Qingshan City was no different from the past. In fact, because the Qingliu Sword Sect had recently recruited many disciples, it had become particularly lively as it was close to the Sword Sect.
Mortals and monks mixed together on the streets, swords flashed across the sky, and monks were shoulder to shoulder on the ground, creating a rare harmony between immortals and mortals.
The mortals who can enter Qingshan City are certainly not ordinary mortals. They are either ordinary royal children or have cultivators in their families. When they see the sword cultivators flying overhead, they are not as awed as ordinary people.
They were also able to take out a few pieces of spiritual jade and go to the teahouses in the city to have a sip of spiritual tea. Of course, the most important thing was to listen to the storytellers inside talking about some rumors and anecdotes in the world of cultivation.
The storyteller sitting at the top was also different from ordinary people, he had the cultivation level of the foundation-building period, with a wave of his hand he made the teacup in the distance fly steadily into his hand, with his white beard and fluttering Taoist robe, he had the demeanor of a Taoist master.
The knowledgeable mortals naturally wondered why a person in the Foundation Establishment Stage was telling stories, while the ignorant ones were greatly enlightened and believed him to a certain extent before he even started talking.
"After all, the Qingliu Sword Sect is the number one sect in the world of cultivation. All disciples who join it are respected by other sects when they go out."
Of course, what the storyteller didn't say explicitly was that respect was three points and the remaining seven points were fear.
Sword cultivators want to comprehend the sword spirit more than they can get it in battle, so they love to draw their swords and challenge others to a fight. Fighting is fine, but the swordsmanship of the Qingliu Sword Sect is terrifyingly powerful. Their swordsmanship is powerful, and they even bet on spirit jades when they challenge others to a fight! If they don't fight, they will just keep pestering them.
The faces of the other sects in the teahouse were full of subtle expressions. Who would want to fight with them? Wouldn't they have to take a detour ten miles away when they met
The storyteller took a sip of the spiritual tea and continued with a smile, "If you are lucky enough to become a disciple of the Qingliu Sword Sect, you will be divided into the outer and inner sects according to your physique and talent. However, all those who enter the inner sect are future genius disciples. Not to mention the Golden Core, they also have the hope of becoming a Nascent Soul. If you are a slightly inferior physique and become an outer sect disciple, you can only practice ordinary swordsmanship. You need to be extremely lucky to have the opportunity to become a disciple of the inner sect."
Seeing that many people below had disappointed expressions, they seemed to know that their physique was not top-notch and there was no hope for them to join the inner sect.
The old man brushed his long beard and smiled, "Of course, if you join the outer sect, you may have a chance. Today I will tell you a story about a female cultivator from the outer sect. The girl was fifteen years old, named Wen Yun, and was originally an outer sect disciple of the Qingliu Sword Sect..."
The waiter standing at the door put a towel on his shoulder and looked at the stunned faces of the guests. He couldn't help but sneer and said to himself: "These people are really ignorant. They haven't even heard of Fairy Wen Yun."
At this moment, a soft and pleasant girl's voice came from outside.
"Oh? Little Brother, could it be that her story has spread widely?"
The waiter was about to answer, but when he looked up and saw the two faces, he froze in place. For a moment, he didn't know which one to look at first, and stood there in a daze.
The girl smiled, which softened the coldness between her brows and made her look even more stunning. "Hey, you haven't told me yet, what about Fairy Wen Yun?"
"You look unfamiliar, I guess you are from outside? It's normal that you haven't heard of it."
The waiter responded very quickly and smiled as he found an excuse for her. He then went on to explain, "Fairy Wen Yun is extremely famous now. She is said to be the most talented cultivator of the younger generation. Not to mention the immortals in the cultivation world, even ordinary people like us who have no experience love to hear her stories. Teahouses and taverns are full of them."
The smile on the girl's face deepened a little, and she suddenly tugged at the sleeve of the young man beside her. The latter reluctantly took out a piece of spiritual jade. She then generously handed the spiritual jade to Xiao Er and chuckled, "Since she is such a famous fairy, I can't miss it. I must listen carefully."
The waiter looked at the crystal clear jade in his hand with surprise and joy, and hurriedly followed behind him and said, "Dear guests, please go upstairs! Here is some good tea!"
Ye Shubai sat in a private room upstairs drinking tea. He glanced at Wen Yun silently and reminded her, "This is the third teahouse you've been to."
Wen Yun sat down and put a piece of dessert into his mouth, saying indifferently: "Isn't it that the swords of the brothers have not been repaired yet, so we need to stay here for two days?"
Perhaps it was because the three men had been crossing the sea day and night, and they always shared one sword, so their swords were somewhat damaged.
