Chapter Forty-Five: Maple Forest City

  Half a month later, Xia Chen arrived at a town called Fenglin City, nearly a thousand miles away from Zhengyuan Sect.

  The process of going down the mountain was very smooth. Xia Chen was most worried that Han Dongyu would obstruct him, but unexpectedly, when Han Dongyu heard his request, he just hesitated for a moment and agreed without saying anything.

  Xia Chen was quite surprised, but after thinking about it, he felt relieved. Han Dongyu still thought that he had been poisoned by the Heart-Piercing Needle, so naturally he wouldn't worry about him losing control.

  As for the sect's internal affairs, there was no objection. Although Xia Chen had been cultivating for less than half a year, he was indeed a genuine postnatal fifth-grade cultivator and could naturally receive tasks.

  Especially after the battle with Chu Zhen Tian, he defeated Half-Step Post-Heaven Sixfold with his strong Five-Fold Heaven Refining, including Shen Tong Xiu Shi and others who were shocked beyond measure, and they paid unprecedented attention to Xia Chen.

  Before leaving, Xia Chen specially found Chen Qiushui and asked this senior sister to take care of Sun Licheng and Fang Qiu when he left, so that he could leave with peace of mind. Chen Qiushui agreed happily.

  This time Xia Chen received a task to help a small branch of the Xiuxian family solve their difficulties.

  Zhengyuan Sect is one of the seven major sects in Daliang Country, with numerous small cultivation organizations or loose cultivators within a radius of several thousand miles wanting to rely on this big tree.

  What is meant by affiliation is the formation of an affiliated relationship. As long as a certain amount of cultivation resources are handed over to Zhengxuan Sect every year, one can obtain the protection of Zhengxuan Sect or directly raise the banner of Zhengxuan Sect's external affairs.

  Of course, the Orthodox Church does not accept any cultivation organization as an affiliate relationship, but it needs to be reviewed. Many tasks come from the review itself or sorting out the relationships between these affiliated cultivation organizations.

  This small cultivation family is a Li surname family, the head of the household Li Dongkui is only a postnatal triple cultivator, it is said that he was threatened by several other cultivation families, so he invited his elder brother Zhengxuan to calm down.

  Walking on the bustling street, looking at the crowded crowd, Xia Chen suddenly had a familiar relaxed feeling, as if he had returned to his old days as a miscellaneous servant, often entering the city like this, busy buying vegetables, cloth, salt and tea utensils.

  At that time, he bought things just to serve the practitioners of Zhengxuan Sect, but now, it is to save others as a practitioner himself. The identity is different, the purpose is different, and the mood is also different.

  Xia Chen suddenly had an epiphany, what is cultivation all about? Isn't it just to transcend! Transcend the existing circle and jump into a wider world.

  In his eyes, these ordinary people have already had a huge gap with him, but in the eyes of the cultivator, he and these ordinary people are not much different. And above the cultivators, are there even more powerful existences that see the cultivators as ants?

  Is there an existence that has transcended life and death, not fallen into reincarnation, eternal and indestructible, above the vast sky, with a silent and indifferent gaze, watching the vast earth and countless lives?

  Bitter cultivation, all for the arduous path of defying heaven, reaching that supreme shattered realm.

  Under the enlightenment, Xia Chen suddenly felt that his mood had become purer than ever before, as if he had been refined and purified, full of condensation. His heart towards the Tao had also become more determined than ever before.

  Moreover, under this clear enlightenment, the originally rapid progress of cultivation has also shown signs of a subtle breakthrough.

  It seems that going down the mountain to practice is good, just a different feeling can bring about a change in mood and promote cultivation.

  "Hey little brother, come and take a look. I have everything you need here. Whatever you want, I'll make sure you're satisfied!"

  Xia Chen was taken aback and only then did he realize that he had unknowingly walked into a bustling market, with people coming and going, vendors calling out their wares along the street, creating a lively atmosphere.

  In front of him was a dark, thin old man with a face full of wrinkles, probably in his fifties or sixties, who was smiling all over his face. In front of him was a small stall, filled with nameless trinkets and ancient books.

  Xia Chen smiled slightly and couldn't help but feel a spark of curiosity. He wasn't interested in the trinkets, so he casually flipped through the old books.

  At a glance, Xia Chen was shocked to find that these ancient books were actually some renowned and powerful techniques, far surpassing the ones he was currently cultivating.

  "Hey kid, looks like you're interested in cultivation too? Well, buying books from me is the way to go! The few major cultivation families in Fenglin City all bought their techniques from this old man. Later on, they successfully cultivated and ascended during the day, no need to mention it." That dark and thin old man said with a complacent smile, bragging shamelessly.

  Xia Chen looked through book after book, seeing all sorts of techniques such as "Treading Heaven Godly Skill", "Flying Heaven Escaping Earth", "Void Grasping Objects", and "Reviving the Dead"... it was simply a treasure trove, leaving him staring blankly in amazement.

  Has it come to this, that these peerless techniques that even divine transcendence cultivators find difficult to cultivate are now being peddled on the streets?

