Lady Lin's First-ever Journey to Immortality-Chapter 558: Heading West to Find Old Friends and the Secret Revealed
Zhixiu has already decided to deal with the trouble on the Hasa Star. It is related to his accomplishment in Buddhism for several generations, so Lin Luoran cannot express her opinions casually. The strong perfume at the source of the Luoye River reminds them of the rat monster and its Hasa Mi Sect, which makes them disgusted. Lin Luoran and Mu Tiannan have decided to leave through the interstellar transmission circle.
Thousands of demons, trapped on the top of the tree, are guardians who protect the interstellar transmission circle. Zhixiu opens a channel among the demons for Lin Luoran and Mu Tiannan. He also checks the magic circle. Fortunately, it is still working.
Lin Luoran knows nothing about the second-rate spiritual world. Zhixiu was chased by the Yinshan School all the way and came to this Hasa Star by accident. They have no idea about the coordinates of teleportation destinations.
After entering the transmission circle, Mu Tiannan reminds Lin Luoran. She finally remembers she has the jade stairs “star atlas”.
Lin Luoran takes it out for a closer look. There is a shining star as a “red dot” on the back of the second step. Is it the Hasa Star where they are now?
Lin Luoran suddenly has an idea when she recalls Zhixiu saying that she may gain something if she heads west after she leaves the Hasa Star. She tries to use her spiritual mind to connect the Hasa Star with its nearest star to the west on the star atlas. Thin white lines connect the two stars together. The interstellar transmission circle with spirit stones shines, and moves automatically.
Before saying goodbye to Zhixiu, they disappear in the transmission circle light wall.
This time, the teleportation is between two adjacent stars. Therefore, it takes much less time than it was when Xin Yuanping plotted them to leave the Tiankui Star and come to the Hasa Star.
The transmission experience is uncomfortable, but it is soon over. Lin Luoran and Mu Tiannan walk out of the transmission circle. They find that the transmission circle at this end is built in a quiet stone hall. They open the door and walk out, and they actually see a very busy fair.
People are the same as them in terms of race and skin color. There are continuous rows of houses. The ground is covered with blue bricks, and men, women and children dressed in Huaxia costumes walk on it. They totally ignore these two people who just walk out of the stone house.
There are people selling magic figures and Training Qi tricks. Restaurants smell extremely good. There are all kinds of stalls, making people feel that they are in a different era.
The only difference between this fair and the ordinary one is that pedestrians and street hawkers are all cultivators!
Cultivators of Training Qi period and Laying Foundation period are the most common. Occasionally, Bearing Essence cultivators walking in a hurry can also be seen. As for Gathering Vitality cultivators, there is no trace. Lin Luoran is very sensitive. These weak cultivators do not turn a blind eye to them. They are peeking at them secretly. A few people are eager, as if they are going to come up to talk to them the next moment. However, Brother Mu is cold. They feel the pressure from him, so they are hesitating at this moment.
Having lived for hundreds of years, these two people have seen everything. To understand the local situation as soon as possible, Mu Tiannan suggests that they can go to a restaurant.
Seeing the two entering the nearest restaurant together, some people who have been eager are very upset.
A figure paper hawker blames an elixir hawker for his cowardice. The elixir hawker feels wronged and murmurs, “No one knows they are rich men or senior cultivators with a strange temperament. Zhu Qi, you are brave. Why don’t you go to the restaurant and figure it out?”
The figure paper hawker snorts twice. He tidies up his robe and returns to his stall. He continues to sell a bunch of messy magic figures.
This fair is big and there are a lot of hawker cultivators. It’s really difficult to run a business here. Zhu Qi looks up and sees Lin Luoran and Mu Tiannan sitting next to the window on the third floor. They don’t hide from people, and he will never invade their privacy. Maybe he can really have a try.
After a moment, his cultivator competitors all give up. Zhu Qi’s eyes roll twice, and he bows to Mu Tiannan.
“Senior cultivators must be bored of the interstellar journey. Would you like to hear me talking about new things about the Lanhu Star?”
Of course, Mu Tiannan and Lin Luoran have noticed that this little cultivator downstairs has been paying attention to them. They chose the position by the window not for tasting the local food. Mu Tiannan can know that this hawker is smart. Besides, he is not always staring at Lin Luoran so he is kind of well-behaved. He nods at him and motions him to come up.
Zhu Qi is a smart person who has been in the market for a long time. If he gets a chance to talk, maybe he will make some big deals. Mu Tiannan agrees, so he closes his stall, packs his things, and runs to the restaurant swiftly.
Cultivators who wanted to win the business see it and feel very regretful. Zhu Qi is going to strike it rich this time.
