A Glimpse into the Hundred Faces (10)
Night fell with the crackling of the fire, and dawn broke, the embers of the campfire scattering in the breeze. The driver, who had been unconscious for some time, finally awoke slowly, only to be met with two serious faces on his left and right, a look of utter bewilderment on his face.
Yun Yanqiu and Zhao Huai'ren explained the situation to the driver based on what they had said the night before. The driver felt dizzy and didn't think about it carefully. He just kept nodding and patted his chest to assure him that he knew the way back.
Yun Yanqiu then nudged the still-sleeping Qi Rongting. The boy groggily opened his eyes, and the moment he saw that the coachman was awake, he immediately put on an air of profound mystery. After they finished getting ready, Zhao Huai Ren carried the coachman and led the way, and they soon returned to the post station.
"Alas, I am truly grateful to all the immortals for saving me, otherwise I would have lost my life." The coachman got off Zhao Huai Ren's back and couldn't help but sigh, "I know a guy who specializes in running errands in Lizhou. We don't need to transfer at any post stations along the way. He can take you directly to Yanqing Sect."
Qi Rongting's eyes lit up upon hearing this. A short while later, a spacious carriage pulled up in front of the post station. As the three boarded, Qi Rongting maintained the airs of a noble young master, but as soon as the wheels turned, his true colors were revealed. He peered out the window, extremely excited.
"Speaking of which, Yanqing Sect is a major sect. Are you really going empty-handed?" Zhao Huai Ren couldn't help but remind Qi Rongting, looking at his excited expression.
"It's alright, my parents only told me to go find the Grandmaster, not to bring any gifts!" Qi Rongting waved his hand dismissively, completely unconcerned about these details.
Suddenly, Yun Yanqiu asked, "Is the Yanqing Sect very famous?"
The carriage fell silent. Zhao Huai-ren and Qi Rong-ting turned their heads in unison, staring at him as if he were some rare and exotic beast.
"You didn't know?"
"You only ask if you don't know," Yun Yanqiu said frankly. "I used to cultivate in the mountains and know very little about the outside world."
That's true. Ever since becoming Li Zhoubai's disciple, Yun Yanqiu has lived in seclusion in Xuanming Mountain. Not to mention the Yanqing Sect, he only heard the term "demonic cultivator" for the first time a few days ago when he went out with Qin Wenshuang.
"Brother Yanqiu, you were a hermit cultivator!" Qi Rongting was so excited he almost jumped up from his seat. "I thought this only happened in storybooks!"
"Seclusion?" Another term that Yun Yanqiu was unfamiliar with popped up.
"They're reclusive cultivators who live in seclusion in some mountain, rarely appearing in the world. It's usually just a storybook trope where they endure ten years of cultivation before emerging to defeat all sorts of immortal sects and kick down heroes from powerful families," Zhao Huai-ren explained helplessly, rubbing his forehead. "They're quite popular among young cultivators..."
Qi Rongting was clearly a frequent reader of these kinds of stories. He leaned closer to Yun Yanqiu and excitedly asked, "Brother Yanqiu, are you going to start challenging all sorts of masters and become famous throughout the world?"
“No,” Yun Yanqiu said firmly, “I’m going back to visit my family.”
"After visiting relatives, shall we..."
"Impossible." Yun Yanqiu frowned, coldly interrupting his fantasy.
Zhao Huai-ren, who was standing to the side, was also quite surprised: "Xiao Qi, your family sounds like a prominent clan, why are you interested in these kinds of storybooks?"
Most importantly, Qi Rongting, as a scion of a prominent family, actually identified with the main characters in the storybook instead of the supporting characters from those families.
"Oh dear, my family can hardly be considered a prestigious family." Qi Rongting shrugged and spread his hands, looking like a deflated balloon. "True prestigious families have all produced powerful experts who have reached the Heavenly Realm, while my family, apart from making a little money, has never produced a decent cultivator in generations. But behind those sects and prestigious families, which one doesn't have one or two Nascent Soul stage experts supporting them?"
"So strong at the Nascent Soul stage?" Yun Yanqiu raised an eyebrow. Why hadn't his master told him this?
"No way, bro?" Qi Rongting was completely dumbfounded. He hadn't expected this. His illusions about reclusive cultivators suddenly shattered. "The cultivation world is divided into different ranks. Only those with Nascent Soul cultivators in charge can be considered top-tier forces. My family, which relies on money to win over a few Golden Core cultivators, is at best a second-rate force."
"Then why don't you just hire someone at the Nascent Soul stage?"
Qi Rongting was shocked: "How can you just hire someone like that? Even wealthy people don't want to come. They wouldn't even look down on us common folk."
Yun Yanqiu pondered, "Is the Nascent Soul stage even more powerful than the Divine Transformation stage?"
Zhao Huai-ren nodded in agreement, “Cultivators in the Nascent Soul stage still have a limited lifespan, but once they reach the Deity Transformation stage, they are basically not far from ascending to heaven. As long as they succeed, they will live forever. Who would dare to provoke such beings easily?”
"I see..." Yun Yanqiu lowered his eyes, lost in thought. It seems that the cultivation world is truly a place where the strong prey on the weak, and the powerful bully the weak.
“However, the Nascent Soul stage experts don’t really care about worldly affairs anymore.” Qi Rongting leaned back, holding his head, quite relaxed. “My parents have lived most of their lives and have never heard of any Nascent Soul stage expert interfering in the disputes between sects and families.”
As he spoke, he suddenly sat up straight with a somersault, his eyes sparkling: "Maybe in another hundred or two hundred years, the power structure of each continent will be reshuffled!"
