Edited by: NZRose
If this was in the Nine Lands, Yan Tianhen could use his own authority to step in and carry out justice for heaven. However, this was the place outside of the secular world known as the Tenth Land, and Ethereal City had its own rules, formed over thousands of years. It wasn’t something an outsider like him who came to study abroad could change.
Yan Tianhen felt dejected in his heart. He then thought about how both of his missions ended in failure and felt very upset.
Lin Xuanzhi saw that he was depressed, so he swept a glance over Yan Tianhen and said, “Didn’t Little Nian help Miss Bai’s son collect his debts today? This shows that he may know where Miss Bai’s son is. If you really want to settle this, you might as well look for the person involved together with Little Nian and go to the City Lord’s residence to sound the drums and sue the three-tailed fox and that Boss Shan.”
Yan Tianhen’s eyes lit up. He clapped. “Dage is right, I’ll go find Yin Nian right now!”
Yan Tianhen tried to run, but Lin Xuanzhi held him by the waist. “It’s already late evening, so it’s time for Yin Nian to meditate and cultivate. Don’t disturb him.”
“Impossible!” Yan Tianhen said boldly, confident that he was right. “Yin Nian must be fooling around somewhere right now, or he just went to bed. He wouldn’t be so diligent.”
“You sure know him well. This child was not like this at first. He learned everything I taught him, at lightning speed and he was very diligent. He slept on the third watch and woke up on the fifth watch. But he’s changed ever since he came to Myriad Dao Academy. He learned how to laze around and banter; I don’t know who taught him these.”
Although he didn’t know who taught him those, Lin Xuanzhi was staring at Yan Tianhen as he spoke.
Yan Tianhen pretended everything was fine and touched his nose. “It’s definitely not me.”
Only heaven knew whether or not it was him.
Lin Xuanzhi was not very strict with Yin Nian over the past two years. He was only waiting for Yin Nian to venture outside and gain experience. After he suffers a little, he would understand how important cultivation was. Some matters didn’t need much urging.
As for Yan Tianhen, although Lin Xuanzhi hoped that he could study hard and cultivate hard, he wouldn’t ask for too much. After all, no matter what he experienced in his life, Lin Xuanzhi could always protect him.
The moon was high in the sky, and the orchid and osmanthus flowers were fragrant. Yan Tianhen used the excuse that he needed hugs and kisses because of all the grievances experienced during the day to pester Lin Xuanzhi and fall onto the soft bed. They were very warm and affectionate, and just like this, two days passed in the soul plate.
Yan Tianhen’s constitution meant that he could calm down and absorb the remnant Yang Qi and essence blood in his body after doing such an act. This warmed and nourished his tendons and meridians and strengthened his spiritual Qi. It was extremely good for his health.
While he was meditating, Lin Xuanzhi came out fully clothed and called over Yin Nian, who had run to who-knows-where in the past two days.
As soon as Yin Nian saw Lin Xuanzhi, her legs first went soft, and he bowed respectfully. “Greetings to Master.”
Yin Nian suddenly turned red.
He subconsciously went to cover his neck, only to find that he couldn’t hide it at all. He had the feeling that trying to hide it just made it even more conspicuous.
Lin Xuanzhi handed Yin Nian a jar and glanced at the claw marks on his neck. “Apply it yourself; you can’t swagger around with injuries.”
Yin Nian quickly took the medicine jar and said, “Thank you, Master.”
Yin Nian blinked and took the jar into his arms. His eyes turned, he suddenly smiled. “Master, how did you know I was going to catch a fox? Martial Aunt must have told you, right? You must take good care of such a pure person like Martial Aunt. The world is dangerous, so don’t let him be cheated by people.”
Lin Xuanzhi said with a smile, “I really want to sew your mouth shut sometimes.”
Yin Nian responded, “Martial Aunt gave me permission to address him this way. Master won’t forbid it, will he?”
Lin Xuanzhi naturally wouldn’t forbid it. He merely reminded Yin Nian, “Don’t reveal anything in front of people.”
“I understand.” Yin Nian looked like he understood. “A person should keep a low profile. Master has taught me this before.”
Lin Xuanzhi didn’t bicker with him. Instead, he said, “Since you made your own decision to help Miss Bai’s child, you might as well help him to the end. Ethereal City has a rule that requires the person involved to beat the drums and air their grievances. Only then will the official respond. You likely know who the person involved is.”
When Yin Nian heard this, there was a flash of panic in his eyes. “Master, this is not very good.”
“Why not?”
“I…” Yin Nian hesitated for a moment before summoning up the courage to say, “Actually, it was my own idea to find someone to go to ruin Immortal Blessing Pavilion’s business. Those local ruffians and hooligans are all people I hired on my own initiative. In reality, Miss Bai’s son doesn’t know anything about this ah. But you want me to suddenly escalate matters; the impact would be very negative.”
Lin Xuanzhi narrowed his eyes. “Little Nian, you’ve never been a busybody. Who exactly is the hero of this story, and what is his relationship with you?”
Yin Nian was most afraid of Lin Xuanzhi’s current appearance, which looked leisurely save for the scrutinizing expression in his eyes. Lin Xuanzhi picked him up from inside a pile of corpses, and he couldn’t remember his parents’ appearance, but ever since he started following Lin Xuanzhi, he saw Lin Xuanzhi as his elder brother and parent.
Yin Chongyue treated him with extreme gentleness and never cared about what he did — he was like a loving mother. Comparatively speaking, Lin Xuanzhi’s identity was the strict father. As soon as Lin Xuanzhi narrowed his eyes, Yin Nian felt his bum hurt.
