Chapter Thirty-Eight: A Chance Encounter

Under the morning light, Chen Xuan sprinted toward the deep mountains of the Southern Wilderness.

While the fierce battle had been exhilarating, a group of ascetic monks from the Hanging Temple was currently sweeping through the mountains and withdrawing from the region. If he did not leave now, it would be truly difficult to escape.

When his feather cloak had manifested in the dead of night, he had visited the Southern Wilderness via Lady Black Cat and learned that Yan Yushu had broken through the Hanging Temple’s encirclement and vanished. Lady Black Cat had complained that the corpse of an ascetic monk, which had reached a high degree of feathering, had completely disappeared after the battle. Chen Xuan surmised that Yan Yushu must have pulled it into the Six Desires Heaven to consume it. She was remarkably bold, but he wondered if she understood the side effects that would follow—once they accumulated, how would she handle them in the future?

"I know where she is hiding."

Chen Xuan was clear about Yan Yushu’s whereabouts because, within his field of vision, a new black coordinate point had appeared alongside the white one representing Lady Black Cat. It was the coordinate for Yan Yushu—the Six Desires Heaven.

"If I follow this black coordinate, I can find her."

Thinking this, Chen Xuan looked up and gestured toward the horizon. A grain-sized, blue-black speck came flying toward him at high speed. It was the Bronze Horse!

During the recent battle, the Bronze Horse had been incredibly loyal, circling above the camp and attempting several times to charge in and retrieve him.

"Whinny!"

The Bronze Horse landed, circled Chen Xuan once, and then nudged his waist with its head, signaling him to mount up and flee quickly.

"Brother Horse, I cannot leave this area just yet."

Chen Xuan shook his head in refusal, explaining that he would soon be entering the Southern Wilderness and would not be coming out for some time. Beyond the Southern Wilderness lay the territory of Red Crow City, and with the great cultivators of Green Deer Mountain coming and going as they pleased, he felt an underlying sense of unease. Furthermore, the qi practitioners in the camp had said that the regular army of Green Deer Mountain and the qi-practicing clans of Red Crow City would arrive in the Southern Wilderness any moment.

"Brother Horse, come, open your mouth," Chen Xuan suddenly said with a smile.

"Whinny!" The Bronze Horse didn't understand, but she obediently opened her crooked, distorted mouth.

"Don't be shy, this is a treat for you!"

Chen Xuan took the golden tea cake of the Buddha Heart Tea Tree from his robes—it weighed about half a catty—and broke off a small piece, generously tossing it into the horse's mouth.

"Whinny!"

The Bronze Horse chewed twice, and a golden radiance spilled from her teeth. Her eyes lit up instantly, realizing she had consumed something extraordinary. Deeply moved, she gazed at Chen Xuan with such affection that tears almost welled up in her eyes.

"It’s only right, it’s only right."

Chen Xuan stared at the horse’s crooked, distorted face and subconsciously looked away. Half-horse, half-ghost, with barely a few teeth left—it was too unsightly... This was the result of a blow he had dealt her earlier. Now that they were on familiar terms, he didn't want to see her making a fool of herself and being mocked by her kind. Thus, he had given her the precious medicine, hoping she might regain her normal appearance.

Soon, the surrounding trees grew dense; they were about to step into the true mountains of the Southern Wilderness.

"Whinny!"

The Bronze Horse stopped, just about to bid Chen Xuan farewell, when she suddenly ceased her call. On the mountain path ahead, she saw a woman in a snow-white dress, a long sword hanging at her waist, possessing a stunningly curvaceous figure, walking toward the outside of the mountains. The woman in white was leading a magnificent black horse, which kept lifting its head to gaze back at them, looking quite agitated.

"Eh, it’s them..."

Chen Xuan’s heart skipped a beat. When he had left Willow Town, he had seen a woman and a horse from afar, traveling through a snowy night. Although he had not seen her face clearly, the woman’s silhouette had been striking, appearing exceptionally beautiful against the snowy, moonlit backdrop, leaving a deep impression. He couldn't be mistaken.

The white veil of the woman’s hat lifted in the mountain breeze, and Chen Xuan caught a glimpse of her oval face: the skin was delicate and pristine, her lips a soft, peach-blossom pink.

"What a coincidence, running into them again?" Chen Xuan frowned slightly. Something wasn't right.

***

"Hurry, hurry! I saw this Chen Xuan from a long way off."

On the mountain path, the black horse, its coat shimmering with a metallic, gold-black luster, was impatient, urging the white-clad woman to stage a chance encounter with Chen Xuan.

"I told you he would make something of himself. Look, it’s only been half a month, and he’s already undergone a second feathering... You two are fated."

The woman in white arched her brows and glared at the horse. "What fate could I have with him? Stop spouting nonsense. It is not my place to take on a disciple."

"Your master’s disciple is your junior brother; it is a fate of a thousand years of shared cultivation. I think Chen Xuan is a fine seed. If you don't take him, you will surely regret it in the future," the black horse said with absolute conviction. Then, its eyes sparkling, it continued, "Chen Xuan’s robust constitution clearly shows he has practiced the Gold Virtue White Qi. Why don't you 'hook' into him to see what opportunities he has encountered and what great deeds he has accomplished? Your thoughts might change."

