Zhang Chen decided to participate in the selection for the Mysterious Academy. Having decided to reside secretly in Jinling, he lost his source of skills. Naturally, he needed to find a way to regain this source, and the academy was a good choice.
Zhang Chen sat in the carriage for a while, feeling bored, and with a flicker of his figure, he moved to a distant large tree to meditate and cultivate, carefully refining his own Primordial Spirit.
Now he was racing against time, unwilling to waste a moment; to him, time was life.
As time passed, about three hours later, suddenly a sound of footsteps came, waking Zhang Chen from his meditation on the tree. Hearing the sound, Zhang Chen looked through the dense leaves and saw two figures, one red and one white, coming into view.
"That’s my cheap elder cousin, and the girl in red," Zhang Chen immediately recognized their backgrounds.
One was Zhang Gaoqiu, and the other was the girl in red who had been close to Jiang Nan before. They stood side by side in the dense forest, talking intimately. Unfortunately, Zhang Chen couldn’t hear clearly due to the distance.
"So they are a pair of wild mandarin ducks! My elder cousin does have some skill. He has just arrived in Jinling and already wooed a young lady of a good family. He’s quite a flirt," Zhang Chen thought to himself.
Zhang Chen, having reached Perfection in his cultivation, intended to rest his mind. Instead of continuing to cultivate, he sat in the tree, eating melon and watching.
The pair talked in the forest for another hour. The girl in red gradually found herself embraced by the man, showing an intimate demeanor that Zhang Chen watched with great interest. Unfortunately, it didn’t progress into the R-rated scene he imagined.
After a while, a call came from afar. Zhang Gaoqiu said something to the girl, then left first, leaving the girl in red tidying her clothes in the dense forest. She glanced around, hesitated a little, and then walked in Zhang Chen’s direction. To his surprise, she ended up right under the tree where Zhang Chen was, lifted her red skirt, revealing a stark white.
Watching the two smooth white patches and hearing the torrential trickling sound, Zhang Chen was stunned: ’Is this something I should be watching?’
Realizing this was not the behavior of a gentleman, Zhang Chen hurriedly closed his eyes. But just as he closed them, a bug fell from the tree, landing on a patch of white skin, and the girl’s scream rang out. Startled, Zhang Chen opened his eyes to find the girl in red staring at him with eyes full of fury.
"Lecher!" The girl conjured a Treasure Sword in her hand and leapt toward Zhang Chen in the tree.
"Not good! I’ve concealed my Qi Mechanism, so how did she discover my whereabouts?" Zhang Chen was shocked and quickly used the Escape Technique, not wanting to cause any major commotion.
The Sword Qi sliced through the tree, splitting it in half, but there was no trace of Zhang Chen.
"Filthy thief! If I catch you, I’ll tear you to pieces!" The girl in red was furious beyond words, unable to comprehend how she had carelessly lost her dignity. Her heart burned with frustration.
She hesitated to publicize such a matter, feeling deeply ashamed and bitter. Holding the treasure sword, she hacked the tree into eight pieces and then turned to walk back in silence.
Meanwhile, from a distant tree, Zhang Chen’s figure reappeared. His face blushed with embarrassment: "It’s been too long since I’ve seen a woman; my temper is surprisingly high, this is tough!"
The image of the two smooth white patches was imprinted in Zhang Chen’s mind, causing his heart to stir with unease, feeling a surge of fire rising within him.
"I, Zhang Chen, am a proper gentleman. If you miss a woman, you get married or visit a courtesan, but never do such vulgar things." Zhang Chen reminded himself, trying to calm his mind. But every time he closed his eyes, he saw the glaring white patches, and no matter how he tried, he couldn’t quell the fire within.
"Something’s not right!" After a long time, Zhang Chen still felt restless, unable to meditate, and opened his eyes to ponder. With his current Dao Practice, subduing distractions to meditate shouldn’t have been difficult, so why was he so restless now?
"Your Six Thieves have acted up." Just then, the Great Freedom Celestial Demon appeared beside Zhang Chen, speaking leisurely.
"Six Thieves? What are the Six Thieves?" Zhang Chen asked the Great Freedom Celestial Demon.
"The Six Thieves are ears, nose, tongue, thoughts, body, eyes. The eyes see joy, ears hear anger, the nose smells love, the tongue tastes thought, the mind perceives desire, and the body feels worry. Your current unending desire for men and women is the work of the Six Thieves. Now that your bodily awareness is awakened, the Six Thieves can cause the leakage of Essence, Qi, and Spirit, which is the greatest thief of Changsheng. If you want your foundation to be stable, you must subdue the Six Thieves," said the Great Freedom Celestial Demon.
"How do you suppress the Six Thieves?" Zhang Chen asked his quandary.
The Great Freedom Celestial Demon shook his head: "I don’t know! I don’t cultivate immortality, so how would I know how to suppress the Six Thieves?"
"That’s troublesome!" Zhang Chen scratched his head, realizing that the road to Changsheng was fraught with challenges, and a single misstep could lead to his demise.
