Early in the morning, a trade route in the south of the Yangtze River was shrouded in fog due to the scorching heat, and a merchant caravan was stopped by officials.

"Stop! What are you selling? Come down and check."

The officers who intercepted them all looked tired, and it was obvious that they had been waiting on this road all night. What was strange was that two middle-aged men in Taoist robes followed behind this large group of officers. These two people did not mix with others, but just followed far behind and meditated, sitting there without caring about worldly affairs.

The manager of the caravan quickly dismounted, bowed and said, "Sir, we are here to sell hides from the north. We are doing an honest business. Please give us a favor..."

As he spoke, he skillfully took out a purse from his sleeve and stuffed it over.

A look of greed flashed across the face of the leader of the officials. He was about to reach out to take it, but then he remembered something and hesitated for a moment. He secretly looked back at the two Taoist masters not far away, gritted his teeth and pushed the purse back, and said with a frown: "What are you doing? You profiteers, you don't do business properly on weekdays, where did you learn so many bribery methods? Get out!"

After saying that, he waved his hand and said, "Check it for me!"

The manager had no choice but to follow the officials with a bitter face: "Hey, sir, slow down...it will be difficult to sell if it is torn, sir..."

The caravan pulled a row of large carts, which were just as they said, and they were all leather. The officers didn't find anything, and the leader became even more angry. He turned around and pointed at the last cart in the caravan, which was ridiculously large, and asked, "What's in that?"

The steward hurriedly said: "My lord, that is our young master's car..."

"Young Master?" The leader sneered, "What do you mean young master, riding in such a big car all by himself? Even the sons and grandsons of the emperor wouldn't necessarily act so arrogantly when they go out. Get out of the way!"

The steward was unable to stop them, as a group of officers had surrounded the ridiculously large carriage.

The leader took out a palm-long wooden sword from his arms, and waved it up and down as if performing magic in the wind, mumbling something like a shaman - mortals are not like monks. If they want to activate the talisman themselves, they have to recite the secret code of the talisman in full. If some talismans are carved without the intention of being used by mortals, they will not leave a loophole for the secret code, and they can only be circulated among monks.

After a long while, he finally activated the talisman on the wooden sword. He saw a green light flash at the tip of the wooden sword, pointing straight in the direction of the carriage.

The leader was immediately excited and shouted, "There are indeed forbidden items in there! Open the door for me!"

The so-called "banned items" are talismans and magical tools that are privately sold on the black market.

There is a regulation in the court that all talismans and magical tools entering the public must be reviewed and stamped by Tianyan. Otherwise, if someone with ulterior motives buys talismans that can kill or burn people, wouldn’t that cause chaos?

The regulations are certainly reasonable, but in this way, once something reaches Tianyan, it will take a year or two to get through, not to mention the negotiations. As a result, most of them are not allowed to pass, and only a few are able to flow out, and they are basically divided up by high-ranking officials and royal relatives, making it so that a real immortal weapon among the people can be sold at a sky-high price.

As for those who privately sold banned items, the imperial court could not control the high-ranking monks, so it could only control the common people. It set strict rules that anyone who privately resold banned items would be regarded as deceiving the emperor and treason, and the entire family would be executed and all nine generations of the clan would be punished.

But even so, the private sale and purchase of magic weapons on the black market is still rampant. There are always desperate people who are willing to take risks for huge profits. In recent years, a person nicknamed "Money-making Prince" has emerged. This person claims to "value money over life" and is a mysterious black market banned goods dealer.

Some people say that this person has an official background and is in collusion with officials and bandits, while others say that this person is simply a monk.

In recent years, there have been successive wars. The rebels carried a lot of black market banned goods, making it very difficult for the imperial court to suppress the rebellion. The emperor hated these desperate criminals who risked their lives for money even more, and the investigation became more and more strict. People intercepted them from time to time on almost every trade route, and a group of masters from Tianyan were dispatched to spread the net everywhere.

The chief of the officials gave an order, and the two monks behind him looked at each other and walked up. They saw that the carriage was incredibly large, almost taking up most of the official road. The steward was unable to stop it, and the chief of the officials had already raised his hand and pulled open the curtain, just in time for the people in the carriage to look up.

