Chapter 618: Imparting the Dao through a Jade Slip

On the fifteenth day of the second month, the Flower Festival.

Under the night sky, in Bei Ya Mountain City, flower lanterns had already been hung along the bluestone street.

Mortals climbed bamboo ladders onto vine bridges, adorning the lanterns with flowers and plants, while Cultivators gathered fireflies and merged them into the wicks.

The entire street was enveloped in a soft, green glow.

The Flower Festival, calm and uneventful, proceeded as scheduled.

Song Yan and Yan Xun were currently sitting in a roadside restaurant, chatting idly.

"It’s truly lively..."

Song Yan sighed, "Peace and quiet have their merits, and liveliness has its own charm."

"Coming back to your Bei Ya Mountain this time has really opened my eyes."

He looked out at the street scene from the window.

Scattered flower petals drifted with the wind, falling into the crowd, causing the Mortal girls carrying baskets to giggle and chase after them.

Yan Xun took a sip of the spiritual wine on the table and chuckled with a touch of pride, "Brother Yan, if you ever have the leisure in the future, you’re always welcome to come..."

Over these past few days, the two had become quite familiar with each other, and their conversations were less formal.

The jar of Green Plum spiritual brew on the table was brought by Yan Xun himself from his home.

The events of yesterday had largely been dealt with.

To avoid affecting today’s grand event, Liang Feng was temporarily imprisoned. Song Yan returned the moon-bearing lotus seed to its rightful owner, handing it over to Senior Cong Yuzhen for handling.

Everyone else simply assumed that the Senior had anticipated it all and didn’t ask further questions.

When facing Cong Yuzhen, he merely said that he didn’t want the situation to become a stalemate at the time, allowing the Demonic Cultivator to escape.

Treating a dead horse as if it were alive, he took out a precious spiritual seed he had occasionally obtained through a stroke of Opportunity and used some illusionary techniques to disguise it as a moon-bearing lotus seed.

Furthermore, since the other party was unfamiliar with the characteristics of the lotus seed, he was fortunate enough to break the deadlock.

Unexpectedly, Cong Yuzhen didn’t inquire in much detail at all.

She seemed to have no interest in delving into the lie he fabricated, or even the so-called precious spiritual seed within it.

Could it be that even this precious moon-bearing lotus seed couldn’t catch her Dharma Eye?

That shouldn’t be... This made Song Yan feel a sense of absurdity, as if he had been overly sentimental and made a fuss over nothing.

Cong Yuzhen’s attitude towards the moon-bearing lotus seed significantly dampened his initial excitement, which had been like finding a treasure.

"Hoo..."

His scattered thoughts were reined in, and he raised a porcelain cup to drink some flower tea.

He didn’t drink alcohol.

Xiao He said he would smell "stinky" if he drank, and then she wouldn’t want to stay on him.

Outside the window, on the long street, the sound of sheng and xiao pipes suddenly arose.

Three or five Mortal musicians walked by, followed by bouncing children.

In the plaza, several Cultivators from Linghua Valley were teaching Li Qingfeng and others how to fold paper boats from talismans.

By the stream beneath the bridge, countless paper boats carrying candlelight drifted down the stream, floating towards the deep valley.

Song Yan asked, "Oh, right, there’s a Sun Family Market here in Bei Ya Mountain. Where is that?"

He suddenly remembered that during the New Year, Old Shao had mentioned that his hometown was also in Bei Ya Mountain. What a coincidence.

Yan Xun frowned, deep in thought, but his expression was a bit strange.

"Sun Family Market? Who told you that?"

"Oh, a Senior Brother from the Sect."

"..."

He racked his brain until it hurt, then finally spoke with certainty, "There isn’t one..."

"What nonsense are you talking about? We don’t have such a place in Bei Ya Mountain."

Song Yan raised an eyebrow, "There isn’t?"

"Absolutely not. Where would a Sun Family Market come from?"

Yan Xun seemed to have a low alcohol tolerance. Drinking this spiritual wine, he hadn’t used spiritual power to dissipate the alcohol Qi, and now he was a bit tipsy.

"Brother Yan, I’m not boasting, okay?"

"How many years have I been in Bei Ya Mountain? I grew up here since I was little..."

