28: Chapter 28 The Crimson Flame Sect Recruits Child Prodigies

The dust kicked up by Xia Shaoxin fell into the eyes of the pursuing soldiers, but what shocked them was the corpse on the ground.

"Did he kill all these people by himself?" the leader, a small captain, muttered to himself, then stopped.

A soldier sighed: "I know Bug Catchers are savage, but isn't this guy's combat power a bit too strong?"

Everyone stopped together.

"Not chasing anymore?"

The captain shook his head firmly: "Do not pursue a desperate enemy; pushing him too far won't do us any good."

"If we just let him run, the superiors will likely blame us."

"Blame my ass. We've chased him this far; we've done our duty."

The captain turned his horse around and ordered: "Take the corpses of these Gu Bureau people back. As for that Bug Catcher, he won't be able to escape."

"That's right. His records are with the imperial authorities; with spell-based tracking, where can he run to!"

...

After leaving Li Family Hollow, Xia Shaoxin didn't see any villages along the way, only a road winding infinitely into the distance.

This showed how remote Dawu Mountain was, and how unsuitable it was for human habitation.

After running for who knows how long, the horse suddenly went weak in the legs and fell to the ground.

He was caught off guard and thrown a long distance. The arrowheads in his back were scraped out, causing a large amount of blood to gush out.

Fortunately, he was agile and didn't injure his bones or tendons.

Struggling to get up, he first fed himself a qi and blood pill. Since he was in a hurry, he hadn't brought any wound medicine, so he had to grab a handful of medicinal powder and sprinkle it on his back.

That was insect repellent powder. Using it to stop bleeding was no different from sprinkling salt on a wound, but it was still better than grabbing a handful of dirt.

Sure enough, his back erupted in even greater tearing pain, but it did indeed stop the bleeding quickly.

Enduring the pain, he walked to the horse.

The horse's leg was broken, tears flowed from its eyes, and it was only breathing out.

Once a horse running at full speed falls, its legs are easily broken, and it is basically beyond saving.

Xia Shaoxin felt a bit sad. He stroked the horse's head and said softly: "Brother Horse, thank you for carrying me so far and saving my life. I have no way to repay this life-saving grace, so I will help you end your pain."

After speaking, he stabbed his sword into the horse's belly.

The horse's pain vanished instantly.

Xia Shaoxin cut off some horse meat and, not daring to linger, ate it raw while continuing his journey.

It wasn't until the third day that he saw the first village.

The village was very poor, without a doctor, so villagers usually used incense ash to treat wounds.

He couldn't buy a horse either.

Worried that he was still too close to Li Family Hollow, he bought some dry rations at a high price and left.

He would rather sleep in the woods outside the village than stay in the village, to avoid being caught by the Yue Kingdom soldiers.

He walked like this for several days before seeing a decent-sized village and finally hired a local veterinarian to clean his wound.

That veterinarian's specialty was treating livestock, and his technique was extremely rough. Xia Shaoxin had no choice but to endure the immense pain, and afterwards, he still had to thank him and pay him silver.

While fleeing and recovering, he gradually moved further and further away from his hometown. The tension of being hunted disappeared, and he began to appreciate the beautiful landscape.

His mood was gradually healed by the scenery along the way. More importantly, his world had been opened up.

From childhood, he had only lived in tiny Liushu Ao, occasionally visiting Li Family Hollow.

Usually, the only people he could talk to were his relatives. The villagers were all just nodding acquaintances who would never stop to have a heart-to-heart talk with him.

Once outside, he saw larger cities, met many talkative people, learned about local customs, and inquired about many novel things.

He learned for certain that the Yue Kingdom had a total of five major Sects, seven minor Sects, and quite a few Loose Cultivators without any Sect.

The Formation barrier he saw deep in Dawu Mountain belonged to the "Chiyan Sect," which was one of those major Sects.

Unfortunately, no one could say for sure where these Sects were. The locals were the same as the people in Liushu Ao; they rarely left their hometowns, and even if they went on a long journey, they couldn't travel that far.

Everyone had heard of the Sects and could vividly tell stories about them, but the Sects were too far away, and one basically never saw any Disciples of the Sects.

