Super Elation Under the Sun

As the autumn came to an end in the third year of Shending in Dazhou Empire, an autumn rain finally fell in Baiyu Town.

It was just an autumn rain and it was not supposed to be a big deal. But rain was scarce in Baiyu Town and it was even rarer during autumn. This time, however, it had rained for three days straight.

The rain did not seem like it was going to stop anytime soon.

In the autumn rain, there was a teenager holding an oil-paper umbrella, strolling at an alley in front of a small yard, located just at the east of Baiyu Town. Not many people were around this deserted alley and if people happened to pass by him, they would notice that the teenager beneath the oil-paper umbrella was actually frowning.

"This stupid weather is just so damn... rare."

He was clenching his teeth.

Baiyu Town was located at the southwest border of Dazhou Empire. It was a small and veritable remote town. There were around a few hundred households in that ordinary-sized town. Though there were quite a lot of families there, after so many years, it would not be a stretch to say that everyone in that town was somewhat related to each other.

However, this teenager did not have a relationship with any of the families in the town. He had no relatives and no friends, and he wasn't from the local families in Baiyu Town. The people in town only knew that someone had dropped him off at the town during a winter when he was seven or eight years old. The person left a pouch of silver ingots and had bought a house for the teenager, who was still a kid back then. After leaving some silver taels behind, the stranger left by himself. The people in the town were puzzled because they thought that there was no way the kid could live through the winter season but they were mistaken. Not only did the kid manage to survive the winter, he even managed to find a job after he had finished spending the remaining silver ingots.

It was rumoured that in the years of Chuping in Dazhou Empire, this Emperor of Dazhou had a conversation with an imperial messenger of a great dynasty which was many times bigger than the Dazhou Empire in the city of Shaoliang. The Emperor told him, "If you give me a hundred years' of time, I will expand the Dazhou Empire's territory by tenfold."

These were ambitious words, and the messenger just smiled.

Perhaps he did not want to destroy the Emperor's dignity or maybe he just did not take the Emperor's words seriously.

Some people respected the Emperor's bravery while some just mocked the Emperor for overestimating himself by comparing him to an ant that tried to shake up an entire tree.

So how did the story of Shaoliang City manage to reach Baiyu Town in the Dazhou Empire which was thousands of miles away?

Of course it had to do with those storytellers.

The people of this country loved listening to the storytellers because those mighty human cultivators in the stories would never appear and show their strengths in front of them. Plus, the appearance of the cultivators of this country was always a rare sight to begin with. Thus, they could only use their imagination based on what was told by the storytellers.

Moreover, there weren't just cultivators involved in the storytellers' tales.

Baiyu Town had a few restaurants and there was a storyteller in each restaurant. These storytellers would share their stories every afternoon in a restaurant and the storytellers in each restaurant were very different. They had different personalities and characters so some of them could have three to five sessions per day, some two to three sessions while some only had one session in a day. Their stories were mainly about mountain fairies and wild demons; and how the human cultivators fend off evil and spread kindness. Even if the stories were different, their plots were still similar.

The Dazhou Empire was in the southwest and was located in a remote area. Its territory was not that big and Baiyu Town was even smaller. These storytellers did not have the chance to broaden their horizon or see for themselves what was outside of Baiyu Town. Once they kept repeating the same hearsay stories, their same old stories could no longer capture the people's hearts and they were bound to get sick of those few stories that were just too cliché.

Thus, the young kid sold the stories from his memories to those storytellers back then like some form of commodity and that was how he managed to survive.

The people of Baiyu Town knew that this kid was not a local and that he was a foreigner but they did not understand how a seven or eight-year-old kid could retain so many memories in his mind. He had shared his stories for a whole five years.

During those five years, the storytellers were amazed by the teenager's stories. The stories he told had never been heard before and none of the stories were similar to one another. Through these stories, the kid managed to survive in this small town.

As he grew older, the teenager had become a storyteller himself.

Now, everyone in Baiyu Town knew him as Li Fuyao.

He was the youngest storyteller in the town and he was not even 16 yet.

To officially reach adulthood at the age of twenty in the Dazhou Empire, Li Fuyao was still four years away.

His surname was Li and his name Fuyao was taken from a sentence in the Taoist Classics 'Free and Easy Wandering' [1], "When the Peng (a type of bird) journeys to the Southern Sea, the waters are roiled for 3000 miles. He beats the whirlwind and rises 90,000 miles."

Li Fuyao knew about these legends when he picked that name but he did not care about it.

At this moment, this teenage storyteller was holding an oil-paper umbrella as he crossed the road to go to the restaurant. He reached the restaurant's entrance but he suddenly stopped in his tracks; he did not seem to be in a hurry to enter the restaurant.

There was a young male servant in front of the restaurant entrance holding a green, long gown in his hands; he had been waiting there for quite some time.

The servant saw Li Fuyao standing outside the restaurant for quite long and did not look like he was planning to enter the restaurant. The servant did not know why he was behaving in such a manner but he knew that the owner of the restaurant was nagging him to hurry. So, the servant put on a bold face, went up to him and asked politely, "Mr. Li, the people are waiting for you upstairs, is there something you have yet to settle?"

Li Fuyao was standing under the roof while he closed his oil-paper umbrella and passed it to the servant beside him. He then asked the servant, "How long is this rain going to last?"

He was met with silence.

The servant was troubled because how could he know how much longer it was going to rain for?

He glanced at Li Fuyao but he did not respond to his question.

Fortunately, Li Fuyao did not utter a single word and just took the green, long gown from the servant and went into a changing room that was reserved specially for him.

...

The decorations at the second floor of the restaurant were minimalistic. Besides a long wooden bench and a huge elm-wood table in the middle of the grand hall, the other decorations were similar to the ones on the first floor. There was a small jug of wine and a gavel on the elm-wood table but the storyteller had not arrived yet.

People of all ages and genders were there at the restaurant. The small town was only that big and of course they knew about the teenage storyteller's temperament so they did not dare to complain about it. It was already getting late and they were just wondering why the teenager still hadn't showed up.

The restaurant customers who were there to listen to the storyteller made those teenage girls among the crowds who weren't initially there for the storytelling stand out. The girls looked antsy but their hands were just under the table, rubbing the corners of their clothes nervously as they tried to suppress the look of urgency on their faces.

The other people were there for the storytelling while these girls were there for the storyteller.

Time slowly passed and Li Fuyao finally showed up fashionably late, wearing a slightly oversized green gown. He walked to the centre of the grand hall and sat on the long bench.

The teenager turned his head calmly to face the restaurant crowd and apologised, "Sorry to keep you waiting."

Bang!

The sound came from the gavel banging forcefully onto the elm-wood table.

The clash between the table and the gavel gave everyone a startle and their attention turned to him.

This was what the gavel was for.

Li Fuyao cleared his throat and raised his voice slightly. "Previously, I talked about those demon foxes that loved seducing the poor scholars who spent the night in the woods. So does anyone know how those demon foxes seduce them?"

After he asked the question, the second floor's crowd quickly became tumultuous. Some said that those scholars were fakes and they could not resist the temptation while some said those demon foxes only loved preying on scholars. All of them had their own opinions and they just talked non-stop.

The teenager who was sitting in the middle of it all waited for the chattering to calm down then he slowly cracked a smile. "Why would they seduce those poor scholars? Because they were poor; if they had been rich, why would they be spending their night in the wilderness? If they were not staying in the woods then stories like this will not exist in this world anymore."

The crowd burst into laughter after hearing Li Fuyao's explanation. They had heard so many stories from storytellers but they had never heard such an explanation before.

The few teenage girls blushed after they heard his explanation but they gazed into Li Fuyao's eyes with a look of pure admiration.

Li Fuyao chuckled and he raised his bowl of wine to have a mouthful before he continued.

He had been telling stories in this restaurant for quite some time and he knew the ropes here. Also, the stories in his mind were far more than the other storytellers and that was why people in Baiyu Town loved to listen to him.

...

