?

  In terms of cultivation, I am at the fifth level of refining Qi, while others are at the tenth level; in terms of age, others are grown men, while I appear to be only twelve or thirteen years old; in terms of background, others come from prestigious families, while I am a wanderer with a shameful secret that cannot be revealed.

  Mo Qingchen did not belittle himself, but objectively analyzed the situation of the two people. He found that although they were now close together, there was an invisible gap between them. The sudden appearance of a faint thought was like a weak spark in the wind, flickering twice before being extinguished with a pop.

  Once the spark has passed, even if it's extinguished, the dull dead ashes will still leave behind a few sparks. The temperature inside is far more scorching than it appears on the surface. Mo Qingchen can no longer be as calm and composed as he used to be around him.

  "We're here." More than a month later, a snow-white paper crane slowly descended in front of the city gate. A gray figure jumped down from it and then reached out to lift down a little girl in a moon-white dress.

  "Hmm." Mo Qingchen looked at the familiar city gate, his heart filled with mixed emotions, and for a moment, he didn't know what to say.

  "Shall I send you to the inner city?" The man in gray saw that the little girl was a bit dazed, thinking that she was not yet fully recovered from her injuries, and asked aloud.

  "No need, no need." Mo Qingchen hastily shook his head and said.

  The man in grey glanced at her, and for some reason, from that day on, the little girl seemed to be deliberately keeping a distance from him. However, he had never been one to care about such things, so upon hearing Mo Qingchen's words, he said, "In that case, I'll take my leave first. You be careful."

  Having said that, he didn't even turn his head back and rode off on the paper crane.

  Mo Qingchen gazed at the gray-robed man's receding back as he rode away on a crane, and was taken aback. What was wrong with him, treating his lifesaver like that? He must have thought of himself as an unfeeling person.

  Many people came and went in front of the city gate. Not a few people saw a little girl standing still at the gate, and they cast curious glances at her.

  Mo Qingchen bit her lip. It's better this way, she had completely given up, and from now on, she would still be the Mo Qingchen who relied on her grandfather to sell spiritual wine!

  Thinking of his grandfather, Mo Qingchen quickened his pace, wishing he could sprout wings and fly back home.

  "Grandpa, grandpa, Qingchen is back!" Mo Qingchen pushed open the courtyard door and shouted happily.

  The courtyard is quiet and still, with fallen leaves covering the ground. The sound of footsteps on top of them makes a rustling noise, it's unknown how many days it has been since they were last swept.

  Mo Qingchen's heart sank, and the Wind Control Technique was unconsciously activated as he stepped into the house. He searched every nook and cranny, inside and out, front and back, but couldn't find any sign of his grandfather.

  "Grandfather, grandfather——" Mo Qingchen shouted loudly, his voice echoing in the empty courtyard, making it even more desolate.

  Has Grandpa gone to the teahouse? Yes, yes, Grandpa loves to snoop around and gather gossip, he must be hiding in the teahouse.

  Mo Qingchen, anxious as if on fire, momentarily ignored the scene in the courtyard that seemed to have been uninhabited for many days and hurriedly rushed towards Grandfather's usual small teahouse.

  "Uncle Li, has my grandfather ever come here?" Mo Qingchen said to an old man with a head full of white hair as he burst into the teahouse like the wind.

  This old man is the boss of the small teahouse because he and grandfather are similar in age. The two get along quite well.

  Seeing Mo Qingchen's flustered appearance, the old man was also startled and said: "It's Qingchen girl, your grandfather hasn't come for some days, I was wondering where he went."

  "Isn't he coming?" Mo Qingchen asked disappointedly, and then turned around and ran away.

  "Hey, hey, kiddo, wait for your grandfather to come back and have him drink some tea. I've even saved some good tea especially for him..."

  Mo Qingchen searched all the places Grandfather often went to, but couldn't get any news about Grandfather's whereabouts, and his heart became more and more anxious.

  "Right! Ask Xiantang, Grandfather must have seen that I haven't returned for a long time and went to ask Xiantang to find me!" Mo Qingchen's eyes flashed with inspiration as he rushed towards Ask Xiantang.

  "Ah yo, you're blind!" In a flurry, Mo Qingchen bumped into someone.

  "Sorry, sorry." Mo Qingchen hastily helped the person who had fallen to the ground up, gave a hurried bow, and ran off without waiting for the other person to speak.

  The one who was knocked down was a little girl about the same age as Mo Qingchen, wearing an orange-yellow dress that was extremely beautiful, with a string of glittering pearls around her neck.

  She looked down at her clothes, which were made of a fabric that didn't get dusty, and still stomped her feet in dissatisfaction.

  "What's wrong, Xing'er?" A beautiful young woman came out of a shop and asked hurriedly when she saw her daughter stomping her feet in anger.

  The little girl pouted and said: "Mom, I'm so angry! Some wild girl came out of nowhere, knocked me to the ground and ran away."

  The young woman frowned: "Is there such a thing? Never mind, it's just a rural girl, not worth getting angry about. Let's go, your father is still waiting for us."

  Mo Qingchen looked up at the sign "Qian Xiantang" on the door and walked in.

  "Which one should I learn?" A late-stage Qi-refining elder in the hall asked without any fluctuation in his voice, not even raising an eyebrow.

