Narration

Jiang Youfu patted his little belly, sighed, and said,

"To think that the people and events of the cultivation world Senior Liao usually tells us about are actually real. I thought he was just making them up to scare us."

Fang Manliang, who had never returned to the sect, asked him,

"Who is Senior Liao?"

Jiang Youfu looked at him with an unfathomable expression and said,

"Senior Liao is an elder of our sect with profound cultivation. He loves telling us stories the most. If you return to the sect in the future and see the person whose appearance shocks you the most, that will be Senior Liao. You must be polite, understand?"

Fang Manliang nodded in agreement, looking completely bewildered.

Meanwhile, agonizing screams echoed from the valley from time to time.

Hearing them, Jiang Youfu shuddered all over. He turned to ask Qin Jianghe,

"Jianghe, did you cast an immobilization spell on that man?"

Qin Jianghe nodded calmly.

"Don't worry, I've already crippled him. Now we just wait for Yu Xiao to avenge her father, and then we can head back. Letting this remote valley serve as a grave for these wicked bandits is letting them off too easy."

Fang Manliang scratched his head and asked,

"Aren't we handing them over to the authorities?"

"It's inconvenient." Hearing the screams inside fade away, Qin Jianghe pulled a handkerchief from his storage bag.

"If we reported it directly to the authorities, they might not be able to catch these thieves. If I capture them all and hand them over... In short, it's very inconvenient, so let's forget it. If we reported it, what if the authorities were intimidated by his identity as a cultivator, or colluded with him, making things easy for him and letting the tiger return to the mountain? That would be a real problem."

"Oh..."

On the mountain path, Gu Yuxiao, having personally avenged her father's murder, walked out. Qin Jianghe handed her the handkerchief.

Gu Yuxiao took it with a somewhat listless expression and wiped her hands, which she had already cleaned using a dust-removal spell.

Before leaving, Lin Xiao collected the concealment array disk from this location, as well as all the money, grain, and valuables from the bandit stronghold, into his private vault.

Then, the five of them left the valley deep in the mountains.

It wasn't long before the heavy stench of blood in the valley attracted many wild animals.

In the evening, the five rode Lin Xiao's spirit boat back to the outskirts of Songyang County.

Fang Manliang accompanied Gu Yuxiao to offer incense at Escort Leader Gu's grave, while Lin Xiao and Jiang Youfu followed Qin Jianghe back to the Lingxiao Escort Agency.

Fang Mancang, who had been guarding the escort agency, breathed a massive sigh of relief when he saw Qin Jianghe return safe and sound.

He then closed the agency's main gates, and the four went inside to talk.

Lin Xiao had already given Qin Jianghe a general update on the sect's recent affairs through the sound transmission talismans Gu Yuxiao had brought back; now, he was simply filling him in on the events of the past month.

Hearing that Lin Xiao had actually gone to garrison the Guchuan Dam and even ran into Sun Yigao, Qin Jianghe couldn't help but smile brightly.

"That's exactly the kind of thing you two would do."

Afterward, Lin Xiao also told him about Prefect Tong of Liaoju Prefecture sending him gifts. He then took out a stack of positioning sound transmission talismans and handed them over.

"Jianghe, these are the new positioning sound transmission talismans I made. They record the spiritual energy of myself, Baldy, and Yigao. If you need us for anything, you can use these to send voice messages directly to the three of us."

Except for Sun Yigao's talismans, which were made previously at Guchuan Dam, the rest were rushed out just last night.

Qin Jianghe took them and examined them in his hands.

"This will make it so much more convenient for me to send you messages from now on!"

Seeing this, Jiang Youfu looked at Lin Xiao in surprise.

"Brother Xiao, why don't I have positioning sound transmission talismans with your spiritual energy recorded? I want some too!"

Lin Xiao knew he would ask, so he came prepared. He pulled out another ten positioning sound transmission talismans recorded with his own spiritual energy and handed them over.

"I know, I know. These are all yours."

As he spoke, he took out a stack of blank positioning sound transmission talismans that hadn't recorded any spiritual energy yet and gave them to Qin Jianghe.

"Take five of these later, record your spiritual energy on them for me to take back, and keep the rest for yourself."

Then he took out a stack of books and a bundle of spirit stones from his private vault and handed them to him.

"These are the books on the Four Arts of Cultivation that our sect recently added. Although you don't have the tools right now, you can read the books in your spare time. As for these, they are some spirit stones I mined from our sect's spirit stone mine and some talisman-making tools. Take them to use for now, whether for cultivation or practicing skills.

"From now on, I will send some cultivation resources over to you guys every once in a while. However, the tools and spaces required for the other three arts—alchemy, artifact forging, and array carving—are quite large and troublesome. Whenever you can free yourself up here, it's best if you find time to return to the sect to cultivate."

Qin Jianghe, whose arms were suddenly stuffed with a pile of things, froze for a moment. For some reason, he suddenly saw his mother's figure in Brother Xiao right before he left home.

Jiang Youfu patted his shoulder and said,

"Jianghe, let me tell you, those Four Arts of Cultivation are so much fun. Brother Xiao forged that spirit boat of his in the Artifact Forging Hall! And let me tell you..."

Jiang Youfu babbled on to Qin Jianghe about the fun parts of learning the Four Arts of Cultivation in the sect recently. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly saw Fang Mancang sitting to the side, trying his best to hide his presence. He swung his large hand and slapped Fang Mancang's shoulder, saying,

"Brother Mancang, when are you going to ask Jianghe to give you two a vacation to go back and see the sect? We'll build a house for you and Brother Manliang at the Guiyuan Mountain Residence. Hehe, let me tell you, our sect is incredibly fun! I'll introduce you to Fellow Daoist Little Luan. Watching it train its disciples is super interesting..."

Eighteen-year-old Fang Mancang didn't know why watching this fellow Daoist named 'Little Luan' train disciples was interesting, but that didn't stop him from nodding excitedly.

Although he had already gotten married last year, it didn't prevent him from still having the heart of a youth.

He planned that once the escort agency wasn't so busy in a while, he would take a leave to go back and see his wife, and then take a trip to the neighboring Xiushui Village to see his sect, which he had never met before.

Now, the two brothers Fang Mancang and Fang Manliang, along with Gu Yuxiao, were all considered disciples taken in by Qin Jianghe, so naturally, they were all part of their Lingxian Sect.

At this time, Fang Mancang, who had gone out early in the morning, returned at noon, and had been waiting for news from Qin Jianghe while completely forgetting to eat, had a stomach that involuntarily began to growl. The other three cultivators present, with their keen hearing, heard it loud and clear.

Fang Mancang, who had just advanced to the first level of Qi Condensation not long ago, still couldn't avoid the hunger of his stomach.

Qin Jianghe laughed heartily.

"It's been a tiring day. Come on, let's go eat out at a restaurant! We'll bring some food back for Brother Manliang and Yu Xiao while we're at it."

Jiang Youfu quickly volunteered,

"I'll cook! I'll cook! Jianghe, do you have vegetables here?"

Qin Jianghe froze for a moment, seemingly not expecting that Fuzi, who usually only knew how to eat, would actually volunteer to cook. He subconsciously nodded and said,

"Yes, the hired old women buy vegetables for the kitchen every day..."

With great enthusiasm, Jiang Youfu rolled up his sleeves and followed Fang Mancang into the kitchen, where he began to cook.

By the time Gu Yuxiao and Fang Manliang returned, the dishes were perfectly ready to be served.

That night, the six of them ate and drank to their hearts' content, ending up completely stuffed.