Chapter 167: The Outsider at the Miaojiang Feast

“I’m exhausted. If it weren’t for me along the way, you might have gone home to take care of kids by now.” Chen Xiyi sat in the private room of a tavern.

“This is Miaojiang, the territory of the Five Immortals Sect. What are you doing here?” Lin Feng pretended not to understand Chen Xiyi’s words and sat opposite him.

Actually, Lin Feng had also had a tough journey. It had been three months. Incidents of heroically saving beauties occurred about once every ten days. Meeting naïve young girls happened roughly once every twenty days. As for encounters with wealthy young ladies out picking herbs, the frequency was even higher. There were also various female knights and enchantresses.

Chen Xiyi’s comment about going home to take care of kids was a bit exaggerated, but it was possible he could have ended up accompanying numerous wives home for their pregnancies.

He had never imagined the Jianghu to be such a colorful world.

If Chen Xiyi knew what Lin Feng was thinking, he would have scolded him to death on the spot. Didn’t he have any awareness of what he looked like?

If his nose weren’t so well-shaped and his eyes so captivating, he wouldn’t have encountered so many bizarre scenarios on the road.

“I’ve inquired about it. The annual Miaojiang Feast has begun. Yes, you arrived just in time. I thought this plot point might have a role for you, so I brought you along. I’m also looking for something.” Chen Xiyi spoke up.

The Module he wanted was in the forbidden area of the Five Immortals Sect. To get in, he could either sneak in secretly or participate in the Miaojiang Feast to gain entry.

Most members of the Five Immortals Sect were Miao women. Their nature was somewhat similar to the neighboring Sünu Sect, a faction that walked the line between righteousness and evil.

The Miaojiang Feast was considered a grand event in Miaojiang each year, with many Jianghu participants attending.

“Are you planning to participate?” Lin Feng always felt that Chen Xiyi wanted to trick him, but he had no direct evidence.

“No, you go ahead. If I participate, I might easily get chased by the Five Immortals Sect and the entire Miaojiang. If you win, we’ll split the prizes. I’ll take everything except the people.”

“Why are people included as prizes?” Lin Feng felt something was off. What kind of prize involved giving away people?

He hadn’t heard of any Miaojiang Feast. Although the Five Immortals Sect also used swords, it was only supplementary. They were actually skilled in using poison and possibly gu.

He knew these commonly circulated pieces of information, so he hadn’t originally planned to come to Miaojiang. He had intended to go to the neighboring Canghai Sword Sect, but Chen Xiyi dragged him here.

“The Miaojiang Feast has a long history. It’s held every year to help unmarried Miao women choose husbands. So…”

Lin Feng understood now. It was indeed a trap set for him.

Miao women had fierce temperaments. They either didn’t marry, or they became widows.

Given Chen Xiyi’s personality, if he got benefits, he would definitely run away. Wouldn’t that lead to being wanted and hunted by the entire Miaojiang and the Five Immortals Sect?

But the problem was, he didn’t want that either.

“Old Chen, you should handle this matter. I think…”

“The chances of someone taking a liking to me are about as high as me charging into Miaojiang with twin spears, fighting my way through seven times. If you’re willing, we could do that instead. You’d be the main attacker, and I’d support you.” Chen Xiyi was very self-aware. With his ordinary looks, the probability of him winning the Miaojiang Feast was basically zero.

“But you can’t just keep targeting me. The temperament of Miao women is known throughout the land. What if I get entangled?” Lin Feng had been chatting quite happily with Chen Xiyi recently, and his personality had changed quite a bit.

“It’s fine. You have a Peach Blossom Destiny. A little more misfortune won’t hurt. Besides, with that face of yours, sweet-talking the other party might work. You could run away afterward, and maybe nothing will happen. Look at me—if I were thrown into a crowd, I wouldn’t stand out at all, right?”

“I’d rather accompany you in charging through seven times. How are you planning to support me?” Lin Feng thought about it and felt that if he really did this, abandoning someone after winning their affection would be very immoral.

