Yang Su’s expression was bright and he was happy that he could visit his village again.
The group got off the boat and walked towards the village entrance on foot. From where they were they could see several lanterns lining the main street, it seemed as if they were celebrating some festival.
Yang Su turned to Xi Shen and said excitedly, “Elder brother Shen, my village at this time of the year always throws a celebration in honor of our village Guardian, and all the blessings he has given us during the past year.”
Fang Chen being curious asked, “What is your village guardian?”
Yang Su then pointed at a barely visible mountain in the darkening night not too far away from his village, and then said, “That’s our guardian deity.”
Bai Xiaofung had a dumbfounded expression on his face as he asked, “Your Guardian deity is an inactive volcano?”
Yang Su smiled sheepishly as he nodded his head in confirmation.
“My village is a coal-producing village, and because of that mountain, we are able to procure coal rather easily through various means. Our village considers it a blessing, and thus began worshiping it.”
Bai Xiaofung was surprised at that, but he guest mortals would believe in things like that. Seeing that Fang Chen and Fei Yin weren’t that surprised, he guessed that he was different since he came from a cultivation clan.
But Xi Shen didn’t show surprise at hearing that either, rather Bai Xiaofung saw that he was frowning deeply all of a sudden.
“Hmm? Brother Shen, is something troubling you?”
Xi Shen coming out of his thoughts shook his head at Bai Xiaofung’s words, and simply said, “I was just thinking about something.”
“Oh, okay.”
Bai Xiaofung said before he tentatively walked into the village Yang Su called home. He felt out of place upon seeing people in rough and coarse clothes while he was in fancy and well-dressed attire.
Fang Chen and Fei Yin kind of felt the same way, though not as much as Bai Xiaofung.
Xi Shen was still in deep thought as he stared down at the ground beneath his feet. As soon as he stepped into Yang Su’s village, his Heavenly Physique began pulsating as if it was sensing something very beneficial for itself.
Xi Shen was surprised at first but soon started to look around at what would be the cause of this happening.
Though, unbeknownst to the group, four people in red robes were secretly watching them from a small mountain some distance away from the village.
“Goddammit!! Why are Celestial Academy Disciples here? Do they have some relation to this village?”
“Keep your voice down junior brother.”
A young man around nineteen or twenty said to the yelling youth that was around a year younger.
This young man that gave off a brutal aura, stared at Xi Shen’s group with a calculative gaze.
“This is indeed a bad situation for us. If those Celestial Academy Disciples discover the Divine Fire Stone vein under that village, we, the disciples from the Yellow Springs Demon Grotto Sect would lose this treasure trove.”
Another demonic disciple, this time a female, cursed under her breath and said, “Then all our planning for the past three months would be for nothing! If it wasn’t because we were between the territory of the Bai Clan and the Celestial Academy, we would have long destroyed that village and excavated the Divine Fire Stones.”
The third male from the group of four said coldly, “I suggest we kill them before they find the Divine Fire Stone vein. These Divine Fire Stones are just what senior brother Gu Mo needs when he enters the Hidden Fragmented Realm in a year's time. We can’t just let them slip through our fingers.”
The young man named Gu Mo, who was older in the group and seemed to be the leader, thought for a moment as he stared at Xi Shen’s group. Even though he was nearly two miles away from the village, his gaze like most cultivators in the 9th stage of the Foundation Realm could ignore that distance. He was looking at Xi Shen and the others as if they were a few dozen feet away from him.
This type of eyesight was normal for cultivators, but it wasn’t as exaggerated as this in the lower realms of cultivation.
The young man’s eyes went over Yang Su in the lead, as well as Fei Yin and Bai Xiaofung a further step behind. He then glance at Bai Xiaofung and Xi Shen, which caused his eyebrows to crease. For some reason, he had the feeling that he had seen these two faces somewhere, especially as he stared intently at Xi Shen’s appearance, he looked extremely familiar.
Xi Shen, who was walking along within the village, suddenly paused his footsteps and his head swerved to the mountain the four demonic disciples were on.
“Holy shit!”
The younger male of the group let slip a curse from seeing Xi Shen suddenly looking their way.
The young man name Gu Mo's eyes dilated to the size of pins before he quickly diverted his gaze from Xi Shen.
