Making Successful Connections

At the same time, a system notification suddenly sounded in Lin Xiao's mind:

Congratulations to the host for successfully befriending a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Lin Xiao was a little surprised.

This actually counted as successfully befriending someone?

With the system's authentication, it meant that Shopkeeper Zhong genuinely wanted to befriend him.

As a result, Lin Xiao, who originally had a trace of concern, completely relaxed.

This system truly had all sorts of unexpected uses.

When Lin Xiao returned to the inn, he saw the inn's waiter run over and hand him a small wooden box, saying:

"Guest, someone came looking for you just now. Since you weren't here, he asked me to give this to you, saying that you might know who he is when you see this. That person also said he would come visit you again tomorrow morning."

Taking the small wooden box, Lin Xiao couldn't think of anyone who would look for him in Yuanling City, a place where he was completely unfamiliar with the people and the area.

After thanking the waiter, he took the small wooden box upstairs.

Entering the room, he placed the small wooden box on the table. Without opening it rashly, he picked up the teapot on the side, poured himself a cup of tea, and tilted his head back to drink it all in one gulp.

The pitch-black Soul-Nourishing Pendant flew out from his clothes and circled the small wooden box twice.

Afterward, Liao Pantu sent a voice transmission to Lin Xiao:

"It's just an ordinary small box."

Hearing this, Lin Xiao put down his teacup and casually opened the small wooden box.

Inside the box, there was only a single, ordinary spirit stone.

Seeing this, Lin Xiao was a bit surprised.

He wondered who could be so bored as to get a box just to send him one spirit stone.

Meanwhile, Liao Pantu inside the Soul-Nourishing Pendant was taken aback when he saw this spirit stone. Then, as if he had thought of something, he glanced at Lin Xiao. Seeing his completely clueless appearance, he did not make a sound, but secretly chuckled to himself a couple of times.

However, even though he clearly hadn't sent a voice transmission to Lin Xiao, nor made any noise, Lin Xiao suddenly looked at him and said:

"Senior, do you know the reason for this?"

Being asked directly, Liao Pantu had no choice but to fake two dry coughs and say seriously:

"Do you still remember when you saved that talisman master before?"

"Talisman master?" Lin Xiao paused for a moment.

"You mean Liu Chun? Are you saying this thing was sent by him..."

As he spoke, his gaze turned toward the spirit stone in the small wooden box.

Suddenly, he realized:

"Is this my spirit stone?"

Seeing that he had realized it, Liao Pantu floated out of the Soul-Nourishing Pendant. With his hands behind his back, he lifted his head and puffed out his chest, asking him:

"Do you still remember when I said you didn't think things through thoroughly enough? This is it."

He pointed at the spirit stone in the box and continued:

"That Liu Chun is a talisman master. You must know that talisman masters with some level of cultivation have quite a few tracking methods. Clearly, he is someone with ambitions for the Talisman Master Convention, and he indeed has some skills.

When you gave the spirit stones to the clinic doctor, you definitely didn't pay attention to erasing your own aura from them. Therefore, as long as he puts his mind to it, it wouldn't be impossible for him to find you."

Lin Xiao didn't expect that a tiny spirit stone would expose him.

Feeling a bit amazed, he picked up the spirit stone from the box and examined it from all angles.

This was much more impressive than tracking coins by their serial numbers in modern society.

"But, since he could find my residence, why didn't he just come look for me directly?"

Liao Pantu stroked his beard and said:

"Perhaps this Liu Chun is an extremely polite person. He felt that the first time visiting his savior should be a bit more formal, and blocking someone directly on the streets outside would be too rude."

Lin Xiao thought of Liu Chun's appearance—looking frugal and restrained, with a slight sense of pedantry—and felt that what Senior Liao said was indeed possible.

"I wonder what he's looking for me for. It couldn't be that he's unhappy I saved him and came to challenge me to a duel, right?"

Liao Pantu was speechless.

"Couldn't he just simply want to say thank you?"

"Ah... let's just forget about thanking... thanking back and forth is quite awkward, and I wouldn't know what to say."

Liao Pantu replied, "What's the use of telling me? I'm not him."

Lin Xiao plopped down onto a chair. Suddenly thinking of a problem, he quickly turned to look at Liao Pantu and asked:

"Earlier, I threw those people out of the ice cave and even took the spirit stones from their storage bags. They won't be able to find me too, right?"

Liao Pantu sat down opposite him and poured himself a cup of tea.

"Just relax. How could talisman masters be so easy to find? Besides, didn't you say they were all piled up together when you came out? Everyone's auras were mixed together. Unless it's an especially powerful talisman master who can draw an extremely high-level tracking talisman, it's impossible for them to find you.

And as for a talisman master of that caliber, you couldn't find a single one in all of Yuanling City, so just put your heart at ease."

Actually, what he didn't say was that originally, a Foundation Establishment cultivator like Liu Chun shouldn't have been able to track Lin Xiao using just that little bit of lingering aura on the spirit stone.

So back then, he had only said it to Lin Xiao as a joke.

However, he truly was worthy of being a talisman master that the Wu family would deceive and exploit for over ten years; to think he actually possessed such methods.

However, Lin Xiao had no conflict of interest with him, and looking at the man's approach, it didn't seem like he was here to cause trouble.

Let's just wait and see.

Anyway, they were about to return to the sect soon.

Even if there really was some unexpected trouble, at worst, they could just teleport back when the time came.

No matter how strong his tracking abilities were.

There was no way he could track them across a distance that even the Universe Shifting Array needed to consume so many spirit stones to cross.

Early the next morning.

Sure enough, a knock sounded on the door outside.

Lin Xiao opened the door and saw the tall and thin Liu Chun.

His complexion was still somewhat pale, and his face had some gaunt hollows, but his spirit and energy looked decent.

Seeing Lin Xiao open the door, although Liu Chun had learned from the clinic doctor that his savior was a young man, he hadn't expected him to be this young.

Observing his overall appearance, his age couldn't be over fifteen.

He was just quite tall.

Immediately, Liu Chun gave Lin Xiao a formal bow and said:

"This Liu thanks benefactor for your life-saving grace!"

Lin Xiao was speechless.

He hurriedly helped the man up while saying:

"Uh... bro, no, fellow Daoist, please don't be so polite, don't be so polite. It was just a small effort, just a small effort. You're being too formal."

Hearing this, Liu Chun gave another deep bow and said:

"Not at all! If it weren't for the helping hand benefactor extended back then, what This Liu would have lost would be more than just this life of mine..."

Lin Xiao truly didn't know how to handle this kind of situation.

Right now, it didn't seem appropriate to just tell the person directly, okay I get it, now that you're done thanking me you can leave.

Therefore, he had no choice but to invite the man into the room.

It went from standing awkwardly at the doorway to sitting awkwardly face-to-face at the table holding teacups.

Fortunately, a sudden stroke of inspiration hit Lin Xiao, allowing him to alleviate the awkward atmosphere.

Lin Xiao was heard asking:

"I wonder what fellow Daoist's plans are after leaving the Wu family?"

Liu Chun was a smart person. Hearing him ask this, he knew that he likely had the intention of recruiting him. He didn't hide anything and replied with a bitter smile:

"After this humble one left the Wu family, I have been entangled in various matters and have not yet made any further plans."