"It's finally morning..." said the Middle God Yuan-Ling. But from the look of it, she seemed to be restricted from moving out of her place. In fact, she was not the only one, but the High God Shen-Ming too.
This was also why they had to look for candidates to be brought into this Lingyu Realm.
It was not for fun but to turn the unfortunate situation around, which restricted the gods like them from moving freely in this world.
Things were not like this a few millennia ago. And just like the earth where Chen Xuan came from, this Lingyu Realm also had its own gods monitoring over this realm.
Unfortunately, everything started to change when the Ruler of heaven, the Jade Emperor, argued with the Ruler of Hell, Yanluo King. It first started as a misunderstanding, but even the slightest disagreement would turn into a conflict as time went by.
"Since heaven is not acting reasonably, was there a need for hell to judge the dead and make them atone for their sins before reincarnation?" the Yanluo King asked. And in the spit of anger, Hell closed its door.
This decision made turned away all the dead.
And with more spirits unable to get rebirthed, they ended up staying in the body they once abandoned and returning to this world not as a human but as a Jiangshi. And when it comes to this, it turned into a full-scale war between mankind against Jiangshi.
For every human who died, they'll turn into a Jiangshi. And for every Jiangshi exorcized, they'll regain their opportunity to live as a human again after rebirth.
And with the balance in this world was turned upside down, humanity was on their own, while the gods were restricted from taking action. Furthermore, gods were not allowed to leave the human settlement.
This ended in restructuring this Lingyu Realm, as mankind battled against the Jiangshi in an all-out war.
"Let's hope that the mortal will manage to find his way over to this human settlement." said the High-God before he retreated from this mortal world.
-----
Chen Xuan confidently exhaled the breath he was holding up from the moment he opened his eyes. With such an intense beam of sunlight piercing through this lush forest, even a Jiangshi will have to hide until the sun fully sets.
It was evident that last night's experience was quite a traumatizing experience for Chen Xuan for him to have such a wild thought.
But when he moved his gaze a little higher, Chen Xuan was greeted by a dark netherworld region no male could resist.
It was a blessing in disguise as his vision was suddenly enhanced to a wide-angle lens to appreciates the swordswoman's milky white thigh over the slit of her skirt.
Although it was just a hint of tender flesh, they were enough to make a man like Chen Xuan wishes that the time could flow ten times slower.
This slow mode lasted until she moved her leg a little. Only now Chen Xuan realized that the warmth and pressure were not from the sunlight but from the swordswoman's fabric shoe.
"Why is she stepping on my face?' Chen Xuan's sense returned as he quickly pushed himself up from the ground. If this moment lasted for another minute, he would have lost all his dignity as a man.
Seated on the ground, he immediately rubbed his face using his hand. It would be embarrassing if a shoe print remained after getting stepped by this swordswoman for so long.
He then opened his eyes wide to check his surroundings. Obviously, this was still the same forest last night. The only difference right now is the Yin Element around him is not as bone-chilling and apparent as it was last night.
Since Chen Xuan is now entirely awake, the swordswoman felt it was time for her to do what she had to do. Pulling a small bottle out from the tiny waist pouch that is fastened on her belt, she went and crouched right beside the pile of ashes on the ground.
The swordswoman pointed her index and middle finger at the ashes like a finger blade. Chanting some introductory Taoism notes as she moved her finger, she suddenly yelled towards the powdery substance.
"Absorb!" the ashes flowed like a trail of mist into the bottle she was holding. When all the ashes were collected inside the bottle, the swordswoman immediately stuffed the wooden cork back and kept it tightened.
Relying on his experience as a conman, Chen Xuan guessed that the powder left after exorcising a Jiangshi had some uses. As for what it can be used for, he'll have to look and ask.
The swordswoman then stood up from that spot and returned to the boulder where she found Chen Xuan. It seems that she overlooked the peach's stone that appeared after the ashes were collected.
"Can you walk? We better start moving soon if we want to reach Fenghuang Town before nightfall. The latter it is, the more dangerous this place will become." she asked the bewildered Chen Xuan.
His attention was still on the method she used to transfer the ashes into the bottle. Of course, on the peach's stone, which she decided to ignore as well. His attention had moved to her from keeping the bottle back into her pouch until she stood before him.
"Stop getting absent-minded. If you have some belongings left around somewhere, go grab them before we get moving." said the swordswoman.
Putting her hand into the cloth she tied together into a sling bag, she pulled the bamboo-made water bottle out to moistened her throat.
Chen Xuan merely nodded before he went to grab the peach's stone left on the ground and the peach wood. He remained empty-handed because both items went straight into the inventory menu. Based on his understanding from yesterday's battle, the wood and stone must be unusual if he relies on the item description.
The swordswoman did not pay attention to what Chen Xuan did.
