Qinglong Island has two mountains, front and back. On the top of the back mountain, the sea waves and the dense forest are facing each other in the distance. A figure is flying through it, almost turning into a gust of wind, and heading straight to the edge of the cliff.

I saw him tapping his toes a few times on the edge of the almost straight cliff, and then climbing up like riding a cloud, and spotted a "dead grass" without flowers or leaves on the cliff, and pulled it off by the roots. Then he turned over, inserted his five fingers into the rock, and with the help of his arms, he threw himself up the hillside.

The man's movements were so graceful that he seemed almost careless. His true appearance was revealed when he landed on the ground. He was actually a teenager of fifteen or sixteen years old. He glanced back at the sunset cliff, turned around with a smile, and quickly climbed the stairs.

Until then, the giant eagle that had been guarding the "dry grass" since early morning realized that it had been intercepted. It immediately howled and screamed, and was as angry as a chicken. However, although it was angry, the beast was very smart, as if it knew it could not afford to offend the person who came. It hesitated for a moment and did not dare to chase. In the end, the young man's figure had disappeared into the dense forest and disappeared again.

Suddenly, a long howl was heard from the dense forest. The giant eagle was startled and flew up and away from the cliff. Several other howls responded one after another, forming a siege in the dense forest. It was obvious that they were well prepared.

A flock of birds in the forest soared into the sky, whistling, circling, and then scattered and fled.

The young man heard it without changing his expression. He carefully brushed off the dirt under the roots of the "dead grass" and put it in his arms. He turned the ordinary wooden sword in his hand twice, and said with a "tsk" sound: "The ghost is still there."

It turned out that the young man was Cheng Qian.

Five years passed in the blink of an eye, and the child has grown into a handsome young man. Fortunately, he has not grown ugly, just like the words given by the eldest senior brother when they first met in the "land of tenderness".

In the blink of an eye, four or five people surrounded Cheng Qian in the dense forest. The leader was an unremarkable man with a face as black as charcoal. It was Zhang Dasen.

Before Zhang Dasen went to Qinglong Island, his true essence had already made some progress, so he had always been quite famous among the casual cultivators. He wielded a double-headed halberd and was arrogant to begin with. There was also a group of worthless casual cultivators who flattered him endlessly all day long, so he became even more arrogant.

"It's you again, kid." During the past five years, the grudge between Zhang Dasen and Cheng Qian had not only not been resolved, but had intensified. When he saw Cheng Qian, he gritted his teeth and said, "Hand over the things if you know what's best for you."

Cheng Qian put his hands behind his back, with the wooden sword hanging at his side, tapping his legs lightly from time to time, with a look of confusion on his face, as if he didn't understand what the dog was barking at.

Zhang Dasen was a man who was always aggressive. He would feel better if others cursed at him, but every time he met Cheng Qian's indifferent expression, he felt like he could get a mustache from being so angry.

A man who came with Zhang Dasen sneered at Cheng Qian and said, "Little Taoist friend, if you are smart, you should hand over the 'Black-capped Grass' quickly. If you refuse to yield, we will have no choice but to be rude."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Qian immediately turned to him. The young man held the wooden sword level, bowed respectfully to the person who was speaking, clasped his fists and said, "I don't deserve it. Please give me your guidance."

This attitude of not accepting a toast and drinking a forfeit made the people surrounding Cheng Qian look at each other, and then they immediately rushed forward in tacit understanding.

As soon as these people took action, they were clearly divided into the roles of main attacker, auxiliary, sneak attack and outflanking, etc., and Cheng Qian responded to them without any panic and handled them with ease.

Obviously, both sides are already familiar with this kind of gang fight.

The big double-headed halberd swept out a gust of wind, trapping Cheng Qian firmly in it. The three people behind him followed closely, and the last one went behind Cheng Qian, shouted loudly, and the long sword went straight up and down Cheng Qian's spine.

Cheng Qian didn't even turn his head. He saw that the wooden sword in his hand was like a spirit snake, suppressing the attacker's wrist with a pinch and a release. Then, he used it as a fulcrum and flipped into the air. The wood chips on the wooden sword that were cut off by the opponent's sword were stimulated by his strength and broke like broken nails.

Zhang Dasen and his group dodged hurriedly, and their coordination became a little chaotic. Cheng Qian took the opportunity to find a gap in the blockade of three people. He raised his hand and grabbed the branch, jumped up, and his clothes fluttered, like a bird, flying straight up from the gap.

