Chapter One: A Gathering of Heroes
Every tree is ancient, its thick branches, as thick as limbs, stretching arrogantly in all directions. Among the trees in the forest are several ancient trees that are too close together. After a hundred years of wind, frost, rain and snow, their thick trunks have become intertwined, and their tangled bodies are covered with vines that try to climb them.
Mingjin was walking through the forest when she caught a glimpse of this scene out of the corner of her eye, and her mind suddenly fell silent. However, she did not forget why she was there, so she quickly turned around and moved forward, using her wind magic to traverse through the towering, dense forest, trying her best to avoid these silent obstacles while keeping up with the fleeing enemies ahead.
Ming Jin and his senior Mu Ning were returning to their sect, Kongyun Mountain, after exorcising the evil spirits when they suddenly sensed their presence. A search of the vicinity revealed two injured cultivators lying on the ground. Upon seeing the two, the cultivators recognized them as fellow practitioners from different sects and begged them to help rescue their three fellow disciples who had been kidnapped by the evil spirits. Mu Ning instructed Ming Jin to search the vicinity while he himself quickly moved forward, preparing to work together to corner the evil spirits.
The forest was chilly and dimly lit, with sharp branches whistling past Mingjin as he rode the wind. Chasing an enemy in the air above the forest required both speed and precision, allowing him to hide behind silent obstacles. Mingjin skillfully used wind magic while simultaneously listening intently for any trace of the enemy in the wind. Even the slightest deviation from the wind's flow was a clue for a wind magic master, so Mingjin followed the trail the wind left behind his ear, casting a spell towards the figure trembling behind a tall tree trunk.
"The winter sun is blazing, and the wind is howling."
The wind-formed blades were invisible to the naked eye. Coincidentally, in the midst of the attack, Mingjin's wind blade, carrying a falling leaf, slashed at the head of the still-recovering enemy. The demon's body was cleaved into pieces and dissipated, meaning the cultivator he was carrying lost his support. The cultivator's body slammed against the branch the demon had just dodged and fell straight down. Mingjin hadn't slowed her advance while casting her spell; rescuing the falling cultivator was within her expectations. However, before she even reached him, she saw a deep green vine sprout from the ground beneath his feet, wrapping around the injured cultivator's abdomen, causing him to float in the air before slowly descending.
"Young friend, let this old man take care of him."
Ming Jin looked down and saw a sprightly old man. His clothes and appearance resembled those of the cultivator she had rescued, both coming from the sect's capital. The old man used a wood magic spell to summon vines and bring the injured man to the ground. Ming Jin had never seen him before, but she stopped and landed on the ground. Only after hearing the cultivator weakly address the old man as "Elder" did she feel temporarily relieved and decide to rescue the others first. She kicked away from the ground and stood on the tree branch in mid-air again, listening to the changes in the wind caused by her movements, and the faint aura of evil spirits within it. After the chase just now, she had gradually become accustomed to this speed. She was both surprised that several evil spirits could move at such speed, and at the same time, she pondered why these evil spirits behind their cultivation levels were so determined to kidnap cultivators.
Ghosts are formed from the lingering attachments of the dead. Most mortals pass through the underworld to their next life after death, but those with deep attachments to their past lives remain there, seeking an opportunity to escape and return to the mortal realm. Upon their return, they acquire skills that make them difficult for ordinary people to deal with. However, being non-human, their physical forms cannot remain in the mortal world for long. Discovering that absorbing the lifespan of mortals can maintain their forms, these ghosts begin to wreak havoc on the human world. Those who fall victim to their clutches, while fleeing, climb mountains and encounter an ancient tree over a thousand years old atop one. Because its dwelling is near the celestial palace, it gradually learns celestial magic. Seeing mortals being harmed by these ghosts, it imparts its learned magic to them, enabling them to fight the ghosts. A hundred years have passed since then, and cultivators continue to practice in an effort to exorcise these ghosts from the world. According to the records of their predecessors over the past century, these ghosts often disappear quickly after absorbing human lifespans; there is no reason for them to kidnap mortals and use them against cultivators.