"What is your name, and where did you come from?" she asked. She was uninterested in Chen Xuan, but still, she was curious about where he came from.
It perplexed her to see a weakling like Chen Xuan's age appear around here. Although she had a few hypotheses on where Chen Xuan might come from, the possibility he was sent here by the gods and someone not belonged to this realm did not come across her mind.
"You can call me Chen Xuan," he answered. "I have no idea what was the place I'm from was called." after thinking for a while, Chen Xuan added to his reply.
"Just call me Yanran Liuli. I am one of the disciple-in-training of the Guangming Sect." Yanran Liuli introduced herself.
"The time is getting late now, and we should talk while we're on our way towards Fenghuang Town. Although the sun is still up, a place like this Yin Geyser Forest is still unsafe." Yanran Liuli said and took the initiative to walk first.
*Tch...*
She clicked her tongue a few times as the two started walking towards Fenghuang Town.
"I can't believe that the village you're from not even teaches you a single technique or two for self-protection. How rural and out of touch are you people?" Yanran Liuli said as she shook her head while they headed towards where the Fenghuang Town is.
Worried that Chen Xuan might put himself into danger again if she left it this way, she turned and pointed her finger at Chen Xuan with a stern expression.
"I'm going to say this only once. As for how much you get it, that will be entirely up to yourself, alright?" Yanran Liuli said with a sigh. She would have ignored everything and went on her way if this didn't leave a bitter aftertaste to her mentality.
In response to what she said, Chen Xuan can only nod in reply. He'll eventually have to know one or two things on how to live in this Lingyu Realm anyway. And since the gods' information was incomplete and mysterious, he would rather listen to what a local says.
Furthermore, he wasn't a fool. Unless he knew what was waiting for him, it would be foolish for him to try something like last night. To survive at such a place, he has to learn a technique or two to protect himself.
"Chen Xuan thanks beauty sister Yanran for willing to educate me. I'm listening." to Yanran Liuli's surprise, the lips of this Chen Xuan are pretty sweet. Although he merely praised her a little, it made her sighing expression turn into a smile very soon.
She was somewhat bothered as their distance from Fenghuang Town is quite long. Plus, before this, Chen Xuan was always caught by her for being absent-minded, which made her worried.
"Humph... Don't assume you get into my good page just because you praised me a little. Don't you know that you're considered lucky because it was a full moon yesterday? If it was a normal day, you wouldn't have the chance to even talk to me right now." Yanran Liuli said.
Chen Xuan had the face of a student as he listened to what Yanran Liuli had to say. Through his experience as a professional conman, all of these were the basics to get the information he needed to come out voluntarily from someone else mouth.
"What?" Chen Xuan couldn't hide his expression of shock after listening to what Yanran Liuli had just said.
"What do you mean by that? Is this not the basics? Every first and fifteenth of the month is when the full moon comes out. During that time, the Yin Energy was at its thickest. All the active Jiangshi will usually enter the hibernation period to recover and replenish the Yin Energy in their body."
"New Jiangshi were usually born from these two days as well. The ones that attacked you are likely a recently turned Jiangshi that couldn't control itself after turning." Yanran Liuli added.
Her explanation made Chen Xuan feel worst. Although he had an idea about Jiangshi from the Taoism Basics through his ancestor's note, Chen Xuan had no idea that the reality was harsher than he thought.
"From the look of it, you'll be safer if you stay in Fenghuang Town for a few days and get to know more about how to live in this Lingyu Realm. You might have one or two tricks to defeat the Jiangshi, but that's barely enough."
"On the regular days, they're more unpredictable. Some of the Jiangshi was trickier, and more of them would be wandering around, usually when the sun was setting." Yanran Liuli said.
"I - I have no idea it would be this tough..." Chen Xuan started to suspect if he was too reckless in taking up the god's offer. Although the choice of living how he wanted over here was attractive, he would have to live through the days to enjoy them.
"Look. That's the Fenghuang Town." Yanran Liuli pointed at a place crowded with buildings made from wood and stones. Surrounding all over the place was an unaccountable number of glowing pearls in all sizes.
There were a few tall buildings about five levels above ground. Still, not one of them could beat the majestic stone building that built their foundation on the foothill.
"I'll bring you into the town this time. But you'll have to register yourself with the guards. One entry token will allows you to live inside the settlement for seven days. After that, you'll have to work hard to renew your citizenship."
"I will pay for your token this time, but you'll be on your own in the future, alright? If you wish to repay me in the future, just come to that building over there." Yanran Liuli pointed at the manor erected on the foothill.
"Is that your place?" Chen Xuan asked, and he had the impression that Yanran Liuli was a young miss of some prominent family.
"Silly... That's Guangming Sect."Yanran Liuli smiled.