Yin Nian had no choice but to tell the truth, “That person can be considered a friend of mine, but I’m not sure if he regards me as a friend. However, I really do regard him as a friend. Ever since I found out about his past and background, I’ve wished that I could personally dispose of that dog couple for him…”
Lin Xuanzhi saw that he wanted to beat around the bush, so he interrupted Yin Nian, “Who is that person? Is he a disciple of the sect?”
Yin Nian nodded. “It’s Bai Yanqiu.”
……..
The next day, Yan Tianhen was just about to leave Little Penglai and continue finishing up those disastrous missions when he suddenly received a notice of visitation from the outside. The letter was written with ink that contained the fragrance of bamboo leaves. The handwriting on it was thin and bony. The writer was likely a rather prideful person.
When Yan Tianhen saw the name of the person who signed the letter, he was suddenly slightly surprised. He thought, Bai Yanqiu was ranked first in the West Courtyard in the previous generation. His alchemy attainments are extremely high. Although he’d only been accepted as an inner hall disciple of Pill Limit Hall last year, over the years, be it alchemy or cultivation, he had received the gentlemen’s personal teachings and had already outstripped other people by far.
However, Bai Yanqiu had always been training in the outside world, and not even the matter of the Fiends, which caused such a storm inside the city a year ago, was enough to make him return. It was precisely because he spent very little time in the sect that Yan Tianhen’s impression of this person had always been from the older martial brothers’ words.
Unexpectedly, the first thing that Bai Yanqiu did after just returning to the sect was to send Penglai Island a visitation letter.
Yan Tianhen told Lin Xuanzhi about this. Lin Xuanzhi seemed to already have a premonition. With a wave of his hand, he put away the soul plate covering the entire Little Penglai.
The water split apart in the middle, and a road hidden in the water emerged. Bai Yanqiu stepped on this road dividing the water and leisurely walked over, with Yin Nian behind him.
Bai Yanqiu had a kind of calmness and indifference about him that was typical of people in Ethereal City. His words were neither slow nor fast, and he was genteel and polite. His every move was flawless, which gave people a favorable impression of him.
When he saw Lin Xuanzhi, Bai Yanqiu gave a salute before saying, “I didn’t tell you in advance and suddenly visited. I ask Huarong Sword Immortal to forgive me.”
Ethereal City’s local dialect held a soft charm typical of water towns, which was mixed with a clear sound when coming from Bai Yanqiu’s mouth. This made it even more touching. Just the sound alone could make people soft.
Lin Xuanzhi said, “You need not be polite. I invited you, to begin with.”
Bai Yanqiu’s eyebrows were clear and cold, but his gaze was soft. He looked at Yan Tianhen and smiled slightly. “This must be Yan Shidi. As early as years ago, I heard that Yan Shidi’s alchemy attainments were extremely high. A few days ago, I saw the medicinal pills you refined, and I realized that the rumors really were true.”
Although Yan Tianhen had been praised a lot but didn’t care, he felt a little embarrassed when being praised by Bai Yanqiu. He quickly spoke, “Bai Shixiong is the one whose hand movements look like they were made by Heaven and is number one in the alchemy path.”
Yin Nian proudly said, “Not only is he first in the alchemy path, but his medical skills are also extremely incredible. In the world, people call him Lord Fuxing, and he’d cured countless people.”
Yan Tianhen was surprised. “The legendary Lord Fuxing is actually Bai Shixiong? By ‘Lord Fuxing’, do you mean the person who developed a prescription and saved entire cities by himself when a plague was raging rampantly throughout the North Lands?”
“Yup, that was Bai Shixiong!” Yin Nian puffed up his chest in pride.
Yan Tianhen gasped.
Lord Fuxing became famous in his early years and could be said to be a legendary immortal figure who saved the people from suffering. He should be regarded as the same generation as Yan Zhonghua.
Yan Tianhen would never have imagined that Lord Fuxing, who diagnosed people and treated them at record speed, would actually be Bai Yanqiu. To think that Bai Yanqiu was actually a disciple of Myriad Dao Academy’s Alchemy Division.
Looking at this situation, he was afraid that very few people in Myriad Dao Academy knew about his other identity. Otherwise, wouldn’t it set off an uproar?
Bai Yanqiu, however, gave a clear smile. “I’m just Bai Yanqiu when I’m in the sect. Lord Fuxing is just a title. There’s no need to mind it too much.”
Then he looked at Yin Nian again and shook his head. “Yin Nian discovered my identity by accident, so I ask everyone to please keep it a secret for me.”
Yan Tianhen nodded. “Of course.”
After all, the sect’s disciples all loved to gossip. If they found out that Bai Yanqiu was the famous Lord Fuxing, wouldn’t they all rush to his doorstep?
Yin Nian commented beside him and tut-tutted, “What is a sage? This is a sage!”
Yan Tianhen had an extremely good impression of Bai Yanqiu and felt that this person was very open-minded, and his words also made people feel comfortable.
Yan Tianhen sighed with emotion, “Seeing is better than hearing rumors. Bai Shixiong really opened my eyes.”
Bai Yanqiu said, “Heroes spring forth from the ranks of youth. Prince is also extraordinary.”
Lin Xuanzhi listened to the two flattering each other and wishing that they had met sooner, so he didn’t interrupt them. After the two had discussed the alchemy path for a while and finally stopped, Lin Xuanzhi slowly spoke up, “There is indeed a matter I wish to discuss when I invited Alchemist Bai over today.”
Bai Yanqiu nodded. “Yin Nian has already told me the general story. I never thought that Yin Nian would secretly stand up for me and find trouble for that couple, and I never imagined Yan Shidi would accept a mission from Immortal Blessing Pavilion because of a misunderstanding. It’s all because of me. I will naturally handle this matter properly, so younger martial brothers can rest assured.”