It looked like a young man in his twenties, half lying lazily in the car, dressed in luxurious clothes, holding a book in his hand, looking out with half-open eyes. He looked like a legendary fox fairy, and the chief officer was stunned for a moment.

The inside of the car is even more luxurious than the outside. Even in the scorching heat, there is ice in the car, cooling a pot of crystal clear plum wine.

When the fox-like young man saw the leader of the officials, he immediately frowned, covered his face with the book in his hand, and said angrily: "Where did this thing come from? Beat it out, it's so ugly!"

This sentence brought the leader who was holding the carriage curtain back to his senses. The leader struggled to regain his confidence and stammered: "How dare you! You are carrying contraband. This is treason and you will lose your head! Why don't you surrender quickly?"

"Prohibited items?" The young man raised his eyebrows. "What are you talking about?"

He was wearing a strange ring on his slender fingers. The ring face was carved into the shape of a copper coin. Before the official could see what it was made of, a white shadow suddenly appeared in the middle of the square hole of the copper coin, and it became a bust of a young man in the air. Such a thing was unheard of, and the official couldn't close his mouth...

Then the young man raised his hand expressionlessly and slapped him, then disappeared into the air as if satisfied.

The young man glanced down at it and said insincerely, "Oh, sir, I'm sorry, you are standing too close. This is not a forbidden item. I made it for fun. To be honest, I am also worried about how to add a few more knives. At least let this baby talk to me - he knows how to slap people now."

The two Taoists who followed the official finally spoke, looked at the young man coldly and said, "Are you also a cultivator?"

The young man in the carriage seemed not to have heard anything. He looked arrogant and leaned on the soft couch, refusing to straighten his back.

The official who was slapped by him jumped up three feet high, covering his face: "Master, I think this man is suspicious, maybe he is that...that 'money-making young man'!"

The Taoist priest at Tianyan asked, "May I ask why this Taoist fellow took the trouble to travel with the mortal caravan?"

The young man confidently said: "I am happy to do so. I am just showing off."

The Taoist priest was choked and froze. He took a deep breath and then asked tentatively, "May I ask where this Taoist friend's master came from?"

The young man sneered: "Why should I tell you - have you finished the inspection? Make way!"

Before he finished speaking, the young man suddenly slapped the table. A small sword flashed faintly between his eyebrows, and then an indestructible sword intent came towards the two Taoists.

This person looks so lazy as if he has no bones, but who would have thought that he is actually a very talented person. At least he has reached the point where his soul is his sword and he can control it freely.

The two Taoists who tried to stop the carriage were caught off guard and hurriedly moved aside, not daring to confront them. The talkative leader of the officials had already rolled his eyes and fainted.

Although the two Taoists had also practiced for hundreds of years, they did not dare to offend the sword cultivator. They looked at each other and stepped back, saying, "Sorry for the offense, senior."

For a sword cultivator to be able to cultivate to this level, even the top masters have to give him some respect. His mind must be as firm as a rock. He can become an elder worshipped by thousands of people in any sect. Why would he do such a shameless thing as reselling in the black market?

The immortal has spoken, and the subordinates have to obey no matter how reluctant they are. In just a moment, the officials here have withdrawn completely, and they even skillfully packed up all the leather materials and clothes for the caravan and sent them on their way.

After walking out for a while, the manager finally breathed a sigh of relief, carefully approached the car window, nodded and said in a rather flattering manner: "Originally, it was said that few people would check on us along the way, but I didn't expect that I would have bad luck... Today, I am very grateful that you personally escorted me."

A voice floated out of the car: "Boss Li, you're welcome. I'm on my way here too. I'm really grateful. Please be more considerate of me in the future."

Boss Li said hurriedly: "No, no, it's us who are grateful to you for taking care of us..."

At this moment, a sharp whistle was suddenly heard in the air, and a ball of fire fell from the sky onto the top of the carriage. With a "crash", a big girl was burned out.

This girl had light eyebrows, almond-shaped eyes and an oval face, and was very pretty. The only thing was that her dress was very different from that of an ordinary person - she had a bunch of brightly colored feathers stuck behind her head. From the front, she looked like a beauty, but from the back, she looked like a pheasant with its tail raised!

