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IW: Chapter 152 - The Mysterious Miao Maiden, and the Ultimate Dream of Men: Sword Flight!
[Ding! You have used two lottery chances and successfully obtained: Soul-Summoning Banner, and Shu Mountain Sword Art.]
Ah!?
Can he even get something like this?
Bai Ye roughly looked at the Soul-Summoning Banner; it seemed to be an equipment, and as its name suggested, its main function was to summon souls, and it could also imprison souls within the banner, having a very strong restraining power against fierce ghosts.
Bai Ye always felt that this didn't seem to have much to do with the righteous path; manipulating souls was definitely something the evil path enjoyed.
However, the effectiveness of something like the Soul-Summoning Banner mainly depended on whose hands it was in.
The Shu Mountain Sword Art, on the other hand, surprised Bai Ye; it originated from the Shu Mountain in the Legend of Sword and Fairy world.
Moreover, the combat power shown by Shu Mountain in the game was completely different from that in the TV series.
Li Xiaoyao and Jing Tian only had those two moves back and forth, but in the game, Shu Mountain had many moves.
He, a member of the Shenxiao Sect, actually received the Shu Mountain Sword Art.
However, it seemed it wasn't impossible to cultivate it; no one stipulated it couldn't be done, after all, Shu Mountain in this world had long disappeared, and he was, in a way, promoting Shu Mountain's cultivation methods.
The Sword Art included various moves developed by Li Xiaoyao in the later stages, but it was a bit regrettable that Shu Mountain's talismans, formations, qi cultivation, and other methods were not included.
"Master, you seem to be in a very good mood?"
Ren Tingting very keenly sensed that Bai Ye's mood seemed very good.
And it was that kind of inexplicable good mood.
"No, I just thought of something."
His disciple had just died; although he had already been expelled from the sect, if he were to say he was in a very good mood at this time, it would seem a bit too much.
"Oh, oh."
Ren Tingting also realized she had said the wrong thing and quickly stopped talking.
"Let's just bury Aqiang; at least he won't be left exposed in the wilderness."
Although he had been expelled from the sect, Aqiang had followed him for a period of time, and Ma Ma Di couldn't possibly watch Aqiang's body be casually discarded by the roadside like that.
After burying Aqiang, the group set off on their journey.
Along the way, although Ma Ma Di and Lin Jiu still bickered and found each other's behavior intolerable, their relationship had become much more harmonious.
When discussing matters of the righteous path, particularly concerning the evil path, they had made new progress. Lin Jiu glanced at Bai Ye, then, thinking of something, asked, "Fellow Daoist, would you like to go with me to take a look? It seems there's some news over there."
If the other party wasn't in a hurry, they could go together.
"Alright."
Bai Ye pondered for a moment and finally agreed.
A group of horse bandits using witchcraft to rob, burn, kill, and plunder—was it that female ghost?
The enemy was always hidden, while he was always in the open; it did seem like a breakthrough was needed.
"By the way, can that guy who's been following us come out now?"
"Someone?"
Lin Jiu was surprised and followed Bai Ye's gaze behind him, but there was nothing there.
An illusion?
"Master, what is that?"
"So many bugs!"
"If you don't come out now, I'll burn all these bugs with one fire!"
Saying that, Bai Ye directly raised his hand, and a flame suddenly appeared in his palm.
"No, no, no, you are really too boring!"
From the woods behind, a crisp voice came from the direction Bai Ye was looking, followed by a series of bell sounds accompanied by faint footsteps, getting closer and closer to the group.
The moment the other party pushed aside the tree branches, what came into view was a beautiful woman with paint drawn from the corner of her eye all the way to her temple, with delicate cheeks, fair skin, and a red string bell hanging on each hand and foot.
"Miao tribe?"
Lin Jiu was stunned. He was well-traveled and occasionally moved around, plus Four-Eyes would sometimes chat with him about things from other places.
Seeing the attire of the young woman in front of him, combined with the insects that had just appeared, he understood that this girl was a maiden from the Miao tribe.
"En, you are a Maoshan Daoist, right?"
The maiden nodded, then took out a jar, shook the bell in her hand, and all the insanity(Gu) worms were collected into the jar. She muttered, indeed, a stubborn old Daoist; she was just joking, but he actually wanted to burn all her insanity(Gu) worms.
But this guy was clearly so handsome, why was his heart so bad?
"En, this is my junior brother Ma Ma Di, and this is Bai Ye, the sect master of the Shenxiao Sect."
