Chapter 46: Tokens of Affection

In the stream, a tattered small boat rocked forward at a fast pace. Suddenly, with a loud bang, the bow struck an underwater reef, splitting a wide fracture.

"Careful!"

Chen Xuan abruptly grabbed the neck of the fiery red fox and leaped like a tiger onto the riverbank. Looking back, he saw the boat wedged in the river channel, with creek water rushing wildly into the cabin, rendering it completely unusable.

The fiery red fox was scared out of its wits. Knowing it had caused a disaster, it buried its head in its hands, squatted on the ground, shivering, and cried out for mercy:

"Ah! Little Fox didn't see the rock, I didn't mean to do it! Please, Qi practitioner, spare Little Fox!"

Chen Xuan gazed at her and asked curiously, "How old are you?"

The fiery red fox froze, pondered for a long time, and began counting on her fingers. With confusion flashing in her eyes, she replied, "Um, Little Fox is one year, two years old, I guess..."

"You... sigh, I'm getting used to it."

A row of black lines hung across Chen Xuan's forehead as he fell speechless for a moment.

Old men like Chu Huogun and Li Hansong, already in their sixties or seventies, would claim they were young and that it was the prime age for striving.

The ghosts and monsters of the Southern Wilderness were even more exaggerated.

Toddlers of one or two years old, whose teeth hadn't even fully grown in and who couldn't yet speak clearly, had also come to the perilous Peach Blossom Spring to seek their fortunes.

"Youthful vigor, this is just the age for adventuring... Wait up for Little Fox, Qi practitioner!"

As the fiery red fox spoke, she suddenly saw Chen Xuan shaking his head and walking away. Overwhelmed with anxiety, she quickly trotted to catch up, lifted her head ingratiatingly, and said, "Little Fox will help the Qi practitioner carry the luggage."

She was very diligent and perceptive. Immediately, she took the fishing net from Chen Xuan's hands and hoisted it onto her back.

The fiery red fox felt that Chen Xuan gave a strong sense of security because he was powerful and showed no hostility toward little creatures like her. Having just experienced being captured by the old fisherman, she temporarily dared not walk alone.

Chen Xuan paid no mind to the fox's tiny calculations. With a slight flick of his fingertips, he rubbed the blue-purple talisman hidden within his sleeve, sending his thoughts outward.

"Are you there?"

Within the Heart Studio's vision, the glowing point representing Lady Black Cat was not in this realm, having drifted to an infinitely distant place. However, Yan Yushu's black glowing point was very close to him, merely ten to twenty miles away.

"I am here."

A few breaths later, Yan Yushu's cool, clear voice echoed in Chen Xuan's mind through the communication talisman, continuing, "Following the ancient villagers, I am already on the way to the Peach Blossom Spring ancient village where the Chosen One resides."

"You were captured?"

Chen Xuan asked, feeling puzzled as to why Yan Yushu ended up walking alongside the ancient villagers.

"The people here believe I possess an ancient physiognomy. Upon seeing me, they hailed me as a descending goddess and begged me to meet their ancestor."

Yan Yushu's charming laughter came through, as if she found the matter quite amusing. "So I went with the flow and gladly agreed to go to their village."

With supreme natural talent and exquisite beauty, she possessed the qualification to act recklessly. No matter where she went, she was surrounded by crowds, becoming the center of attention—even the ancients could not resist her charm.

Ancient physiognomy referred to the appearance of the ancients, representing the ideal state of perfect physical bone structure and natural endowment.

Chen Xuan frowned slightly and asked, "Are you confident you can deal with that Chosen One?"

Yan Yushu laughed, "Just an old immortal lingering on his last breath; all the true treasures in Peach Blossom Spring are in his hands... By the way, you've cultivated the special immortal Qi, so you should have used it to step into the third Nirvana by now, right?"

She knew that in the Six Desires Heaven, Chen Xuan had relied on his extreme comprehension to rapidly cultivate the special immortal Qi from the true scripture inheritance, which prompted her question.

Chen Xuan did not hide it and answered frankly, "Soon."

The Drunk Dream Qi was a special immortal Qi. When mirrored onto the physical body, its effect was many times stronger than the ordinary twelve Qis of Mountains and Seas. Right now, a massive amount of energy was accumulated across various parts of his body, resembling floodwaters at peak volume, ready to burst through the valves at any moment.

He could now attempt to push the limits of his physique and advance further.

Yan Yushu immediately said, "Hold back for now. Tonight, I will come find you tonight."

She regarded Chen Xuan as a steadfast ally and would never allow him to suffer any mishaps, deciding to personally guard his Dharma-fencing.

During Nirvana, a Qi practitioner would fall into a deep slumber.

Maintaining only a tiny fraction of perception toward external dangers, a moment of carelessness could lead to unexpected calamities.

Afterward, Chen Xuan exchanged some more information with Yan Yushu and cleanly ended the transmission.

The two were merely cooperative allies on the path of Qi cultivation, with no superfluous relations whatsoever. Thus, having spoken a few words, each had their own matters to attend to.

Chen Xuan had a letter to deliver, and Yan Yushu had a task entrusted to her by Lu Zhuan.

...

Peach Blossom Spring was merely a small secret realm, said to be a tiny fragment left behind after the collapse of some blessed land of the Mountain and Sea era.