Most of the evil spirits went their own way, though some could be seen in groups of three or five, but these were always partners formed to hunt human prey, and they wouldn't run off without anyone's back. If it wasn't for their own benefit, then it was for others. The fact that there was such camaraderie among the evil spirits, if true, moved this cultivator to tears.
Carrying a living person on one's back is no easy task. Ming Jin leaned against the tree trunk, holding onto a branch with his left hand, observing the second ghost not far from him. The ghost's head wasn't raised high, its gaze naturally looking downwards, failing to notice the cultivator casting a spell higher up beside it. The direction wasn't good, but after the wind blade severed a falling branch, it cut through the ghost's neck amidst the ghost's panicked gaze as it looked up in surprise. Head and body fell separately, disappearing before hitting the ground. The old man was already standing under the tree, another vine catching the injured cultivator and carrying him away.
Just as Mingjin was about to continue, she heard the dull sound of wind pounding through the dense forest, which echoed for a long time. She hurried forward and heard a voice calling her.
"Tian Guang, search carefully around this forest. A ghost threw someone off the ground to escape."
"Understood, Master Mu," Ming Jin replied. The lingering traces of the wind technique in the air were very clear; it was the feeling of a fatal blow. However, if even he could be killed in one strike, the elders of the sect would be no match for him.
They searched the forest for a long time, and later another person joined them. Ming Jin didn't know this person's identity, but he could hear the clear sound of bells in the air. The missing cultivator might be in critical condition, but they couldn't find any trace of him. Just as they were about to expand the search area, a golden oriole with a jade-like glow flew to Ming Jin. Ming Jin used magic to summon another golden oriole. After a brief exchange, the two birds went back and forth. The one that returned told Ming Jin, "Stop the search and go meet up with Master Mu."
After taking flight, a clear, jade-colored arc of light followed the oriole's silhouette. Following this arc, Mingjin left the forest, leaping from its dense canopy into the air above a clearing. Before her lay a stream between two groves of trees. Her movement was slightly loud, startling two deer, one large and one small, who were preparing to wade across. They ran off in the opposite direction from Mingjin. Mingjin's attention wasn't on them; she turned and saw three people sitting or standing at the edge of the woods. Mu Ning was beckoning her over.
With Ming Jin's Wind Technique at his side, he quickly reached everyone's side. However, after wandering around in the woods for a while, his body stopped but his head was still spinning. Suddenly, he straightened up and almost lost his balance and fell to the side. Fortunately, a figure ran out and caught him, preventing him from falling to the ground.
"You have bumps on your face." The woman supporting Mingjin was close by, and the light was just right, so she could see at a glance that there were two small white bumps on the reddened parts of Mingjin's cheeks.
Ming Jin didn't feel anything unusual about his body. He touched his face but couldn't find anything amiss.
"Will this cause any problems?" Mu Ning asked.
"You caught a chill in the woods and were a bit tired, so it should go away in a quarter of an hour," the woman said after carefully examining the pimples on Mingjin's face, reassuring the others around her that there was no need to worry.
That's good.
Seeing that everyone was well, the old man addressed them, then clapped his hands together, a crisp sound echoing through the silent forest, startling a clump of birds into flight. The old man began to chant: "Youth fades, the sun shines bright. Spring's energy surges, all things flourish."
Then, some faint sounds came from the forest, as if the plants were sprouting new buds in an instant, but Mingjin saw no change as far as he could see. Then, he heard the sound of spring breeze rustling willow branches by the spring water, and a shadow in the forest approached the group, making soft, creaking sounds as it rubbed against the grass. Mingjin's eyes widened as he saw the old man carrying a sleeping person out of the forest using the same vines he had used earlier.
"He's badly injured. Yu Cheng, treat his wounds first."
"Yes, Elder Hong." A loud female voice came from behind the old man. It was the woman who had just helped Ming Jin up. Ming Jin then looked over and took a closer look at her. The woman had a dark, oval face and bright eyes. She wore two braids and a jingling ornament on her head, which must have been the sound he had heard in the forest. But carrying such a noisy thing out to cultivate would probably have earned Ming Jin a scolding from his masters. The woman named Yu Cheng cast her spell swiftly and decisively, and the sick man's complexion quickly improved.
