The next day, peace still reigned within the Xun Zhu Si.
Lin Ling sat beside Xiu Jiming, staring at him with a solemn expression.
Feeling that Lin Ling’s gaze was extremely unusual, Xiu Jiming asked in confusion, “What’s wrong? Didn’t I give you all the tea?”
Indeed, after Little Ling’er saw that he had other colors of tea, she had plucked him bare of his entire collection.
“Tell the truth, what realm of cultivator are you currently at?”
Lin Ling wrote solemnly on a piece of paper.
“Why ask that?”
Xiu Jiming did not give a direct answer, silently brewing the tea.
Not minding in the slightest, Lin Ling leaped up and sat on Xiu Jiming, reaching out with both hands to cup his face.
She spoke, a rare occurrence, “Spit it out!”
Fearing he might hurt her, Xiu Jiming could only use True Essence to slowly support her.
He said, “Knowing this now is of no use. You only need to know that, for now, not many people can hurt me.”
He placed Lin Ling back on the ground with some awkwardness, a smile appearing on his face.
Lin Ling was about to ask more when the wind chimes hanging around Xiu Jiming’s room began to shake incessantly, emitting a series of sharp, piercing sounds.
The Little Bell on Lin Ling’s neck also began to shake gently.
A wave of malevolent energy swept through the hall, making Lin Ling’s hair stand on end as a premonition of disaster filled her heart.
“What’s happening?”
Lin Ling wrote.
Xiu Jiming remained silent, his brow furrowing slightly.
He stood up, a cold sneer surfacing on his face as he said, “It’s evil spirits.”
Lin Ling fell silent and quickly ran down to the hall to call Bai Yunyun and the other two girls.
The five members of the Mount Yue County Xun Zhu Si sat in the main hall, waiting for the anomaly to appear.
Xiu Jiming closed his eyes, sensing the spreading filth.
He said in a deep voice, “This time they are very close and there are a great many of them. Get yourselves ready. I have already notified the surrounding Xun Zhu Si branches. I’m afraid this will be a hard-fought battle.”
Xiu Jiming sat in the main seat and closed his eyes.
Shi passed minute by minute, and soon, the sound of hurried footsteps drew everyone’s attention.
A burly man dressed as a courier leaned against the doorframe, his face pale.
His right hand had been severed, and he was bleeding profusely.
Seeing this, Bai Yunyun quickly returned to the storehouse to fetch medicine, while Gu Xiao and Zhao Yuyu hurried forward to ask about the situation.
Xiu Jiming opened his eyes slightly, his expression gradually becoming incomparably calm.
While Bai Yunyun helped bandage the man, Lin Ling wrote a question: “What happened?”
“Fairies, this humble one is named Tong Yi, an outer-gate agent of the Hidden Mountain Rain-Listening Pavilion. This time, I was under the Emperor’s decree to escort a major criminal from Shuozhou back to the capital.”
He swallowed hard while breathing heavily.
“Hidden Mountain Rain-Listening Pavilion. It is one of the righteous sects registered with the Xun Zhu Si. Due to its unique nature, they often assist the imperial court with long-distance escorts and intelligence work,” Gu Xiao explained from the side.
“This time, while passing through Mount Bijia outside Mount Yue County, we suffered an attack from evil spirits. Our leading elder was killed in a sneak attack by an evil spirit, and we could only resist with our lives,” he said.
“I have good light-body skills and fast movement, so my companions helped me break through a path of blood to come to the Xun Zhu Si for reinforcements.”
“How many people were in your escort this time?”
Lin Ling wrote with a frown.
Though he didn’t know why this leading young girl was so young and always used paper to speak, Tong Yi didn’t ask much, only saying, “We dispatched at least twenty gold-grade experts this time.”
“What is gold-grade?”
Lin Ling turned to look at Gu Xiao.
Gu Xiao hesitated for a moment before saying, “I’ve heard they are experts of the True Self Realm.”
Lin Ling immediately rolled her eyes.