The territory was not large, and its borders were shrouded in white mist. Occasionally, low roars of beasts echoed from within, sending chills down one's spine; once anyone strayed into it by mistake, they would vanish forever.

"It's only a few dozen miles. With my current physical stamina, half an hour will be enough."

Chen Xuan muttered to himself. Then, man and fox continued along the river toward the upper reaches, aiming to reach the Peach Blossom Spring ancient village before dark.

Before long, however, he was forced to halt as a group of Qi practitioners blocked his path.

There were about a dozen of them, all Qi practitioners who had come from various directions and eventually gathered by the stream.

"Fellow daoist traveling alone? Please join us to hunt the ancients together."

The middle-aged cultivator leading the group beamed with a smile, warmly inviting Chen Xuan to join forces in a grand enterprise to plunder ancient artifacts.

"The ancients are mere beasts, foolish creatures who know nothing of the world. They've provoked the wrong people." Among the crowd, a cultivator laughed coldly, showing utter disdain for the ancient people of Peach Blossom Spring.

Chen Xuan shook his head in refusal, saying, "Thank you for the kind offer, but I am heading toward the central region."

Qi practitioners were not to be trifled with. As time passed, scattered cultivators from various places converged and gathered together, no longer isolated lambs waiting to be slaughtered. The power dynamic between them and the ancients was gradually shifting, reversing the roles of attacker and defender.

The middle-aged cultivator was surprised and said, "You're going to the central region? There are many ancient people there, and a Chosen One presides over the overall situation; you can't just go around looting things at will."

In the outer regions, scattered ancient dwellings existed where people burned, killed, and looted without restraint, and no one cared.

However, the central region was inhabited by a massive population of ancient people, educated and managed by the Chosen One, possessing a stable order and rules. They wouldn't arbitrarily capture cultivators, but correspondingly, cultivators could no longer flex their muscles freely or easily seize fortuitous encounters.

Chen Xuan refused once more: "Fellow daoist need not try to persuade me further. My mind is made up."

His target was very clear. Bidding farewell to the group, he resumed his journey forward.

The ancient artifacts in the outer regions were of low value. The tattered fish spear and broken fishing net in his hands—even if brought out and subjected to the erosive dust of ancient and modern time—would not transform into priceless divine weapons.

The truly good things in Peach Blossom Spring were all in the hands of that Chosen One, the "Old Ancestor."

"The fish spear and fishing net in this guy's hands are ancient artifacts. Should we..." Someone stared at Chen Xuan's departing figure and spoke in a low voice, exchanging winks with other Qi practitioners, the meaning quite clear.

"He could hunt ancient people all by himself, and you think you're qualified to plot against his belongings? Do you want to lead us to our deaths?" The middle-aged cultivator looked utterly shocked upon hearing this.

The others were also immensely startled, failing to understand why such foolish words could spill from a man's mouth. They hurriedly retreated a few steps to distance themselves from that person, fearing they might be infected by his stupidity.

Chen Xuan possessed two ancient artifacts, which he obviously plundered from the ancient people while appearing completely unharmed. Such a person concealed his true depth...

They still had to rely on gathering in groups to muster the courage and strength to hunt isolated ancient people; how could they lose their minds and provoke a troublesome character like Chen Xuan?

"This person is pressing forward all the way; he must be confident of entering the Peach Blossom Spring ancient village. Such a person is very dangerous." The middle-aged cultivator solemnly warned the rest of the group to be well-behaved and avoid harboring greedy thoughts. Afterward, they seized the time to continue discussing plans for hunting the outer ancient people.

From afar, the sound of discussion could no longer be heard.

Chen Xuan hurried along. During this period, he encountered groups of cultivators several times; some still had their eyes light up and warmly invited him.

Chen Xuan refused them one by one. Later, finding it bothersome, he simply bypassed any cultivator groups ahead of time whenever he spotted them.

The fiery red fox also saw many flocks of ghosts and monsters. On a few occasions, she even spotted the figures of familiar friends, yet she ignored them entirely, determined to follow Chen Xuan to the central region of Peach Blossom Spring—she was also a little fox destined to do big things...

In the latter half of the journey, the figures of cultivators and ghosts gradually grew sparse, and one could only occasionally encounter scattered solitary travelers.

Chen Xuan moved at high speed, overtaking many people along the way, and without stopping, arrived beneath Peach Mountain.

"We've arrived."

At the foot of the mountain stood a tall wooden archway, with peach blossoms blooming brilliantly. A winding mountain path was partially concealed within, leading toward an ancient village further back where smoke curled lazily from chimneys, and the occasional crowing of chickens and barking of dogs echoed.

Beneath the towering archway, several robust ancient people brandished weapons gleaming with cold light instead of crude farming tools. Clad in armor, they looked majestic as they maintained order:

"You greedy descendants of later generations, stop causing trouble and behave yourselves! The Old Ancestor has plenty of futures in store for you!"

"We know the rules, we certainly know the rules."

Four or five cultivators and ghosts who had arrived earlier nodded hurriedly. Shortly after, someone stepped forward and shouted loudly:

"I have a token! I have a token!"

Behind a wooden table, an ancient scholar holding a brush and flipping through a ledger lifted a stern face upon hearing the voice, reached out his hand, and demanded:

"Hand over the token..."

"..."

Chen Xuan shouldered his fish spear and observed from a great distance for a moment. Confirming there were no hidden dangers, he walked toward the crowd beneath the archway.