At the second floor, Li Fuyao improvised the stories in his mind and brought them to life. His stories captured the attention of so many people but the owner of the restaurant did bother to listen to them. He was leaning against the door at the entrance, staring at the autumn rain. He was calculating inside his heart how much silver taels he was going to pay Li Fuyao after this. Although that teenager brought in business for him every time he came here to tell his stories, he was also splitting quite a huge amount of the silver taels with Li Fuyao.

After being silent for quite some time, the restaurant owner suddenly spat out his saliva for some unknown reason. Just as he lifted his head, he saw two oil-paper umbrellas, a big one and a small one, getting closer toward the restaurant in the rain.

A middle-aged man who was wearing a green gown held a young lady's hands as they walked underneath the roof.

The middle-aged man looked at the restaurant owner who was guarding the entrance and asked calmly, "Are there any seats left?"

On usual days, the restaurant owner would welcome customers with open hands but he was now stunned after looking at these two unfamiliar faces. He only nodded after some time and replied, "Yes."

[1]: Free and Easy Wandering is a representative work of the philosopher and writer Zhuang Zhou during the Warring States Period. It is listed as the first chapter of the Taoist classic " Zhuangzi ·Inner Chapter", which can be used as a representative of the book "Zhuangzi" both in thought and art. The theme of this article focuses on pursuing an absolutely carefree outlook on life.

The man in the green gown walked up the stairs with the young lady and coincidentally they stumbled upon Li Fuyao who had just finished his first story. He was having some wine to quench his thirst when he saw the two strangers-the green-gowned man and the young lady-sitting at a table by the window and for this, he was surprised.

Baiyu Town was such a small place and Li Fuyao had recognised almost every face in this town since a few years ago. Plus, the customers that came to the restaurants were always the usual people and even if there were newcomers once in a while, those were also the town locals. However, he had never seen those two people right in front of him.

The man in the green gown sat by the window and looked to the center of the grand hall. His eyes met with Li Fuyao's. As they stared at each other, the man in green greeted him with a nod and a smile. Li Fuyao returned the courtesy and nodded back. After that, he did not linger around and continued with his next story.

Li Fuyao had been storytelling in the restaurant for many years and he had told numerous stories. The other storytellers would already have to repeat their old stories by now but in Li Fuyao's case, the stories he told were different every day and naturally people loved to listen to him.

After drinking some wine, he began with another new story. This story was about those human cultivators but it didn't involve any fighting or killing; it was a plot involving lots of romances. When he finished the story, the customers in the restaurant were feeling sad and some of the teenage girls had pink teary eyes. Even the young lady who was just climbing up the stairs was getting emotional.

Having told multiple stories without a break, Li Fuyao did not utter a single word anymore and just stood up. It meant that the session had ended for the day, and he took off his oversized green gown and passed it to the servant who was by his side all the while. He turned around and was going to look for the restaurant owner to take his silver taels, but before he could step away, the green-gowned man suddenly shouted at him to stop.

"Hold your horses, young man."

Li Fuyao was slightly confused but still he maintained his composure and did not leave hurriedly. After that, he went to the table and sat down. The man in the green gown said laughingly, "Young man, the few stories you told just now were quite meaningful and they were different from those marketplace storytellers' clichéd tales. Your stories were not boring at all. There were quite a few stories which I have not even heard before."

Li Fuyao was calm as he replied, "I am just working for a living. Please don't take those stories for real."

Perhaps the man in the green gown was taken aback by the teenager's composed manner and he was silent for a brief moment, not knowing what to say. Instead, Li Fuyao quickly asked him, "Mister, you don't look like you're from around here, why are you here in Baiyu Town?"

The man calmly asked him in return, "Are you from the District Government Office?"

The sentence was vague but both of them knew the meaning behind those words. The man in the green gown was actually hinting at Li Fuyao, questioning his right to ask about his purpose of visiting this town when Li Fuyao himself was not from the District Government Office.

