Chapitre 3: 3. Namjin mountain sect
Hao Shun excitedly sat near his dear friend Yao Lei. He was excited to become an immortal cultivator who flies on swords and vanquishes evil with his sword.
"Lei, aren't you excited?"
For Yao Lei, this wasn't the time to be in awe and excited. He needed to assess the situation. He has been sold off. He didn't know to what end he did. Pan Yimu noticed Yao Lei looking at him with fearful eyes. He wanted to ease the little guy's heart.
"Rejoice Lei, You will be a part of the Namjin mountain sect family from now on." Pan Yimu was sure this should ease the heart of this timid child.
That sentence irked Yao Lei further. Who was this guy to call Yao Lei his family? Did he think Yao Lei was stupid? Yao Lei glanced at Hao Shun. Hao Shun was impressed with the welcoming attitude of the Namjin mountain sect. Yao Lei sighed. He had to take care of this person. His naive friend would get betrayed, exploited, and thrown away without even getting his chance in life.
Yao Lei gripped his cuckoo bird a little too hard and it pinched Yao Lei with its beak. Realizing he was having an emotional reaction to the person in front of him, he relaxed his grip and took a deep breath. He smiled at the Namjin mountain sect member in front of him. It would be unwise to raise suspicions until I can do something.
Yao Lei cooked up a plan. He now had to lay low and at the same time warn Hao Shun not to be too naive about the Namjin mountain sect.
"When I learned this bird was a cuckoo bird, it made me upset. Could we stop for a minute so I could let this bird go?"
Pan Yimu nodded. There was no point in being too hard on the 8-year-old kid. He stopped the carriage and smiled as Yao Lei took his bird with him to the edge of the forest. Yao Lei called out to his friend using his most childish voice:
"Shun, Let's say goodbye to the little birdie!"
Hao Shun came with Yao Lei to release the little Cuckoo bird. Yao Lei leaned into Hao Shun's ear. "When I try to escape, point at me and say: He is running away." If this man catches me and forces me back into the carriage, that means we are prisoners and not recruits or guests.
Yao Lei was hoping that the result of this experiment would be enough to convince Hao Shun of the suspicious nature of this whole situation.
They let the cuckoo bird loose and as they were returning Yao Lei darted away toward the woods.
"He is running away."
Hao Shun shrieked. He was curious about what was going to happen. Hao Shun Was a friend of Yao Lei. He had Yao Lei's back. However, Yao Lei was a friend of Hao Shun too. Even though Yao Lei would never give himself credit, Yao Lei had Hao Shun's back as often as Hao Shun had his.
Pan Yimu fired up his footwork technique and quickly caught Yao Lei by the wrist.
"Where are you running? We are in the middle of the forest. Are you trying to die?"
Pan Yimu pulled Yao Lei onto the seat and tied his wrist to the wooden railing. While doing so, he muttered:
"This is for your own good. You'll thank me later. Don't be a brat and be cool alright?"
The rest of the way, Yao Lei and Hao Shun exchanged meaningful glances. The meaningful glances communicated a lot. They understood the attitude they must employ against this Namjin mountain sect, or at least, toward Pan Yimu.
Eventually, The carriage went through Namjin City and made its way toward the mountains. The children and Pan Yimu got off the carriage at the foot of the mountain and started to walk. The mountain had a different air to it. The forest at the foot of the mountain had strange glowing mushrooms and wisps of light appeared and disappeared around them.
The dark pine trees grew as tall as they could and grew their green needle-like leaves in a way that didn't touch the other trees. It looked as if some artists had cut the trees that way to make them aesthetically pleasing.
"Don't go far. I'm especially talking to you, Yao Lei. Otherwise, you will get lost in the formation."
With every step taken toward the peaks of the mountains air got clearer and more refreshing. Pan Yimu brought out a jade piece and lifted it in the air. Esoteric sigils swirled around the jade piece and landed on the barely discernible film of light surrounding the mountain.
The film pulled up and got bunched together. As it overlapped with itself, it got brighter.
"Quick, don't dawle."
Pan Yimu was getting impatient. He was looking forward to the moment he was going to get his spirit stones.
We walked a bit and arrived at a gate.
Pan Yimu brought out his jade piece and said.
"Outer sect, warriors hall, Pan Yimu.I brought recruits."
The man nodded and let us in.
Finely paved roads, four seven-storied pagodas could be seen from a distance. The largest, most rotund one was in the middle. Every bit of shrubbery, grass, and tree placement looked deliberate. It was as if they were all a piece of a whole.
We stopped in front of the two-storied building. It looked gaudy from the outside. Pan Yimu went in and five minutes later, he stepped out with a wrinkled old man. The old man glanced at us and gave Pan Yimu a leather bag full of something.
"Ah, there it is."
Yao Lin understood that Pan Yimu was a middleman. The old man seemingly disappeared and reappeared in front of the three kids.
A terrified "Eep!" escaped Xiao An's lips.
The old man caught Hao Shun and Xiao An's wrists.
"Hmm... middle-grade water root. Good enough."
He turned toward Hao Shun and a greedy smile appeared on his face.
"Ohoho! A five-element yang spiritual root, superior grade. Truly a son of heaven!"
Elder Li had given Pan Yimu a minuscule amount of spiritual stones for his work. The man had divined and brought to the sect a son of heaven. Clearly, the man earned more than a few spirit stones.
Elder Li, however, was now in a position to give the sect master the good news himself and earn substantial benefits by doing nothing but spending the sect's spirit stones to make an outer sect disciple work. It was a great opportunity to steal credit, make a good impression in front of the sect master, and rise socially in the ranks. That would in turn mean more sect resources getting allocated to him.
Riding disciples like donkeys was a great job to have.
Yao Lin sneered inwardly. He too realized the fact that this shameless old man had swindled Pan Yimu. Pan Yimu hasn't realized that, under Elder Li, he would never have a meteoric rise.
Elder Li brought Xiao An and Yao Lin in front of a single-story building. It was a wide and single-story building. It had a glassy, white sand as a floor. When someone stepped on it, they would not step directly on the sand but on the barrier on top of it. Every step people would take would send ripples around the barrier. The waves would bounce from the edges and spread again from there but weaker. On rare occasions, the peaks of waves would overlap. When enough of them overlapped, the barrier would puncture, only to mend itself again. When Elder Li and the children arrived in front of a big door.
"Ming! You old coot! I brought disciples for you!"
The old woman who was hunched over a desk lifted her head to open the door.
"Li, you wrinkly old fox!"
Madam Ming and Elder Li hugged and smiled. After catching up with Elder Li, Madam Ming turned her attention toward the kids. However, Yao Lin was looking at the leaving back of his friend.
Madam Ming smiled.
"I wouldn't worry about your friend if I were you. He will be fine under Elder Li's care." She rubbed her sweaty palms on her clothes and presented her hands to the kids. " My name is Ming Ju. I run the formations and artificer house. What are your names?"
The kids shook her hand.
"Xing An" "Yao Lin"
Madam Ming tussled the children's hair. While Xing An mellowed out from her timid feelings after the head pat, the same couldn't be said for Little Lin. Yao Lin was still staring deep into Madam Ming's eyes.
Madam Ming understood that she failed to break the ice with Yao Lin. She decided to give Yao Lin some time to warm up to her. She guided the kids to their rooms and gave them a quick rundown of the premises.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone