Chapter One Hundred and Fifteen: Return to the City

Luan Teng had been in high spirits, spinning in excited circles on the spot, but when I told him I was leaving, he stared at me in disbelief.

“I already told you before that I couldn’t stay here forever.”

Luan Teng lowered his head, looking as though he could hardly bear to part with me.

“All right then...”

He looked so wronged he was almost like a child. I patted his shoulder, then went with him for my last meal on Mount Tianyang. Even while we ate, Luan Teng kept crying.

Afterward, I told him to go to the Lecture Hall for class first, while I headed off to the Elder’s residence.

Zhang Shun had said before that if I wanted to leave the mountain gate, I either had to be carrying out a mission or seek the Elder’s approval. I had no mission, so I could only go to the Elder.

I knew the way to the Elder’s residence well enough, and it did not take long to arrive.

Early that morning, the Elder was having breakfast in the courtyard. Seeing me arrive, he called me inside.

The breakfast had apparently been sent specially by the sect. It looked like osmanthus cakes.

“What is it? You’re leaving?”

He saw through my intention at a glance. I nodded.

“Very well. Before you go, I’ll give you one more thing.”

He flicked the crumbs from his hand and took a token from his ring.

It was the most exquisite token I had ever seen, like white jade, with a faint sheen of radiance flowing within it.

The Elder tossed it to me and said, “This is the guest elder token of Mount Tianyang. With it, no one will stop you whenever you come and go.”

Even without it, my token as a honored guest would have kept anyone from obstructing me, but a guest elder clearly held a still higher position.

“Don’t worry. This won’t restrict you. Just keep it.”

I nodded and put the token into my ring.

“Go on.”

The Elder waved a hand and picked up another osmanthus cake.

I gave him a deep bow, then left on my own.

Now that I had obtained the token I needed, there was no reason to waste any more time here. I had to go back and see my second uncle.

I did not bother with a sentimental farewell to my fellow disciples. Instead, I found a secluded spot, changed out of the clothes I had been wearing, and put on the white brocade robe I had worn when I first came.

After changing, I walked alone to the main gate. The guards were still there, including the gatekeeper.

Once I tossed him the guest elder token, he saw me off with utmost respect.

I had been on Mount Tianyang for nearly half a month, and this was my first time going down the mountain. Just as I was wondering how to make my way back, a line of jeeps came roaring in from the side.

One of them stopped neatly in front of me, and then the window rolled down.

It turned out to be Qin Ciyu. After not seeing him for a while, he looked just the same as before.

“Lin Yao? No, wait, Brother Lin, hahahaha...”

I gave a helpless smile and asked him, “Where are you headed?”

“Oh, I’m going back into the city to handle some things. Are you heading back too? Come on, let’s go together. We can keep each other company.”

That was exactly what I wanted. So I got into the passenger seat.

“You can stop calling me brother too. It sounds awkward.”

I leaned lazily back in the seat and lit a cigarette.

“Fine. You’re pretty much a celebrity at our school, you know?”

I glanced at him, then turned my head and asked, “Why am I a celebrity?”

Qin Ciyu kept driving as he said, “What do you think? At first people said you’d gotten in through the back door, but then you turned out to be so strong. And then there was that matter with Shi Lei. Now you’re basically the idol of the whole sect.”

I chuckled. Being an idol did not sound half bad.

The jeep moved quickly, and before long we had driven out of the Mount Tianyang area.

During this period, Qin Ciyu had been out carrying out missions, and only returned to the mountain gate last night. Everything he knew had been learned from his senior and junior brothers that same evening.

At first I had been forced into all of this against my will, but now I had somehow become the sect’s idol. Truly, one sits at home, and trouble comes from the heavens.

We chatted for a while, and then I leaned back in the seat and fell asleep.

I did not know how long I slept, until Qin Ciyu called me from beside me, and I woke up.

“Are we there?”

I thought we had arrived, so I opened my eyes, but we were still in the mountains.

Ahead of us, however, a line of people stood in neat formation, all of them wearing black face coverings so their features could not be seen. The man at the front crooked a finger, signaling me to get out.

“These are bandits. They specialize in robbing people from our sect in this area, but they never ask for much, so the sect elders have not taken it too seriously. I heard the man in front is their leader, and he’s already at the fifth rank of Spirit Blossom.”

So they were just a bunch of bandits. Still, their leader being at the fifth rank of Spirit Blossom meant he was fairly strong.

When I came, I ran into beasts; when I left, I ran into bandits. I really was unlucky.

Seeing the bandit leader motioning at me again, I got out of the car by myself.

“What do you mean?”

I asked coldly, and in my palm I had already summoned Snow Blade.

“Robbery. 20,000 per person. Pay up and you leave. Don’t pay, and you leave behind one hand.”

“Then what if I refuse to give anything at all?”

“Then... you leave behind your life!”

I happened to want to test the true strength of the fifth rank of Spirit Blossom anyway, so this bandit was the perfect one to try my blade on.

With a flick of my wrist, Snow Blade shot from its scabbard.

The bandit leader could tell I was also at the fifth rank of Spirit Blossom, so he told his underlings to step back. It looked as though he intended to fight me alone.

I did not hold back either and took a few steps forward with my blade in hand.

The bandit also drew a long saber from his ring. It looked like no ordinary weapon.

In the blink of an eye, the bandit suddenly burst forward, charging toward me at top speed. I nearly failed to react in time.

Since we both used blades, I smoothly entered the stance of the Winged Shadow Saber Art.

The bandit was strong in power and speed alike, and he seemed to have trained in some blade technique as well, but he still was not enough to match me.

The Winged Shadow Saber Art mixed truth and illusion, making it deeply disorienting; one careless moment and you could be cut open.

The bandit was clever enough to know he could not force a direct contest of blade techniques, so he began circling around me.

But it still did not matter. Using the car as support, I executed a return-blade strike and drove my saber straight into the bandit’s shoulder.

The bandit leader cried out and staggered backward, and I pressed the advantage, hacking out several more slashes in succession.

The situation was already very clear. By then, his body was covered in large and small wounds.

As my Winged Shadow Saber Art came to an end, he finally could no longer hold out, and I drove one blade straight through his throat.

The bandit collapsed to the ground at once. I brushed the blood from my body and said to the others, “Find something else to do from now on. Stop robbing people. Otherwise, I’ll kill every one of you I meet.”

With that, the bandits scattered in all directions.

I bent down, picked up the bandit leader’s ring and long saber, and put them into my own ring.

When I got back into the car, Qin Ciyu looked at me in a whole new light. Yesterday he had only heard stories about me; he had never actually seen me fight.

“You really are strong. No wonder everyone in the sect calls you the number one disciple of Mount Tianyang.”

I smiled modestly, then once again leaned back in the seat and fell asleep.

That sleep was a peaceful one. The car drove from morning into the afternoon.

After Qin Ciyu dropped me off in the city, he left first because he had things to attend to.

Standing on the street in my white brocade robe, I looked somewhat out of place.