Zhang Dasen and the others instinctively chased after him, but their light-body skills were not as agile as Cheng Qian's. After they reacted, they found that they had already fallen behind the others.

In just this moment, Cheng Qian had already caught it.

With just one move, he used "The Wind Rolls with Affection", which immediately created a commotion on the treetops and made the branches and leaves tremble. Zhang Dasen had no place to use his double-headed halberd and was the first to be hit by a sword energy.

Then, Cheng Qian ignored the pursuit of the man holding the demon-subduing pestle in one hand and jumped down from the air. After landing, he moved straight at high speed and slapped the root of the tree with his palm.

As the saying goes, "When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter." The few people who were killed by Cheng Qian had no time to retreat, and they found that the building was about to collapse, so they rolled down. By the time they struggled out of the dense branches and leaves, Cheng Qian was already dozens of feet away and it was obvious that they could not catch up.

In the distance, Cheng Qian brushed past the small leaves that were stuck to his clothes and politely bowed to Zhang Dasen, as if to say, "Sorry for bothering me, thank you for your advice." Then his figure quickly blended into the sunset and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Over the years, the Fuyao Sect has taken root on Qinglong Island. Fortunately, Zhou Hanzheng, who had been tirelessly trying to cause trouble for them, only appeared once as their protector, at the first lecture hall, and has never appeared again to bother anyone.

The two guardians of the lecture hall, Tang Wanqiu, came from Mulan Mountain, and Zhou Hanzheng was not from Qinglong Island either, but his background was more secretive than Tang Wanqiu's, so it was not something Han Yuan and others could find out. Tang Wanqiu arrived at Qinglong Island with Yan Zhengming and others when the Immortal Market was about to open, but Zhou Hanzheng arrived later than her and left in a hurry the day after the first lecture hall.

After that, most of the great men who went up to the platform to preach were very proud of their status. They would just say what they wanted to say and then leave. They would not pay much attention to the various wandering practitioners below the stage.

Yan Zhengming had thoroughly learned the lesson of showing off his origins. From then on, on the days when the lecture hall was open, they would go there together before dawn, find an inconspicuous place, and do not play around or communicate with each other. They would meditate, carve talismans, or read sword manuals, waiting for others to come. When the class was over, they would leave together quietly.

As time went by, the Fuyao Sect was finally gradually forgotten by irrelevant people, and the several young men almost became invisible people... Oh, of course, except for Cheng Qian. Cheng Qian gradually rarely appeared in public with his fellow brothers in the sect, and he almost always kept to himself.

He was unable to grow strong enough to protect the entire sect, so he had no choice but to quietly pull all the hostility towards the sect onto himself and bear it all on his own.

Before the New Year, Yan Zhengming hired a large ship to send most of the Taoist children and Xiaoyue and other grown-up girls back to the Yan family. After all, they were all mortals, and their youth was only a dozen years long, so they couldn't afford to waste it.

Only a few, such as Xueqing Zheshi and others, were willing to stay and accompany them on this long journey of life.

As a result, the Fuyao Sect, which originally had a large family, was almost deserted. A few people simply moved to a courtyard and began to truly practice cultivation.

There are no four seasons on Qinglong Island. Time flies by so quickly that people there often feel dazed. If they don't pay attention, they won't even know how many springs and autumns have passed outside.

Over the course of five years, Yan Zhengming and Cheng Qian discussed and negotiated several times, and finally restored and transcribed the Fuyao wooden sword completely, and passed it to Li Yun, who then passed it to Han Yuan.

I don’t know whether it was because “learning is not as good as teaching” or because Yan Zhengming’s mood changed several times, but he finally settled down gradually. He spent eight years on Fuyao Mountain before learning less than three styles of swordsmanship, and finally he mastered it on Qinglong Island.

Shuikeng grew from a babbling toddler to a little girl. Perhaps because she had suffered a great disaster before she broke out of her shell, this girl's temper was very calm and unhurried. Since she could speak, Shuikeng never cried again. No matter what happened, she would talk to her brothers calmly and without rushing. She didn't know where she got the trick of "chattering". This trick worked every time. As long as she could annoy a brother, she would always get what he wanted.

In this regard, her fellow brothers privately discussed the mysterious bloodline of the Demon Queen several times, and all agreed that the Demon Queen might have been transformed from a starling, otherwise how could she lay such a noisy and chattering egg?

Cheng Qian returned to the yard with the black-spotted grass that looked like a dead branch. As soon as he stood at the gate, his face twisted involuntarily - when he was on the tree, he was hit on the back by the one holding the demon-subduing pestle in Zhang Dasen's group. He didn't have time to dodge at that time, and he was afraid that a "centipede green" mark would be left on his back, which would be very painful if he was pulled at the slightest.