Because Sect Disciples Cultivate by paying great attention to something called "Spiritual Qi."

Spiritual Qi is particularly dense in certain places, and such places are called "Blessed Lands."

Large Blessed Lands nurture major Sects, and small Blessed Lands are occupied by minor Sects.

Sect Disciples are obsessed with Cultivation and are unwilling to leave the Blessed Lands where Spiritual Qi is dense.

Fortunately, in a small inn, he met a traveling merchant who had traveled north and south.

The two hit it off immediately and chatted well. Xia Shaoxin bought him drinks, and the merchant not only introduced the situation of each Sect in detail but also roughly drew him a map.

Only then did he know that this place was southwest of the capital, and the Chiyan Sect was northwest of this place—the closest Sect to Dawu Mountain—which would still take a month to walk to.

"Every Sect has a rule. At a certain time each year, as long as you send children over and they pass the test, they can enter the mountains to Cultivate."

The merchant told Xia Shaoxin an important piece of information.

"However, this method is limited to children. Little brother, you are clearly overage. No Sect will want you."

Xia Shaoxin's heart sank sharply, and he hurriedly asked if there were any other ways to Cultivate.

The merchant said: "Other methods depend on Opportunity. For example, Sect Disciples will go down the mountain to train. If you have an affinity with them, they might recruit you as a Disciple."

In the vast sea of people, how could one possibly form an affinity with a Sect Disciple!

The news was unfavorable, but Xia Shaoxin would not give up.

After bidding farewell to the merchant, he continued to advance toward the Chiyan Sect.

One day, he arrived at a market town and found the inn was full; there were no vacancies.

It turned out that he had arrived at the foot of the Chiyan Sect, and it happened to be the annual Disciple recruitment conference.

Hundreds of children from all over the Yue Kingdom had come and were staying here, squeezing the market town to bursting.

Xia Shaoxin hadn't expected it to be so popular, and he yearned for the Chiyan Sect even more.

He paid a high price to find a woodshed and barely managed to stay there.

Early the next morning, everyone set out in a mighty throng. Xia Shaoxin followed behind with a mixture of excitement and trepidation.

After walking only ten miles, ahead, on the distant mountains, magnificent palaces appeared, hanging continuously on the mountainside.

With vermilion roofs and ochre-yellow walls, Xia Shaoxin had never seen such magnificent architecture.

At the foot of the mountain stood a large archway with four white jade pillars and a large stone slab carved with a Dragon on top, inscribed with the three gold-plated characters "Chiyan Sect."

This was the mountain gate.

Several young Disciples wearing uniform attire were blocking everyone's advance in front of the mountain gate.

After waiting for a while, everyone saw ten old men floating down from the mountain.

Xia Shaoxin was very excited.

Legend had it that immortal Disciples could perform Sword Flying, and he was seeing it with his own eyes.

In fact, these ten old men were not flying; they were just using Magical Artifacts to make a leap.

From the mountainside, they jumped to the ground ten zhang away.

Everyone shouted "Long live," and knelt in a mass.

Xia Shaoxin was just a pure country bumpkin; having never seen such a scene, he dropped to his knees with a thud.

One of the ten old men stepped forward and ordered all the children to line up.

Someone recognized that this old man was Deacon Qin Wen of the Chiyan Sect.

Xia Shaoxin thought it over and lined up at the very end.

In the crowd of hundreds, no one noticed him.

Subsequently, the remaining nine old men set up a strange Formation in front of the mountain gate, chanting something, and each took out a bell.

Boom, a low sound rang out, and a flash of light appeared in front of the mountain gate, circling a two-zhang radius around them.

Xia Shaoxin was even more excited—a Formation, this was a Formation!

So this is how a Formation is activated.

His reverence for the Chiyan Sect in his heart was like the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, mighty and unstoppable.

Deacon Qin Wen called for all the children to line up and enter the Formation before the mountain gate one by one.

The children dared not make noise and lined up honestly.

They were all children under ten years old; there wasn't even a slightly older child.

Xia Shaoxin hunched his body, lowered his head, and followed shyly at the very end of the line.