Chapter 296 Return to the City

"So that's how it is. It's getting late. We have to get going." Shi Yue nodded, slapped the storage bag on his waist, and the red jade plate flew out and floated in front of him.

Shi Yue took Li Yan to the red moon plate, and a spell was cast on the red moon plate. The red moon plate glowed and turned into a red light flying away. Under Li Yi's gaze, the red light gradually disappeared into the sky.

······

One day later, a red light flew from a distance, and soon, the red light landed near Xianyuan City.

The red light faded, revealing the figures of Shi Yue and Li Yan.

"Finally back." Shi Yue looked at the three big characters "Xianyuan City" on the city wall and exhaled lightly.

"Brother Immortal, is this where the immortals live? It's so big!" Li Yan said with envy.

"Don't call me Brother Immortal in the future. Just call me Brother Shi. I'm not much older than you. This is not where immortals live. It's just a relatively large market." Shi Yue said with a smile.

"Market?" Li Yan blinked, his eyes full of doubt.

Shi Yue taught Li Yan a lot of knowledge about cultivating immortals on the way, but Li Yan had never left Lijia Village, let alone knowledge about cultivating immortals, and he didn't understand many things.

"You will understand it later. You won't understand it even if I tell you now. Come with me into the city!" Shi Yue said, and led Li Yan into the city.

The city was as usual, and the streets were crowded with people.

Li Yan had never seen such a prosperous scene. His little hand tightly grasped Shi Yue's palm, for fear of getting lost.

Not long after, Shi Yue brought Li Yan to Taixu Thatched Cottage.

At this time, there were no customers in the store, and Chen Xing'er was sitting behind the counter looking at the account book.

"Senior Sister Chen, how is your business recently?" Shi Yue walked in with Li Yan, smiling.

Chen Xing'er looked up and saw Shi Yue, her face lit up, and she said, "Junior Brother Shi, you are finally back. Where have you been all this time? I thought you were missing!"

"I encountered a demon cultivator while picking herbs. In order to avoid being hunted down, I ran to a small village and hid for a while." Shi Yue explained vaguely.

After hearing this, Chen Xing'er didn't think much about it. She turned her eyes and fell on Li Yan, and asked curiously: "Junior Brother Shi, who is this child!"

"Oh, he is someone I met on the road. He has average qualifications and three spiritual roots, but I think he is quite smart, so I brought him back. Anyway, our inner disciples can recommend a disciple to join the sect. I plan to recommend him to join the sect. Stay with me and help me take care of the spiritual medicine." Shi Yue explained with a smile. He paused for a moment and then said: "By the way, Senior Sister Chen, calculate the time, the disciple-taking ceremony is about to end!"

"It was about to end, but it was delayed for several days because of one person." Chen Xing'er said mysteriously.

"Delayed for several days because of one person? Who can have such a big face?" Shi Yue asked curiously.

"Hehe, a genius with a natural spiritual root from a family of immortal cultivators. He was originally going to join the most powerful Ancient Sword Sect, but for some unknown reason he did not join the Ancient Sword Sect. Instead, he spread the news that he was interested in joining the other four major sects. As a result, the five sects of the Tang Dynasty almost fought over him.

Because everyone in the five sects wanted to accept him as a disciple, and this boy was very interested in the art of talismans, they came up with a plan to hold a fair and just talisman-making competition. Each of the five sects would send a representative in the Qi Refining Stage to participate. The representative of whichever family could draw the most fireball talismans within half an hour would join that sect." Chen Xing'er smiled and explained word by word.

"A genius with a natural spiritual root?" Shi Yue heard this, and a look of surprise flashed in his eyes. He subconsciously glanced at Li Yan beside him.

Li Yan has a golden-eyed Taoist body, and it is unknown whether he is better than this cultivator with a natural spiritual root.

"What a bullshit Heavenly Spiritual Root, not even worthy of carrying shoes for the Golden Eyed Dao Body." Xiaoyaozi seemed to know what Shi Yue was thinking, and suddenly spoke.

"By the way, Junior Brother Shi, I told Uncle Chen that you are proficient in the art of talismans, and I hope you can represent our sect in this talisman making competition." Chen Xing'er seemed to remember something and added.

"What? I am proficient in the art of talisman making? Senior Sister Chen, are you kidding me?" Shi Yue heard this and didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"It's just a competition to draw a fireball talisman, what are you afraid of? Besides, Uncle Chen said that whoever can help our sect recruit this genius with Heavenly Spiritual Roots will be rewarded handsomely when he returns to the sect." Chen Xing'er stuck out her tongue, and seemed to be full of confidence in Shi Yue.

When she heard the news that day, she praised Shi Yue for his great talisman making skills, which attracted Chen Xiangdong's attention.

"A generous reward?" Shi Yue's face was moved when he heard this.

"Yes! Uncle Chen is the master of the Deacon Hall, and he has a lot of good things, at least it is a spiritual weapon reward." Chen Xing'er nodded and analyzed.

"When does the talisman making competition start? And, if you lose, there will be no punishment, right?"

"If we lose, we lose. Anyway, we don't have any great talent for making talismans this time. Let's try our best. Haha! The competition will be in three days. If you are interested, go find Uncle Chen. I recommended you to Uncle Chen before, but I couldn't find you. I don't know if he will find someone else." Chen Xing'er urged.

Shi Yue nodded and said, "Okay, um, Senior Sister Chen, please help me take care of Yan'er. I'll be back soon."

"No problem, just leave it to me!" Chen Xing'er agreed.

"Yan'er, stay with Senior Sister Chen and don't run around, okay?" Shi Yue told Li Yan with some worry.

"Got it, God... Brother Shi." Li Yan said sweetly.

Shi Yue nodded and left Taixu Thatched Cottage.

Not long after, Shi Yue came to the Taixu Sect's garrison and met Chen Xiangdong smoothly.

"Junior Brother Shi, where have you been? How come I couldn't find you even after I sent people to search all over Xianyuan City? Don't you want to contribute to our sect? Are you hiding on purpose?" Chen Xiangdong raised his eyebrows and asked in a deep voice, looking a little unhappy.

As the person in charge of the Taixu Sect's disciple-recruiting ceremony, if he allowed the genius with heavenly spiritual roots to join other sects, he would definitely be blamed by the head of the Taixu Sect when he returned to the Taixu Sect, and might even be used by someone with ulterior motives to make a fuss, which was not what Chen Xiangdong wanted to see.

"Uncle Chen, please don't blame me. It's not that I don't want to contribute to our sect. It's just that I went out to pick spiritual herbs a few days ago and unfortunately encountered a demon cultivator. I have been hiding and returning until now." Shi Yue's heart trembled, and he explained with a stiff face.

"Meet a demon cultivator? How many of them are there? What is their cultivation level?" Chen Xiangdong threw out several questions in a row.