"Let alone Bei Ya Mountain City, even further out, in the entire Bei Ya Mountain region, there’s no Sun Family Market."

"There are very few people named Sun here anyway, and they all came from Lin Prefecture."

"Your Senior Brother must have remembered incorrectly."

Song Yan nodded, saying nothing, and seemed to have no intention of pursuing the matter further.

"Brother Yan, come visit my family tomorrow, I’ll take you to see our Sword Casting Villa."

Song Yan had mentioned visiting earlier today.

Unexpectedly, Yan Xun was very enthusiastic, bringing wine from his home and having already informed his elders.

What surprised him was that despite Yan Xun’s appearance, he was actually the fifth young master among the Yan Family of this generation, one of the most well-known.

"Alright, then I shall trouble you."

"Not at all."

Soon, the auspicious hour arrived.

In the mountain city, all Mortals and Cultivators slowly began to flock towards Linghua Valley.

Other activities of the grand event could be skipped, but this ancient tree prayer was truly worth joining the fun for.

In Linghua Valley, by the lakeside.

Beneath the ancient spiritual peach tree, layers of peach blossoms rustled in the night wind.

The area under the tree was already packed with a bustling crowd.

The Daoist robes of Cultivators mingled with the coarse cloth of Mortals.

There were many tables under the tree, with flower notepaper laid out, for people to write on.

Approaching the tree, the scent of ink mixed with the unique, cool floral fragrance of the mountain city.

As soon as Yan Xun entered the valley, he went to find his Sister Duo’er.

"Senior Brother Song!"

Gu Qingqing held a recording orb in her hand and waved to Song Yan from afar. Li Qingfeng and Sheng Yun stood beside her.

That annoying fellow, Cheng Yu, didn’t appear, though.

They were to write their wishes on the flower notepaper, then place them inside a small Jade Slip, and hang them on the ancient tree. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

"What did you all write?"

Song Yan and Xiao He craned their necks, trying to see what wishes everyone had written.

"Hey, hey, hey..."

Li Qingfeng reached out, signaling him to stop, "If things like this are known by others, how can they possibly come true..."

"Exactly."

"Alright, alright..."

They spoke as if it were true.

Song Yan took a piece of flower notepaper and casually asked, "Xiao He, are you writing one?"

Xiao He stared at him with wide eyes, "How would I know how to write?"

"Oh..."

It was strange; Xiao He recognized characters, but couldn’t write them.

Song Yan picked up a brush and didn’t think for long.

He wrote quickly, then swiftly put it away, not letting anyone glimpse it.

Under the tree, several Loose Cultivators were helping Mortals hang their Jade Slips.

A child with a red hair tie stood on tiptoes, handing a flower notepaper filled with wobbly writing to a young Cultivator beside him.

"Immortal Brother, please hang it higher for my A Niang (Mother)!"

"Alright!"

The Cultivator patted the child’s small head, and a wisp of green wind condensed from his fingertips, causing the flower notepaper to float gently towards the treetop.

It hung side by side with his own Jade Slip.

Song Yan stood with his arms crossed, at the back of the crowd, quietly admiring this wondrous sight under the night sky.

His own had already been hung up.

"..."

Suddenly.

A pair of hands reached onto his shoulders without him noticing.

He spun around abruptly.

He found it was Sheng Nian, wearing a bamboo hat and acting mysteriously.

"You scared me."

"Shhh..."

Song Yan simply transmitted his voice, "You Demonic Cultivator, what are you doing here? Aren’t you afraid of being cut down by Senior Cong’s sword?"

"You truly don’t appreciate good intentions..."

Sheng Nian looked at Sheng Yun’s back in the crowd, his eyes full of tenderness, "Although I came specifically to see A Yun, I also have something to bring you."

"?"

A Jade Slip was casually tossed over, and Song Yan caught it steadily.

"What is it?"

"A Cultivation Technique I obtained by chance. Just by its name, I knew it was refined by you pretentious Righteous Path Cultivators. I have no interest in it."

Song Yan muttered, "When did I become a Righteous Path Cultivator..."

He opened the Jade Slip.

"Clear Sky Great Bright Dharma Aspect?"

This Cultivation Technique sounds... indeed a bit too righteous, almost to the point of being perverse.