Lin Jiu introduced them once, then prepared to leave.
There was really nothing to talk about with a little girl from Miao Jiang.
Miao Jiang was too mysterious for them; no one was willing to interact with people from Miao Jiang, not even cultivators.
After all, Miao Jiang's Gu techniques were very miraculous; even a successful Daoist could fall victim.
Moreover, due to the Miao Jiang's long history of being relatively closed off, not many people truly understood it.
Although he didn't know why this girl appeared here, Lin Jiu decided to bid farewell to avoid trouble.
"Wait, I heard you are going to deal with a horse bandit named Wang Po, right?"
The maiden blocked their path. Looking at their puzzled eyes, she introduced herself: "My name is Snowflake, and I came out this time to kill Wang Po, the traitor of Miao Jiang."
When she had just passed by here, she had originally intended to leave directly.
Ultimately, the Daoist people didn't want to interact with Miao Jiang, and naturally, the Miao Jiang people weren't willing to interact with the Daoist people either.
Just as she was about to take a detour, she heard about the horse bandits and Wang Po. Didn't this Just right(just happen to) match the person she was looking for?
So, after hesitating for a moment, she decided to come out and test the strength of these Daoists first.
Unexpectedly, just as she decided to make a move, the other party's fire almost struck. Gu worms were most afraid of fire, and she knew very well that if she hadn't appeared just now, the Gu worms she had painstakingly cultivated might have been completely annihilated by Bai Ye in one move.
"Miao Jiang traitor?"
Lin Jiu muttered. He had only just learned that Wang Po was from Miao Jiang.
And Wang Po had indeed studied witchcraft before, but after completing her apprenticeship, she left Miao Jiang and then began to plunder, burn, and kill outside.
Miao Jiang's shamans generally do not leave the Miao Jiang area; even if they want to, they need to get permission. Shamans like Wang Po, who left and even used witchcraft to harm people, naturally made Miao Jiang want to eliminate them.
Miao Jiang does not participate in any matters between the righteous or evil paths, but they absolutely do not allow anyone to use witchcraft to harm people, as this would only make Miao Jiang's reputation appear very bad to the outside world.
Moreover, Miao Jiang recently discovered that evil paths had been coveting their Miao Jiang treasure, and after investigation, they found that Wang Po was the one who leaked this information.
So, they naturally couldn't stand idly by.
Thus, Snowflake became the one to complete the task of eliminating Wang Po.
"What should we do?"
Ma Ma Di's eyes darted back and forth between Bai Ye and Lin Jiu.
He was completely numb now.
Logically speaking, the other party did seem to have the right to handle this matter, but this Miao maiden was too mysterious, and he didn't want to interact with Miao Jiang too much, which naturally made him hesitate.
"Why don't we bring her along? After all, Wang Po is also one of their Miao Jiang people, and having a Miao Jiang witch with us will also be beneficial to us."
Lin Jiu finished speaking and looked at Bai Ye. In fact, he had another meaning.
He wanted to test Miao Jiang's attitude on the way.
In this conflict between good and evil, Miao Jiang would still not take sides. If they could win over Miao Jiang to their side, it would definitely give them an advantage in dealing with the evil path later on. Miao Jiang was a very strong fighting force.
"I don't care. Lin Jiu, do you know the exact location?"
"Of course!"
Lin Jiu nodded in response. It was not far from Ren Family Town. He had originally planned to go there, but because of Ma Ma Di's issue, he came here first and let Awei go ahead.
"Then let's go directly."
Saying that, a magic incantation was cast, and the sword behind Bai Ye directly flew out, then continuously expanded.
"This is Sword Control Art?"
Lin Jiu's eyes flickered. It seemed that these were not the abilities of the Shenxiao Sect.
How much did Bai Ye secretly learn?!
Would he even know their Maoshan cultivation methods in the end?
"So cool!"
Ren Zhuzhu's mouth dropped open in disbelief as she looked at Bai Ye. She had thought Bai Ye's Three True Samadhi Fire was very cool before, but now this sword flight wasn't even cooler?
Snowflake was also surprised.
Is this Daoist magic?
It was her first time witnessing Daoist magic, and she formed her first impression of it.
"Master, why do I feel like your sword is wobbling?"
"Fellow Daoist, we won't fall, will we?"
"I just came out of Miao Jiang; I don't want to die yet, Daoist priest!"