Lin Luoran and Mu Tiannan have ordered spirit wine on the table. The smell can make a person in endless aftertaste. In fact, its Reiki is not as good as that of the fruit wine Lin Luoran brewed. With their personal ability, they don’t think a variety of popular spirit wines, fruit, and vegetables in the restaurant are something special. However, Zhu Qi totally doesn’t think so.
The mellow taste of wine and the delicate scent of spirit fruit on the table linger on the tip of his nose. Zhu Qi enters the private room on the third floor and he soon feels refreshing.
Zhu Qi has a flattering smile on his face. He is not a Buddhist cultivator nor a Taoist. He looks like an individual cultivator in his thirties who makes a living in the market. In fact, Mu Tiannan has asked the restaurant waiters about the general situation of the Lanhu Star earlier. They also occupied a high position with a panoramic view of the city to collect information. It was Lin Luoran who said that the middle-aged man downstairs had been peeking at them. Cultivators are different in ranks. However, to make a living, streetwise people probably know more about this planet.
Zhu Qi greets them again, and Mu Tiannan motions him to sit down and talk in detail.
The restaurant waiter adds a glass of wine for Zhu Qi and then leaves wisely. There are now only three people in the room. Lin Luoran looks at him, and the knowledgeable Zhu Qi suddenly can’t help being nervous.
Lin Luoran says with a gentle tone, “We have just arrived here, and we don’t know much about this Lanhu Star. You can just tell us some local customs. There is no need to be nervous.”
Zhu Qi smiles awkwardly. Lin and Mu came out of the transmission circle and they didn’t seem to belong to any school. Cultivators who were eager to sell things to them thought they were Gathering Vitality senior cultivators who could travel among stars by themselves. Therefore, they dare not offend them. But looking closely at them, Zhu Qi doesn’t think these two people are arrogant high-rank cultivators. Zhu Qi thinks maybe they are two apprentices of a famous school who don’t want to reveal their identities—if cultivators with personal ability below the Gathering Vitality period want to travel among stars, they must have magic weapons and spirit stones. The cost of spirit stones in the interstellar transmission circle is amazing. Even unimportant apprentices of famous schools in the Lanhu Star can’t afford it, not to mention some local individual cultivators. The transmission circle shines, and spirit stones are gone!
“I don’t know what information two senior cultivators want to know. I will definitely tell you everything I know.” Zhu Qi sits on the chair and it’s not comfortable. The attitude of the two people on the opposite is very nice, but Zhu Qi thinks he is wrong this time. He may misjudge two high-rank cultivators as rich “suckers” protected by famous schools to travel across stars.
“For example, what schools does the Lanhu Star have?” Mu Tiannan’s slender fingers knock on the table gently. He looks elegant and cozy, which makes Zhu Qi breathe a sigh of relief deeply. He sorts out what he knows in his mind, and he only talks about things he is sure about.
The “Lanhu Star” is adjacent to the Hasa Star, which is actually a famous planet in the second-rate spiritual world.
Approximately, 75% of this star is land. The terrain is strategically situated and difficult to access. Therefore, it is difficult for mortals to live here. Besides, the environment of barren hills and turbulent rivers is the best for all kinds of monsters to hide. Although monsters are a big problem, they also stand for “fortune” in the eyes of cultivators. Thousands of years ago, the Lanhu Star was marked by the star atlas of the world of cultivation for the first time. Then its mainland was soon occupied by some famous schools.
The transmission circle was built on such a fair full of weak cultivators. It was because famous schools did not trust each other. They deliberately chose such a desolate place in the mortal world of the Lanhu Star. The interstellar transmission circle was built, and it was the consensus that no school could meddle with the transmission circle. The Lanhu Star was a star full of monsters, which was also a special resource for cultivation. Refining weapons, making boluses, and drawing figure paper… many things about cultivation were closely connected with the material from monsters. Since the transmission circle was built in the Lanhu Star, many cultivators came to this star. It had been prosperous for some years. The interstellar transmission circle was built in a barren place, but individual cultivators gradually gathered there. Gradually, it became a big city.
“Some senior cultivators said that the Lanhu Star was famous in the entire world of cultivation. However, there are not so many monsters now. After thousands of years, a large number of monsters were almost killed. Now, there are only some low-rank monsters that famous schools look down on or some powerful monsters that even these schools can’t conquer.”
Monsters are not vegetables, so they can’t grow back again. The Lanhu Star has no other mineral deposits. It doesn’t keep being prosperous for a long time.
However, the influence of the world of cultivation on this star does not stop. This planet has already seen the wonder of personal ability enhancement. It will never return to the state of ignorance. Local individual cultivators like Zhu Qi dream of being enrolled by famous schools. They want to leave the Lanhu Star whose environment is getting tougher and tougher.
