Wait a minute, where is my master?

Little Horse Village was an extremely remote little mountain village, where the villagers lived off farming and hunting, leading a life of poverty yet at ease.

Also, due to the secluded terrain and thin spiritual energy, rarely did any spirits or demons come this way.

Invisibly, this greatly increased their safety, but it also came with some sacrifices.

Specifically, it was very insular, with few natural resources and not many who could read.

So when someone in the village wanted to conduct some business exchanges, small items could be bartered, but for larger things like fields and houses, they would have to resort to traditional customs.

When villagers wanted to trade major items, both parties would participate in a transfer ceremony.

During the ceremony, the seller would hand a switch to the buyer, then they'd find a willing child, compensate them, and have them witness the handover process.

After the handover was finished, the buyer would take the switch and beat the child so they would remember this day for the rest of their life.

From then on, the child would become a "walking contract."

And today, two villagers were transferring the ownership of the field in front of them, and the child getting beaten had come of their own volition.

Enduring a beating would earn their family half a month's ration of food.

After hearing the villagers' explanation, Jin Xu and his companions were deeply shocked.

"Uh... I can write, why don't I write up a contract for you?"

Xu Qian suggested.

"That won't do at all."

The villager holding the switch refused.

Xu Qian curiously asked, "Why not?"

"Because even if you write it, we can't read."

"Ah, right, right."

Another villager agreed.

"emmmm..."

On closer thought, that was indeed the case.

"Sir, what if the child dies young?"

Little White asked, stroking the boy's head.

The little boy, holding a candied haw stick that a Husky somehow produced, was crunching away at it.

Hearing Little White's words, he looked up pretending to be confused and said, "Sister, what does dying young mean?"

The little Taoist gestured for Yu Yaoer to quickly pull Little White back and, if possible, to gag her too.

"This kind little immortal must be joking, the children chosen are all sturdy and can take the beating from the switch."

The buyer explained awkwardly.

He was very apprehensive: It was risky to go ahead with the punishment fearing the few people in front of him wouldn't consent, but if he didn't proceed, he feared the "walking contract" wouldn't remember the transaction clearly.

"Seeing as it is so, we won't interrupt you two then, please carry on."

The little Taoist understood the situation, turned around, pulled Little White and the others away from the place.

Suddenly, the two villagers didn't know what to do.

...

Night fell.

The boy was treated with herbal medicine by the two villagers and sent home, with a large bag of grain included.

Back home, the boy bore the pain, first checking on his bedridden mother, then told his little sister about the bizarre events he had encountered that day to coax her to sleep.

Only after that did he go to his own small bed, slowly falling asleep with weariness and pain.

In the dead of night, when all was still,

Two streams of aqua-blue spiritual power silently appeared; one fell upon the boy,

the other upon the woman sick in bed.

On the family's only table, a few pieces of scattered silver and some food also appeared.

Having done all this, Jin Xu took Yu Yaoer with him, preparing to leave.

Upon reaching the door, the little Taoist suddenly stopped, then turned back to look at the table.

"Hmm?"

Golden spiritual power quietly spread out and retrieved a bowl of soup from the table!

"That was close!"

Jin Xu muttered to himself and sent a telepathic message to the Little Fish Demon at the same time.

"You are not allowed to casually give your soup to mortals, have you remembered that?"

"I've remembered, Young Master."

Yu Yaoer looked wronged. She saw Little White leave food on the table, and she too wanted to leave something, except what she left behind this time was medicinal soup, not one of those new recipes she experimented with.

The young Taoist, however, felt a wave of relief, nearly having committed a good deed with unintended bad consequences.

If that child had drunk the soup Yu Yaoer made...

My sin, my sin!

Shrouded in their cloaks of deception, the three of them quietly made their way to the entrance of the village, where Xu Qian was waiting for them.

On the way, Little White sent a telepathic message to Jin Xu, "Temple master, why didn't we help him in the evening, and instead we came here secretly at midnight?

Wouldn't it have been better to send the child straight home at that time?

Those two people wouldn't dare to say anything anyway.

And we've gone through so much trouble just to treat him and that woman, besides leaving some food and a little silver. This..."

Seeing the hesitation on his loyal Husky's face, the young Taoist knew what she wanted to say and quietly explained.

"Little White, to this village, I am just a passerby. We have no intention of taking responsibility for the child's future, nor do we plan to take him with us.

Therefore, the best choice is to respect their customs.

It's not hard for us to come back in the middle of the night, and it just so happens I am willing to do so.

As for why we only left food and scattered silver, your Demon Realm must have a saying similar to 'An innocent person harboring a jade invites trouble,' right?"

The Husky listened, vaguely understanding, but she did grasp the last phrase.

"Temple master, I didn't quite understand the beginning, but I got the last part. In our Demon Realm, if one's clan isn't strong enough yet occupies a large territory, it would be annihilated!"

Yu Yaoer, blinking her clear, large eyes, chimed in, "Little White, what Young Master means is he doesn't want to break the rules of this little mountain village because of one act of kindness, especially since the boy still has to live in the village."

The young Taoist heard Yu Yaoer's words, his lips moved slightly, and he said four words.

"She's right."

The group reached the village entrance, met up with Xu Qian, and set off for Shangjing City overnight.

...

At the foot of Little Platform Mountain, Zhao Dabao arrived in the rain, feeling sentimental.

"Things really have changed.

In the past, the entrance to Little Platform Mountain was deserted; you couldn't assemble three people together on the mountain.

Now look at the throngs of pilgrims—it may be that Jin Xu saved Gusu City, but this is a bit excessive.

But then again, it's reasonable, after all, it's Jin Xu, the young Taoist."

Thinking so, Fatty Zhao began to exercise his "financial ability."

Indeed, under the influence of his "financial ability," he easily reached the front of the pilgrim queue.

And then, he spotted a huge sign hung on the temple gate, stating 'Closed for business.'

"...If you're not opening, what are all you people queuing for?!"

Zhao Dabao was utterly speechless.

He turned to ask for a refund from the person who had sold him the spot, but as he turned around, he saw his father dropping from the sky.

"Is the young Taoist Jin Xu not here?"

"Yes, Dad."

"Alright, maybe it's just not meant to be. Let's go."

"Okay."

Zhao Dabao stepped onto his father's fiery red flying sword.

Before the pilgrims behind could shout out about "a flying fat old man cutting in line," the father and son flew away from Little Platform Mountain Taoist temple.

Fatty Zhao had come today to bid farewell, since Jin Xu, the young Taoist himself, said that he couldn't solve the problem of his Ice and Fire Spirit Roots.

So he had no choice but to try his luck at the Blazing Sun Sword Sect.

However, his timing was really not opportune, as only a tree and a door were left inside the temple.

Two old beings who had lived very long lives were deep in conversation.