Hearing this explanation, the masked woman felt it was a bit strange. Perhaps she suspected there was a problem. Anyway, this fat man was under a restriction and unable to resist, so she simply reached out, pried open the large gourd, pulled out the stopper, and tipped it over to take a look.
Nan Zhu immediately struggled with great exaggeration. “What are you doing?”
He was a bit frightened, worried that his precious fruit would be discovered.
Seeing that what poured out was indeed sand, and not detecting any other trick with this sand, the masked woman finally gave up. She casually pushed the stopper back into the gourd. The way she looked at Nan Zhu was somewhat inexplicable, clearly not expecting that this person would actually carry some graveyard soil with him.
Due to the commotion, Yu Qing and Mu Aotie, who had turned to look together, were utterly speechless. Their eyes were full of disapproval. It was not that they disapproved of men and women touching each other, but rather they disapproved of Nan Zhu’s nonsense. For a bit of money, he actually dragged his deceased master into his wild fabrications.
As they continued forward, Nan Zhu found it increasingly difficult to cope. His cultivation was restricted, and his obese body was too heavy a burden. Unfortunately, the masked woman could not very well tell him to throw away that graveyard soil.
Later, there was truly no other way. Nan Zhu’s feet genuinely could not move anymore, and he walked slower and slower. She had no choice but to step in personally, hooking her arm through Nan Zhu’s, effectively supporting him as they moved forward.
After walking like this for quite a while, Mu Aotie, who occasionally looked back from the front, suddenly whispered a reminder to Yu Qing. “Old Seven is practically sleeping on her.”
Yu Qing turned his head to look and saw it. There was no mistake. Nan Zhu’s body was now firmly pressed against the masked woman. Comparing their body types, it was a large fat man leaning entirely on a petite woman. No matter how you looked at it, it was utterly shameless.
“That dog is definitely doing it on purpose,” Yu Qing also muttered, with a hint of sourness in his tone.
It could not be said to be completely intentional. At first, Nan Zhu really did not want to lean on her, and the masked woman would not have given him that opportunity anyway.
Later, as the walking time grew longer, even with someone pulling him, Nan Zhu truly had no strength left in his legs to walk. Basically, his two feet were just shuffling meaninglessly. The only reason he could still move forward was entirely due to the masked woman’s support.
The masked woman could not very well entrust the hostage to the two people in front, so she had to suffer the consequences of her own actions.
With such a heavy person, after pulling him for a long time, the crook of her arm gradually drew closer, and unknowingly they ended up leaning against each other. They were people of the martial world, after all. Taking things as they were, neither felt embarrassed.
Nan Zhu, panting heavily from his nose and mouth, actually did not feel tired anymore. His eyes occasionally examined the masked woman at close range. Judging by the beauty revealed between her exposed brows and eyes, he felt this woman might actually be quite good looking. Furthermore, he felt that his elbow, which she was holding, would occasionally brush against a rather bouncy area.
This sensation made his heart flutter. He no longer felt tired, carefully experiencing every intimate touch and breathing in the faint, sweet fragrance emanating from the masked woman.
It was not until the latter half of the night that the masked woman also seemed to feel a bit tired. Upon discovering an abandoned temple along the way, she called for a rest.
Inside the temple, a bonfire was lit. They found some discarded boards to cover the doors and windows, trying their best to avoid being seen.
Yu Qing and Mu Aotie sat in front of the bonfire. The masked woman took Nan Zhu to sit in a darker corner, maintaining a certain distance from the former two, while keeping a constant watch on them.
At this time, the masked woman slowly removed her veil and wiped the fragrant sweat from her forehead, which had been caused by Nan Zhu’s exhaustion.
It had to come off sooner or later anyway. Once dawn broke tomorrow, she would eventually have to face people. Continuing to walk around openly wearing a veil was no longer appropriate.
The gazes of the three men, however, fixed squarely on her face, naturally because she was good looking.
She did not have a coquettish posture, nor did she display myriad charms, nor did she resemble a delicate girl from a humble family. Without any makeup, her brows and eyes were elegant and clean, her bright eyes expressive. In particular, her slender neck appeared fair, delicate, and beautiful.
She was not a so called stunning beauty, but possessed a unique charm. Coupled with her well proportioned figure, her temperament was clean, sharp, and full of appeal. In short, it was an indescribable kind of beauty.
She was the kind of woman who was very pleasant to look at, becoming more beautiful the longer one looked.
Thinking of the “tofu” he had enjoyed along the way, Nan Zhu raised an eyebrow. He seemed to be savouring the memory, a strange smile on the corner of his mouth, as he picked up a piece of firewood and threw it into the fire.
Kunling Mountain, after long term management by the resident cultivators, already had thoroughfares leading in all directions to the outside world.
For this hosting of the Chaoyang Assembly, some side paths were closed off, leaving only eight main routes for entry and exit.
Having detoured for two extra days, Yu Qing and his group entered the mountain from the southeast direction.
At this time, Yu Qing was no longer called Yu Qing. He, Nan Zhu, and Mu Aotie were now using the names Zhang Zhichen, Zhu Yihai, and Dou Guan, respectively.
These three names were found by the masked woman from her own sect. Her sect indeed had such people, and she had chosen them based on the body types of the three men. For example, the real Zhu Yihai was indeed a bit fat.
The masked woman naturally used her real name, which was Baili Xin.
Her sect was called the “Longguang Sect”, a cultivation sect that primarily specialised in archery. Even the three martial brothers, including Yu Qing, had heard a little about this sect, but only just heard of it. It was said that people from this sect rarely walked the martial world, so very little was known about their affairs in the jianghu.
The three of them truly never expected that the person they had encountered would be from this very sect.
