Chapter 60 Mysterious Light

"Teacher, why not befriend him now? Wouldn't a connection made on the road be more solid?" Timothy asked, puzzled.

Monk Yisi smiled with satisfaction. "It is good that you thought of that. However, the timing is not right. This successor of the Maoshan Sect has found a chance for a Breakthrough after his Qi clashed with that elder just now. We should not disturb him right now."

Timothy realized the truth, then felt a shock.

"Teacher, I cannot see through his cultivation. Does that mean he is about to reach the Mystic Light realm?"

"Indeed. This Great Tang truly produces many a Genius; young heroes are as numerous as carp crossing the river," Monk Yisi sighed with emotion.

If not for the fact that their homeland lacked strength and Nestorianism was rejected by the local churches, who would be willing to drift to a foreign land to spread their faith?

Timothy lowered his gaze and said nothing more.

He was about the same age as Jiang Chen, perhaps even a little older.

Yet his cultivation had only just reached the Dao Entry stage.

"Do not be disheartened. Nestorianism cannot compare to the three teachings of the Great Tang—Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism. We are currently just struggling to survive in the cracks. Everything we do now is for the future of Nestorianism."

...

Jiang Chen was also slow to realize it. The True Qi within his body felt vaguely swollen and painful; it seemed he was about to have a Breakthrough.

He had been too tense during his fight with that bald donkey just now, which was why he hadn't noticed it at the time.

Jiang Chen looked around and chose a secluded path.

Once he reached a place where no one was around, he sat cross-legged under a tree and activated his Cultivation Technique to regulate his internal breath.

After only a moment, his Aura surged, whipping up a breeze all around and causing the branches of the large tree behind him to shake violently.

His cultivation had now achieved the Mystic Light realm.

At this moment, Jiang Chen's Divine Soul had already found that point of spiritual light. In the future, this spiritual light would be the guiding beacon to cross the bitter sea.

Just after his cultivation had risen, Jiang Chen's eyesight had also greatly improved, which allowed him to hear lewd laughter and cries coming from a distance.

Jiang Chen followed the sound, and in a moment, he saw a secluded patch of woods off the main road.

A group of sword-wielding bandits was fighting with a group of servants and guards.

A dozen corpses already lay on the ground, belonging to both the bandits and the guards.

However, the guards were clearly at a disadvantage, with only a few men remaining, while there were still dozens of bandits.

In the middle of the fighting area, a sedan chair with a green top was parked there.

From time to time, bandits tried to rush into the sedan chair, but they were blocked by the guards.

And every time a bandit managed to stick a part of his body into the sedan chair, a terrified scream from a woman would ring out from inside.

"Young Miss, run! We will hold them off!" A guard refused to yield even in the face of death.

Jiang Chen's gaze narrowed; he prepared to strike immediately.

His magic sword left its scabbard, and his Sword Qi surged for a hundred zhang.

But just at that moment, an ink-colored Sword Qi also came sweeping toward the bandits from another direction.

Accompanied by a bold and rough roar.

"How dare you thieves commit such crimes in broad daylight!"

This huge roar caused the entire forest to tremble, and the surrounding trees rustled.

As the sound died away, a figure darted out from the forest, following the Sword Qi, and instantly landed in the middle of the crowd.

Pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft!

The sound of blades meeting flesh rang out in succession, and in the blink of an eye, more than ten bandits were decapitated.

Jiang Chen was not to be outdone; his crimson Sword Qi exploded in the middle of the bandit group like a red sun.

Another dozen bandits were instantly riddled with holes.

"This is bad! The mark is tough! Brothers, retreat!"

Seeing so many of his brothers wiped out in an instant, the bandit leader's eyes almost split from rage.

But he still had his wits about him. He immediately ordered a retreat, even dropping the blade in his hand onto the ground.

After saying this, he was the first to turn and flee.

Though his martial arts were not bad, how could he be faster than that big man's sword?

While still running, he suddenly felt his body become light, and his vision suddenly elevated. In a daze, he looked down and saw a familiar headless corpse still running forward.

Then it stumbled two steps and fell to the ground.

The bandit leader understood in his heart.

His life flashed quickly through his mind: from an ordinary farmer to joining the army, and then returning from the army to find his family land annexed by a wealthy family and his wife killed.

In a fit of rage, he took a knife to the wealthy family's house and killed people, became a wanted man, and simply went up the mountain to become a bandit.

At first, he thought about robbing the rich to help the poor, acting with chivalry, and settling scores with a free spirit.

But after being a bandit for so long, his nature slowly changed, and he began to act recklessly and kill innocent people.

When did it start changing? The bandit leader thought.

The next instant, his consciousness was completely lost.

After resolving all the bandits in a few strokes, the man sheathed his sword into the scabbard on his back and turned to look in the direction Jiang Chen was coming from.

Jiang Chen looked at the man's face and was suddenly stunned, feeling that he looked somewhat familiar.

The man was middle-aged, broad-shouldered and thick-waisted, standing at least 1.9 meters tall, with a thick, slightly reddish beard.

This image...

"The Curly-Bearded Guest!"

Jiang Chen finally remembered the character who fit this image.

The leader of the three heroes of the Mortal World during the Sui and Tang dynasties from that TV show; if he were to substitute the person in front of him into that role, it would be perfect.

The man paused, looking slightly strange, and said, "Someone in my hometown did call me that. Daoist, you and I truly have some affinity."

He cupped his fists: "I am Zhang Zhongjian. May I ask how to address you, Daoist hero?"

"So it is Layman Zhang. This poor Daoist is Jiang Chen, Dharma name Great True Lord Xuanyi."

Jiang Chen performed a Daoist salute, then walked quickly toward the three guards who had been fighting desperately against the bandits.

These three guards looked covered in blood, but they still had traces of breath.

But when Jiang Chen walked closer and looked, he sighed slightly. They were only alive because they were holding on with their final breath.

In layman's terms, their adrenaline was still working, but their internal organs were all ruptured and they had lost too much blood. Even if Jiang Chen had healing talismans, he could not save them.

Zhang Zhongjian also followed, looked at the three men's injuries, and felt some sorrow.

He half-knelt and said solemnly, "Three warriors, do you have any unfulfilled wishes?"

Two of them kept bubbling blood from their mouths, unable to speak a complete sentence; as soon as they tried to open their mouths, they would choke on the blood foam.

Zhang Zhongjian channeled a mouthful of True Qi into the three men, but it was of no use.

Two of them held on for only a moment before they could no longer hold on, and their Life Qi faded away.

Only the last one, whose injuries were slightly lighter, was still struggling to spit out a complete sentence.

"Pro—protect, cough cough, protect, Young Miss!"

After saying the last word, he also died completely.

"Sigh!" Zhang Zhongjian sighed and reached out to close the eyes of the three men.

"Rest assured, I will protect your Young Miss well."

After saying this, Zhang Zhongjian stood up. "These people must be from the military to protect their Young Miss with their lives like this; they are all loyal and righteous men."

Jiang Chen did not speak. It would be good if he could have saved them, but if he couldn't, he had a clear conscience. He was not as noble as Zhang Zhongjian, able to fulfill the wishes of unrelated people.

A faint sound of sobbing came from the sedan chair.

Jiang Chen did not speak, and it was Zhang Zhongjian who took on this task.

Clearly, he had no experience dealing with girls, and he was currently flustered and anxious, far from the dashing figure he had been when killing people earlier.

"This... Fellow Daoist Jiang, why don't you do it?" He said, feeling a bit embarrassed.

...

This connects to the foreshadowing above; it can be considered foreshadowing as well.