Cheng Qian wanted to look back, but when he twisted his neck, his back seemed to break in two. He could only thank God that the clothes he wore that day were dark in color and could cover it up.

After adjusting his posture with difficulty, Cheng Qian walked into the courtyard somewhat stiffly.

I saw Xiao Shuikeng standing in the yard with a sad face. Someone had carved a circle of talismans on the ground under her feet, trapping her in it. The talismans were so detailed and dense that not a single extra stroke was necessary, most likely the work of the eldest senior brother - from the way he taught his junior and senior sisters, it could be seen that the head senior brother was an expert at being "strict with others and lenient with himself".

There was a scroll of talismans hanging around Shuikeng's neck. It was the "Scripture of Purity and Tranquility" that had made her fellow senior brothers feel like they were in heaven. This thing had been passed down from generation to generation for a long time. It was said that Han Yuan would feel a headache when he saw it now.

“Third Senior Brother!” Shuikeng saw Cheng Qian and shouted as if he had found a savior, “Third Senior Brother, help me!”

Cheng Qian glanced at her, walked over and asked, "Is your second senior brother in the room?"

Shuikeng nodded with hope, "Yes, yes, Second Brother..."

Li Yun's voice came from a room not far away; "Why are you back so late? What have you been doing?"

Cheng Qian responded, ignored the puddle, and turned to walk into the house.

Shuikeng cried out from behind him, "Hey! Third Brother, don't go. Let me out. I need to go to the toilet. I want to pee my pants!"

She had used this trick countless times, and her fellow practitioners had long since stopped buying it. Cheng Qian shook his head, and saw a window open not far away. Li Yun popped his head out and ruthlessly rejected the puddle, saying, "Go ahead and pee. Wash yourself after you're done."

Shuikeng wanted to cry but had no tears: "No! Second Brother, Third Brother, I'm still young, I don't want to memorize these useless scriptures! You can't do this to me, Master will definitely be very sad if he sees it in heaven!"

Cheng Qian couldn't turn around, so he had to turn his whole body around, smiled at her, and coaxed her softly: "No, little sister, Master treated us like this back then."

Puddle: “…”

Cheng Qian ignored the howling junior sister and went straight into Li Yun's room. He closed the door behind him to block out the noise. He then changed his stance and pleaded, "She is only six or seven years old. Why are you holding her back like this? The spell was cast by the empress, wasn't it? The master didn't lock her up in the preaching hall back then."

Li Yun's room was full of rags and books, and spiritual herbs and talismans were scattered everywhere like stalls. Hearing this, he popped his head out from the pile of rags and said, "Haven't you noticed? Our sect doesn't have any entry-level exercises, but we're no slower than anyone else in drawing Qi into the body. Think about it, our senior brother only knew how to eat, drink and have fun every day, but he was able to enter the sect smoothly in just three or four years. Why is that?"

Cheng Qian: "It can't be those scriptures, right?"

"Don't tell me," Li Yun pulled out a meridian map from the corner. There were circles and dots on it, which made Cheng Qian's head swell. Li Yun said, "I found out these two days that there might be some mystery in Master's set of Pure and Tranquil Sutra."

Cheng Qian then realized that he had been so disrespectful to the "Qingjing Sutra" for many years, and asked hurriedly: "What is the mystery?"

"I don't know about that yet," Li Yun said irresponsibly, "These are all things that have been accumulated by the sect for thousands of years. How can they be so easy to decipher? Let Shuikeng try to read it first."

Cheng Qian: “…”

He glanced out through the crack in the window, and saw the puddle that had been "tried" squatting dejectedly in the talisman circle, pouting as she flipped through her handwritten scriptures. She looked so pitiful.

Cheng Qian sighed, "Okay, you've been 'testing' us for a long time anyway, and reciting the sutra a few more times won't make you lose any meat, but...what about her demonic energy?"

Li Yun scratched his hair in annoyance. "I was just about to tell you this. She's getting bigger and bigger now. I'm afraid the spell won't be able to suppress her anymore. If I want to make the elixir, I'm still missing one ingredient, 'Blackcap Grass'. I've been searching for it for a year, but I still can't find it. If it really doesn't work... I can only find a way to find someone to look for it outside the island."

Cheng Qian gave him a smile when he heard this.

Li Yun asked curiously: "What?"

Cheng Qian reached into his arms, took out a small paper bag, and placed it on the corner of the table, revealing a corner of the black-winged grass that looked like a dead branch.