However, Qi Rongting only indulged in his verbal sparring in the carriage. When the three of them got off the carriage and arrived at the gate of Yanqing Sect, he still respectfully bowed to the servant boy at the gate and explained his purpose.
The boy looked surprised after hearing this: "You want to see him?"
"Indeed." Qi Rongting bowed deeply, then raised his eyes and said, "My parents specially sent me to pay a visit. I wonder if I would have the honor of meeting Master Duan?"
"Hey, don't call him that." The doorman waved his hand dismissively. "He just stays holed up on his own hill all day. Go see him if you want."
After saying that, he pointed the way to the three of them, then lowered his voice and warned, "I don't know if you've been fooled by him or what, but he doesn't deserve the title of Grandmaster. Be careful when you get inside, especially don't shout like that in front of everyone."
Qi Rongting felt something was off, but still leaned down and asked, "Then may I ask, what would be a proper way for us to address him?"
"Let's call him Duan Yougan."
The three of them inexplicably went up the mountain. Along the way, they encountered many disciples dressed in sect robes. Qi Rongting signaled the two of them to slow down and pretended to casually eavesdrop on their conversations.
"Our senior brother recently broke through to the Great Perfection of the Golden Core stage, and the position of sect leader is probably just around the corner."
"It's hard to say. The sect leader's delay in announcing it suggests he may have other plans."
"But apart from the eldest brother, no one else in the sect has the ability to inherit this position!"
"Could it be that the sect leader wants that madman to..."
"Pah! That guy is unpredictable and timid. How could he possibly be qualified to be the sect leader of our Yanqing Sect? Don't we all have any dignity?"
"But you know that Sister Shuang is close to him. Didn't they say before that the sect leader wanted to marry Sister Shuang to the next heir?"
"When were those messages from? Don't you know? Did you ask if Shuangjie ran off with some random guy?"
"Oh my, no wonder! I knew it had been so long since I'd seen her..."
"He probably ran away because he didn't like Duan the Madman. Who would like a guy like that?"
Upon hearing this, Yun Yanqiu paused, glancing at the Yanqing Sect disciples chatting idly by the roadside, his brow furrowing slightly. "Sister Wen Shuang?" he thought. "Is she the Qin Wen Shuang he knows?"
Before he could think any further, Qi Rongting grabbed his arm and shushed him, "Don't cause any trouble, let's just go quietly!"
"What trouble?" Yun Yanqiu asked, puzzled. "I just heard a familiar name."
"Huh?" Qi Rongting was taken aback, but still said nervously, "Let's go over there first!"
The three quickened their pace toward Duan Yougan's residence. The closer they got, the fewer people there were. Eventually, there was no one else there except the three of them, making Qi Rongting almost think he had come to the wrong place.
Recalling the words he overheard on the way in and when he entered the house, Qi Rongting couldn't help but wonder if his parents had really been deceived by Duan Yougan. A grandmaster's residence, while not bustling with activity, shouldn't be deserted, right?
But since we're already here, we'll definitely get scolded if we go back without seeing anyone, so we have to at least deliver the message.
Qi Rongting mustered his courage and knocked on the half-open door.
The courtyard was eerily quiet; even their breathing could be clearly heard. Qi Rongting shrank back—this place was even quieter than his ancestral graves; at least there, he could hear birds chirping!
He peered through the crack in the door for a moment, and after confirming that no one was in the courtyard, he mustered his courage and waved to the two people behind him. The three of them quietly pushed the door open and entered, the old wooden door creaking softly.
"Clang!"
The sudden loud noise startled Qi Rongting. Immediately afterward, a rumbling sound came from somewhere, like something rolling on the ground. Then, a crystal-clear glass bead rolled out from the crack in the main room door, leaving a crisp trail on the bluestone slab.
Qi Rongting stepped forward, about to bend down to pick up the bead, when he suddenly saw a scarred hand reaching out from inside the door. He looked up and saw a dark figure inside the door, staring intently at him with a pair of sharp, hawk-like eyes.
"Oh my goodness!" He jumped back half a step in surprise, and when he saw the person's face clearly, he was both surprised and delighted, "Master Duan?!"
The person inside picked up the glass bead and gently rubbed it in their palm. Hearing this, they narrowed their eyes: "Who are you?"
"This junior, Qi Rongting of the Qi family of Jinzhou, has come to pay my respects on the orders of my father and mother..." The boy's voice trailed off, the last few words almost muffled. He secretly glanced at the figure in the shadows—how could this grandmaster be even more frightening than the rumors suggested?
"The Qi family of Jinzhou?" Duan Yougan raised an eyebrow, his gaze sharp as a knife, scrutinizing the young man in brocade robes before him. "Why send a mere brat? Where are your parents?"
"I...I..." Qi Rongting's Adam's apple bobbed, and a thin layer of sweat beaded on his back. But when he noticed the other person's increasingly gloomy expression, he quickly blurted out, "My parents would like to invite you to be the manager of our family's weapon-refining workshop!"
Duan Yougan paused, and the glass bead made a soft "click" sound between his fingers.
Qi Rongting became even more nervous. He remembered the sect disciples saying that he was unpredictable, and he shuddered in fear.
Zhao Huai Ren couldn't bear to watch any longer, so he quickly stepped forward, put his arm around the man's shoulder, and said with a forced smile, "We just admire your strength, Grandmaster, and came here specifically to ask. We have no other intentions..."
He looked at Duan Yougan in the shadows and saw that the other man was looking down, staring at the cracked glass bead in his palm, motionless, like a lifeless puppet.
Zhao Huai Ren was also chilled to the bone by Duan Yougan's strange behavior. He was about to say a few polite words and leave when he suddenly heard Duan Yougan mutter, "It still doesn't work."
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