Li Fuyao was quiet for some time and he just hung his head, staring at the permanent stains that had accumulated on the wooden table after all these years, the stains that couldn't be removed no matter how it was cleaned. He had been staying in this small town for more than ten years but he had never met such an interesting person before.

The young lady did not look at Li Fuyao; she was just observing the view outside of the window.

The man did not plan on probing further about the matter and he swiftly asked, "You are a local, so you should know if there was something unusual happening in Baiyu Town, right?"

Li Fuyao suddenly chuckled and lifted his head to look at the man.

There was a hint of ridicule in his eyes.

The man immediately realized why. He had asked him a rhetorical question just now and this teenager was obviously reminding him how he did not have any rights to ask about the matters of Baiyu Town.

The man was suddenly so amazed because it had been some time since he had met such a fascinating teenager.

A teenager who could give him a tit-for-tat was rare in the Confucian Temple. What sparked his interest more was that he had managed to meet such a teenager in this poor, secluded town.

The man fell into silence for a second then continued, "Since you are a storyteller, have you seen with your own eyes the mountain fairies and beasts as well as the human cultivators which you always marveled about?"

As he mentioned this, the teenager raised his brows slightly but quickly undid his frown. He smiled and said, "Mister, if you have read sage books before, you should know that the theories behind those sage books are not difficult at all but have you actually seen with your own eyes the sages who wrote those books?"

The teenager just refused to back down until now.

The man furrowed his brows. "Young man, you don't really have a good temper. It is still tolerable when you are at a small place like this but once you get out of this place, you need to work on your temper."

Li Fuyao just shook his head. "Mister, don't you worry about that."

The man just laughed it off and quickly returned to the original topic. "I am here because I need to settle something important. If I fail to resolve it, I'm afraid it will implicate the people of this town, so this is why I am asking you to tell me honestly if there was anything out of the ordinary in the town."

Li Fuyao was puzzled and he asked, "This matter is so serious that it will implicate the people in this town?"

The man did not reply and just flung his sleeves gently. The bowl of tea that was on the table mysteriously rose up into the air and hovered slightly away from the table, about just a few inches away. The other people did not notice anything peculiar except for Li Fuyao who was observing the whole phenomenon at such a close distance.

However, Li Fuyao was unfazed by this. His eyes just lit up as he asked, "A human cultivator?"

The man in the green gown facing him was absent-minded for a brief moment before he slowly nodded his head.

Li Fuyao swiftly asked again, "Confucianism or Daoism?"

Li Fuyao did not look shocked at all. Instead, it was the man in the green gown who was looking at Li Fuyao with a surprised expression.

Li Fuyao calmly added, "To be frank, I have always wanted to go and see the world. I know that Dazhou is very small, and the world is big, that's why I have had the wish of traveling the world. I know that human cultivators like you won't come to Dazhou so I wanted to leave Dazhou to meet you guys instead. Unfortunately, the reason why I have not left Dazhou after all these years is simple. I am still... saving up money."

It was easy for people to say that they wanted to travel the world but when it came to realizing it, that would require a lot of silver taels.

The man was not in a hurry to give a reply. It was the young lady at the side who had been silent all along who suddenly said, "Even if you have saved up a lot of silver tales, you won't go very far."

The young lady did not explain her reasons further and Li Fuyao did not question her.

The man was a straightforward person. He did not hide any details and just explained to Li Fuyao the agenda of this trip.

Li Fuyao's brows drew together and asked softly, "Do you mean to say there is a snake demon in Baiyu Town?"

The man just slowly smiled. "It is a snake demon at the Fundamental Stage. Although it is not at a very high stage yet, it will not be difficult for it to kill everyone in this town."

Li Fuyao's expressions turned grim and he kept quiet for a while. He then said softly, "This autumn rain has been going on for quite some time but there shouldn't be such a downpour based on the previous years' climates. I really can't think of anything that is unusual besides this."

The man nodded his head and did not question further because it was redundant to explain so much to a teenager that was already this interesting. However, looking at this teenager, he wanted to talk to him about some other stuff.

"What do you know about this world?"