She glanced at the stunned mortals around her, clapped her hands, and climbed down from the roof of the car. Without even saying hello, she got into the car and called out, "Big Brother, here I come!"

The sword cultivator in the car, who was the only one in the world to engage in reselling business with mortals, was Yan Zhengming.

A hundred years have passed in a flash. Back then, Yan Zhengming, along with a fellow apprentice, a fellow apprentice and a Taoist child, crossed the East China Sea and traveled thousands of miles to the Yan family, only to see devastation everywhere - the Yan family had been convicted and their property ransacked eight years ago. They were once wealthy and powerful, but now they can only be judged by the withered grass on their graves.

They had no choice but to start a long and arduous training in all corners of the world, robbed the caves of demon cultivators, entered uninhabited secret realms, lingered in the black market for banned goods, and struggled in the cracks for a hundred years with no one to rely on.

All in all, it has only been in the last one or two years that there has been a place where Master Yan can regain the elegance of his days as a young master.

As soon as Shuikeng fell into the car and hadn't sat down yet, Yan Zhengming raised his hand and blew her hair apart, knocking down all the feathers on her head, which flew everywhere. Shuikeng screamed, "Ah, my hair! I'm too embarrassed to see anyone!"

Yan Zhengming said: "I am too ashamed to see anyone - what are you doing here, just to blind me?"

Shuikeng picked up her chicken feathers with grievance, blew them off the ground, and put them back in his arms like a treasure, saying, "There have been a lot of rumors in Shu recently. At first, it was said that a big devil left something behind, and just now I heard that a ghost cultivator appeared over there. Now Second Senior Brother can't sit still anymore and left first, so he asked me to run errands to tell you."

Yan Zhengming frowned when he heard this. They had been looking for Han Yuan, who had jumped into the sea and disappeared without a trace, but there had been no news. Whenever they heard rumors of monsters, they would rush over to take a look...even though they felt there was little hope.

Yan Zhengming knew that this trip was in vain, but he had no choice. He sighed and drank the plum wine in the glass: "Let's go and say goodbye to Boss Li."

In Shu, Mingming Valley.

It was almost dawn when Cheng Qian used the excuse that Tang Zhen was unwell to send Nian Mingming away, who was discussing swordsmanship with him with great interest.

Nian obviously doesn't use a sword. Generally, people who can't see their feet when they lower their heads prefer shorter weapons because they are safer. I don't know why the Valley Master is so keen on this.

Cheng Qian felt that there might be a handsome young man in white clothes living in the heart of Valley Master Nian, so he was always obsessed with the things he longed for.

For example, a sword... and a waist.

Cheng Qian immediately agreed to go to the village outside for the valley master. After seeing Nian Mingming and Tang Zhen off, he returned alone to the extremely cold place where he had been in seclusion for fifty years, and took out from his arms the small piece of the past that Tang Zhen had returned to him.

He knew that his physical body was dead, and he also knew that his soul had entered the Soul Gathering Jade by chance. It had been locked in the Soul Gathering Jade for decades before it was found by Master Wen Ya.

Tang Zhen was a very open and honest person. When he entered the Soul Gathering Jade with his original spirit, he took away Cheng Qian's decades of memories of life and death in front of him. Now, he finally broke through the wall and had his past memories that he couldn't wait to get back. However, he felt a little homesick for a moment.

Over the years, Cheng Qian's mind occasionally had some scattered fragments, such as the inexplicable feeling that he should have a handy sword, that there should be a bamboo forest where he lived, or that there should be orchid-scented incense in his bedding, etc.

The small ball of memory that Tang Zhen returned to him was not very bright, but it was definitely not dim. Cheng Qian held it and played with it over and over again, but did not see any cracks.

The pale white light appears cold, but when held in the hand it makes people feel very warm, which is especially obvious in this land of ice and snow.

Cheng Qian suddenly took a deep breath and blinked his eyes to wipe away the frost that had gathered on his eyelashes during this moment of distraction. As soon as he loosened his fingers slightly, the wandering memories of the past came back to his mind like a weary bird returning to its nest, sinking into his brows more urgently than their owner.