In the end, he would still be hunted by the Five Immortals Sect and Miaojiang. It might be better to just charge through seven times and skip all the intermediate steps.

“…” Chen Xiyi found that he had been countered by the other party.

“Don’t worry. We don’t necessarily have to go through all that trouble to get what we want. We can just make a trip tonight, and it’ll be done.” Lin Feng spoke up.

“That… doesn’t seem right. Actually, I’d prefer you to participate. We shouldn’t do anything illegal.” Chen Xiyi thought that whether the Module was obtained or not was one thing, but his main goal was to trick Lin Feng.

With the Game Map, the Module couldn’t escape. And if he wanted to trick Lin Feng, this was the best opportunity.

His Favorability had already reached 4 stars. After this wave, they could go their separate ways.

Along the way, Chen Xiyi had grown accustomed to seeing various romantic encounters—well, encounters that involved Lin Feng. As a top-tier lone wolf, he certainly had no share in them.

So, before parting ways, Chen Xiyi absolutely couldn’t let this good friend off too easily. He had to choose a yandere girlfriend for him.

“You just enjoy watching the drama without caring about the consequences.” Lin Feng finally understood Chen Xiyi’s intention—he just wanted to trick him. What did he mean by not doing anything illegal?

On this journey, it was Chen Xiyi who had been the most enthusiastic about such things.

“Yes, that’s exactly what I think. Do you have any objections?” Chen Xiyi said very seriously.

“No. If you want to participate, do it yourself. I absolutely will not take part.” Lin Feng righteously and sternly refused.

This made Chen Xiyi very regretful. It seemed the other party really wasn’t willing to participate.

“Alright then. Shall we take action tonight?” Since there was no other way, they could only resort to unorthodox methods.

As a proper scholar without any strength to tie up a chicken, Chen Xiyi expressed severe condemnation of such behavior.

“No problem. Do you know the approximate location?”

“Yes. This morning when you hadn’t gotten up yet, I sneaked over there. It’s the inheritance ground of the Five Immortals Sect and the secret ancestral legacy of Miaojiang, storing various poison techniques and gu techniques. Unfortunately, I wasn’t careful enough and got caught while sneaking in. Then I just asked about how to get inside. That’s pretty much it.”

Chen Xiyi briefly explained the process.

“There are quite a few Jianghu people around recently. I suspect they came over from the Sword Distribution Conference. So the place is a mix of good and bad people. That area is heavily guarded. When the time comes, I’ll cover for you while you sneak in.”

“You’re not going in?” Lin Feng questioned Chen Xiyi’s plan suspiciously.

Although he didn’t know what level of Power Chen Xiyi possessed, he was definitely not some weak scholar without any strength to tie up a chicken.

“I am going in. I said I’d cover for you while you sneak in, not that I wouldn’t go.” Chen Xiyi felt that Lin Feng needed to work on his sentence parsing.

“If you can get in by yourself, why do you need me to go with you? And you still need me to cover for you? Are you trying to trick me again?” Lin Feng immediately spotted a very illogical point in Chen Xiyi’s plan: his own role in it.

“Why do you always like to argue? Are you going or not?” Chen Xiyi was somewhat flustered and irritated. Of course he knew the logic was flawed, but he just wanted to trick Lin Feng this once.

Lin Feng thought about it. The biggest risk here was being chased, not encountering Peach Blossom Destiny.

So he felt relieved: “I’ll go. It’ll be a good chance to see the renowned Five Immortals Sect, one of the great sects of the world.”

The Five Immortals Sect’s strength ranking was above that of the Myriad Sword Manor, probably within the top five.

The reasons were quite complex. On one hand, the Five Immortals Sect’s strength was truly formidable. On the other hand, it was due to their geographical location and cultural customs.

Miaojiang and the Five Immortals Sect were essentially one entity.

So they didn’t rely on external resources and could be completely self-sufficient, unlike the Myriad Sword Manor which needed foreign trade to sustain itself.

However, because Miaojiang was located in a remote area and was primarily composed of Miao women, it seemed out of place with the outside world.