In other words, the Lanhu Star and the Tiankui star are both half-abandoned planets by the standard of the world of cultivation.
Should they continue to go west to the next star?
After thinking for a while, Lin Luoran doesn’t just give up. She asks, “Do you know the territories of different schools on the Lanhu Star in detail?”
The territories of schools in the Lanhu Star are never a secret. Zhu Qi divides the continent into the south, east, north, and west part. He sorts out the schools that have branches on the Lanhu Star at present. Lin and Mu have little understanding of the world of cultivation. They only know the Yinshan School. The school names Zhu Qi is talking about are extremely unfamiliar to them.
Zhu Qi is indeed a good guide. He speaks clearly, so Lin Luoran can notice a missing point quickly as soon as he finishes speaking.
“How about the west? Is the west completely unoccupied?”
Zhu Qi is stunned, and then he smiles, “Senior cultivator, you may not know this. Rivers of the Lanhu Star converge to the west. The extreme west is the sea area that occupies a very large area of the Lanhu Star.”
Mu Tiannan draws back his right hand that has been on the table, “There are always monsters of the Water in the sea. People will never give up such a big gift.”
Zhu Qi shakes his head, “It is said that there is an isolated island in the extreme western sea, which is the territory of prophet god school. However, prophet god school never competes with other schools for profit. This school gets west sea, but no one sees them killing monsters of the Water. Therefore, the Lanhu Star cultivators rarely mention this school… since senior cultivators ask about it, I suddenly remember a group of people coming out of the transmission circle half a month ago. They headed west after leaving the city.”
Lin Luoran’s eyes light up, “Are they members of the Prophet God school?”
Zhu Qi smiles, “the Prophet God school is very mysterious in the world of cultivation. I am not sure about it.”
Zhu Qi doesn’t know much about the Prophet God school. In fact, the entire world of cultivation stays at a respectful distance from prophet god school which is said to have the ability of prophecy. Naturally, there is little news about the prophet god school.
Lin Luoran feels thrilled about “having the ability of prophecy”.
She faintly believes that it must be the place that Zhixiu mentioned before parting. Mu Tiannan has the same opinion as her. A group of people went west half a month ago—what a coincidence!
Zhu Qi leaves the restaurant in a daze. Cultivators sold elixirs before gather around to find out if he has made some fortune. He just dodges them.
But thinking of the spirit stones in his storage bag, Zhu Qi feels so happy.
As for the low-key Lin Luoran and Mu Tiannan, they have already left and headed west.
…
One month later, on the edge of the West Sea on the Lanhu Star.
Brother Mu now has two sound arms. He stands side by side with Lin Luoran on the beach. Blue ocean waves come one after another. The sea breeze blows, and he feels a little weird about his new arm.
Traveling to the west, they also met some insensitive monsters. However, it was not the reason why Mu Tiannan decided to use the dragon marrow to regrow his arm.
The world of cultivation is full of beauties, and ugly cultivators are rare. Even if some cultivators are physically disabled, they will do everything possible to solve the problem. Mu Tiannan could be cured easily but he refused to do so. It’s totally against the mainstream of aesthetics. Walking together with Lin Luoran, Mu Tiannan without a left arm had drawn a lot of attention. Brother Mu couldn’t stand the subtle look, so he simply cured his broken arm on the way to the west.
Lin Luoran has a bone boat to cross the sea. However, the sea is vast. Deep in the sea, the monsters of Water are strength in numbers. Lin Luoran doesn’t have time to deal with them.
Of course, Lin Luoran and Mu Tiannan are not standing on the beach for a romantic walk. The holy spell “listening” is now functioning. She is trying to communicate and ask a Water monster for directions.
Monsters have keen senses. Lin Luoran doesn’t want to kill it, and a “big monster” is standing next to her. This ordinary small monster doesn’t dare to make trouble, and Lin Luoran gets the information she wants through communication easily.
According to the monster, there is indeed an isolated island facing the water in the middle of the West Sea. This small island always appears on star-studded nights, and there are traces of human cultivators on the island.
Usually, the island is hidden by a magic circle and the sea looks ordinary. Water monsters who stray into the magic circle area always suffer from it more or less. More importantly, not long ago, there is a group of cultivators crossed the sea and went to the island. This monster doesn’t care if they are members of the “Prophet God school” Lin Luoran talks about. It is entirely ignorant.
When Lin Luoran and Mu Tiannan flew away, the little monster who was questioned feels so confused—it just told the truth to some human cultivators easily—Lin Luoran is the true God who controls a water area. Aquatic creatures have an affinity to her, but the Water monster doesn’t know anything about it.