The woman in white hesitated. "We are strangers. To hook into his White Qi... wouldn't that be improper?"

The black horse looked up in shock, widening its equine eyes, and then looked at her with utter disdain.

***

"Hiss!"

Chen Xuan suddenly felt a chill, an inexplicable sense of horror, as if a pair of cold eyes were peering down at him from the void. An illusion? No, something was wrong with the White Qi! Chen Xuan didn't understand the situation, but he realized something strange was happening.

"Whoosh!"

His reaction was swift. He commanded the White Qi, and its color instantly shifted from white to red. A scorching, hollow heat flow of Red Qi surged through his internal organs, dispelling the strange sensation of being watched.

"Brother Horse, I’m leaving now."

Feeling uneasy, Chen Xuan bid the Bronze Horse farewell and took a different route, disappearing into the vast wilderness.

***

"Eh? It didn't work." The woman in white looked surprised. "His internal energy is now Fire Virtue Red Qi; I can't hook into it anymore."

"Ah? Who told him to practice dual qi? Such talent shouldn't be squandered like this. It’s ruining his future!" The black horse was startled, a flicker of anger and regret in its eyes. "Chen Xuan’s aptitude is mediocre—he has the bone structure for eight thousand catties of strength—but he is neither a child of destiny nor a celestial seed. And now, having practiced dual qi, he truly cannot be your junior brother. It’s a pity... I really had high hopes for him."

True high-ranking sects rarely took disciples who practiced dual qi. Because of the unstable nature of the energy, superiors could not manipulate the primordial celestial qi, making it difficult to control their subordinates, and these disciples were prone to becoming "rebels."

In the distance, Chen Xuan’s figure completely vanished into the vast sea of trees. The black horse slowly withdrew its gaze and muttered, "The 'Yellow Millet Dream' was intercepted halfway, and the 'Six Desires Heaven' will soon have a new owner... Sigh, all the good seeds along the way aren't meant for our house."

The woman in white rested her slender hand on the hilt of her sword, looking heroic and refined. "We Sword Officials do not force destiny; my master already has a better candidate for a disciple... He is about to enter the Peach Blossom Spring; we shall simply wait here for him to emerge."

"I suppose that is all we can do." The black horse nodded, then suddenly laughed with mockery. "Sects like Green Deer Mountain and the Hanging Temple dare to covet the child of destiny? Sooner or later, they will lose everything and be played for fools until not even their bones remain... Those who make the first move will find they don't even have a seat at the table in the end."

*Yellow Millet Dream.* If Green Deer Mountain could truly hold onto it, then when Shen Lingfeng and the others found it in Willow Town, they should have turned back to the mountain immediately... Why go into the Southern Wilderness for no reason, just to block the arriving Qing Yazi outside the mountains? She and the horse had wanted to watch the spectacle, but they had been delayed by half a day.

*Six Desires Heaven.* If the Hanging Temple could truly restrain Yan Yushu, they would never have allowed her to leave their sphere of influence and cross several cities... With so many great cultivators sitting in their own territory, they couldn't catch a junior cultivator at the feathering level? Just thinking about the reason for that was chilling. Last night, Yan Yushu had been backlashed by the Six Desires Heaven—it was the perfect opportunity to capture her. Instead, she was not only unaffected, she had recovered completely and even reached a higher level, escaping the encirclement... Who was pulling the strings behind the scenes?

The black horse pointed its hoof at the sky and laughed. "Still, people like Chen Xuan are better off. A little talent, a little future—just right. Not too eye-catching. The eyes up there won't care about him at all."

"Who is to say that isn't a regret? In his ordinary life, he will never have the chance to touch these matters." The woman in white led the horse forward, ethereal and detached. "In this era, heroes of the world are like carp crossing a river, all struggling to cross... Chen Xuan isn't even qualified to know where that river is."

***

Time flowed like water, and several days passed in a flash.

In the mountains, Chen Xuan lived on wind and dew, spending his days studying the *True Scripture of the Yellow Millet* in his mind.

"The true scripture is too profound; its difficulty is thousands of times greater than the tricks."

With Chen Xuan’s heaven-defying comprehension, it still took him nearly a full day to barely grasp the first chapter. But he was not in a hurry to practice; he was extremely cautious, spending several days carefully deliberating, striving to ensure not a single mistake occurred during his practice.

Late at night, Chen Xuan sat cross-legged in the woods near a small stone lake, pondering the scripture while keeping a watch on the shimmering lake surface.

"Splash!"

Suddenly, a silver-white brilliance rose from the lake and leaped toward the woods.

In the Southern Wilderness, the precious trees and flesh-based medicines of the land were all claimed, guarded by ghosts and monsters. But the treasure fish that leaped over the mountains in the small stone lake seemed to have been overlooked. Chen Xuan had caught one last time with no incident. For the past few days, he had been operating in the vicinity, waiting through many nights, and tonight, he had finally waited for the treasure fish to leap over the dragon gate!

"There's a fish! There's a fish!"

"We've waited for it!"

Around the shores of the lake, several exclamations suddenly erupted. Several figures of qi practitioners, suffused with light, rushed out to chase the treasure fish.

He was not the only one lying in wait; there were many others here, waiting for the fish to jump into their traps!