There weren't any other cultivation sects in the Thousand Buddha Cave but it was considered a holy land in Cang Lang Country. There were many that ventured into the cave, hoping for a bit of the Buddha Qi to rubbed off on them. It was rumored that the Buddha Qi was able to ward off evil and illness, strengthen one's body, and even lengthen one's lifespan!
Qing Shui naturally didn't believe the rumors. Then again, there would be no smoke without fire, so perhaps the people were under the placebo effect.
The luxurious carriage flew past the main roads of Cang Lang's capital while Qing Shui laid lazily inside the carriage. He would occasionally lift up the curtains of his carriage, and take a look outside.
The Thousand Buddha Cave was located on the Cang Lang Mountain. Cang Lang Mountain was the longest mountain range in the entire Cang Lang Country. Its shape could be compared to a serpent, twisting and turning, and it separated Cang Lang Country into two. Luckily, it only took about a half-day's travel from Earthly Paradise and could be traversed by horses. However, they had to cut across a huge canyon before they would reach there.
Initially, the driver didn't want to go through this route because if they met any bandits or ferocious beasts, that would be the end of them. Only after the helpless Qing Shui added twice the amount of money did the driver finally agree. After all, the greater the risk, the bigger the reward.
Noon had already arrived, and the streets were full of horse and beast carriages. There were some that carried luxurious goods, and others that moved extremely slowly. Qing Shui gazed at the busy crowd through the window of his carriage.
Everything was for the sake of survival. The rich were the same as the poor as everything they did was for their own survival. Albeit the same desires, both the stages and goals were different with each social class.
After a period of time, Qing Shui stared outside again after rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He realised that their surroundings had long left the main roads, and had entered into a mountainous region. Qing Shui knew that they had already entered into the canyon of the Cang Lang Mountains!
The canyon was able to cut across the Cang Lang Mountains. Luckily, the distance to reach the other end of the mountains was only about five kilometers, and as long as the horses galloped, only fifteen minutes would be sufficient. Sadly, this was considered a "shortcut", and was filled with danger. After all in this region, there were many powerful demonic beasts lurking about.
Usually, there would be strong cultivators and adventurous risk-taking merchants traversing this route as well.
This great canyon was several kilometers wide, and in the middle, there was a flattened path. Once the horse carriage stepped onto the path, the driver began to increase the speed. The path here was not as smooth as the main roads of Cang Lang Country. That was why Qing Shui had awoken from his sleep.
What they feared had actually happened. A terrified neighing sound from the horses rung out, and Qing Shui was stunned as he saw a silvery white tiger standing in the middle of the path and blocking their way.
This tiger's body was pure white, with a length of five meters and a height of about two meters. Its limbs were stout and muscular, and had a sweeping four-meter-long tail as tough as steel.
Qing Shui contemplated about the gigantic beast before him. Its white fur looked extremely beautiful, but the powerful aura it emitted told Qing Shui that this was certainly a demonic beast.
"White Jade Snow Tiger!" The driver went pale as he called out.
This wasn't sufficient enough to cause Qing Shui to be astounded. What really made him drop his jaw in shock was that he actually saw a tiny female figure. It was akin to a pixie, clad in snow-white fur standing at the side of the white tiger. What made Qing Shui flabbergasted were the features and the aura this little girl exuded. Her aura was actually 70% similar to that of his goddess master.
Qing Shui was slightly bewildered as he regarded the beautiful little girl. Could this be the daughter of his master? He shook his head as this idea was too terrifying for him to contemplate.
"This little girl is a beast tamer?"
This notion suddenly appeared in Qing Shui's mind. However, Qing Shui sensed that this little girl had no cultivation whatsoever, and the more he looked at her, the more he was reminded of his goddess master.
Qing Shui got down from the carriage. The horse was already paralysed with terror, and even the driver's legs grew so soft that he couldn't stand any longer.
Qing Shui slowly walked towards the gigantic White Jade Snow Tiger as a smile blossomed on his face when he looked at the extremely adorable girl. She was truly too beautiful. If he had such an adorable and beautiful little girl as his daughter, how great would his satisfaction levels be? The "killing power" of little girls were the most powerful. Regardless of their foe's gender, they slayed people left and right much like the gigantic tiger!
The girl didn't panic even when she saw him. The big, crystal-like eyes of the little girl were filled with curiosity as she blinked. Qing Shui could feel that this little girl seemed to like him a lot.