Gu Huan. Not long after entering the mountain from the southeast, they encountered the guards and disciples of Kunling Mountain. When the group stepped forward to register, the three martial brothers subconsciously shrank behind Baili Xin, putting on an appearance that treated Baili Xin as the leader, because registration required each person to pay ten thousand taels of silver.
Since Baili Xin had said she needed their help, they naturally felt that this money should be paid by Baili Xin.
Collecting money for registration was secondary. It was mainly for the organisers to establish some threshold to block those who should not come. For ordinary mortals, this might be a huge sum, but for cultivators with some strength at a higher level, it meant nothing.
Baili Xin did not haggle with them over this.
Seeing that she was about to pay, Nan Zhu, who had been in close proximity to her day and night for the past two days, gritted his teeth, stepped forward quickly, and waved his hand to stop Baili Xin. “No need to trouble you, Junior Sister. I, your Senior Brother, will cover this small amount of money.”
Having said this, he reached into his clothes to pull out banknotes.
Baili Xin was slightly stunned and somewhat surprised, having seen these men rummaging for money on corpses. However, she did not mind. Since someone was willing to pay voluntarily, she would not stand in the way of her own money, so she let him be.
However, this scene utterly shocked Yu Qing and Mu Aotie. They both stared blankly at Nan Zhu, who seemed to treat money as nothing. He truly threw out forty thousand taels with an unchanging expression and complete calmness.
The two of them naturally knew that Nan Zhu only had seventy or eighty thousand taels of silver on him in total. They instantly realised there was a problem and began to examine Nan Zhu and Baili Xin with strange looks.
After the registration was complete, they received their通行 tokens and hung them on their belts one by one, continuing further into the mountain.
Baili Xin also took the opportunity to quietly remove the restriction on Nan Zhu. Having arrived here, she was no longer afraid of them causing trouble.
Nan Zhu, having regained his freedom, looked as though the money had been well spent.
Guided by a Kunling Mountain disciple, the group boarded a carriage. The carriage pulled them along the mountain road, galloping forward. Just as they passed through the peripheral mountains of Kunling Mountain, a beautiful landscape unfolded before their eyes like a magnificent painting, making the visitors feel refreshed and delighted as they looked around.
Among the mountains and waters, there was an emerald green vine like plant everywhere, hung with clusters of purple and white flowers. The colour combination was fresh and pleasing to the eye. The planting scale was massive, stretching as far as the eye could see, creating a spectacular sight. A faint, refreshing fragrance drifted through the air.
Even a newcomer would know at first glance that they had entered the scope of the Kunling Mountain spiritual fields. These widespread purple and white flower clusters must be the form of spiritual rice before it bears fruit.
The Kunling Mountain disciple riding in the same carriage smiled at their expressions, knowing it was their first time witnessing this, and thus began to introduce it to everyone. “Our sect scheduled this year’s ‘Chaoyang Assembly’ in this season precisely so that distinguished guests from afar can see this spectacular sea of flowers. In previous years, most of those who came here to admire the flowers at this time were high ranking officials and nobles. This year, however, ordinary high ranking officials and nobles are not qualified to enter the mountain.”
The small buildings scattered sporadically among the mountains and waters were exactly the resting places for the personnel managing the spiritual fields.
The beauty of the scenery along the way goes without saying. One could only sigh that it truly lived up to being the number one spiritual plant sect in the world, occupying a precious spiritual mountain.
After the carriage galloped along the winding mountain road built against the mountains for at least half an hour, it finally stopped at the foot of a hill where numerous buildings were situated.
Yu Qing and his group disembarked from the carriage. The leading disciple pointed at the architectural complex before them and smiled. “This is your residence during this period. The rooms have been cleaned in advance, so please feel free to choose. According to the consistent rules of the assembly, participants who arrive first have the right to choose their accommodation first. You are considered to have arrived early.”
Upon hearing this, Yu Qing thought of the matter of choosing a room when he went to take the imperial examination. Subconsciously, the shadow of a person named “Xu Fei” flashed through his mind.
Seeing that the number of houses was not large, Nan Zhu could not help but ask, “Can all the participants stay here?”
The leading disciple waved his hand. “No, how could it accommodate so many people? Judging by the scale of participation in previous sessions, at least ten thousand people will come to participate in the competition, and the number of spectators is even more unknown. No sect can find such a large centralised accommodation point. This place can only house a portion of them.”
He casually pointed to a newly erected stone tablet by the roadside ahead, which had the characters “Ding Yin” on it. “People who go up the mountain from all around Kunling Mountain are arranged based on the principle of proximity. They are divided into ten large districts using the ‘Heavenly Stems’. Each large district is further divided into twelve smaller areas using the ‘Earthly Branches’. The area you are staying in now is the ‘Ding Yin’ area. The division of smaller areas is basically based on the hilltops. If you look at the hilltops with similar architectural complexes nearby, those are other areas.”
“If this year follows the convention of previous years, each area will probably compete first. The winners within each area will then compete against other areas to determine the winners of the large district. Then, the winners of each large district will gather together to compete and determine the final rankings. That should be the most exciting part of the competition.”
Speaking of this, he himself appeared somewhat excited, seemingly looking forward to seeing the final competition.
The three martial brothers did not care. They were not going to participate in the competition anyway. As soon as the competition started, they would find an excuse to withdraw. It was not even certain whether they would stay to watch the fun.
Not knowing where to watch the fun, Nan Zhu looked around and asked, “Where is the competition venue?”
The leading disciple smiled. “Our sect has plenty of open spaces for drying spiritual rice. Any randomly designated area is sufficient for the competition. Once the number of participants reaches a certain amount, making it convenient to determine the rules, the venue will also be finalised. At that time, someone will take you to familiarise yourselves with the venue. For now, it is best to choose your resting rooms first.”