Dense Forest in the Southern City

After setting up the dishes, bowls, and chopsticks, the two called Lin Xiao and Sun Yigao out to eat.

Under the tranquil night sky, the four youths gathered around the dining table, taking big, savory bites.

Sun Yigao was used to it, but for the other three, the rich, oily soup and dishes, along with a large basin of white rice, were simply a delicacy of the mortal realm!

After all, for the past ten years or so, they only got to eat meals like this during festivals and the New Year.

However, thinking about the spirit grain already planted in the sect's spirit fields, their hearts were filled with anticipation.

The taste of that spirit rice was truly fragrant!

With just that spirit rice, they could easily wolf down several large bowls without needing any accompanying dishes.

After dinner and washing up, everyone took out their Peach Blossom Spirit Gathering Arrays and began to cultivate.

Sun Yigao, on the other hand, continued to review his books.

The moon reached the middle of the sky.

Sun Yigao habitually rubbed his neck, then carefully put away his books, preparing to return to his room to sleep.

Entering the room, he saw Lin Xiao and the other two still earnestly meditating and cultivating. He didn't disturb them, gently lifting the quilt to lie down, and soon went to meet the Duke of Zhou.

After sleeping for two shichen, he got up, and Lin Xiao and the other two also stopped their cultivation at this time, as if they had agreed upon it beforehand.

Seeing Sun Yigao wake up, they heated up the dry rations they had brought along to eat.

It was still too early; neither the roosters nor the dogs were awake yet. They planned to settle breakfast themselves without bothering the Fang family.

Unexpectedly, a knock sounded at the door at this moment.

It was actually Auntie Fang bringing them breakfast.

Auntie Fang didn't enter the room, only saying from the doorway:

"I knew you were rushing to take the exam today and had to get up early. Afraid you wouldn't have time to come over and get breakfast, I brought it over."

The four took it and thanked her. After bidding farewell to Auntie Fang, they turned back into the room, took a portion of the breakfast she had delivered, and placed it into Sun Yigao's exam basket.

Once he entered the examination hall, he wouldn't be able to come out until evening, so he would inevitably have to eat lunch inside.

Having fresh food, they swapped out the dry rations that had been kept for two or three days.

Sun Yigao couldn't bring a storage bag into the examination hall, so he handed his storage bag to Lin Xiao for safekeeping.

Packed up, the four of them headed out under the cover of night.

The examination hall wasn't close to their residence, but fortunately, they walked fast. When they arrived, the line wasn't very long yet.

The scholar acting as his guarantor also happened to just arrive. After exchanging greetings with him, Sun Yigao went to line up.

For the county and prefectural exams, one must have a scholar as a guarantor, or five candidates mutually guaranteeing each other to take the exam.

But because the teacher who taught Sun Yigao was old and shouldn't be overworked, Landlord Sun specially hired The Scholar to act as his guarantor.

Sun Yigao was near the front of the line. After another half a shichen passed, the examination hall opened. After verifying his identity and being searched, he smoothly entered the examination hall.

Seeing him enter, Lin Xiao and the other two said their goodbyes to The Scholar and returned to the small courtyard.

As soon as the three returned, they saw Tuantuan eating the food they had left aside.

It was actually just some crumbled dry rations.

Seeing them return, Tuantuan drank some water, licked its paws, and stopped eating, its pair of golden cat eyes staring at the three of them.

Especially at Liu Yunan and Jiang Youfu.

The aura of spiritual energy on their bodies was gone!

Although Tuantuan was already at the seventh layer of Spirit Awakening, it had always lived in the mortal realm and rarely saw cultivators, so it didn't know that cultivators had items capable of concealing their cultivation levels.

Seeing it awake, Lin Xiao smiled and asked it:

"How did you end up in this state?"

Tuantuan turned its eyes to look at him, recalling that it couldn't defeat this person at all before. Thinking of this, a trace of light flashed in its eyes.

"If I tell you, and you help me get revenge, I will give you a gift."

Lin Xiao didn't expect it to still want revenge and was momentarily stunned. But it made sense; after all, cats hold grudges, not to mention it was beaten into such a state and almost killed.

"Tell me about it first." He neither directly agreed nor refused.

Tuantuan scratched its forehead with its front paw somewhat impatiently,

"Three hundred miles west of this county town is Liaoju Prefecture. South of the prefectural city of Liaoju, there is a dense forest. In that forest is a cultivator equivalent to the late stage of our demonic beasts' Origin Gathering realm. He abducted many human children about your age. When I discovered him, he was afraid I would leak the secret and wanted to silence me. Unfortunately for him, he didn't expect us cats to have escape techniques, and he failed to deal the final blow."

The Origin Gathering stage of a demonic beast was equivalent to the Foundation Establishment stage of a cultivator. Lin Xiao had heard Senior Liao mention this before.

Hearing this, his expression turned solemn as he asked:

"You said that person caught a lot of children, is that true?"

Tuantuan frowned with some displeasure, its long whiskers twitching twice:

"Why would I lie to you? He really caught a lot of children. Those children are still alive right now, but it's hard to say what will happen after some time. I saw that he didn't give them anything to eat; those children were so hungry they were eating leaves."

Hearing it say this, Lin Xiao felt the situation was somewhat urgent. He immediately said to Liu Yunan and Jiang Youfu:

"You guys stay behind and take care of this little cat. Remember to pick up Yigao later. I'll go to the prefectural city to take a look."

Of course, he wasn't going to get revenge for the little cat demon, but for those abducted children. He planned to go check the situation first. If they could be saved, he would naturally do his best to save them.

The two knew that they wouldn't be of any help if they followed, so they could only nod and urge him:

"Brother Xiao, be careful in everything!"

"Brother Xiao, remember to use the teleportation talisman!" Jiang Youfu said anxiously.

Reminded by him, Lin Xiao remembered that when he went to seal the Silver Frost Python Demon before, he had additionally bought a set of Mother-Child Positioning Talismans, so he took out the mother talisman and placed it in the small courtyard.

"I'm leaving. If I haven't returned by the time Yigao finishes his exam, don't rush to look for me. I will definitely be back within three days."

Then Lin Xiao turned and left the house.

After leaving the city, Lin Xiao sped westward toward the prefectural city.

It was early morning when he departed, and by the time he arrived, the sun was already high in the sky, marking it as noon.

Upon entering the city, Lin Xiao's speed slowed down. It couldn't be helped; there were too many people.

He tried his best to avoid the crowds as he hurried along, heading south all the way.

After winding through many alleys and streets, he finally saw the dense forest Tuantuan had mentioned about half a shichen later.

This dense forest was extremely large, and behind the forest was a continuous, rolling mountain range.

There were no city walls on the south side of Liaoju Prefecture; it relied on this mountain as a natural city wall.

Lin Xiao used a concealment spell and quietly entered this massive dense forest.

He hadn't forgotten that Tuantuan said that person had abducted many children around his age. What if that person set his sights on him too?

After all, other cultivators couldn't see his cultivation level and would naturally treat him as an ordinary child.

And that cultivator was at the late stage of Foundation Establishment, so he still had to be careful.

Not long after Lin Xiao entered the dense forest, he encountered a person.

However, that person did not notice Lin Xiao.

He saw that the person was about twenty-eight or twenty-nine years old, dressed in martial attire, with a very ordinary appearance.