Back in the village, Xi Shen felt the sensation of being watched disappear, but his gaze remained fixed on that mountain for some time. Even though he saw no one there, his guard immediately went up.
Seeing that Xi Shen had paused all of a sudden, the group stopped as well to look at him.
Yang Su walked up to Xi Shen’s side and after looking in the direction he was staring at and seeing nothing, he turned back to Xi Shen and asked, “Elder brother Shen, is everything okay?”
Xi Shen's gaze lingered on the mountain for a few more seconds before he turn to Yang Sua and said, “It’s nothing. Why don’t you introduce your parents to me, I’m curious to see the parents of my assistant.”
Xi Shen smiled as he said that, and Yang Su started to get more excited but a bit nervous as well.
On the mountain, the young man's gaze landed on Xi Shen’s group again but this time he avoided looking at Xi Shen directly.
The male disciple that had yelled in surprise earlier, turned to the young man and said, “Senior brother Gu, that kid is not normal, his senses are extremely sharp! Even with our Concealment Formation hiding our presence he was still able to sense our gazes through it. His cultivation must be high if that’s the case.”
That male disciple’s face turned more solemn as he spoke.
The young man called Gu Mo turn around and went to sit on a rock with folded arms and closed eyes.
The group of two males and one female didn’t say anything to interrupt their senior brother.
‘I can’t allow them to get their hands on my Divine Spirit Stone vein. The time and resources I spent to find out about this vein would all go to waste. But if I could get my hands on that many Divine Spirit Stones, when I enter the Hidden Fragmented Realm I could possibly obtain one of the Seven Divine Beast Legacies.’
Gu Mo open his eyes and they began to shine when he thought of that possibility.
He was one of the Chosen Disciples among the Yellow Springs Demon Grotto Sect that was talented enough to be given a slot to enter the Hidden Fragmented Realm. The competition between the Chosens was fierce, and even though he wasn’t the most outstanding among them, he now had a chance to stand out and make his name spread across the entire Demonic Cult Faction. How could he possibly let that opportunity slip through his fingers?
Looking at the four disciples in front of him who were promised a share of the Divine Spirit Stone, he calmly said, “Let’s observe them for now. If it looks like they are about to discover the vein near the inactive volcano we have to take action and killed them with any means necessary. Even if that means using the Soul Devouring Formation.”
Hearing the mention of the Soul Devouring Formation the four disciples had hesitant expressions, but hearing the resolve in their senior brother’s voice they realize there was no way to convince him not to use such a formation.
In the village, Yang Su and the group walked among the villagers who were out and about on the streets participating in the festivities.
Because of their attire, they drew numerous gazes, but most of them were too drunk to even care.
There were a few people that had recognized Yang Su and would slur their words as they complemented his fine clothes and his completely different appearance from his country bumpkin self a few months ago. Even in their drunkenness, they could tell that Yang Su had changed immensely.
After walking through the main road and square the sound of music and the villagers' celebratory noises die down. Yang Su turned to the group with a rather embarrassed expression and said, “I’m sorry for the rude welcome you receive. Not many people know that I joined the Celestial Academy, only my parents know and they didn’t tell anyone. Maybe tomorrow I should tell them your identities and have them through a proper welcoming for you.”
Bai Xiaofung immediately chimed in and said, “No brother Su, let’s keep our identities a secret. I quite like the joyous atmosphere in your village, it gives me a sense of normality. If we just reveal our identities, that atmosphere would be gone, and it would be a pity.”
Yang Su saw Fei Yin and Fang Chen nodded their heads, it wouldn’t matter if these villagers don’t know who they were, and it wasn’t like any of them had the personality to indulge in the attention of mortals.
Yang Su turn to look at Xi Shen to see if he was alright with that arrangement, but Xi Shen only smiled and patted him on the back.
Xi Shen agreed with Bai Xiaofung’s statement, the atmosphere felt familiar to him and he didn’t want to ruin that.
Like this, Yang Su lead the group to his parent's home, which was quite some distance away from the village itself and was closer to the inactive volcano.
The group soon came upon a simple two-story family home that had a small shack and a barn several meters away from it.
There was a simply makeshift cage next to the barn that had a few goats lazily laying down. Seeing the rare appearance of visitors they curiously turned to stare.
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Word Count: 1777
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