  As soon as he opened it, Xia Chen was speechless with laughter. It turned out that these exercises were just a cover-up, and the contents recorded inside were only some extremely superficial breathing techniques, which were far inferior to what he had practiced when he was a miscellaneous servant.

  Knowing the truth, Xia Chen felt disappointed and lost interest, threw down the ancient book, and was about to walk away.

  "Hey, young man, don't go just yet. I see that you have a remarkable bone structure and extraordinary talent, truly one in ten thousand. Of course, you wouldn't be interested in these ordinary goods. I have some special items stored away here, prepared specifically for someone like you, a genius. Would you like to take another look?" The old man hastily called out to Xia Chen with an air of mystery.

  "What good things can you have?" Xia Chen smiled and said.

  The old man looked around nervously, then pulled out an ancient book from a tattered bag and handed it to Xia Chen: "Young man, this is the ultimate heavenly scripture that I risked my life to obtain from a perilous place. After you cultivate it, you will surely be invincible in the world."

  Xia Chen took it over and saw that the cover was written with four big characters: Tian Shu Qi Shu, this name is quite impressive.

  As he flipped through it, Xia Chen couldn't help but chuckle. The other ancient books at least had some hints of cultivation methods, but this book didn't even touch on that. It was all about strange and unusual records. What's the point of reading this? Is it for killing time when you can't sleep?

  He was about to return the ancient book to the old man when suddenly, the聚宝盆 moved and transmitted a strange feeling.

  Xia Chen was stunned, and only when he encountered something special would the聚宝盆 transmit a feeling. Could it be that this ancient book really had some extraordinary aspect?

  He looked through it again, but still couldn't find anything unusual. Those strange stories were very special, but at first glance, they were just absurd and attention-grabbing things without any value.

  But the feeling of the聚宝盆 is absolutely right, so Xia Chen calmly said: "This ancient book is not bad, I'll take it, how much money?"

  That thin old man was overjoyed, this tattered old book was actually picked up by him from a stolen and dilapidated ancient tomb, without spending a penny, just to deceive people, unfortunately no one was deceived, unexpectedly the young man was willing to buy it, it's simply a miracle.

  He then put on a pitiful look and said, "Young man, this book of heavenly secrets is an heirloom passed down in my family. Now, due to financial difficulties, I'm selling it to you. It can't be less than twenty copper coins."

  He just said that this ancient book was obtained from a dangerous place, and now he says it's a family heirloom, which is contradictory.

  Several stall owners next to him looked at him with a big mouth, and they all sympathetically looked at Xia Chen, thinking that this young man must have come from outside Fenglin City, not knowing the old man's background, it seems that he is going to be slaughtered.

  Xia Chen smiled slightly and casually tossed out a silver ingot: "All of these are yours, no need to look for change." Then he picked up the ancient book and left.

  Clang! The silver coins landed on the small stall, their bright color dazzling everyone's eyes instantly.

  Everyone's face was filled with greedy expressions. This silver was worth at least two taels, equivalent to two hundred copper coins, ten times what Lao Han had spent!

  The old man's face was even more filled with wonderful expressions, and after a while, he suddenly clutched his chest and stamped his feet: "I've lost out! I've lost big time! If I had known it would be like this, why wouldn't I want to give him five taels of silver..."

  Look at this young man's generosity, the stall owners hurriedly made an effort to entertain him, hoping that Xia Chen would also buy something from his own stall. Such a generous customer is rare!

  Xià chén stayed at each stall for a while, hoping to find some more treasures, but the strange feeling of the聚宝盆 (聚宝盆 jiù bǎo pén) was never transmitted again. Xià chén didn't feel disappointed though, being able to discover a rare and precious book in this small market was already an extremely rare surprise, don't be too greedy.

  "Hey, kid, you're not from Fenglin City, are you? Where did you come from?" Suddenly, a fierce voice sounded in front of him.

  Xia Chen looked up to see two young men, who appeared to be household servants, standing in front of him, with their arms crossed and a sly expression on their faces, clearly not harboring good intentions.

  "It's those two Yang family servants again! How did they get here? Relying on the Yang family's power, they're running amok in Fenglin City, extorting money and goods! Even the authorities don't dare to intervene, sigh!"

  "This young man is really unlucky, he was actually targeted by them. I guess these two rascals saw that he's an outsider and generous with his money, so they had evil intentions."

  "Let's hurry up and leave, running into these two jinxes can't be a good thing."

  Everyone saw the two family servants, their faces changed color, speaking in a low voice, but they couldn't deceive Xia Chen's ears.

  "Anything the matter with you two?" Xia Chen asked calmly.

  "No big deal, I just saw that you're quite generous with your money. As it happens, my brother and I are a bit short on cash lately, so we were thinking of borrowing some to spend. What do you think, sir?" one of the servants said slowly and calmly.

  "You're an outsider, aren't you? Don't be afraid, country bumpkin. We're not going to rob you of your money, we're just borrowing it. You understand? You can ask around, what kind of existence is the Yang family in Fenglin City? Would we look down on this little bit of money from you? We'll return it to you after borrowing." Another servant rolled his eyes and said with a teasing tone.

  Xia Chen smiled slightly: "Two big brothers want to borrow money? Easy to say, I have money! Don't know how much you two want to borrow?"