This time they happened to pass by Qingshan City, so Wen Yun simply gave them all the gems he found in the Xuantian Secret Realm and asked them to take good care of the sword.
As for her and Ye Shubai, they were leisurely drinking tea and wine in the city, feeling very comfortable.
At this moment, the storyteller was talking about the scene where Wen Yun angrily killed Xie Mi'an and drew his sword to split the golden elixir in a cool manner. The audience shouted loudly, and all the gold and silver in the mortal world and the spiritual jade in the cultivation world were thrown onto the stage.
Wen Yun was no exception, and he took another piece of top-grade spiritual jade from Ye Shubai and threw it down, not forgetting to praise: "This storyteller's eloquence is better than the previous one."
Ye Shubai sighed, and seeing the excitement on her face, he could only cooperate and ask, "How can you tell?"
She nodded with satisfaction and said with a smile, "He just described my beauty in detail."
Ye Shubai burst out laughing.
The storyteller didn't care about what was thrown on the stage. He smiled and bowed, then continued to tell the story calmly: "It is said that Wen Yun came from the Tenth Peak. You may have heard that the Qingliu Sword Sect has nine peaks, but you have never heard of the Tenth Peak. So we need to start with Wen Yun's master. Wen Yun's master was named Ye Shubai, a genius swordsman who was famous five hundred years ago..."
Hearing this, Wen Yun paused in throwing the spirit jade, and a look of astonishment appeared on his face. He turned back to look at Ye Shubai in doubt and said, "Someone actually dared to say something about you!"
Five hundred years ago, everyone knew about Ye Shubai's story. However, five hundred years have passed and almost all the people who experienced that era have died of old age. In addition, the major sects deliberately erased his existence from the history books, and the people below consciously avoided talking about it. It has been passed down from generation to generation, and few people know about him. Even if they hear this name, they only know that he was a senior with profound cultivation hundreds of years ago.
But after the storyteller finished telling Wen Yun's story, he actually started telling Ye Shubai's deeds again. This time the story he told was even more legendary than Wen Yun's. The people below listened with bated breath and dared not blink.
When the storyteller finished, a handsome young man in the audience suddenly threw a teacup at the stage and shouted, "Everyone knows that the three major sects and four major families joined hands to defeat the demon cultivators. Even if the Xie family has rebelled and been expelled from the righteous path, according to what you said, it was that senior surnamed Ye who took most of the credit? Ridiculous!"
The old gentleman sitting above looked down kindly and said, "Judging from your appearance, you must be a mortal descendant of a senior from the Qingliu Sword Sect. How come your ancestors didn't even tell you about Senior Ye? Young man, this won't do. Since you want to join the Qingliu Sword Sect, how come you don't even know the ancestor of the sect?"
He spoke in a gentle voice, but his eyes revealed the contempt of "You and your ancestors are too ignorant", which made the young man blush.
Especially at this moment, several voices emerged from the audience, all of which were very confident: "Ah, my ancestors have all talked about Senior Ye's deeds. He can be said to be a hero of his generation. I think after he comes out of seclusion, the reputation of the Qingliu Sword Sect will be even greater than before!"
When these voices came out, those who had never heard them quietly hid their voices. They could only wonder in their hearts whether they were really too ignorant and had never heard of such powerful predecessors.
Wen Yun was stunned. His eyes fell on the people who shouted, "My grandfather told me stories about Senior Ye as bedtime stories when I was a child." Finally, he turned back to Ye Shubai and hesitated, "Did you hire someone to do this?"
"..." Ye Shubai glanced down, and finally landed on the face of a fat guy in the front row, and said lightly: "On and off the stage, everyone is from the Wan family."
She wondered how these people knew Ye Shubai's appearance so clearly, using words like "extraordinarily handsome, stunning as a god", which were even more exaggerated than the words used to praise her beauty.
It turns out that these are all people sent by the Wan family. Why are all the storytellers in the Foundation Establishment Stage
Wen Yun was curious: "The Wan family seems to be very grateful to you, what's the story behind this?"
"It's not a big deal." Ye Shubai frowned slightly, searching his memory for a while before vaguely remembering: "Back then, the demon cultivators invaded the four continents and the Wan family's ancestral home was besieged. I happened to be passing by on my sword, so I casually swung my sword down."
Wen Yun thought about the size of the Wan family's ancestral home that his senior brother had described to him. It was said that it was not much smaller than the prosperous Qingshan City. The number of demon cultivators that could besiege it was probably more than tens of thousands. With this sword, he could kill all the demon cultivators.
I think that scene must have been like a god descending to earth. No wonder the Wan family revered him like a god at the beginning.