"I am Hong Junyu from Huicheng. Today, my disciples came out to practice their skills, but unexpectedly they were attacked by evil spirits. I thank you both for your help, which saved them from a disaster." The old man turned to Mu Ning and Ming Jin and bowed.
"So it's Elder Hong Jingchun. This junior was blind to your greatness. I am Mu Ning, Mu Wupeng, a cultivator from Kongyun Mountain, and this is my disciple, Mingjin. Senior, there's no need for thanks. We are all cultivators, and it's only right that we help each other." Mu Ning bowed to Hong Junyu, who naturally followed suit. There were three sects nearby: Juxia, Huicheng, and Kongyun Mountain. Hong Junyu was the former sect leader of Huicheng. When Mingjin was still a naive child, he had heard that Elder Hong of Huicheng had helped the senior cultivators of Kongyun Mountain when they encountered difficulties.
“Elder,” the woman stood up and stood beside Hong Junyu, “this person is not a cultivator. He has never practiced, so spells are not very effective on him. His hands are calloused and have many exposed scars. He looks like a warrior from outside. I don’t know where those evil spirits found him. He ran into the group of evil spirits that kidnapped us.”
“Take him back to the city to heal. Once he’s recovered, we can send him down the mountain.” Hong Junyu looked at the figure lying on the ground. “After he’s healed, Yucheng, send a letter to Elder Mu of Kongyun Mountain. This is a junior in the city named Meng Sheng.”
"Meng Sheng thanks you two seniors for your help." The other three cultivators also stood behind Hong Junyu and bowed to Mu Ning and Ming Jin. The two returned the bow. Then Mu Ning pushed Ming Jin forward, "This is my disciple Ming Jin. You can send the letter to me in the future."
"I am Ming Jinming, a cultivator from Kongyun Mountain."
“Disciple Meng Sheng from Huicheng pays respects to the senior.”
Perhaps finding it strange that a disciple would deliver a message to an elder, Mu Ning pushed Ming Jin forward while she chatted with Hong Junyu. However, Meng Sheng was equally reserved around Ming Jin. Ming Jin cast a spell, summoning the oriole that had just vanished in its illusion. This bird was a magical artifact invented by Elder Xiang Wan of Kongyun Mountain. Orioles summoned by different cultivators could communicate with each other, thus transmitting messages. Later, with several refinements to the spell, it could now transmit small items such as letters.
“This is Ya Zai.” Ming Jin pointed to the hopping bird perched on his shoulder.
"Meng Sheng greets you..." Meng Sheng intended to bow to Ya Zai as well, but Ya Zai didn't understand and simply flapped its wings in mid-air. Meng Sheng belatedly realized the absurdity of this, so he straightened himself and cast a spell, summoning a flying serpent. Ming Jin recognized the city's banner; it featured a winding serpent emerging from cloud patterns around it, and Meng Sheng had summoned a serpent. With improved magical skills, cultivators could freely transform their appearance, and what they summoned might not be the original oriole. The oriole was an auspicious beast of Kongyun Mountain; Ming Jin was simply following tradition. However, although the serpent was a divine beast, its true form was unknown to most in the world. To Ming Jin, Meng Sheng's serpent was no different from a small forest snake.
"This is my name, Yi Zhi."
A bird and a snake approached, and a circular magic circle appeared beneath them, indicating that they had recognized each other and could sense each other's location. It was common for snakes to eat birds in the mountains, but Yi Zhi was small, and Ya Zi's wings were far larger than those of an ordinary oriole. As they drew closer, it looked more like the bird was catching an insect. Ya Zi flew back to Ming Jin's shoulder and, seeing nothing amiss, disappeared. Yi Zhi's form was not as stable as Ya Zi's; after the magic circle disappeared, the little snake also vanished.
"Yu Cheng is not very skilled in this kind of magic, please forgive me, senior."
“Yu Cheng, there’s no need to be so polite. Although I’m not a disciple, I’ve only recently completed my apprenticeship. I’m twenty-one this year, so I shouldn’t be much older than you, right? You don’t need to call me senior. My surname is Ming, my given name is Jin, and my master gave me the courtesy name Tianguang. If you don’t mind, you can call me Tianguang. You noticed something was wrong with my face just now, and I thank you for that.” Ming Jin looked at Meng Sheng’s tightly clenched hands, wondering why she was so nervous.
