Who let him join the Sword Sect?!

Yazi Town, as its name suggests, has two large teeth hanging at the town gate's archway. According to the little girl selling flower tea by the roadside, they are the canine teeth of ancient gods and demons that fell here.

But after awakening from sleep, Li inspected them and determined that they were fake, not even ivory. They were actually shells made from stone shaping technique with straw stuffed inside.

However, no one minded this matter, since the people coming to Yazi Town weren't here to look at the large teeth, but to make money.

Diannan is full of treasures, fortune favors the bold, only those who dare to fight will win. Plenty of mortals and low-tier cultivators come here seeking wealth and opportunities.

Except recently.

Because the water vein changed recently, the water level of the Jade Dragon River between Xiang County and Lantian County has surged, almost reaching the mountainside.

What used to be a shallow riverbank has become a dangerous marsh, with fish beasts possessing cultivation surpassing human numbers.

Without Golden Core strength or a special dharma method, crossing the marsh basically means volunteering to feed fish.

Therefore, the land route between Xiang County and Lantian County, the one Zhang Ze came by, has seen fewer and fewer people for a month, causing the business in Yazi Town, which serves as Lantian County's gateway, to drop significantly.

"No wonder the Dog Demon and Water Monkey are starving like this, they haven't seen a living person for almost a month," Zhang Ze muttered to himself.

The little girl didn't quite hear what Zhang Ze was saying, but seeing him young and handsome, dressed in the Sword Sect disciple attire, schemed in her heart.

"Brother here for the first time in Diannan?" The little girl poured more tea for Zhang Ze.

"Yeah, first time here, it's nice," Zhang Ze replied casually.

"First time on a mission?" the little girl asked again.

Zhang Ze thought for a moment; this did seem to be his first sect mission. He nodded, "That's right."

Upon hearing that, the little girl couldn't help but smile broadly.

In her view, young disciples from such major sects, especially those who haven't come out much, are the kind-hearted and most easily deceived.

She planned to swindle Zhang Ze good.

"It's hard indeed, business has been horrible this month, brother drinking tea..." the little girl sighed and sat down next to Zhang Ze, beginning to complain.

As they chatted, the little girl started telling Zhang Ze about her gambling father, sick mother, school-going sister, broken home, how her grandfather grows tea, only hoping brother can save her.

"Brother, buy some tea, my grandfather handpicked it."

Zhang Ze, hearing this familiar spiel, watched the little girl wiping her tears and smiled lightly, "Not buying."

But his tone quickly changed, "But I have a plan, to ease sister's worries."

With that, Zhang Ze placed a Heavenly Illusion Pendant on the table, sliding it over to the little girl, "This is a fine item from the Thousand Mechanism Pavilion, can bless business prosperity... Since sister's family is in such difficulty, I'll sell it for cheap to you."

Zhang Ze took the teapot from the little girl's hands, pasted the Heavenly Illusion Pendant under it, infused Spiritual Qi to activate, turning the teapot from a mass-produced goods to a top-grade magical artifact.

"Tell me, when serving tea from this teapot, how much should a cup cost?"

Seeing the little girl's eyes aglow, Zhang Ze persisted, finally selling the entire set of colorful version along with the Heavenly Illusion Pendant.

Even squeezed out two pounds of tea grown by the little girl's grandfather.

After storing the tea leaves, Zhang Ze planned to find Junior Brother Tang to ask about something.

He wanted to know how Tang managed to arrive here, given how far it is from Dragon Tiger Mountain, it's a miracle for Tang to end up in Diannan with his propensity for getting lost.

It couldn't be that he wandered his way here, could it?

After searching half a day in the town, Zhang Ze finally found Tang in a small alley.

He was bent in a peculiar position, stepping on bricks, peeking through a window on a large house's second floor.

Not sure what he was observing, watching while drooling.

Zhang Ze, curious, hadn't approached when he heard from the house a strange sound, both pleasant and uncomfortable, moaning, sticky and cloying.

Taking a step back, Zhang Ze glanced at the plaque hanging on the house.

"Heaven and Earth."

"Damn."

"It's really hard to learn good, easy to slip into bad, how did this brat find his way here?"

Zhang Ze quickly stepped into the alley, pulling Tang out.

Before Zhang Ze could speak, flushed face and breathing labored, Tang slurped his saliva and asked a series of questions.

"Senior Brother Zhang, what are those people doing embraced together?"

"Senior Brother Zhang, what kind of technique are they practicing that makes my blood surge?"

"Senior Brother Zhang, why do they look both comfortable and uncomfortable? I, I want to try too... "

"I remember Uncle Master saying, read ten thousand books, travel ten thousand miles."

"I feel I've read enough books."

"I heard them talking about waterway, dryway, zigzag and winding paths... sounds interesting, I want to try both routes too."

"Senior brother..."

In Dragon Tiger Mountain, meticulously shielded by elders, pure as a blank sheet, Tang's worldview has undergone a massive shock.

The adult world unfolded before him, the scene he just beheld was hundreds of times more thrilling than any Taoist technique performed by his uncles.

He desperately wanted to know what it was.

He believed that to be the true essence of Taoist technique.

In contrast to knowledge-hungry Tang, Zhang Ze now felt dead inside.

Seeing Tang like this, if Zhang Ze hadn't intercepted him, Tang would have probably entered the house through the front door.

Then, pure Tang would instantly grow up in the embrace of those big sisters.

If such a thing were to happen, Zhang Ze would be doomed.

Once Tang returned to Dragon Tiger Mountain and recounted this whole ordeal with his loose tongue, the cause, process, and outcome would surely become a scandal pinned on Zhang Ze's head.

