Little Wood Carving

At the mention of the “Binding Ji Treasure Formation,” Lin Xiao’s expression finally changed ever so slightly.

“Could it be that this formation can capture the Ji Stone faction?” he asked, raising a brow.

“Precisely.” He Yi nodded. “According to the records in the incomplete scrolls, Ji cultivators possess a secret art that allows them to use Ji Stones to change locations and escape directly. As long as they have secretly prepared a location-changing Ji Stone somewhere in advance, they can easily leave regardless of any spiritual-power formation sealing off the area. That makes them extremely difficult to capture or surround.”

“But the Binding Ji Treasure Formation can prevent any Ji cultivator inside it from escaping through any means involving Ji, spiritual power, or primordial energy.”

After expressing the basic concern any cultivator from the mortal world would have toward such a formation, Lin Xiao once again put on an expression of complete ignorance and asked:

“If this formation is truly so powerful, why doesn’t the Talisman Sect simply use it to capture the Ji Stone faction?”

He Yi seemed to have suddenly thought of something. His left hand moved slightly toward his dantian before stopping at once, his expression filled with inquiry and contemplation.

“That is because spirit cultivators cannot activate this formation. It requires a cultivator capable of refining and manipulating primordial energy to activate it.”

After his voice fell, the room fell silent for a moment.

Lin Xiao hesitated.

He hesitated over whether he should admit it.

After all, the matter of the Ji Stones was far too dangerous.

But he hesitated for only an instant. Before the silence could become obvious and irreversible, he maintained his ignorant smile and spoke:

“Then, does the cultivation world have any leads regarding cultivators capable of manipulating and refining primordial energy? If there is anything I can do to help, I, Lin Xiao, will do everything in my power.”

From the beginning of the conversation until now, He Yi had been watching Lin Xiao’s expression the entire time.

Unfortunately, the other man had revealed no flaws.

Aside from that brief pause—so brief that it could hardly even be called silence.

But that alone meant nothing. Perhaps Lin Xiao had simply been slow to respond.

Even so, He Yi had a feeling that this conversation could not end here.

If Lin Xiao truly knew nothing, then so be it. But if he really did know something about primordial energy—or if he himself controlled the primordial energy recorded in the incomplete scrolls—and He Yi allowed this opportunity to pass him by, leaving the Binding Ji Treasure Formation impossible to activate, then that would truly be…

He also knew that even if the latter possibility were true, he currently possessed nothing that could persuade Lin Xiao to speak.

Thinking of what Lin Xiao had said to him on the small hill three days ago, He Yi took a small wooden carving from his robes and held it in his hand.

“Since arriving in the mortal world, I have passed through many nations, cities, towns, and villages. Yet only after entering Pusi Kingdom have I heard—and seen—a sect that, whenever mentioned by mortals, is spoken of not with fear or distance, but with heartfelt affection and admiration.”

As he spoke, he suddenly gave a self-mocking smile before continuing:

“To be honest, at first I thought the Lingxian Sect was merely seeking fame and reputation, or that you had some sort of sinister scheme for exploiting mortals.”

“It seems I was judging a gentleman by the standards of a petty man.”

With that, he extended his hand and indicated that Lin Xiao should take the small wooden carving.

“This was given to me by the villagers of a remote little village I deliberately passed through when I first entered Hufang Province.”

Lin Xiao did not understand what he meant, but he took the carving and examined it.

He Yi explained:

“I thought that if you were carrying out some sort of scheme, you would seek out places with large populations. A remote village like that should have been of no interest to you. I never expected that your administration would reach even such an out-of-the-way corner.”

Hearing this, Lin Xiao was rendered speechless. He carefully examined the wooden carving in his hand.

From its outline, one could barely make out the shape of a person: a head, a body, and four limbs. It even seemed to be wearing a Daoist robe.

There was little detail beyond that.

It was obvious that the person who had carved it was not particularly skilled at the craft.

Yet on the surface of the robe were two small characters. The carving itself was no more refined than the rest, but the clarity of the characters and the smoothness of their edges showed how much care had been devoted to them.

Those two characters were “Lingxian.”

“The village is poor and remote, and its people rarely leave it even once in several years. An old carpenter from the village carved this. Every household there keeps one of these wooden figures. When I mentioned that I was planning to pay a visit to the Lingxian Sect, the old carpenter eagerly gave one to me,” He Yi said.

At those words, Lin Xiao looked at the crude wooden carving in his hand and revealed the first sincere smile of the day.

Seeing this, He Yi seemed to understand something all at once.

A person like Lin Xiao was not without desires. He, too, had things he wished to pursue and fulfill.

It was simply that his desires were not founded upon harming others. They carried no malice; one could even say they were filled with goodwill.

Three days ago, He Yi had asked him why he treated mortals so kindly…

Now that he thought about it, why did there need to be a reason?

There were selfish people in this world, and there were indifferent people. Naturally, there could also be people like Lin Xiao.

It was only that the former were numerous and the latter rare. Thus, everyone took the former for granted—even considered them normal—while treating the latter as aberrations they were unwilling to understand.

Once he stepped outside that seemingly long-established cycle of conflict and profit-seeking, and looked at the Lingxian Sect’s actions from another angle, they no longer seemed so strange.

Cultivators had always spoken of cultivating to become an immortal, but what an immortal actually looked like was something even the cultivators of the cultivation world had no idea about.

Yet He Yi suddenly felt that compared with the many self-serving or extremely selfish and indifferent people of the cultivation world, someone like Lin Xiao was far more deserving of the word “immortal.”

Once this new perspective opened before him, He Yi no longer tested Lin Xiao so cautiously and repeatedly. He suddenly believed that when it came to destroying the Ji Stones, they were certain to share the same goal.

Thus, he spoke directly:

“Having experienced what happened in Huanyou Kingdom, Sect Master Lin must understand the danger posed by the Ji Stones better than anyone. If we continue allowing them to run rampant, who knows what region will become the next victim…”

Perhaps realizing that his words carried an element of coercion, He Yi paused. Then, as if he had made some sort of decision, he looked Lin Xiao straight in the eye and declared:

“If… Forget it. I, He Yi, request to join the Lingxian Sect!”

Without waiting for Lin Xiao to respond, he took an object from his storage ring and held it in his hand.

“This is the identity token of a direct disciple of the Talisman Sect. It was forged by the only seventh-grade artifact-refining grandmaster in the Northern and Southern Spiritual Regions. Unless the token’s owner has died or withdraws the divine sense sealed within it, even a mighty Void-Returning cultivator would find it difficult to destroy completely.”

“The sect has a rule: so long as the token exists, the person exists. If the token is destroyed, the holder is automatically removed from the roster of the Talisman Sect’s direct disciples.”