“My surname is Meng, my given name is Sheng, and my courtesy name is Yucheng. You can just call me Yucheng. I am twenty years old this year and I am still a disciple in Huicheng. I dare not accept your thanks, it was just a small favor.”
As soon as Meng Sheng finished speaking, a figure walked up to her and bowed to Ming Jin. Ming Jin had originally intended to stop him, because she had just seen that he was seriously injured, and even though the healing technique had healed his wounds, he would probably still be in pain for a while. Unexpectedly, he bowed quickly, performing a deep bow in a few moments, which startled Ming Jin: "I am Shen Bai, a cultivator from Huicheng. Today, I thank Senior Ming for your help, which saved our lives."
Mingjin quickly told him to get up, saying there was really no need. Mingjin had a bunch of senior brothers and sisters on Kongyun Mountain, and today he was suddenly being treated as a senior by two people in a row, which made him feel a little overwhelmed.
"Yu Cheng, Wen Zhi, we should go." Hong Junyu called to the two of them. The two bid farewell to Ming Jin in unison, then returned to Hong Junyu's side. After exchanging farewells, and watching Hong Junyu and the others leave, Ming Jin and Mu Ning also prepared to set off. Because they had helped the group on their way back, the two of them noticed that they had missed the mealtime at Kongyun Mountain, so they went into an inn and ordered two bowls of vegetarian noodles.
The inn had dining on the first floor and accommodations on the second. After the two sat down, they noticed the bustling conversations around them, all about the martial arts tournament at the grand banquet in Juxia City a few days later. This grand banquet was established to commemorate and celebrate the founding of Juxia City. In previous years, it was a celebration only for Juxia City residents, but this year, coinciding with the 90th birthday of the former sect leader and a bountiful harvest, the current sect leader, Wan Xia, decided to invite surrounding sects and independent cultivators to participate. The martial arts tournament was just one part of it, and only cultivators about to graduate and independent cultivators from various regions were allowed to participate, giving them a chance to make a name for themselves.
"Tianguang, what do you think of those evil spirits we just encountered?" Mingjin, who had been lost in thought, was brought back to reality by Mu Ning's question. Since completing his apprenticeship over a year ago, Mingjin had been assigned by the sect leader to study under Mu Ning, but this Master Mu was unlike his own master, Du Gewen. Du Gewen was kind-faced but ruthless, while Mu Ning was cold-faced and hard-hearted. He had a square face, bright, clear eyes, and an imposing presence that made him unapproachable from afar. Mu Ning had served the Martial Sect's leader, Pei Xuanzhen, for many years and was now forty-seven. He was elusive on the mountain, guarding the rarely visited Star Gazing Platform, and never even appeared during festivals, making him the most mysterious figure on Kongyun Mountain. However, Huang Jing, a senior sister from the Medicine Sect, said that although Mu Ning was not famous, he was actually the current sect leader of the Kongyun Mountain Martial Sect, and instructed her not to slack off in her training after completing her apprenticeship. Mu Ning himself did not consider himself an elder. When Ming Jin first met him at the sect leader's place, he bluntly said that there was no need to call him "Elder Mu," but rather "Mr. Mu," and "Mr." was a title used by rogue cultivators. It was the sect leader who smoothed things over and told Ming Jin to call him "Master Mu" with his surname.
"It seemed like we had exorcised the evil spirits, but actually those spirits have been circling around in the forest. We're not very familiar with the terrain around here, and the spirits are incredibly fast. If they're determined to escape, it won't be easy for us to both rescue the cultivators and exorcise them. I suspect there's something strange about the forest; perhaps they're waiting here to rendezvous with other spirits and can't leave yet. Besides, evil spirits usually stop harming people by sucking their life force; they don't need to specifically kidnap living people, especially cultivators traveling together—it would definitely attract attention. Thinking about it this way, there might be more to this than meets the eye, but I haven't come up with a solution yet."
A few light footsteps brought over two bowls of noodles to their table. The waiter warmly urged them to eat while they were hot, and then went to attend to the new guests who had just entered. Mingjin's stomach was empty, but now that he smelled the heat of the food and saw Mu Ning nod for him to get chopsticks, the two of them began to eat.
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