Don't farm, cultivate immortality!

"What were you thinking about in your dream?" Zhuang Xing asked. "Was there any particular Taoist technique you wanted to learn?"

“This…” Yunling pondered for a moment, then shook her head.

"No?" Zhuang Xing frowned.

"Is there a problem?" Yunling asked.

“Look.” Zhuang Xing picked up the sword and used the sword control technique again. The sword circled around him twice. “I have learned the sword control technique, while the white rat has learned the storage technique. The supernatural powers and techniques we have learned are different.”

"So I thought, I learned the sword control technique because I've always wanted to learn this kind of Taoist art. So when the white rat was activating the stone wall, was it because it always felt that its body was too small and that carrying things was too tiring, and it wanted a way to put a lot of things into its mouth, so it learned this storage ability?"

"Following this logic, you should have also learned some kind of supernatural powers and techniques. Do you remember what you were thinking in your dream just now?"

"What was I thinking just now?" Yunling pursed her lips, carefully considering the question.

She had only one thought in mind: she absolutely could not let go, she absolutely could not fall off that sword, nothing more.

She seemed to have a feeling; she took a step forward and stretched out her hand.

Zhuang Xing didn't see how Yunling moved; he only realized what was happening when she suddenly crossed several steps and appeared beside him.

She took Zhuang Xing's hand; the girl's small hand was as soft as cotton.

But then she felt dizzy, her legs went weak, and she fell to the side.

Zhuang Xing quickly helped her up. She was panting slightly; her vital energy had been exhausted in just a few steps.

Chapter 99 Seeing Him Off

"Are you alright, Yunling?" Zhuang Xing asked with concern.

"Hmm..." Yunling rubbed her forehead. She was fine, but she had just exhausted her true qi and hadn't been able to adjust for a while, which was why she almost fell.

"What kind of teleportation technique was that just now?" Zhuang Xing asked. "I didn't even see how you got here."

"This... I don't really understand either..." Yunling looked at her feet, "I just wanted to get to your side, and in one step I covered several feet..."

"Can it be used one more time?" Zhuang Xing asked.

Yunling shook her head: "I can't go on, I've used up all my true qi."

"You've used it all up already?" Zhuang Xing asked in surprise.

"Mm." Yunling nodded.

Zhuang Xing thought to himself that the supernatural powers and techniques they learned today really consumed a lot of mana.

Not only Yunling, but he also ran out of true qi after flying on his sword for a few seconds.

However, although it consumes a lot of energy, it is a genuine supernatural technique. Yunling's move is like shrinking the distance to an inch. If used well, it can be extraordinary.

Who doesn't know the importance of Flash? Whether used for chasing or escaping, it's an ultimate skill.

For Zhuang Xing, this sword control technique was like having an extra killing move out of nowhere.

Let's call it Sword Fighting Technique. With this move, he throws his sword out, and the sword can curve and return to his own hand.

When others ask, he will say that he flicked his wrist rapidly when he threw the sword, making it fly in a perfect arc.

Haha, Zhuang Xingle is having a good time.

He saw the white mouse hopping around in front of him again, and it seemed the little guy really wanted its reward.

"Alright, alright, they're all yours." Zhuang Xing untied the small bag and placed it on the ground.

"Squeak!" The white mouse rubbed affectionately against his fingers, then buried its head in the pocket, leaving only half of its body sticking out, its two little feet kicking vigorously.

When it peeked out of the pocket again, its cheeks were round and plump, just like a little hamster.

It didn't seem to use any storage magic; it simply held the demon cores in its mouth.

Zhuang Xing understands its thinking: who wouldn't want to hold onto the money they've made and count it?

The white mouse made a profit, and Zhuang Xing and Yun Ling made an even bigger fortune.

In exchange for just seven white-tailed jackal demon cores, one could acquire a divine technique. If cultivators throughout the world knew of such a deal, they would all be eager to come knocking on the door.

Let alone seven, there are plenty of people willing to trade seventy or seven hundred.

Zhuang Xing looked at the mural in front of him again and thought that the painter who created it must have been a genius.

“Let’s leave this mural here,” Zhuang Xing said. “It’s just a painting now, and it would be difficult to explain its origin if we told our senior brother about it.”

"The white rat is naturally afraid of people. It brought us here because it trusted the two of us. We can't break our promise and reveal it to others. It certainly doesn't want others to know about its existence for no reason."

Yunling nodded in agreement with Zhuang Xing's statement. Zhuang Xing stretched out his hand, and the white mouse ran into his palm.

"What happened today is known only to Heaven, Earth, you, and me; we will not publicize it everywhere."

"If you ever benefit from anything in the future, just don't forget your brother."

"Squeak." The white mouse responded and jumped onto Yunling's shoulder again.

It nuzzled Yunling's cheek, jumped to the ground, and circled the two of them three times.

It was saying goodbye to Zhuang Xing and Yun Ling. Having obtained so many demon cores at once, it should find a safe place to digest them all.

After a long time apart, we had a brief get-together, and then it was time to say goodbye.

Platinum Rat loves freedom and is carefree by nature, so Zhuang Xing and Yun Ling didn't force it to stay.

A gentleman's friendship is as pure as water. There are many days to come, and if we are willing, we will naturally meet again.

