Chapter 93
Chapter 93
Unlike remote places such as Nandu, the Eastern Continent was sacred ground in the hearts of nearly every cultivator beneath the heavens.
Two-thirds of the cultivation world’s great sects, holy lands, and ancient clans were concentrated there.
It overflowed with natural treasures and abundant spiritual energy, a true blessed land favored by heaven and earth.
A place like Nandu, almost forgotten by the world, had never had anything to do with the Eastern Continent.
Yet this year, strangely enough, the immortal sects of the Eastern Continent had come all the way here to recruit disciples.
Puzzled or not, everyone moved quickly once the news arrived.
Within a day, the city lord’s manor issued a notice announcing that honored guests from the Eastern Continent had arrived.
Three days later, a martial platform would be erected in the center of Nandu. Every citizen who wished to join an immortal sect could register to have their aptitude tested.
Anyone found to possess an immortal destiny could naturally travel to the Eastern Continent with the immortal envoys. The boundless sky and sea would open before them, and they would no longer drift through the mortal world.
Yun Lie and Yun Xi learned the news a little earlier than everyone else.
The young swordsman who had secretly taught them for years without asking anything in return mentioned it before the immortal sects arrived.
“With your talent, you will encounter far greater opportunities in the Eastern Continent.”
At fifteen, the youths were no longer children. They felt a little bewildered and more than a little excited.
The young man gave them a jade slip. Within it lay a magnificent world unlike anything they had ever seen.
Powerful cultivators whose thoughts could stir heaven and earth, giant demon beasts capable of swallowing the sky and moving the seas, evil demonic cultivators who enslaved millions of dead souls…
Compared with the Eastern Continent, Nandu was like a bowl of plain water whose meager flavor an adolescent could sample in full.
They did not make a rash decision, but returned home to ask Master.
Zhu Yin quietly watched their eyes sparkle with excitement and smiled. “Nandu truly is too small. You should go out into a wider world.”
The two disciples did not notice anything strange in her words.
Yun Lie’s eyes shone. “I heard the immortal envoys arrived aboard a huge ship that can fly through the clouds. It can hold ten thousand disciples!”
Yun Xi rested her chin in one hand and wondered aloud, “I wonder how they test a person’s aptitude.”
She considered that for only a moment before quickly changing the subject. “Rumor says the immortal envoys are in a great hurry this time. After the tests end in three days, those who qualify will have only one day to pack and say goodbye to their families before the ship leaves.”
If some personal matter delayed them, the immortal envoys would not wait.
Thus, the markets of Nandu–especially those serving cultivators–were exceptionally busy these few days. Storage pouches were in the greatest demand, and their price had tripled outright.
No one could guarantee they would be selected, but it was best to prepare in advance.
The two children had storage pouches of their own. They also possessed higher-quality storage artifacts.
They normally wore storage pouches at their waists containing spirit stones, snacks, and commonly used objects.
Their precious possessions remained inside more carefully concealed storage artifacts bearing seals Zhu Yin had personally placed.
They had nothing to pack. Over the past several years, whenever Zhu Yin returned from a journey with something good she could not use, she gave a small share to her two soul servants and stuffed almost everything else into the children’s hands.
They had never left Nandu or shown their storage spaces to anyone. They had no idea how immense a fortune they carried.
As the atmosphere throughout Nandu grew steadily tenser, this family of three continued eating and drinking as usual, entirely unaffected.
Zhu Yin knew the plot. Even without that advantage–even if she had known nothing at all–she would likely have possessed more confidence than most people.
The two children she raised perfectly inherited this virtue and had been more confident than ordinary children from an early age.
They never considered the possibility that they might not be selected.
The two soul servants had long since lost human emotions.
The only one unable to sit still was Barbara.
But it was a cat. Aside from Zhu Yin, who could sense its emotions, everyone merely thought it was more restless than usual.
The day before the aptitude test, Barbara lay on the ground, sighing and whimpering.
Zhu Yin, who could now carve a cat’s head with practiced skill: ?
“I cannot bear to part with the two little cuties.” Barbara was miserable. “After tomorrow, they will leave the day after.”
More crucially, it was one of only two beings who knew that their departure would be forever.
Once the children left for the Eastern Continent, it and its Host only had to remain in Nandu and wait for those people to come to their door.
Then they would follow the plot and fake her death without complication.
The mission would be over.
Zhu Yin asked in surprise, “You truly grew attached to them, Mama Barbara?”
She was teasing it about the time when she had transformed the children into kittens for convenience and made Barbara their cat mother for over a month.
The pink cat looked up at its Host. “Does Host not care about them at all?”
It did not believe that. Otherwise, why would Zhu Yin have begun training the children to endure separation five years early? Why would she have stuffed treasure after treasure into their hands out of fear they could not protect themselves later?
Zhu Yin’s expression softened. She gently stroked Barbara’s head. “Children must grow up, and separation cannot be avoided. Barbara, after following me through several mission worlds, I thought you understood that.”
Of course Barbara understood. It was a system of the World-Hopping Bureau. No one understood that truth better.
“Barbara knows.” It sniffled. “But this is different.”
It did not explain what was different, but Zhu Yin knew.
These were children they had personally poured their hearts into raising. They were like a perfect painting that began as blank paper, then filled with color one stroke at a time beneath their own brushes.
Looking at the dejected cat, Zhu Yin mischievously decided to tell it the truth a little later.
That evening, after three days of excitement, the children suddenly calmed down.
Without planning it, they both came to Zhu Yin and clung to her.
Zhu Yin was making incense.
She knew many things, but she had little experience with skills like incense-making, which could not strengthen her and were better suited to cultivating refinement and inner calm.
This was another advantage Zhu Yin had discovered in working for the World-Hopping Bureau.
She had an abundance of free time and encountered people in every trade. One by one, she tried anything that interested her.
If it was fun, she persisted and learned. If it was boring, she tried it once and cast it aside.
A distinctly unpleasant smell filled the courtyard. Clearly, when it came to making incense, her interest exceeded her talent.
Zhu Yin waved her sleeve, dispersing the thick odor, and looked at her two disciples. “It is so late. Why are you not asleep? Why have you come to find Master?”
The two children hesitated and stumbled over their words.
Zhu Yin understood. “Are you nervous about tomorrow’s aptitude test?”
Yun Lie shook his head. They were not nervous. They had simply realized something all at once.
The immortal envoys’ ship would carry qualified disciples to the Eastern Continent, but no one had said it would take their families.
Then what about Master?
Yun Xi tugged at her sleeve. “Master, Master, will you come to the Eastern Continent with us?”