made of shoddy material, he didn't give him a friendly look and waved his palm-leaf fan to chase him away.

Xu Xining wasn't annoyed. He made a face at the other person and ran back to the group in a flash.

"Chief, that man is really stingy. I just wanted to see if that lump of iron was hollow."

Xu Changqing took a deep breath, feeling that leading these brats out was more tiring than killing people.

"Keep a close eye on them. If anyone touches things indiscriminately and damages someone's belongings, I'll make them stay in this market to pay off debts."

After strolling along the main street for a while, the group arrived at the gate of a rather impressive Taoist temple.

Unlike other places, this Taoist temple was not noisy. Two huge blue stone lions stood at the entrance, looking majestic.

The plaque bears three large, gilded characters that read "Qingyun Temple," exuding a subtle sense of authority.

The cultivators came and went in an endless stream, most of them carrying incense sticks and with solemn expressions.

The air was filled with a pleasant sandalwood scent; just one whiff of it brought a sense of peace.

"Chieftain, where is this?"

Xu Xiyue sniffed and asked somewhat timidly.

"The Qinghe Sword Sect has a separate courtyard in the market, where the sect's founder is enshrined."

Xu Changqing offered an explanation.

This kind of place, though called a Taoist temple, is actually just a money-making operation that collects incense money and provides psychological comfort to the cultivators who come to take the exam.

"Can...we go in and take a look?"

Xu Xiyue tugged at Xu Changqing's sleeve and whispered, "I want to go pray and ask the ancestral master to bless me so that I can pass that test of my conscience."

Xu Changqing's heart softened when he saw the little girl's anxious look.

He's still just a child. Although he's been numb with fear these past few days, he still feels uncertain as the exam approaches.

"Go ahead, don't wander off, I'll wait for you at the door."

Xu Changqing waved his hand, not stopping him.

At times like these, it's good to have peace of mind.

Xu Xiyue cheered and pulled the reluctant Xu Xiwen inside.

Xu Yanfeng looked around and felt that as the "senior brother," he had to keep an eye on his junior brothers and sisters, so he also carried his big sword and followed them inside.

Xu Changqing found a sheltered spot against a wall and stood there, watching the passing crowds, mentally calculating what else he might have forgotten in the past few days...

Just as I was pondering this, I suddenly felt someone tug at the hem of my clothes.

Xu Changqing lowered his head.

Xu Xining, who had just disappeared, was now standing in front of him with a strange expression, holding half a piece of red lacquer that he had somehow managed to pry off.

"What's wrong? Did you get into trouble again?"

Xu Changqing's eyelids twitched, and he subconsciously looked around, fearing that some aggrieved party might come out to demand compensation.

"without."

Xu Xining shook his head and pointed to the inside of the large red gate of the Taoist temple.

There stood two young Taoist boys of similar age, looking about seven or eight years old. They wore identical blue Taoist robes, had their hair in topknots, and were exquisitely beautiful. They held whisks in their hands and stood guard on either side of the incense burner like door gods.

The two young Taoist boys looked exactly alike, even their smiles and blinking frequency were identical.

"Chieftain."

Xu Xining lowered his voice, his face showing the excitement of discovering a big secret, and a bit of smugness that made him want to punch someone.

"Tell me, which of those two little bull-nose noses is real, and which is fake?"

Xu Changqing looked in the direction of his hand but couldn't make heads or tails of it.

"Don't talk nonsense. They're just the guiding boys from the temple, twins, nothing more. What do you mean by real or fake?"

"wrong!"

Xu Xining shook his head firmly and waved his still-dirty little hand in front of Xu Changqing's eyes.

"Just now, when the guy on the left wasn't looking, I secretly pinched his butt."

Xu Changqing: ...

"The young Taoist priest cried out, his face turned red, and he glared at me."

Xu Xining chuckled and pointed to the one on the right.

"Then I pinched the one on the right."

"And what happened? He didn't utter a sound, didn't even blink, and his butt was as hard as a log."

Xu Xining raised his chin, looking like he wanted praise.

"Chieftain, do you think this Taoist temple is a scam? They just put a wooden figure here to fill the space, and they still charge such exorbitant incense fees!"

Looking at this audacious brat, Xu Changqing felt an intense urge to touch him.

On the territory of the Qinghe Sword Sect, why would you pinch the gatekeeper's butt?

Did they pinch two of them in a row?

That's only because they see you as a kid and don't bother with you. If it were a hot-tempered butler who saw this, he would have chopped off your two paws.

"Your hand..."

Xu Changqing was about to give a few words of reprimand when his eyes suddenly narrowed and he stared at the "wooden" Taoist boy on the right for a few more glances.

I hadn't noticed it before, but now that Xu Xining has mentioned it, I'm looking at it with all my might.

really.

Although the Taoist boy on the right looked lively, the vitality on his body was so faint that it was almost non-existent. Instead, he exuded an extremely subtle spiritual energy fluctuation.

That's... a puppet?

Such a realistic low-level puppet?

Xu Changqing's heart stirred slightly.

There are actually such craftsmen in Qinghefang?