By the time the Wan family learned that the fragments of Ye Shubai's jade infant had been divided up, it was too late to stop it. The other sects were powerful, and the Qingliu Sword Sect had received two fragments. The Wan family, who had been seriously injured by the invasion of the evil cultivators at the time, had little influence and could not change anything. Under the coercion of other sects, they had no choice but to accept it all silently, secretly waiting for the day when Ye Shubai would wake up.
When Ye Shubai showed up at the sword-fighting meeting, the young Wan Baocai just thought he was a junior of the Ye family. However, the old ancestor of the Wan family was not so confused and immediately guessed that Ye Shubai had come out of seclusion.
Who among them didn't know that Ye Shubai was a famous bachelor? How many female cultivators' hearts had he broken with his coldness and ruthlessness
He hasn’t even found a wife, so how can he expect to have a grandson
Knowing that Ye Shubai had reappeared, the Wan family had already secretly begun to make up stories about Ye Shubai and spread them through storytellers in many towns.
At the beginning, the Wan family did not participate in the division of the Jade Infant. In order to shut them up, the other families agreed to let the Wan family open shops in the cities under their jurisdiction, so that Wanbao Pavilion opened shops all over the world of cultivation. However, they never thought that it would pave the way for today.
All the sects and schools were now busy dealing with the infiltrating demonic cultivators, and had failed to nip these rumors in the bud. By the time they realized what was happening, the master and disciple Wen Yun and Ye Shubai had become legends in the world of cultivation, and their storybooks were everywhere in the markets.
The storyteller on the stage was just talking about how Ye Shubai killed three demon cultivators with one sword in the open sea, when suddenly there was a commotion outside.
The waiter took a few steps back and said, "Sir, please wait a moment..."
However, the man who came in ignored the waiter and ran straight towards the storyteller on the stage. The round-faced female disciple in the lead shouted, "You are making up stories about my Qingliu Sword Sect again! Stop right there, old man!"
However, the storyteller stood up and flew out of the window as soon as he heard the noise. Wen Yun looked carefully and recognized that it was a flying talisman made up of ten pieces of top-grade spiritual jade from the Wanbao Pavilion.
Ming Yuan's round face turned red with anger, and she led a group of First Peak disciples to chase after them. However, the group of people who were listening enthusiastically immediately complained: "This is clearly praising the achievements of your predecessors from the Qingliu Sword Sect. Why are you still hiding it? Is there something you can't tell others?"
Wen Yun had sharp eyes and recognized that the person who spoke was also sent by the Wan family to guide public opinion. As expected of the Wan family, they acted very thoughtfully.
The atmosphere in the field suddenly changed. At this moment, a sword cultivator in white stood up and frowned at Ming Yuan, saying, "Junior sister from the First Peak, our Qingliu Sword Sect is upright and dignified. What is there that we dare not let outsiders know? I am a disciple from the Seventh Peak. I have heard about this senior from the elders before. This is the first time I have heard of his deeds. You didn't listen carefully with us, but drove the gentleman away with a sword. How can this be unreasonable?"
The First Peak acted flamboyantly and was not well received by the other peaks. He cupped his hands again and said, "Please forgive me, not all of us in the Qingliu Sword Sect are as unreasonable as the First Peak. I will pay for the tea this time. I hope you can forgive me."
As soon as this was said, someone immediately responded: "Hey, of course there will be no confusion. I also met people from the First Peak who came to collect the scripts a few days ago, but I have never seen other peaks do such a thing."
"Yeah, I guess it's because Fairy Wen has become famous recently, and they're afraid that she'll steal their limelight."
Wen Yun whispered to Ye Shubai: "These two are from the Wan family. I saw the Wanbao Pavilion employee uniforms showing from their sleeves."
Ming Yuan gritted his teeth, looked at the disciple from the Seventh Peak hatefully, turned around and left with the others, going after the storyteller.
Without any stories to listen to, everyone had to go back home disappointed. Before leaving, Wen Yun packed up the snacks and prepared to take the three blacksmiths with him.
When he walked to the main hall, he saw the young disciple from the Seventh Peak surrounded by a group of people. They were all young people who were going to Qingliu Sword Sect to become disciples and wanted to make friends with him.
He didn't put on airs, and told everyone the key points of the entrance examination in a calm and generous manner. He then bowed to everyone and said, "There will be a cloud boat heading to the sect at noon tomorrow. It only costs ten high-grade spiritual jades to take it. If anyone wants to go, I can help buy tickets and take you along."
Hearing this, Wen Yun felt quite awkward. Ye Shubai saw that her face looked strange and looked at her with a questioning look.
Wen Yun whispered, "I heard about the price of the Cloud Boat last time I came here. It only costs five Lingyu per person. He is selling scalper tickets!"
Ye Shubai was puzzled: "What is a scalper ticket?"