On a star-studded night, the island will appear. There are many examples of astrological divination in Huaxia legends. Lin Luoran personally saw the unique celestial phenomenon when the secret land of Bermuda was opened. Moreover, the Babylon high priest could handle the fake saintess only relying on star power. Lin Luoran doesn’t dare to underestimate the Prophet God school even with her powerful strength—the Prophet God school can terrify many forces in the cultivation world, it must have some tricks.
Compared to all kinds of nasty monsters they met on the road this month, the West Sea monsters of the Water are very mild. Lin Luoran and Mu Tiannan lock on the position of the island easily—they almost can’t believe it.
“I get in trouble so often that now I just can’t get used to things going so well.” Lin Luoran mutters in a low voice, and the smile at the corner of Brother Mu’s mouth is so obvious.
Lin Luoran has owned star atlas for so many years, and she has known something about magic circles. The magic circle can cheat Water monsters, but it can’t fool her.
“We can’t stop in the air waiting for a nice night to come, right?”
Lin Luoran glances at Mu Tiannan and takes out a piece of paper. She folds a small paper crane quickly. After hiding its breath, she releases it to fly.
The little paper crane flies tremblingly and then suddenly disappears. Lin Luoran feels a little regretful, “If the second-rate spiritual world were not so big, it would be possible to find people with paper cranes.”
Mu Tiannan doesn’t answer. The second-rate spiritual world is not the earth that they can control. Paper cranes used to find people will be easily interrupted halfway by someone with personal ability almost as good as hers.
Lin Luoran sends the paper crane as a “greeting”, and she gets a response within half an hour—the sea in front of them is undulating, and thick fog appears on the sea at the same time. After the sound of wind and waves, the mist dissipates, and a beautiful island appears before them.
A few beautiful women in beautiful costumes appear in the air, stepping on flying magic weapons. They smile at them.
“Big brother predicted yesterday and said that distinguished guests would be here. We are sorry that we are not quick enough to pick up two senior cultivators timely and keep you waiting for so long.”
Plum blossoms, orchids, bamboo and chrysanthemum—these women are beautiful in their own ways. More importantly, they are all Gathering Vitality cultivators. They call Lin and Mu “senior cultivators” as soon as they speak so politely. They just say, “big brother predicted yesterday and said that distinguished guests would be here”. However, the island was still hidden. Lin Luoran pretends to ignore the contradiction.
Prophet god school has occupied this place on degenerative the Lanhu Star. This school actually sends a few Gathering Vitality female cultivators to serve as “receptionists”… Lin Luoran thinks of a lot of things, but she only says “excuse us for bothering you”. She doesn’t show any timidity in her actions. Mu Tiannan and she step on the island with a calm expression.
Because of the magic circle, the island is always in spring with gentle breezes. The cobblestone path winds to the deep island. There are grass and trees everywhere. A Taoist temple in the deep dense forest is partly hidden and partly visible. Lin Luoran feels a strange sense of familiarity.
It’s not a long path, and several female cultivators keep chattering. They always talk about their big brother, so noisy that Mu Tiannan really wants to throw them all into the sea one after another.
Lin Luoran doesn’t think they are faking them. She is curious about the “big brother” they have been talking about. Lin Luoran is even more curious about the Prophet God school which raises a group of innocent female cultivators.
Finally, they reach the end of the cobblestone path. Only ascending bluestone stairs are here. Several female cultivators purse their lips and laugh, “We send two senior cultivators here, and the big brother is waiting in the temple.”
Then they push each other and run away like a gust of wind. Lin Luoran and Mu Tiannan look at each other at a loss.
Neither of them is timid. Since the big brother likes to mystify things, they can take things as they come and follow the stone steps up slowly.
It is not high. The stone stairs winding around the hill are more like artwork that makes people appreciate the beautiful scenery in a better way. Walking on the stone road in the wood, people can relax their mood.
Soon, they arrive at the highest point. A large, twisted pine tree covers most of a vermilion gate. There is a large open space in front of the temple. A stone bench and a stone table are placed in the shade of the tree. There is a Taoist boy cleaning leaves. Seeing strangers, he shyly salutes with one hand before his chest in a Taoism way.
Lin Luoran follows the little Taoist boy and walks in. Her pace becomes slower and slower. Seeing her expression, Mu Tiannan asks her what is wrong in a low voice. She seems to be smiling, “This is Qing—”
“Sister Lin, how have you been?”
A Taoist in cyan greets them in front of the archway. At that moment, Lin Luoran only feels something exploding in her head.
Exactly the same, exactly the same… whether it is the Taoist temple or this person—this place is the Qingcheng Taoist Temple!