Li Fuyao stared at the man and after thinking for some time, he replied slowly, "There are three religious sects in this world and the cultivators of these three religious sects are the rulers of this world. I also know that Dazhou's territory lies in the Yanling Region and there is a Confucian Temple in Yanling which follows the path of Confucianism; and Mister... you look like you came from there."

The man just smiled calmly. "I am really curious as to how you know so much."

Li Fuyao just chuckled. "Mister, previously you said that I'm a local, but actually you were wrong. I'm technically not one."

"Mister, you come from the Yanling Confucian Temple so you should know that many people get to enter the Confucian Temple in Yanling every year but that number is considered too small by those descendants of aristocrats in Luoyang City. Thus, when they knew that a kid-especially one without a valued influential background to pose a threat-was going to have a place in the temple, they thought of ways to snatch away his place and they came up with an idea."

Li Fuyao slowly smiled and asked, "Mister, try to think about it and what would you do if you were in their shoes?"

The man in green just shook his head. The temple actually knew about what those aristocratic descendants in Luoyang City had been doing every year and the temple did not bother investigating it either during all these years. Luoyang City was a complicated matter and those kids who had been sent to the temple, their talents were almost at the same par with each other so it actually didn't matter which kid ended up entering the temple. The people in the temple just couldn't care. Hence, it wasn't much of a shock to meet such a kid here.

"So the reason you were sent to such a secluded place is just because of your place in the temple."

The man in the green gown regarded Li Fuyao in a calm manner.

"They did not kill me in the end but they were also afraid that I would return to Luoyang City again. Although this is a small matter, it involved their dignity so they sent me away to this secluded place, hoping that I would perish on my own."

Li Fuyao then looked at the man and continued smilingly, "Too bad I'm still alive."

Despite his youthfulness, the green-gowned man noticed that he was more mature than most teenagers of his age. He said coldly, "So now that you've met me today, you are thinking of begging me to bring you into the Yanling Confucian Temple and lead you to the path of cultivation. After that, you hope you are able to seek revenge."

Li Fuyao spread his arms and answered, "Mister, it is a coincidence that you and I met but since we have met each other, wouldn't you consider it?"

What he meant by considering was actually asking the man to observe him and see if he had any qualities for cultivation.

That was why he spread his arms wide open.

The man was frowning and he admitted that the short and simple story the teenager had just told did spark a little interest toward him.

He was silent for a second, and then he put his hands on Li Fuyao's shoulders. After a moment, it felt like something was flowing in his meridian. There was an obvious bulge in his shoulders and it was flowing in his meridian.

...

There was a long, deafening silence.

The man introduced himself softly, "I am Yan Yu."

He continued asking, "What's your name?"

"Li Fuyao."

"Are you willing to go to the Yanling Confucian Temple with me?"

"No."

The tea on the wooden table had gone cold and the teenage storyteller had left a while ago. However, Yan Yu was still in his seat, sitting by the table as he thought about the last sentence the teenager had said.

"Since it is fate that you and I met today, we can just talk our hearts out but I am not hoping to gain your sympathy through this nor am I proving my talent as a young successor of cultivation so that you can bring me along the path of cultivation. It is just that I have been staying at this place alone for so long, and to meet an outsider by coincidence, I can't help but to recall my past. I felt a hint of regret not being able to enter the Confucian Temple at that time but now I am not that willing to try my luck anymore."

Those last words from Li Fuyao before he left seemed prosaic but Yan Yu could vaguely feel that there was a sense of pride behind his words.

He turned his head to look at the autumn rain outside and his mind drifted. This teenager was indeed interesting.

Nevertheless, this teenager now had the opportunity to take back what he should have had previously but how was he able to resist such a temptation and pass up this chance of being able to return to the Confucian Temple?

Yan Yu could not wrap his head around it and mumbled to himself, "Li Fuyao, are you really going to pass up this opportunity?"

Nonetheless, he was shocked by the talents this teenager had.

Although he already had a gifted scholar as his last disciple by his side.

It wasn't a bad thing if he could have more quality disciples.

The young lady smirked when she noticed the man daydreaming but she was already used to this.