All of a sudden, the youth's time finally roared in after a hundred years of desperate struggle. He seemed to have just woken up from a dream. Every bit of confusion that inadvertently passed through his heart was highlighted with heavy ink, and every detail seemed to be clear as if it were yesterday.

Upward Fuyao, downward Qinglong, holding the frost blade, falling silver knife, the sudden enlightenment on the deserted island, the orchid on the collar of the senior brother, the pain in the spirit-gathering jade...

All these things are not the past.

When Cheng Qian opened his eyes again, it was already bright outside. His eyes were sore and sore. The ice pond had tempered his heart into a calm water, but it could not stop the longing for home that had been drawn by a hundred years of longing and attachment.

No wonder Tang Zhen and Nian Mingming concluded that he would leave after coming out to retrieve his memory.

Cheng Qian stood up and walked to the edge of the ice pond. He stretched out his hand and the originally calm water suddenly surged and condensed into an ice sword in the air and fell into his palm. The ground beside the ice pond was no less than a thousand-year-old ice, and it was extremely hard, but it could not withstand the sharpness of this ice sword.

In one go, Cheng Qian drew a circle of extremely complicated talismans beside the ice pond. When the spell was completed, the ice sword could no longer bear it. It was stirred by his true energy and broke into several sections. The sections scattered to one side and actually began to melt slowly - the cold air in the ice pond was sealed.

In order to prevent the ice pond from being left unattended after he left, Cheng Qian cast this spell that could seal the cold air for about ten to twenty years. If the old fat man didn't copy him by then, he could come back and make the replacement himself.

He was always unwilling to neglect anyone who had done him a favor.

When Cheng Qian went to the Valley Master's Pavilion to say goodbye, the grandparents who had come to ask for help the day before had already been sent back. Only Nian Mingming looked at him with a complicated look as if he were marrying off his daughter. He lifted his sleeves to wipe his eyes and said with a groan, "After this departure, I don't know when we can meet again."

It hurts the eyes so much that Cheng Qian feels it would be better not to see him again.

Nian Mingming added: "If you encounter any problems outside the valley in the future, just come back. You don't have to live in Bingtan then. I'll have someone build a cave for you."

Cheng Qian's heart softened suddenly, but before he could fully soften, he heard the old fat man say, "I have already told the disciples in the valley that if they are bullied when they travel outside in the future, just tell them your name. My friend, you have to bear the consequences!"

Cheng Qian: “…”

He turned and was about to leave, intending to immediately sever his ties with this place, but Nanian Mingming hurriedly stopped him and said, "Wait, my friend, I have prepared a handy sword for you!"

Cheng Qian looked back and immediately felt his eyes dazzled, he was almost blinded - he saw that Valley Master Nian was holding a jeweled sword in his hand, the scabbard was covered with gold and jade, gold and jade would have been fine, but the inlays were of the Four Gentlemen of Plum, Orchid, Bamboo and Chrysanthemum. These four gentlemen looked more wealthy than the other, and put together in a simple and crude way, just like four rich men congratulating themselves on getting rich.

Cheng Qian's mouth twitched, and he said politely, "Valley Master, you should keep it for yourself."

Nian Mingming sighed, shook his head and said, "Well, that's right. After going through seven heavenly tribulations and leaving the valley, my friend must have become a powerful person. We are a small family and we really don't have anything to show for it..."

Before he could finish his words, his hands were suddenly empty. He looked again and saw that the Rich Man's Sword had been taken away by Cheng Qian. He said "thank you" and flew away on the sword, leaving behind a ball of golden afterglow, shining on the sunny Mingming Valley.

The little Taoist boy poked his head out of the door and said to Nian Mingming, who was smiling: "Valley Master, has Elder Youtan left?"

"Let's go," Nian Mingming said happily, but suddenly he felt emotional and said, "Alas, those capable people are supposed to call the shots and weather the storms outside, while those of us who are lucky but incompetent can only enjoy a peaceful life in the back - Tong'er, what's the matter?"

"Oh," the Taoist boy said calmly, "I just came to tell you that Junior Master has run away again!"

Nian Mingming: “…”