Li Yun's eyes fell on the paper bag and he was immediately startled. He grabbed the black-capped grass in his hand and said repeatedly, "Where did you get it from? This thing is the main ingredient for the Qi-inducing Pill. If there is any on the island, someone would definitely have targeted it as soon as it sprouted... Wait."

"Yes, I stole it." Cheng Qian waved his hand. "Don't ask, as long as it works, I'm leaving now."

After he finished speaking, he raised his foot to leave, but Li Yun suddenly stretched out his hand and put it on his shoulder. Cheng Qian immediately groaned and was almost knocked down by a light slap from him.

Li Yun was very upset: "Wait! What's going on?"

As Cheng Qian grew older, his "problem" in this regard became more and more obvious. If he heard something, he would not discuss it with others, but would do it privately a few days later. As a result, he was injured every few days and would just come secretly to ask for medicine. He would not say anything when asked, and often Han Yuan had to find out some fragments of information so that Yan Zhengming and others could infer from the clues why he had fought with whom.

"Nothing...hiss." Cheng Qian reluctantly moved his shoulder to show Li Yun, "Maybe I got a stiff neck this morning, and was rubbed by the stick. Don't tell the queen, or she will nag me again..."

As the saying goes, you can't talk about people during the day, and you can't talk about ghosts in the afternoon. Before Cheng Qian finished speaking, the door curtain of the inner room moved slightly, and Yan Zhengming came out with a book in his hand, looking elegant and graceful.

Yan Zhengming looked at him with a half-smile and asked, "Who are you talking about?"

Cheng Qian: "Ahem... Senior Brother."

Fortunately, Yan Zhengming didn't seem to intend to pursue the matter for the time being. He put down the old book in his hand, turned to Li Yun and said, "You mentioned it just now - I really want to go back to Fuyao Mountain recently. On the one hand, I have some experience recently, and I want to go back and look through the classics to verify it. Although the things in the Sutra Building are disorganized, I can always find clues with the things that are passed down from my sect, and besides..."

He frowned slightly and said, "Last year, I sent Xiaoyue'er and the others back home because they were getting old. At that time, I asked them to send a letter home, but I haven't received a reply yet. It stands to reason that Qinglong Island does not prohibit letters. Since they left, there has been no news from them. I don't know if something happened to them. I also want to go home and take a look."

"I'm afraid that after entering the Sutra Hall, you can't leave the island at will." Li Yun pondered, "How about this, you ask Xueqing and Zhushi to run errands for you. I heard that Xueqing had a sense of energy a few days ago? Then he should be able to enter the Sutra Hall, right?"

"The Sutra Tower is not something that anyone with a sense of Qi can push open. At that time, Tongqian and I were taught by the master in front of the sect." Yan Zhengming shook his head. "Forget it. There is no rush to organize our sect's skills. There will be plenty of time to go back later. I will ask Xueqing to help me deliver the letter home first, and then go back to Fuyao Mountain to take a look."

Listening to the two of them discussing this, Cheng Qian was just about to sneak away quietly, but when he reached the door, Han Yuan suddenly rushed in rashly and almost slapped the door on his face.

"Hey, Xiao Qian, what are you doing!" He hurriedly exposed Cheng Qian's whereabouts and shouted at the same time, "Big Brother, two important things!"

Yan Zhengming glared at Cheng Qian, frowned, took a step back, raised his hand slightly and looked up, "Speak slowly, your saliva is spraying on my face."

Han Yuan smiled nonchalantly and said, "I don't know who has blackened Zhang Heitan. His face is swollen like a steamed bun and you can't even see his neck."

Yan Zhengming and Li Yun's eyes were focused on Cheng Qian at the same time. Cheng Qian had no choice but to cough dryly and pretend to turn his head to look at the scenery outside the window.

Han Yuan continued, "Also, a large ship arrived at the dock. I went to take a look and heard that it was the pretty boy named Zhou who returned."

Zhou Hanzheng?

Cheng Qian finally didn't bother to slip out, and stood silently by the door, his fingers involuntarily resting on the wooden sword again.

"The last time he came back was when the lecture hall was opening. I think something big is going to happen on the island this time." Han Yuan said confidently, "What do you think it will be?"

Every time he reported something, he sounded like a storyteller. None of the three brothers paid any attention to him. Han Yuan could only smile awkwardly and explain himself: "I heard that the Lecture Hall will hold a big competition, and the winner will be able to practice in the inner hall of Qinglong Island disciples."