Yan Yu came back to his senses and he just stroked her head gently without saying anything.

......

The teenager beneath the umbrella was composed but his other hand which was vacant had curled into a tight fist. He had a faint self-deprecating smirk on his face and regretted having his chat with Yan Yu today. However, he had bottled up his feelings for so long and just wanted to spill his heart out to someone; moreover, the man could understand him.

Li Fuyao let out a sigh.

The pitter-patter of raindrops which splashed on the surface of the umbrella made Li Fuyao even more frustrated.

Li Fuyao raised his head and glanced at the dark skies in the distance. He shook his head and turned into a narrow alley. After walking a few steps and just when he was about to exit the alley, his back suddenly felt cold. He could feel something was leaning on his back and his hair stood on end. He stopped in his tracks and did not dare to move a single muscle.

.

He did not even dare to turn his head to take a look.

Could it be Mr. Yan who was about to kill him because he had rejected him just now?

If this was the case, that Yanling Confucian Temple wasn't really such a good place after all.

It did not mean that he was going to be fine if he did not turn his head as soon, a cold voice came from behind, "Carry me."

It was a girl's voice.

As soon as the cold voice resonated, the ice-cold body leaned completely against Li Fuyao's back. Li Fuyao's hands then subconsciously reached behind and carried the girl up.

Just when Li Fuyao relaxed his grip, the oil-paper umbrella began falling to the ground of the alley but a fair-skinned arm swiftly appeared in Li Fuyao's line of sight, reaching out over his shoulder to grab onto the handle of the umbrella.

The oil-paper umbrella hovered over the both of them once again.

Li Fuyao was standing at the junction of the alley but he did not dare to take a step forward because he had felt the girl fixing her eyes at him since the start like a venomous snake.

It was as if a thorn was stuck on his back.

That feeling was familiar in his memories that had been sealed away a long time ago and it was after this moment he was certain that the girl behind him was a cultivator.

Li Fuyao could hardly maintain his composure when he met Yan Yu who was from the Yanling Confucian Temple while this time, he did not even have the courage to make sudden movements when facing this girl because he was not even sure of her identity.

After a brief moment of silence, the girl spoke again, "Go to your house."

Li Fuyao did not hesitate and quickly started walking. He had met those human cultivators before and although his memories of them were vague, he knew that those cultivators who seemed harmless didn't care about the common people. It wouldn't be wrong to say that the cultivators treated them like dirt.

Having to carry someone behind his back in the rain, he could only walk so fast but in no time, Li Fuyao had arrived and pushed open the door to his yard. After they got under the roof, the girl behind his back naturally put the umbrella away. Li Fuyao then waited for her next instruction after he pushed his door open and entered his house.

"Let me down."

Li Fuyao let the girl down and as he slowly turned around, he hid his fists behind his back. All those days of surviving by himself were urging him to do what was best for him to keep his life.

However, Li Fuyao was distracted as soon as he saw the look of the girl for the first time. She had a pair of slender eyes and her thin lips made her look emotionless. If the youthful look on her face had faded, she would look fancier but even so, she still looked beautiful. Her suit of green clothes was drenched, exposing her physique completely to Li Fuyao but with a piercing stare, Li Fuyao did not dare to look at her anymore.

The young girl in the green clothes then asked calmly, "What's your name?"

This was the second time in one day he was asked for his name. He kept quiet for a second and uttered two words.

"Li Fuyao."

Li Fuyao did not beg for mercy nor did he say anything else. Based on his memories, those who could become cultivators had a persistent mindset and that was why he did not bother to elaborate further, because it would be pointless if the young girl had already made up her mind to kill him.

However, come to think about it, the girl looked pallid and she was obviously seriously injured. Only a cultivator could hurt another cultivator and he could not help but to recall the conversation between him and Mr. Yan from the Yanling Confucian Temple.

Li Fuyao's face started to turn pale.

He seemed to have remembered something.

The young girl gave him a taunting look and said coldly, "I know you have met the scholar from the Yanling Confucian Temple and it looks like that guy just can't keep any secrets. You already know my identity."

