Martial Cultivator

In the night sky, countless streams of golden light appeared over Danxiao City before descending into countless households.

Such a sight could not be seen by ordinary commoners, nor even by ordinary cultivators. It had nothing to do with the height of one’s realm; some methods were simply too special, and very few people were capable of seeing through them.

There was a mountain outside Danxiao City called Cloudwatch. From the cliff at its summit, one could take the entire city of Danxiao City in at a glance.

At this moment, two people stood side by side there. One was Chen Chao, the Lord Warden Commander who had just been preparing to leave Danxiao City.

The other was an old man whose beard and hair were completely white. He was the founding ancestor of Sanxu Mountain in the Northern Lands.

Sanxu Mountain was also a qi refiner sect in the Northern Lands, but it was much larger than Pinecreek Mountain. Although it was not the leading sect in the Northern Lands, its actual foundations were far deeper than those of the sect that held that position. It was simply because Sanxu Mountain had always kept a low profile and rarely participated in major affairs of the world that its reputation remained inconspicuous.

As for why Chen Chao had not immediately left Danxiao City, it was because he had sensed a peculiar aura heading toward the city. Chen Chao had wanted to investigate it, and so he stayed behind.

At first, Chen Chao had merely intended to observe from the shadows and see what the old man was going to do. Unexpectedly, the old man directly exposed Chen Chao’s presence. Afterward, he spoke with complete frankness.

At the time, the old man introduced himself, saying his name was Xu Wei.

This immediately shocked Chen Chao somewhat. Sanxu Mountain had been founded several hundred years ago. Why was it called Sanxu Mountain? Because the three people who founded the sect were three brothers, all surnamed Xu.

And the youngest of the three brothers was named Xu Wei.

Yet according to rumors circulating outside, the three of them had long since passed away one after another.

In other words, the old man standing before Chen Chao right now was very likely not merely the founding ancestor of Sanxu Mountain, but the founding ancestor of the entire qi refiner lineage in the present day.

Thus, once Chen Chao learned the old man’s identity, he immediately became wary. After all, his relationship with the entire qi refiner lineage could truly not be described as good.

Starting with the incident in Tianqing County, followed by the Sixty-Year Gathering not long ago, Chen Chao had already offended half the qi refiner world of the present day. Those qi refiners were likely all deeply resentful toward Chen Chao.

Yet Xu Wei had unexpectedly shown Chen Chao goodwill, which made Chen Chao somewhat suspicious. However, before he could ask anything, Danxiao City had already produced the astonishing sight before them.

With regard to these methods involving fortune, Chen Chao, as a pure martial artist, should not have been able to discern much. But by sheer coincidence, he happened to possess the Qi Observing Technique. At this moment, he could see those golden lights with absolute clarity.

As for Xu Wei, he was himself the founding ancestor of the qi refiner lineage in the present day. Naturally, none of this was particularly extraordinary in his eyes.

Even so, seeing this scene, this ancestor of the qi refiners was somewhat shaken too, “To establish a connection with every commoner in an entire city, one would need at least several hundred years of effort. Yet judging from things now, it had clearly already reached the very threshold. And he actually withdrew the foot he had already placed inside?”

Xu Wei could not understand it. From the perspective of a qi refiner, what that person had done was unquestionably correct. After spending so much time and effort, this should have been the moment of the “autumn harvest.” Yet that person had chosen to cast away years of painstaking work as though it were worthless.

It was like laboring for an entire year, worrying through countless days and nights about whether the crops would mature, only to finally see the golden rice before one’s eyes and choose not to harvest it, instead using a hoe to tear it all up and return it to the earth as fertilizer.

Who could possibly make sense of such an action?

Chen Chao frowned slightly and did not hurry to speak. Before entering the city, he had actually seen some things with his Qi Observing Technique. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to locate that letter-writing gentleman with such precision and determine his identity. But after all, he was not part of the qi refiner lineage. He could make a rough guess about many things, but understanding them with such clarity was still difficult.

The reason he had not exposed the truth at the time, and had left that skygold coin behind, was that Chen Chao felt that some things simply did not need to be said while he was talking with the letter-writing gentleman.

Trust was sometimes a very strange thing. Even friends who had known each other for many years might not completely trust one another, while someone one had met only once could inexplicably make one feel that they could be entrusted with something important.

But there was another very important reason Chen Chao had acted as he did. Before coming here, he had looked through the historical records of Danxiao Commandery’s city and discovered that throughout these several hundred years, not a single commoner had died because of demon calamities.

What could that tell him?

Very simple, it’s because all these years, there has been a certain someone secretly protecting these common people.

And even if that person did have something he wanted from the common people, there was actually no need to go to such lengths.

Many details were enough to explain everything.

And looking at the scene before him now, Chen Chao could only feel that he had not misjudged that person.

He felt somewhat gratified.

He had long believed that the great talents among the cultivators of this world who had reached the Fuyun realm could not possibly all be like the old daoist in the rear mountain of the Infatuation Daoist Temple.

There definitely wasn’t only one person like Elder Lu, the Tea Sage.

Besides, wasn’t there already a Master Dong?

From the corner of his eye, Xu Wei noticed Chen Chao’s reaction and saw that his expression was calm, with a hint of gratification. Only then did he ask curiously, “It seems Lord Warden Commander doesn’t find this strange at all?”

Chen Chao smiled and did not speak.

Xu Wei asked, “Lord Warden Commander, you’ve met that person?”

Chen Chao nodded. “We had a drink together and talked all night. We regretted meeting so late, and also regretted that the night was too short.”

Xu Wei thought for a moment without being in a hurry to speak. After pondering, he asked, “Lord Warden Commander, what did you promise him?”

Chen Chao did not answer.

When Chen Chao gave him that skygold coin, what he had naturally promised that letter-writing gentleman was his own fortune. From Chen Chao’s perspective, he was merely a martial artist, so whether he had such things or not actually made no difference.

But as the letter-writing gentleman had said, Chen Chao had no idea that he was now so closely connected with the national fortune of Great Liang. What he had promised was simply too much.

Instead, Chen Chao asked, “Senior Xu, why did you come here from Sanxu Mountain in the Northern Lands? Was it merely to meet that person and exchange pointers on some techniques?”

Xu Wei shook his head, “This elderly self has been following Lord Warden Commander all this way. Lord Warden Commander traveled too quickly from north to south, and this old man couldn’t keep up, so I could only follow leisurely behind.”

”Why?”

Chen Chao stared into the eyes of this old ancestor of the qi refiners. His expression was ordinary at this moment, but that did not prevent him from smashing the head of this ancestor of the qi refiners in front of him with one punch if something went wrong later.

In any case, the enmity between him and the qi refiners had long since become impossible to sort out.

Once there are too many lice, it’s the same as having too many debts.

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