The dense wild grass underfoot subrged the small path. As the field of vision pulled back, towering giant trees branched lushly and leafily. Even hurrying along at high noon, one could not avoid feeling a bit of suffocating oppression.
Hearing that apprentice called Liu Sheng say, the wilderness was all like this. As long as no one passed through, even rugged rocky places would soon beco overgrown with weeds.
It must all be due to the Four Great Immortal Families.
Worth ntioning is that, according to the usual process, after the Incense Master views the incense, the person involved must arrange a flowing banquet.
But after Lu Bai relayed Master Bai Fourteen’s words to Master Tao, this old Incense Master imdiately decided to take Lu Bai and several apprentices back to the county town, without even resting much in the village.
Lu Bai had no opinion at first anyway; he had no attachnt to that village.
However, while hurrying along, he learned from Master Tao about Master Bai Fourteen’s status in the jianghu, and vaguely felt that everything that happened last night was sowhat suspicious.
Two Hu Clan Immortals suddenly appearing to cause trouble was one thing, but the problem was, wouldn’t those two fox spirits know this was Master Bai Fourteen’s territory?
Moreover, seeing Master Tao communicate with spirits and summon Master Bai Fourteen, they still didn’t run away and even dared to fight back.
This was a bit too reckless with their lives.
Unfortunately, the information he could understand was still too little. Lu Bai pondered for a while, couldn’t find a reasonable explanation, and simply assud those two fox spirits were mad for now.
As the group delved deeper into the forest, they noticed the surroundings becoming increasingly silent, with bird calls and insect chirps gradually weakening.
Lu Bai inexplicably felt that the dark forest had gained so spying gazes.
Master Tao walked at the very front, said nothing more, and silently drew a stick of incense from his bundle to light it.
He bowed toward the four directions: “Folks with grievances, we may not et above but we do below; let’s each give the other so face.”
As soon as these words were spoken, a rustling movent ca from the surroundings.
Monts later, that spied-upon feeling indeed disappeared.
Master Tao glanced at Lu Bai, waved his hand signaling everyone to keep following him, and explained in a low voice: “Don’t think us Spirit ssengers are impressive in front of the villagers; it’s mainly relying on Master Bai Fourteen’s influence. Generally, don’t provoke Evil Spirits. If you run into them, you still have to talk etiquette with them first.”
Lu Bai nodded, then felt sothing off.
Why are you telling
this?
Master Tao had been a Spirit ssenger for so many years, his eyesight was still very good, and he spotted Lu Bai’s doubt at a glance.
He imdiately smiled and said: “I think I know Master Bai Fourteen pretty well, but I’ve never seen him so eager to et soone. It won’t be long before we definitely beco colleagues.”
It was actually very easy to understand.
Since Master Bai Fourteen didn’t kill Lu Bai on the spot, had such a good attitude, and Lu Bai didn’t know Master Bai Fourteen before.
Then what seeing Lu Bai was for was very obvious.
“Doesn’t Master Bai Fourteen already have you as a Spirit ssenger?” Lu Bai stroked his chin.
“Just
alone won’t do.”
Master Tao said cheerfully.
In fact, most Immortals with high cultivation had more than one Spirit ssenger.
The several villages around here were indeed managed by Master Tao.
But Master Bai Fourteen’s territory went far beyond just these few villages.
His training ground was in the county town, overseeing dozens of large and small villages.
Therefore, the number of Spirit ssengers currently under Master Bai Fourteen was over twenty.
One more or one less had no influence on the other Spirit ssengers.
In the end, they originally had no ability to borrow all of Master Bai Fourteen’s magic power anyway; at most, there would be conflict when communicating with spirits.
But the problem was, most Spirit ssengers could view incense and would never top incense; tis doing confused duty were rare.
Lu Bai nodded thoughtfully.
He knew his talent should count as very good, but he still sowhat rejected being possessed by an Immortal.
Even knowing Master Bai Fourteen had a good temperant and still protected one side’s peace when worldly affairs grew chaotic, he still couldn’t accept his body being taken over by an Immortal.
……
Walking in the dim forest, perceptions of ti and space beca blurred.
When Lu Bai followed Master Tao and his three apprentices out of the forest, it was already nearing evening.
But there was no need to worry about traveling at night; a not-too-big not-too-small county town was already in sight.
“That’s it ahead.”
Master Tao waved his hand, signaling everyone to quicken their pace.
Along the road extending from the county town entrance, Lu Bai hurried to catch up.
To be fair, Lu Bai thought Master Tao hadn’t taught the three apprentices any true skill, but their foot strength was trained excellently.
One night without sleep followed by hurrying this long, yet those three apprentices still looked so energetic.
The city gate guard clearly recognized Master Tao the Incense Master, nodded in acknowledgnt, didn’t even bother checking, and directly let their group enter the city.
Led by Master Tao, the group headed straight for Master Bai Fourteen’s training ground in the city center.
Probably also because Master Bai Fourteen was in charge, comrce in the city was fairly bustling, with all sorts of hawking calls incessant along the way, and few deadpan road users encountered.
This rare liveliness of mortal worldly affairs made Lu Bai, who had been hurrying through the forest for so long, relax quite a bit.
Master Bai Fourteen’s training ground was a mansion, its vermilion gate having so opulence of a wealthy household.
Thump~ thump~ thump~
Master Tao picked up the door knocker on the gate and struck rhythmically.
Soon, the gate opened on its own.
Master Tao imdiately led his three apprentices in a respectful bow.
Then he turned to Lu Bai and said: “Master Bai Fourteen is inside; follow .”
The three apprentices stopped at the main gate; on one hand, they didn’t yet have qualification to see Master Bai Fourteen.
On the other hand, it was also to prevent passive “detachnt.”
On the way here, Master Tao had roughly explained to Lu Bai the process of becoming an Incense Master.
This process had three steps: taking the law, passing in, opening the crown.
Simply put, first perform the separation ritual to detach from the original group or environnt.
This detachnt process was called “taking the law”; people in this stage would suddenly fall gravely ill, generally manifesting as coma, fever, talking nonsense, and so on—in short, seeing anomalies or showing abnormal behavior.
The problem was, frequent contact with Immortals could also easily cause such symptoms, which counted as passive detachnt.
Almost everyone couldn’t endure this stage, either dying or going mad; best to have less contact.
Of course, the better the talent, the milder the manifestation.
Like Master Tao, who only vomited and had diarrhea for three days before recovering normally—a type with very good talent.
The yard was very serene, empty of people, yet swept clean.
The two walked one behind the other straight into the main hall.
The incense altar was placed in the center of the main hall, with the shrine filled with fruits, vegetables, and the like; three sticks of incense rose with faint green smoke.
Lu Bai’s attention quickly focused on a colorful-style portrait.
This portrait hung above the shrine, depicting a middle-aged man seated on a cushion, his round face wearing a simple smile, like Maitreya Buddha.
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