"A Taoist identity proves to be so useful?"
Deng Baiyi noticed that the expressions of the officials stationed in Fengsui City were much more amicable than before!
It made sense, Taoist sects almost held the highest status within the Dachu Dynasty.
In the past hundred years, only the Da Sui Sword Palace could rival them.
In these ten years, the Sword Palace had sealed its mountain, and the Taoists had hidden from the world; disciples from these two sects rarely appeared in public, almost never showing their faces.
Yet their reputations and public esteem remained intact.
Deng Baiyi stretched out her hands, catching the talisman steadily, her eyes flickering, her mind whirling.
Xie Zhen had only taught her two types of talisman drawing, named "Silence" and "Detonation," but the official had just referred to the Detonation Talisman as the "Qi Talisman"… If this was a Taoist secret, could it be inferred that Xie Zhen was actually a Taoist?
While Deng Baiyi pondered silently.
A voice, condensed by primordial energy, entered her ears.
"Don't misunderstand; I am not a Taoist, I just have a slight understanding of Taoist talisman techniques."
Xie Xuanyi needed only one glance to guess what Deng Baiyi was thinking. He patted her shoulder and whispered, "This hasn't ended yet; what comes next is the 'inspection.' Just revealing a Taoist identity does not guarantee entry into Fengsui City."
Deng Baiyi came back to her senses.
She then noticed… the atmosphere in Fengsui City tonight seemed particularly solemn, with numerous copper scale guards patrolling the city walls!
"Noticed it, haven't you? There's something amiss in Fengsui City tonight."
Xie Xuanyi spoke indifferently, "This place wasn't guarded so strictly before."
"Since you are friends of the Taoist sects, you must also be aware of the rules."
The tall stationed officer slowly reined in his smile.
He stood up straight and said in a deep voice, "To enter the city, you must verify your identities!"
As his words fell.
The copper scale guards stepped aside, clearing a large area.
The tall stationed officer stretched out his hand, plucked a huge lantern from the city wall with one hand, and with the other pressed against the stone wall for support, he leapt forward, plummeting from the battlements.
With a loud thud!
Snow sprayed around the gates of Fengsui City.
Although the officer's body was huge, his flipping movements were as agile as a cheetah; he landed softly, generating a grandiose impression, but in reality, he only stirred a few layers of snow dust, and the landing spot was perfectly flat.
For someone of his stature, making a large crater in the ground would have been extremely easy.
"This stationed officer is much stronger than the Heavy Fog Daoist… he's at the pinnacle of the Qi-controlling Realm."
This detail caught Xie Xuanyi's attention.
He reaffirmed his earlier thought.
The security forces patrolling Fengsui City tonight had definitely been strengthened!
The officer responsible for identity inspection in Fengsui City in previous years did not possess such strong capabilities!
"Close your eyes."
The officer simply reminded everyone with a phrase, then raised the huge lantern, shining it towards the Deng family members. In the darkness of the night, numerous amounts of primordial energy crashed into the lantern, and its core suddenly erupted into a dazzling burst of light; for a moment, the officer held a fire blazing like the sun in his hands!
"Ah…"
The members of the Deng household, having never witnessed such a scene…
Those who reacted more slowly and looked directly at the lantern immediately let out cries of pain and quickly covered their eyes.
The next moment, everyone instinctively shrank back, turning their backs to the lantern.
Shen Yan curled up in the carriage, shaking as she was illuminated by the intense light…
Deng Baiyi's face was pale, relying on her meager primordial energy, she barely managed to keep from falling.
At that moment, she finally realized how vast the difference in strength among cultivators could be!
The oppression exerted by this Fengsui City stationed officer was unprecedented!
Just one glance had almost suffocated her; compared to him, the so-called Great Demons of Yuzhu Town were nothing but a joke!
After being targeted by the huge lantern, everyone present had their expressions changed, except for two people.
One was Xie Xuanyi.
He remained as calm as a serene cloud, staring straight at the lantern, his dark eyes seemingly a deep pond; the glaring light slipping into them vanished without a trace.
Xie Xuanyi stared with interest.
"It's a Soul Leaving Lamp… Though it's a counterfeit of the original in the Imperial City, it should still be considered a seventh-grade treasure."
This item was delicately imitated by the Imperial City's Refining Department. Each year, different grades of counterfeits emerged.
They were distributed in bulk at garrisoned locations.
The genuine piece worshipped in the Imperial City was said to reveal the souls of all Great Demons, allowing the souls of all living beings to separate from their bodies!
And these "counterfeit" versions naturally possessed some of its effects.
In the frontier garrisons, officers often used the Soul Leaving Lamp to check whether the "souls" of those entering were clean. Any transformed demon revealed its true form immediately upon being illuminated by the lamp!
Of course… it also depends on the demon's realm and strength.
Unaffected by the Soul Leaving Lamp, besides Xie Xuanyi, the other was Jiang Huang, who was soundly asleep.
The little girl slept cozily in her nanny's arms, undisturbed by the bright light.
Seeing this, the tall stationed officer suddenly felt uneasy, sensing something was amiss.
This young man in white attire was one thing.
But that soundly sleeping little girl… what exactly was her background?
"Now you understand why the Taoist sects have gone to Northern County, right?"
Xie Xuanyi's Primordial Energy transmitted the sound, arriving at the station officer's ears at just the right moment.