“Yunling and I are now living and cultivating at Xuanqing Temple on Qingxuan Mountain,” Zhuang Xing said. “There are many highly skilled Taoist priests there. If you come, you might be captured. If you want to see us again in the future, you can go to our old village in December and January of each year.”

“When we have achieved success in our cultivation, we will come down the mountain. At that time, I will ask the temple for permission to go home for a month or two every year during the Spring Festival.”

"I will specially save some demon cores for you. If you have any good stuff, you can keep it too, and we can exchange it later."

"squeak."

The white mouse squeaked one last time, and it was unclear whether it understood Zhuang Xing's meaning. It plunged headfirst into the ground, leaving only a small hole where it had stood.

Zhuang Xing looked slightly melancholy, shook his head, smiled faintly, and said, "Let's go too."

They took one last look at the stone wall depicting the divine kingdom before stepping down the stairs they had come from.

When we emerged from the cave, the bright moon was still shining high in the sky.

Zhuang Xing moved a piece of bluestone and sealed the small hole. He was still young and did not have the ability to make this stone wall public.

When he has the ability in the future, he will naturally return and present this masterpiece to the world.

Such a beautiful painting should be appreciated by more people.

The two returned to the village, where everything was still quiet.

Three days later, people finally arrived from outside the village.

Leading the way was Senior Brother Lingwei, along with a group of officials who drove a convoy.

Senior Brother Linghui and Senior Brother Lingwei exchanged information, recounting the events of their trip in detail. The crippled villager was chained up by the officials and put into a cage. It was said that he was to be taken back, interrogated, convicted, paraded through the streets in shackles, and then beheaded in the public eye in the marketplace.

As the villager was being taken away, the old mandrill climbed down from the roof.

Zhuang Xing then noticed that it had picked kiwis from somewhere. These kiwis must be wild fruits from the mountain. It wrapped these hairy fruits with a few bamboo leaves. Although the wrapping was very rough, its claws were already extremely long. It had so much trouble picking up a piece of iron, so you could imagine how carefully it had picked these fruits.

Years ago, a villager gave it a piece of meat; today, it bids him farewell with a bag of fruit.

The surrounding officials watched the old mandrill with extreme tension. Although they had heard from the Taoist priests of Xuanqing Temple that the mandrill was harmless to people, the mandrill was ugly and grotesque, resembling a fierce ghost. These officials could not help but feel fear, afraid that the mandrill would suddenly attack.

Zhuang Xing stepped forward and helped the mandrill by its claws.

"Young Taoist priest, be careful not to get close to this mountain spirit, or you might get hurt," a constable nearby warned.

"Don't worry," Zhuang Xing said with a smile, "Although it is a mountain spirit, it is also my friend."

He led the mandrill to the cage.

This scene was truly bizarre; the terrifying old mountain ghost, in front of this young Taoist priest dressed in Taoist robes, really looked like a frail old man.

The surrounding officials, whether it was because the ugly mountain demon was extremely intelligent or because the young Taoist priest was too capable, stared at Zhuang Xing's Taoist robes without saying a word, but unconsciously relaxed and loosened their grip on the knife.

The old mandrill's cloudy eyes met those of the villager in the cage. It reached its paw into the cage and placed a bunch of kiwis in front of the villager.

The villager looked at it, struggled to sit up, and with his almost useless hand, tremblingly picked up a kiwi.

He put the wild fruit in his mouth, without even peeling it, and took a bite.

Juice splattered out, and he ate while spitting out the skin.

"Blackie, the fruit you picked tastes awful..."

The old mandrill looked at him and silently retreated.

Zhuang Xing held onto the old mandrill's claws, no longer glancing at the villager.

The villager felt the kiwi in his mouth was extremely sour and bitter, but he couldn't speak. Little did he know that the last thing to see him off in this world would be a mandrill.

He eventually began to regret his actions. He knew what kind of shady business he had been involved in and what the consequences would be if he were caught.

Death cannot make him repent. If one day he is caught and executed, he will only feel that he was not careful enough or cautious enough.

But at this moment, he finally regretted it.

He thought that perhaps his life could have taken a different turn. If he had honestly farmed in the countryside back then, he would probably have a big, healthy son by now.

He looked at Zhuang Xing standing next to the black man and thought to himself that he had also had the opportunity to stand in Zhuang Xing's position.

Chapter 100 Going Home

The villager was taken away, but the whereabouts of the children remained a problem.

Most of them were still young. When they were abducted, it was usually sudden. They were drugged without warning, grabbed by traffickers, put into wooden boxes, and woke up in this village.

They didn't know where they lived, and they couldn't even say their parents' names.

The villagers didn't know where they had been abducted from, making it difficult to send them home one by one.

"When I left, my Uncle-Master Qingxuzi instructed me to take these children to Xuanqing Temple for the time being," said Senior Brother Lingwei to the officials. "Please have Constable Yu write down the names of these children and post notices in the name of the government. If their families are found, we will return them to their parents."

The officer, referred to as Constable Yu, nodded and took the list from Senior Brother Linghui.

“In recent years, there have been many reports of missing children near Yidu,” said Constable Yu. “After I return, I will definitely investigate the case files carefully. If I have any news, I will come to Qingxuan Mountain to inform the Taoist priests.”