However, the white tiger she rode was obviously flustered. It pranced about, seemingly unable to calm down, as low growls could be heard from its throat. It was as though the tiger was warning Qing Shui not to come near.
The little girl extended her slightly animalistic little hand as she patted the tiger on its head. "Little tiger, don't be afraid!"
Qing Shui felt a warmth in his heart as he heard the childish voice and words of that little girl. The gigantic white tiger really did calm down after hearing her words. Despite so, the eyes of the tiger were still looking at Qing Shui, filled with wariness.
After calming the tiger down, the little girl jumped down from the back of the tiger, and onto Qing Shui's body. This was because Qing Shui stood very close to the tiger, a distance not more than two meters apart.
Qing Shui caught ahold of the little girl by reflex, without a shred of caution against her.
"Daddy, you are Daddy!" The little girl hugged Qing Shui around his neck as she laughed happily.
Qing Shui almost died in that instant. He knew that with his current age, he could be her father. His looks shouldn't be that old looking right? At least with his presence and his looks, nobody should be able to tell his age. If not, Mei Yanxue wouldn't have called him 'Brother Qing Shui.'
"Why do you call me Daddy?" Qing Shui bitterly asked, feeling as helpless as the time when little Yu-chang did that to him.
"You have the smell of Daddy, so you are Daddy!"
Qing Shui was perspiring madly. Were all the children of this generation like this?
"Where did this big tiger come from?" Qing Shui discovered that one needed to be patient when talking to small kids.
"I met many big-sized fellows. They all wanted to follow me, but they are all too ugly! This was the nicest looking of all the big fellows, so that's why I decided to play with him." The little girl seriously explained.
Qing Shui was still sweating. This little lass didn't seemed as though she was lying. In any case, she was still so young, and reeked of her mother's milk. How would she know how to lie?
"Where's your mother?" Qing Shui hugged the little girl as he stared into her crystal-like eyes.
"What's mother?"
Qing Shui, "…"
Qing Shui didn't know what he should say now. She didn't know what mother meant, so he deduced that she had no mother. Since she said that he had the smell of her Daddy, then that means she had met her Daddy before.
"Little girl, what's your name?"
Qing Shui carried the little girl as he softly inquired.
"Daddy calls me Luan Luan!"
"What does your Daddy do?" Qing Shui changed another way as he asked.
"Hmm, Daddy would always be together with a group of ugly big fellows. Sometimes he will fly up to the skies but he doesn't want to bring Luan Luan along!" Luan Luan adorably mumbled.
Luan Luan's father had a very high probability of being a beast tamer, and should be a fairly powerful one!
"Why are you not together with your daddy?"
"Daddy didn't want me anymore. Yesterday, there were many people at home. They wielded shiny weapons, and shouted for Daddy's death. I didn't know what happened after that." Luan Luan began sobbing.
"Don't cry, Luan Luan. Be obedient, okay? Luan Luan isn't even afraid of the white tiger, so you are a really brave child. A brave child wouldn't cry so easily." Qing Shui panicked. He didn't know how to coax a child as he fumbled his way through.
"I'm not scared of it at all. They are all very obedient, and would obey me no matter what I want them to do." After which, the little girl mysteriously cheered up.
Qing Shui hugged this pitiful child, but he still didn't understand why she kept insisting that he had the smell of her dad. Her father should be a very powerful beast tamer, and based on the appearance of the little girl, her mother would most likely also be some celestial beauty.
When he realised that the little girl meant the Xiantian level demonic beasts obeyed her, Qing Shui was immensely shocked. He finally saw a myth from the books and legends coming true in front of his eyes.
Legend has it that only those with a Seven Apertures Mystical Heart would have such an ability. This type of people would not only have no barriers when breaking through to Xiantian, but also their cultivation progress would be extremely smooth. After achieving Xiantian and breaking into the next realm, the difficulty was lowered by at least 10x.
For those cultivators that managed to break through to the Martial King or Martial Saint stage, almost all of them had a Seven Apertures Mystical Heart. However, the number of those possessing that mystic heart was too low. One thing was for certain for those that had it. They would roam the nine continents as they pleased, with no worries. Their names were immortalized and they would leave behind a mark for the next generation.
"Luan Luan. Follow me next time, okay?" Qing Shui didn't have any ulterior motives in asking the little girl to stay with him. Mainly, he was worried that she would suffer or be lied to. Despite having the mystic heart, she was only still a child. Her perceptions of the world would be easily shaped by tricksters or people with ill intentions.