Also, due to the fear of their poisons and gu, unless absolutely necessary, no one in the Jianghu was willing to come to Miaojiang.

Actually, not many Jianghu people attended the annual Miaojiang Feast. Even some major sects didn’t participate. It was more like an internal event.

Compared to the Sword Distribution Conference, the scale was naturally worlds apart.

And although Chen Xiyi called it a matchmaking event, it was actually about recruiting sons-in-law. Miao women didn’t marry outside; if you caught their eye, you had to stay in Miaojiang.

These rules were unacceptable to many in the Jianghu.

…

Inside the Miaojiang Five Immortals Cave, which was the inheritance ground of the Five Immortals Sect and the secret ancestral legacy of Miaojiang.

“You vile thieves, hmm~”

The voice that originally wanted to curse loudly was abruptly cut off.

“Boss, how do we find it among all this?” Guo Chen looked at the vast number of books, boxes, and various miscellaneous items in the cave.

“Why bother finding the Ascension Ritual? In a few days, after the Miaojiang Feast ends, we can just kill everyone who comes here.” Zhan Xue frowned, then instantly understood Guo Chen’s thought. “You don’t want the Ascension Ritual for yourself, do you?”

Guo Chen said sheepishly, “How could that be? I’m just curious, just curious.”

He didn’t dare say it out loud. If he really said it, his team leader might just send him off first.

“What about the leader of the Five Immortals Sect? The Miaojiang Feast only starts tomorrow and will last for at least several days. The leader of the Five Immortals Sect is also the chieftain of Miaojiang. She’s indispensable.” Guo Chen looked at the woman tied up on the ground with a cloth gag in her mouth.

The leader of the Five Immortals Sect was a Postnatal Warrior, no match for them. She was captured in just one move.

“Nie Meng knows disguise skills. She can go then. We can also investigate Wandering Light’s whereabouts so we can make our move.”

“But that Innate Warrior in the Five Immortals Sect is a bit tricky. When the time comes, we’ll have Nie Meng reveal some flaws to lure them over.”

On the surface, the Five Immortals Sect indeed had no Innate Warrior, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any in the shadows.

This was a small method of concealing one’s strengths. Basically, among the top ten major sects, each had at least one Innate Warrior, even the Myriad Sword Manor.

The upper echelons of the major sects probably all knew about it. They just didn’t talk about it, keeping it to themselves. There was no need to reveal it.

“What do we do after we kill Wandering Light?” Guo Chen was still somewhat unwilling to give up.

Zhan Xue looked at Guo Chen and said, word by word, “Destroy all places that possess the Ascension Ritual, completely ending the possibility of the Mythic Era appearing.”

With his experience, how could he not see what Guo Chen was really thinking?

The Power of The Immortals was too great. Even Zhan Xue had once thought about replacing them.

But in the end, he suppressed it because he didn’t know if this was part of The Immortals’ plan.

Guo Chen somewhat avoided Zhan Xue’s gaze, not daring to look directly at him. “I… I understand. When the time comes, we’ll burn this place down.”

“It’s good that you understand.” Zhan Xue’s tone softened a bit.

The leader of the Five Immortals Sect, who had heard their conversation, widened her eyes and struggled continuously.

Burning down the Miaojiang Five Immortals Cave would surely cause Miaojiang and the Five Immortals Sect to decline from then on. How could that be allowed?

But with her Internal Energy sealed and the acupoints around her body pressed, she could do nothing but watch helplessly.

Zhan Xue and Guo Chen held no malice towards the Five Immortals Sect or the entire Miaojiang. Their actions were solely targeted at Wandering Light, only because this was the place where Wandering Light had discovered the Ascension Ritual.

They couldn’t find the Ascension Ritual, but they could use this opportunity to kill Wandering Light, preventing him from becoming The Immortal.

…

“Strange, why are there three outsiders near the Module? Oh, two left. One went out.”

Chen Xiyi looked at the three white dots prefixed with ‘outsider’ near the Module on his Game Map, feeling somewhat puzzled. What was this prefix? It was very peculiar.