In the recent two months, the Jin Monastery's territory was bustling with activity. Many small towns crazily expanded into cities under the efforts of enthusiastic cultivators.
The wind in the Jianghu were blowing fiercely in all directions, and any recognized regions where cultivators gathered had become the focal point for many factions.
Today, a young man in azure blue robes carrying a white tiger cub in his arms approached the Highland Valley, a noteworthy scenic spot enroute between the various newly established cities.
A while back, the enthusiastic cultivators cleared all the venomous scorpions, sand worms, and ferocious eagles from the area.
Walking through the valley, Lu Mingyuan encountered a few old cultivators who were busy reading fortune for the young and promising talents, poaching left and right.
"Young man, I can see that you're fated with my Eight Trigrams Sect! I can see it in the way you walk and breathe in accordance with the eight trigrams…" an old man approached Lu Mingyuan with a genial smile.
Lu Mingyuan blinked for a moment and smiled while stroking Kaz's head. "Oh? You saw through my ultimate technique so easily?"
Noticing Lu Mingyuan's sarcastic smile, the old man rubbed his bald head and murmured a few words to himself.
Then, without warning, he looked up with confusion in his eyes. "Eh? Where am I? Who am I? What's going on?"
He looked around, seemingly very confused, and he walked past Lu Mingyuan while searching for the next fated person.
Watching this farce, Lu Mingyuan shook his head helpless and left.
Honestly, with the Mingyuan Immortal Scripture and the nine chapters within, he could establish his own sect at any moment.
He only lacked the specific talents suitable for the nine chapters.
After locating a suitable location to spread a meditation matt and sit down, Lu Mingyuan placed Kaz by his side and closed his eyes to meditate.
The providence charm was already activated, and those with great destiny will sooner or later find their way over here.
The small white tiger, Kaz, sat on the ground and started to look around curiously.
Although a cub, it was very intelligent, and it could sense that the environment was filled with tension.
All those smiling faces reeked of deception and blood, as the Jianghu was far less kind than it appeared to be on the surface.
Noticing how Kaz was a little restless, Lu Mingyuan remembered that he didn't provide much food for the little guy.
Luckily, he was a spiritual creature, so he could use spirit herbs, meat, and pills to satiate his hunger.
Lu Mingyuan probed the spatial ring on his finger and brought out some of the pills and spirit herbs provided by the sect, assorting them into a few piles next to Kaz.
"Eat up, little guy," Lu Mingyuan smiled and kindly rubbed Kaz's little head.
Kaz began to purr and growl in excitement before it rolled the pills off the dusty yellow earth and picked the herbs between its sharp teeth.
Dense spiritual energy began to circulate through his small body, and after making sure that nothing wrong would happen, Lu Mingyuan returned to his meditation.
He wasn't in a hurry to intercept anyone.
Soon, night fell and the day cycled.
Many cultivators, either lonesome or representative of some organization, passed through the Highlands Valley.
On this particular day, a solem air suffused the long valley. Hoofbeats like the neat and orderly rhythm of thunder filled everyone's ears.
Kaz perked up, and after noticing that his Master was still meditating, it climbed on his back and peeked over his shoulder.
Now, Kaz could see a little better to the distance.
A convoy of soldiers and caravans plowed through the busy valley, leading them were two females, a mature woman in military uniform and a younger woman about sixteen years old.
Kaz's attention was on the small kitten with three illusory tails that was also climbing over the shoulder of the young girl.
The two animals spiritual creatures gazes.
Sensing the abnormality of her pet, the young girl also looked over, noticing the pure white Kaz with intricate stripes of black on its fur.
Startled, she gasped in surprise.
The mature woman in military uniform heard the gasp and looked back.
She asked, "What's wrong?"
Then, she moved her gaze to Lu Mingyuan.
A young man with a peaceful aura. From first glance, he had a shallow cultivation of the Spirit Severing realm, but under closer scrutiny, she couldn't see through his cultivation at all.
It was like dense mist, you intuitively feel like you grasped it, but it slips through your fingertips at ease.
The woman frowned and said, "Stop acting rude; learn to mind your own business."
"Auntie," the girl pursued her lips and hesitated for a moment before saying, "That feeling has appeared once again…"
The woman raised an eyebrow, as she could immediately guess what her niece meant.
This girl condensed the fortune of their entire dynasty upon birth, and the providence of the dynasty was leading her towards prosperity.
It was elusive and didn't make sense, but ever since she followed this intuition and located the cub of the Three Lives Cat, no one could doubt the fortune of an entire dynasty anymore.
This cat forms a blood pact with whoever provided it with a new lease on life after being born, and it would return the favor by exchanging one of its three lives with its owner during a life and death crisis after maturity.
Only after spending a lavish amount of resources to groom the cat into maturity did the royal family allow their precious daughter to roam the Jianghu during these chaotic times.
Now, the providence was once again giving her guidance, and it was related to a stranger they met on the road.
The woman hesitated for a moment before raising her hand in a clenched fist, signaling the troops to stop.
After contemplating her options, she dismounted from the horse and helped the little girl off hers.
"We can talk to the young man first and give it a try," she said, giving the young girl a stern look.
"Don't try anything funny, the waters of the coming era run too deep. Remember what your father said; try to incur as little karma as possible."
The young girl nodded her head heavily, even though she didn't understand completely.
Whatever, she would just follow by her aunt's example.
A moment later, the two slowly made their way over towards Lu Mingyuan.