"They are just middlemen who are trying to steal money. Hey, the sword cultivators have been really poor these past two years!"
As they were talking, the second-hand dealer had already walked up to Wen Yun. He stared at her face for a moment, then his eyes lit up: "Is this girl also going to the Qingliu Sword Sect?"
This seemed to be right, so Wen Yun nodded.
The other party immediately smiled, and even ignored her request for spiritual jade, and directly gave her a certificate for riding a cloud boat, and whispered: "Miss, if you can join the sect, remember to come to my Seventh Peak. There are many exercises on the Seventh Peak, the scenery is good, and the resources are good. The brothers are also handsome and elegant. I guarantee that you will not regret it."
Wen Yun took the voucher in a daze, and only slowly came to his senses after he walked to the inn where he was staying.
She grabbed Yue Xingzhou, who had just returned from forging iron, and offered him the package of cakes, asking in a low voice, "Big Brother, how is the Seventh Peak?"
Yue Xingzhou ate cakes with a smile and replied, "The seventh peak is exactly the opposite of the sixth peak. It's full of male disciples."
Wen Yun carefully glanced at Ye Shubai outside the courtyard and lowered his voice: "I heard that the disciples of the Seventh Peak are all handsome..."
Before she finished speaking, Ye Shubai turned his head silently and looked at her quietly, his eyes calm but deep.
Wen Yun felt a little uneasy, so he picked up a piece of dessert, put it in his mouth, and shut up.
In the end, Wen Yun and his companions boarded the cloud boat and headed for Qingliu Sword Sect. During the trip, the disciple from the Seventh Peak often came over to chat with Wen Yun, but Yue Xingzhou stood in front of Wen Yun with a fake smile.
"Oh, the Seventh Peak? Excuse me, my brothers and sisters have agreed that we must become disciples of the Tenth Peak this time."
Especially with Bai Yushan's physique as strong as a bear, standing in front and holding the newly forged giant sword, no one dared to look for Wen Yun anymore.
Wen Yun felt quite regretful in his heart, but he did not show it on his face. Whenever the four people from the Tenth Peak looked at him, he would make a firm statement: "I am a member of the Tenth Peak in life and a ghost of the Tenth Peak in death. Even if there are many handsome men on the Seventh Peak, I will never waver!"
It was easy to fool those three people because they all thought Wen Yun was an honest girl.
Only Ye Shubai knew this man's temper well, and she stared at Wen Yun with cold eyes all the way. She had no choice but to praise him in different ways all the way, until he got his ears red.
This cloud boat was brand new and flew faster than an ordinary flying sword. It soon landed at the foot of the outer mountain of Qingliu Sword Sect.
A fat steward stood at the outer mountain gate, holding an equally fat yellow dog. He raised his chin slightly and looked arrogantly at the mortals who came up.
"Alright, alright. Those who want to test their spiritual roots go to the left. Those who pass the test go up the mountain. Those who can walk up a thousand steps are inner disciples, and those who can walk up ten thousand steps enter the inner gate!"
All the young people looked at the majestic and vast mountains with fear, and then looked at the bluestone steps that seemed to have no end in sight. For a moment, it seemed as if they saw the long journey to immortality, and they were both afraid and excited.
Wen Yun and a few others also mixed in the crowd and walked forward. They had high levels of cultivation, so it was easy for them to hide their cultivation in front of this group of managers who were in the Foundation Establishment stage.
When these people walked in front of Manager Zhou, the arrogance on his fat face froze. He recognized Wen Yun and his group, and then quickly glanced at Ye Shubai's face, then quickly lowered his eyes, as if waving his hand unintentionally, but his voice suddenly changed, and he shouted loudly to the backs of Wen Yun and his group -
"Alright, alright, don't delay any longer. You are lucky today. Sect Leader Liu is in seclusion, and our Grand Elder Ouyang is in charge of the affairs. Anyone who can enter the inner gate will see powerful people in the Tribulation Crossing Stage, and may have the opportunity to be accepted as a disciple!"
Wen Yun and Ye Shubai climbed up the stairs.
She laughed softly and said, "I didn't know the Wan family was so capable. It turns out that Manager Zhou is one of their people."
"But he doesn't know that we have been waiting for this day, the day witnessed by everyone..."
Ye Shubai originally wanted to rush into the valley directly and retrieve the Jade Infant without anyone noticing, but Wen Yun was not happy about it and insisted on waiting until the day when Qingliu Sword Sect accepted disciples.
Ye Shubai held the simple wooden sword in his hand, his plain clothes rustled in the mountain breeze, and his eyes were as cold as snow.
The girl's voice was as clear as a silver bell, and what she said was very confident.
"As for me, I just like to kill people openly."