Someone noticed the waters of Blackwater River became clear.
The originally black waters had turned blue in recent days. Some people said that it was a passing immortal who had dealt with the Water Fiend, and some said the Water Fiend had become a river god and began to wash its sins away.
But there were more supporters of the former theory, after all, no one wanted an evil spirit to complete its cultivation.
But as the Water Fiend had been cultivating for many years, no one dared to go to the water to tempt fate. At best, some bold youngsters would run over and give the river water a quick glance.
At noon that day, the grass fluttered, and birds flew.
A little girl with twin ponytails came from the direction of the river bank.
From afar, she was wearing a cloudy silken dress, her skin was fair and crystal clear, and her features were as exquisite as a porcelain doll. Her twin ponytails bobbed about as she walked, looking very petite and lovely.
She opened her large, bright pair of eyes as she looked at everything around her curiously while she walked.
Upon getting closer, one could hear she was muttering something vigorously.
It was words like "Hello." "My name is Yue'er." "Excuse me..." and so on.
After walking for a while, she met a farmer carrying a hoe, and immediately chased after him.
"Hello!" She rushed to the farmer before stopping, almost unable to kill her momentum in time.
When the farmer saw someone rushing recklessly towards him from the side and almost bumped into him, his eyebrows were originally frowning.
But when he saw it was a fair-skinned and beautiful girl, the frowning eyebrows stretched out again as the corner of his mouth curled up.
"Lassie, what's the matter?" He put down his hoe and asked the girl cordially.
The girl took two deep breaths and quickly replied to him. "Hello. My name is Yue'er, and I'm looking for a very handsome young Daoist Priest. Do you know where he is?"
"Ah, you must mean Daoist Li." The farmer knew who she was asking about without even thinking.
He patiently told the young girl the way. "You walk along this willow embankment. Don't cross the river, turn left after you get off the embankment, and you will see a small hillside about three miles away, and Deyun Monastery is right there. Daoist Li is usually inside the monastery."
"Thank you!"
The girl named Yue'er thanked him seriously and walked along the river bank happily.
The farmer looked at the girl's cheerful departing figure as he smiled and picked up his hoe to continue his way.
What he did not see after turning away was, the little girl suddenly stopped by the river bank after taking less than a hundred steps and looked blankly at the bridge before her.
She scratched her head. "Huh? Do I need to cross the river?"
At this moment, an old man walked down from the bridge as the young girl hurried over.
"Hello, my name is Yue'er, I'm looking for a very handsome little Daoist priest, do you know where he is?" She repeated the sentence.
"Oh, Daoist Li right? Just walk along this embankment, turn left when you get off it, and you will arrive at Deyun Monastery in good time." The old man smiled as he showed her the way patiently.
"Thank you."
The girl bowed to the old man and walked down the river embankment happily.
Soon after passing the short river embankment, the girl went down it and then was confounded against. She stared blankly at the fork in the road ahead. "Eh? Where should I go again?"
She looked around and saw a farmer lady with a cloth wrapped around her head, and so she ran over again. "Hello."
...
Wang Longqi was swift. Ever since the day he had returned from the haunted building, even before his wounds healed, he had already arranged workers to renovate the monastery.
All of the buildings in Deyun Monastery would be repaired, and the front and back courtyard renovated, and a new guest room added—so that when there were guests in the future, Li Chu would not have to run over and squeeze in with his master.
With the entire courtyard under construction, the master and disciple had to move to the hitching post outside the main gate as they looked at the busy scene inside.
The two bore happy smiles on their faces as if looking at the lands they had conquered.
With the Daoist Monastery not open for business for a few days, Wang Longqi had originally invited both master and disciple to stay at the Wang's manor for a few days and come back once the construction works were completed.
Yu Qi'an immediately refused, and while there was nothing valuable inside the monastery, he still had a treasured collection that he could not let anyone see. No, it was the collection that he was afraid to lose, so he must stay behind to supervise.
For Li Chu, he would stay away from this sort of unnecessary interpersonal relationship.
In his opinion, Wang Longqi's money alone was enough to prove the friendship between the two.
As for politeness and enthusiasm that could not be quantified, he would avoid them as much as he could.
So, that led to the scene today.
The master and disciple sat in a row outside the door doing nothing, but both were happy.
And suddenly, particularly rapid footsteps rang behind them.
Li Chu turned around and saw a girl so fair that she dazzled in the sunlight rushing towards him.
Her expression was very animated, as her hands were wide open, and her fringes fluttered, her hair messy and dusty.
Li Chu stood up calmly.
This was not the first time he had met a girl that was extremely excited to see him. Hence, just when the young girl was about to pounce onto him, he calmly stretched out a finger.
Boop!
His index finger poked against the girl's forehead, completely blocking her forward momentum.
The girl paused for a moment after slamming into Li Chu's finger before recoiling, as a small red mark appeared on her forehead in an instant.
"Ahhh!!! It hurts!" She covered her forehead and squatted down.
Li Chu sat back on the hitching post again and said, "Sorry, Deyun Monastery is closed for a few days."
"I came looking specifically for you!" The girl rubbed her forehead for a bit before looking up. Her big shiny eyes blinked as she looked at Li Chu. "You are the handsome young Daoist Priest grandpa was talking about right?"
Li Chu blinked, not knowing how to answer that.
Next to him, Yu Qi'an smiled and said to the little girl, "Although I don't know who your grandfather is, but the most handsome Daoist Priests within a few hundred miles of Yuhang Town are all at Deyun Monastery."
"Yes, it must be you!" The girl carefully examined Li Chu's face and then nodded heavily.
"Is there anything?" Li Chu asked.
The girl said word by word earnestly, "My name is Yue'er, and my grandpa told me to look for a very handsome young Daoist Priest in Yuhang Town, to recognize him as my master because only he can save our people."
"Save your people?" Li Chu tilted his head, a little confused.
"Master?" Yu Qi'an also quickly caught the point, as an intrigued glint appeared in his eyes.
The young girl continued, "My grandpa said that he had met you before, and after you got rid of the Water Fiend, he came to thank you."
"You're not human?" Li Chu suddenly remembered who she was talking about.
After he got rid of the Water Fiend, there was koi—which had transformed into an old man—showed up to express its gratitude through a dream.
It was him.
"Yes, my grandfather is the patriarch of the Koi clan, and I'm the most beautiful seven-colored Koi of my clan." Yue'er raised her nose when she said that, looking a little proud, but soon she looked depressed.
"Koi?" Yu Qi'an's eyes brightened when he heard this.
"Our entire clan had been taken away by baddies, and only I slipped out. Grandpa asked me to look for you, he said only you can save them. Please, I beg you, I will recognize you as my master, please help us!" Yue'er pleaded.
Looking all distressed.
"Don't worry about anything else first, tell me, where are they now?" Li Chu said.
"I don't know, they were taken away by the baddies." Yue'er shook her head.
"And who were the ones that captured them?" Li Chu asked again.
"I don't know. I don't know them." Yue'er shook her head again.
"Then... how am I supposed to rescue your clansmen?" Li Chu finally asked.
"I don't know, but my granpda said that only you can save them." Yue'er said pitifully at the very end.
"..."
Li Chu fell silent.
Yu Qi'an also shook his head and said to himself, 'She quite a beautiful young lass, but unfortunately, also an idiot."