Travel (Part Two)

Lin Shi's journey began with Seven Peaks Mountain. Aside from the central Sun Peak and the other main peaks inhabited by elders and disciples, she meticulously explored all the other empty main peaks and auxiliary peaks, scrutinizing every blade of grass and every rock. She even flew on her sword, carefully examining the various cliffs, and even deliberately dived down to the deep pools beneath the main peaks, but found nothing but ordinary fish and shrimp.

After exploring Seven Peaks Mountain, Lin Shi descended the mountain and used concealment and stealth techniques to tour Yongquan Town at the foot of the mountain. However, the nearby villages and towns only had ordinary villagers, and there was nothing worth investigating. After exploring Yongquan Town, Lin Shi flew over various mountain peaks and passed through villages and towns, heading towards the Qiupu River. Following the Qiupu River, she went to Qiupu Town, the source of the Qiupu River.

Returning to Qiupu Town, where she was born and lived for 13 years, Lin Shi felt a lump in her throat and eyes sting as she looked at the familiar village scenery and buildings. Lin Shi first secretly went to Xu Yuxian's house, and only felt somewhat comforted when she saw Xu Yuxian enjoying a harmonious time with her husband and in-laws. She secretly watched for a while before preparing to leave quietly.

Concealing her presence, Lin Shi was about to quietly leave when she saw Xu Yuxian's three children enter the courtyard excitedly. The three children were all over ten years old and appeared clever and bright. Their clothes looked relatively new, but the fabric wasn't of high quality, suggesting that while they weren't poor, they weren't particularly wealthy either. Lin Shi then secretly returned to Xu Yuxian's courtyard, went to her room, and placed a small wooden box filled with silver and copper coins on her dressing table. The box was engraved with the character "Xu," and when Xu Yuxian saw it, she recognized Lin Shi's handwriting.

After leaving Xu Yuxian's and her in-laws' house, Lin Shi continued to conceal her presence, slowly making her way to the other side of Qiupu Town. The streets were bustling with activity, filled with the sounds of vendors hawking their wares. The townspeople all wore smiles, working hard for their families and their own livelihoods. Lin Shi smelled the familiar aromas of steamed buns, wontons, and rice wine, and saw many villagers selling fresh vegetables, chickens, ducks, and geese along the streets. She gazed at all the familiar sights one last time, then headed towards the direction of Xu Family Village.

Soon, Lin Shi saw the familiar banyan tree. Beneath it stood a familiar village name marker, next to which lay wilted fruit and burnt-out incense sticks. Looking ahead along the banyan tree, the once-familiar village was now dilapidated. Most of the houses in Xu Family Village had collapsed, and weeds grew everywhere, giving it a desolate appearance.

Lin Shi gripped the Demon-Slaying Sword in her right hand, letting the tip point downwards, and used the blade to clear a path as she walked. After a few steps, she found the area overrun with weeds, thorns, and sprawling branches. However, after sensing the surrounding two-kilometer radius with her five senses and confirming there were no mortals, she flew low into the air on her sword, gazing at the ruins of Xu Family Village in a daze for a long while. When she finally reached the ruins of what used to be the residence of the Xu family patriarch in the center of the village, she found it unrecognizable.

Lin Shi landed beside a long-collapsed wall of the Xu family mansion, looked around, and then stared blankly at the moss and weeds at her feet for a while. After that, she didn't linger and flew straight towards the back mountain of Xu Family Village.

Lin Shi flew to the group of tombstones belonging to the Xu family villagers and found that the area around the tombstones was already overgrown with weeds. The stone tombstones were also dilapidated. Lin Shi used her divine sense to check and found no signs of damage, so she confidently used magic to clear the weeds from in front of each tombstone, leaving only the brightly blooming flowers. After clearing the weeds, Lin Shi then used her spiritual power to use a cleansing spell to wash all the tombstones, restoring them to their clean and solemn silvery-white color.

