"Fellow Daoist, please wait!"
At Lin Yi's words,
Daoist Hengshui's footsteps came to a halt. Turning sideways with displeasure plain on his face, he looked over at Lin Yi.
Only when he sensed that Lin Yi carried the same mid Foundation Establishment aura as his own did that flare of anger ease somewhat.
"What is it?"
"This fellow Daoist," Lin Yi stepped forward and cupped his hands in salute, "allow me to introduce myself. My name is Lin Yi, Grand Elder of a small sect nearby.
"Just now I happened to overhear your conversation with Senior Wen, so I took the liberty of stopping you. There are a few things I'd like to ask about—I hope you'll forgive the presumption."
Ask him about things?
What a joke. Did he look like a man with that kind of spare time?
Daoist Hengshui's brows knitted, and he was about to refuse out loud.
But before he could open his mouth, Lin Yi guessed his thoughts, quickly leaned in a step closer, and lowered his voice.
"If you're willing to tell me, then the ten low-grade spirit stones you're short for that Dharma artifact purchase—I'll cover them."
At the words "ten spirit stones,"
Daoist Hengshui's expression stirred, and the refusal that had been on the tip of his tongue was forcibly swallowed back down.
Lin Yi's offer had hit him right where it hurt.
Not long ago,
he had ruined his main Dharma artifact in a fight with a demon beast, and after several days of going from one trading house to another in Jiuwu City, he had finally taken a fancy to a Five-Colored Luan-Plume Umbrella at the Zhou Family Shop.
That umbrella not only pleased his eye; its attributes and powers were a perfect match for his cultivation technique.
Unfortunately his spirit stones were limited, and the shop's attendant refused to budge an inch from the bottom price, so Daoist Hengshui had had to walk away for the time being.
But if Lin Yi was willing to make up the difference, he wouldn't have to go back and scrape the money together from relatives and friends...
So after a moment's pondering, he slowly nodded. "If it's only ordinary information you're after, then I suppose that can be arranged."
"You're a straightforward man, Fellow Daoist."
The smile on Lin Yi's face deepened, and he made an inviting gesture. "There are too many people and too many ears out front, and as it happens I still have a batch of medicinal pills to hand over. Why not come sit with me in a trading room?"
Daoist Hengshui glanced at the attendant beside Lin Yi, and did not refuse.
Then, led by the attendant, the two of them arrived at a quiet trading room.
Once the attendant had withdrawn,
Lin Yi took out five spirit stones and set them down before Daoist Hengshui.
"Fellow Daoist, these five low-grade spirit stones count as an advance deposit. The remaining five will be settled once we finish talking. How does that sound?"
Daoist Hengshui naturally had no objection, and carefully stowed the stones away. "What would Fellow Daoist Lin like to ask?"
Lin Yi picked up the teacup before him, took a light sip to moisten his throat, set the cup down, and asked, "Might I know how you're called, Fellow Daoist, and from which sect you hail?"
"My Daoist name is Hengshui." Hearing Lin Yi ask after his identity, the old Daoist made no attempt to hide it—after all, this was hardly some secret that couldn't see the light of day. "At present I serve as an Instructor Elder at Xunyang Sect."
The Daoist name Hengshui—and an Instructor Elder who teaches disciples, no less?
The pairing actually fit rather well. It sounded like the name of a man who would be very good at teaching disciples.
After all, in the other world, Hengshui and education had been a famous combination—though in recent years Hengshui had gradually slipped off its pedestal back in the home world, it still fared a great deal better than the likes of Yongxin...
As for Xunyang Sect...
If Lin Yi remembered correctly,
it was a small sect located several hundred li south of Jiuwu City, founded a hundred and thirty-odd years ago.
Xunyang had always been an utter nobody among sects. It was only a few decades ago, when its sect master broke through to Golden Core, that it gradually grew in strength; by now it had more than four hundred disciples.