  Although people in the same realm of Xiuzhen are called peers, Mo Qingchen is still a little girl after all. Calling someone over fifty "fellow" is somewhat inappropriate. She calmed down and asked softly: "Grandpa, I'm not here to learn, I want to find someone."

  The old man finally opened his eyes and looked at Mo Qingchen without saying a word.

  "Excuse me, have you seen a ten-year-old with white eyebrows come by?"

  The old man chuckled and said: "You're really interesting, I have people coming and going every day here, how would I remember?"

  Mo Qingchen paused for a moment, but he had some doubts in his heart. Most of the people who came to Xiantang to learn were either novice cultivators or those who had entered the middle stage of Qi refining but had an unsteady foundation. Either way, they all came here to lay down their foundations and have better development later on. But how many cultivators at Grandfather's age would still come here to learn?

  All masters have good memories, if an old man of grandfather's age came, how could this old man not remember?

  After Mo Qingchen calmed down, his mind started racing quickly. There were only two possible answers, either he had been there or not. The old man said he didn't remember, the most likely reason was that he was intentionally hiding something.

  What is being deliberately concealed?

  Mo Qingchen's heart skipped a beat as he thought of this, and his mouth said: "It was like that. Some days ago, the old man bought some things in my family's shop. He said he wanted to come to Xian Tang to give some spiritual stones to his granddaughter. His hands were tight at the time, so he asked to put it on account first and pay when he came back. But after a long time, that old man never came, and my father asked me to come here and ask about it."

  Mo Qingchen secretly tensed up after finishing speaking.

  "Really haven't been here before, haven't been here before. Little girl, if you don't study, hurry up and leave." The old man waved his hand impatiently.

  "Then I'll trouble you." Mo Qingchen bowed his head and backed out, staring at the entrance of Qian Xiantang but not leaving, instead hiding to one side.

  As expected, the old man slipped up and made up a story on the spot, saying that his relationship with Grandpa was just an ordinary buyer-seller relationship, and he casually said he had never been here before.

  First, he said he didn't remember, then he said he had never been here. That can only mean that Grandfather must have come here before. But if Grandfather did come here looking for him, why would this old man hide it?

  A bad premonition was rising in Mo Qingchen's heart, had something happened to Grandfather?

  Having thought of this, I couldn't help but want to enter the Xian Tang again to investigate, but was pulled back by someone.

  Mo Qingchen was about to throw out the talisman in his hand when he heard a woman's voice whispering, "Qingchen sister, it's me."

  "Sister Su?" Mo Qingchen was taken aback.

  "You just be quiet and follow me," said Su.

  Mo Qingchen was pulled by Su into an alley, after several turns they entered an ordinary house.

  Arriving at home, Su breathed a sigh of relief.

  "Sister Su, how did you end up there?" Mo Qingchen asked.

  Su put down the basket in her hand and said, "My husband is studying Taoist techniques there. I'm sending him some food and expenses. Qingchen, where have you been these days?"

  "I... I went to the mountains to pick some spiritual herbs for brewing wine, but accidentally got injured. It wasn't until now that I've recovered." Mo Qingchen didn't want to say more about being taken away by the foundation-building cultivators.

  Su gave her a sideways glance: "Hey, I'm telling you, Qingchen, what are you doing going to the mountains at such a young age? Do you know that your grandfather has encountered some trouble?"

  "What's wrong?" Mo Qingchen's face turned white in an instant, while other book friends looked on normally.

  Su Shi looked at her with some sympathy and said, "I don't know the specific situation either. It was that day when I went to deliver something to my husband, and he mentioned that an elderly monk had gone to Xian Tang to ask about his granddaughter. I don't know how it happened, but somehow he got into a conflict with one of the young masters who had also gone to Xian Tang, and that young master accidentally killed the old man."

  Mo Qingchen only felt a loud thunder exploding in his mind, and his body swayed slightly. With a glimmer of hope in his heart, he asked: "Su sister, that old man, isn't it possible that... that..."

  Su sighed: "I didn't think much of it at first, but after hearing my husband's description, he said that the old man had a dark purple gourd tied with yellow tassels around his waist. Isn't this obviously..."

  "Ah yo, Qingchen sister, what's wrong with you?" Su saw Mo Qingchen's body sway and fall forward, and hurriedly supported her to ask.

  Mo Qingchen straightened up, wiped the fresh blood from the corner of his mouth and said: "I'm fine, Su sister. Do you know who that young master is or what characteristics he has?"

  "...". A hint of hesitation flashed across Su's face.

  Mo Qingchen knelt down with a thud, banging his forehead on the ground, and begged: "Sister Su, if you know, please tell me, Mo Qingchen will always remember your kindness in his heart, please...".

  Su bit her teeth: "Qingchen sister, you promise me not to go ask Xiantang about this matter now, and I'll tell you."

  "I agree!" Mo Qingchen said without hesitation.

  "That young master is the one who had a conflict with your grandfather in the town three years ago. My husband said that he's from the Yao Guang Sect, and seems to have a big background, recently for some reason always running to the Qian Xian Hall. Qing Chen, you must not let it leak out that I'm the one who told you..."

  "Qingchen understood." Mo Qingchen bid farewell to the Su family and walked back home in a daze, collapsing onto his bed as soon as he arrived.