Lin Shi glanced at each tombstone before returning to the one inscribed with Xu Xinghao's name. She bent her knees, assuming a meditative posture, and plopped down in front of Xu Xinghao's tombstone. Touching the name on the tombstone, she murmured, "Xu Xinghao, I've come to see you. I've become a cultivator now. If I encounter an evil cultivator like Long Tian again, I can kill him with a single sword strike!"

Lin Shi wanted to elaborate on her own affairs, but fearing overhearing by a hidden cultivator, she paused for a moment before continuing, "Xu Xinghao, I've been doing well these past ten years. Your brother has been doing well too, and your sister and brother-in-law's family are doing well as well. Don't worry!"

After saying a few words, Lin Shi sat there from midday until the sun began to set and the sky was ablaze with sunset colors before concealing his presence and aura again and flying back to Seven Peaks Mountain on his sword.

The next day, Lin Shi changed direction and went to other villages and towns near Qifeng Mountain. However, the nearby villages and towns were too remote, and she never encountered a single cultivator, nor did she find any minor spiritual realms or cultivator ruins.

By the fifth day, Lin Shi had explored every village and town in Dragon Valley City except for the central urban area, and even flew around the nearby mountains on his sword, but he found nothing. There were no spiritual herbs or plants, nor did he see any other cultivation sects.

On the sixth day, Lin Shi secretly went to the central urban area of ​​Dragon Valley City. Before entering the city, she found a secluded place to change out of the blue and white Seven Peaks Sect disciple's robes and into the attire of an ordinary mortal woman.

Because everyone, whether cultivator or mortal, needed to register to enter or exit the city, Lin Shi simply joined a queue and followed behind to enter the city. There were several jade gates in front of the city gate, and many guards.

Before Lin Shi could actually enter the city gate, she had just passed through a jade gate when she saw that the jade gate emitted a dazzling five-colored light.

The three male cultivators dressed in pure blue robes at the city gate immediately brightened up and appeared before Lin Shi in the blink of an eye. Their eyes made no attempt to hide their astonishment at Lin Shi's stunning beauty, but contained no malice. Lin Shi could tell they had only recently entered the Foundation Establishment stage, but she still secretly became wary.

"Fellow Daoist, cultivators need to register their identities separately. This way, please!" Three guards from the main city of Dragon Valley politely led Lin Shi to a small room next door. Lin Shi had no choice but to register his identity as a cultivator on the spot and was given a white jade identification tag marked "Danmeng".

After Lin Shi entered the city gate, she followed the crowd for a while before secretly finding a secluded alley next to the bustling market. Lin Shi took out her cultivator identification badge and tried to scan it with spiritual energy to check for any potential problems, but finding nothing amiss, she casually placed it into an empty storage ring. Only then did she rejoin the crowd.

But Lin Shi's appearance was simply too outstanding. Even in simple clothes and without makeup, the moment Lin Shi appeared, a crowd of people stared at her, men, women, young and old. Lin Shi sensitively noticed the many direct and intense gazes. She looked in the direction the gazes were directed and found that there were far too many people looking at her. Most of the women's gazes were not malicious, except for a few who could not hide their malice and disgust. As for the men, the vast majority of them were looking at her with ill intent, sizing her up and down, including both cultivators and mortals.

Lin Shi loathed the lewd or malicious gazes of men. That lurking malice, like a leech, clung to her every step. Unable to resist, Lin Shi secretly found a side alley near the bustling city, put on a veil, and continued wandering the central district of Dragon Valley City. But soon, she felt that malice again.

Lin Shi had no choice but to stop her stroll and head straight for the gates of Dragon Valley City, quickly exiting the city. Once outside, she immediately used concealment and stealth techniques, flying on her sword towards Seven Peaks Mountain. Not long after she left, several groups of people emerged from the main city of Dragon Valley City to search for her, but after searching the area within a ten-mile radius and finding nothing, they returned to the city cursing and swearing.

Some well-connected cultivators secretly went to the registration office at the city gate to look up Lin Shi's name, but apart from finding that her registered name was Danmeng and the sect name was blank, they found nothing else.