Then what was the point of even fighting?
[With just us two or three small fry, going up there wouldn’t even be enough to serve as a side dish; we’d probably just be an appetizer.]
Xiu Jiming’s figure slowly arrived in front of him. Looking at Xiu Jiming, who was about the same height as him, the burly man swallowed again and said, “This Lord Envoy.”
“The location,” Xiu Jiming said silently.
“The post station on the north side of Mount Bijia, half a li to the south,” the man said hurriedly.
Xiu Jiming nodded, then turned to Lin Ling and the others.
“The primary battlefield is too dangerous. What you need to do is prevent any evil spirits from reaching Mount Yue County.”
“What if we encounter something we can’t beat?”
Lin Ling wrote quickly.
Xiu Jiming glanced at the words she wrote and slowly lowered his head, leaning close to Lin Ling.
Lin Ling instinctively shrunk back a bit.
Xiu Jiming smiled and reached out to flick her forehead.
“Run if you can’t beat them. Ensure you don’t die. I will be back very soon.”
“Take good care of him. More wounded will be sent back later; prepare yourselves,” Xiu Jiming instructed softly.
Lin Ling wanted to say more, but in the next moment, several gusts of wild wind swirled up.
They carried Xiu Jiming and other cultivators, who had been hidden in the Xun Zhu Si at some unknown time, flying toward the sky.
[Good heavens, so many experts were hidden near us.]
Lin Ling marveled for a moment, then instructed Bai Yunyun to take the man down to rest and recover.
She was going to draw a few more talismans; they might be needed at any moment.
In the archive room, Lin Ling sprawled over the desk, writing frantically.
Beside her, Bai Yunyun and Zhao Yuyu constantly helped fetch talisman paper and then placed Lin Ling’s finished talismans into various boxes.
Medical ones, purification ones, offensive ones, defensive ones—it was a dazzling array.
Gu Xiao was somewhat shocked by Lin Ling’s speed.
It seemed she didn’t need to calm her mind at all; Lin Ling even had time to grab fruit to eat.
She looked deeply at this superior of hers, feeling this terrifying talent from her for the first time.
After a short while, many bailiffs wearing Xun Zhu Si official uniforms arrived at the gates to report.
These were reinforcements sent from the Xun Zhu Si of other counties.
However, their realms weren’t very impressive.
Most had only roughly reached the Qi Sensing stage, and the highest were only at the Mid-stage Spirit Awakening like Zhao Yuyu’s group.
[Is a bunch of people with no combat power supposed to handle logistics? They really aren’t afraid of something going wrong.]
Lin Ling felt somewhat helpless.
But it was fine; they had all brought many magical treasures from their own Xun Zhu Si branches.
They would surely be of no small help.
Lin Ling was a bit excited.
This was the first time she was going to fight since joining the Xun Zhu Si.
She felt like she had regained some of the joy from her days as a bandit.
At that moment, the spiritual energy circulating within her body according to the Youying Moonlight Heart Sutra reached its first perfect cycle without her realizing it.
Just as she finished drawing an Flame Talisman, an aura suddenly spread out from within her body.
Lin Ling was startled, instantly feeling the spiritual energy in her body begin to undergo a qualitative change, gradually becoming thicker and more powerful.
The spiritual energy in her body was gradually being transformed into True Essence.
Her five senses became unprecedentedly clear at this moment.
She looked down at her hand; a faint, shimmering white light seemed to flash across her fingertips.
“Have I reached Law Condensation?”
Lin Ling clenched her fist.
With a thought, she raised her finger and directly rewrote an Flame Talisman on the paper.
It had to be said that this consumed more of her strength.
After a moment, the new Flame Talisman was completed.
She pinched the charm and chanted: “A lonely lamp burns the blue heavens; the mortal realm knows no night.”
A streak of intense flame leaped from Lin Ling’s fingertip.
After burning the talisman paper to ash, the scorching, flowing flames transformed into a fire dragon and soared toward the sky.