In the air, everyone was excited at first, after all, it was their first time flying in the air.
Lin Jiu's face was even flushed. He heard that there was a device in the West called a camera that could record things, and Lin Jiu now wanted to take a camera and take a picture of himself.
However, after everyone calmed down and reason returned, the wobbling appearance of the sword also made everyone feel a burst of fear.
They weren't going to fall, were they?
If they were to fall from the sky, they probably wouldn't even know how they died, would they?
"Calm down, it's normal for the first time flying with a sword. I'll be fine once I get used to it."
For Bai Ye, it was his first time flying with a sword, so it was normal to not be able to control it at first.
"Fellow Daoist, you are using our lives to practice!"
Ma Ma Di's old tears streamed down his face. He didn't die on the execution ground, but he might die at Bai Ye's hands.
Are you a devil?
You just saved my life, and now I'm returning the favor!
This time, I, Ma Ma Di, owe you nothing!
Along the way, Bai Ye kept adapting to controlling the flying sword. After adapting, he could occasionally even do left and right rotations. Bai Ye finally understood why cultivators liked to play with this move—the feeling of flying with a sword.
It really is cool!
"Fellow Daoist, I, Lin Jiu, swear I will never take your flying sword again!"
Once, Lin Jiu yearned for sword flight, and although it came true, it also left Lin Jiu with a slight psychological Hokage from then on.
"See, aren't I stable now?"
Bai Ye scratched his chin, a bit embarrassed, as it seemed he really had used them for experimentation.
But they were very excited before too, weren't they?
"Daoist priest, can you go a little faster? I think I've adapted!"
If Snowflake was scared at first, now she and the others no longer shared the same thoughts. Everyone else wanted Bai Ye to be more stable, but she wanted to go faster.
This feeling of her heart almost leaping out of her chest was something she had never experienced in Miao Jiang.
Miao Jiang women are inherently bold and adventurous, but because they are mostly confined to Miao Jiang, they have less exposure. After coming out this time, she felt that stopping Bai Ye was absolutely the best decision she had ever made in her life.
She would definitely tell all her friends in Miao Jiang about her experience of flying with a sword when she returned.
"Even faster?"
Bai Ye turned his head and looked at Snowflake in surprise. Seeing her nod, Bai Ye tentatively increased the speed of the flying sword.
From her face, fear was completely gone, replaced by excitement. Snowflake spread her arms; at this moment, she felt that she was the freest!
Perhaps infected by Snowflake, the others, who had originally been a bit scared, also seemed to relax a lot.
"Actually, the scenery along the way seems pretty good!"
Lin Jiu nodded calmly, and Ma Ma Di beside him couldn't help but retort, "Someone seemed pretty scared just now, didn't they?"
Perhaps for people who have always lived on land, flying through the air is indeed an exciting and terrifying experience.
"I heard that there's something in the West that allows people to fly in the air. Now, compared to your sword flight, Master, that's simply insignificant!"
Ren Tingting flattered him, but this was also something Ren Tingting truly believed in her heart.
"Airplanes?"
"Master knows?"
Ren Zhuzhu's eyes widened, thinking that Bai Ye and the others only cultivated Dao and didn't understand external matters at all.
"Just a little, just a little."
How could he not know, having transmigrated?
"Daoist priest, are all you Daoists like this, can everyone fly with a sword?"
Snowflake asked curiously. After she asked this question, Lin Jiu and Ma Ma Di beside her were completely uncomfortable.
What she said, did it mean they weren't Daoists?
"Of course not, this is just a spell, just like your Miao Jiang's Gu techniques."
"Mmm, mmm, Gu techniques are indeed miraculous, but compared to the Daoist priest, they don't seem that powerful!"
Snowflake had always been taught that Miao Jiang's Gu techniques were feared by everyone.
But she had just come out of Miao Jiang and met Bai Ye. She always felt that his abilities were truly powerful—flying with a sword and controlling fire. This also made Snowflake a bit curious: are all Daoists like this?
They weren't just stubborn old Daoists after all.
No wonder many Holy Maidens in the past chose to leave Miao Jiang and elope with Daoist priests or accompany the green lamp, missing their future loved ones.
If Bai Ye was taken as a template, she seemed to understand now.
"Every sect has its strengths. Miao Jiang's strength is not in this; there's no need to belittle yourselves. Alright, we've arrived."
Bai Ye said, sensing the situation below, and roughly knew that they had arrived.