Li Fuyao licked his dry lips and questioned her tentatively, "So you're the snake demon?"

Whoever was accused of being a snake demon might not be very pleased to hear that, even if she was really the snake demon.

Nonetheless, the young girl in green clothes just chuckled. She did not deny nor admit it.

Judging from her manner, Li Fuyao felt that his inference was pretty accurate.

He had been forced to leave Luoyang City when he was little and although he had only lived in Luoyang City for a few years, he was more familiar with this world than most of the people. For example, he knew there were three religious sects in this world and the cultivators of these three religious sects were the rulers of this world. He even knew there was a Demonic Land in the North where countless demons lived and some of those big demons could be at the same par with the sage of this world. Although there were many mountain fairies and beasts in this world, regardless of their talent, bloodline or the other orthodoxies, none of them could beat those demons in the Demonic Land. From the information Li Fuyao had now, not only was this young girl a snake demon from the Demonic Land, she was also a Fundamental Stage cultivator.

Every cultivator would have to go through nine stages of cultivation. There would be some differences in the first three stages but after the third stage came the Fundamental Stage and from that point onward, the same condition applied to all of the demon cultivators in the Demonic Land. There had never been any changes.

It wasn't difficult if the Fundamental Stage demon cultivator wanted to kill him, even if it was heavily injured.

Li Fuyao had never dealt with a demon before and according to his knowledge, he knew that these demons were not easy to handle.

The young girl in green clothes stared at him for a long time before saying to him softly, "Shall we make a deal?"

Li Fuyao was quiet for some time before replying to her, "Sure, what's your name?"

This question was often an opening remark often used by boys and girls who didn't know each other.

"Qing Huai."

Qing Huai looked like an easy-going person and she was straightforward.

Li Fuyao dragged over a wooden bench to the young girl's side while staring at her and asked, "What kind of a deal?"

Qing Huai answered in a calm manner, "You are not a threat to me, so as long as you don't have any intention to harm me, I will not hurt you either. Just let me recuperate here and act as if nothing has happened."

"Then what will I benefit from this?"

"Isn't being alive your benefit?"

"Technically, no."

Qing Huai stared coldly into Li Fuyao's eyes and was not in a hurry to give him a reply.

Li Fuyao continued, "My talent should be quite decent."

Li Fuyao had his reasons for refusing to enter the Confucian Temple but those reasons did not include not wanting to go on the path of cultivation anymore.

Qing Huai shook her head and she knew what Li Fuyao had on his mind. "Demon cultivators and human cultivators have different types of cultivation. If you practice the cultivation methods of the demon race, your body may just explode and you'll die."

There was a moment of silence between them.

Li Fuyao was left speechless. His body might explode and he would die?

"Although I can't lead you in the path of cultivation, I will give you a demon core before I leave, only if you truly don't have any intention of hurting me. It will help you progress faster while you are on the path of cultivation."

Li Fuyao furrowed his brows and quickly nodded his head. "Deal."

He had been thinking of going on the path of cultivation ever since leaving Luoyang City until now. Although that opportunity of getting back to the path had been presented right before his eyes by Yan Yu previously, he could only shake his head and reject the offer.

He could not go to the Confucian Temple.

However, he had wanted to take back what he had lost.

After the two of them exchanged gazes for some time, Li Fuyao suddenly asked, "What are you doing here in Yanling?"

She glanced into the distance and a smile appeared on her pallid face. "It will be Liangxi's Daoist Assembly during spring next year. It is held once every ten years so how could that gifted Dao cultivator not show up at that time? By then, I will challenge her during the Daoist Assembly."

Huh?

Li Fuyao turned his head to look at Qing Huai; he wanted to ask who the gifted Dao cultivator was. Although he knew a lot of things, he did not have a clear understanding about human cultivators. As he turned his head, he saw there was a look of confidence on Qing Huai's face.

Challenging the gifted Dao cultivator must have made her so excited.

Hence, Li Fuyao had kept these three words, 'gifted Dao cultivator' firmly in his mind.