A Busy Day for the Elder of Affairs

By the time Sun Yigao finished treating Tong Jialiang, an hour had passed, and the night was growing late.

After explaining the progress of the treatment and some precautions to Baojian, Han Weishu, and the others, Sun Yigao and Liu Yunan bid their farewells and left.

Leaving the Lin family residence, the two of them headed back to the sect together.

Liu Yunan needed to go to the Affairs Hall to review and handle the sect matters that had accumulated recently, while Sun Yigao wanted to seize the remaining hours of the night to cultivate.

Currently, the only people left in the Lingxian Sect were a few elders who volunteered to stay behind to tend the crops, Qin, Sun, and Da Tao.

Shrouded in the night, the Lingxian Sect appeared exceptionally peaceful and harmonious.

The night passed in the blink of an eye.

Liu Yunan sat in the Affairs Hall for the entire night. It wasn't until the first rays of the rising sun crept through the doorway that he realized morning had arrived.

Basking in the morning light, he stretched his back and got up to head toward the sect's storehouse.

Today, he had to go to Cuifeng Town to pay a visit to Mo Yuanjiao's grandmother and mother.

After all, it was the two elders' first time here, and they were living in an unfamiliar town. Although Mo Yuanjiao would surely make proper arrangements, as the hosts, their sect still needed to show the proper hospitality and etiquette.

He picked out some gifts from the storehouse that he had previously bought in the county for emergencies, and grabbed some small pastries that Fuzi had made before leaving for the cultivation world, before setting off for Cuifeng Town.

He chatted for a while with the two elders, whom he had officially met back in the capital. Seeing that it was nearing noon, he took his leave.

Madam Mo originally wanted to keep him for lunch, but Liu Yunan explained that he had to rush to Songyang County shortly. Not wanting to delay his business, she didn't insist.

Liu Yunan wasn't just being polite; he really did need to go to Songyang County.

Leaving the Mo residence in Cuifeng Town, he traveled non-stop to Songyang County.

Today was the agreed-upon day for Qin Jianghe to lead a group to the capital.

Qin Jianghe had returned to the Lingxiao Escort Agency yesterday and had already selected the personnel required for the trading firm in the capital.

Besides Gu Yuxiao and his eldest cousin Fang Mancang, he also brought three experienced hired workers.

These three workers had already agreed to leave Songyang County with them, and last night was given to them to explain things to their families and pack their luggage.

Qin Jianghe offered the three workers very generous compensation and promised to help look after their families, so they were entirely willing to go along.

When Liu Yunan arrived in Songyang County, five carriages were already lined up and waiting at the entrance of the Lingxiao Escort Agency.

Since Gu Yuxiao was a girl, she had a carriage to herself, making it convenient for her to rest and cultivate.

Gu Yuxiao had previously been a manager in Xiushui Village, but after receiving Qin Jianghe's letter, she made arrangements in advance and came to wait at the Lingxiao Escort Agency.

Now that the restaurant and inn in Xiushui Village were on track, and since they were located at the foot of the Lingxian Sect's mountain, Yang Jinshu could easily go down to keep an eye on things. Therefore, they no longer needed to tie Gu Yuxiao down there.

Eldest cousin Fang Mancang also had his own carriage because he wasn't going alone this time; his wife was coming too.

After all, they had never traveled so far from home, and the couple had only been married for a few years. When they were in Songyang County, it was fine, as they could see each other a few times every couple of weeks. But this time he was going to the capital, and separating them across such a vast distance simply wouldn't do.

The remaining three hired workers shared one carriage.

The other two carriages were loaded with their luggage and some goods.

After all, they were nominally going to the capital to open a shop, so naturally, they couldn't arrive without anything to sell, right?

Most of Gu Yuxiao and Fang Mancang's luggage was actually stored in their storage bags. It was only because outsiders were present that they each carried two bundles just for show, so as not to appear empty-handed.

Qin Jianghe was naturally going as well, but he didn't plan to travel with them.

Because he had a lot of matters to attend to, spending a massive amount of time on the road in a carriage with them would be too much of a waste.

Therefore, in front of the three workers and the people from the escort agency, he simply said that he had some business to finish and would ride fast to catch up and meet them in the capital later.

When no one was looking, Liu Yunan handed a few array disks to Qin Jianghe, who then quietly slipped them to Gu Yuxiao.

He then instructed her:

The functions and usage of these array disks are recorded in this sound transmission talisman. Remember to set them up in important places once you arrive.

Thus, after a round of farewells, the Lingxiao Escort Agency's carriage convoy bound for the capital clattered out of Songyang County.

Having seen them off, Liu Yunan pulled Qin Jianghe into the study in the agency's backyard and closed the door, whispering about who knows what.

In Banxiang City of the cultivation world.

The Talisman Master Competition was in full swing.

By this point, the number of remaining participants had been whittled down to two thousand five hundred.

Liu Chun was still holding strong on the list of those who had passed.

These past few days, betting pools had opened in Banxiang City. The talisman masters receiving the most bets were those who had performed brilliantly in the competition or were already quite famous beforehand.

The bets currently weren't on who would take first place, but rather on which of these people could make it into the top five hundred and obtain the title token issued by the Talisman Master Competition, an item coveted by all talisman masters.

Because of the previous framing incident, Liu Chun had drawn a lot of attention at the time.

Now that he had overcome all obstacles to secure a spot among the final two thousand five hundred, he had practically become one of the dark horses of this Talisman Master Competition. Thus, quite a few people favored his chances and placed bets on him.

Lin Xiao and Jiang Youfu didn't place heavy bets; they just wagered a hundred spirit stones as a show of support.

It wasn't that they didn't believe in Liu Chun, but rather they felt it was unnecessary. This sort of thing was just for fun and they shouldn't let it get to their heads.

Over the past few days, because of the Jishi powder incident, people from Lianying Hall had been in constant contact with Liu Chun to ask about various details. Consequently, during this period, he had practically met the entire management of Lianying Hall.

When the people from Lianying Hall asked about his background, experiences, enemies, and so on, he vaguely sensed that the severity of the matter seemed to go beyond the Talisman Master Competition's usual strictness against cheating and interference. Therefore, he answered everything truthfully and seriously, only omitting the fact that he had joined the Lingxian Sect.

Regarding what happened after he left the Wu family, he simply stated that he had become an itinerant cultivator, wandering outside the city and cultivating alone.

This hadn't happened too long ago—only a little over a year—so the people from Lianying Hall didn't find anything suspicious about his story.

After all, Liu Chun's cultivation aptitude wasn't very high, and he had been holed up in the Wu family as a minor enshrinee before. It was understandable that he couldn't find a sect to take him in right away. Furthermore, from Liu Chun's demeanor, it seemed he was afraid of jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire—like someone once bitten by a snake who fears well ropes for a decade. So, acting as a temporary itinerant cultivator was perfectly normal.

Thus, after the people from Lianying Hall verified his history and his time at the Wu family, they harbored no further suspicions. Instead, they shifted the focus of their investigation entirely toward the Wu family of Yuanling City.