That would be: The next Sect Leader of Dragon Tiger Mountain was deceived by Zhang Ze of Sword Sect, fled Dragon Tiger Mountain.

Sold to Diannan's Lantian County, drifted lost and broke the child's golden body.

Wicked Zhang Ze deserves execution.

Not to mention that group of Taoists from Dragon Tiger Mountain, if things really turned out like this, Aunt Mo would probably slice him into mince first.

"You're saying Tang went in by himself while you waited outside, and it has nothing to do with you? Fine, explain it in your next life."

A sword's light chills nineteen hundred continents...

Shaking off this terrifying scene from his mind, Zhang Ze patted Tang's shoulder, "Wipe your drool, bro, I need to talk to you about something."

"Alright."

Zhang Ze took Tang to a quiet place and began to break down a variety of principles for him.

The focus of the conversation revolved around 'you're still a kid, it's too early for this kind of thing' and 'you must stay pure.'

"Tang, when you grow up, beware of women deceiving you, the prettier they are, the more deceitful..."

"Especially women from these kinds of places, they're the best at it..."

Zhang Ze never thought he would have a day where he advised someone to be virtuous.

But for the sake of his own innocence, he had to keep Tang in line, and before leaving Diannan to send Tang back to Dragon Tiger Mountain, he absolutely couldn't let the kid act on his own.

"Understand, Junior Brother Tang?" Zhang Ze asked.

"Understood." Tang nodded.

Although he said he understood, Tang was still a bit confused. He wondered how such a joyful thing could be described so frighteningly by Senior Brother Zhang.

Could there be some hidden secret?

He planned to come back to Diannan some other time to investigate it thoroughly.

Unaware of Tang's thoughts, Zhang Ze breathed a sigh of relief and felt he needed to find something to divert Tang's attention.

"Weren't you looking for your grandfather? I have some clues here."

Talking about serious matters, Tang's mind shifted away from the topic of growing up.

"Great!"

And of course, such serious matters couldn't be discussed here. After asking several passersby, Zhang Ze found a clean inn where the owner wasn't a Fox Spirit and conducted legitimate business.

"How did you get here?" Zhang Ze first posed his question.

Tang thought for a moment before he replied to Zhang Ze, "I'll tell you, but you must keep it a secret for me, otherwise I won't be able to come out next time."

"Okay, I'll keep your secret." Zhang Ze wasn't too concerned, thinking it was probably just some secret path or something.

Then he saw Tang take out a plate.

The plate looked quite old, with worn edges, who knew if it was from last week or a previous dynasty.

"What is this?" Zhang Ze asked.

"The Celestial Calculation Disc left by the Ancestral Master. I snuck it out. I relied on this to come here."

"I swapped a fake disc for the real one. Anyway, the Uncles only touch this disc once a year, they probably won't notice."

"Senior Brother Zhang, don't tell anyone. I'll need it next time I sneak out to play."

Looking at that Celestial Calculation Disc, a treasure of Dragon Tiger Mountain, Zhang Ze was speechless for a long time and finally just gave Tang a thumbs up.

"Awesome, and you plan on a next time."

"What's 'awesome'?" Tang's curiosity was really strong.

"Don't ask, kid. Focus on the real stuff first." Zhang Ze, recalling his memory, drew out the terrain depicted on the Human Skin Map on a piece of paper.

"Look at this." Zhang Ze pushed the map in front of Tang.

Unexpectedly, Tang only glanced at it and declared, "This is fake."

Zhang Ze, "? "

Seeing Zhang Ze's confusion, Tang emptied the contents of his Hundred Treasures Bag, rummaged for a long time on the floor before finding a tattered notebook.

The notebook was ancient, with wax-yellowed edges, unclear if it had been stained by some liquid.

Tang didn't mind, picked it up, and opened it to a page, then showed it to Zhang Ze.

"Senior Brother, look, isn't it exactly the same?"

Zhang Ze took the notebook and found, indeed, it was identical to the terrain drawn on the map.

And the other pages of the notebook were filled with various maps.

"This? What's going on?" Zhang Ze asked.

Tang took the notebook back from Zhang Ze, carefully put it away, then spoke.

"This notebook is my grandfather's, the drawings on it were naturally made by him."

"So?" Zhang Ze suddenly thought of a very frustrating possibility.

"So my grandpa made it all up." Tang put the notebook back into the Hundred Treasures Bag.

"Crazy... I mean, what was the old Celestial Master thinking?" Zhang Ze looked at Tang.

Tang imitated one of his uncles, holding his belly and said, "Don't think there's any meaning in what your grandpa does, he's just doing it because he's bored."

After speaking, Tang chuckled.

Not sure if he liked the phrase or the way his uncle spoke.

Zhang Ze felt a headache. He had underestimated the extent of Taoist Dian's madness and no wonder the Blood Lion Ancestor found nothing.

Turns out it was all made up.

Now that Brother Feng's clues were cut off, Zhang Ze had no other solution, he couldn't possibly run around Lantian County asking everyone, "Do you know the Six Paths Immortal?"

Zhang Ze thought for a moment and decided to share his own speculations with Tang. Though naive, Tang really knew his theoretical stuff.

After listening to Zhang Ze's speculations about the Six Paths Immortal, Tang slapped his thigh, "I wondered who those Big Head Taoists were, turns out they're related to my grandfather."

"Senior Brother Zhang, you truly are my lucky star."

He then looked at the Celestial Calculation Disc, pinching a Taoist Spell while chanting.

And the Celestial Calculation Disc began to emit a faint white glow.