"The Six Thieves unsettle one’s Essence, Qi, and Spirit, causing one to lose wisdom when tempted by benefits. Be cautious and avoid creating a great disaster during this period," the Great Freedom Celestial Demon reminded before vanishing into Heaven and Earth.
Zhang Chen sat silently on the big tree, pondering ways to subdue the Six Thieves. He remembered that when he watched Journey to the West in his past life, Sun Wukong once killed the Six Thieves. But what about himself?
His own Six Thieves haven’t awakened and transformed into bandits. What should he do?
As countless thoughts rolled in Zhang Chen’s mind, dusk was already setting in, and the Shen Family convoy prepared to return.
Seeing this, Zhang Chen set aside his thoughts and quietly followed behind the carriage. As expected, he saw that the guards at the city gate dared not offend the Shen Family’s carriage, allowing it to enter the city unhindered. Then Jiang Nan casually found an excuse to stop the carriage by a shop to buy items, and little girl Migao sent the nearby servants away, letting Mrs. Zhang’s family down. By this time, Zhang Chen had been waiting amidst the crowd. Upon seeing Mrs. Zhang and her family, he waved to them, and the family disappeared into the crowd.
"Junior Brother, Jinling City is truly bustling. It’s just people squeezing in, countless crowds coming and going." Chengyu followed alongside Zhang Chen, his eyes revealing a touch of joyful curiosity as he looked at the passersby.
Next to him, the two little ones and Mrs. Zhang were also in shock from the bustling scene around them, tightly following behind Zhang Chen, their eyes showing a hint of nervousness.
Zhang Chen led a donkey, observing the passersby rushing like tides, as the small vendors constantly shouted. Such prosperity was incomparable to the Northern Land.
Most importantly, those passing by naturally possessed a certain Essence, Qi, and Spirit. Although their clothes weren’t luxurious, they still remained tidy and clean, with no sign of patched-up holes.
In contrast, Zhang Chen’s family, having traveled a thousand miles with dirt-covered faces and bodies full of grime, stood out awkwardly against Jinling City’s backdrop.
If outside the city one might not have noticed the difference, now entering the city felt like a lone white goose amongst a flock of swans, becoming an unusual outlier.
"Hehe, they’re merely dressed better. We’re not lacking either. Let’s first find a place to settle down, clean up a bit, and we won’t be inferior to anyone." Zhang Chen urged the family to navigate through the crowded throngs, finally arriving at an inn, where the eager-faced attendant welcomed them warmly without displaying any disdain.
After verifying the travel permit, the family booked three rooms: one for Zhang Chen, another for Mrs. Zhang, Chengyu, and Zhang Tuowei, and one for Zhang Fei. Zhang Chen wanted to meditate and cultivate, hence didn’t want to share a room with the restless Zhang Fei.
Along the journey and through Martial Dao cultivation, Zhang Fei was no longer considered a child, now aware of gender distinctions. Sharing a room with Zhang Tuowei and Chengyu wouldn’t be appropriate.
After freshening up, Zhang Chen returned to his room, instructed the attendant to bring an exquisite meal, and the family joyfully dined together.
After the wash, the Zhang Family appeared transformed, resembling phoenixes rather than sparrows. All members carried extraordinary bloodlines; their Essence, Qi, and Spirit weren’t something ordinary people could compare to.
After their meal, Zhang Chen started contemplating his next steps, while Mrs. Zhang asked, "Chen’Er, what’s your plan? When shall we visit the Shen Family?"
Zhang Chen replied, "There’s no need to rush. We need to prepare some decent gifts first before visiting, so that they don’t think we’re poor relatives begging for food."
"But... the matter of money..." Mrs. Zhang’s voice faltered.
"I’ll think of something." Zhang Chen had already planned.
After the meal, the family rested, while Zhang Chen got up and went out to wander around Jinling City, encountering a pharmacy, he walked in: "Is the shopkeeper here?"
"What can I do for you, sir?" A young apprentice responded humbly, bowing to Zhang Chen.
"I want to buy some ginseng seeds. Do you have ginseng seeds here?" Zhang Chen inquired.
"Ginseng seeds? Yes, ten seeds for one silver coin. How many would you like?" The attendant asked respectfully.
"Give me a hundred seeds!"
Zhang Chen took out some silver to pay, then with the ginseng seeds, he headed to the wilderness and filled the Ascension Pool with some yellow soil before returning to the city.
Ginseng requires a very specific environment to grow, and yellow soil is certainly unsuitable. However, the Ascension Pool can produce Creation Liquid daily, which has unbelievable effects. Even in the most adverse conditions, Zhang Chen could ensure its growth.
However, with yellow soil inside, the Ascension Pool can’t be put into the Ba Snake Space, as the soil lacks mysterious properties. So Zhang Chen could only shrink the Ascension Pool to a fist size, store it in his sleeve, and hum a tune while leisurely strolling around. He then went to the tailor’s shop, ordered some clothes, and arranged for the tailor to come over to measure their sizes.