Serendipitous Encounter

Seeing that Yang Jinshu's tea stall seemed to have quite a few customers every day and did not look like too much trouble to run, other villagers in Xiushui Village followed suit and set up their own small stalls nearby.

They did not just sell tea; they also sold some rustic foods like homemade sun-dried sweet potato slices.

At the foot of the North Mountain, the mountain stream that gently flowed past Sun Yigao's private school was now visited by many scholars who came to compose poems and paint. Before long, this little stream, which originally sat quietly in a forgotten corner at the foot of the mountain, became a newly minted scenic spot in Anqun County.

Many people noticed a small mountain path near the private school leading up the mountain. Some of the bolder and more curious ones wanted to go up and explore, but they were all stopped by Sun Yigao on the grounds that there were many snakes, insects, and wild beasts on the mountain, making it unsafe.

Whether it was due to the scholar effect or not, the number of tourists visiting Xiushui Village gradually and unknowingly increased. As a result, the villagers also found themselves with a bit more spare change in their pockets.

With money in their pockets, the villagers' tempers seemed to have improved a lot. The noisy arguments and disputes over trivial matters that used to be frequently heard in the village were now much fewer. The atmosphere in the village gradually became more harmonious.

Just like that, Xiushui Village became increasingly peaceful and harmonious.

While everyone in the Lingxian Sect was steadily developing, Lin Xiao also found a cost-effective inn to stay at in Yuanling City.

During the day, he would go out for a stroll.

He mainly went to Seven Stars Street to hear if there was any new information. He just treated visiting other places like unlocking a map, looking around, and familiarizing himself with the roads.

At night, he would return to the inn, activate several formations such as the isolation formation, concealment formation, and spirit gathering formation, and then begin his daily cultivation.

Speaking of which, Yuanling City was truly massive. So much so that Lin Xiao had not finished exploring the city even after three days.

Although this included the time he spent lingering and sightseeing, Yuanling City was indeed very large, at least ten times the size of Liaoju Prefecture.

That evening, after finishing his map exploration for the day, Lin Xiao was walking on his way back to the inn.

When he arrived in front of an alleyway, he sensed a somewhat weak aura inside.

He turned in to take a look and saw a somewhat familiar figure leaning against a pile of straw in the distance.

Observing the person carefully, Lin Xiao was a bit surprised. He did not expect to run into him again.

This person was none other than Liu Chun, who had caused a scene at the Wu family's banquet for recruiting guest cultivators at the Immortal Fragrance Pavilion a few days ago.

It was just that the man looked far worse than he had that day. Although he had looked quite thin then, he was not like this now—with sunken eyes, a face as pale as paper, and dark, bruised lips.

His clothes were also torn in several places. He was half-lying on the ground in a crooked posture, leaning against the straw pile, looking as if he were on the verge of collapsing.

This person looked...

Lin Xiao hesitated for a moment but still decided to lend a helping hand.

Seeing someone heavily injured on the road, he could not just turn a blind eye. He was like this in his past life, and he did not plan to change in this one.

However, now that he had truly begun to experience the cruelty of this cultivation world, he made sure to think things through as thoroughly as possible.

He did not step forward to save the man directly. Instead, he put on a disguise, went to a nearby medical clinic, and gave the cultivator doctor inside twenty spirit stones, asking him to go to that alley and save someone.

After wandering around Yuanling City for the past few days, he learned that the cultivation world also had medical clinics. Furthermore, they were divided into clinics that treated cultivators and those that treated mortals. The latter were called medicine huts, and there were only a few of them in the massive Yuanling City. However, there were many clinics of all sizes dedicated to treating and healing cultivators.

But given Liu Chun's condition just now, Lin Xiao felt that based on the clinic prices he had recently inquired about, the twenty spirit stones he gave definitely would not be enough. At most, it would cover the travel fee to bring the patient back to the clinic plus a consultation fee.

But he could not possibly leave too many spirit stones at the clinic either.

He figured that as a Foundation Establishment cultivator, Liu Chun could afford his own medical expenses.

Therefore, after paying the spirit stones and pointing the way for the doctor of that small clinic, Lin Xiao pretended to leave but actually hid himself.

Seeing Lin Xiao leave in a hurry, the doctor found it a bit strange.

This twelve-year-old boy did not seem to have a trace of spiritual energy, yet he casually handed over twenty spirit stones.

It seemed that this boy was either a descendant of a powerful family or a senior who had concealed his cultivation. Anyway, as a sixth-level Qi Refining cultivator, he could not see through him at all, which meant the other party was definitely stronger than him.

Thinking of this, the doctor, who initially had some greedy thoughts upon seeing the twenty easily earned spirit stones, immediately dispelled those restless ideas and obediently ran to the small alley Lin Xiao pointed out to save the person.

Hiding in the dark, Lin Xiao let out a sigh of relief when he saw the doctor indeed run into the alley and carry Liu Chun back to the clinic, and then he turned and left the area.

On the way, Lin Xiao pondered. As a Foundation Establishment cultivator, Liu Chun was lying so miserably in a small alley.

Looking at his condition, he must have been injured by someone.

However, Senior Liao had mentioned before that fighting was prohibited in Yuanling City. He had wandered the whole city these past few days and had not seen any actual fighting.

There was one time when two conflicting parties were on the verge of breaking out into a fight, but just when they almost could not hold back, a flash of light streaked across the sky above them. Immediately after, the two changed their expressions and withdrew their offensive postures.

It seemed that Liu Chun was most likely injured outside the city, or else someone had used other means to deal with him inside the city.

But regardless of which it was, Lin Xiao felt that the one who did this was nine times out of ten a force belonging to the Wu family.

Just as Senior Liao had said, no matter the outcome, the final victor would always be the Wu family.

They had been entrenched here for years, passing down their power from generation to generation.

Unless they provoked the public anger of more than half of Yuanling City, no matter how they treated individuals or small groups, it would probably be up to them to decide who was right or wrong in the end.

Those incidents would at most become topics of casual conversation for the people in the city. At most, people would make a few painless remarks about the Wu family being unjust or ruthless, and then the matter would be forgotten.

Newly arrived rogue cultivators in this city would mostly be deceived by the preferential treatment they displayed and join them without knowing the truth.

Meanwhile, the individuals persecuted by the Wu family could only swallow their suffering in silence; no one would truly stand up for those without backing.

Thinking of this, Lin Xiao felt even more strongly that he had to be extremely cautious when choosing diplomatic targets. Otherwise, their small sect would not even be enough for a single bite from these wolves and tigers.

When Lin Xiao returned to the inn, he told Liao Pantu about his encounter with Liu Chun and the process of saving him.