Word was that the sect's leading disciple of the next generation had also broken through to mid Foundation Establishment and stood an excellent chance of reaching Golden Core in the future, which meant Xunyang need not worry about decline for the next hundred years.
In the eyes of nearby bottom-tier sects like Guihua Sect, Xunyang Sect was an inspiring role model—and an object of envy.
"So it's Fellow Daoist Hengshui. I've long admired your name..."
After this brief pleasantry, Lin Yi turned the conversation to the matter at hand.
"Just now, out front, I heard you mention that something seems to have gone wrong in and around Jiuwu City of late. Might you tell me about it in detail?"
At these words, Daoist Hengshui's expression turned grave.
He studied Lin Yi for a few moments first, and only when he saw that the man was not putting on an act did he speak. "So you truly don't know... Over the past several months, a great many sects across the whole Huailing Circuit have come under demon beast attack.
"Those beasts are generally second rank in strength, or early-to-mid third rank at most, and they come anywhere from two or three to seven or eight at a time. For some reason they've developed an abnormal craving for cultivators' vital essence. Word going around is that the number of sects attacked in the Huailing Circuit has already exceeded two hundred..."
Lin Yi's face remained calm, but the fingers curled around his teacup tightened slightly.
Good grief...
Over two hundred sects attacked by demon beasts?
The beasts weren't all that high in realm, nor great in number—still just second to third rank?
And why did this scene feel so damn familiar...
To tell the truth,
considering how Senior Wen had comported himself earlier, Lin Yi had already braced himself for Daoist Hengshui to drop some enormous piece of news.
But even so, the moment he heard the specifics, Lin Yi still very nearly lost his composure.
And then,
a line Shen Danruo had spoken when she gave him the Profound Frost Golden Palace Talisman suddenly surfaced in his mind—"Things outside the city aren't very safe."
Looked at now,
those words had clearly referred to the news of sects coming under attack on a massive scale.
Only, Shen Danruo, knowing that her own passing away in meditation was drawing near, hadn't told him the truth, choosing instead to give him the talisman in the form of a parting gift.
With the Profound Frost Golden Palace Talisman in hand,
as long as Guihua Sect wasn't unlucky enough to be attacked three times in a row, or to see a late-third-rank demon beast come assault its gate, it could most likely ride out this wave in safety.
He truly did owe her a colossal favor...
"..."
Then Lin Yi drew a deep breath, steadied the stir in his heart, and asked, "Fellow Daoist Hengshui, might I ask—those sects that were attacked, how are they faring now..."
Daoist Hengshui seemed to be a somewhat sentimental man. At these words he sighed at once, his heart going out to his fellow sects in their plight.
"Sects with strength or foundation behind them aren't too badly off. A Golden Core cultivator, plus Dharma artifacts or arrays, is enough to hold the beasts off.
"But the weaker small sects are in a sorry state indeed. Once the beasts break through their arrays, hardly anyone survives.
"And there are elders and sect masters of small sects who, seeing how things stood, abandoned their disciples and fled with their lives. Here—why, just the other day, the Grand Elder of a sect called Wuji Sect did exactly that. The man's name is rotten through and through now. Jiang-something, what was it again..."
Lin Yi glanced at him. "Jiang Yu."
"Oh right, right, right—Jiang Yu!" Daoist Hengshui clapped his hands absently, then blinked as it dawned on him. "What, Fellow Daoist Lin, you know him?"
"Mm, I know him," Lin Yi nodded. Seeing that Daoist Hengshui looked a touch awkward, he added, "But we're not friends. There's some bad blood between us."
Only then did Daoist Hengshui breathe easy.
Not friends—that was good.
Otherwise, all that talk about Jiang Yu's reputation would have given offense.
Though he feared neither Lin Yi's strength nor his backing, the two of them were getting along pleasantly enough at the moment, and there was no need to go playing the villain for nothing.
Chapter 43