He said softly, "How can a promising seedling valued by the World Pavilion be disturbed by the mere 'Soul Leaving Lamp'?"
"Taoist, World Pavilion?"
The station officer's back was faintly drenched in cold sweat.
The Taoist sect was vast, spreading across the world, and among its internal divisions, the most powerful was the "World Pavilion"!
Normally, when disciples of the World Pavilion traveled, they would not simply say they belonged to the Taoist sect, but would precisely state their "Pavilion name."
You can't be serious!
The station officer's expression was complex as he looked at Xie Xuanyi again, confirming that the young man indeed had no Primordial Energy.
There were only two possibilities for having no Primordial Energy.
One, he had not cultivated and was merely an ordinary Qi Refining Master.
Two... it could be that this person's cultivation realm far surpassed his own.
At first, the station officer naturally thought this young man in white belonged to the former category.
But now he did not think so. He knew the Taoist sect had a technique called Soldier Disintegration, and many significant figures of the Taoist sect would choose to actively disintegrate when facing death, giving their enlightenment and realm to the heavens and earth before passing away. However, this was not the end. As Taoist disciples traveled the world, they would occasionally bring back some "good seedlings," most of whom were very young, yet their divine souls were extraordinarily robust. After being brought back to the sect for baptism, it would not take long for them to awaken.
From then on, they would ascend rapidly, beginning their cultivation with unrivaled speed until they reached the top.
In the Taoist sect, these individuals were known as "Reincarnated True People."
Within the Taoist community, some cultivators firmly believed that it was precisely because of the active disintegration that the departed elders were pitied by the heavens and given a second life to live anew; other cultivators believed that it was because the elders bequeathed their enlightenment to the heavens and earth before their last moment, leading to a sudden drop in their fortune that landed on some lucky individual, thereby leading to their later awakening. The dead could not be revived, so this phenomenon was considered an "inheritance of the elders' legacy" and not a true reincarnation.
The station officer clenched his teeth and shined the Soul Leaving Lamp on Jiang Huang again... confirming that he was just a six or seven-year-old child, yet completely unafraid of the fierce light.
The more he shone it, the sounder he slept.
"Could this be the legendary...?"
The station officer heard his own heart pounding.
He gathered his courage and cautiously transmitted his voice.
But before he could say the words "Reincarnated True People,"
"There's no legend or not legendary. It's exactly what you're thinking,"
Xie Xuanyi said with a light smile, retorting, "At this age, unafraid of the Soul Leaving Lamp, who else could it be?"
"This..."
The tall station officer's face suddenly turned pale, and he quickly withdrew the lamp.
The bright light dissipated.
That intense pressure vanished in an instant.
Everyone below the city felt relieved and took a long breath.
The peace under Fengsui City lasted for only a few moments.
The authoritative voice of the station officer rang out again—
"Since that's the case... I truly overstepped just now."
Everyone was surprised that the formidable station officer of Fengsui City, who was now adopting a humble posture, bowed slightly towards Xie Xuanyi and spoke in an extremely gentle tone, "I failed to recognize Mount Tai, my apologies."
"???"
The people of the Deng Family looked pale and baffled.
And those Copper Scale Guards and Big Spear Soldiers couldn't believe their eyes.
The station officer was apologizing?
"Let them pass!"
The tall station officer's expression was stern as he waved his hand, and the Copper Scale Guards quickly moved aside to clear a path for the convoy.
Xie Xuanyi signaled with his eyes that everyone could enter now.
"We're allowed through... just like that?"
Deng Baiyi felt somewhat dazed.
Shen Yan, who was drenched in cold sweat from the Soul Leaving Lamp, was even paler, still in shock.
Xie Xuanyi stood alone under the iron walls of Fengsui City, standing shoulder to shoulder with the tall station officer. He was in no hurry to leave, instead watching the convoy move ahead.
A moment later, the sound of horse hooves faded.
The Copper Scale Guards and Big Spear Soldiers withdrew, leaving a quiet space for the two men to talk.
Only then did Xie Xuanyi start to speak with a smile, "Station officer, may I ask your name?"
"I am surnamed Yue. Yue Chen,"
The station officer spoke in a low voice, his posture very humble.
"Officer Yue, may I inquire about something?"
Xie Xuanyi raised an eyebrow and looked around, asking in a gentle voice, "Previously when I came here, Fengsui City was not like this... why is the security now so strict?"
Yue Chen sighed helplessly upon hearing this.
"You may not be aware, sir."
He spoke gravely, "It's not just Fengsui City, but within eight hundred li of Qing State, it's all the same! An urgent decree came from above, enforcing an eight hundred li ban in Qing State. Anyone entering must be thoroughly checked... The number of station officers has doubled, and every person passing through must be checked with a 'pass permit,' and every Qi Refining Master must be illuminated with the Soul Leaving Lamp! Only those whose identities are confirmed safe can pass."
"Oh? This is the first I'm hearing of this... "
Xie Xuanyi raised an eyebrow, continuing, "Officer Yue, do you know the reason for this strict screening?"
"Sir, please don't make it difficult for me,"
Yue Chen gave a bitter smile, "This is an order from Qing State's You Hai King. As a mere Qi-controlling Realm station officer, how would I know the reason? Even if I were promoted two levels higher, I doubt I'd have such clearance."